San Francisco : Trend Watch

Porchetta Popping Up All Over

BuzzEditor — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:57:00 GMT

Il Cane Rosso is just one porchetta purveyor among many.

Photo: Kevin Bond

Forget swine flu. The biggest pig-related fervor to sweep the Bay Area these days is porchetta – that Central Italian, slow-roasted porky pleasure. Having officially usurped belly as the most popular porcine dish, it's being served straight up or sliced into sandwiches all over the city at restaurants such as Bar Bambino, Il Cane Rosso, Ironside, Poggio and Starbelly. (We even saw a mention of a veal breast ‘porchetta’ on new chef Matthew Accarrino's SPQR menu.) Of course, no mention of porchetta would be complete without mentioning hall-of-fame peddler Thomas Odermatt, owner of RoliRoti, who was one of the first to popularize the dish, and serves it on Saturdays and Sundays only at his Napa Oxbow outlet, Rôtisario, and from his mobile rotisserie truck at the Ferry Building’s Farmers’ Market on Saturdays.

– Meesha Halm

Bringing Back the Biz Lunch

BuzzEditor — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:31:00 GMT

cityhouse

Photo: courtesy of the restaurant

After fading from view in light of the recession, the high-end lunch seems to be coming back. To wit:

Newly appointed Aqua executive chef Jason Pringle – who previously worked with Michael Mina and former executive chef Laurent Manrique before leaving for EPIC Roasthouse – plans to reinstate the FiDi restaurant’s lunch service Tuesdays–Fridays after slashing service in January due to the waning economy. Beginning Tuesday, September 22, the new menu will feature standbys like tuna tartare and oysters with a trio of mignonette, as well as a slate of new surf 'n' turf entrees ranging from king salmon with sourdough gnocchi and cockles with black garlic to pork chops with quince, chard and chanterelle mushrooms. For the more frugally minded, the restaurant will also unveil a two-course $27 "business" lunch featuring dishes like veal terrine with pickled cherries, mustard fruit and grilled branzino with root vegetables (11:30 AM–2:30 PM; 415-956-9662; reserve online).

Another bastion of business lunching, the Huntington Hotel’s Big 4, will be reinstating its lunch service on Thursdays and Fridays starting September 17. Also on Fridays, the restaurant's redwood paneled bar will remain open all day for those yearning for the days of the three-martini lunch (11:30 AM–3 PM; 415-771-1140; reserve online).

Earlier this spring, Downtown’s Parc 55 Hotel launched its first public formal restaurant in years, cityhouse, which overlooks Market Street from its second-floor perch. In addition to breakfast and dinner, the New American steakhouse serves lunch daily from 11 AM–2 PM, offering fare like a 16-oz. bone-in rib-eye steak with béarnaise ($32) and garlic prawn stir-fry ($14), complemented by an extensive wine and microbrew list made up almost exclusively from local labels. An additional bar bites menu is available all day from 11 AM–midnight (55 Cyril Magnin St.; 415-392-8000).

– Meesha Halm

Squatters' Bites

BuzzEditor — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:45:00 GMT

The Tamale Lady

Rather than set up shop on the street, a growing number of pop-up food vendors are following in the footsteps of the beloved Tamale Lady (see below), hawking their wares in established venues. This group includes:

Kitchenette SF: Providing self-billed “spontaneous covert nourishment,” this cult sandwich slinger serves fresh lunches to-go out of a garage door at the American Industrial Center (958 Illinois St.; Monday–Friday, 11:30 AM–1:30 PM; learn more at www.kitchenettesf.com/).

Left Coast Smoke: This pop-up distributes its house-smoked barbecue sandwiches at sundry Mission Bars such as the 500 Club. Although it's occasionally shut down due to neighborhood complaints about its smoker, you can check its whereabouts at www.twitter.com/leftcoastsmoke.

Little Skillet: farmerbrown’s chicken 'n' waffles outpost started as an evening add-on to bar 333 Rich, but became so successful that it now operates daytime hours from a take-out window (see more details at www.littleskilletsf.com).

Mission Burger: This offshoot of the popular pioneering pop-up restaurant phenomenon, Mission St. Foods, flips burgers at Vietnamese supermarket Duc Loi every day except Thursday, from noon until the supplies run out (2200 Mission).

Virginia the Tamale Lady: This beloved patron saint of Mission drunks is the city’s original mobile food vendor, and she still shows up fairly regularly late at night at the Zeitgeist toting $4 tamales.

– Meesha Halm

Road Warriors

BuzzEditor — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:45:00 GMT

Sam's ChowderMobile

Photo: courtesy of the truck

For a city whose residents were weaned on taco trucks, it’s no surprise that San Francisco’s street-food culture has taken off. To wit, the Bay’s hosted street-eats food festivals in the last two weeks, and the latest issue of 7x7 magazine features a four-page spread of high-fashion models posing in front of food carts. The number of vendors grows daily, but here’s a list of the most popular "twitterestaurants."

Kung Fu Tacos: This truck slings tacos stuffed with cha siu and roasted duck, topped with sundry Asian salsas and condiments, to lunching FiDi workers in the parking lot at the corner of Sansome and Jackson Streets (twitter.com/kungfutacos).

Magic Curry Kart and The Crème Brulee Guy: Brothers Brian and Curtis Kimball pioneered the fancy-food cart trend with side-by-side mobile carts parked around the Mission offering somewhat unexpected street fare. Brian ladles up $5 bowls of comforting Thai-inspired curries from his Magic Curry Kart (it's usually parked around 19th Street and Linda in the Mission, but look for its daily whereabouts at twitter.com/magiccurrykart). Not far away, his brother, Curtis, hawks $3 mini French custards from a pushcart in and around Dolores Park and various other Mission locations (twitter.com/crèmebruleecart).

Salumi Cylce: Incanto’s chef Chris Cosentino uses this cart as a literal vehicle to sell his "tasty salted pig parts" – think pork sandwiches and lard cookies, washed down by cucumber sodas – during lunch hour around tSoMa, the Mission and the FiDi (twitter.com/boccalone).

Sam's ChowderMobile: Down south, fish ’n’ chips, clam chowder and lobster rolls are some of the seafaring treats rolled out in this mobile offshoot of Half Moon Bay fish restaurant Sam’s Chowder House (www.samschowdermobile.com).

Seoul on Wheels: After a two-year stint in SoMa, the original Korean taco truck can now be found in Emeryville, where its menu includes spicy barbecue pork, rice bowls and kimchee fried rice. Its owner, the self-professed "BBQ Princess of Yoon," hopes to return to a static SoMa locale near Second and Mission Streets in the coming months (www.seoulonwheels.com/Seoul/yum.html or twitter.com/seoulonwheels).

Sexy Soup Cart: This cart hawks luscious organic soups fashioned from fresh farmer’s market ingredients, accompanied by organic baguettes from Mission Pie (twitter.com/SexySoupCart).

Spencer on the Go! When Laurent Katgely isn’t coaxing wild boar from his wood-fired oven at Chez Spencer, he’s grilling up sweetbreads, frog escargot puffs, curried frog's legs and other Gallic munchies for under $12 in his Parisian-inspired converted taco truck. It's parked outside of the Terroir Natural Wine Merchant & Bar on Wednesday–Sunday evenings (and soon at the Ferry Plaza’s Farmer's Market on Tuesdays and Thursdays). Follow his every move at spenceronthego.com or twitter.com/chezspencergo.

– Meesha Halm

Multiplying Like Bunnies

BuzzEditor — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:06:00 GMT

Call it the Sequel Effect. While opening a brand-new restaurant concept in these uncertain times might be a risky proposition, extensions of brands seem to be on the rise, as evidenced by the recent openings of Pizzeria Delfina and the Fillmore branch of Dosa, as well as these two recent branches from well-established eateries.

Ozumo Oakland: Sumo wrestlers, taiko drummers and the Mayor of Oakland all welcomed the debut of this East Bay newcomer when it opened in December. It's an offshoot of retired baseball phenomenon and restaurateur Jeremy Umland’s high-end Japanese in the Embarcadero. Located in the newly redeveloped Grand Avenue District, the new location, under executive chef Jennifer Nguyen (ex Chicago's ajasteak), features similar robata, sushi and izakaya small plates along with over 90 brands of sake and a full bar pouring the likes of Giddy Geishas and Sumo-kazes. In addition to the 78-seat main dining room (incorporating elements of water, air and earth), the stylish venue features a sushi bar and two private dining rooms (2251 Broadway, Oakland; 510-286-9866).

Henry’s Hunan: The fifth branch of the long-running Hunan empire is wokking up its signature smoked pork and fiery fare on Noe Valley’s Church Street Restaurant Row. It replaces Joey & Eddie’s Pescheria – look for the modified awning overhead (1708 Church St.; 415-826-9189).

Urban Renewal

BuzzEditor — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:15:00 GMT

Is it zeitgeist or mere coincidence that two of the city’s most highly anticipated new restaurants are riffing on the word 'urban'? Perhaps Urban Tavern and Urbino, the establishments in question, want diners to know that they're not out in the 'burbs... and daydream about being in Europe while they're at it.

First up is Urban Tavern, the forthcoming gastropub in the Hilton San Francisco. It was conceived and designed by Bistro Don Giovanni’s founder Donna Scala, but will be overseen by tireless restaurateur Laurent Manrique, the culinary director of Aqua who also reopened the Fifth Floor earlier this year. Debuting on Friday, Urban Tavern is being billed as a “timeless, uncomplicated homage to the European tavern in a downtown setting” and will have a Mediterranean focus (333 O’Farrell St.).

Urbino, which won't open until 2009, is the third in the trifecta of regional Italian eateries from the folks behind A 16 and SPQR. To be located in Espirit Park in the Dogpatch district in 2009, the restaurant gets its name – and culinary inspiration – from the hilltop town in the Le Marche area located in the center of The Boot near the Adriatic Coast. It will also feature an adjacent rosticceria and retail shop of imported gourmet goods (900 Minnesota St.).

– Meesha Halm

Where the Actors Are the Owners (Not Just the Waiters)

BuzzEditor — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:12:00 GMT

Have you been to a celebrity-owned restaurant?

Are they worth the hype? Share your thoughts on the Zagat Discussion boards!

With the writers' strike finally over and the Academy Awards just around the corner on February 24th, most of Hollywood is thinking about who will be taking home that little gold guy. But not everybody can win an Oscar, so financially prudent actors might find themselves pondering potential side businesses. And if they want a tried-and-true second gig, the food industry is very welcoming to thespians. We're talking about owning here, not waiting on tables or tending bar.

LA is arguably the capital of the celeb-backed restaurant. The scene-heavy Melrose Italian Dolce Enotca e Ristorante has backing from the likes of Ashton Kutcher; the same group also owns the newish Ketchup,which boasts Wilmer Valderrama and Tara Reid as backers. Then there's Cathy Moriarty's pizza mini-chain Mulberry St. Pizza. Over in Pasadena, Jennifer Lopez opened Madre's, a glamour Puerto Rican dining spot. And, don't forget about Eva Longoria Parker and Todd English's upcoming Beso. Even Steven Spielberg's mother has her own kosher dairy kitchen, Milky Way. Although Johnny Depp no longer owns the Viper Room, the House of Blues, with investors ranging from Dan Aykroyd to Aerosmith, is still going strong.

For Robert De Niro, winning two Oscars wasn't enough – he still wanted to become an über-restaurateur. In West Hollywood, he has Ago, a pricey Tuscan that recently opened a location in Las Vegas and is on its way to New York. He has Rubicon in San Francisco and Nobu, Nobu 57 and Tribeca Grill in New York. Paul Newman, also an Oscar winner, opened the Dressing Room, an organic New American that sits adjacent to wife Joanne Woodward’s beloved Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, CT. Oscar winner Timothy Hutton put some money into the Midtown pub P.J. Clarke's, which now has three locations. And Oscar-winning director (and actor) Quentin Tarantino was an early investor in Korean Barbecue Do Hwa in New York City.

Indeed, NYC has no shortage of celeb-backed ventures. Justin Timberlake (yes, he's an actor too) recently brought Memphis BBQ to the Upper East Side via Southern Hospitality. Chris Noth's nightspot in the Flatiron, the Cutting Room, offers a performance space for all types of acts. The first Planet Hollywood even landed in Gotham and although the chain has lost some of its swagger and some of its original backers (most notably the Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger) it still has Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone to stand behind the 18 locations around the world, plus a recently opened Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.

While the majority of actor-backed restaurants are in the celeb-infested environs of New York and LA, they do pop up elsewhere. In 2006, Sandra Bullock teamed with chef Brenton Childs to open Bess in Austin. Don Johnson and Cheech Marin are both backers behind San Fransisco's French-Vietnamese Ana Mandara. And in Paris, Gérard Depardieu has two restaurants: the Classic French La Fontaine Gaillon and the raw bar L'Ecaille de la Fontaine.

Trend Watch: Condo Cuisine

BuzzEditor — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:20:00 GMT

High-rise dining is on the rise in San Francisco as a flurry of heavy-hitting restaurateurs race to open signature eateries in a spate of yet-to-be-built luxury condominiums.

After months of rumors, it looks like Zagat topper Gary Danko has heeded the siren call and will open a more relaxed restaurant – his second, just blocks away from his eponymous flagship – in the forthcoming Fairmont Heritage Place in the newly refurbished Ghirardelli Square (along with other new entrants like Cellar 360). The yet-to-be-named, 150-seat brasserie and cafe will serve à la carte fare, complemented by an all-day American bar menu conceived as “a cross between a diner and seafood bar.” There will also be outdoor dining on the Fountain Plaza level of the Square. If anyone can lure hungry San Francisco residents to the traditionally tourist-ridden neighborhood it's Danko, who's bravely accepted “the challenge of designing a bar and restaurant with simple good food and wine, in a place where locals may typically have not visited in years.”

Over at the 22-story Soma Grand (1160 Mission St), the forthcoming luxury condo complex run by Joie de Vivre Hospitality, Charles Phan of The Slanted Door and Out the Door has signed on to open a 125-seat restaurant serving both building residents and the public. As of now the cuisine of the new venue, slated for next year, is undisclosed but Phan has said it will be a departure from his other Vietnamese juggernauts.

Meanwhile, tireless restaurateur Michael Mina (who has prospective projects in places as far flung as Costa Rica) and his longtime wine director Rajat Parr have announced intentions to open RN74, a casual, moderately priced French-American restaurant and wine bar named after the main thoroughfare in Burgundy. It's set to debut in the still-under-construction 60-story Millennium Tower (301 Mission St.), which isn’t supposed to be finished until spring 2009. In the meantime, they’ve tapped AvroKO, the design team responsible for the seasonally changing Park Avenue Winter in NYC, to dream up the interior.

– Meesha Halm

The Allure of the Single Malt

BuzzEditor — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 22:20:00 GMT

Whiskey may just be the city’s new It drink. Not only have whiskey libations been usurping mojitos and other trendy cocktails at hot spots such as Coco 500, The Alembic and Bourbon and Branch, but this month alone San Francisco is hosting not one but two all-malt fests.

First up, tonight, oysters and whiskey will be the strange yet supposedly “age-old Islay pairing” at Absinthe Brasserie & Bar, at what is being billed as the First Annual ‘Little Feis lle’ Islay Malt & Oyster Festival. The swill 'n' swallow fest will showcase 20 different Islay drams along with endless oysters in the restaurant’s private dining room (October 11, 6 PM; $50 per person; for tickets, contact Vanessa Harris at 415-551-1453 or e-mail vharris@absinthe.com).

And later in the month, on October 23rd, Malt Advocate magazine is hosting its first annual San Francisco Whiskey Fest at the Hyatt Regency. Following in the footsteps of its two other sold-out whiskey-palooza events held in Chicago and New York, the event will feature more than 200 of the world's finest, rarest and most expensive single malt and blended whiskeys from around the world to sample in one Grand Ballroom. Attendees will also enjoy a gourmet buffet all evening and will receive a commemorative Glencairn whiskey glass (October 23, 6:30–10 PM; 5 Embarcadero Center; general admission tickets cost $105; VIP tickets are $145 and include 5:30 PM entry; tickets are available online at www.maltadvocate.com).

Bottoms up!

-Meesha Halm

Eyes on Izakaya

BuzzEditor — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 21:37:00 GMT

The classic dining area at Sudachi

photo: Kevin Bond

San Francisco has seen an uptick in izakayas – Japanese taverns serving small plates and sake drinks – as diners hunger for options beyond sushi from the Land of the Rising Sun. The most recent entry is the Sunset District’s Sozai Restaurant and Sake Lounge. Sozai means "ingredients" in Japanese, and you’ll find plenty of interesting ingredient combinations on the menu – all lightly salted “to bring out the tastes of earth and ocean,” the menu says, and perhaps, we suspect, also to tempt patrons to order another drink (1500 Irving St.; 415-681-7150).

Looking for more izakayas? Check out these spots.

Hime
Nihon
Oyaji
Sudachi
Umami

Trend Watch: Wine Bars Everywhere

BuzzEditor — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:46:00 GMT

Bar Bambino

photo: Elizabeth Tichenor

Sometimes it seems like you can't turn around without bumping into yet another wine bar. Over the past few months, several new ones have sprouted up around town, making it even easier to get a glass of vino.

Bar Bambino (Mission)
Dell'Uva (North Beach)
Jovino (Cow Hollow)
Nua (North Beach)
Rouge et Blanc (Downtown)

Absinthe Wars

BuzzEditor — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 23:58:00 GMT

Ted Breaux serving his Lucid absinthe at Tales of the Cocktail.

photo: Carla Spartos

Seemingly everywhere you turn here at Tales of the Cocktail, someone’s pushing absinthe, the bitter, anise-flavored spirit distilled from wormwood made famous by Belle Époque artists and madmen. Within 24 hours of arriving in the Big Easy, the Buzz was invited to sample no less than three brands, including Lucid, La Fée and Marteau.

But isn't absinthe illegal in the U.S.? Apparently the law only prohibits absinthe that contains more than 10 mg per liter of thujone, the active ingredient in wormwood, and most "authentic" absinthe contains less than that amount.

And so this March, U.S. regulators approved Lucid, making it the first absinthe to be legally distributed on these shores in 95 years. It hit the shelves in New York last month, where it retails for $59.95 a bottle. It will soon be available in all 50 states, according to its creator, New Orleans–born chemist Ted Breaux.

La Fée absinthe tasting.

photo: Carla Spartos

Now others are trying to elbow their way into the market. Gwydion Stone, the pony-tailed founder of Seattle’s Wormwood Society, is hoping to release his Swiss-made absinthe, Marteau, in October. And the U.K.-based La Fée – poured at posh London hotels such as Claridge’s and Sanderson – is in New Orleans gauging the American audience.

It's enthusiastic, according to Breaux, who says the "whole country assaulted New York" in an attempt to get their hands on the initial shipments of Lucid.

Traditionally served diluted with water and tempered with sugar, absinthe is now popping up in cocktails in trendy bars. In NYC, Employees Only shakes up a Lucid mojito while Milk and Honey uses La Fée in its Sea Fizz cocktail. Breaux says he has received numerous inquiries from fine-dining restaurants too.

What about tales of green fairies and lopped-off earlobes? “Properly distilled, there is nothing harmful about absinthe,” says Breaux, who maintains that bad alcohol from unscrupulous distillers is to blame for the spirit’s 19th-century notoriety. As for Van Gogh, “He was drinking loads of other alcohol,” says a La Fée rep. “And smoking all kinds of weed.”

– Carla Spartos

Trend Watch: Farm Country

BuzzEditor — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 16:32:00 GMT

From Best of the Buzz

FARM in Napa, CA

Recently, the farm-to-table culinary ethos has moved from the menu to the marquee. Below is a sampling of the latest farm-themed restaurants to crop up around the country.

FARM, Napa, CA
Farm on Adderly, NYC
Farm Stand, El Segundo, CA
Clyde's Willow Creek Farm, Broadlands, VA
farmerbrown, Oakland, CA
Flatbush Farm, NYC