Highlights from the blog this week:
1. Ben Narasin writes about the sheep's milk cheeses produced by Barinaga Ranch. The Marin-based cheesemaker lets her ewes graze outdoors all year, and only makes cheeses from the milk they produce in spring and summer. What they do all winter: Watch America's Next Top Model, like the rest of us.
2. Alanna Hale spent a few hours with Matthew Accarrino at SPQR, talking to the chef about his blend of Italian and American traditions and coaxing the recipe for his farro pasta with salumi, buttermilk, and poppy seeds out of him. Find part 1 of the interview here and part 2 here.
3. On SFoodie, Peter Jamison introduces this week's cover story, a profile of the insect-eaters behind Don Bugito and girlmeetsbug.com, which required him to sample larva and figure out how to describe the particular crunch of a cricket exoskeleton.
The beauty of making cocktails from old recipes is more than the rediscovery of forgotten flavors. It's also in the mysteries that inevitably come with their creation-- finding or making substitutions for unavailable liqueurs and spirits, deciphering archaic measurements, and translating those flavors to the modern palate.
Leave it to Eric Johnson and Thad Vogler to take an odd recipe from the famed Savoy Cocktail Book, and make it into a complex and balanced drink so good they keep it off their standard cocktail menu (well, that's our guess at least).
The Moonraker ($10) starts with Marian Farms biodynamic brandy, combined with Leopold Brothers Peach Brandy, Cocchi Americano (an aperitif wine flavored with herbs, spices, and the bitter cinchona bark), and a few dashes of absinthe.
The name is another mystery, coming from either the term for the highest sail of rigged sailing ships, or the story of smugglers from Wiltshire, England. Although it does not come from the Roger Moore era James Bond, it's the type of drink you could easily imagine the suave and dangerous agent enjoying.
Bar Agricole, 355 11th St. (at Folsom), 355-9400
• Anthony Bourdain is running his mouth again about how much he hates vegans because he can't stop because he loves press OH WAIT.
• Matthew Herbert made a CD of pig noises in factory farms. It is hella super depressing. If you're a person with a heart or brain, be prepared to be sad for the rest of your life.
• Look at these adorable pictures of a man taking care of an orphaned dolphin, which is both very sweet and also super fucking sad, because what happened to his mom?? Dolphins don't be abandoning their babies in Dumpsters. They're not humans! They have some decency!
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.
The women at the table behind are comparing their morning's hauls. The rustle of plastic becomes the soundtrack to my breakfast, packages being pulled out, packages being put back in. Across the room, a middle-aged man pores over his newspaper, as middle-aged men in diners do from San Francisco to Kennebunkport, absent-mindedly sipping his coffee and spearing bites of scrambled eggs onto his fork.
Pacific Court Cafe is one of Chinatown's few classic diners, decorated like a long-lost Friendly's or Zim's, the color palette that lavender-gray pink that peaked in popularity around 1984. Located at the back of the decaying Meriwa shopping center, behind jewelry shops and herbal dispensaries, the cafe advertises prime rib dinners for $15.95, along with teriyaki salmon and baked pork chop with tomato sauce. The lunchtime prices are a little steep, so I've come for breakfast, when it's just me, newspaper guy, and a handful of 75-year-olds.
What: Christopher Kimball at Omnivore Books
Where: Omnivore Books
When: Sat., October 22, 3-4 p.m.
Cost: Free
The rundown: Meet the accomplished mad man behind Cook's Illustrated magazine and PBS's America's Test Kitchen, Christopher Kimball, as he discusses the new The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook. It's filled with 2,000 recipes, all hell bent on actually working. As many of us know, this is not the case with all recipes, so it's a novel concept. Kimball is a fascinating character too, what with having started a magazine when he was just 29 years old. I didn't own a bed when I was 29 years old. Hats off!
San Francisco is home to many a French-style cafe (ahem, La Boulange), but The Butler and the Chef is the real deal. Tucked away in SOMA's charming South Park, the bistro's yellow storefront draws customers into its bright dining space, dotted with graphic posters and tiny circular tables for two.
A weekly series on what to do with your farmers' market impulse buys and CSA box surprises.
Chinese and Japanese eggplants are smaller and lighter in color than their American and Italian cousins. Once cooked, they have a sweet flavor and a meaty texture. The skin is thin and edible.
Wallpaper. Twice. One person even admitted it later to Brian [Canlis, one of the owners]. She said, 'I love your wallpaper so much that I installed the exact same stuff in my home.' He said, 'Oh, how did you know where we got it?' She didn't know how to respond. The wallpaper is from these guys on Whidbey Island. It's amazing; they hand-make it and hand-press it on there. There was a big square of it cut off the wall in the ladies' room. So someone had to cut it with an X-acto knife or a penknife or something. You stole wallpaper, people. Come on.SF restaurant people: What's the most absurd thing that anyone has stolen from your business?
