The past 24 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the San Francisco food scene.
Chef pop-up: We've been following where Evan and Sarah Rich have appeared around the city, and now Inside Scoop shares their Rebel pop-up menu: fried chicken. If not a fan of the fried, than this may be one to skip; however, if a lover of all things fried, be there Sun.-Mon. 5-10 p.m. (first come, first serve).
Pending report: Eater SF shares that the Fresh & Easy slated for the Mission (1245 Van Ness at Sutter) is officially on its way, the latest Pearl's Deluxe Burgers (1001 Market at Sixth St.) is almost ready to start flipping patties, the Coffee Bar slated for 101 Montgomery (at Bush) is coming along, and 18 Reasons' larger space should be open by next Friday (3674 18th St. at Dolores).
Music to our ears: Inside Scoop shares that S.F. supervisors unanimously approved a new type of performance permit for music in cafes and small restaurants. For $385 the permit allows performances within a 200-sq-foot area that don't go past 10 p.m. We wonder what restaurant will be the first to implement the permit.
Food Truck News: Matt Cohen's Off the Grid will be rolling north to Marin County this Fall. The Feast shares that he's planning on crossing the Golden Gate come October.
Yesterday, SFoodie broke the news that the California state senate had passed AB 376, a statewide ban on the sale and import of shark fins. Since the bill had already passed through the Assembly last spring, it now goes to the governor's office.
So what's this bill all about?
Dried shark fin is a luxury ingredient in several Asian cuisines; unlike caviar or truffles, it is prized for its exquisite texture rather than its flavor. Rising global demand for shark's fin has resulted in the practice of shark finning, or sharks being captured for their fins, which are sliced off, leaving the shark to be thrown back in the water to die; the practice, many environmental groups say, is leading to the collapse of many shark populations.
The U.S. government recently passed a ban on shark finning in U.S. waters, but you can still import shark's fin from other countries that don't have that ban. This proposed law would stop demand, not just supply.
Would this be happening if shark fin were a Western delicacy?
Well, that's a matter of some debate, isn't it? The Chinese American community has been split on this issue since the ban was introduced -- Assemblyman Paul Fong sponsored the bill, while Senator Leland Yee was its staunchest opponent. Restaurants like Koi Palace have posted signs arguing that the ban is an attack on Chinese cuisine; at the same time, organizations like the Asian Pacific Ocean Harmony Alliance have formed to support AB 376.
SFoodie tends to think the widespread support for the ban may owe some of its strength to xenophobia, but more to populist distaste for luxury ingredients; after all, beluga caviar is currently verboten, and California's foie gras ban is set to take effect in July of next year.
Old World Dinner: An Evening of Eastern European and Jewish Soul Food
Where: La Victoria Bakery
When: Wednesday, Sept. 14 (sold out) and 21, 7 p.m.
Cost: $25
In his quest to join the frenzy and buy a food truck, chef Kenny Hockert is hosting two dinners this month at La Victoria Bakery, both of which will feature a menu of eastern European and Jewish cuisine.
The Sept. 14 dinner is all sold out, but spots are still available for the following week. The dinner costs $25 at the door.
Hit the jump for the menu.
Off the Grid has been so successful at putting street food once a week on Fifth and Minna Streets, in the alley that bisects the San Francisco Chronicle, that its appearances are doubling.
Starting this week, food trucks will roll in on both Wednesday and Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
This is a significant expansion for Off the Grid, because it's the first time the organization will supervise two food-truck gatherings at the same time. Off the Grid also runs a street-food market at Civic Center Plaza on Fridays.
4th Annual Dish Bay Area
When: Sunday, Oct. 2, 1-4 p.m.
Where: Galleria at the San Francisco Design Center
Cost: $43 $21 today (Sept. 7) only
We're holding a party and we want you to come so much that, today only, we're selling half-price tickets.
For Dish Bay Area, restaurant critic Jonathan Kauffman and myself lined up 35 dishes from some of our favorite restaurants, food trucks and other purveyors. And what's a party without something good to drink? There will be more than 20 beers, wines and cocktails to choose from.
The event benefits La Cocina, the incubator responsible for the birth of much of what's vibrant in the city's food scene today. So by attending and eating some great food, you'll be helping to sponsor somebody's dream of becoming an entrepreneur to do what? Create more great food! Man, is this country great or what?
Buy half-price tickets to Dish here. Don't delay: the deal ends at midnight.
Even San Francisco natives like me are sometimes alarmed by the pressure applied to denizens of this city to publicly acknowledge that we live in the best place on earth. That being said, we certainly do have access to the best of things here: The best intoxicants, stimulants, and ingredients; the top narcotics, robotics, and ... ice cream.
But, sometimes, you just want some coffee. And not necessarily the best coffee but lots of it all the same. And eggs. And hash browns. And lots of that, too. In short, you want a diner.
San Francisco is no haven for blue-collar workers, but it is blessed with a number of blue-collar eateries. Ideally, such establishments serve straightforward fare of the sort people fantasized about while queuing up at Ellis Island, and hefty portions of it. The free refill may be the last remaining vestige of American greatness -- this is a must. And, hopefully, everything should be on the more affordable side (though, in San Francisco, sometimes this just doesn't work out. This is, in part, why it feels like we have more blue-collar restaurants than people).
In any event, these are are our five favorite diners:
Fundraiser for Gaspar "Tio" Puch-tzek
Where: Hog & Rocks Restaurant
When: Saturday, Sept. 17, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Cost: Donations encouraged
Hog & Rocks Restaurant will host a fundraiser for the family of Gaspar "Tio" Puch-tzek, a chef at Hog & Rocks who was shot and killed last week when he was mistaken for a gang member.
The fundraiser will feature a silent auction, with proceeds going to Puch-tzek's family; Hog & Rocks encourages other restaurants to donate items to the auction. Members of the community who wish to show their support can also bring donations to Hog & Rocks during its normal business hours, or they can send money via Paypal to drink@hogandrocks.com if they specify "Donation" in the message.
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.
Each time I stop in for lunch at Ma's Dim Sum & Cafe, the two women working the room, who look so alike they must be mother and daughter, lead me through the maze of chairs and elbows to a small table, which I am to share with a nonplussed man in his eighties. We blink at each other, then get shy. I pull out my book and he returns to the clay pot he is slowly emptying.
Ma's Dim Sum does indeed serve dim sum -- there's a bakery case in the front with dumplings and cakes, and the occasional table splits a plate of sesame balls -- but the "cafe" in its name seems more apt. With its checked linoleum flour, pink walls, wood laminate tables, it looks like it could serve cinnamon rolls fresh from the oven and split-pea soup on Thursdays. Cantonese-speaking paint crews are wolfing down rice plates, older women are deep into their gossip, but the small room, while full, doesn't have the same clanging bonhomie of Chinatown's larger restaurants. You can relax here with your pot of tea, and I do.
Taking my cue from the man across from me, I pick one of the half-dozen clay pot rice dishes off the menu. There are versions with salted fish, or frog, but the best of the ones I've tried has Chinese bacon, sausage, and spare ribs. "It takes 20 minutes," the server warns, and I reassure her I don't need to be back to work in a hurry, nodding toward my book. She brings over a bowl of house soup as a distraction, a thin broth with a few slices of bitter melon and one lone clam.
Biscotti are tough for me, literally. The twice-baked cookie almost always comes off as overly stale, and the need to dip it into coffee just to make it a lower risk to my teeth has never appealed. Occasionally, and usually in Italy, I'll bite upon a biscotti that's freshly made, often from a "mama" nearby, and is still relatively tender. That's when I find my cookie contentment.
Now my travels across California can have a similar bite. Larkspur-based Rustic Bakery has two cookie-cracker hybrids which bring a bit of fresher-tasting biscotti to the table.
The Almond & Cacao Nib Sticks call out from the bag to be crunched. Crackers can wait patiently on the shelf till the need arises, but these want to be eaten now.
They are softer than biscotti but still crisp, with nice butter notes, the obligatory element of almond and capricious chocolate-like flavors. There are even a few savory notes.
California's food activists are on the verge of gaining a ban on the import of shark fins. And starting next July, sale of foie gras in this state will be illegal.
We care about animal welfare here; we passed a law regulating the size of chickens' cages. But perhaps because we're awed by our own godlike scientific powers, we don't seem nervous at all about gene-modified organisms (GMOs) or bovine growth hormone (BGH).
