Plus Salsipuedes scores a Mexican celebrity chef to cook dinner, and there's a fracas afoot in the U.K. over the shape of croissants.
NYC's The Halal Guys Will Open a Union Square Location
Midtown Manhattan cart food kings
The Halal Guys are on a tear, and as part of a planned expansion into the Bay Area, they'll be opening locations in Berkeley and on O'Farrell Street near Union Square (with the possibility of 28 more), according to
Eater.
Google Launches Same-Day Food Delivery in S.F. and L.A.
To compete with Amazon and a likely ailing Instacart, along with the Postmates and Blue Aprons and Munchers of the world,
Google Express will now deliver bulk foodstuffs and perishables to you within a 2-hour window. According to the
Business Times, a yearly membership will run you $95 and the minimum order is $35. Unlike Amazon, Google doesn't have its own cold storage facilities, so they'll be delivering to you from Costco, Smart & Final, and Whole Foods. Looks like this industry is going to expand before it inevitably contracts.
Salsipuedes Nabs a Mexican Celebrity Chef
Oakland's experimental Mexican kitchen,
Salsipuedes, will team up with
Jair Téllez (a winemaker and chef who opened Mexico City's Merotoro with Gabriela Camara of Hayes Valley's Cala, among many other projects) for a dinner of small plates and wine pairings on Sunday, Feb. 28 (seatings at 6 p.m. and 8:15 p.m.). The $49 price tag includes beverages and tip, as well.
Chef Jair Téllez at Salsipuedes, Sunday, Feb. 28, 6 p.m. and 8:15 p.m., 4201 Market, Oakland, 510-350-7489 or salsipuedes.us.
Wild Mushroom Dinner at Lungomare
The wet winter has whetted appetites for foraged fungi, and Craig DiFonzo of Oakland's
Lungomare has gotten into black trumpets and hens-of-the-woods. For one week (Feb. 22-29), he's created a $35, three-course mushroom-forward menu (with optional $20 wine pairing, plus a $5 candy cap mushroom cocktail). There's a black trumpet-crusted Black Angus filet in there, too.
Wild Mushroom Dinner, Feb. 22-29, at Lungomare, 1 Broadway, Oakland, 510-444-7171 or lungomareoakland.com.
Los Shucos Reopens
Los Shucos, the Guatemalan hot dog joint in the Mission, was open only for 10 months before a fire gutted it. After closing for a year-plus, according to
Eater, it's back. (FWIW, I really liked the condiment-heavy La Llorona when I
visited.) Buen suerte, Los Shucos!
Food Inc. to Become Another Wine Bar, Scopo Divino
According to
Hoodline, 25-year-old Pac Heights wine bar
Food Inc. will close in mid-March and reopen as
Scopo Divino.
Culinary Workers' Union in Nevada Reluctant to Play Kingmaker
The New York Times' heavy-hitting political reporter, Adam Nagourney, has a deep look into how the
Culinary Workers union, the largest in Nevada, is keeping to the sidelines in tomorrow's Democratic caucus.
An Adorably British Kerfuffle Over the Shape of Croissants
Tesco, which is basically the British version of Safeway, has ceased selling crescent-shaped
croissants and will henceforth bake straight ones instead. It's meant to ease "spreadability," according to the
New York Times, but it's taken on a world-historical dimension as a proxy battle for the U.K.'s supposed desire to snub the snooty, continental French and leave the European Union. Freighted with symbolism though it is, the
Times dryly notes that croissants originated in Vienna, where they're called kipferls.
An Insufferably American Kerfuffle Over Gluten-Free MREs
I have to say, I have my reservations about the gluten-free lifestyle, but this is just infuriating. Apparently,
gluten-free food is a sign of moral decay, effeminacy, general decadence, and political correctness run amok, so Sen. Ted Cruz vows to purge it from our nation's military — along with lady soldiers. As
Mashable notes, this is great news for gluten-free women.
