Hey guys, let's start this week off with some sad news because that's how I do it: This is my last Week in Vegan! I'm moving on to different pastures (not killing myself, just a new job) and I wanted to say, writing with you as been among the most rewarding experiences in my life, and ALSO, Megan Rascal from Vegansaurus, who is taking over for me, is much funnier, smarter, and sexier* than yours truly, so promise me you'll still get loose with it? I love you.
• Troma Entertainment made a short video about the animals people eat. It's totally great and hilarious and light-hearted and filled with merriment and joy. Check it out:
• That bullfighter who was face-gored (horn through eye socket, son!) is now looking and acting just like a Batman villain! Super creeps! He's back in the ring, killing bulls with a vengeance. Sounds like a really great guy who is super smart about learning lessons and stuff. The most fucked up thing about bullfighting is that even when the bull wins, the bull loses. That's no sport, that's The Hunger Games. Also, WHO ELSE IS EXCITED FOR THE HUNGER GAMES? I'll be the grown-ass woman dressed like Peeta at the midnight showing.
There aren't a lot of milk cocktails that I associate being refreshing and extremely drinkable; for me, the thought usually conjures up memories of past experiences with sweet and heavy dessert or brunch style drinks. Like many things in life, the second you make up your mind, along comes a cocktail to challenge that. Jennifer Colliau's Brandy Lift ($11, Marian Farms Esperito Brandy, orgeat, Benedictine, cream, seltzer) at The Slanted Door is a dairy cocktail that deliciously succeeds as a before or after dinner drink. Or as an afternoon snack.
Packaging is certainly excellent; the up-and-down envelope-like container, sealed with a stamp, and artfully identified with a single large letter to define the eight choices in the Recchiuti Bar Suite. Even after opening the packaging, the presentation continues to impress, with an irregular series of embossed rectangles embedded with the ingredient inclusions, but the look so strongly resembles Michael Mischer's Designer Bars from Oakland, which have been on the market for several years, that any points for originality are lost.
Counting down the meals before July 1, when California's foie gras ban takes effect.
While Wolfgang Puck is urging restaurants to get used to the forthcoming ban on foie gras, San Francisco chefs are taking this time to honor the foie:
At Campton Place Restaurant, Srijith Gopinathan is serving foie gras au torchon with berry chutney at the bar ($19), and then in two foie dishes on his dinner menu: For an appetizer, he's preparing variations -- how many? we don't know -- of foie gras with Concord grape jus, cocoa nibs, and wild arugula ($24). And for those diners who need two courses of duck liver to feel as if they've truly eaten, there's an entree of Liberty Farms duck breast with fuyu persimmons, purple chanterelles, and foie gras ($36).
At Prospect, chef Pamela Mazzola is plating up a foie gras au torchon with citrus marmalade, Rutherglen muscat gelée, and pink peppercorns, as well as a few slices of toasted multigrain bread to spread it on ($12). She, too, is adding foie gras to a duck entree, matching up Liberty Farms duck with a foie gras sauce and embellishing the plate with smoked oats, baby leeks, a rhubarb-fennel relish, and caramelized rhubarb glaze ($29). If you've just stopped in at Prospect's bar for a cocktail, you can order up a plate of crostini with duck liver, foie gras, and bacon pate for $7.
Just as we've bidden farewell to Brunch Drunk Love, another pop-up brunch has materialized in the Mission. Dear Mom, the recently opened watering hole celebrated for cheap drinks and hipster nightlife, is now home on Sundays to the Fogcutter Brunch, where two local chefs (Guillermo Perez and Caroline Hummer) are cooking up unconventional comfort food.
What: BarBot 2012
Where: pariSoma Innovation Lofts
When: Fri., March 2 and Sat. March 3, 8-10 p.m.
Cost: $15 at the door, $10 presale online
The rundown: Nerds have come up with the ultimate way to meet girls with the fifth annual "festival of cocktail robotics." Cosmopolitans, White Russians, and martinis are just a few drinks served up by these homemade robots. The entrance fee does not cover drinks inside, and there will be a human-run bar, too, for those worried about the inevitable robot takeover. The event is a fundraiser for the RoboGames in San Mateo next month.
And what better place to host this robotic wonderland than the technology saturated Bay Area? Last year, robots on display were made completely out of LEGOs; others served chilled Martinis using dry ice. This time by pressing on a touch screen you can adjust how sweet or strong you want a cocktail while another mobile robot on wheels serves you. So get ready to get rowdy with some robots!
Buy tickets here.
The Perennial Plate Episode 92: Little Radish from Daniel Klein on Vimeo.
Because sometimes you wake up in the morning and you don't have the energy to confront the emptying of the oceans, the consolidation of the grocery industry, or anti-turkey cruelty.
