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Wednesday, April 15, 2009
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Value Added Tax Day
We were write off to Table Café to impose a levy on some dough. The breakfast dosa ($9.25) is the best way to eggcise pork-barrel spending. A warm, Indian style pancake lends a sour tang to crisp Niman bacon subsidized by scrambled eggs. We consider this a tariffic order.
We also took a cut of an asparagus dosa ($10.00) which was a springy column earmarked with green garlic, lemon aioli and melty Gruyere. We would both claim ourselves as dependents to this stalk portfolio.
A garnishment of apple onion, spiced pear and avocado relishes were in compliance with our usury. There are strong economic incentives to chart your way to Table (due to the top bracket ingredients at reasonable expenditure levels.) If you have been exempt from filing over in the past, it’s worth checking out their auditable edibles.
Table Café
1167 Magnolia Ave.
Larkspur, CA
415.461.6787
Mark your Calendar
The SF Food Bank and the Commonwealth Club will present “A National Food Policy - But What About the Hungry?” on April 23rd. This panel discussion moderated by Amy Sherman will focus on the future of food in the U.S. and how to craft a policy that will feed its neediest citizens.
A New National Food Policy - But What About the Hungry?
April 23, 6pm
Tickets - $8 members, $15 non-members
PG&E Theater
245 Market St.
San Francisco, CA
415.597.6700
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Tuesday, April 14, 2009
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We sat down in Panama Hotel’s trinket lined dining room:
... where we lunched on crab cake sliders ($12.00):
... with soft dinner roll shells. Our crabby patties weren’t made by SpongeBob, but these chummy chile and lime aioli enhanced bites were moist, well seasoned, bread-crusted-tastions. The accompanying heap of chili-garlic fries were good, but the garlic overpowered the delicate sweetness of the crab.
The Panama burger ($14.00):
... was packed with avocado, tomatoes, red onion, Romaine, bacon and chili aioli. The La Brea Bakery bun was robust enough to hold up to this juicy, generous patty (which we chose not to eat Hasselhoff-style). The seasoned fries worked better with this turf than they did with the surf.
We came with bikini bottom expectations and were pleasantly surprised by the friendly, efficient staff and yummy chow at this San Rafael Inn-stitution.
Panama Hotel
4 Bayview St.
San Rafael, CA
415.457.3993
Mark your Calendar
Traci Des Jardins, Chris Cosentino and Elizabeth Falkner are just a few of the chefs working to end childhood hunger during Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation event on April 23rd.
There will be a tasting reception, a mixology program (that’s cocktails to you and me) as well as a dinner and an auction.
Check out the impressive chef and mixologist line up here for an event benefiting Foodrunners, Children of Shelters and Sports 4 Kids.
Share Our Strength’s
Taste of the Nation
Thursday, April 23
tickets for the reception and dinner are $250 each and $75 for the tasting reception only.
The Field Club Lounge at AT&T Park for the tasting reception
Acme Chophouse for the dinner and auction
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Monday, April 13, 2009
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Nopalito welcomes you with a little dish of crunchy, chili, lime and salt encrusted garbanzos:
These M&Ms of the savory snack world set the tone for the chips ($4.00):
... made with house made tortillas. They grind their masa and bump out tantalizing tortillas for this and other preparations. These fried wedges are showered in salsa and cotija cheese with a side of crema and lime. We said hello to a familiar party of 2 and a half who told us not to pass up these cheery chips.
Rock cod ceviche ($9.50):
... bathed in lime juice with tomatillo and cilantro with avocado and more of those crunchy tortilla chips upped the scale of this fabulous fish dish.
Carnitas ($14.00):
... were presented as a packet of paper-wrapped pork. These beautiful beer braised, bay and orange scented, meltingly tender morsels of marbled meat were served with a bag of hot, fresh tortillas, slaw, salsa and pickled japapeno which coalesced into a must-order platter.
A smurf-toned, corn smut, mushroom and cheese filled, quesadilla ($8.00):
... was a mild and pleasant fungus fold-over.
The staff was friendly and efficient in this crazy-busy Mexican kitchen. There is a para llevar window:
... for those who don’t want to delay their carnitas consummation, but the para aqui action is worth the wait. Their sister restaurant, Nopa, also suffers from serious popularity for their food from the other side of the Divisidero border, but the bonus about waiting at Nopalito, is that you can do some non-perishable grocery shopping next door while you wait for your table to free up.
A couple nutty polvorones:
... were nice buttery bites to end our excellent dinner. We’ll definitely return to try some of their other enticing menu items like the goat stew and the mole.
Nopalito
306 Broderick St.
San Francisco, CA
415.437.0303
Mark your Calendar
Beretta, Bar Bambino and Bourbon and Branch will all B part of Root Division’s Taste 2009.
Live music and latte art will add to the mixology of this culinary and visual art event supporting Root Division’s free after school art classes for Bay Area youth.
Taste 2009
Thursday, April 23
tickets $75 and up
Root Division
3175 17th St.
San Francisco, CA
415.863.7668
The launch party for Meatpaper’s issue number 7 - the Pig Issue is taking place at Camino where Russell Moore will put another hog on the fire while Ryan Farr’s chicharrones and Taylor Boetticher’s charcuterie are washed down with specialty cocktails. Leif Hedendal’s food may not have a face, but I like to put it in mine.
Check out the issue 6 launch party at Acme Chophouse for an idea of how Meatpaper likes to roulade.
Meatpaper Issue 7 launch party
Monday, April 27 6-9 p.m.
tickets $35 per person in advance (no tickets will be sold at the door)
Camino Restaurant
3917 Grand Ave.
Oakland, CA
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Sunday, April 12, 2009
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We headed to K&N’s Sonoma digs:
... where we chomped on luscious lamb:
... salt spuds:
... and bacon blanketed Belgian endive:
The ratio of bottles of wine to diners was evenly balanced on this Feaster Sunday.
-G
Mark your Calendar
You will be making a deadly nightshade mistake if you miss the annual perennial sale thrown by the Marin Master Gardeners. You will be asked your zip code (before being matched with the varieties best suited for your microclimate) by experts who will also advise you on planting and the care of your crop.
Check out last year’s event and the resulting fruits.
Organic Heirloom & Hybrid Tomato Market
Saturday, April 18, 9 a.m.- Noon
Pini Ace Hardware - Nave Shopping Center
1535 S. Novato Blvd.
Novato, CA
Sunday, April 19, 9 a.m. - Noon
Marin Art & Garden Center
30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.
Ross, CA
415.499.4204
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Saturday, April 11, 2009
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We flocked to K&J's house swarming party which was teeming with yummy chow and animated conversations.
I picked up some important buffet tips today. If you slice up a variety of sausages:
... people will gobble them up (rather than letting whole, commitment portions languish on a platter). K’s fruit layering philosophy:
... the most favored fruit goes on the bottom to reward those who aggressively dig.
J makes my favorite style of brownie:
... moist and fudgey with a thin crackily layer on top.
After making our presence known to the new neighbors:
... we considered the house officially warmed.
-G
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Friday, April 10, 2009
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We dug into our tub of Prather Ranch lard (which we shuffled in place of the recipe’s requested shortening) to raise the stakes on tonight’s poker game dessert.
Our pals loved the fruity flake fest of our all time favorite apple pie recipe.
The genius of Alton Brown’s method is drawing off and reducing the apple liquid and baking the pies on the floor of the oven for the first half hour. We don’t bother with the pie bird or the unconventional pan and found the best source of the grains of paradise to be Le Sanctuaire (but you have to buy a big bag, they aren’t Le Spice Islands.)
Mark your Calendar
Boulevard’s Nancy Oakes is taking a sixth lap of steering the largest annual fundraiser for the San Francisco chapter of Meals on Wheels - the Star Chefs & Vintners Gala.
This Fort Mason function will be fueled by a roster of talent including Daniel Patterson, Richard Reddington and Roland Passot.
In addition to top notch wines, this year there will be specialty cocktails by bar-lebrities including Scott Beattie and Daniel Hyatt to add local spirits to the mix.
Check out our coverage of last year’s event to get an idea of what sort of culinary concoctions are in store.
Meals on Wheels of San Francisco
Star Chefs & Vintners Gala
Sunday, May 17, 2009
tickets $400 and up
Fort Mason
San Francisco, CA
415.920.1111 ext 281
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Thursday, April 9, 2009
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We went to Rumi n’ ate over the former El Rey-Pakal and Bamyan location:
Rumi is cooking up Persian and Middle Eastern chow and lots of it.
Tah dig ($9.00):
... is meant to be the crunchy layer of rice stuck to the bottom of the pot. Rumi’s version took brittle rice chunks and topped them with fesenjon. This ground walnut and pomegranate juice stew had a pleasant sweet and tart flavor which didn’t make up for its dry, overcooked chicken. We had better luck with the braised chicken in saffron tomato sauce ($12.00):
... which was moist and flavorful alongside a mountain of barberry studded basmati:
... with caramelized onions. These tangy tidbits added a kicky counterpoint to the saffron sauced chicken. We used some of the house made flatbread to scoop up stray bits of this tasty dish.
Chubby got the lamb shish kabob ($21.00):
... with tender chunks of meat, bell peppers and onions skewered beside some roasted tomatoes and basmati. This was a good meal, but not as complex as my chicken and jeweled-rice combo.
The staff was friendly and there was some good food to be had. Some of the servings are linebacker-sized, but they are just getting started so perhaps they are erring on the side of generosity.
Rumi
227 3rd St.
San Rafael, CA
415.455.9797
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