The past 24 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the San Francisco food scene.
First it was the Ritz Carlton Dining Room, and now Inside Scoop reports that Silks, the nearly 25-year-old restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental, is slated to shutter in April. While the hotel will undergo a remodel and change of ownership, the restaurant renovation will take it in a new direction. So far there's no word on the decor or chef that will usher it in to its next phase.
Seeing red: Etcetera Wine Bar is slated to open next Thursday. Eater SF shares that the remodel of the space (from the former Parea days) has left the Valencia St bar with a crimson glow and global wine list.
Inside Scoop spots 50-year-old Haight bar Murio's Trophy Room is closed, and the number is disconnected, too. While they're reportedly closed for renovations, no word yet on when they'll open, or if we'll recognize what we'll see when we're allowed back inside.
Chef News: The pending French restaurant, Bouche, has made an addition to its kitchen. Inside Scoop discovers that Nicolas Borzee (formerly of Coi) will oversee the food, which is expected to be "fresh and different," while also approachable. Interesting.
If you replaced the word "sailing" from Christopher Cross's 1980 easy listening tour de force with the word "Oaksterdam," it would tickle so good.
Especially now, as the smells of autumn come rolling in. Sure, it's mixed in with a little tear gas and urine and bodystank, but I can clearly detect the flavorful scent of Granny Greenleaf's Pumpkin Harvest Delight wafting in over all that mess!
The ingredients of this delightful snack get the panties wet: 1.6 grams of Sour Diesel-infused sativa cannabis butter, punpkin, raisins, craisins, pecans, walnuts, almonds, sugar, dark brown sugar, egg, vanilla, salt, and pumpkin pie spices! Don't know about y'all, but my unmentionables moisten just thinking about all these magical items coming together in such a harmonious way.
It's only 10 bucks. You can find it in the East Bay at just about every medical marijuana spot. The box tells you when the treat was baked (my little pumpkin lovin' was born on el Dia de los Muertos!), and as long as you keep it refrigerated, a nibble a day of this delicious goodie will change your whole perspective on the fall season.
Zog's Dogs is bringing back the Thanksgiving Dog in all its glory. It's basically an entire Thanksgiving dinner in a bun: turkey sausage, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and crunchy fried onions. Well, nobody ever said they don't have a sense of humor. Crazy, right? Oh, and you can get it deep-fried. Why the hell not? You accepted Jesus as your Lord and Personal Savior the second you took that first bite, so might as well slide into home (read: heaven and/or the ER) face first.
Maybe they could give you the whole thing free if you can suck it down in under 30 seconds. You should ask. So go ahead, slip into something more comfortable, pop a Lipitor and a Pepcid AC, and get down on it!
The Thanksgiving Dog is $6.95, and available only through Thanksgiving. Duh. Here's a picture of a bacon-in-the-bun Zog's Dog, so you can see what these people are capable of. Flying so close to the sun!
What: Pot + Pantry Shopwarming
Where: Pot + Pantry, 593 Guerrero
When: Thurs., November 10, 5-8 p.m.
Cost: Free
The rundown: Donna Suh Wageman recently moved her adorably tiny kitchen shop, Pot + Pantry into 18 Reasons old space at 593 Guerrero Street. They officially opened their doors today, and are throwing a housewarming event to celebrate. It's open to all (yes, even you), with treats from Black Jet Baking Co., drinks, and plenty of new and exciting kitchen goods. Their roomier digs means they've greatly expanded their product offerings to include Le Creuset, Calphalon, and more. To sweeten the deal, customers will get 10% off everything in the store during the party, too.
In an effort to chart the ever-expanding specialty coffee scene in the Bay Area, we've been engaging a selection of local coffee personalities to pick their brains about why coffee and why now. Today we talk to Luigi and John DiRuocco, sons of Carlos DiRuocco, founder and CEO of Mr. Espresso.
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Mr. Espresso has been operating out of Oakland as a major Bay Area roaster since 1978, how have you managed to stay relevant?
Luigi DiRuocco: We're an established business with established priorities, and it is hard to just go around and try to be different all the time. We stay true to ourselves and make changes in a careful manner. We have to be loyal to our customers that we currently have.
It's easier to start a business with what's going on in the business right now, you just address the current trends and you're already doing exactly what the customer wants. If you're already an established business, though, you have to take in to account your employees, your current level of sales, your current customers. It's a lot more responsibility.
John DiRuocco: We've been around a little bit longer than some of these new guys. We're trying to stay true to ourselves, not to the fads. If people are pushing the envelope, we're looking to learn from other people, to see what we can do better. I always tell people, 14 years ago, customers complained that our coffee was too light. Where are those people now?
There's a strong tradition among home candy makers of making a big batch of toffee, then breaking it, bagging it, and becoming the best friend of the moment as they make the rounds with their holiday deliveries.
If you have a friend like this, you're likely already anticipating the mass of solid sugar to come next month. But if you don't, or you want to be that person but have no skills, you might be able to leverage the Permano family's grandmother. The current family of wife, husband, and son are making grandma's recipe in Napa and selling the results.
"Radical Foods" Dinner hosted by First Person Magazine
Where: St. Johns, 1661 15th Street (@Julien), San Francisco
When: November 10 at 7:00pm
Cost: $40 for dinner/$60 for dinner + a copy of the Radical Foods issue
The rundown: Chef and First Person Magazine Co-Editor Leif Hedendal will prepare a wood-fired fall dinner to celebrate local artists, chefs and activists. The event will include a screening of Les Blank's film, "Garlic is as good as Ten Mothers," and an art show featuring photographs of local purveyors, farmers, beekeepers and urban farmers.
Register here for the event
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