The past 24 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the San Francisco food scene.
It's official; Laura Beck shared the news that starting today, beer is flowing from the taps of Biergarten (424 Octavia at Fell).
Thrifty falafel: The Feast reveals the Outer Sunset's former Freddies Nifty Thrifties is slated to become Falafel Jumanh. The owners are just waiting on the reliably-long permit process wait.
After recent changes at Citizen Cake, (aka Elizabeth Falkner's Citizen Cake Ice Cream Parlor and Eats) Tablehopper regales the latest change from Elizabeth Faulkner will be Orson's transformation into an event space. The location will also play host to Faulkner's impending popups inspired by her appearances on The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs, with each week's meal corresponding to the recent episode. We're guessing she must have made it pretty far.
No, meet me at the other Tartine. At last, the confusion on where everyone is meeting may finally end. Grub Street says the small cafe in Hayes Valley, Tartine Cafe Francis, may be changing its name to Tartine Talbot (244 Gough at Fell). Okay, so there still may be some confusion.
After 13 years, Charanga is readying to close. Tablehopper notes the pan Latin restaurant will shutter in November, after the landlord failed to renew the lease.
A couple new restaurants on the scene: Tablehopper states that the Peruvian restaurant Fina Estampa is set to reopen as soon as this week (1407 Bush at Polk). Also, they note Soup Freaks has opened its Castro location (499 Castro at 18th St.).
When I called MaryAnn Hatlan, director of food and beverage at the Marines' Memorial Club and Hotel, to ask her a few background questions about its Leatherneck Steakhouse -- the subject of this week's full-length restaurant review -- she ended up telling me about the history of the club and the building it's housed in.
"You should encourage people to join the club if they're eligible," she said. Membership is limited to former members of the U.S. armed services with an honorable discharge, as well as active members, who can join for free. "We're a unique environment: a private club, a hotel, and a nonprofit for veterans. We're very quiet about what we do. We don't advertise anywhere, and we're never in the newspaper or billboards."
The rest of the history follows in Hatlan's words:
Taste of the Bay 2011
When: Oct. 26, 6:30-9:30 p.m.
Where: Aboard the docked San Francisco Belle, Pier 3 (at Embarcadero)
Cost: $125, $150 at door. Tickets here.
The Rundown: City restaurants and SF State students will host a night of wining and dining for a good cause: raising funds for college scholarships and student programs. With the CSU budget squeezed tighter than ever, the Hospitality and Tourism Management Program students are fully committing themselves to the 15th Annual Taste of the Bay fundraiser -- from selecting the décor to donning aprons and passing out hors d'oeuvres. But these students know what they're doing alongside the professionals, many of them having completed the fine dining lab (yes, it's called that) at SF State's Vista Room restaurant.
The cocktail-styled event will feature bites from over 20 long-standing S.F. restaurants and pours from California wines; and with the backdrop of the bay, jazz music, and an auction -- some may very well forget they're at a school function.
Yesterday, SFoodie began reproducing some of the highlights of our interview with Matthew Accarrino, chef of SPQR. In part 1 of the interview, Accarrino talked about realizing San Francisco's produce was as good as its reputation and getting better acquainted with cucumbers. Tomorrow, he'll pass on a recipe. Today, he discusses how his menu is like a bulldozer.
SFoodie: How often does does SPQR's menu change?
Almost every day. I liken it to the tracks on a bulldozer: the last one picks up as the next one goes down. So as the menu is moving along there is always something coming off and something coming on, but the majority of things are in place.
How would you describe your menu?
My menu is a modern approach to Italian-inspired food made by an American chef. I've very aware of the ingredients that are here. If I'm cooking in California, I look for spot prawns, sea urchin, local produce and local cheeses. Even though this restaurant is Italian we use American-manufactured prosciutto. I have a company in Wisconsin that's making Italian-style cheeses. A lot of things are Italian in style but the ingredients are coming from America, so you're kind of cognizant of where you are. It's not just local for local's sake, because local doesn't always mean better. But maybe it's more evocative of where we are.
That is, if we're to believe foodiehunter's twitter. And I guess we do because hey, they seem reliable. We've got calls and emails in, but this sounds like the real deal so bust out your Lederhosen and let's get blitzed! Oh you want to know more about Biergarten SF? Well, it's the Proxy Project outpost of Suppenkucke will open its Hayes Valley doors today at 424 Octavia on Thurs., October 20, from 3-9pm. Will the place to drink delightful beer until we pass out be worth the wait? In a city that is much deprived of outdoor drinking establishments, we're leaning towards yes. See you there!
Luckily, I called Leatherneck Steakhouse -- the restaurant on the 12th floor of the Marines Memorial Club & Hotel, and the subject of this week's
full-length restaurant review in print -- a few hours before setting out. Because
if I hadn't, I wouldn't have known the restaurant has a dress code -- a
collared shirt for men, with no jeans or sandals. (Back into the closet
went the tracksuit I've been wearing on reviews.)
The club is private, but its restaurant is open to the public and guests at the hotel. I'd been tipped off to the place by an old friend, who was shocked to find such good food in a hotel restaurant she'd never even heard of before. "It's the perfect place to take your parents," she said.
Leatherneck Steakhouse looks a little trapped in the 1960s, and the tourists can sometimes outnumber the retired soldiers who belong to the club. But the view of Union Square and the Financial District is spectacular. Better still, whoever is running the kitchen has the training and the care to make almost every dish work -- and the steaks cost half the price their competitors charge.
In this week's cover story, "Bug Me," SF Weekly takes a look at the new generation of entomophagists, or insect-eaters, who are based in and around San Francisco. Much has been made in the press of entomophagists' sometimes extravagant claims about the ecological benefits of insects as a protein source for human consumption.
These claims are backed by logical arguments and are worth considering, and we devoted ample space in the story to examining them. But we were also interested in a more immediate question: Are bugs delicious?
Introducing Ourtisan, a new website that allows members to find local higher-end brands, share their discoveries with friends and family, and then shop online. Online shopping, woohoo! Love never having to leave the house, it's the best. Ourtisan's membership is free, so there's no cost to check it out. It's launching with a curated list, featuring about 100 brands, including TCHO Chocolate, Mission Minis, and Shachi's Sweets & Savories.
Jonathan Chin, one of the gentlemen leading the Ourtisan charge, says the idea originated from their daily lives -- picking up olive oil from one local vendor, chocolate from another, and chai from a third. They wanted to build a central platform that would allow users to use their social graph from Facebook and Twitter to discover these great merchants in one place, connect with them and ultimately, purchase their products.
