Opening: Grub Street reports that Yuubi, a Japanese restaurant, is readying to open in the Richmond tomorrow. And while there is no preview menu, we do know there will be sushi (501 Balboa at Sixth Ave.).
The latest La Boulange is open, and this one's in the Metreon. Inside Scoop notes this opening of La Bounalge de Yerba Buena makes it the 12th bakery and cafe in the chain (781 Mission at Fourth St.).
Music and coffee: After Pirate Cat Radio went off the air in early 2011, everything went static. Now Mission Local notes the non-profit replacement, Mutiny Radio, is not only fully operational -- there's cafe space too (Mutiny Radio and Cafe: 21st St. at Florida). Cafe owner Enrique Ramirez is still working on the cafe (decorating and compiling an events calendar), but coffee is brewing seven days a week.
Pending: Sarah and Evan Rich have bestowed a moniker on their pending restaurant -- and it's taking their surname. Inside Scoop reports Rich Table is still months way from opening.
Inside Scoop also provides an update on Charlie Palmer's pending restaurant, Burritt Tavern. Ashley Weaver will join as the executive chef (already a part of the Charlie Palmer Group) and will be at the helm of the kitchen when it opens in the recently renamed Mystic Hotel (formerly the Crescent Hotel) in late Spring. Also, Grub Street notes the adjacent Burritt Room is closed for renovations.
SFoodie's countdown of our favorite 50 things to eat and drink, 2012 edition
SFoodie doesn't eat much herbed goat cheese anymore, not since our post-college days, when we thought a plate of water crackers and peppered chèvre was the ideal spread for the sophisticated kegger host. And we've never been fond of psychedelia, whether nostalgic or chemically induced.
Though they came from very different places (Burr an "army brat" raised in Hawaii and California, and Beerman raised in Virginia), they both had early starts in the restaurant world. In San Francisco they met in a kitchen over a decade ago, and then continued to collide and lose touch until a combination of fate and circumstance pushed them into working together again. This is part one of SFoodie's Q&A with Beerman and Burr; part two will run tomorrow, and on Friday we'll publish one of their favorite recipes.
SFoodie: How did you guys end up in the kitchen?
BURR: Shoot, I started working in bakeries when I was in high school. I'd go to work at 4 in the morning, work until 8 a.m., go to school from 8 to 3 p.m., and then go back to the bakery to work the counter until close. I like getting up early, so getting up at 4 in the morning wasn't a big deal for me when I was 16. It still isn't.
BEERMAN: Same kind of thing for me, really-while in high school I started out washing dishes in restaurants, then starting prep cooking, and then started cutting out of high school to go to work.
BURR: Ha, I definitely did that, too! I'd skip my last class of the day to go to work early.
BEERMAN: And when I finished high school, I realized I had never really done anything else but work in kitchens and wasn't really interested in doing anything else, so I went to culinary school and then started bouncing all over the country.
When did you end up in SF?
BEERMAN: I moved out here from Colorado about 15 years ago.
BURR: I've been here about 11 years, and met Chris right at the beginning. My very first kitchen job during my first year of culinary school was working with him when he was the sous chef at Neiman Marcus at the Rotunda. I wasn't even 21 yet, shoot!
Tequila isn't just for Spring Break anyone. As the tequila category continues to grow and populate with new brands dedicated to craft methods, the gulf has grown between the beachside and dining room. It used to be that all the connoisseur needed to know was to buy 100% blue agave tequila, but now there are more choices than ever. Even with regular visits to Tommy's Mexican, we need help.
Heidi Barrett's family has been making wine in Napa long before the valley became a world-renowned wine destination. Barrett is one of Napa's rock-star winemakers, best known for bringing in perfect scores from some critics for her work at Screaming Eagle. If you don't care about Napa, or rock stars, or scores, you only need know that Heidi makes exceptional wine. Ever since leaving Screaming Eagle when the label was bought in 2006, she has made exceptional wines for several different clients, though their wines are too pricey for this column.
Barrett has however also produced her own wine, La Sirena, since 1994, and therein lies our price target, and our wine(s) of the week.
