Do you like fruit juice? How about Old Orchard juice? More importantly, do you like saving extremely small amounts of money?
If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, today may be your lucky day (sort of)!
Old Orchard just settled a class action lawsuit with some grumpy consumers over its 100% Juice product line, so now it's time to reap the benefits.
Rice Plate Journal is a yearlong project to canvas Chinatown, block by block, discovering the good, the bad, and the hopelessly mediocre. Maximum entrée price: $10.
There are restaurants that Rice Plate Journal can't do justice to. Dim sum places, for instance -- for the most part, I'm leaving those to W. Blake Gray, who's decided to yum cha his way around town. More expensive restaurants also suffer. Having to pass up the famous black bean clams and salt-and-pepper squid at Yuet Lee because they all cost more than $10 was torture.
I found 479° Popcorn while researching a story on truffles; 479° makes a Black Truffle + White Cheddar popcorn. When I noticed "premium organic popcorn" and "Handmade in San Francisco" on the box, I decided SFoodiezens needed to know more.
I make popcorn at home on movie nights in a Back to Basics, stainless steel, stove-top, hand-crank popper. I use a mix of yellow and white organic corn, and black and blue when I can get them (Rainbow Grocery sells these in the bulk section but sells out often). You can tell I like my popcorn a certain way.
479° Popcorn espouses some similar values. The all-organic focus and the fact that they "make (their) popcorn the artisan way - by hand in small batches," appeals to the sensibilities I expect from my snacks. And they bring an intriguing array of flavors, from savory to sweet, to the bowl.
Here's what the kids and I thought of the line, in order of preference:
The Galley may be the most unlikely location for a good restaurant we've seen yet.
Clooney's Pub is a Valencia Street bar that, to be fair, is a little too nice to really be called a dive bar. SFoodie is big fans of Bouncer columnist Katy St. Clair and we know she would say that the pool table and most of the TVs are too functional, and half-a-dozen beers on tap is at least four too many, for it to really be a dive.
But put it this way: We felt really effete in this place, even though we go to bars to watch the Giants relatively often. After we ordered ahi and watermelon salad ($8) and a French onion sandwich ($8), we asked the bartender what kind of wine she had. Almost immediately a patron behind her threw a beer bottle into a trashcan hard enough to smash several others. We're glad we didn't have a mirror to see if our smile looked like that of an aristocrat whose car just broke down in Hunter's Point; from inside, it felt like it.
Around the world sweeteners have been sourced from locally available produce; sugar cane, beets, rice, and even bean curd. Known as srikaya, coconut jams were originally used as a sweetener and dessert filling in Southeast Asia. More recently srikaya has become a popular jam alternative in the region, served on toast alongside black coffee.
Hey Boo is a jam maker in San Francisco that recently launched with coconut jam as its first product.
Two weeks ago, the FiDi lunch crowd welcomed a new ramen shop. Ramen Underground is the first venture of chef-owner Ken Matsumura, who previously worked at popular Katana-ya for 2 years, and prior to that at more than 10 Japanese restaurants in the U.S. and Japan.
Matsumura's new space shares the same cramped and narrow characteristics of his former employer, with only five two-seat tables plus a two-seat counter, so expect a long wait for one of the coveted seats during peak hours. Takeout service suffers from similar delays, but demand tapers down after one o'clock. And for now, dinner service was not as busy.
A tiny flake and a few dried seeds are your only clue to the heat hiding within Socola's new "Sriracha Chili Flying Rooster" chocolate truffles.
A small square, perhaps half an inch on any side, sits dark and simple in your view. Then you bite it. There's thick chocolate ganache as expected, but almost immediately the chili flavor hits you. It's a trick, you think. This isn't chocolate at all. It's chili fudge.
The flavor builds and your mouth warms. Soon there's no memory that you're eating chocolate at all. Barely a hint of it remains on your tongue, and it's your throat that dominates. That's where the heat lives. I've written this whole rant and the heat is still there. Noticeable. Warm. A mellow burn.
Heirloom Tomato Dinner
Where: Coffee Bar S.F.
When: Sept. 2 and 3, 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Cost: $40, plus $15 for optional wine pairings
If you're the kind of person who would rather eat tomatoes than throw them at a crazy mob, you might be thrilled to hear that the Jetset Chef will prepare an heirloom tomato dinner at Coffee Bar S.F. on Sept. 2 and 3, with seatings at 6:30 and 9 p.m. The event will feature five courses, all of which include you-know-what, plus optional wine pairings and live music.
If your mouth is watering already, hit the jump for the menu and all the details.
According to an AP story published in the SF Chronicle today, state senator Alan Lowenthal has just introduced a bill that would ban polystyrene takeout containers -- aka Styrofoam -- in California state. SB 568, which passed the Senate in June and is in the Assembly, would take effect on January 1, 2016, and exempted would be any city that creates a Styrofoam recycling program.
While opponents claim that the Styrofoam ban will harm California companies that manufacture polystyrene and add on to restaurants' operating costs, the Bay Area says: Uh, what were you waiting for? Berkeley banned Styrofoam 20 years ago, and San Francisco and Oakland followed suit in 2007. Heckle all you like, haters, but we're ahead of the movement again. Now can we get someone to introduce Healthy California?
