A year ago, when I reviewed Belcampo Meat Co., the company was just an ambitious self-starter, albeit with an expansive vision from owner Anya Fernald. The company already owned a sustainable meat supply chain that included an 10,000-acre organic farm and Temple Grandin-designed slaughterhouse up near Mt. Shasta and a butcher shop/restaurant in Larkspur, but Fernald told me that online shopping, delivery, and expansion across California were hopefully in the future. "It's not very profitable to raise meat the way you're supposed to," she said a year ago. "The business is more viable with three or four more stores open."
See also: Belcampo's Anya Fernald on Expansion Plans, Why Their Meat Is Hard to Beat
First they come for our nudity, then they come for our sugary drinks. The jokes about New York's failed soda ban might be so last year, but they're about to become relevant again in San Francisco. Today a number of city supervisors, including Scott Wiener and Eric Mar, are expected to introduce a new November ballot measure at the Board of Supervisors meeting intended to tax sugary drinks at the rate of 2 cents per ounce.
Forgive us for saying this, but there is one difficult part of happy hour: deciding what to drink. We are known to sit in our bar stools, dazedly stare at the menu and mull over the merits of a perfect Manhattan, a salt-rimmed margarita, or a well-crafted draft beer. Thankfully, the Willows forces us to make a decision. The lively SOMA gastropub is divided into two distinct parts: one room is reserved for mixed drinks, and the other, for beer and shots. They divide, and boy do they conquer.
I'm going to go out on a limb and express an unpopular opinion: The San Francisco beer scene often skates by on its past and reputation. We have an amazing depth of beer history here in the City by the Bay, but in many ways, we've been a bit slower to pick up on the latest round of craft beer expansion and excitement. Now I'm not saying the local beer community isn't doing anything -- we are. New blood includes Abbot's Cellar, Mikkeller Bar, Mateveza, Cellarmaker, and the new Dogpatch Magnolia. But they are the exceptions, not the norm. Under the shadow of Napa wine and crowded out of restaurant menus by craft cocktails, the local beer scene has some ground to catch up. (Here's a fun experiment: Visit a restaurant's website and see how long it takes you to find out what beers are available. I'll wait.)
See also: Why American Craft Beer is Better Than Ever: A Brewer's Manifesto
