Most of us started out in the kitchen making cookies with family for a holiday or boiling water for blue-box mac and cheese. Maybe we set off the smoke detector an embarrassing number of times, but regardless, those simple cooking lessons built the foundation for how we eat in adulthood. Now, in the Bay Area—world-renowned for its “foodie culture”—several institutions are bringing basic cooking lessons to the next level. Part of the fun in cooking for kids is that they develop a sense of independence. If they want a snack, now they can make one for themselves! But more than that, cooking helps kids feel connected to their families and their friends in a way that only food can.

If you’re looking to get your kid started, here are a few places around the Bay fostering a love of the culinary arts in kids ages 4-18.

Sprouts Cooking Club

3206 Hannah Street
Oakland, CA 94608

Sprouts Cooking Club wants to connect kids to food on a deeper level, using hands-on learning from “chefs that have different ethnic backgrounds, individual cooking techniques, and unique philosophies on nutrition and ingredients.”

Part of a bi-coastal effort to get students into the culinary arts, Sprouts Cooking Club has a wide variety of programs open to kids of varying ages.

One stand-out program Sprouts offers is the six-month Chef-in-Training (CIT) program. CIT is a paid apprenticeship wherein young adults “that haven’t had it easy” learn the skills they need to know in order to land a long-term job in the food industry. During the program, they’re partnered with a chef mentor and receive job application coaching so they’re ready for their next step.

For younger, amateur cooks, check out Sprouts’ spring and summer camps. Kids 7-12 spend the week learning knife and safety rules while cooking with accomplished guest chefs using locally sourced ingredients. Past camps have included cooking at The Funky Elephant for the day, trips to the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market, and running Gibson restaurant for a week.

Cook! Programs

2940 Seventh Street
Berkeley, CA 94710

“Cooking is such a perfect medium for kids to gain confidence in their own abilities and get success out of something they’ve put their energy into,” says Tracy Cates, founder of Cook! Programs. Cook! offers summer camps and classes for kids aged 9-18, with the possibility of continuing on to an internship for older students.

The courses are hosted at Rocket Restaurant Resource, a supply store with two large commercial kitchens where kids won’t have to worry about whether or not they have a spatula. “We’re in a commercial setting, with all the equipment they could need,” says Cates. “So there’s the opportunity for them to experience a very wide range of culinary techniques.”

Classes range from dinner and desserts, to pasta and asian-style courses, and are taught by professional chefs from across the Bay—like Chef Paige Reinis and Chef Francisco Machado.

If you’re looking for something a little more challenging, older kids, between 13-18, can take the chef-in-training course, which is two weeks and two days of intensive study. Chefs-in-training will learn proper knife skills and kitchen rules, as well as be encouraged to experiment with what they’ve learned.

The Cooking Project

San Francisco Bay Area, CA
(Locations vary depending on partner)

By partnering with different communities and schools across the bay, The Cooking Project, founded by Daniel Patterson and Sasha Bernstein, has a slightly different approach to teaching kids culinary basics.

“We take a three-prong approach to our cooking classes,” says Bernstein. The first prong is technical, which includes foundational techniques like knife skills, health and safety rules, and how to use heat sources appropriately. The other prongs are “practical” and “conceptual.”

“The practical side is things like shopping and budgeting, how to use leftovers, seasonality, and sustainability,” continues Bernstein. For the conceptual prong, The Cooking Project works with a sociologist to develop themes around society and food. Past themes have included “food as medicine,” “food and community,” and “race and ethnicity around food.”

Some current partners of The Cooking Project include the Guardian Scholars Program, San Francisco State University, Oakland Asian Community Center, and JCYC. Classes are generally geared toward students between the ages of 15-25 and they run parallel to school semesters in the area.

Past classes have ranged from “eggs five different ways” to bibingka and calamansi juice and have been taught by chefs like Ervin Lopez and Mira D’Souza. Courses are made available to students free of charge and can be found through their respective schools or community centers throughout the year.

Kitchen on Fire

6506 San Pablo Ave
Oakland, CA 94608

For the past six years, Lisa Miller, co-owner of Kitchen on Fire, has been helping teens learn to cook.

“I think it’s a life skill they will be really glad their parents sought out for them when they were this age,” says Miller.

Currently, Kitchen on Fire runs four summer camps a year and a spring break camp where students can come and learn to cook with chefs like co-owner Olivier Said—aka “Chef Olive.” Past dishes have included vegetarian paella, fresh-made pizza, and gallo pinto.

“Being a part of [food] in the kitchen and making it and being able to make a decision about what goes into it or understanding how it all comes together and appreciating the food, actually goes a long way to just eating healthier,” continues Miller.

While the teen camps are currently only a few times a year, Kitchen on Fire is hoping to work on offering more courses throughout the year—including a soon-to-be-announced offering for young college students between the ages of 17-20.

Culinary Artistas

Ghirardelli Square
900 North Point Street, Suite H-108 B
San Francisco, CA 94109

Offering courses for the youngest chefs in this guide, Culinary Artistas, located in the famous Ghirardelli Square, offers courses for kids ages 4-9—and they go even younger if the parent wants to take the class, too.

The program was founded by Vanessa Silva, formerly of La Happy Belly, another cooking and education center geared at young learners. Silva, along with “Sous Chef Peter” and “Sous Chef Janine,” works to “develop creative minds and healthy bodies.”

Part day-camp, part exploratory cooking experience, the summer camps at Culinary Artistas break up cooking activities with outdoor excursions and activities. Their Wrap and Roll camp, for example, offered kids the chance to explore areas like Fort Mason and the Municipal Pier before coming back to make their own dumplings for an afternoon snack.

If you’d like to test the waters with your toddling chef, the year-round Cook with Your Little Ones series offers weekly 1-hour classes with story time and cooking activities meant to inspire and expand your kid’s love of food. Since these classes have parents present, they allow for children as young as 24 months to participate.

Baking a standout pie isn’t, well, as “easy as pie.”

Chances are extremely high that the majority of San Francisco home cooks aren’t baking their own pie because, from blueberry with a lattice crust to mincemeat with a brown sugar crumble, pies aren’t just a trivial “add a few ingredients, mix, throw in oven, and forget it while you answer emails” type of recipe if you’re going at it fully from scratch. Sure, the Pillsbury dough boy can help cut a few pie corners when you desperately want to put a pie on the table promptly, but, when crust is 50 to 60% of the whole pie equation, the likelihood of a transcendent pie in that case will have already been cut dramatically.

There’s no way around it—pies need tender loving care. San Francisco’s unofficial newly crowned master of the pie-baking art, Angela Pinkerton, offers up some critical advice to aspiring pie bakers that her “secret” to outstanding pie results isn’t really a deep piece of wisdom but something we need to be reminded: relax. Don’t overwork the dough. Don’t over-season the filling.

Pinkerton’s baking office these days is at four-week old Theorita, a contemporary take on a mid 20th century Midwest dinette (think an intimate diner with a condensed menu) on the ground floor of a renovated autobody shop, below its neighbor and Divisadero’s scorching hot Cali-Italian cooking destination, Che Fico. Her name might ring a bell from a somewhat recent article on this website when this writer chronicled the opening days of Che Fico, where Pinkerton is responsible for the fantastic rustic desserts.

To this day, Che Fico remains the most in-demand table of the moment, neck-and-neck with State Bird Provisions with who can have a longer sidewalk line at 6 PM on a given night. Anderson Cooper and Gwyneth Paltrow both dined at Che Fico and gave it the Instagram love. Che Fico is an anchor for dining on the Divisadero corridor, the hottest restaurant zone in the city. The area is at the heart of the gentrification debate, arguably the hottest topic these days in San Francisco. It’s where $4 toast was invented. Google buses clog Divisadero’s narrow four lanes at morning and evening rush hour times. Real estate prices in the area are skyrocketing.

There is just so much…EVERYTHING…right now in that particular neighborhood at this particular time. The sudden growth and controversies and the debates surrounding could all use a slice of humble pie.

And, on cue, here is Theorita, full of a case of Pinkerton’s unfussy, spectacular pies.

There, tucked inside by the sidewalk adjacent window, is a classic apple pie on display, perhaps next to the somewhat unexpected corn custard pie and the very unexpected passion fruit with bay leaf cream pie (slices are $5.50 and whole pies are $34). You’ll always find bourbon-chocolate-walnut pie because, Pinkerton joked to us, “San Francisco can’t get enough bourbon,” but it probably has a lot to do with the term “chocolate” in the filling. There might be a summer berry pie, or a peach and oatmeal crumble pie, or a raspberry and white nectarine pie, or a smaller “sweetie pie” topped with practically a whole pound of strawberries or raspberries (usually $10), or who knows what else is in season that Pinkerton is inspired by.

Even that childhood sandwich favorite, PB & J, gets translated into a pie form with a crust similar to a peanut butter-oatmeal cookie and a “jelly” filling made of seedless Thomcords that are really only in season for the tail end of summer like tomatoes. Pinkerton is constantly tinkering with new pie crusts, fillings and toppings. There might be some chocolate in one crust or rosemary to join fresh raspberries. She’s having every bit as much fun within the genre of “pie” as the chefs upstairs are having with pasta. It’s really exciting to watch.

It’s not just pies, however, to tempt your sweet tooth. The salted pecan sticky bun is what generally jumps out to prospective diners first at the green-hued pastry case. It often resides next to a puffy brioche-based chocolate orange sugar bun. Then there are Danishes often filled with a sweet cheese of some sort and sometimes with berries or fruit. Pies might be the specialty of the house but Pinkerton wants Danishes to be considered the vital supporting character in the bakery cast. There are no croissants to be found, but those Danishes and savory roasted scallion “swirls” are part of the laminated dough family. You’ll also encounter “quick breads” and more breakfast-friendly baked items like a chamomile ginger scone and or a chocolate zucchini muffin.

But, wait, then there are the cookies that range widely in size, shape and texture from seeds n’ berries oatmeal to sweet potato and coffee (most cookies are $3 and pastries are usually $4-$5). On the competitive San Francisco chocolate chip cookie scene, Pinkerton is very much trying to balance a crunchy exterior with a soft, tender interior and a good dose of butter for richness without being too distracting from the Vahlrona chocolate chunks. She aspires for the “best of both worlds” and the city’s cookie monsters appreciate that.

San Francisco’s diverse and abundant baking scene is one of the giant reasons that attracted Pinkerton to relocate to the Bay Area in the first place. And, her repertoire offered at Theorita very much follows in the same tradition of our local legends like Tartine, b. Patisserie and Craftsman & Wolves—baked goods that are comforting and approachable, slightly rooted in a classic American or French nature, then often given a clever tweak or seasonal produce boost. San Francisco baking doesn’t follow the rigid structure of, say, a Parisian patisserie or a Viennese bakery. We’re all about butter, sugar, produce and delicious fun. Theorita is now the latest stop on our city’s phenomenal tour de pastry cases.

Pinkerton’s personal journey didn’t involve staging at a legendary bakery or a canelé epiphany in the French countryside. It started in a very different countryside — what her website describes as the “rolling hills” of northeastern Ohio, though this writer lived for a year about an hour away and can attest that the “hills” are mild enough that he had to run in and out of sand bunkers on a golf course to get a hill workout. Simply put, it’s very pastoral farmland in northeast Ohio.

Her hometown of Alliance, Ohio, is the vintage slice of wholesome Americana that is rapidly disappearing from this country. It resides near the Akron-Canton part of the Buckeye state, just south of Cleveland, and best known to outsiders for being the home region of Lebron James, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. Then there is a fourth thing that locals correctly boast about the area: the apple orchards.

Her maternal grandparents had an orchard, so its apple crop was always a part of Pinkerton’s childhood. Meanwhile, her parents always had a garden and young Pinkerton would help out with cooking at home. Becoming a chef was never something that she thought about while growing up, but there is no doubt that food, especially pie, was instrumental in her youth. Her grandmother, Theorita (the restaurant’s namesake), had spent decades perfecting various kinds of pies as the mother of five children and because her husband always wanted dessert. Pie was a somewhat fast, somewhat easy, and very delicious way to please the growing kids and hungry husband.

Pinkerton later pursued a biology degree at Kent State and took a job working as a clerk at a bakery, which evolved into a full-time gig baking wedding cakes while also being a student. She left Kent State to open her own wedding cakes concept, “Let Them Eat Cake,” and then opted to learn more about savory cooking with a kitchen job at a local country club. After being largely self-taught, Pinkerton figured that a proper culinary education would greatly help her career prospects. So, she left Ohio for the swamp of our nation’s capital and studied pastry arts the now-closed L’Academie de Cuisine just outside D.C.

Her next stop after graduation was as a pastry chef for the Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City, where she doesn’t have too many juicy politician stories to tell, but says there was “always drama, always something” going on. It was definitely a world away from Alliance, Ohio. As grand a stage as Arlington, Virginia is, Pinkerton was ready for the grander stage of a restaurant in the grandest restaurant market of the country.

Pinkerton’s first “restaurant job” happened to be at Eleven Madison Park in New York, which at the time in 2007, was not one of the “World’s 50 Best Restaurants.” It was merely an excellent restaurant in a gorgeous setting, owned by New York’s most successful restaurateur (Danny Meyer) and an innovative, immensely talented ex-San Francisco chef (Campton Place) named Daniel Humm. Eleven Madison Park wasn’t Eleven Madison Park back then. But, it was still a huge deal with the same name and a different type of ambition than it has now. For a first restaurant job to be there, well, it’s a huge accomplishment with not your average job debut pressure. Pinkerton clearly was ready and even chuckles when every writer, including this one, asks about how her first restaurant job was at the “pinnacle of her profession.” For Pinkerton, it was just her first restaurant job. It was work.

2009 was the breakthrough transition year for Eleven Madison Park and Pinkerton. Frank Bruni, then the New York Times Dining Critic, awarded four stars for the restaurant, a title held only by five restaurants today. That year, Pinkerton was promoted from Pastry Sous Chef to Executive Pastry Chef, and she deservedly reached the national spotlight in 2011 by taking the highest honor in the country for a pastry chef: the James Beard award for Outstanding Pastry Chef. Here’s a fun piece about that honor from her hometown’s newspaper in Ohio.

Pinkerton held the Executive Pastry Chef title at Eleven Madison Park for five years, overseeing a period when the restaurant had no shortage of cleverness and lofty ambition, serving carrot tartare in place of beef, for example, and creating a “New York History” tasting menu that included a mystery card game to determine one of the desserts for each diner. In 2014, she left the restaurant and New York for the greener (golden, really) pastures of San Francisco.

This is where we need to step in and clarify for the general dining public that Pinkerton didn’t move to San Francisco because of Che Fico and Theorita, contrary to what many articles suggest. Pinkerton overlapped with David Nayfeld in Eleven Madison Park’s kitchen for a few years and the two became friends. Nayfeld is a Bay Area native and had subsequently moved to San Francisco after Eleven Madison Park, so the two connected and Nayfeld helped Pinkerton adjust to the Bay Area. She would even go to his family’s home for Thanksgiving.

Pinkerton spent several months working with Craftsman and Wolves’ William Werner to develop new pastries, coinciding with that bakery’s expansion to Russian Hill (now closed) and the Bayview, and a potential addition in Los Angeles that never happened. However, she really missed the energy of being in a restaurant.

Nayfeld always had plans for a Divisadero restaurant (what became Che Fico) with business partner Matt Brewer, a driving force behind some of Chicago’s marquee restaurants as a co-founder of the restaurant group Hogsalt Hospitality. Pinkerton signed on to help with their restaurant’s dessert program. Then, things really fell into place a little bit by chance when the third project of the Divisadero former auto shop complex (Che Fico, Boba Guys and Concept C) fell through. Che Fico’s investors were huge fans of Pinkerton’s work, both from her resume and desserts she made at dinners for them in San Francisco. So, this third space could be her domain. Pinkerton admits that it was “kind of crazy” that Che Fico and Theorita opened so close together, but the team was ready.

Nayfeld is very much the lead voice at Che Fico with Pinkerton in charge of desserts, while it’s loosely vice versa for Theorita with Pinkerton’s baking and desserts as center stage, and Nayfeld responsible for the main breakfast, lunch and dinner food menu that compliments Pinkerton’s extensive program. The experience at both restaurants is truly elevated to a pretty special level because of the unique ideas and skills each brings to the two kitchens.

Nayfeld’s creations at Theorita vastly differ from Che Fico, but do have a similar contemporary/Californian take on a classic cuisine, just with Italy replaced by Iowa or Indiana. The dinner menu takes over at 5 PM, complemented by an impressive list of natural wines and Northern California beers. The double-stack burger with “special sauce” and both raw and caramelized onions on a potato bun is a blissfully messy affair, with the Marin Sun Farms “Mindful Meat” ground beef given a distinctive griddled exterior char ($15). It’s one of the most popular items for lunch and dinner with the fried chicken sandwich ($13) spruced up with shredded cabbage and housemade Sriracha.

Pinkerton’s pastry case welcome guests at the door, where menus for counter service often mean there is a lot of lingering (it’s table service at night and planned to begin for weekend brunch soon) in front of the tempting baked goods. Then there are the diner design staples once you get past the entrance area — an open kitchen with stations in a line from griddle to fryer to salad assembly; a dozen stools at the granite kitchen counter; tufted booths in flannel, denim and leather that are inspired by the wardrobe that Pinkerton’s grandfather wears in a photo at the entrance with his wife, Theorita, and a motorcycle; and a glazed black and white tile floor.

Some modern elements from designer Jon de la Cruz (Che Fico, Leo’s Oyster Bar) step into the equation, too, like exposed concrete walls and rafters above; colorful, groovy paintings of various people by local artist Tracy Piper above the booths; and a window in the rear of the space that allows diners to see into the pastry kitchen.

Calling Theorita just a “pie shop and dinette” is selling it short, much like labeling Che Fico as a place for just pizza and pasta. It’s a vintage Americana experience that reaches back in time, while leaping forwards, and making the genre fresh again. A ricotta and berry Danish or a pile of butter fries might not convince us that happy days are here again. However, for at least a few moments, these days are ours when sitting in a Theorita booth and digging into a slice of pie.

Theorita
834 Divisadero St.
San Francisco, CA 94117
Facebook
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Hours: Breakfast Wednesday-Friday 7AM-11AM and Saturday-Sunday 8AM-3PM. Lunch Wednesday-Sunday 11AM-3PM. Dinner Wednesday-Sunday 5PM-11PM. Pastry case is open all day.
Price: $-$$

While most people revere summer as the season of exploration, it’s really autumn that beckons poetic discovery. Those crisp mornings are perfect for a walk with the sound of crunching leaves under your feet. It’s time for pumpkins, apples, cider and leaves in a 1970s pantone palette. If you’re not lucky enough to have grown up near the Northern California foothills like I did—where we would make annual trips to Apple Hill, the land of stands, shacks and orchards dedicated to everything apple—then you can create your own little piece of fall bliss within an hour from San Francisco.

This list includes apple orchards, places to get freshly made pies, chestnut groves, a steam engine that rides through old growth Redwood forests all the way to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and a pumpkin patch in your San Francisco backyard. Visit any of these five locations (or visit them all) for a chance to fall into autumn.

Skyline Chestnuts

22322 Skyline Blvd
La Honda, California
94020

If you follow them on Facebook, daily updates by third generation farmer Hans Johsens start popping up in October, alerting newcomers and regulars that it’s almost chestnut season at Skyline Chestnuts in La Honda. And you better make sure you’re paying attention because, as I’ve learned over the years, the chestnut season is short. By mid-November, it’s a wrap.

Skyline Chestnut’s 120 pesticide-free heritage trees are rumored to have been planted by one of the Spanish settlers that occupied this area shortly after it was “acquired by United States in 1847.” Taken over by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District in the 1980s, the orchard saw several years of neglect when it became infeasible for the district to maintain the space.

Although the Johsens had no previous experience with chestnut farming, they took the orchard into their care in 2004 as a seasonal-only operation. But, the Johsens quickly realized the land needed much more attention than what they could give seasonally, and they have been restoring it to its rightful glory ever since.

Trek through their marked pathways amongst shaded canopies and the quintessential smell of autumn as you stalk shiny brown globes of chestnuts that lie on the ground. Or, if you’re lucky, you can spot some chestnuts still in their spiked armor and use the heavy gloves the Johsens provide to pry the nuts free. Get there early in the morning and you might be able to catch the idyllic orchard shrouded in some peaceful coastal fog.

Roaring Camp Railroads

5401 Graham Hill Rd, 
Felton, CA
95018

Although this land was settled in the 1830s, for the last 55 years, Roaring Camp has been a staple visit in Felton, CA in the middle of the Santa Cruz mountains. The founder F. Norman Clark passed away in 1985, with his wife Georgianna (who took over as President of Operations) passing away in 2016, but their daughter Melani Clark is continuing on with her parent’s legacy and still serving as CEO of Roaring Camp just as she was back in 2012 when KQED Food had a chance to catch up with her.

The railroad operates every day except Christmas, and has a series of seasonal activities to keep the kids short attention span for longer than you’ve seen in a while. There’s a series of Hogwarts-esque steam engines that take you to various parts of Santa Cruz Redwoods. Their Santa Cruz Beach Train goes through Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park all the way to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, on a route that used to carry lumber in 1875. Or, take the 1 hour round trip ride to Bear Mountain as you stay shaded under the canopy of our mighty “big trees” and autumn foliage.

They also have face painting, pumpkin patchin, gold panning (sifting through sand to find nuggets of gold) and barbecue. In October they have several events such as their Brewgrass festival, where local breweries and bluegrass meet, and their Harvest Fair where you can make your own scarecrow.

Apple-A-Day Ratzlaff Ranch

13128 Occidental Rd, 
Sebastopol, CA
95472

There is little known about this humble third generation family ran ranch in Sebastopol, overseen by Ken Ratzlaff since he took the reins from his father in the late 1960s. A testament to Ken himself, who is soft-spoken and seemed destined to be an apple grower. Ken’s grandfather purchased the land around 1924 and always intended it for apples and berries.

The Ratzlaff ranch has over 25 acres of land specializing in Gravensteins, Golden Delicious and Rome apples, and for the last 25 years has brought a league of cult followers that swear by their Apple-A-Day apple cider. The apples are taken at their peak ripeness and cold pressed into a cider containing no added sugars or preservatives, and that sweet liquid amber tastes like melted apples. The apple pulp from the pressing process is then used as compost for the orchard.

If you want to apple pick with minimal human contact, this is your go-to, but, their u-pick is only available in September and October. Grab a bag near the honor system shed and head out to the orchard, and you can also bring a picnic and sit under the shade. On your way back, purchase some apple bread or apple cider in the small cooler. This is a no-frills u-pick apple orchard where they don’t have mazes, trampolines, pony rides, bouncy houses, or kettle corn. It’s all about the apples, baby. Bring cash.

Gizdich Ranch

55 Peckham Rd, 
Watsonville, CA
95076

You can spend an entire day at this fourth generation family-owned and operated farm in Watsonville. “Originally purchased by Vincent John Gizdich, a Croatian Immigrant, in 1937,” this 60-acre ranch is overseen by Noah Gizdich and relies on their combination of commercial cropping (selling to nearby Martinelli’s) and u-pick. Gizdich sells 17 varieties of apples — specializing in the Newtown Pippin, an heirloom variety known for tart crisp flavor that’s great for cooking — and six varieties of berries, including Olallieberries.

Opening in September for their u-pick season, you can wander and pick to your heart’s content at the rate of $2 per pound. Take a bite of those same orchard apples in Nita Gizdich’s baseball sized homemade apple dumplings drowning in a caramel-esque sauce. Or, a heaping slice of their fresh Dutch apple pie with a crumbly streusel topping, a la mode. The tender crust and juicy filling starts to co-mingle with the slightly melted ice cream, so your bites become a perfect spoon of creamy, sweet, saucy, crusty and tart. Don’t forget to nab one of their frozen pies for the road so your friends won’t be jealous. All the pies are baked on-site.

And don’t worry if you forgot the snacks at home, they have an on-site deli that sells picnic box lunches with filling sandwiches. Wash it down with their perfectly sweet and tart fresh pressed apple juice. You can also pre-order your four-pound apple Thanksgiving pies here, they sell around 6,000 pies during this time of year. This place is a true testament to the wondrous world of agricultural adaptation, and according to Nita Gizdich, they “just listen to our customers.”

Clancy’s Pumpkin Patch

1620 7th Ave, 
San Francisco, CA
94122

Sure, you could pet calfs, learn to milk a cow, wander in a hay maze, and be in massive open land while picking your own pumpkin from the vines at The Great Peter Pumpkin Patch in Petaluma. But, some of us don’t have cars to get there. For those who don’t have the luxury of a owning or being able to rent a car, but want to partake in the autumnal merriment, look no further than the Inner Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco.

Three generations deep into doing business with San Francisco residents, Clancy’s started selling Christmas Trees in 1949. 30 years later on the same lot, they started selling pumpkins and gourds of all sizes and varieties for decoration and for baking.

Wander this one acre lot seven days a week in the month of October from 9:00AM to 9:00PM. Watch out for possible live turkeys, bring your little ones and your well-mannered four legged friends, and you could maybe even hitch a ride on a tractor-pulled hayride. And you never have to cross the bridge.

If you’re in San Francisco, or constantly commuting in and out of the city for work, it’s hard to miss one of the biggest events of the year: Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference. Amongst all the keynote speakers, parties and concerts, we were most excited to hear that the newest addition to the Salesforce and Michael Mina family would be in town. Trailblazer Tavern, the collaboration between Chefs Michelle Karr-Ueoka, Wade Ueoka and Michael Mina, is one of the most anticipated restaurant openings of 2018 and the two James Beard-nominated chefs from Hawaii came to town for a small preview of their upcoming menu. With the restaurant debuting in November within the Salesforce East building, it wasn’t a surprise to hear that the menu preview aligned perfectly with Salesforce founder Marc Benioff’s birthday (happy birthday, Marc).

The duo is excited for their upcoming restaurant opening, and they are hard at work finalizing a Hawaiian comfort food-inspired menu. Personally, I was most excited to hear that mochi-crusted spam musubi was a part of said menu!

Intrigued? Read on to hear what else these talented chefs are bringing to the Bay.

Welcome to the Bay! How long are you guys here for?

Michelle Karr-Ueoka: Till tomorrow. We flew in last night and did the event for Marc Benioff’s birthday. What we did was two dishes that will probably be on the Trailblazer menu. We wanted to give people a sample of what’s to come next month.

Speaking of next month. Are you excited? How did this project come about?

Wade Ueoka: Most definitely. Yeah, it’s always a dream to try and expand.

Michelle: We feel so blessed to have met Chef Mina when he first came to Hawaii and now, to be able to open a restaurant for Salesforce and for the MINA Group and us together, it’s all about collaboration and we feel very fortunate to be able to do that. We first met when [Michael Mina] did the The Street in Honolulu, and one day he called us up and he said “I have this location—would you be willing to, you know, collaborate on a restaurant in San Francisco?” And I’m like, of course, we would love to!

To come to San Francisco, and bring a little Hawaii and share it with the people here, that’s always been a dream of ours. We’re excited.

What’s the vibe that you want at Trailblazer Tavern? Do you want it to be more fine dining or do you want it to be more of a casual hang out spot? We know right now that it’s going to have Hawaiian vibes, but that could cover so many bases!

Michelle: We wanted to have that aloha spirit, bringing the ohana, bringing people together and just sharing memories over food. Because the menu encompasses different categories like dimsum, noodles, rice, salad, sandwiches, pokei, crudos, and then large plates which are more tapas style where I think we’ll do something from the imu (because in Hawaii everyone associates a luau with the imu) and then like a Hawaiian-style pot roast and some different things. To kind of give it, like, a time where people can relax and enjoy.

What has it been like trying to start this restaurant in San Francisco versus your restaurant in Hawaii? Is it a very different kind of experience you’re feeling from when you opened MW? Or is it the same stresses?

Wade: I think it’s different cause we learned quite a few things since we opened MW. I think MW got rushed—everything happened so fast! You always think about things like ohhhh, I’ll do this, I’ll do this differently. So now we have a menu of things that we’ve been going over the past few years versus trying to just rush and do things to open. When we opened MW we had all these dreams of all the things and it was like oh that doesn’t work, this doesn’t work. Or that worked and this works so we’ve learned! We’ve been able to, I guess, build up something of what has worked and what hasn’t worked.

Michelle: And then I think too… we’ve been open for five years. We just celebrate our fifth anniversary of MW and we’re doing some of the signature dishes here that from day one is nice. It’s bringing local comfort food but with a contemporary twist. So one of my favorite dishes is his [Wade’s] kind of a play off of a spam musubi where he makes his own spam but it’s smoked pork. Everyone in Hawaii eats spam musubi but it’s usually just spam and rice. But what he does is he makes his own version of spam and then he crushes it with mochi. It’s nice and flaky and crispy—so taking the iconic message and flavors of Hawaii and then kind of twisting it.

And for the nori, he makes a sort of Nori Tsukudani, which is kind of like a jam. When I was growing up and eating it, you have rice and you have this nori on top, and it’s so yummy. And so he puts that [on the musubi] and a little quail egg on top, so it’s a fun version of spam musubi.

So speaking of the menu. Are there any other dishes that you’re bringing from MW or are you kind of making everything from scratch for this restaurant in particular? From both the savory side and sweet side.

Wade: I think yeah, for both of us. I think that’s what we like to do is taking more than the flavors of Hawaii that people are used to and reinterpreting and making it our own. The Spam Musubi, and Korean Fried Chicken is another, you know, dish that people always go out and look for or—

Michelle: The Mixed Plate Sandwich!

Wade: —or the Mixed Plate Sandwich. Korean Barbecue is very popular in Hawaii. In the sandwich we have kalbi, fried chicken and spicy pork—Korean spicy pork. So we put all that into one sandwich and we call it the Mixed Plate sandwich. It’s a lot of flavors that people enjoy in Hawaii, and we’re taking iconic dishes of Hawaii and reinterpreting it. You know, for her [Michelle], she has the Shaved Ice.

Michelle: Not your typical shaved ice! We did one last night at the event. Usually Shaved Ice is water and, like, a sugary syrup, but what I do instead is I do it with all compressed fruit so you get the natural sweetness of the fruit with a lot less sugar. Last night we did a Haupia Tapioca which is my version of the Filipino dessert Halo-Halo, and then we put strawberries and Mochi ice cream on it. Usually Mochi ice cream is more round, but we roll it like a sushi and we cut it and we serve it with strawberry yuzu sorbet. And then we use freshly shaved strawberry hibiscus on top of it. So it’s not really just water and syrup, it’s more the fresh fruit.

And then we’re going to have to do one, like an affogato, over here [in San Francisco] or coffee and cream. Because I know Chef Mina liked that one. We’re gonna use the Lamill coffee that [Michael Mina] uses. It will be like a Kahlua Tapioca, with pannacotta, Mochi ice cream, coffee gelato, shaved Thai coffee and then we do like a coffee cloud on top, so, when you eat it, it’s light and refreshing and it has all these different textures.

With our menu, we want to tell a story. So one of the desserts we were talking about with Chef Mina, like back in the plantation days, people used to bring tiffin tins, which was like a lunch box. You held onto your starch and then everyone puts their main dish all around in the middle of a circle and then everyone shares. So one of the desserts I was thinking was a tiffin of all chocolate desserts representing some of the different cultures found in Hawaii so every bite tells a different story.

You’ve been testing a lot and meeting with Michael Mina to go over which dishes will go on the menu. Is the menu ready? Or is there still some tweaking before the November opening and will the menu continue to change?

Wade: It’s a work in progress because, you know, what we’re familiar with in Hawaii might not work or, ingredient-wise, it just might be different. So that might change a few things, but, overall, I think it’s getting there.

Michelle: Any time you design a menu—even for us at the restaurant back home—you always get farmers who bring in something and it inspires you, and that’s what we want to do here. Because you guys have such wonderful farmers here, we want to showcase what San Francisco has to offer too. I think that’s what it’s about, you know? And what is always fun for me is when you have different seasons, when a farmer comes and says oh, I brought you this thing. I want to create something with that! And that’s what keeps the menu interesting and keeps people coming back. And it keeps the team growing and curious.

My mom always laughs because she would call me Curious George because my mind would be going all over the place, but I think that’s what I love about food and cooking: it’s always creating new dishes.

Wade: Yeah, I think that’s what we’re not familiar with in Hawaii. Hawaii doesn’t really have seasons, you know.

Michelle: There’s mango season and lychee season.

Wade: Yeah, there’s not many seasons that you have to adjust to, where here, it’s gonna be a little bit different. So you know, we are definitely looking forward to it because that’s something that’s going to open up a whole new avenue for us.

Michelle: It’s exciting because when I lived in Napa for a little while, we had fig season and cherry season and I think oh my god this is not what I get in Hawaii. And the peaches! It’s just so much better. Sometimes I go back to Hawaii and I’m like this isn’t a peach!

Are you planning on going out to meet local purveyors and farmers around the Bay area so that you really are hands on with what’s coming in, or is there a team here that’s going to help you with that?

Michelle: Yeah, the MINA Group has been really good at helping us with that. You know, and pointing us in the right direction.

So, there you have it! Get ready for a delicious Hawaiian comfort food inspired menu with a modern twist, and watch as it changes seasonally with what California farms have available for Michelle and Wade to use.

If you work in downtown San Francisco – especially with the newly proposed corporate cafeteria laws that might take effect – you have probably encountered the all too common question of “where should we grab lunch today?” Many times we end up trying to juggle and weigh all the important factors that go into making this critical decision – cost, distance, time, quality, etc. – just to fall back on that same place you’ve been to twice already that week.

I’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite dishes from some amazing restaurants downtown that prove, once and for all, that “cheap and quick” doesn’t have to mean fast food, and you don’t have to sacrifice quality if you’re in a time crunch between meetings. Ready to dig in?

1. Perilla’s Five Spice Chicken Garlic Noodles – $11.00

Perilla
510 Mission St.

First up is Perilla’s incredible Five Spice Chicken Garlic Noodles. Perilla has several locations in San Francisco, but the one at 510 Mission St. is super convenient for the SoMa and Financial District crowd. They offer all kinds of Vietnamese food from salads to fried tofu to pho, but they are best known for their garlic noodles. They’re packed with an unbelievable amount of flavor and the portions are extremely generous for the price. This is one dish where you can eat half or two-thirds and be totally content while still holding onto some leftovers for a late afternoon snack or dinner.

The Five Spice Chicken is out of this world. It has a very subtle sweetness mixed with the other spices. The skin is slightly crispy and covers some of the most moist and flavorful chicken I’ve ever had. The dish comes with a small container of fish sauce, which you can surely add if you’re a fan, but it’s definitely not needed at all. The whole meal is a flavor explosion that will make Perilla a worthy addition to your work lunch rotation.

Note: If vegetables are more of your thing, they have a Seasoned Vegetable Garlic Noodle dish on their menu that is just as flavorful and awesome for the same price!

2. Roli Roti’s Porchetta Sandwich – $9.50

Roli Roti
Wednesdays at Civic Center from 9am-2pm
Thursdays at The Ferry Building from 10am-2pm
Saturdays at The Ferry Building from 8am-2pm

Roli Roti is an institution crammed into a food truck and has been serving amazing non-GMO certified “gourmet street food” for 15 years. Their bread and butter is rotisserie meats served straight up or in sandwiches, but they also have some mouthwatering sides like potatoes, seasoned brussel sprouts, tomato salad, and green beans & arugula. The potatoes are placed underneath all the rotisserie meats so the fat and juices fall on them adding some ridiculously yummy flavors.

Their Porchetta Sandwich literally blew us away. The pork was cooked to perfection with crispy skin, juicy meat, and flavor-rich fat all combining to create heavenly bites from start to finish. Then, layer their house made onion marmalade on top with some arugula for good measure and you’ve got one of the best sandwiches in town!

Unlike a lot of food trucks that, for the most part, stay put, Roli Roti is always on the move so you need to plan accordingly! You can catch them in downtown SF at the locations and times above.

3. Kagawa-Ya Udon’s Kitsune Udon – $9.80

Kagawa-Ya Udon
1455 Market St. (next to Uber HQ)

Kagawa-Ya has quickly made a name for itself in the San Francisco food scene by bringing traditional udon to SF, and by experimenting, pushing boundaries, and adding their own influences to their bowls. Clam chowder udon? Zhajiang Udon? How about Creamy Kabocha with Chicken Udon? These unique flavors might cause you to hesitate at first glance, but they’re all tasty and unique in their own way, so don’t knock ‘em till you try ‘em!

The owners actually imported a legitimate udon noodle making machine from Japan for making the freshest noodles for their dishes. The bowls are served to customers in a cafeteria line (kind of reminiscent of Henry Ford’s production lines) where they hand you the bowl you ordered and you can add pieces of tempura on the side for a little extra. But this means they crank out bowls super fast so this is a great place to go if you’re in a hurry!

The Kitsune Udon, in typical Japanese style, has subtle, light flavors and complement each other in all the best ways. The dish is served with a couple pieces of fried, lightly sweetened tofu, green onions, nori (seaweed), and some tempura crisps. While the flavors are light, I guarantee you’ll be stuffed after scarfing it down.

4. The Bird’s Fried Chicken Sandwich – $8.00

The Bird
115 New Montgomery St.

If you decide to go to The Bird, you’ll want to get there early. There’s a line out the door and down the block every day. If the line wasn’t there, you might actually walk right by it since it’s just a little hole in the wall place, but they have definitely made their mark and demand attention (rightfully so). It’s a place that focuses on pretty much one thing – Fried Chicken Sandwiches – and does it very well.

The chicken is super crispy on the outside and tender and moist on the inside. You can get it classic (not spicy) or spicy. I would rate the spiciness level at about a medium. If your spice tolerance is high, this sandwich probably wouldn’t phase you, but the flavor and textures still make this one heck of an enjoyable meal. If you can spare a few extra bucks, I’d recommend pairing the sandwich with some curly fries or their fully loaded fries (applewood-smoked bacon, cream, green onions, melted cheddar cheese) for the complete experience.

5. Freshroll Vietnamese Rolls and Bowls’ 3 Freshrolls – $10.99

Freshroll Vietnamese Rolls and Bowls
157 4th St.

Freshroll is an awesome, healthy, refreshing alternative to some of the heavier dishes mentioned above. This is another place that gets busy quickly approaching lunch time, so make sure to get there a little early! The line moves fairly fast, though, so it’s still a relatively quick in-and-out.

Freshroll takes Vietnamese spring rolls to another level with respect to size and flavor. You can customize your three Freshrolls however you’d like, starting with lemongrass pork, grilled chicken, tofu, or garlic shrimp. Then, you can add ingredients like lettuce, bean sprouts, cilantro, cucumber, crispy shallots, pickled veggies, and jalapenos. Lastly, grab a side of grandma’s peanut sauce, citrus ginger, sweet & sour chili, or Vietnamese vinaigrette and you’re ready to chow down. Pick and choose, or get one of each with everything like I did! They’re ultra refreshing, a great health-conscious choice, and will definitely fill you up – they’re huge!

BONUS: Freshroll’s bowl – $9.99

If you’re heading to Freshroll and prefer a fork or chopsticks over using your hands, their Bowl is another refreshing option I had to mention. It’s the same ingredients for the most part, but just a different style AND a dollar cheaper if you’re looking to save some cash.

Looking for a star-studded date night or just itching to treat yourself to a fancy meal? You’re in luck.

Michelin-Starred Chef Dominique Crenn and American Express are collaborating to bring the Crenn World Chef Series to her famed Bay Area establishment, Atelier Crenn. The dinner series will feature nine internationally acclaimed chefs, each of whom will visit Atelier Crenn for a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration. The chefs featured have been selected by Dominique for “their trailblazing style and critically acclaimed food; their collective contributions to the industry are an inspiration to chefs and diners across the globe.”

The Crenn World Chef Series is scheduled to begin November 19th, 2018, and run until May 15, 2019. Each event will feature a multi-course tasting menu from the chef of the night, and there will be two seatings per night, each of which will seat 20. Tickets are running at $450/person and will include food and service. If you want wine with your meal, two wine pairing options will be offered but will not be included in the ticket.

As Chef Dominque Crenn is a part of the American Express Global Dining Collection, American Express Centurion & Platinum Card Members will have the exclusive opportunity to purchase tickets during a pre-sale period 48 hours before tickets go on sale, and this pre-sale period will begin exactly eight weeks before each event at 1:00pm EST. If you’re interested in attending, the events are listed below, along with each ticket sale date.

Monday, November 19 and Tuesday, November 20
MEXICO: Chef Martha Ortiz (Dulce Patria)
American Express presale begins 10/16; general public 10/18

Tuesday, January 8
PERU: Chef Virgilio Martínez (Central)
American Express presale begins 11/13; general public 11/15

Tuesday, February 5 and Wednesday, February 6
SPAIN: Chef Ángel León (Aponiente)
American Express presale begins 12/11; general public 12/13

Tuesday, February 19 and Wednesday, February 20
FRANCE: Chef Daniel Boulud (Daniel)
American Express presale begins 12/18; general public 12/20

Tuesday, March 19 and Wednesday, March 20
BRAZIL: Chefs Alex Atala (D.O.M) and Manu Buffara (Manu)
American Express presale begins 1/22; general public 1/24

Tuesday, April 23 and Wednesday, April 24
GERMANY: Chef Jan Hartwig (Atelier)
American Express presale begins 2/26; general public 2/28

Tuesday, April 30 and Wednesday, May 1
BELGIUM: Chef Gert De Mangeleer (Hertog Jan)
American Express presale begins 3/5; general public 3/7

Tuesday, May 14 and Wednesday, May 15
SPAIN: Chef Quique Dacosta (Quique Dacosta)
American Express presale begins 3/19; general public 3/21

It takes less than minute after entering to understand that Prairie is neither your typical Italian restaurant, nor your typical restaurant in general. The opening item on the food menu is — mochi. Yes, mochi. Meanwhile, upon noticing that curveball, the host or hostess will inform you that the ordering process is done with the pencil on the table and accompanying ordering card with each menu item listed in abbreviated form. Then you just simply put the card in a slot at the edge of the table and a server will swing by to pick it up. It’s a checklist style of selecting the course of action for your meal, resembling how many yakitori or dim sum establishments ask for diners to order. Via this method, the generally long, rambling ordering ordeal of diners muttering “we’ll have the halibut, wait, no, the steak, or actually we can’t decide; hold on” is eliminated. The fuss is gone.

This sets the tone for the debut solo brick-and-mortar restaurant from Anthony Strong, one of San Francisco’s leading authorities on Italian cooking — an Iowa-born, Le Bernardin (New York) and Delfina-trained chef who isn’t one to follow the hard-and-fast rules of a particular cuisine or the customs of fine dining at the Mission’s newly opened Prairie.

“Take the fussiness out of it” is something that you’ll hear Strong say again and again, whether he is referring to fine dining food or fine dining service. He wants everyone to dig in, pour the wine and just get lost in the moment. In a city where every restaurant is constantly under the “everyone thinks they are a critic” spotlight, why not have diners, you know, actually just dine and drink and talk?

So, that mochi gets wrapped in guanciale, then nestled in a radicchio leaf, and drizzled with some thick, aged balsamic vinegar for a $4 two-bite wallop that sends a Japanese izakaya standard (bacon-wrapped mochi) to the hills of Emilia Romagna. Elsewhere, a full pound of Salt Springs mussels is steamed with Prosecco and…nasturtium butter ($23), a fascinating use for a plant that is better known as a finishing flower garnish to the highest of high-end cuisine plates. Strong isn’t interested in how many likes your Instagram photos of his dishes will garner. He doesn’t even own tweezers for Prairie’s kitchen. He happily told us, “there are no flowers, swooshes and dots on our plates.” Instead of looking at the pretty flowers, he “smashes” them.

Strong is a disruptor. He doesn’t want this to be another Italian restaurant in a city full of Cal-Ital highlights. Each one is a bit different,so where does Prairie fall on the spectrum? The restaurant describes itself as “New-School Italian” which is really a way of saying a cuisine that is rooted in classic Italian and then lets its hair down.  As Strong puts it, for some dishes, “We’re just going to get straight to the damn point and do straight-up Italian food. And then in other things, we’re going all over the place.”

The guanciale-wrapped mochi and mussels are great examples of what this relentlessly forward-thinking chef is designing in the kitchen. Strong opens the food menu with a half-dozen antipasti, including the guanciale mochi, all of which are a world away from red sauce joints. As a nod to autumn, Fuyu persimmons partner with Urfa pepper (most commonly seen in Turkish or Arab cuisines) and pine nut miso ($8). Castelvetrano olives are dusted with a spicy Meyer lemon kosho ($7) — Italy, northern California and Japan all in one.

Meanwhile, bread plays a huge part in other starting options but aren’t your normal crostini-based antipasti. “Pane Distrutto” is a must-order giant crouton-like specimen that looks like a meatball after being soaked with olive oil, then sops up a pile of Early Girl tomato pulp for a relentlessly delicious and different take on bruschetta. Like the mochi, it’s $4 apiece and the majority of diners aren’t going to want to share the few bites of it. “Carta di musica,” a thin, crackery Mediterranean flatbread, comes with salt cod gratinita and Senise peppers ($16) in a nod to the French white fish and potato classic gratin/thick spread, Brandade.

Switching from France to an American football tailgate favorite, sour cream and onion dip is the inspiration for Strong’s burrata preparation served with grilled levain ($14). Strong considers burrata a near “perfect food” and wanted to think outside the burrata ball beyond just topping the cheese with a garnish or two like is the customary preparation. To tweak but not disturb such a fantastic original ingredient, the chef incorporates crème fraiche, folds them together with deeply cooked spring onions accented by lemon zest, and all together achieves the smooth-meets-chunky consistency of cottage cheese curds with the plush richness of burrata.

Another one of the many additional ways that he is changing up the restaurant status quo is service. As mentioned earlier, ordering is done by hand. Just check off the items that you’d like. Of course, servers are on hand to explain the difference between obscure Italian regions on the wine list (most wines are from Italy but the roster is always open to a few California or other European exceptions) or answer what “Pane Distrutto” even means (answer: destroyed bread). There is no robot making the pasta or tablets to order on or servers hawking small plates from carts.

All of this comes not because Strong is anti-fine dining. He fully acknowledges that there is a time and place for all-encompassing special fine dining, like at some of Prairie’s neighbors (Lazy Bear is across the street and Californios is three blocks away). But, that is just not what he wanted to do with his own restaurant. Strong is just as much an entrepreneur trying to solve problems in his industry, as he is a restaurateur. Prairie is one of the few San Francisco restaurants to not accept tips, instead adding an 18% service charge to be shared by front and back of house staff in a democratic way that tips can’t provide. Strong isn’t one to attach formal titles to himself, but if he did, it would be something along the lines of Chef/Owner/General Manager/Cocktail Creator/Décor Designer/Carpenter/Doer of All Sorts of Random Tasks That Your Restaurant Needs.

While it can seem striking at first to diners who are new to Strong, his desire to lightly shake things up is something that makes complete sense dating back to before he played in his high school band that is one of the namesakes for the restaurant. The restaurant’s other namesake also is, of course, where Strong grew up and his road to San Francisco’s Prairie began.

Well, technically, he pointed out to us, he didn’t grow up ON the prairie. Strong is from eastern Iowa near the Mississippi River, where the “prairie ends and the bluffs drop down to the river.” There wasn’t much of a food culture there beyond “lots of corn and all sorts of livestock,” but there was lots of gardening and farming involved in his youth, with prominent produce in Iowa that even the most food-obsessed San Franciscan covets like morel mushrooms, ramps and fiddlehead ferns. As a hyper-energetic kid who loved the contrast of the manure smell of a garden to the beauty of a perfectly ripe tomato, and a kid who admittedly “geeked out” on first wave TV cooking shows by the likes of Martin Yan, the cards were set for Strong to be a chef.

His teenage years were spent in Minneapolis and there he transitioned from “basically being an honor student to skipping school to go work at one of his two restaurant jobs” because he thought, as his eyes widened when telling us recently about his adolescent self, “knives are cooler!” Strong continued: “I thought it was the coolest thing ever…I’ve always been a little nerdy, so hiding in a corner and playing with sharp sticks and fire and making stuff look and taste cool was right up my alley.” It seemed like the perfect future for him.

On his first day of being elevated from a dishwasher and busboy to a kitchen role, Strong completely bombed in a Lucille Ball at the doughnut factory-type of comedy of errors. Another more experienced chef told him in a not-so confidence boosting way that day, “Dude, you are horrible at this.”

Somehow that did boost his confidence and Strong bypassed college for the Eric Ripert School of Cooking, getting the lowest level kitchen position at Le Bernardin and moving to New York at the age of 19. It was extremely difficult work at extremely low pay, but his drive to rise in the kitchen led him to soak up everything that legendary fine dining establishment could provide him. In 2006, it was time to pack up and head west, though, where Strong admits that he essentially “blew his last 80 bucks at Delfina.”

It may not have been the most fiscally prudent decision, yet it did prove to be a game-changing professional move as he asked for a job with Delfina’s chef and co-owner, Craig Stoll. He traded in Le Bernardin’s “live uni and expensive caviar” for the spaghetti and roast chicken at Delfina, along with California’s bounty of local ingredients.  He remembers upon leaving New York, “Then I came out here and had sand dabs and anchovies for the first time, and it was like, ‘What are these lowly creatures that are so amazing?’ I just fell in love with it.”

For 11 years, Strong grew from the beginning stage at the 18th Street modern SF classic.

He dove headfirst into each of the Delfina establishments and was never afraid of shaking things up, something that obviously is reflected by Prairie. When Strong figured that time was up in the Delfina sphere, he knew that he wanted to “think outside the Italian box” and he “didn’t want to do anything normal.”

That is how Strong ended up creating a restaurant without a home…or a truck…or a pop-up space…or any chairs for diners. He would share the kitchen at the Tenderloin’s Vietnamese stalwart, Turtle Tower, and create whatever he felt like cooking and sell it on the various meal delivery apps under the faux restaurant title of “Young Fava,” a nickname given by a pair of former Pizzeria Delfina chefs (one is now the sous chef at Prairie) to him while frying fava beans and as a nod to a generation of rappers who called themselves “Young” something (Young Jeezy, Young Money).

Whether Strong has a future in rapping or not — and probably not — he knew that he had to cook for real people in a sit-down room again. However, for that restaurant, Strong decided, “We’re not going to be an Italian restaurant with a three syllable name and I didn’t want an Italian restaurant with a three syllable name and I’m going to try to mess with service model a bit.”

Prairie eventually emerged for Strong in the former Hog and Rocks space. He inherited a compact 2300-square feet restaurant where roughly 30 percent of the real estate is devoted to kitchen space. Four chefs are stationed in that area with one devoted to pasta and one devoted to Prairie’s tour de force mesquite charcoal-fueled grill duo. One is a Josper grill that hails from Spain and one is a Texan & Woodshow Broiler.

The two grills are responsible for half the menu, ranging from a beautiful octopus sprawled out over seemingly a quarter-pound of fregola ($28) to charred Corno di Toro peppers ($9; like roasted marinated red peppers) that achieve the über-intense smokiness of mezcal to marrow bones ($22) that can later function as a good times igniting sherry shot “luge” depending if guests so desire.

The oven’s bread and butter, if you will, are without question the meats. That was the case at Locanda after several Rome trips when Strong fell in love with the deep-flavored, flame-blistered meats at the likes of decades-old heavyweights in the Eternal City like Al Ceppo. That spirit follows to Prairie except in the globetrotting form of a half rack of Berkshire pork ribs with Calabrian XO rub ($25); thin-cut beef short ribs with a tea leaf salsa verde ($28); and lamb blade chops ($27), a lamb cut that is rarely seen on Bay Area menus. Strong describes it as, “Where the rib meets and the shoulder starts you get these cross-sections of all the fun stuff going on. It’s not like a cute little lamb chop and a little loin piece. It’s all this fun stuff. Fatty and texturally, it’s amazing.”

And then pivoting to the next-door primi station in Prairie’s kitchen, you really know this isn’t a North Beach trattoria when there are rice cakes on the pasta section of the menu. Strong loves rice cakes and sources them from Santa Clara, grills the stacks, then slices them and cooks them in bright, fragrant multi types of game fowl ragu. For the opening week, the rice cakes were paired with a Chanterelle mushroom sugo ($17). Elsewhere in the pasta sector, pappardelle might go the hearty beef route with beef cheeks “butcher’s wife style” ($18) or be bursting-at-the-seams Gulf shrimp and burrata tortelli in a slightly Szechuan evoking triple chili “action” and celery soffritto ($19).

Now, the cocktails, also designed by Strong. You’ll cringe when you hear about the Prairie Sour (all cocktails $13), but it’s an ode to a childhood school bus memory of Templeton rye (an Iowa based spirit and a nod to how the bus driver always smelled like bourbon), egg white (a fellow student always reeked of the eggs from his apparently recently eaten breakfast), and Sapling maple liqueur from his own maple syrup-soaked breakfast. And, there you have a whiskey sour via an Iowa school bus ride, folks.

Another cocktail borrows from Strong’s later research years visiting Italy. Outside of basic Negronis and appertivi, he was frustrated by the lack of cocktails. However, all of the corner bars knew who to do fresh juices for the morning, so he convinced one to work on fresh grapefruit juice for an unknown-in-Italy classic American cocktail: the Greyhound. So, an “ultra-fresh” on the spot juiced grapefruit-forward Italian Greyhound with Cappelletti and Bruto Americano sweet-herbal liqueurs is served at Prairie. You’ll also find a Kombucha Bellini ($12); a sparkling Negroni (not a Sbagliato but an intense soda water-powered, on tap version of the classic); and gorgeously balanced and fizzy Suntory Toki whiskey highballs, made on one of the few Suntory Toki carbonation machines in America, are among the other cocktail offerings. For beer, there are five northern California taps and eight rare Japanese beers by the bottle.

Former guests of Hog & Rocks will recognize the bones of the space and rough shape of the restaurant — the dining room half is by the door and the bar half is on the opposite side of the room. Except, now the walls have been covered in ash wood panels dyed indigo by a traditional Japanese treatment style called “Aizome.” Hog & Rocks’ old communal table has been separated into some high-top tables in the bar area. Half of Hog & Rocks’ old bar was cut away and is now part of Prairie’s bar backdrop. Meanwhile, Prairie’s bar is now smaller and is now a backward L–shape, offering eight seats for guests. There are a total of 70 seats combined inside and outside at a handful of sidewalk tables.

As you’d expect with a restaurant that looks to change things up, you’ll find quirky objects throughout the room that follow the fun, slightly freewheeling ethos of Prairie. Strong’s girlfriend allowed Strong to add her glass bok choy sculpture and her “Not-A-Flamethrower” Flamethrower from Elon Musk’s Boring Company as decorative objects on the bar backdrop. Then there are the most talked-about, slightly bizarre art items from the dining room walls: NASA theoretical space colony renderings from the 1970s.

There is no pastry chef, but that doesn’t hold Strong back from crafting some cuisine-bending desserts nightly, like chocolate budino or warm chocolate “baba” (like a cross of fluffy cake with a thin frosting layer and bread pudding) infused with Earl Grey or trying to solve the cheesecake conundrum via a sheep’s milk yogurt crostata on a cinnamon and rye graham cracker crust, finished with syrup-enriched kumquats. Strong admits, “I’m very disappointed in about 99% of the cheesecakes out there” and he certainly isn’t alone in that regard.

The man is relentless. He wants to solve cheesecake. He wants to fix fine dining’s faults on the menu and in the dining room. He’s loosening the rules of Italian cooking. He’s the rare independent chef these days who has entered the big stage of primetime San Francisco dining without being a spin-off of a successful existing restaurant group or starting out fast-casual.

He hasn’t been afraid to try anything in his culinary career, from screwing up egg salad on day one to pairing mochi with guanciale today. That is why Strong is such a important character in the restaurant industry and why Prairie is one of the Bay Area’s most compelling restaurants in recent memory.

Prairie
3431 19th St.
San Francisco, CA
94110
415-483-1112
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Hours: Dinner Tuesday-Sunday 5:30PM-10PM (until 11PM Friday and Saturday). Brunch service is coming soon.
Price: $$-$$$

Experience flavorful and creative Gujarati dishes at Besharam, take a break from sandwiches and dig into stuffed arepas instead for lunch, try some fun ice cream flavors for Halloween (complete with critters!), and don’t miss La Cocina’s upcoming F&B: Voices from the Kitchen performances.

Take a Trip to the Cheese Island at Besharam

Besharam
1275 Minnesota St., San Francisco
Lunch: Tue–Fri 11am–2:30pm
Dinner: Tue–Sat 5:30pm–10pm
Brunch: Sat–Sun 11:30am–2:30pm

Have you had a chance to visit Heena Patel’s Besharam in Dogpatch/Potrero Hill yet? It’s a stylish and vibrant restaurant, just next door to the Minnesota Street Project art galleries (it was formerly Alta). Things have fully ramped up, with a cocktail list in place, weekend brunch in effect, and both lunch and dinner service humming along as well. A La Cocina business incubator graduate, this is Heena’s first restaurant — in partnership with Daniel Patterson’s Alta Group — and she’s working closely with her husband, Paresh. The name Besharam translates to “shameless,”  inspired by the fact that at 50, she’s following her own dreams and doing something that is risky and fear-inducing. Fortunately for us, she took a leap of faith.

Heena’s menu highlights Gujarati dishes, flavors, and family recipes, along with some California seasonality infused with her unique brand of culinary creativity. Heena doesn’t eat meat, so the menu has some fantastic vegetarian options that won’t have you missing anything meaty, although they do a great job here with chicken makhani, full of deep spice and the perfect amount of heat. The menu is constantly changing, with new dishes added all the time, so return visits offer an opportunity to try new things. 

Heena tells me that if you mention the dish handvo, people immediately know you are Gujarati. She says every house makes their own version of this savory bread that uses vegetables and flours rich in protein, like lentil, and it’s popular as a sustaining snack served alongside chai. At Besharam, the handvo ($9) is an appetizer of sesame-topped bread that she makes with a mix of flours, like lentil, millet, quinoa, or pigeon pea, keeping it gluten-free. She also likes to add leftover vegetables, just like her grandma would, using zucchini, sweet potato, cilantro, onion, or maybe leftover cucumber, which helps keep it moist (it’s like a delicate and savory zucchini bread with a little kick!). I’d love to figure out how to make this at home for a nutritious and sustaining snack bread to have around.

But the absolute showstopper is the desi pardesi ($20). It’s a bowl of a curry leaf and leek soup, thickened like a smooth dal, with a mozzarella-stuffed rice ball in the middle, an island of cheesy delight. Heena is inspired by all the Italian ingredients and flavors she enjoys here in San Francisco. She coats the fresh mozzarella ball with her samosa mix, basil, mashed basmati rice, egg, and panko, and then fries it. It’s a play on a samosa with chutney, but instead, you break the fried ball open, and the creamy, mozzarella cheese runs into the soup—this is when you grab your spoon. Your table will hopefully share nicely, all the way until it gets down to the last drops of this perfectly spiced and satisfying dish. Our table almost ordered another just because we were sad when it was over! 

The fish moilee ($26) was another beaut, with a tender and fried piece of local rock cod over a bed of cumin rice and coconut curry with shishito peppers, ginger, garlic, and serrano chile. She likes to boil her sauces at a low and slow temp, in order to develop rich flavor without the use of cream and butter — there’s a lightness to her food that leaves you feeling nourished after the meal and not uncomfortably heavy.

Get the gulab jamun ($7) for dessert, the tiniest little doughnuts in rose syrup for the perfect final bite. From the bar, the new cocktails are fun, like the Chaat Up and Drive! ($13), a refreshing highball with gin, rhubarb, chaat masala, mint, and lime. The wine and beer list also has some choice selections, and with three sparkling wine options by the glass, I was in my happy place. 

My only wish was that they’d remove the off-putting Bollywood/high BPM trance from their playlist—it makes for an aggressive and stressful soundtrack for such a soulful restaurant. As soon as mellower music would come on in the playlist, I would feel my blood pressure drop and would pray that another brain-bleed song wouldn’t come on. I would rather not even think about it, and just keep savoring the drunken pani puri with zesty and minty gin water!

Try Some Spooktacular Flavors at Salt & Straw for Halloween

Salt & Straw
Various locations:
586 Hayes St., San Francisco
2201 Fillmore St., San Francisco
1309 Burlingame Ave., Burlingame
11am–11pm daily

It’s Halloween, which means you’ll be eating your fill of candy over the next week, but how about some truly Spooktacular ice cream flavors? Of course, both of San Francisco’s Salt & Straw locations (and their new Burlingame location!) got into the fall spirit with flavors like The Great Candycopia (stuffed with housemade Snickers, Twix chunks, Heath bars, and peanut butter cups), Dracula’s Blood Pudding (made with pig’s blood, spices, and cream), Essence of Ghost, Mummy’s Pumpkin Spiced Potion (it’s vegan!), and the showstopper: Creepy Crawly Critters, featuring candied critters (dark chocolate–covered crickets and coconut toffee brittle mealworms!) from Oakland’s Don Bugito.

Adults and kids can have fun with all of these flavors through October — and then it’s time for Salt & Straw’s Thanksgiving flavors in November (yup, one has stuffing in it). 

A Different Kind of Hot Pocket: Arepas!

Pica Pica Arepa Kitchen
401 Valencia St., San Francisco
Sun–Thu 11am–9pm
Fri–Sat 11am–10pm

Want to take a break from your usual sandwich for lunch? How about an arepa? At Pica Pica Arepa Kitchen in the Mission, owner Adriana Lopez Vermut offers a menu of Venezuelan arepas (since 2010!), which are corn pockets made daily by hand and grilled. You can choose from the sturdy and classic white arepa or the sweeter yellow arepa, and what’s a-maize-ing (sorry, had to) is everything at Pica Pica is gluten-free! 

There are a variety of traditional fillings, plus some vegan and vegetarian options as well — all the arepas are $11, and one for lunch is definitely fulfilling. The one I can’t resist is their house specialty: shredded beef pabellón, which is like a dream pot roast, but it’s shredded and stew-like skirt steak, along with black bean purée, sweet and golden fried plantains, and queso fresco all tucked into a corn pocket (I like the sweet yellow for this one). It comes with a lightly tangy-sweet cabbage slaw on the side (with mustard seeds) that you can take bites of to reset your palate, and their creamy and kicky side sauce, pica’pun.

You can also try salads, soups, cachapa crepes, their tasty yuca (and garlic yuca!) fries, and their latest innovation: nachos with taro chips topped with their pulled pork pernil (November 6 is National Nacho Day, just saying!), plus sides, juices, beer, and wine. 

Can’t make it out of the house or away from your desk? You can order delivery via Caviar, and that code will give first-timers $10 off your first two orders.

Celebrate the Theme of Matriarchy at The Upcoming Voices from the Kitchen

F&B: Voices from the Kitchen
Brava Theater
2781 24th St., San Francisco
Thursday, November 8
6pm–8:30pm
Tickets: $35 and up

Don’t miss the opportunity to get your ticket for the latest performance of F&B: Voices from the Kitchen, a storytelling project created by La Cocina that seeks to share the voices and stories from the cooks and kitchens that are less often heard. This twice-yearly event revolves around (and includes) food and drink on a singular topic or theme. On November 8, the theme will be matriarchy (so timely!), with an incredible lineup of storytellers, from writers to artists to chefs. 

The reception (6pm–7pm) will be hosted at the Brava Theater with D’Maize Restaurant, an alum of La Cocina which is located directly across the street from the theater. The performances will run from 7pm–8:30pm. Proceeds from F&B will support La Cocina’s business incubator program. Get your ticket for this one-night-only performance!

The Cubano served at Isla Vida, a recently opened Caribbean-centric restaurant in the Fillmore, is a profound sandwich. It’s packed with tender morsels of pork from Isla Vida’s impressive wood-fired contraption, a two-part specimen that was specially brought in from an expert producer in Bellingham, Washington. It is believed to be the only one of its kind in San Francisco — both a rotisserie capable of spinning 70 chickens at a time under the heat of cherry, almond and/or oak wood (depends on the day), while having an attached wood-fired grill. The invention is impressive and the most entertainment you’ll ever have watching meat roll around in a circle for hours.

That sandwich is also profound in how it’s the centerpiece for a concept that aspires to be, and hopefully becomes, a centerpiece for one of San Francisco’s central and most historically rich neighborhoods. It’s also one of San Francisco’s most rapidly changing neighborhoods.

While chatting recently with chef-owner Jay Foster and co-owner Matthew Washington, the subject of how Isla Vida is one of the select few black-owned businesses in the Fillmore — an area that once was considered the “Harlem of the West” — inevitably led to that oft-maligned “G” word in San Francisco: gentrification. Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker all performed here. Black-owned restaurants previously thrived with that jazz scene. Now, according to Foster and Washington, there is Bruno’s and Sheba Piano Lounge, which is also an Ethiopian restaurant. Make it a trio now with Isla Vida’s opening.

In present day San Francisco, this stretch of Fillmore roughly between Golden Gate Avenue and Geary Blvd., is best known for being the home of contemporary California cuisine prodigies (and siblings) State Bird Provisions and the Progress, plus Boba Guys (self explanatory specialty), Merchant Roots (a market/café with homemade pasta and cookies), Avery (destination tasting menu spot), Fat Angel (craft beer gastropub with a famous mac ‘n’ cheese), and Wise Sons (bagelry/Jewish deli). Starbucks is the main gathering place for the thoroughfare now, residing across the street from a somewhat new and sleek apartment complex with a spiffy Fitness SF inside it. Meanwhile, Sheba’s Ethiopian restaurant is the only jazz choice. The Fillmore Heritage Center and its Yoshi’s jazz club closed a few years ago and is now involved in all sorts of unpaid loan lawsuits.

Before Isla Vida opened, it was Black Bark BBQ, a black-owned BBQ spot whose proprietor, David Lawrence, also owned the upscale Southern restaurant, 1300 on Fillmore, across the street. Both closed in the past year. It all just goes on for the neighborhood, while the neighboring Divisadero and Hayes Valley areas, that once were considered part of the Western Addition, are now booming with hip new restaurants, cafes, boutiques and bars.

Call it the g-word or not, but there is no ignoring the facts that since “urban renewal” began in the mid 20th century, the Fillmore’s heyday, San Francisco’s African American population has dwindled by more than 10%, which is a staggering figure for a city that doesn’t even have a population of 900,000 people. This 2016 article by KTVU, including interviews with former Mayor Willie Brown, perfectly explains the changing dynamics for this neighborhood and for African Americans as a whole in the city.

Foster sees these numbers and then sees a decline in more than just residential figures for the city: “The hardest part of that is losing the voice as a community. When you lose your voice, then you lose your representation. And then when you lose your representation, then you get things that are just misrepresented or done incorrectly, like when the city invested all this money across the street to create the Heritage Center.”

Meanwhile, another missing part of San Francisco’s wonderful diversity is a lack of Cubano sandwiches, tostones and many other Caribbean food specialties. Just do a Yelp search (not counting Isla Vida and sorting through unreported closings and pop-ups) and you’ll find six other restaurants in all of San Francisco serving a Caribbean menu.

So, there is that fantastic Cubano ($13 and comes with pickled vegetables, mixed greens and shoestring fries), served on a locally made Bakers of Paris soft roll and livened up with just a hint of mustard and a contrast of Manchego cheese and mustard to the meats. Outside of the Cubano’s pork, the other wood-fired oven headliners are the two chicken preparations: “Cuban chicken” with a mojo sauce made of garlic, citrus and oregano and then the jerk chicken. The latter uses the hard-to-find, only grown in Jamaica Scotch Bonnet pepper as one of many spices in the seasoning. “It’s not just spice,” explains Foster, “it’s almost really hard to describe. I think it’s almost just pure umami.”

Both chickens are $8 for a quarter piece, $12 for a half and $18 for a whole. Diners can also opt for the $12.50 chicken plate that is a full meal of a quarter chicken, congri (rice and black beans), mixed greens, pickled vegetables and a choice of plantain styles (“tostones” are savory crispy green plantains; “maduros” are sweet plantains like bananas in bananas Foster).

The jerk seasoning and wood-fired oven also team up for the preparation of a whole red snapper ($35) stuffed with vegetables (currently carrot, cauliflower and okra) and the menu’s vegan entrée offering, a jerk jackfruit plate ($12) served over plantains. Foster also makes a jerk spice aioli for slathering on a soft roll and layering grilled rib-eye, Manchego and caramelized onions for the Cubano’s beefy sibling ($16).

The rotisserie-grill resides in the rear kitchen, partially hidden from view and partially visible behind a rustic wooden table where final plating takes place. There are tropical floral prints on the ceiling panels and hanging flora and fauna all across the room, with the bar and register to one side and seating for roughly 45 guests scattered across the other side of the space with small wooden tables, high tops with bar stools, and a communal table. It’s a breezy, relaxed vibe but this is definitely not the Tonga Room or Cha Cha Cha in terms of tropical decor.

That’s because Foster, Washington and their third partner on the project, Erin Traylor, aren’t looking to make “Isla Vida” a representation of resort life. They’re trying to capture real life on the islands, full of breezes and jerk seasoning, but free of Infiniti pools and hammocks.

The project was a long time coming for Foster, who first came up with the idea of an Afro-Caribbean restaurant 15 years ago (the originally planned name was “Rude Boy”). Though it took over a decade to get the idea to be a reality, Foster never gave up: “Fillmore is where we both wanted to be for a long time.” Washington is from the neighborhood and still lives there, and Foster always wanted to help the Fillmore capture some of the cultural magic that it has lost.

Foster is one of the most prolific front and back of house San Francisco industry veterans who most San Franciscans don’t really know much about He could be a celebrity chef but isn’t a celebrity chef. The North Carolina native came to San Francisco in the 90s for a PG&E job doing survey work that tired him out quickly because it was “really, really boring” and forced him to live out of a suitcase with frequent travel. So, he studied graphic design at the Academy of Art while also working as a server or bartender at several Bay Area fine dining heavyweights like Jardinière and Zuni Cafe. He missed the home cooking of the Carolinas though and always noticed a dearth of “Americana” restaurants in the city.

Before solving that problem, he co-founded Bernal Heights’ beloved Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack, an Americana version of an Italian red sauce joint. Then Foster opened his deeply personal Divisadero southern Americana concept, Blue Jay Cafe (get the Jay connection?), in the space that is now Brenda’s Meat & Three. Blue Jay represented Foster’s shift to being both a chef and owner, and after two years there, he sold his shares of the Blue Jay to his fellow partners and opened farmerbrown in the Tenderloin in 2006 with his wife Deanna. farmerbrown is one of a select few sit-down soul food restaurants in San Francisco and has channeled its success into a location in SFO’s Terminal 1 (chosen for all of Delta’s Atlanta passengers there) and the popular Little Skillet chicken and waffles takeout window in SoMa.

Not only is farmerbrown one of the only longstanding soul food restaurants in San Francisco — it’s one of the few longstanding restaurants to make it in the Tenderloin’s challenging core.

It certainly hasn’t been easy for Foster and his team there, where Washington was the lead server for the past four years and Traylor is the operations manager. There is no denying that the Tenderloin, and its frequent needles and feces on the sidewalk, is a tough place to operate. “It’s embarrassing,” Foster tells us, “For a restaurant owner, there’s no way to be able to survive in that environment. He has seen a real change for the worse in the area in the past three years and has a front row seat at the neighborhood’s often grimy street life. “You’re actually really afraid. It’s just not a good feeling. It’s sickening. I think that’s a good word for it.”

With the Fillmore next on his agenda, it’s a good thing that Foster knows about neighborhood dynamics from farmerbrown. He also understands that San Francisco isn’t trivial as a restaurant owner, regardless of the neighborhood. He’s learned from farmerbrown to “try to not to do too much. Try to keep it small and simple. Try to focus on a few things and try to do them really well.” That’s why the menu is so concise at Isla Vida and follows the fast-casual counter-service trend that is sweeping across the city like Karl the Fog in July. He knows it isn’t ideal, but it’s the only rational thing to do: “Trying to operate and do a full service restaurant in San Francisco is tantamount to suicide because it’s just too expensive — the cost of labor [where] you have to pay a server $15 bucks an hour, which I feel like they deserve — and I feel like everybody deserves that living wage, but that just means we have to evolve.”

The restaurant isn’t just another corporate fast-casual spot, though. First of all, it has only one investor (a fellow African American small business owner in the neighborhood) and received its main funding from a Kickstarter campaign. Second, there is none of the ubiquitous menu customization here — as in, no option for wraps, salads or quinoa bowls. Third, Isla Vida is geared just as much to be a restaurant as it is to just be a safe, helpful place for the neighborhood community. Washington hopes to see local kids doing homework there. The restaurant hires only within the community. Even the upcoming food delivery from Isla Vida will bypass the popular apps and be hand delivered by restaurant staff. Washington puts the multi-function approach of Isla Vida with the community perfectly: “That’s 2018. Whatever you do right now, you can’t just be linear. You have to be multifaceted. And it has to be authentic.”

The Isla Vida team has done their homework about Caribbean cuisine. Washington and Foster visited Cuba and absorbed everything they could from that trip, both in terms of how the locals cooked with their own produce while being restricted by Cuba’s tough embargoes, and the deep history of their African ancestors. So, with Isla Vida, Foster is simply “trying to follow the footsteps of our ancestors culinarily. The food of the Diaspora is very similar…it just depends on where the boat stopped.”

So, diners will see how soul food really is an extension of Caribbean food, just like Foster and Washington did in their research. Instead of shrimp and grits, Foster uses Isla Vida’s grill for garlic shrimp ($15.95) and serves it over congri. Elsewhere from the grill come BBQ ribs, a specialty you might expect from a soul food restaurant like farmerbrown, but here they’re slathered in a guava-fortified sauce ($16.95). Right now dessert means churros with chocolate sauce or grilled pineapple with coconut ice cream and caramel (both $6). Drinks focus on tropical items (coconut water, ginger beer, etc…) and smoothies, but soon will add beer, wine and coffee service. Weekend brunch will also be introduced soon.

Can Isla Vida solve all of San Francisco’s problems from the Tenderloin to the Fillmore? Of course not. But it’s going to do its very best to give a dwindling African American population in the city something to take pride in.

Isla Vida is aspiring to be an anchor to the past for a rapidly changing Fillmore and San Francisco, one jerk chicken and one smile at a time. “We’re trying to touch on a few of the little things that we really like, try to represent it really well and hopefully make our ancestors proud.” It’s a tall task for a small place but a lot of heart and a destination-worthy Cubano can go a long ways. Isla Vida seems primed to make some big waves of impact in San Francisco.

Isla Vida
1325 Fillmore St.
San Francisco, CA
94115
415-678-5171
Hours: Wednesday-Sunday, 11AM-8PM. Weekend brunch service is coming soon.
Price: $-$$

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Visit this Inner Richmond Chinese restaurant for classic Shanghainese and Taiwanese dishes, plus there’s a new Le Marais Bakery and commissary in Polk Gulch, and let’s look at three new restaurants opening in the North Bay.

A Classic and Below-the-Radar Chinese Restaurant (and It’s Cecilia Chiang-Approved)

Five Happiness
4142 Geary Blvd., San Francisco
Open Tue–Fri 11:30am–2:30pm and 4:30pm–9:30pm, Sat–Sun 11am–9:30pm

Over on Geary in the Inner Richmond is an old-school Chinese restaurant with a bright orange tiled exterior, Five Happiness, that cars have been whizzing by since 1975, but the smart ones pull over. Fortunately, about 10 years ago, local food writer Patty Unterman tipped me off to this restaurant, a favorite of Cecilia Chiang, our local Chinese culinary matriarch, who is still amazingly with us and going out to eat all the time at 99 (she’s a powerhouse of energy).

Many know this restaurant for different things: a bunch love to come on the weekend for the Taiwanese breakfast, while others come for banquet dinners with Shanghainese specialties, and neighborhood folks swing by for the lunchtime rice plate specials (which tend to be more Americanized greatest hits but are well-executed). The menu definitely bounces around with some different regional dishes and styles: it ends up they have a Cantonese chef from Hong Kong, a Shanghainese chef, and a Taiwanese chef! 

I used to host an annual Chinese birthday banquet dinner with my friends, lining up a new menu and restaurant each year, and the meal we had here was fantastic, sealing its reputation as a favorite Chinese restaurant of mine. We requested the “Cecilia Chiang” banquet, just as Patty Unterman instructed me to — the very kind longtime manager Bill Yang (his mother is the owner) faithfully duplicated it for my group, with a platter of cold appetizers, chicken with fluffy egg white, red pork shank, eel and chives, and many other special dishes. 

At a recent meal, my friends and I dropped in on a whim, with no advance planning. The best thing to do is let Bill lead you through the menu, once he figures out your taste (and appetite). I always love their green onion pancake ($6.50), it’s a flaky yet sturdy one, and not too oily, and it’s hard to resist Shanghai pan-fried pork buns (sheng jian bao) for just $6.50. There’s so much juice inside these, I prefer them to the xiao long bao they serve here.

Some real gems are on the front of the menu (in the “Family Tradition Private Kitchen” section) — the steamed fish fillet and egg white with tofu ($13.50) is such an elegant and chic dish, so silky and delicate, topped with threads of ginger. But our table found the jumbo prawns in Szechuan red garlic sauce to be overcooked, so the $19.95 price tag felt steep for six prawns — we should have followed Bill’s advice and ordered the ribs instead. He’ll also steer you to the freshest vegetables — the pea shoots we had were so green and vibrant and with the smoky kiss of the wok. He also offered us some perfectly seasoned marinated cucumbers in the beginning, and we finished our meal with almond tofu, such delicately fragrant little cloud-like bites.

Hopefully, you can order the Peking duck ($49.95) 24 hours in advance and then come here with a group — you’ll find one of the better birds in the city, artfully presented with tortilla-like, northern-style handmade pancakes instead of buns. If you’re coming in last-minute, the tea-smoked duck ($18.95 for half) may be tempting, but I found it too salty.

On the weekend, you’ll want to come in before noon for Taiwanese breakfast, like hot soy milk (savory or sweet) and Chinese doughnuts that are the shape of crullers or churros (youtiao), spicy beef noodle soup, Taiwanese ground pork and rice (lu rou fan), and more of those green onion pancakes! The Shanxi hand cut-noodles are also special here.

The restaurant had a renovation about five years ago, taking the Pepto pink tablecloths away with it (which I secretly loved) — it’s a good looking room, with butter yellow walls and classic rosewood high-backed chairs, and, of course, many round tables. If you can, at least get a group of four friends together to dine, but the more the merrier. You will have an absolute feast for about $25 per person, and you can thank me later.

Le Marais Opens a Spacious Croissanterie and Commissary in Polk Gulch

Le Marais Bakery
1138 Sutter St., San Francisco
Hours are 7am–2:30pm, extending to 7am–7pm in mid-November.

Now open in the TenderNob/Polk Gulch is the latest café from Le Marais Bakery, but this is also owner Patrick Ascaso and Joanna Pulcini Ascaso’s new 3,000-square-foot commissary and lab (with a 2,000-square-foot basement!). The front of the café has plenty of tables by the sunny windows, with fresh flowers on each table, and there are a few booths flanking the left wall. You’ll note the vintage light fixtures, pretty photography, and a fun mural by Sabina Addis. There’s also a big open kitchen, so you can watch the staff in action.

The tiled counter is full of baked goods from head pastry chef Hikari Hori, formerly of Fournée Bakery, lined with viennoiserie-like croissants, pain au chocolat, kouign-amann, and seasonal fruit danishes, plus some savory croissants for lunch, like ham or herbed turkey. There are savory scones, financiers, and all kinds of cookies, and a delightful morning bun to go with your coffee — they have their own custom roast from Verve Coffee Roasters and a beautiful Strada espresso machine.

Look for some new and inventive pastries coming soon, like lemon cream–laminated brioche, a truffle croissant, and croissant cones and ice creams. You’ll find their popular brunch boards, avocado toast, and croques soon, once they get things fully ramped up (for now, you can enjoy quiches and yogurt bowls).

Just in case your friends in Omaha or Miami are jealous, you can take advantage of Le Marais’s partnership with Williams Sonoma and ship their croissants nationwide, as well as a pastry sampler, an upcoming peppermint-chocolate croissant that tastes like peppermint bark for the holidays, cinnamon buns, apple swirl danishes, and pumpkin kouign-amanns. 

A New Regional American Diner in Sonoma, Mint and Liberty

Mint and Liberty
19101 Highway 12, Sonoma
8am–9pm daily

There’s a new restaurant opening in the Maxwell Village center in Sonoma on November 7 called Mint and Liberty from owners James and Mila Chanamé-Hahn (part of the Sunflower Caffe family). They’re offering a modern twist on a classic diner with a wonderfully talented chef at the helm, Michal Siegel (formerly Shorty Goldstein’s and Betelnut in San Francisco). His menu features regional American dishes, from northern ones like loaded baked potato pierogi to braised Rancho Gordo scarlet runner beans with smoked mushrooms and kale (you can get them with or without bacon), while southern dishes include shrimp gumbo and BBQ baby back pork ribs. Fans of Siegel’s pastrami will be happy to see his Rachel sandwich representing the east, and there’s a Green Goddess Cobb salad repping the west that looks fantastic. 

There are a variety of burgers, breakfast served all day, and some larger family-style dinners served after 5pm, like cioppino or a whole-roasted chicken. Fresh and local produce from LOLA Sonoma Farms, Bee-Well Farms, and Sweetwater Farms are highlights. There are sweets from Honey and the Moon, plus milkshakes, wine, beer, and cocktails too.

A New Indian Restaurant Opens in Santa Rosa with Top-Notch Cocktails

Bollywood Bar & Clay Oven
535 4th St., Santa Rosa
Open Tue–Thu 4pm–10:30pm, Fri–Sat 4pm–11:30pm

Fans of Scott Beattie’s sublime cocktails from his time at Cyrus, Spoonbar, and Goose and Gander (among other places!) will be happy to know he’s behind the list at Bollywood Bar & Clay Oven in downtown Santa Rosa. He’s working with bar manager Andrea Mota, previously Geyserville Gun Club Bar and Lounge, who will be behind the bar nightly. 

The newly open restaurant is from Chandi Hospitality Group, who brought on James Beard Award finalist chef Niven Patel, who has created a modern Indian menu that is ingredient-focused with seasonal produce from quality purveyors (he’s an avid farmer, with Gujarati roots, which is where he sources the majority of his spices). You’ll find local vegetables in his pakoras, and his turmeric-marinated rockfish is served in a coconut curry with curry leaf, carrot, zucchini, and fennel and cooked in their hearth oven. A short rib uttapam also sounds fantastic. He was previously at Ghee in Miami, where he met Will Fernandez and Alex Sarria, the chefs de cuisine at Bollywood. 

The backlit bar has a modern and eye-catching style, and the restaurant offers a variety of seating options, whether you’re a couple or dining with a big group.

Find a Welcoming West Coast American Menu at Guesthouse in Kentfield

Guesthouse
850 College Ave., Kentfield
Open Mon–Fri 4pm–10pm

In downtown Kentfield in Marin County, chef Jared Rogers (previously Picco in Larkspur) and Bay Area bartender Dustin Sullivan have opened their new bar and restaurant, Guesthouse. Look for an ingredient-driven, seasonal, West Coast–inspired American menu, including Dungeness crab cakes; Wolfe Ranch quail off their J&R wood grill (with chanterelle and bacon stuffing, grits, roasted carrots, and game jus); and a Kurobuta pork chop with crispy potatoes, spiced apple, and arugula. The side of cauliflower gratin with mornay, breadcrumbs and caramelized onions is sure to be a hit.

The cocktail menu features classics like a Negroni with a twist: it’s a dry mezcal Negroni, with mezcal, Cappelletti, dry vermouth, bitters, and grapefruit zest. There’s also a comprehensive wine and beer list, with a focus on organic and biodynamic wines.

Hannah Collins Design helped remodel the space, which features 110 seats, an open kitchen, textured and wallpapered walls, wainscoting, and a 16-seat concrete bar.

Enjoy a quality brunch and cocktails at The Saratoga, Week of Italian Cuisine returns (featuring Puglia this year!), keep the off-the-menu Prog Dog at The Progress in your little black book, and don’t miss the next installment of Chicken and Wine Palace’s pop-up, featuring some truly excellent fried chicken.

The Saratoga Offers a Next-Level Brunch That Is as Delicious as it Is Camera-Ready

The Saratoga
1000 Larkin St., San Francisco
Brunch Sat–Sun 11am–3pm

Brunch can feel like a pretty common (and basic) thing in San Francisco, with the same-old egg dishes and bottomless mimosas, but weekend brunch at The Saratoga is definitely one that stands out for its creativity, quality, and sense of fun. This Polk Gulch restaurant has a chic, sexy style in the evening, which actually translates well to daytime—the diffused light and darker interior will be appreciated by anyone nursing a hangover (including the staff). And if you’re looking to celebrate with a group, you’re going to have a lot of fun with brunch here.

The bar, overseen by skilled barman and partner Brandon Clements, has an extensive brunch cocktail selection (all $13), starting with an array of Ramos Gin Fizz options that come delightfully frothy from their special fizz shaker, with seasonal add-ins like honeydew melon-tarragon or strawberry-rhubarb. It’s definitely the most gentle way to get back into the game, even if you’re one of those “I don’t like gin” types. Just try one. Fizzy cocktails and boozy coffee options — plus the Cereal Milk Punch (bourbon, nocino, cream, corn flake–washed milk, vanilla, cocoa Krispies, nutmeg) — are other ways to ease into your weekend.

There are a couple cocktail showstoppers that the party table next to us was celebrating with, including the “Hail Mary” Bloody Mary ($20), which comes precariously and fully loaded with skewers of fried pickle, bacon, pickled quail eggs, beef jerky, jalapeño poppers, fried chicken, and poached shrimp. Don’t be surprised if everyone asks to take pictures of your drink. You can also pick and choose any add-ons if you don’t feel like going for the full showcase, and there are a few artfully crafted variations of Bloodies to choose from, like the Root (with carrot and ginger) and the Verde (mezcal, Ancho Reyes Verde, tomatillo, cucumber, cilantro, jalapeño, green Tabasco, white soy sauce, chile-lime). 

The “Cocktail Bill” Boothby Bowl ($85) is another attention-grabber (and a big commitment): a crystal dispenser, which can serve up to eight full-sized cocktails, is (carefully) brought to your table, filled with a Corpse Reviver #2.1. It’s designed for brunch (gin, Cocchi Americano, curaçao, absinthe, lemon sorbet) and it’s beautifully lined with sliced citrus. You’ll make friends at adjoining tables by offering a taste.

At this point, you should definitely get something to eat. You can start with their mimosa doughnut (topped with strawberry glaze and Pop Rocks, $8) or their Killer Coffee Cake (that’s its name, $9) if you like sweeter things. 

Mom always said, “Don’t play with your food!” but when the platter of Jenga tots ($21) arrives in front of you at The Saratoga, it’s hard not to. It’s just like it sounds: a tower of fried potato sticks (which are shaped like hefty 2x4s, with creamy potato inside) that come anointed with dollops of cream cheese, plus all your other favorite bagel accouterments: smoked salmon, thinly sliced red onion, cucumber, capers, and tomato. After a couple sticks, you should probably slow your roll, because the rest of the menu has some other winning dishes you’ll want to save room for. The good news is you can pack up the tots and warm them up beautifully the next day.

There are many ways to prepare French toast, and the Texas French toast ($12) here comes out as fluffy and golden as a soufflé. They use thick-cut brioche, which adds to the eggy delicacy of the dish, and the bourbon syrup is exactly the hair-of-the-dog syrup you need. There’s also some bacon powder sprinkled on top, which will begin to stick together as it warms up on the toast, so don’t let it sit around — grab your fork.

Egg lovers, you won’t want to pass up chef Francisco Baca’s version of eggs Benedict ($18) here, which has soft-poached eggs and thin slices of house-smoked ham topped with a fluffy and rich Béarnaise over a pretzel bun, with English peas scattered on the plate. Heartier options include steak and eggs, mole flautas, and, of course, you can go for The Saratoga burger, a double-patty situation with Taleggio cheese. The side of Millionaire’s bacon is quite a slab, so make sure you have people to share it with.

If you’re excited to check this all out, you should consider attending the upcoming tablehopper holiday brunch with Westland Distillery on Sunday, December 2—details will be posted on tablehopper.com shortly.

The Art of the Arf: The Off-the-Menu Prog Dog at The Progress

The Progress
1525 Fillmore St., San Francisco

Sometimes, you miss dinnertime and it’s too late for a full meal, but you still want a late-night bite. You don’t have a reservation anywhere, you don’t have a dining partner, and you don’t even really know what you want. In moments like these, it’s when dining at a restaurant bar is the best answer, and The Progress has you covered.

Although chef Stuart Brioza’s menu is more built for sharing here, there’s an off-the-menu hot dog ($12) that is meant to be all yours: the Prog Dog. You’ll get a double smoked pork dog, which has guanciale ground into it (it’s like Italian bacon, but it’s cured pork jowl), topped with a kicky kimchee (which cuts through the richness and salt), fried shallots, toasted sesame, and bonito-rosemary aioli. It all comes nestled in a housemade, griddled milk bun, which is cut off at the sides like a lobster roll. It really comes together, loaded with texture, deep flavor, acid, salt, smoke, creaminess, heat, nuttiness, and hella umami. The Prog Dog is usually available until 10:30pm or so during the week, and 11:30pm-ish on the weekend, but it can sell out. Fortunately, there’s plenty more food to be had on the menu if that happens.

It’s the kind of late-night snack that is begging for a cocktail, and while the house martini with smoked Castelvetrano olive juice and rosemary is clearly a brilliant pairing, there’s another incredible cocktail on the menu right now that deserves your attention: the Wendy Peffercorn. It’s made with Kampot pepper–infused vodka (a Cambodian pink peppercorn), Aperol, Amaro Nonino, lemon, and salt-preserved blood orange, which uses the same process as Moroccan-style preserved lemon, adding a salty note to the cocktail that makes it so fantastic with food. It’s like a salty Paper Plane (a spin on The Last Word) and is definitely a cocktail to befriend at the bar—it’s excellent company.

Tutti a Tavola for the Return of the Week of Italian Cuisine!

Week of Italian Cuisine
Various locations and events
November 12–17

Here’s a celebration many food lovers will be happy to see return: now in its third year, the Week of Italian Cuisine will be running from November 12–17. The first year featured Tuscany, and last year was Sicily, and this year, the focus is on the cuisine and culinary traditions of Puglia, the southern region in the heel of Italy’s “boot.” Puglia is famous for its crunchy and round taralli crackers, orecchiette pasta (typically served with broccoli rabe and plenty of garlic), burrata, fantastic olive oils, seafood dishes, and pasticciotto for dessert (creamy custard with black cherries). 

Throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Wine Country, participating restaurants vetted by the Accademia della Cucina Italiana of San Francisco will be offering a special Pugliese-inspired menu during the week, even if they typically serve dishes from other Italian regions. You can look at all the menus here.

An off-the-menu item you’ll want to track down that week is a special gelato flavor at Gio Gelati in Cow Hollow, caffè soffiato, which gelato wizard Patrizia Pasqualetti created in homage to the refreshing iced coffee treat in Puglia, made with espresso and almond. It’s my new favorite gelato flavor.

Another exciting component to the week is chef Maria Cicorella, owner of the two-Michelin-starred Ristorante Pashà in Conversano, Bari, will be cooking and collaborating with some of the Bay Area’s top women chefs, from Suzette Gresham at Acquerello to Amy Dencler at Chez Panisse to Nicolette Manescalchi at A16. There will also be a night of conversation with Viola Buitoni, Food Advisor for the Consulate General of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute. Look at the full lineup of chef Cicorella’s special appearances here. Buon appetito!

The Chicken and Wine Palace Pop-Up: Fried Chicken by a Fanatic, for Fanatics

Chicken and Wine Palace
Various pop-up locations

As a certified fried chicken lover (just ask to see my card), I didn’t have to think twice about heading to my friend Collin Casey’s fried chicken pop-up, Chicken and Wine Palace. Held at Oakland’s Boot & Shoe Service (thankfully under the new ownership of Jen Cremer and Richard Clark), this was Casey’s second pop-up (he held the first at Ordinaire Wine), although he has been working on and fine-tuning his recipe and technique for over the past two years. A wine professional for the past 21 years, Casey has also worked in many kitchens and actually came to the wine world through cooking.

The pop-up is a warm-up for his larger restaurant concept, which he’s actively seeking a location for in the East Bay. He envisions a casual place with counter service, with simple but perfectly executed dishes off a not-too-hefty menu that is affordable and approachable. And it won’t be just fried chicken: he’s also planning on roast chicken, oysters, salads, and French fries with housemade aioli. And, of course, a killer wine list—the kind of choice list you can access without having to go to an upscale place and dropping too much money. He’s calling it his “pirate-hipster Zuni,” and envisions a patio and oysters and alllll the wine (which will obviously include wines from Tess Bryant Selections, his fabulous wife). Let’s find him his space, soon.

In the meantime, let’s talk about this chicken! He’s sourcing top-quality birds from Cream Co. Meats, from Pasturebird farm in Temecula. The pasture-raised birds are half-Cornish, and have an incredible chicken-y flavor, with a pleasing texture as well (not too sinewy, not too fluffy). Casey has fine-tuned a three-day process, which involves brining them for 12 hours in sweet tea, herbs, and other ingredients; a dip in salted buttermilk with herbs de Provence, garlic, onion, and paprika; a dredge in all-purpose flour; and then frying them for a total of 20–25 minutes (he does a double fry), letting them rest for maximum crispiness. Of course, there are many other details and components and ingredients, but we need to let the man have his secrets. He also got a bit of input from chef pals as he workshopped his recipe and technique.

It’s the kind of chicken you should pick up with your hands—you’ll want to bite into the craggy and dark golden, bark-like exterior, which is peppery and perfectly seasoned, followed by an oh-so-satisfyingly juicy chicken underneath, with aromatic notes of herbs and a light tang to it. Yeah, pick it up—fork and knifing it feels too proper. 

He collaborated with Boot & Shoe’s chef Martin Salata on a side slaw/salad made with charred green cabbage from the wood oven and puntarelle that had just come in, tossed with parsley, cilantro, and a light vinaigrette, the perfect sidecar for the chicken. Guests were supposed to receive a piece of dark and white meat ($22), but being a friend of the chef, I put in a bratty request for two thighs because I could.

As a side note, it was wonderful to revisit Boot & Shoe, supplementing our fried chicken feast with some Marin Miyagi oysters with yuzu kosho and pet nat mignonette (so zippy); radishes with whipped matcha butter (more of that please); a gorgeous salad of chicories, sour orange, Medjool dates, breadcrumbs, and pecorino (what a perfect seasonal salad); and the refreshing Sugar Baby Spritz from the back bar, made with Cocchi Americano Rosa, Leopold Bros. cherry liqueur, vermouth, lemon, and prosecco. Boot & Shoe was also pouring some Tess Bryant Selections from Australia that evening, including the 2017 Jauma “Why Try So Hard,” a fresh and tart semillon and chenin blanc that was on point with hubs’s fried chicken. 

In case you want to hunt down this chicken yourself, and I think you do, here’s some good news: Casey will be popping up again on December 10, this time at Starline Social Club. Follow @chickenandwinepalace for updates on the specifics—he’ll be making a big batch, but when it runs out, that’s it. 

And look for another collaborative pop-up at Boot & Shoe on Wednesday, November 14, with Korean dishes from Nokni’s Julya Shin and Steve Joo.

Maybe it’s your first Thanksgiving away from your family. Maybe you’re one of the few people that stayed behind in the city because your hand-selected non-nuclear family consisting of voluntarily insane friends also stayed in the city. Either way, while you might not crave the tradition of being grilled by your family members about your unconventional lifestyle — because let’s face it, if you ended up in San Francisco you’re the black sheep of your family — most of us crave the tradition of nostalgia. Nostalgia: that warm blanket of memories that can send your brain into a frenzy from a mere whiff of spices, the smell of the rain, the sound of a nearby church bell while your living room curtains flow in the breeze. These — along with a moment of temporary insanity — are the feelings that make you want to recreate a holiday roundtable of friends and feast.

Presidio Social Club

563 Ruger St
San Francisco, CA 94129
Price: $68 person

Every year the Presidio Social Club offers a prix fixe 3-course Holiday Menu on Thanksgiving. It replaces their daily menu and is served from Noon until 7pm. The menu usually features classic Thanksgiving favorites, with last year’s menu including the following:

• Fall greens salad with walnuts // Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut Milk
• Classic roast turkey with sage stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted sweet yams with marshmallows, giblet gravy, cranberry sauce, and homemade rolls.
• Bourbon chocolate pecan pie with whipped creme fraiche // Classic pumpkin pie

PSC’s General Manager, Steve Grant, stated: “We have been doing Thanksgiving Dinner at the restaurant since we opened 11 years ago.  It was a natural extension of being a “club” (without the dues), the same way your family might go to Thanksgiving dinner at the Country Club. We try to do special events throughout the year that our regulars and newcomers bond with, such as a Summer BBQ series every Wednesday, Pig Roasts on Sundays during the early Summer, and Clambakes every Sunday night during mid-late Summer.”

If you’re not up to mingling this Thanksgiving, but still want dessert, Presidio Social Club also offers their Bourbon chocolate pecan, classic pumpkin and toasted coconut cream pies on pre-order starting at $40 each.

Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dishes available with advance notice.

The Old Clam House

299 Bayshore Blvd
San Francisco, CA 94124
Price: $35/person

It’s San Francisco’s oldest restaurant standing in the same location since 1861. When the Old Clam House first opened, it was on the shoreline and surrounded by marshland. While it might seem out of place now, the area was thriving with fisherman harvesting oysters and bringing in their daily catches of Dungeness crab.

If you want to experience a true San Franciscan Thanksgiving, then enjoy a side of clam chowder or cioppino — that lovely dish of Dungeness crab, scallops and mussels in a light tomato broth — with your traditional turkey dinner at this legendary spot on Bayshore Blvd. The Thanksgiving menu also serves up roasted turkey with gravy, stuffing, cranberry relish, potatoes, veggies and pumpkin pie. Their daily menu will also be available, where you can choose from Crab Alfredo, Sand Dabs, Roasted Chicken, and hot Dungeness Crab in their secret garlic butter sauce. Hopefully, you can nab one of their little private dining tables behind the curtains.

The Cavalier

360 Jessie St
San Francisco, CA 94103
Price: $80/person

This London inspired brasserie has offered a British inspired prix fixe Thanksgiving Day menu for lunch and dinner since they opened their doors in 2013. The fox hunting room with the red walls, banquette and few tables are the ideal surroundings to take your time and pretend you’re a posh Brit in a 19th century traditional gentlemen’s club. Billiards and cigars, anyone?

Before that, you may want to consider dining on Chef Jennifer Puccio’s lamb loin, grass-fed ribeye, salmon, sticky toffee pudding and pumpkin steamed pudding. Or, you can go the traditional route and have a heritage turkey dinner with mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts and stuffing. All with a California aesthetic. Just be warned, it’s all served family style.

Shan Dong Restaurant

328 10th St Ste 101, 
Oakland, CA 94607
Price: $15/person

Operating in this location since the 1990s, this Oakland Chinatown institution will give you all the holiday feels without breaking the bank. Shandong is a coastal region in China and its food is one of China’s eight classic cuisines, with noodles and lightly seasoned dumplings being staples. Noodles with sesame paste, made of ground white sesame seeds, is one of Shan Dong Restaurant’s most popular dishes.

Although your traditional American Thanksgiving fixings won’t be present, there is nothing more comforting than sitting around a table with friends and family sharing various dishes like dry fried ribs, blistered green beans and, of course, an extra $1 for Shan Dong’s famous hand-pulled noodles. Not everyone celebrates the holidays in the way the media portrays and you don’t have to — this is especially true on Christmas. Anticipate a full restaurant and possibly a long wait; they do not accept reservations. But, there’s always the option of takeout and enjoying in the comfort of your own home.

Harry’s HofBrau

14900 E 14th St
San Leandro, CA 94578
Price: $20/person

Harry’s HofBrau has been serving up comfort food classics since it opened in 1954. Technically, you can get a Thanksgiving-esque dinner at one of Harry’s three locations year round. Seriously, year round. Harry’s Hofbrau is opened seven days a week from 11:00AM – 11:00PM with Christmas Day being “the only day [they] close.” Seven days of glistening, monstrous meat roasts freshly carved right in front of your very eyes. Harry’s focus has always been on the whole roasted turkey, so much so that they serve over 1,000,000 pounds of turkey each year.

If you have nowhere to go (or have had enough of the family drama and need a break), come to Harry’s. You can watch the game, have a whole roasted turkey dinner and sip on a pint of beer from one of their 28 taps of surprisingly decent craft beers. All of Harry’s locations are open from 12PM-8PM on Thanksgiving, “no reservations are needed, no matter how large your group is.” You can mow down a little turkey (light and dark meat) or ham with your gravy, a Caesar salad, mixed vegetables, a scoop of stuffing, a scoop of mashed potatoes, a big dinner roll, cranberry sauce and a slice of pumpkin pie.

Track down the galbi at Maum in Palo Alto, Indian Paradox gets a technicolor update, don’t miss the Made In: Denmark pop-up at Baana (with a dinner with chef Nick Balla!), the latest Chef’s Cubano from Reem Assil at Media Noche, and a night of California food and drink history.

Maum Is Serving Some of the Best Galbi in the Bay Area

Maum
322 University Ave., Palo Alto
Dinner served Thu–Sat, reservations required

Anyone looking for a unique dining experience who has a little extra money to burn (and enjoys Korean food and flavor profiles) will want to check out Maum in Palo Alto — yes, even if you’re in San Francisco. You’ll enjoy a multi-course tasting menu that offers a modern take on Korean dishes and flavors, with California seasonality and quality ingredients woven in. There’s only one seating for dinner Thu–Sat for 16 diners who have booked a ticket through Tock ($175, and $100 for the excellent wine pairings, which you’ll want to do). The restaurant is basically one big private dining room, with a long wood table, and you can peek into a top-of-the-line kitchen at the back of the room. The space is full of other natural materials and colors, and it’s very minimalist but still welcoming (and very stylish). 

Maum was originally a private dining experience for guests of owners Brian and Grace Koo, and then they decided to open it as a part-time restaurant. They brought on consultant Charles Chen, now a managing partner, who has worked with Tartine Manufactory, Stonemill Matcha, and other projects on their openings and operations. The chef is Michael Kim, whom I met when he was the opening chef de cuisine at Namu Gaji in San Francisco — he has also worked at Redd and SPQR. His wife, Meichih Kim, has worked at Benu and Per Se, and is the mastermind behind the fabulous desserts.

Upon arriving, you’ll be greeted with Champagne and a wave of canapés, like a chestnut tartlet with a cloud-like filling and plump oysters topped with kimchee granita (but a bit too icy). It’s similar to a cocktail party, with a chance to mingle with some of the guests you’re going to be dining next to over the next couple of hours. 

Honestly, the opening courses were fine but didn’t completely wow me — I think the kitchen could push the flavors and executions more into the “whoa” zone. As an example, while yookhwe (steak tartare) is a Korean dish I adore, the presentation here only seemed updated with the elegant linen it was served upon (and the high-quality beef) — it felt like a missed opportunity to do something really unexpected or fun.

By the time you silently glide one of the immensely comfortable, black leather, mid-century modern chairs out and sit down, you will have noticed many of the beautiful plates and stemware and bowls during the opening service, but now it’s really going to be an aesthetic parade. You’ll want to bring home the wood sake cups that are so delicate they can practically fly out of your hand, and the other serve-ware is so elegant and obviously chosen with care.

While each course and wine pairing are announced for all to hear at once, it’s done in a way that is unobtrusive and not meant to interrupt the many conversations at the table. We had people celebrating birthdays, a couple from Marin on date night, a large family gathering, and, of course, some Silicon Valley folks — overall, the crowd was more mature than your usual SF hotspot. As the night went on, and the wine kept being poured, it definitely felt like a more lively dinner party.

The aged snapper tartare with seaweed and roe was a beautiful opening salvo, and the silky abalone custard with matsutake mushrooms was elevated even further with its extraordinary pairing of Bianchetto, an orange wine from Le Coste, a producer in Lazio. Poached sablefish comes in a broth that shows how soulful the kitchen can be, with a deeply satisfying bass note from the gochujang. 

The showstopper was the final course: the wagyu galbi ssam. It featured the most exquisite layered cubes of seared and fatty beef short-rib, served with bouquets of lettuce leaves that you use to wrap up the beef in, along with a dollop of spicy jang sauce, and a piece peeled off the elegant cube of kimchee (which you’ll want to request more of, because you need to pour some of the juice from it over the brisket-kimchee rice, which is presented like a paella). I’d book this dinner on this course alone — I’ve never had galbi come even close to this.

Dessert was a fun show, with delightful madeleines, mochi, mignardises, fresh fruit, and more, plus cake to bring home and enjoy later (good thing, because you’ll be stuffed). The tasting menu offers an extensive amount of food — while some may complain of still being hungry after many tasting menus, that is definitely not the case here. In fact, I even brought home my last bites of the rice and galbi, which proved to be the most divine base to my fried eggs the next morning. 

A Vibrant Makeover and Tasting Menu Built for Wine Lovers at Indian Paradox

Indian Paradox
258 Divisadero St., San Francisco 
Dinner served Tue-Thu 5pm-10pm and Fri-Sat 5pm-11pm, Sat brunch 11am–2pm

Three years ago, Kavitha Raghavan opened Indian Paradox on Divisadero — her petite wine bar featuring wine pairings with Indian street food dishes (chaats) — and now the space has received a stylish redecoration and colorful upgrade. She partnered with artist and interior designer Lorena Zertuche (co-owner of the vibrant Loló) on the new look, and now the cozy space is full of patterns, color, turbans, and one wall is an homage to the highly adorned Indian trucks you’ll see on the roads in India. Honk! It’s the kind of place that is perfect for a date.

Kavitha also upgraded the stemware, and has launched a new tasting menu with chef Maribel Palomo: the new four-course menu is a chaat experience for $35 per person, with four half-pour/2.5 oz. ($55) or four full-glass/5 oz. ($75) pairings for each course, which include both New and Old World wines. It’s a fun spot to swing by on a whim if you just want a glass of wine and a couple snacks at the bar (don’t miss the sundal with warm garbanzos and unripe mango), or you can build a fulfilling dinner, or just let the kitchen just cook for you and do the full tasting.

I’m also a huge fan of weekend brunch, served on Saturday from 11am–2pm (don’t miss the egg akuri: soft-scrambled eggs cooked with Parsi masala, ginger, garlic, turmeric, onions, tomatoes, and cilantro, served with buttered toast). More great news: Sunday brunch is coming January 20.

This Month’s Chef’s Cubano at Media Noche from Chef Reem Assil

Media Noche
3465 19th St., San Francisco

You just have two weeks to make it over to Media Noche in the Mission for November’s Chef’s Cubano. Chef Reem Assil of Reem’s and Dyafa in Oakland has created the La Palestina Cubano, with sumac-braised chicken, melted pepper-jack cheese, pomegranate onions, harissa yogurt, whole-grain mustard, and arugula. It all gets pressed into a golden combination of sandwich perfection. It’s $13.50, and 10% of the proceeds benefit Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC). This cubano is available through November 30 — you can order delivery via Caviar, and that linked code will give first-timers $10 off your first two orders.

Learn About Bay Area Food & Drink History at Back to the Future

Back to the Future: History of Bay Area Food and Drink Innovation
Old U.S. Mint
88 5th St., San Francisco
November 27
6pm–8pm
$50
Info/tickets

Cocktail and history lovers will have plenty to drink and discuss at the 10th annual Historic Libations event, hosted by the California Historical Society. This year’s event is Back to the Future: History of Bay Area Food and Drink Innovation, held at the Old U.S. Mint. Starting at 6pm, guests can enjoy small bites, cocktails, beer, and wine, and The Buena Vista Cafe will provide iconic Irish Coffees. From 6:15pm–8pm, food and drink makers will provide 10-minute presentations and provide guests with tastings during the Tasty Talks portion of the evening, like Amy Guittard from Guittard Chocolate, along with music from Banda Sin Nombre.

Celebrate Danish Design, Food, and Culture at Made in: Denmark

Made In: Denmark
Nov 29–Dec 2
Baana
1256 Mason St., San Francisco
Various times

Kicking off at the end of November is Made In: Denmark, a four-day, pop-up experience featuring design, food, and culture from Denmark’s leading creatives. The pop-up will be held at Baana, the stylish event space from Maggie Spicer (Douglas Market, WHISK) and Sarah Kotcher of Heath Ceramics. 

On November 29, there will be an opening panel and discussion on maker culture at 6:30pm, with Kantine smørrebrød, rose hip kombucha, and beer from Mikkeller; the Danish shop opens at 11am on November 30, with a natural wine seminar curated by Solfinn of Rødder og Vin that evening at 6:30pm; December 1 is another shop day (11am–7pm), plus a ceramic candle–making workshop with havtorn-turmeric tonic at 10:30am, a fermentation workshop with Empirical Spirits at 5:30pm, and a small group dinner with Nick Balla of Duna and Smokebread at 7pm (more on that below); and December 2 is the final day of the pop-up, with Almost-Fika: a cupping of Coffee Collective coffee (prepared by Douglas) with Fellow Products and Kantine cinnamon kanelbullar, 11am–3pm (or until sold out — note this is not a ticketed event). And you can enjoy the last day of the shop from 11am–4pm.

So, about that dinner on December 1: chef Nick Balla (formerly Bar Tartine, Duna, Smokebread) is going to serve a four-course, family-style preservation dinner based on peasant traditions, with dishes like cultured squash dip, beef tartare with bottarga, pumpkin seed tahini and collard greens, slow-roasted root vegetables, parsnip-sauerkraut stew with pork and mushrooms, and stuffed persimmons with yogurt and almonds. The fabulous meal will be served with cocktails from Empirical Spirits, natural wine, havtorn (sea buckthorn) turmeric tonic, and Nick’s very own vermouth made of rosé wine, black lime, anise, and fennel flowers. There’s just room for 20 guests at 7pm, $165 per ticket.

You’re going to want to explore Loló’s brand-new cocktail list, which is full of creativity and culinary surprises. Then, try SF’s first pizza a teglia at Barbara Express in North Beach, and don’t miss a quality Dungeness crab feed at The Alice Collective in Oakland. Finally, just in case you got dissed on Thanksgiving leftovers, here are two of SF’s top turkey sandwiches.

The Latest Cocktail List at Loló Offers a Culinary Adventure

Loló
974 Valencia St., San Francisco

Loló is one of those San Francisco gems adored by restaurant industry folks for many reasons: their incredibly creative and well-executed cocktails are high on the list, along with the impressively curated wine list from GM Juan Carlos Ruelas that continues to get fine-tuned, with a strong focus on natural and organic wines — there are some real gems on there. Add in Jorge Martinez’s ever-evolving menu with Jaliscan and seasonal influences, the friendly staff, delightfully playful interior by partner Lorena Zertuche, fun vibes, and lively crowd (this place is always full of interesting and good-looking people), and it’s not only a good time, but a quality one.

Their bar team is one of the city’s best, and personally, I think they should be getting much more national attention than they are. Bar manager Leon Vazquez leads a talented team, and their latest lineup of cocktails just launched, full of esoteric ingredients and unexpected combinations and concoctions, which they are known for.  An example is the Lost Souvenir, with Homeric mastiha (a spirit made with an ancient ingredient from Chios, Greece), Navy-strength gin, carrot, and coconut creme, served over crushed ice — it’s almost like an orange creamsicle, but with carrot, plus a resinous note from the mastiha. It’s a refreshing place to start, and the kind of cocktail that makes people ask what you’re drinking.

Then there’s the Rusty Trombone, with red onion-infused vodka and coconut that somehow, oddly, magically comes together to drink like a martini (it’s so good with food). So many culinary ingredients are featured in the cocktail menu, like white truffle in the Truffled Gin Cobbler and long black pepper grated on top of the Sfumato Sour. This one is a perfect drink to end the night with (it has rhubarb amaro, mezcal, lemon, egg white), although the Blood Brother with mezcal, amaro, Campari, and Makrut lime leaves will also ask to be your final-final.

One more item of note: the kitchen just acquired a molino (masa grinder) from Guadalajara to make their own masa in house. They are sourcing corn from Masienda, who specializes in heirloom, non-GMO, landrace maize from Mexico (and beyond). The kitchen team has been falling in love with the flavorful masa they’re making, and are using it for their quesadillas, the tortillas that come with the carnitas, and various specials like the crab and chorizo quesadilla pictured above.

There’s a New Kind of Pizza Counter in North Beach

Barbara Express
427 Columbus Ave., San Francisco
Open daily 11:30am–11pm

When you mention square pizza in North Beach, most folks immediately think of classic Golden Boy Pizza (since 1978!), but there’s a new counter in town, offering the first teglia romana in SF: Barbara Express. It’s a Roman-style pizza baked in a square pan and then cut with scissors (it’s served pre-cut in squares at Barbara Express, although in Rome, you can decide how large or small you want your slice — if you want to pig out with a rectangle, you can go for it). Here, slices range from an affordable $3.50–$6. Barbara Express adjoins the newly open Barbara Pinseria & Cocktail Bar (in the former Panda Rei) from Il Casaro’s Francesco Covucci and Peter Fazio (they are also behind Pasta Pop-Up).

The tiled counter offers eight different kinds of teglia Romana, and they’re keeping the toppings Italian and simple in style: you can get margherita, or broccoli rapini with sausage (be sure to drizzle some Calabrese chile oil on that one, it needs some kick), mushroom, sausage and red onion (I loved this one), four cheeses, diavola with soppressata and dollops of burrata added on top at the end, veggie (with eggplant and zucchini), and other rotating kinds (to be clear, it’s not a build-your-own kind of place). The tomato sauce has a nice, bright pop, and the cheeses are fresh, really creamy, and melt beautifully.

About the crust: this is not a cracker-thin Roman pizza, nor is it thick and doughy Sicilian. The dough is 85 percent water and fermented for 48 hours — the airy bubbles transform into a bubbly crumb, with a light crunch. I recommend trying it right out of the electric Cuppone oven for the best impression (at least your first piece, and then get another to go) — the satisfying crunch disappears as it comes to room temp. A couple of pieces also seemed a touch under-baked to me, but I was also trying the first slices of the day before the oven really got cranking.

There are some tables where you can sit inside or outside and watch the Columbus Avenue parade go by. Hang out, you have time. Other additions include supplì fresh out of the fryer, there’s a fridge full of drinks (and beers), and there’s also espresso service. 

A Dungeness Crab Feed Done Right

The Alice Collective
272 14th Street, Oakland
Sunday December 2
Tickets: $75
11am or 2pm seatings

It’s Dungeness crab season, and you’ll find local crab on menus all over the Bay Area. But there’s nothing like getting a bib on and really tucking into a pile of freshly steamed crab. Ted Wilson of the new The Alice Collective in Oakland (he was previously behind SF’s Fine & Rare) has hosted some epic annual crab feeds, and he isn’t sourcing just any ole crabs — he makes sure to get some big, fresh, quality beauties from local fishermen (he has some great connections). They’re served simply with drawn butter and lemon (perfection!).

You’ll also enjoy garlic noodles to catch all those little crabby pieces you’re setting free, sourdough garlic bread, a mixed green salad (you’ll need a break from the butter), and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. There are also bottomless mimosas and beers, but your hands are going to be so busy cracking crab that you may not be able to keep up with your usual boozy pace.

It’s a big communal affair, with tables of strangers quickly becoming friends over the family-style feast. Bibs bring people together. This year, you’ll be able to check out the new location at The Alice Collective, Wilson’s new commissary kitchen, café, and community space in downtown Oakland. 

It all happens on Sunday, December 2 and there are two seatings: 11am–12:30pm or 2pm–3:30pm. Don’t delay on tickets, it sold out last year! Proceeds from the Crab Feed will benefit The Golden Gate Salmon Association.

Didn’t Get Thanksgiving Leftovers? Here Are Two Top Turkey Sandwiches 

Arguello Super Market
782 Arguello Blvd. San Francisco
Rossi’s Deli
426 Castro St. San Francisco

Sure, we just finished a week of peak turkey, but some of you may not have had the joy of a turkey sandwich the day after Thanksgiving made with leftovers, especially if you were a guest at someone’s house, or your Friendsgiving ended up being a vegetarian one. Maybe your aunt and uncle’s turkey was a travesty—hey, it happens to a lot of people. But the day-after turkey sandwich? It’s arguably the best thing about the bird that was on the dinner table the night before.

One of San Francisco’s iconic turkey sandwiches is from Arguello Super Market — it’s made at a deli counter inside the market. They use juicy, house-roasted turkey off a rotisserie, and their flaky and golden Dutch crunch roll is tops (you gotta do Dutch crunch). A chef friend taught me a little trick: ask for a combo of white and dark meat, and the pro move is to also ask for a little turkey skin! Trust, that fatty little addition brings it all together.

I skip the hothouse tomato, pickle and mustard, but keep the lettuce, mayo, and red onion (that’s everything that comes with the $7.99 sandwich). Don’t forget to add some avocado ($1.25), and Swiss cheese is a solid choice (also $1). Cranberry sauce ($1) is up to you — I say you’re already adding two things, why not go for three and make it perfect? Or just go for cranberry and cheese. Fortunately, it’s one of those sandwiches that is almost always worth the $11 price tag, or whatever your final total is.

Can’t make it over to Arguello, but you still have a hankering for a monster turkey sandwich? A friend recently turned me on to the Avogobble they make at Rossi’s Deli in the Castro, and it’s quite a deal. For $8.95, you get a huge sandwich with freshly roasted turkey (they roast it daily), plus all the usual sandwich fixins, your pick from three kinds of mustard, and bless, they have Dutch crunch. It even comes with cheese!

Not only is this sandwich a total steal, but it’s lovingly assembled with fresh ingredients, and you will quickly be charmed by the kind family who runs the place (they took over in 1976!). You can see why the neighborhood adores this place — they really want to feed the people (seriously, you will just finish half the sandwich). Be sure to check out all the chocolates and international sweets on the counter while they make your sandwich, and you can come back another day for their bountiful breakfast sandwiches — you just need to make it through that sandwich first.

San Francisco’s food scene has countless giant strengths, but the 7×7 city’s dozens of destination-worthy bakeries certainly has a spot at the top. Certain bakeries specialize in bread, some focus on creative pastries and others are best known for niche items like cruffins or passion fruit macaroons. However, if there is one unifying item that tends to be found at most — definitely not all — bakeries, it would be that simple yet transcendent favorite of all ages: chocolate chip cookies.

Chocolate chip cookies are near and dear to us at KQED since we’re the home of the greatest cookie critic of them all, Cookie Monster. He and Grover would certainly approve of the compact, chewy, beautifully balanced version at Arsicault and the thin, crisp, oozing with chocolate one by Tartine Manufactory. They would also be huge fans of the other four other cookies that stood out in this sugar and butter-filled quest.

That being said, a number of worthwhile chocolate chip cookies just missed the cut but really deserve to be on any “Best Chocolate Chip Cookies” list, especially Theorita, Craftsman and Wolves, the front coffee kiosk at Spruce, Neighbor Bakehouse, Marla Bakery and b. Patisserie. On that note, as Cookie Monster would say, “Chocolate chip important to me… It mean whole lot to me… Om nom nom nom.” These five chocolate chip cookies mean a lot to us, too.

Honorable Mention (best under $3 cookie):

Andytown Coffee Roasters
3655 Lawton St.

There are seemingly as many coffee shops as residents in San Francisco — yet very few roast their own beans. Then, there is an even smaller group of cafes/roasters that also do some of their own baking for the breads and desserts in the display case at the register. Several SF roaster heavyweights like Sightglass, Ritual and Four Barrel don’t do that. Yes, Blue Bottle does, but they also have the power of Nestle funding behind them. Tartine Manufactory does, but that’s such a sprawling complex that does everything DIY from world-class pickles to cocktail syrups, so of course they roast their own coffee beans and do some — ok, A LOT of — baking as well.

Then there is little Andytown Coffee Roasters, the caffeine pride of the Outer Sunset. If a sunrise surf session in the icy cold nearby Pacific didn’t wake you up in this neighborhood, chances are a cappuccino or a Snowy Plover at Andytown did. Andytown bakes scones, Irish soda bread (one of the owners is from Northern Ireland), muffins, and chocolate chip cookies.

These are the smallest and cheapest of the chocolate chip cookies in our guide, clocking in at $2 apiece and definitely compact enough to actually not be a meal. It’s refreshing to see a cookie that is meant to be dessert after a meal or as a light snack. The Andytown cookie is the most “typical” cookie of the bunch as well. It truly tastes and looks like a chocolate chip cookie that would be in Cookie Monster’s jar when he scoops them up and eats four at a time on “Sesame Street.” The Guittard chocolate chips are nicely spaced out in the fluffy body, as are flecks of sea salt (beware of having one possible bite that has too much salt clumped together like I did). This is a very simple, to-the-point cookie. It boasts a lovely chewy texture that has almost zero crispness to it but also isn’t remotely doughy. The consistency is exactly what you would dream of for dipping into a glass of milk. Since you’re at Andytown, though, the cookie will also be a great asset for dunking into the freshly whipped cream atop the Snowy Plover.

Provender Coffee

1415 18th St.

Like Andytown, Provender is a coffee shop that bakes its own cookies and other items (cardamom lemon cake, cookies, black sesame banana bread and more), except it doesn’t bake its own bread for one of the city’s finest avocado toasts (Tartine country loaf is used) and it doesn’t roast its own coffee beans (they use…Andytown!).

However, somehow the tiny Potrero Hill cafe can use its limited space to bake its own cookies, pull espresso shots and slice that Tartine bread for toasts.

The co-owners and brothers, Austin and Tony Ferrari, both have a fine dining background. Austin has years of experience on the wine side and Tony is Chef/Co-Owner of Bernal Heights’ Hillside Supper Club. It’s no surprise that their items baked in-house have a noticeable attention to detail that lifts their cookies and other morning-friendly items above the coffee shop status quo.

The Provender chocolate chip cookie is large, thin, neither crisp nor chewy, yet was by far the softest version that we found. It’s also blonde colored (all the others were distinctly tan or bronze), likely from being cooked at either a shorter than average time or lower than average oven heat — both of which could explain how it’s so soft. However, Provender says that the softness comes from the addition of brown sugar to the dough, along with the critical need to have all dough ingredients at room temperature before mixing and to have each egg emulsified before adding the next egg into the mix. This is definitely not the cookie to dunk in a glass of milk unless you love fishing out every piece of cookie crumble from the glass.

In my notes, I wrote that this is the chocolate chip cookie that seems like what you would expect a homemade chocolate chip cookie to look like. All the other cookies we encountered on this tour have a little new wave twist. The only real twists for this cookie are the flecks of sea salt on top and that brown sugar addition. Otherwise, it’s a delightful classic. There are lots of chocolate chips, almost equally scattered about. The cookie dough doesn’t have any umami kick, but it tastes like perfectly baked cookie dough. This seems like the chocolate chip cookie many of us remember grabbing at a bakery or a corner store as a post-school, pre-homework pick-me-up snack.

Tartine Manufactory

595 Alabama St.

What savory or sweet baked item does Tartine and Tartine Manufactory not thrive at? Bread, brownies, cakes, croissants…we could go on and on. Cookies are no exception whether you prefer the petite salted buckwheat or the chocolate chip in the display case on the retail side of the sprawling sunlit complex on the quieter side of the Mission. (Note that cookie types do mostly differ between Tartine and Tartine Manufactory.) Unlike the universally beloved breads, the Tartine Manufactory chocolate chip cookie isn’t everyone’s favorite style. It is resolutely of the thin, crispy style. The chewy, soft cookie minded school will surely disapprove of this despite still devouring the cookie and admitting to enjoying it. It’s not the easiest cookie to love at first, but it always will warm up to cookie eaters.

It’s a good-sized cookie in terms of circumference and is razor thin. The consistency is pliant — not wafer-like, thankfully — and never shatters. It will only break if bent, which is a rarity for the distinctly thin cookie genre. There are lots of chocolate swirls in the dough with one to two particularly dense chocolate-filled areas standing out per cookie, and then just a smidge of sea salt scattered about, making for each bite to be full of a buttery, salty, earthy, chocolatey quartet. It isn’t an organized cookie like the first two, instead providing a bit of adventure.

Every bite has a different punch. The most noticeable taste difference is that flour is more pronounced than the butter, which isn’t too surprising knowing that Tartine Manufactory is particularly gifted at using flour elsewhere in the bakery. That means it’s less of a “sweet” cookie. It isn’t savory by any means, but it also isn’t going to strike that sugar tooth like the majority of cookies will. Though the style isn’t everyone’s favorite, it’s as perfectly executed a thin chocolate chip cookie as you’ll find in San Francisco and defeats many other cuddlier, chewier ones.

Manresa Bread/Verve

2101 Market. St.

The wild card of the bunch requires lots of qualifiers. Yes, Manresa Bread isn’t based in San Francisco (it’s based in Los Gatos). Yes, there are as many walnuts scattered in the cookie dough as chocolate chips. Yes, the thick body and moist but crumbly texture is much closer to a brownie than a cookie. But, this is still very much a chocolate chip cookie at its core (many chocolate chip cookie versions include walnuts!) and Manresa Bread’s baked goods are only sold at one SF location, Verve, in the Castro. It counts. It’s a beast.

Most importantly, we need to recognize cookie brilliance in this guide and this powerful, hefty $4 whole wheat chocolate chip cookie designed by Manresa Bread’s Head Baker Avery Ruzicka. If it seems like the cookie is equal parts chocolate chunks and toasted walnuts, well, that’s because it is.

Manresa Bread has the good fortune of now milling its own flours, which surely adds an additional burst of levity to the cookie dough. It’s densely built but wonderfully airy. The fact that it’s whole wheat flour and the addition of brown sugar give the cookie a delightful caramelized sweetness edge that strongly compliments the addition of walnuts. Everything here is in harmony, making this is one formidable cookie.

Merchant Roots

1365 Fillmore St.

You can’t miss the monster Guittard chocolate wafer in this cookie. It’s like the light of a lighthouse, beckoning cookie-goers at the Merchant Roots savory and sweets counter. There is so much to love about Merchant Roots and to eat there, as we wrote about when it opened a few months ago.

Yet, the little market with enormous aspirations has found a steadfast niche for the chocolate chip cookie-going crowd in its early months. The recipe comes from Merchant Roots Proprietress Madison Michael, featuring the brilliant addition of brown cultured butter to the mix, along with equal parts regular sugar and muscovado sugar. It’s a slightly thick, slightly doughy type of cookie, effortlessly soft without being too pillowy.

I noted that this is an “artsy cookie” in my detailed tasting, meaning that it defies most cookie labels. It’s also artsy in that the umami notes of that brown cultured butter do shine through and is a curveball addition, but really soars with the sharpness of the giant Guittard chocolate wafer. Michael says that there are 1.5 wafers per cookie, but somehow every bite seems to have a beautiful balance of chocolate and dough — whether it’s a bite of the big wafer or not.

Arsicault

397 Arguello Blvd.

What once was a quiet neighborhood-only bakery nestled in a residential area near USF and Golden Gate Park, Arsicault Bakery is now as great a secret as State Bird Provisions and Swan Oyster Depot thanks to Bon Appetit’s restaurant guru Andrew Knowlton naming it the Best New Bakery in America in 2016, largely for its fabled croissants. Yes, those croissants are exceptional and worth a wait depending on your level of devotion to buttery, laminated dough viennoiserie.

It almost seems unfair that such an already popular and heavily praised bakery deserves even more accolades for another item that nobody really even notices when looking through the pastry glass? That is indeed the case here as Arsicault proved to us that their rendition of a chocolate chip cookie is the closest to a perfect example of the genre that we have found in our cookie-crazy city.

This cookie has it all. There is a crisp outer edge with a delightful faint smokiness pervading each bite. The interior is relentlessly chewy but never yielding a crumb after a few bites. There is plenty of butter and plenty of chocolate — with those blocks of Valrhona 55% chocolate almost forming a micro-thin layer of chocolate so each bite is nearly the same, but never seeming to be too much butter or chocolate. Alright, we’ll admit there are no chocolate chips here. They really are like chunks or wafers or blocks. Whatever you want to call them, it’s a thrilling recipe.

There is a sense of organized chaos to the composition of the cookie — more like Tartine Manufactory’s cookie than any of the other four. For texture, richness, balance, and pure cookie joy, Cookie Monster has a hard time thinking that he’ll find a superior chocolate chip cookie than the one at Arsicault, but he would be more than happy to have any of these five choices to satisfy his ravenous cookie appetite.

There’s a new Burmese pop-up that will warm your belly (and your heart) in Civic Center, you have three days to enjoy a pre-New Year’s Eve brunch at Liholiho Yacht Club (just be sure to get a reservation!), check out two new Sunday Suppers that won’t break the bank, and a Dominican Christmas feast in Oakland.

A New Nighttime and Weekend Burmese Pop-Up in Civic Center

Beyond Burma
154 McAllister St., San Francisco
Tue–Fri 4pm–9:30pm
Sat–Sun 10am–2pm, 5:30pm–9:30pm

Some restaurants really come up with clever solutions to open in this challenging city to operate in. Now open on evenings and weekend brunch in the Elmira Rosticceria location in Civic Center is Beyond Burma (Elmira is a weekday lunchtime restaurant). Some folks may recognize the space from past Feastly and other pop-up dinners. The two business partners (Su and Zay Wu) and chef are all Burmese and wanted to offer a menu with a little bit of a creative update on some classic dishes. It’s an extensive menu, one that already has me plotting a second visit so I can taste more. They are very open to feedback and really care about their guests’ experience.

You can get started with salt and pepper calamari ($10), lightly fried with bell pepper and onion — it’s a dish built to pair with their malt beer from Myanmar. A favorite was the Bagan Sunset ($13), a bowl of fat and slippery noodles coated with chicken curry sauce, plus sliced eggs, red onion, and yellow pea powder. The housemade fried noodle chips on top got soggy in the humid, rainy night, but no matter — my friend declared he’d want to eat this dish every day. It was homey and satisfying, and I added some of the hot chile it was served with to dial up the modulated heat of the curry. What a winner.

We tried the new-style tea leaf salad with pomegranate, persimmon, and arugula ($12), but we should have stuck with the original — the arugula couldn’t hold up to all the dressing and was quickly soggy. When they saw how curious we were about the food, the kitchen wanted us to have a taste of the Kyauk Pwint Salad ($9), made with a spongy white fungus flower that looked like delicate loofah. The flavors of this salad were bright and you can order it spicy, but the amount of garlic in it was staggering — I’d ask them to go lighter unless you have a village of vampires to repel.

You know what’s great on a rainy night? A bowl of their rich and satisfying mohinga ($13)! This fish chowder soup isn’t traditionally served with pieces of catfish — it’s ground up to form a thicker, hearty style of soup that coats the rice noodles beautifully, and I detected a little hint of fish sauce in there too. Add in the sliced egg, cilantro, and crunchy split pea crackers, and I couldn’t get enough of the red chile pepper (with crunchy fish) to add on top.

There are numerous main courses and curries to choose from, and we opted for the jumbo prawn with kabocha ($17), with expertly cooked prawns that came in a rich red curry sauce with a pumpkin base. Get some coconut rice (own hta minn) to soak up the sauce.

They have some wines by the glass and bottle, but I’d love to see a wine lover help them diversify their list (for whites, they offer one sauvignon blanc and three chardonnays — someone help ‘em out!).

I have to add that the hospitality here is heart-achingly charming and kind. I mean, come on, they added extra sauce and crunchy chips to my Bagan Sunset leftovers before handing me my bag. We even got hugs. Melt. If you’re catching any holiday shows in the theater district, or want to grab a bite for dinner when you get off at Civic Center BART, here’s a new spot to check out that will make you feel good (and well-fed) for many reasons, even if it isn’t perfect. The upbeat house music they had playing also made me smile: utz utz!

A Rare Treat: Brunch at Lihohiho Yacht Club!

Liholiho Yacht Club
871 Sutter St., San Francisco
Holiday Brunch
December 29–31
11am–4pm
Reservations

Last year, the ever-busy and popular Liholiho Yacht Club decided to do something fun before taking a break for New Year’s Day: they held a brunch! Anyone who attended remembers it well (and are still talking about the housemade spam and egg bun). This year, Liholiho is doing it again, but for three days this time (December 29–31), and with an all-new menu! Plus there will be a special, secret add-on item. (I’d guess people who follow @liholihoyachtclub will learn something about it, wink.) 

Reservations open at midnight on Monday so don’t miss it. Didn’t get a spot? The bar will be open to walk-ins this year as well.

One more item: downstairs in Louie’s Gen-Gen Room, they will be serving a New Year’s Eve happy hour warm-up, with cocktails and bar snacks, plus DJ jams from Sake One. December 29–31, 11am–4pm.

A Dominican Christmas Feast at alaMar Kitchen + Bar in Oakland

alaMar Kitchen + Bar
100 Grand Ave., Oakland
Dominican Christmas feast
Sunday, December 16
3pm and 6pm
Tickets: $48 (includes gratuity)

The Bay Area is sadly pretty short on Dominican food, but chef Nelson German of alaMar Kitchen + Bar in Uptown Oakland is fixing that, German is Dominican-American, born and bred in uptown Manhattan’s Washington Heights, and he’s hosting a Dominican Christmas feast on Sunday, December 16. He’s preparing quite the spread for the buffet, including pastelitos de queso (cheese empanadas), pernil de puerco (slow-roasted Dominican pork shoulder), pollo guisado (Dominican-style braised chicken), bacalao con maiz y papa (salt cod stew with corn, onions, and Yukon Gold potatoes), yucca asado con cebolla (roasted yucca with pickled onions), platano maduro (sweet plantains), habichuela guisado (Dominican stewed red beans), and of course some arroz blanco (steamed rice). 

Come hungry. Just $40 plus $8 gratuity. You’ll also be able to purchase some Dominican-influenced holiday cocktails (bring on the Dominican rum cream!). There will also be live music, and for those who attend the second seating, there will be dancing and a party after!

Can’t make it? Check out alaMar’s monthly Bachata Brunches on second Sundays with a DJ and specials like $1.25 oysters (next one is December 9).

New Sunday Suppers at Lord Stanley and Tosca Cafe

Lord Stanley
2065 Polk St., San Francisco
5:30pm–10pm for Sunday Supper
Tosca Cafe 
42 Columbus Ave. San Francisco
Sunday nights 5:30pm–11pm

Here’s a surefire way to get rid of any Sunday Scaries: head out for a nice dinner! And not just any dinner. Over at the chic Lord Stanley, they’re hosting a four-course Sunday Supper for the month of December. The prix-fixe menu is $65 (not including beverages, tax, or tip), and there’s the option to add on some additional snacks and supplements. The menu will highlight seasonal ingredients and will consist of a winter vegetable course, a fish course, a meat course, and a dessert. Dietary restrictions are accommodated — just be sure to let them know ahead of time when reserving. 

Tosca Cafe in North Beach is also adding Sunday service in the form of Sunday Social Club, a new weekly dinner series featuring a four-course, prix-fixe menu ($45) of Italian-American fare paired with cocktails and live music. Soak in the old school atmosphere and keep Tosca’s bohemian spirit alive while enjoying live vocalists, spanning opera, jazz, and show tunes. 

The current menu includes an antipasto of anchovy, olives, peppers, and Tosca focaccia; chicory Caesar salad with pecorino; braised pork coppa with broccoli di ciccio and delicata squash; and for dessert, housemade cannoli. Vegetarian options are available. The menu will change weekly and feature rotating wine pairings (there’s even a $10 wine special offered with the menu), plus you can take 10 percent off bottles of wine from the wine list. San Francisco Opera season ticket holders receive a 10% discount when dining on Sunday night with proof of ticket stub or Opera membership.

When Lamees Dahbour set up her weekly tent at Off The Grid, the San Francisco-based food truck fair, this year, she didn’t just unpack trays of fragrant falafel, crisp ejja (vegetable fritters), and creamy mutabal (eggplant dip). She also unfurled a red, black, white, and green Palestinian flag and displayed it proudly. The flag was a conversation-starter: Mama Lamees, as she is affectionately known, says that people often came up and asked about it, although some confused Palestine with Pakistan. It was also a way to proudly share her identity, at a time when many Americans know little about Palestinian culture.

“We want to spread the word and the taste of some dishes, [and make it clear] that there is a culture called Palestinian, and there is a food belonging to that country,” says Dahbour.

Dahbour is featured in an upcoming episode of KCET’s documentary series “The Migrant Kitchen,” alongside rising star and fellow Palestinian chef, Reem Assil. The episode, which airs tonight, highlights the chefs’ work and sheds a rare light on Palestinians and the Arab world through food. At a time when anti-Arab sentiment is front and center in many parts of the U.S., Assil and Dahbour serve up a message of understanding and acceptance.

“Palestinians have been cooking forever, but we kind of hide behind our food,” says Assil. “We’ll call it ‘Mediterranean,’ we don’t call it what it is, because we’re afraid.”

The antidote, for both these chefs, is visibility. At Reem’s California, Assil’s Oakland-based bakery, she made the deliberate decision to call the menu “Arab street food.” For her, it’s a kind of reclamation.

“We should be proud to be Arab,” she says. “We’re a beautiful people, we’re not terrorists, we’re not all these backwards images that the media puts out about us.”

Inside Reem’s, voices singing in Arabic play over the speakers, a mural of a Palestinian activist graces the wall, and profiles of Middle Eastern artists, musicians, and thinkers are printed on each of the numbered order cards—like baseball cards for the culturally literate. And at Dyafa, the critically acclaimed Oakland restaurant Assil opened in April with Bay Area chef and restauranteur Daniel Patterson’s restaurant group, she’s bringing Syrian-Palestinian cuisine—often relegated to cheap-eats establishments—to a fine-dining setting.

An Unlikely Journey to Owning a Food Business

Though Dahbour is of Palestinian heritage, she was born in Kuwait. Her father left Palestine to escape political turmoil, undertaking an arduous desert crossing during which many of his friends died. In Kuwait, Dahbour grew up as the middle child in a large family. Around age 11 or 12, her mother was hospitalized for a time and Dahbour found herself in charge of the kitchen. She loved it. “[It] gave me a chance to be kind of the head of the household!” she laughs.

At that point, operating a food business never crossed her mind. Instead, she pursued higher education, eventually working in business administration for the United Nations, a job that took her all over the Middle East. In 2006, she decided to move to the U.S. with her husband and small children to follow her extended family. Dahbour is frank about surviving domestic violence from her former husband, and she’s measured when she talks about her divorce and living as a single mother with three kids in elementary school.

“It was really tough financially to do and run everything in the family,” she says. “I spent almost six years in court, in family court, in criminal courts, just to get my family situation stable.” Around the time when her kids were graduating from elementary and middle school, that time of year when many families bring teachers and principals gifts, Dahbour made some calculations: She couldn’t afford to buy gifts for all her children’s teachers, but she could cook up a Palestinian feast, and offer “traditional dishes that are not in the market.”

The response to her food was overwhelmingly positive, and guests asked her, “Why aren’t you opening a restaurant?” The manager of her housing complex, who always followed the incredible smells coming out of her apartment and eventually joined the family for meals, agreed—and it was this manager who introduced Dahbour to La Cocina.

La Cocina is a nonprofit incubator kitchen in San Francisco that supports working class food entrepreneurs, with a primary focus on immigrants and women of color. Now in their thirteenth year, La Cocina provides business resources and consulting for 35 to 40 entrepreneurs a year from their space in the city’s Mission District.

Moving Forward, Despite Controversy

Assil is also a La Cocina alum and her path to working in food was just as nonlinear as Dahbour’s. Before baking had even crossed her mind, Assil was a community organizer and activist. Her trajectory toward food began after 9/11, when a crescendo of anti-Arab sentiment fed into her sense of anxiety and a lack of belonging. She got sick, left college in 2003, and came to stay with family in California. Here, she says, she nursed herself back to health through food, anti-war activism, and “finding my voice as an Arab woman.”

There was one dish that Assil found especially captivating: man’oushe, a chewy flatbread with crisp edges. It was man’oushe that she made with her family, and man’oushe that she saw again and again in local bakeries while on what she calls “a soul-searching trip to Lebanon and Syria.”

“For those of us from the Middle East, [man’oushe] is a household name, it’s something we grew up eating,” says Ramzi Salti, a Lecturer in Arabic at Stanford University. Salti, who is also featured in “The Migrant Kitchen,” is author of Arabology, a blog that highlights culture from the Arab world. Watching the growth in popularity of man’oushe here in the States has been something of a pleasant surprise, Salti says. “You live long enough, you see everything!” he laughs. In addition to being delicious, he adds, the flatbread is “supposed to have very healing qualities.”

For Assil, this healing wasn’t just physical, she also found it profound to explore the role bread plays in Arab cultures. “Bread is the lifeline, the oral history of my people,” she says. “It’s something that is accessible to both the rich and the poor and across cultures; everybody resonates with bread.”

In even the most remote mountain villages in the Middle East, Assil says, you’ll find a post office and a bakery. These bakeries are cornerstones in their communities, and seeing this inspired Assil to develop the concept for Reem’s at La Cocina in 2015. When a spot opened up at the busy Fruitvale Station transit hub in East Oakland the following year, it made perfect sense. Here, at a sunny corner spot just under the train platform, she serves up man’oushe covered in flavorful za’atar, shakshuka, lamb baked in turnovers, chewy sesame-coated bread called khobz sim sim, and rows of sweet pastries.

The restaurant has not been free from controversy, however. The large, colorful mural that decorates one wall of Reem’s Bakery—of a woman named Rasmea Odeh who, in 1970, at 21, was convicted by Israeli courts of participating in a bombing that killed two Israeli students—became a hot-button issue within weeks of the shop opening. While Assil sees Odeh as a civic leader and a symbol of resilience, an op-ed in The Jewish News of Northern California denounced the bakery for lionizing a “terrorist.” Hate mail and negative Yelp reviews followed, but Assil’s community rallied around her and the bakery. Today, the protesters have moved on, and the mural remains.

Both Assil and Dahbour stress the allyship they’ve seen from Jewish customers and friends. When her bakery was targeted, Assil says, “the first people to come to my side were my white and Jewish allies.”

On a similar note, Dahbour remembers how surprised she was when Israeli customers came to talk with her at her food tent, telling her where they were from and asking if they could reserve seats at her restaurant (there’s no brick-and mortar restaurant yet, however). The lawyer who volunteered to help register Dahbour’s business is Jewish and one of her closest friends; since he and his family keep kosher, she cooks vegetarian dishes for the meals they share so their families can eat together.

For both chefs, the lesson has been to model openness and civility, even when faced with opposition. “I feel like … food puts some peace between people,” says Dahbour, thoughtfully. “Food brings everyone to one table peacefully. I don’t think you’re going to cook for someone you hate.”

“One of the ways to counteract extremism or xenophobia is to show another side to the culture, or to the people, and what better way is there to do that than through food and cuisine?” asks Salti. His words are measured and cautiously optimistic. “Showing that side of the culture will perhaps lead to a better understanding of the region itself and show a better, more harmonious tomorrow.”

This article was produced in partnership with KCET’s “The Migrant Kitchen” and originally appeared on Civil Eats. Now in its third season, “The Migrant Kitchen” will air an episode profiling Dahbour and Assil on December 5. The trailer for the episode is embedded below.

All photos by Jim Sullivan.

There’s a new Japanese-inspired brunch you’ll want to try, and the Mission has a cozy ramen spot (with incredible taro soft-serve!). The holidays are in full swing with Dungeness crab specials, chiles rellenos en nogada, and special lunch service at Bix and Campton Place Restaurant.

Brunch Item Alert: Soft-Shell Crab Benedict! And Other Japanese-Inspired Dishes.

Asahiru 
At Nabe
1325 9th Ave., San Francisco
Sat–Sun 9:30am–2:30pm (subject to change)

There’s a new weekend pop-up happening in Nabe in the Inner Sunset: meet Asahiru, a Japanese-inspired brunch from chef Hiro Makiyama (who has returned from training in Japan for three years) and Alex Tao. Their signature item is their brilliant soft-shell crab Benedict, with yuzu-infused hollandaise and a pop of bright green flavor from the shiso garnish, plus a side salad. I love how they griddled and pressed the English muffin, and the poached egg yolk and hollandaise will run into the country potatoes on the plate as well (so decadent). One crab is plenty ($18), or get two for $27, or three for $36 (but that would be incredibly rich). There’s also the option to get their panko-fried, thick-cut Canadian bacon as the base ($14 or $18 for two), or a side for $3 (do it).

Other options include a tamago soft-scramble (they use dashi in the eggs), and they cleverly subbed green bell pepper with shishito peppers in their Denver-style scramble, $15. There’s also a kimcheese version.

There are many side items, from pork or chicken katsu, croquettes, and we enjoyed the fried pumpkin special. Any of these would be a great addition to the vegetarian breakfast curry ($8), which looked so good — I’m coming back for that! You can also indulge in the lunchier side of brunch with the Wagyudon ($12), with wagyu beef and onions simmered in a mildly sweet au jus over rice.  The name asahiru comes from asa, which means morning, and hiru, which means noon, so you can decide where you fit best on the spectrum.

Warm Up with New Ramen at Ramenwell, But Don’t Miss the Taro Soft-Serve

Ramenwell
3378 18th St., San Francisco

Cooler nights have arrived, which means a bowl of steamy ramen is especially welcome. There’s a new and friendly ramen spot in the Mission that took over the former Ken Ken Ramen space called Ramenwell. The place has a new and sleek look, with groovy lighting,  a front bar, upbeat music, and the back has a counter flanking the kitchen (perfect for solo diners) and tables too. The chef-owner is Chicago transplant Harold Jurado (Yusho, Chizakaya), who offers a menu of creative and non-traditional ramen bowls, from 20-hour pork tonkotsu to tori paitan (creamy chicken) to a vegetarian mushroom shoyu, all for $15 and under. 

I went for the spicy tori tantanmen, with creamy chicken broth, spicy miso chicken tantan, bean sprouts, scallions, cilantro, and spicy sesame oil. Chicken and turkey are ground and cured overnight with miso, giving a rich and fuller flavor. What really stood out is the golden egg, cured with sake, soy, mirin, garlic, and ginger — it’s a bright yellow yolk, creamy and tangier than others. Many ramen places serve eggs that are still cold, but here, the temperature was just right. 

The noodles are a definite al dente — but it means they hold up until you’re at the very end of your bowl without getting mushy (the chef sources them from Hawaii). At first, I thought the bowl was a little heavy on the oil, but as you start digging in, it all comes together in a satisfying way.

I also had a taste of their holiday special ramen, which featured the ends of barbecue pork belly that they have 4505 Burgers and BBQ smoke for them. The ends are chopped up with chile oil and serve with the tori paitan broth. It was like a smoky love child of barbecue and ramen and you really should order it. It wasn’t too fatty either — they use a pork belly that is less fatty than most.

There are some other small plates on the menu (the wagyu tataki and hamachi with bone marrow are reportedly a big hit), a varied selection of sake, American and Japanese beers, cider, and some wines that interestingly aren’t listed with a producer but okay, and the photo finish is the taro soft-serve. Don’t let the matcha tempt you, it’s all about the captivating taro, which is earthy, creamy, and rich. Loved the fresh and crisp vanilla cone, what a delight for $5.

Dungeness Crab Specials at Gott’s Roadside

Gott’s Roadside
At all Gott’s Bay Area and Wine Country locations

Dungeness crab season is in full swing and Gott’s Roadside is now offering their seasonal crab specials at all Bay Area locations through January 31, 2019 (contingent on the crab season). The Dungeness crab is sourced from local purveyors and piled into their Dungeness Crab Sandwich with housemade Meyer lemon aioli, green onions, and romaine lettuce (yeah, it’s back!) on a toasted brioche bun ($19.99). 

But then there’s the Dungeness Crab & Bay Shrimp Louie, with sliced avocado, tomatoes, hard-boiled egg, lemon wedge, and a side of secret sauce, all on crisp romaine lettuce lightly tossed in lemon-dijon vinaigrette (also $19.99). Yeah, it’s great to get avocado AND crab in the winter.

And just in case you’re in the mood for a holiday treat, you can also get their new egg nog shake (available until December 31, 2018), made with organic Three Twins egg nog ice cream, and hand-spun to order with Clover Egg Nog ($6.99–$7.99).

A Holiday Tradition: Chiles Rellenos en Nogada

Doña Tomás
5004 Telegraph Ave., Oakland

One of the best parts about the holidays are all the special dishes that come around, and Doña Tomás in Oakland will be serving a customer favorite and annual tradition: chiles rellenos en nogada. You get a roasted poblano chile stuffed with cheese, yams, and herbs, covered in a walnut-cream sauce and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds! The dish is served with black beans and housemade corn tortillas and costs $23. Be sure to swing by during the month of December to enjoy it.

Special Holiday Lunch Service at Bix and Campton Place

Bix
56 Gold St., San Francisco
Campton Place Restaurant
340 Stockton St., San Francisco

One of the most festive places to celebrate the holidays is Bix, which recently celebrated 30 years of pouring us strong martinis. Cheers to that! A fun tradition they have is to offer holiday lunch service throughout the week instead of their usual Friday-only service. From now until December 21, they are open every weekday for lunch starting at 11:30am, except December 14, when they will be closed for a private event. Be sure to make a reservation. And don’t miss the potato pillows with caviar!

The elegant Campton Place Restaurant is right on Union Square, and they decided to open for holiday lunch service Thu–Sat from 11:30am–1:45pm through January. Chef Srijith Gopinathan — who just maintained one Michelin star for the restaurant — has put together a menu with dishes like chestnut soup with grilled beech mushrooms, Asian pear, Cognac, and salted boondi; guinea hen “samosa” with tomato butter, fuyu persimmon, and frisée salad; and Maine lobster with coconut curry, romanesco, puffed black rice, and potatoes. For the full menu, please see here. You can walk off the lunch while holiday shopping in Union Square.

San Francisco is Dungeness crab territory — there’s no doubt about it. Whether it’s steamed, in a cake, part of chowder, or layered in a cheesy melt sandwich, our beloved Pacific coast crab is the Crustacean King in these parts.

However, you’d be forgiven for thinking that lobsters have clawed their way to the top of the shellfish world in San Francisco, based on how many New England seafood shacks specializing in lobster rolls have opened around the Bay Area. People really love their lobster rolls and aren’t afraid to pay the average $25-$35 price tag for buttery or mayonnaise-enriched lobster morsels in an oversized fluffy bun (since when was there a rule to have more bun than meat?). With the opening of Luke’s Lobster this fall, we decided to check out the wildly different lobster roll renditions at the handful of options in the Bay Area serving them.

We learned a few things:

• Butter or mayonnaise — it doesn’t matter. What matters is the moderation because there are several lobster rolls that get overpowered by butter or mayonnaise.
• The bun matters. Way too many lobster rolls have buns that are too big and you end up tasting more bread than lobster.
• Above all, the meat matters. Our favorite lobster rolls had a nice variety of lobster chunk sizes, ranging from tiny shreds to substantial chunks. What is vital, though, is the lobster meat’s briny sweetness and tender, clean texture. Stringy, bland lobster meat need not apply.

Luke’s Lobster

92 2nd St.
San Francisco

San Francisco is notoriously averse to chains, which makes Luke’s Lobster’s decision to make the city’s FiDi/SoMa area its first West Coast home a very peculiar one. Its location on Second Street is in the midst of all the Sales Force Transit Center/Sales Force Tower construction chaos that supposedly will be ending soon. It’s also curiously about 30 steps from another lobster roll favorite (more on that place in a later blurb).

However, despite those challenges, Luke’s is without question very good at doing what they do. After all, the concept began nine years ago as a small solo spot in Manhattan’s East Village and has bloomed into 42 locations — from Japan to Miami to Las Vegas and much more — according to their website listings. Despite the size, Luke’s locations always tell customers where the seafood is coming from, and they focus on partnering with local businesses, like Marine Layer for t-shirts in San Francisco or fellow SoMa neighbor Blackhammer Brewing for a lobster shell and kelp saison that was brewed for the store opening (and will hopefully return again).

The roll itself is generally ordered as part of a trio with a crab one and shrimp one, hence it’s decidedly cheaper and smaller than the significant majority of its peers. Luke’s size and power has a benefit in that the company can directly work with its owner fisherman partners in Maine and the Atlantic coast of Canada. So, the meat is indeed far better than you’d expect if simply told you’re visiting a fast-casual lobster roll chain.

The lightly toasted split-top bun comes from the East Coast and is pleasantly not out of proportion to the quarter-pound of lobster meat. This is the rare both slightly mayonnaise, slightly butter-based lobster roll and they kind of cancel each other out — you don’t notice either. There is a small smear of mayonnaise on the bun and a touch of butter mingling with the lobster meat. That makes for a slightly boring lobster roll experience but also one that unequivocally focuses on the meat itself. If you don’t want an over the top lobster roll and just want pure, sweet meat with a little bit of bread as a serving vessel, this rendition is your best bet in San Francisco.

Woodhouse Fish Co.

2073 Market St.
San Francisco

The most well-known lobster rolls in the Bay Area come from the duo of maritime/nautical themed Woodhouse Fish Co. locations, created by the same family who owns the intensely eclectic Buck’s of Woodside. There is all kinds of seafood to choose from — cioppino to fried Ipswich clams to Baja-style fish tacos — but the majority of diners make a beeline for the two sizes of split-top lobster rolls. The decision between the two simply depends on how hungry you are (the large for $38 can be a bit much for one comfortable sitting; the small for $23 might require a few oysters and clams to help fill you up).

Guests have the option of having a plain butter lobster roll but the house specialty is a mayonnaise-based roll. Don’t flinch when we say this — if you like tuna salad or chicken salad sandwiches, this is the lobster roll for you. It’s definitely the most mayonnaise-heavy of the ones we tried and that works wonderfully in tandem with the diced celery mingling with the lobster chunks, chives flecked over the top, and the lemon on the side waiting to be squirted on everything. That latter element is a brilliant addition because the acidity brings out more of the natural briny flavor of the lobster.

The lobster itself is terrific as a nice blend of claw, chunky-textured and thinner strands of meat. You get it all and it’s pleasantly not spilling out of the fluffy, not overbearing bun. This can actually be eaten like a sandwich. Call it the lobster salad sandwich.

Anchor & Hope

83 Minna St.
San Francisco

For lobster rolls, sometimes simpler is better. For Mitchell Rosenthal, the Executive Chef/Owner of FiDi/SoMa seafood destination Anchor & Hope (and Stock & Bones Restaurant Group siblings Town Hall and Salt House), a lobster roll is all about, well, the lobster. His world-renowned chef mentor shared that belief: “When we were Executive Chefs at Postrio, I remember when Wolfgang Puck responded to other chefs using a lot of ingredients on a lobster roll, and he said ‘why do you want to cover gold?’ I carry that same ethos, the star of the show is incredible lobster and a great bun.”

The restaurant ships fresh lobster in from Maine four times a week, which explains for the consistent quality of the meat. Rosenthal also emphasizes the “mouthfeel” of a lobster roll, which diners may not notice at Anchor & Hope until they think about that concept. You can actually get one bite of Panoramic Baking pain de mie, medium-sized morsels of lobster (Rosenthal isn’t a fan of giant chunks of meat) and a little moisture from aioli or butter, and have everything be in harmony. Of all the lobster rolls we tried, it’s the most “textbook” lobster roll. If you were at a beach shack in Kennebunkport, this is what you’d expect, minus the hot dog bun.

Anchor & Hope guests can opt for drawn butter or a subtle Old Bay and lemon aioli, and after trying both, we can attest that it’s strictly a matter of personal preference. If you’re a giant Old Bay fan, you might not feel a bit let down since the classic Baltimore crab seasoning doesn’t have a commanding presence, but does nicely enhance the seafaring umami profile of this aioli.

Leo’s Oyster Bar

568 Sacramento St.
San Francisco

There is no avoiding two unique traits about the lobster roll at the Big Night Group’s gorgeous FiDi seafood spot: there is uni butter involved (!) and it’s $35. Sure, lobster rolls are inherently expensive because lobster is a luxury commodity. But, yes, $35 is a lot of money for one sandwich no matter how you spin it.

Here’s the good news: it’s a fantastic lobster roll. In Leo’s early days after opening in, I found the lobster roll underdressed, the lobster meat itself to be somewhat pale and the whole ensemble way too dominated by bread. Things have changed drastically for the better. The glamour of uni butter isn’t quite what it sounds like. It’s not like a few uni slabs are marinating the lobster meat. It’s like a low humming saltwater spritz to the superb Maine lobster meat nestled inside a slightly toasted Acme brioche roll that has more in common with a fluffy brioche doughnut than the dense, ultra-buttery brioche bricks often found at bakeries. Of all the lobster rolls, this was one of the few perfect sized ones. Bonus points should be awarded because you can choose between fries, salad and chips.

Old Port Lobster Shack

20 Woodside Rd.
Redwood City

Redwood City is not just the “Climate Best by Government Test” city, a reference to its eccentric welcoming sign. It’s now the Lobster Roll Best by Taste Test city, too. Originally, this article was going to focus exclusively on San Francisco, but many passionate lobster roll voices raved about Old Port Lobster Shack in Redwood City. We now understand why.

A hybrid lobster shack-BBQ restaurant in a Redwood City shopping plaza isn’t exactly where you would initially expect a standout lobster roll to be. We’re definitely not talking about a weathered beach shack on the rocky Atlantic coast here. However, once you grab an outdoor table and the lobster roll arrives, it doesn’t matter where you are.

This is a massive roll with a spectacular amount of lobster meat spilling out. You cannot possibly have more than one bite holding the composition before it starts making a mess. For those who debate whether a lobster roll is a sandwich or not, then here’s a strong case as to how it isn’t technically a sandwich. The meat had a gorgeous sweetness to it and was very lightly dressed with mayonnaise, speckled with a couple green onions that contributed more in appearance than any herbal flavor. Each lobster morsel was tender — no strings or weak pieces. Of all the lobster rolls, this one had the most vividly “lobster flavored” lobster, as if it truly was just steamed and picked from the shell. This was a big lobster roll with even bigger excitement as well. It’s a lobster roll that we’re pretty sure even the most experienced Maine seaside shack goer would approve of.

Track down Detroit-style pizza at this San Francisco pop-up, celebrate Humphry Slocombe’s tenth birthday, snack on Chilean empanadas, warm up with special holiday cocktails, and experience a show-stopping timballo on New Year’s Eve!

You’re So Square: Experience Detroit-Style Pizza at This Weekly Pop-Up

Square Pie Guys
Vinyl 
359 Divisadero St., San Francisco
Thu–Fri 7pm–10pm

Detroit-style pizza is a type you would probably only be acquainted with here in San Francisco if you were a native Detroiter, or you have diligently worked your way through Tony Gemignani’s menu at Tony’s Pizza Napoletana. But, there’s a new Detroit-style pizza in town, popping up at Vinyl on Divisadero, as well as Harmonic Brewing, and at Prizefighter in the East Bay. Square Pie Guys is from Marc Schechter (a self-taught pizza obsessive who has worked weekends for some fellow obsessives around town, like PizzaHacker and Casey’s Pizza) and Danny Stoller, who has worked in Seattle restaurants for 12 years.

Detroit-style pizza is baked in a square pan (the blue steel pans were used in Detroit auto factories), and the thick, Sicilian-style pizza gets wonderfully crispy along the base and dark edges — the best part is where the cheese along the corners and edges gets all crispy (like a dream grilled cheese sandwich). The dough has great developed flavor, and the toppings are assembled with care.

They have put together a fun and well-thought-out menu of pies, from the clever Ron-i-Burgundy (Pavone cupping pepperoni, cheddar cheese edge, mozzarella, Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes) that deserves a tag on @ronicups ($6/slice), and there’s a simple cheese ($5/slice), and the Mean Green Sausage Machine comes with a cheddar cheese edge, mozzarella, fennel sausage, ricotta cream sauce, charred broccoli, red pepper, and garlic ($6/slice), which they secretly finish with a drizzle of Mike’s Hot Honey on top. There was also a special one night, El Pugilista, with red sauce, mozzarella, Mexican chorizo, pickled jalapeño, chopped white onion and tomato, and finished with cilantro and lime crema ($7/slice).

The best strategy for your first time is of course to try all the different slices (ideally go with a friend so you don’t slide into a food coma). But honestly, a couple of our slices felt a little shrimpy for the price — the better deal is to get a whole pan. For example, the Ron-i-Burgundy, which you have to get, is $20 for the full pie (vs. $6 per slice). I also think you’ll end up getting a hotter pizza (the slices can sit out for a bit). Our slices didn’t come out hot enough (they were lukewarm in the middle), but when we were asked what we thought of the pizza and told them about the temp issue, they kindly sent out a couple more slices that were better. Very thoughtful service — they care about everyone having a good experience.

Vinyl has some good wines you can get by the glass, and there are also a couple salads on the menu you should probably order to go with all that bread and cheese.

Pro tip: you can order your pizza ahead of time (up to three pies), that way it will be ready for you at your desired time. And you don’t have to run the risk of them being sold out, which happens around 8:45pm when they tend to sell through their 50 pies. Follow @squarepieguys on Instagram to keep up with their pop-ups and more.

Humphry Slocombe Turns 10 and Is Throwing a Flavor Party!

Humphry Slocombe
Mission shop: 2790A Harrison St., San Francisco
December 28
12pm–12am

Can you believe Humphry Slocombe is celebrating their tenth anniversary?  What is San Francisco without Secret Breakfast? They’re throwing a big fat ice cream party at their Mission shop on Friday, December 28, 2018 from 12pm until 12am. They will be scooping up free scoops, with a recommended $1 donation to their long-term charity partner, Project Open Hand. There will also be drag queens and prizes, so a good time is pretty much guaranteed. 

They are also bringing back a bunch of their OG flavors (some with a twist) to celebrate their birthday this December: Foie with Cherries, Government Cheez-It, Honey Ham with Bacon Brittle, Jesus Juice (wine and Coca-Cola with a hint of cinnamon), Candy Cap with Chocolate, Peanut Butter Curry, and After School Special (French vanilla ice cream with chocolate–covered, ridged potato chips and caramel). All month, they’re offering a special called the Charcuterie Board that will feature mini scoops of the first five flavors listed above (for $7.50). You can try all these flavors at all their scoop shops.

Handmade Chilean Empanadas Make the Best Snack

Chile Lindo
2944 16th St., San Francisco

When you’re out running errands or you skipped lunch and you want something snacky, a visit to Chile Lindo in the Mission will help you out with their handmade empanadas. Owner and baker Paula Tejeda (aka The Girl From Empanada) is a native New Yorker of Chilean ancestry, and she does everything she can to promote Chilean culture — she even just held the inaugural Chilean film festival here in SF, Cine Chileno. She was known for going around the Mission with her basket of empanadas years ago but has had her own café since 2010 (it’s a walk-up window where you order, with a counter outside where you can perch with your coffee and empanada).

The empanadas are made on-site by hand and feature a variety of fillings (“pino”), including the classic made with Niman Ranch ground beef, onion, cumin, paprika, rock salt, raisins, black olive, and a slice of hard-boiled egg. You can up the exotic factor with the Goooooooool at Merkén, which adds the smoked merkén spice from the Mapuche people in Patagonia. She uses Mary’s free-range chicken in her pollo version (with green olives), and there’s jamón y queso, chilanga (cheese and jalapeño), and a vegan version too.

They are $6.95 each, but considering the quality of the ingredients she is using and the labor that goes into them, let alone the rent she must be paying, I’m okay with paying a little more than I would like to support this business. They warm the empanada up for you, and after a couple bites of this flaky and savory treat (which you will dip into the small container of pebre, which is like a Chilean salsa), hopefully, you’ll feel the same way.

Holiday Cheers with Vintage Holiday Cocktails

Elixir
3200 16th St., San Francisco
Stookey’s Club Moderne
895 Bush St., San Francisco

One of the best things about the holidays are all the festive cocktails that are designed to warm you up (in many ways). It’s also a time when some vintage and old-school holiday drinks make their appearance. One of them is the classic Tom and Jerry, made with a frothy housemade batter of eggs, sugar, nutmeg, vanilla, rum, cognac, and hot frothed milk. Elixir in the Mission serves a Tom and Jerry from December 15–December 25 (yup, they open on Christmas Day at 7pm), and Stookey’s Club Moderne will be mixing and serving them up on Christmas Eve, starting around 10:30pm if you want to come by for a nightcap. Stookey’s will also be serving Swedish glögg, and hot buttered rum, pfeffernüsse (their liquid version of the German spice cookies), and a Christmas martini for December.

Elixir’s holiday cocktail menu also includes their house egg nog (and añogo, made with añejo tequila!), Hot Butt Rum (with housemade hot buttered rum batter: vanilla ice cream, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, vanilla, and cardamom), their Kentucky Pilgrim (Wild Turkey 101 Bourbon infused with cardamom, cinnamon, and dried cranberry, Luxardo Maraschino, lemon, and Demerara syrup; shaken and served up with a lemon twist and made on request), the Friar Serra Flip (you gotta ask for that one too), and hot spiced cider.

Timballo for New Year’s Eve

Dopo
4293 Piedmont Ave., Oakland

Have you always dreamed of trying that timballo masterpiece at the end of Big Night? Every year for New Year’s Eve, chef-owner Jon Smulewitz Dopo makes this special timballo that is a very labor-intensive process, made of nine layers that include ravioli, risotto, egg, various cheeses, and salumi, all encased in a giant, savory, pastry-crust shell and baked to a golden hue. It’s part of their three-course tasting menu for $55, which also includes traditional New Year’s cotechino sausage for good luck and chocolate zeppole. Make a reservation, this evening special will get booked up soon.