It’s that time of year again: Pride month! Chefs and restaurant owners all over the Bay are celebrating the month through food and drink, so this is an update to last year’s list to help you find the perfect bite or cocktail (while also supporting the local community in some way in the process). As you’d expect, rainbows make a strong showing among the available items, but there are a few spots doing some other specials with cultural or historical meanings.
The Who’s Your Daddy Sundae, made with beer ice cream, house-made frosted peanuts and bourbon caramel sauce. (Patrick Wong)
All month long, ice cream lovers can expect fun flavors to celebrate Pride Month at Humphry Slocombe! Grab a Who’s Your Daddy sundae (made with beer ice cream, house-made frosted peanuts and bourbon caramel sauce), a Make it Gay Sundae (two scoops of Tahitian Vanilla topped with pink fluff and Fruit Loops) or the Harvey Milk and Honey Graham that is available year-round (raw blackberry honey ice cream with house-made graham crackers).
The Juanita MORE! ice cream flavor features blackberry, ginger and whiskey. (Cole Church)
You could also get a scoop of either of their two tasty collaborations that launched this year: the Queer Eye Cookies & Graham (olive oil ice cream with chocolate cookies and graham crackers) and the Juanita MORE! (blackberry ice cream with ginger and whiskey, inspired by the iconic SF-based drag queen, Juanita MORE!). You can also get the Queer Eye flavor in a sundae form with the Queer Eye S’mores: one scoop Cookies & Graham topped with hot fudge and torched fluff.
In all five Humphry Slocombe scoop shops, $1 from the sales of the Juanita MORE! flavor will be donated to the GLBT Historical Society. For friends not in the Bay: $5 from the sales of the Humphry Slocombe Pride Pack on Goldbelly nationwide will go to the Los Angeles based STORIES: The AIDS Monument ($3 will go to them from local LA delivery sales of any pint ordered through Caviar).
If you’re going to be out and about during the weekend to watch the parade, drop by Bi-Rite! 5% of sales from both Markets and Bi-Rite Creamery over Pride weekend will be donated to Project Homeless Connect, SF LGBT Center, and the Q Foundation.
Beertender Mike Almason with Almanac Beer Co’s LOVE Hazy IPA. (Almanac Beer Co.)
Humphry Slocombe’s Ferry Building location will celebrate Pride like its other shops with the Make It Gay sundae, but you can hop around the building to get specials from a variety of shops.
Miette has a variety of rainbow treats available the whole month, Biscuit Bender has created a special English biscuit called the “Gay Cookie” that will actually be available until the end of July for just $1 and Almanac Beer Co. released a special-edition LOVE Hazy IPA for sale at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.
The Melt will donate a dollar per Magic Melt sold during Pride Month to Equality California. (Patrick Wong)
The “Magic Melt”, a grilled cheese sandwich stuffed with a delectable blend of cheddar, fontina, and muenster cheeses that have been transformed into a very ooey-gooey rainbow, is available again this year. For every Magic Melt sandwich that The Melt sells, $1 will be donated to Equality California, an activism and advocacy group that fights for more LGBTQ rights and visibility.
The Magic Melt will be available all of Pride month.
On Sunday, June 30th from 10am-3pm, Bluestem Brasserie is hosting their annual Pride Parade Brunch and Viewing Party. To celebrate, grab their special rainbow cocktail—all proceeds will go to AIDS Walk SF.
For more Pride specials around the Bay, see what we’ve gathered below (and let us know if someone near you has created something noteworthy to eat or drink for Pride):
Kahnfections: Pride-themed macarons are once again available in boozy and non-boozy varieties. The boozy flavors include Strawberry Daiquiri, Bellini, Pina Colada, Midori Sour, Blue Moon Cocktail and Purple Haze. Virgin flavors include strawberry, peach, citrus, pistachio, earl grey, and cassis.
Finn Town Tavern: This year, Finn Town Tavern will be hosting Pride Week Events from Tuesday, June 25th-Sunday, 30th featuring celebratory new cocktails. Throughout the week, you can order the “rather naughty ‘Down Low’ cocktail,” the “Over the Rainbow” cocktail and more.
Third Culture Bakery: All proceeds of waffle sales this month will be donated to LGBTQ+ nonprofits in the Bay Area. For June, their waffle special is a Triple Strawberry Mochi Waffle topped with house-made Chantilly whipped cream.
Cook Shoppe: Their giant Slice of Pride cake is available all month long and they are donating $3 from every slice to the SF LGBT Center.
Dynamo Donut + Coffee: Available during Pride weekend, their Very Berry donut is filled with blueberries and strawberries, and it’s all topped off with a champagne glaze and rainbow confetti.
CHOUX: In honor of Pride month, CHOUX created a colorful rainbow box of French cream puffs—even a Fruity Pebbles puff makes an appearance.
Tucked away on Folsom and 4th Street is a combination restaurant, art gallery and artist workshop with one caveat: it was created to be torn down a year later.
When asked about Palette, chef and owner Peter Hemsley admits, “We repurposed it in a way that I don’t think any rational restaurateur would have done.” But when it comes to passion projects, that just seems to be how the chef/artist operates.
Food, Art and a dash of French
Hemsley was a history and political science major in college, but his interest in food and art started when he was just a child living in Minnesota. His mother was a very good, untrained cook who liked to, he says, “experiment with the new, trendy stuff, or stuff that other people were trying.” She always had an eye towards “older, practiced, classic recipes from her parents’ heritage.”
Chef and owner Peter Hemsley (Jane Fisher)
When he had to fend for himself in college without mom’s cooking, Hemsley’s curiosity and interest in food culture grew; he also began working in restaurants during his summers. Working at a French eatery sparked his interest in French culture and the language. Eventually, he would spend four years in France, a lengthy sabbatical during which his enthusiasm for food and art became a joint passion.
To learn the language, Hemsley devoured French culinary cookbooks and books about food history. Fascinated by historic recipes, he began illustrating them just for fun. “I think I started doing it to have cool decorations in my apartment,” he says. “Even two, three years later, I still didn’t know what I was doing with all this collected collateral stuff, until I started doing ink and watercolor drawings of recipes, and trying different mediums. That’s where it really started to click, and say, ‘All right, well I’m doing all this art activity with the materials of the kitchen…’”
Some of Hemsley’s art is on display at Palette’s gallery. (Ghost Media)
A temporary location goes all out
After years in the kitchen as a professional chef (including a period of time at the Michelin-starred Quince), Hemsley dreamed of having both his own studio space and a place to continue his private dining business. He met with artists to learn more about what a studio needed to make it attractive for other artists to work there. During this period, he says, “The notion of a kitchen within a restaurant within an art gallery came out of that. So I was looking for a space that could accommodate all those things.”
Finding the warehouse space that would be the perfect vessel for this dream took time. “They’re rare, and they’re not in the most desired areas of town,” Hemsley says. “But I did find one, and it seemed to accommodate exactly the kind of space that I had the vision to create.”
Said space was not the one where I met him in 2019 for this interview—in September 2017 he found a warehouse on 12th Street, let’s call it Palette 1.0.
At Palette, there is a connected shop where you can buy different commissioned Bay Area pieces. (Ghost Media)
In his grand dreams, Hemsley explains, “That’ll be the fully formed Palette.” It will have a restaurant with an evolving salon wall of art, a gallery for exhibitions and arts, and on a mezzanine level, a residency workshop.
The Palette where we met for this interview was, in fact, a “swing space”—a test to see how the concept he dreamed of would work on an operational level. Hemsley was at the original warehouse for less than a year when he realized his ambitious construction vision would eliminate all the working space and displace his team. They toyed with different ideas (at one point a mobile Palette was on the table), and he was looking for a rented kitchen space when the Folsom Street location (Palette 2.0) caught his eye.
The bar at Palette before and after renovations (Joey Campbell/Rob Williamson)
The former automotive building was sitting empty and would have remained empty for another year-and-a-half to two years until demolition and construction for a hotel space began. With a vague end date in mind, the realtor was offering it at a favorable below-market rate, and Hemsley jumped on the chance to “test” his ideas out for Palette.
For a test that might only last a year, his team has utterly transformed the empty space.
The dining room at the Folsom St.’s Palette (Rob Williamson)
Customized and community-minded
Palette’s every surface is lovely, even the walls. A colorful floral mural by Velia De Luliis blooms next to the kitchen, hand-painted ceramic dishes draw the eye as much as the food, and the white walls of the gallery and boutique provide a nice contrast to the deep teal splashed around the dining room.
At Palette, the ceramic plates are designed and handpainted with specific dishes in mind. (Grace Cheung)
“It’s important to me that people see in a lot of ways the level of thought, the level of production, the specialness of what we’re doing is communicated not only by the objects that we have here but the nature of the space,” Hemsley explains. “There’s more we could do here, but I think we did an outstanding job. People are impressed by the level that we have gone to it. I think they’re more in shock that it’s just a temporary spot.”
And what is Palette’s blueprint—the dream that Hemsley is working to build? Just like his own passions cover both food and art, he wants Palette to be a space where food, art and community can thrive.
“In a lot of ways, a restaurant is great to be interested in and want to be invested in from a business standpoint, but it could be so much more profoundly impactful for the community if those funds were being directed towards something that actually has a deeper impact on the community,” says Hemsley.
“A restaurant space is a great community asset. People can patronize it, love it, can use it as a place for social gathering.”
Even something as simple as fried artichoke gets its own intricately designed, handmade vessel. (Grace Cheung)
The chairs, the glasses, the menu—every aspect of Palette’s design is intentional, showcasing the talents of local artists and Hemsley’s creative culinary mind. A bonus to working with smaller, local artists is that they’re more interested in working on what Hemsley describes as “challenging projects that are typically not in the scope of what you might find commercially.”
As for the artists themselves, he thinks of it as “an opportunity for them to start scaling their business and realize a potential in themselves that this could go somewhere bigger than they ever imagined.”
Palette’s Apple Rosette Tart is served on a glass apple plate. (Grace Cheung)
Palette’s glassblower Sam Schumacher of Rocket Glass Works makes all of the custom glasses for the restaurant with just one assistant to help him. Yes, it costs more, but Hemsley believes it’s worth it, the unique objects become more meaningful for diners.
While each item is more expensive to produce, there’s a sustainability angle to partnering with local artisans like Schumacher and Palette’s ceramics artist, Andrew Kontrabecki. In restaurants where breakage is an issue (broken glass or dropped tray of plates), Palette’s team save all the broken pieces to melt or grind down and use the materials again in new tableware. “It’s not necessarily the best financial model,” Hemsley admits, “but it’s not a wasteful model.”
Broken glasses or plates are saved and the shards can be reused in the future for new pieces. (Grace Cheung)
And with art as the medium, Hemsley has more freedom with his menu as well, explaining, “What we’re trying to do here is influenced by many of the experiences I’ve had, but much more personal because bringing art into the vein of it, it helps give it a sense of purpose. What is Palette and the food culture here? It can really be anything. It’s not tied to a national cuisine type, it’s not tied to a certain true cultural or direction orientation.”
Palette in its current form has a limited lifespan—according to Joey Campanella, the Director of Operations, “the plans for the eventual development of the Folsom Street building are ever-changing so if and when this location will close is up in the air!”
But don’t cry over spilled milk just yet. Their 12th Street location is already undergoing construction, and, once it’s ready and the Folsom Street location has reached the end of its term, elements from the Palette 2.0 version will be implemented into the new and improved Palette Hemsley has dreamed of all this time.
The art gallery at Palette will have rotating displays from Bay Area artists. (Rob Williamson)
This spring vegetable recipe yields products that are particularly beautiful if they are arranged and pickled in the jar. Depending on the variety of mushrooms, they can be exotic, delicious and quite a novelty. They can also be made with common brown mushrooms—both will create a delightful treat.
In this recipe, I use verjus, the not-yet-fermented grape juice used to make wine. Its flavor is highly acidic but less sharp and harsh than vinegar and more wine-friendly. If you cannot find verjus, champagne vinegar can also be used.
Quick Pickled Spring Mushrooms and Vegetables
Makes about 2 quarts
Traci Des Jardins’s pickled mushrooms and spring vegetables (Vic Chin)
Ingredients:
¼ cup champagne vinegar
1 cup red verjus
1 cup water
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
1 small red onion, julienned
1 bulb fennel, julienned
2 carrots, peeled and cut into ⅛ inch slices
1 bunch tarragon, leaves picked
½ cup flat leaf parsley leaves
1 pound mushrooms (Chanterelles, Morels, Oyster, Crimini, Cinnamon Cap, or a mixture)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
Instructions:
Bring the vinegar, water, spices and verjus to a boil. Add sliced fennel, onion, carrots and add salt to taste. Set aside to cool slightly.
In a sauté pan, sear the mushrooms in a high smoke point oil (grapeseed, canola, etc.) for about two minutes, or until they have a little color. If using morel mushrooms, cook for 5 minutes and season with a pinch of salt.
Place the mushrooms in a bowl. Pour the vegetable-vinegar mixture over and let sit for at least a half hour.
When slightly cool add parsley leaves and tarragon.
Store for up to two weeks in the refrigerator. If canned properly, pickles can be stored in the pantry indefinitely.
Traci Des Jardins with a plate of her Quick Pickled Spring Mushrooms and Vegetables. (Vic Chin)
There are a lot of reasons why going vegetarian or vegan has become more and more popular. One of the most obvious is the reported overall health benefits of reducing meat in one’s diet (like a lowered risk in developing certain cancers), but perhaps just as important is the sustainability of having a plant-based eating regiment.
As Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods—the two companies arguably leading the American movement towards lower meat consumption—espouse, the environmental implications of raising livestock for an ever-growing meat-hungry world population are many and are dangerous. A quick look at Beyond Meat’s website will tell you, a staggering 66 billion animals are killed per year to satisfy the world’s diet for animal proteins, which gives way to over half of the global greenhouse gas emissions.
Both companies have been thrust into the spotlight, given their line of plant-based products that mimic not only the flavor of meat but the texture as well. In the case of Impossible Foods, their product even mimics the bloodiness of animal proteins, thanks to a molecule called “heme” which gives blood its red color and is found in animal tissue and plants alike. Their products can now be found in grocery stores and restaurants around the nation, including establishments like White Castle and more recently, Burger King, with their Impossible Whopper. Even KFC has announced plans to have an Impossible chicken sandwich in the United Kingdom.
With mainstream eateries adopting ready-made plant protein products into their menu mainstays, it is safe to say that both companies have crafted a convincing substitute, even for the most discerning carnivores. In fact, there are reports that Impossible has had some trouble keeping up with the demand for their product in the aforementioned fast food chains.
Outside of just cooking up burgers, Bay Area chefs have found their groove, using these plant-protein patties in tasty and creative ways to make missing meat a lot less painful.
The Avocado Beetroot and Creamy Shrooms are two of VeganBurg’s crowdpleasers. (Patrick Wong)
After launching in Singapore in 2010, VeganBurg opened its first American outpost in 2015—years before both Impossible and Beyond were publicly available plant-protein options. VeganBurg definitely has its handle on making meat-free burgers, and everything on their menu is vegan (with gluten-free options sprinkled in). Their menu is 95% made in-house, and among that 5% that is not made in-house is the Impossible Burger.
While VeganBurg’s traditional burgers are tasty all on their own, the addition of the Impossible Burger adds another dimension with its “bleeding” heme-filled plant-protein product. VeganBurg’s patty doesn’t claim to be true meat replacement, rather a tasty alternative to the usual beef patty; with the Impossible Burger, diners may get a chance to enjoy a burger that both texturally and in flavor copy that of ground beef.
Any of the eight burger options (plus the extra seasonal burger) can come with an Impossible Patty instead of VeganBurg’s usual vegan patty for a $3 upcharge. Suggested for first-timers are the Avocado Beetroot and the Creamy Shrooms Burgers. And the customization doesn’t stop there; highly recommended are the additions of the vegan bacon and adding an order of their seaweed fries or their Chick’n Tenders with Vegan Ranch.
Try to get one of the albondigas, some of the bombas rice, and a spring veggie all in one bite! (Patrick Wong)
While Traci Des Jardin’s beloved Jardiniere has now closed, The Commissary thankfully remains, nestled in the Presidio serving a full menu of Spanish-influenced Californian cuisine. Included in that menu is the Impossible Albondigas.
Made with the new gluten-free version of the Impossible Foods Burger 2.0 (a recent change in April 2019), the Impossible Albondigas are a convincing alternative to the traditional Spanish, Arab-inspired beef dish. Each serving comes with three of the meatballs, served on a bed of risotto-inspired bomba rice, alongside spring veggies, green garlic, and peas.
With a buttermilk aioli, the Patatas Bravas aren’t vegan, but still vegetarian and still very tasty. (Patrick Wong)
They’re slightly crisp on the outside and almost unexpectedly moist on the inside. The dish is nicely portioned—it won’t leave you feeling heavy or weighed down, and, while there are other tempting meat dishes on the menu, you won’t regret ordering this one. If you still have room for more, try the Patatas Bravas. They aren’t vegan, but they are vegetarian-friendly and just as delicious as the Albondigas.
Top off your vegan Beyond Sausage with your favorite toppings, including sauerkraut and hot peppers. (Patrick Wong)
As a destination for sausages and a menu that historically has been heavy on the meat, Rosamunde now has a few options for vegetarians and vegans out there.
Diners can find the Beyond Meat Sausage on their menu, a product that debuted in December of 2017 and claims to be the world’s first plant-based sausage—it is also kosher and gluten-free. You’ll have two options if you’d like to go for the Beyond Sausage: the Hot Italian and the Original Brat. Depending on what mood you’re in, both are fantastic options and you can choose two toppings to accompany your pick.
The Beyond Sausage cooks and sizzles just like traditional pork sausage, and it has a pretty similar taste and texture. Most meat and sausage connoisseurs will be able to tell the Beyond Sausage apart from its real-meat counterpart, but it’s not to say the Beyond Sausage isn’t worth trying, especially with all the delectable accoutrements that Rosamunde offers.
The Tokusei Ramen comes with a sizable dollop hot chili paste. Be prepared for some heat! (Patrick Wong)
Hell’s Ramen, the sister restaurant to Iza Ramen is Iza’s spicier sibling. Its menu clearly listing all of their spiciness ratings and heat agents (chili paste, chili flakes, etc.) that will set your mouth on fire.
There are two vegan options on their ramen menu: a “Special Tomato” and a “Tokusei Miso.” Only the Tokusei Miso variety comes with the Impossible Burger that has been thrown into the broth. Traditional ramen broth is usually made using bones, but this broth is fully vegan and uses ingredients like konbu (kelp) and miso (a traditional Japanese seasoning made of fermented soy beans, salt, and koji—a type of fungus). The end result is a super umami broth, especially considering the lack of bones, dried fish, and other traditional ramen ingredients.
The Tokusei—which as explained by the waitstaff, implies “being deluxe”—comes with fried eggplant, sauteed corn, bamboo shoots, and, of course, that Impossible Burger swimming around in your bowl. The Burger is definitely delicious and can break apart a bit too easily in the hot broth, but it’s a great protein option for vegetarian or vegan ramen seekers.
With plenty of seating, Jolene’s Bar makes it easy to enjoy your meal with a beer (or two). (Patrick Wong)
Jolene’s Bar has become a popular and beloved queer destination watering hole, away from the nearby Castro. With a sizeable food menu, you’ll have plenty of options to line your stomach ahead of a night of drinking, including Jolene’s Impossible! Sliders.
The sliders sub out the typical beef patty with an Impossible Burger and come two to an order, with a healthy serving of fries and special vegan sauce for dipping. The sliders also come with your typical burger accessories like lettuce, tomatoes, and pickles. Though they look small, they’re quite filling and are truly a great substitute for those looking to skip the meat.
The Sliders are available on Jolene’s non-brunch menu only, with their kitchen open until 1am Thursdays to Saturdays, with plenty of open bar and table space to set-up shop and eat. If you’re looking for a similar offering at another queer-friendly space, Hi-Tops in the Castro also offers an Impossible Burger.
Whether you’ve actually traveled to Japan or are just obsessed with sushi, you’re likely familiar with omakase, those multi-course meals prepared at the discretion of the chef, made with the freshest fish, and oftentimes reaching 14 or 15 courses, with round after round of fresh nigiri artfully prepared so that each bite requires no adjustment.
Read between the lines: no extra wasabi, soy sauce, or Japanese mayo allowed; the sushi chef has the flavors queued up just so.
There are a handful of omakase restaurants like this sprinkled throughout San Francisco; Sushi Nagai is the latest to join the coterie.
The tidy awning and glass entrance to Sushi Nagai mimic the high-end retailers in nearby Union Square. (Sarah Chorey)
Blocks from Union Square and this city’s most upscale shopping, Sushi Nagai’s design mimics that of a luxury goods store: A crisp yellow awning shades the clean glass storefront that offers barely a glimpse of what’s happening within; inside, a curvaceous, elevated platform, painted bright white, seats 20 or so with views to the sushi masters doing their expert slicing in the center.
With only bar seating on an elevated platform, every diner has a front row view to the sushi chefs working their magic centerstage. (Sarah Chorey)
While the wine glasses are being filled, you’ll note the respectful, quiet silence of the dining room where’s there’s no background music at all—just the hush conceived to inspire awe for the magic of sushi being crafted with care. Settle in, you’re going to be here a while.
The fish offering will change based on what’s available and fresh at Tokyo’s Toyosu fish; we were lucky to get a bite of this rich, wild red snapper. (Sarah Chorey)
Head chef Tomonori Nagai (Morimoto, Shinji by Kanasaka) will be your guide for the night, leading you through a collection of morsels that comes with a luxury price tag—expect to throw down northwards of $200 per person.
More melt-in-your-mouth goodness comes with a round of sea urchin nigiri—smooth, rich, and buttery. (Sarah Chorey)
But the ingredients, of course, are top notch, flown in from Tokyo’s famed Toyosu fish market, and the omakase is meticulously prepared in the Edomae style, meaning the fish is preserved with soy sauce, broth, or salt and vinegar for a few days before it is served, just as it was centuries ago in the days before refrigeration.
A portion of Japanese sardine is placed over a nugget of sushi rice. (Sarah Chorey)
At the end of your meal, the chef will ask if you’d like another piece of anything he has prepared, so take note of your favorites (and do note the additional price for additional bites).
You’ve never had a sushi restaurant egg omelet like these. At Sushi Nagai, the tamago is light and silken, almost with the texture of a delicate bread. We asked for details about the preparation, but it’s a secret too good for them to share. (Sarah Chorey)
In January 2019 (just 4 months into their pop-up at Vinyl Coffee & Wine Bar), Square Pie Guys duo Marc Schechter and Danny Stoller told the SF Chronicle that they were looking at spaces in the East Bay to open their restaurant. Fast forward to today, and the two have achieved their dream of opening their restaurant, just in San Francisco. To be exact, they’re in SoMa at 1077 Mission St.—where the sandwich shop the Board by Adam Mesnick used to live.
The exterio (Fotos by Flee)
Their first brick-and-mortar location is serving up the Detroit-style pizza (DSP) that fans know and love. For anyone who doesn’t have a clue what this style means, the basics are (according to Eater) “a rectangular shape, light, airy dough, and savory, browned cheese perimeter.” Tony Gemignani started serving it at Tony’s Slice House back in 2011, but the style started appearing more frequently in the last few years in the Bay Area, popping up with businesses like Pizza Squared and Cellarmaker House of Pizza.
Marc Schechter and Danny Stoller prep their Chicken Caesar Salad Pizza (Fotos by Flee)
Square Pie Guys is the first restaurant both Stoller and Schechter have ever opened. The latter does not have any formal training, but the man does love his pizzas (take a peek at his Instagram account at @pizzaman_420 for example). After a stint in sales and marketing, he cut his teeth at Pizzahacker in July 2017, and he went on to work at other pizza institutions like Casey’s and Pizzeria Delfina. Together, they have perfected their unique pizza pie flavors at their Vinyl Coffee pop-up, seeing relatively positive success since starting in September 2018.
With events selling out and pizzas flying off the press at their pop-ups, the duo credit their success to their community and loyal fans. “There really is no Square Pie Guys without our amazing community,” Schechter says, “Without all the amazing people who have supported us, collaborated with us, posted about us, and shared the news of our pop-ups, we wouldn’t be here.”
Interior of Square Pie Guys (Fotos by Flea)
And they looked to their community when they opened the new space, creating a Kickstarter to raise capital to help pay for things like equipment (things they acquired with a down payment but still have to pay off). The Kickstarter was also a way for them to connect with people who love their pizza, and they offered rewards for people to enjoy at the restaurant, like seats at their pre-launch party, exclusive access to their brunch menu and the chance to design and name their own pizza.
At the time of this post, Square Pie Guys had not reached their goal of $15,000, but, fans can rest assured, they’re not closing anytime soon.
Pizza options at the new restaurant. (Fotos by Flee)
As for the menu, Stoller says, “We always want to make sure we’re having fun in the kitchen, so our diners can have fun at their tables. We try to approach food with a serious commitment to quality, but a not-so-serious attitude.”
You’ll see their classics like the Mean Green Sausage Machine with garlic ricotta cream, Italian sausage, roasted broccoli, chile flake, and Mike’s hot honey, but they’ll also have seasonals like an Elote pie that is currently on the menu (garlic ricotta cream, plus roasted local corn, cotija, taco seasoning, cherry tomato, and cilantro-lime crema). Gluten-free pizza dough is available so everyone can enjoy a pie, whether it’s a personal pie or group order.
The Great American Cheeseburger (Fotos by Flee)
With their new restaurant, the Square Pie Guys menu has expanded as well, with a variety of sides and dishes like Szechuan dry fried wings and cheesy bread on housemade focaccia with mozzarella, cheddar, and a trio of dipping sauces. Unexpected and welcome additions to the menu also include a Buffalo Chicken Parm Sandwich and a burger that comes with American cheese, grilled onions, pickles and shredded lettuce on a brioche bun.
Don’t skip out on dessert! The team has two sweet items: Monkey Bread made with pizza dough and served with salted caramel dipping sauce and a Square Pizza Sundae (basically a pizzookie) served with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate sauce and sprinkles.
Monkey bread for dessert? Yes, please! (Fotos by Flee)
If you want to grab a drink with your meal, there are local beers on tap, wine, spiked seltzers, and, the perfect accompaniment to a pie or burger, adult floats! The restaurant is currently open but you can expect weekend brunch and daily service to come later in 2019.
Aaron London, owner of the lauded veggie-centric restaurant, AL’s Place, is taking the basic daytime diet of sandos, salads, and sides from mundane to must-have at his new AL’s Deli, on the corner of 18th and Guerrero in the Mission.
AL’s Deli will catch your eye with bubblegum-pink trim on a sweet gray brick facade. (Sarah Chorey)
After a few successful years in upscale dining, the restaurateur—whose initials are A.L., get it?—is mixing it up with a fast-casual spot blending Californian ingredients into Jewish deli classics and some Israeli street food for no-rules, good, affordable food.
Peruse the menu till you find the section for Crispy Crunchy Things; the potato latkes are a must-order. A hot-pocket shaped mashup of fried hash browns hugging a bundle of avocado and grapefruit make this treat the perfect cross between Californian and Jewish food. (Sarah Chorey)
Diving into London’s menu, you’ll find a bit of everything: shawarma spiced chicken, smokey brisket, crunchy falafel, and a mix of roasted eggplant and cauliflower, all of which can become pita sandwiches or bountiful green salads. There’s a menu section dedicated to “crispy, crunchy things” (all of which you must order) like herby fries, stuffed potato latkes, and corn dog bites with a twist. Chicken soup, small salads, and hummus round out the offering.
These corn dog bites have been given the Aaron London treatment: an upgrade from traditional corn dog breading to a variation made with tasty falafel. (Sarah Chorey)
The ideas and flavors stem from London’s childhood, when smoked meats and deli runs permeated his time spent between Montreal and Sonoma.
“I miss foods from the East Coast deli of my youth, and fell in love with the dishes I had while traveling thought Israel. It didn’t feel right to me to do a restaurant that tried to be authentically either, but I became really excited about the prospect of making one restaurant that drew from both.”
AL’s Deli offers four basic entree bases, each of which can be served as a salad or pita sandwich. Here, the spiced chicken shawarma finds a home among sumac onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, pickles, and a few sauces (garlic, tahini, and hummus) and a sprinkling of the Middle Eastern herb blend, schug. (Sarah Chorey)
Still not getting it? Think Souvla, only more interesting, with lots of toppings, condiments, and sides that will keep you trying different combinations with every visit.
Made to grab-and-go en route to Dolores Park, this pita sandwich has tender, thick pieces of smokey brisket, crumbles of hard-boiled egg, chili cabbage slaw, a few french fries, and mustard. (Sarah Chorey)
The space is also delightfully cheery, with two-story windows streaming natural light and decor in shades of baby pink and blue, some leafy plants, teal tile work, and light-hearted bubbly light fixtures. AL’s Deli gets bonus points for proximity to Dolores Park.
Inside, crisp white contrasts against teal walls for a carefree, youthful ambiance. (Sarah Chorey)
We can just barely remember the early days of Tartine, when it was but one small corner bakery located in a neighborhood in the midst of transition. It could have gone one of two ways, ripe to become a local favorite or lost among the location’s changing times. But then, we all know how that story goes.
Since it opened in 2002, Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt’s shop at 18th and Guerrero streets has had a line out the door on the daily, with locals and tourists alike patiently awaiting incomparable morning buns and freshly baked breads. It was the jumping off point for a pastry (and more) empire, with Tartine Manufactory and other spin-off locations now in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and even Seoul, Korea, where three locations include a bakery, coffee shop, and small market.
For some reason, it only took the pair 17 years to open a second bakery here in SF.
A bright white wash, open garage door, and plenty of windows make Tartine a welcome and welcoming addition to the Inner Sunset. (Sarah Chorey)
Residents of the Inner Sunset are no doubt stoked to be the beneficiaries of Tartine’s newest bakery; when the fog gets thick and the Mission feels far away, one needs a delicious croissant and a cup of coffee close to home.
The formula at the newest Tartine Bakery is a classic one: stupid-good pastries, easy-tasty breakfast and lunch options; and a comfortable, familiar space. Like a breath of fresh ocean air, the Ninth Avenue place—designed by Studio BBA (Tartine Manufactory LA, Nico, Mister Jiu’s)—is bright white, sky-lit, and bustling. An old-school garage roll-up door opens onto an outdoor courtyard; glass doors and windows welcome you in.
Once you hit the pastry case, it’s pretty much game over from there—you are sucked in with zero chance of winning against the temptations in store.
Make your way past the exterior courtyard to the counter laden with pastries. Pick a few, order a coffee, and grab a hot meal item to indulge in. (Sarah Chorey)
Tartine regulars will recognize the menu: morning buns, pain au chocolat, open-faced sandwiches, soups, coddled eggs a la Tartine Manufactory, and many, many fresh-baked loaves of bread. “The food mirrors what we do at Tartine Manufactory,” says Robertson, “making healthy, delicious, nutritious food that people want to eat every day.”
Whether you order it up front or on your way out, loaves of Tartine’s signature country bread are a must. (Sarah Chorey)
Robertson also notes the specialness of the location. “I’m overwhelmed, thankful, and humbled by the warm welcome of this pretty old school SF neighborhood. I love that people that live in the neighborhood seem to really support the small businesses—it’s a lot like the Mission in that way.”
Get a taste of the offering.
Grab a seat at the high-top stools by the kitchen. (Sarah Chorey)
While the front area and middle space of the bakery may feel busy and bustling with crowds, if you make your way to the back you’ll find a bit of breathing space at the high-top stools facing the open kitchen.
A buttery croissant, the legendary morning bun, and a ham-and-cheese croissant at Tartine in the Inner Sunset. (Sarah Chorey)
The pastry game at Tartine is strong. You’ll be happy with their classic buttery croissant, their legendary morning bun, or a slightly heartier ham & cheese laden croissant. Coffees, always.
A blend of beets and chickpeas make for a savory hummus. (Sarah Chorey)
Once the lunch hour hits (read as early as 11am on Tartine time), the menu adds a slew of other dishes. The country bread offers is served with three different pairings: goat cheese, fermented veggies, or this cheery pink dip. It’s a blend of beets and chickpeas for a savory hummus, topped with root top gomashio (aka un-hulled toasted sesame seeds).
Creamy ginger carrot soup topped with a drizzle of oil and breadcrumbs. (Sarah Chorey)
Seasonal soups will always have a place at this neighborhood cafe. Creamy ginger carrot soup is topped with a drizzle of oil and breadcrumbs for a rich, yet healthy-ish meal.
The smoked salmon tartine is a stunner. (Sarah Chorey)
No visit to Tartine would be complete without, well, a tartine. The smoked salmon tartine is a stunner. Find a well-buttered and well-toasted piece of country bread layered with cream cheese, pickled onions, a hint of meyer lemon, and fresh springs of dill.
Tartine has a hefty patty melt. (Sarah Chorey)
If your hunger is on the more dire side, opt for the hefty patty melt. A weighty beef patty is sandwiched between two pieces of country pullman bread with caramelized onions and mornay, a meal that will easily keep you very full till dinner.
Their Japanese inspired porridge comes with a mushroom conserva, a few pickled veggies, and a soft-boiled egg. (Sarah Chorey)
A Japanese inspired dish, the house porridge takes advantage of grains like rice and and job’s tears. A mushroom conserva, a few pickled veggies, and a soft-boiled egg complete this heartwarming comfort bowl.
Despite that, it seemed to me and some of my colleagues that there weren’t as many dog-friendly businesses in San Francisco as we thought. So we went to you, the KQED community, to find out where we could eat and drink around the Bay Area without any problems with our dogs in tow.
We asked you to share your favorite dog-friendly bars/restaurants and, after double-checking the recommendations, we compiled a list below that gets four paws up (I consulted with my dog). Some highlights include:
Devil’s Teeth Baking Company
Located a small-ish walk away from Ocean Beach, Devil’s Teeth Baking Company is open 7 days a week from 7am-4pm. The space is pretty small, but they have outside seating for you to enjoy their breakfast sandwiches while your dog (or someone else’s dog) stares you down, hoping for a bite.
I personally always go for The Special Breakfast Sandwich: two eggs, bacon, avocado, pepperjack cheese and lemon-garlic aioli all on a homemade buttermilk biscuit, and I end the meal (I share!) with a warm cinnamon roll the size of my face. Devil’s Teeth has dog treats for your furry friend, but they’ll probably still be drooling for whatever you’re eating. Bonus: $1 beignets every Sunday!
Dad’s Luncheonette
One of the quirkier destinations on the list, you might remember Dad’s Luncheonette from this year’s season Check, Please! Bay Area. Owners Scott Clark (a former three-Michelin star chef de cuisine) and Alexis Lu serve their small but mighty menu of American classics with a Californian twist from a historic train caboose in Half Moon Bay.
Being a caboose, there isn’t much seating inside, but you can enjoy your meal outside. Order a dog burger from the menu—it’s made from the same high-quality ingredients they use in their kitchen to make the human food!
Mersea
Talk about views! Head to Treasure Island for a unique experience at Mersea, Treasure Island’s only all-day restaurant. It’s built out of shipping containers and a military kitchen, and it has a lovely view of San Francisco on a clear day (it’s even kind of cool on a foggy day).
Enjoy the bocce courts, food and view at Mersea with your dog by your side—we’d call that a pretty good time.
Mutt Lynch Winery
On Mutt Lynch Winery’s website, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat called it “a dog-gone paradise for canines and those who love them.” And, if you love dogs, this place will definitely cater to that interest! While you enjoy the wine, your dogs can enjoy house-made biscuits, maybe even a dog treat flight on an adorable dog-shaped cheeseboard (can you tell they love dogs).
They also regularly hold Yappy Hours where your canine companion can join you in the tasting room for happy hours dedicated to raising funds for local, national and international animal rescue organizations!
Drake’s Dealership
Drake’s Dealership in Oakland has 32 beers on tap and freshly made wood-fired pizzas. But the best part? It has an open-air beer garden where you can hang out with your dogs (as long as they are leashed). If it gets chilly at night, there are fire pits and heating lamps to keep you and your pup warm.
If you love the idea of drinking beer and hanging out with dogs but aren’t too sure about making the trip, just take a peek at their Instagram hashtag #dogsofdrake. Drake’s also has enough space if you want to go with a group. And if it’s a group of humans or a group of dogs, we’ll leave that up to you!
If you have more recommendations to be added to the list below, just let us know on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!
Cupcakes, cake pops, and cronuts have all had their 15 minutes of fame in the food world. But these days, social media is filled with images and mentions of the mochi donut.
The combination of the American donut and Japanese mochi, a traditional rice cake made of sweet glutinous rice flour, makes a food trend that is both yummy AND photogenic. The mochi rice flour adds a chewy, almost bouncy texture to a normally dense, cakey donut. And its eye-catching appearance comes from several donut balls stuck together to form a circular ring shape, making it look more like a bracelet than a snack.
Mister Donut in Japan is credited with first selling this donut hybrid in 2003, where they call them “Pon de Rings.” Seeing how popular they were in Japan, second-generation baker, Chris Watanabe decided to start his own mochi donut shop in Honolulu called MoDo Donuts in 2017 and added signature glazes like lilikoi (passionfruit), matcha and black sesame.
By the time MoDo set up their first temporary pop-up shop in San Jose’s Mitsuwa Marketplace in April of 2018, Bay Area foodies waited upwards of 90 minutes just to get their hands on one of these donuts. Since then, MoDo’s pop-up shop has made appearances every few months in the South Bay, and their popularity hasn’t waned judging by continued long wait times.
Shared storefront between Yama-chan and Mochill (Elaine Wu/KQED)
To be a recognizable part of any trend, timing is everything, and Mochill knew they wanted to be the first ones out of the gate in San Francisco. Their family business is more accustomed to making takoyaki (fried octopus puffs) in Honolulu where they have made a name for themselves with their restaurant, Yama-chan. When they decided to open a takoyaki in Japantown, they wanted to add a separate brand that would focus instead on a sweet snack. Enter Mochill.
Their mochi donuts don’t stray from the currently popular Pon de Ring style, but the owner’s son Taisuke Yamamoto says that Mochill’s main differentiator is their flavors and the addition of toppings like dried fruits, macadamia nuts, and cereal. “We have Fruity Pebbles, White Chocolate, Kinako (a soybean powder that’s a popular flavor in Japan), and we’re working on a peanut butter and jelly, and a Nutella flavor,” he says. They offer six flavors every day, three of which change every few days.
Flavors of the day displayed at Mochill (Elaine Wu/KQED)
Since opening in July earlier this year, they’ve been selling out daily. “We sell-out an hour before we close every day. Weekends are pretty crazy. But I don’t think customers wait more than an hour.”
There’s no doubt that Mochill’s business is built on a trend, but Yamamoto believes their longevity is secure because of a flexible business model. “We’re trying to focus on mochi desserts, so we can do anything mochi. They don’t have to be donuts.” They plan on expanding the menu with other non-donut items and beverages in the future. Yamamoto says they’re also hoping to add more Bay Area locations and even expand to Southern California and Texas. “Our company mission is to spread the greatness of Japanese food culture.”
Third Culture Bakery owners, Sam Butarbutar and Wenter Shyu (Elaine Wu/KQED)
However, not all mochi donuts follow the same formula. At Third Culture Bakery in Berkeley, partners in business and in life, Chef Sam Butarbutar and Wenter Shyu started their wholesale business with their now famous mochi muffin back in 2016. But these days, their mochi donuts have become just as popular.
Butarbutar used to make an Indonesian sweet steamed rice cake with his Mom called Kueh Lapis, so using rice flour was something he was used to. The combination of his classic French pastry expertise along with his desire to create something that would be true to his heritage lead to the mochi muffin.
But it was Shyu who suggested trying the same idea with making a donut. At first, Butarbutar resisted. “After months of pestering him, he finally made one,” says Shyu, and that’s when his partner agreed to try selling it. In the Spring of 2018, they made four dozen the first day and sold out within an hour.
Display case of mochi muffins and donuts at Third Culture Bakery (Elaine Wu/KQED)
“I think people are just obsessed with donuts. This is just a different iteration of that,” says Shyu. “And the texture of a mochi donut is just incredible!”
Though they still have that signature chewy texture, Third Culture Bakery’s mochi donuts are not made in the pon de ring style, and they are also gluten-free, unlike most other mochi donuts. Butarbutar’s recipe is made solely with rice flour and not a rice/wheat flour blend like most others.
“Ours is a true butter mochi donut,” says Shyu “You get that velvety buttery texture with the chewiness of the mochi and it makes it slightly denser. And it’s baked, we don’t fry them. We use quality ingredients like Koda Farms rice flour from California. All the vibrant colors of our donuts come from the ingredients we use. We actually puree down fresh mangoes and passionfruit for our glaze.”
Third Culture Bakery mochi donuts. Top to bottom: Mango Passionfruit with Cocoa Nibs, Yuzu Lemon, Chocolate (Elaine Wu/KQED)
They’re hoping their efforts to be different will also work well in other markets. Plans are underway to open a Third Culture bakery/showroom as well as a matcha cafe in Denver by the end of the year, and another in Los Angeles next year. “Some people say that we’re not a ‘real’ mochi donut, but we’re not trying to take away from any other donuts out there,” says Shyu. “We’re just trying to add a different option. I think there’s room for everybody.”
The success of both Third Culture and Mochill in such a short amount of time proves that even within a food trend, there’s room for more than one iteration. And if public demand is any indication, there’s still plenty of time left in the mochi donut’s 15 minutes of fame.
Dumplings! We know them, we love them and we all have our favorite spots for them. What constitutes a dumpling, you ask?
Dumpling (n.): a rounded mass of steamed and seasoned dough, often served in soup or with stewed meat.
Many cultures have their own types of dumplings. According to Wikipedia, even ravioli and tortellini fit the basic definition of a dumpling — David Chang even covered this revelation in his show, Ugly Delicious!
Tortellini can’t do this. Didn’t get to visit the tremendous Kang Kang Food Court in the SGV for @uglydelicious episode of “stuffed”. What amazes me is this is just their plain old pan fried dumpling…so incredibly juicy. pic.twitter.com/0nJ62dJ4yy
We’ve even shown you how to make them at home — this recipe is pretty timeless and is great eaten by itself or in hot pot. And yes, as many of you stated, mom’s homemade dumplings will always be the best, but when you’re far from home or there are no ingredients on hand to make some, it’s good to have a place in your back pocket.
We recently asked you, the KQED community, to share their favorite dumpling spots, and we’ve compiled the submissions into this handy list for you! Most of the comments suggested Chinese restaurants, but shout-out to the Pushkin and Mama Papa Lithuanian lovers out there.
As always, our guides are by no means exhaustive, so, if we’re missing a dumpling eatery that people should try, let us know on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
The words “let’s go for Thai” are typically happy-making. Who doesn’t love to dip into a platter of peanut-y pad Thai noodles or a rich, steaming bowl of red curry?
But while those dishes have a place in our hearts for cozy date nights or take-out at home, what we think of as “traditional” Thai food often isn’t authentic at all (and more than likely it isn’t fresh). Fortunately, we have Pim Techamuanvivit, a Michelin-class Thai chef, right here in our backyard. Through her first restaurant, the runaway success that is Kin Khao, and now her followup project, Nari, she’s showing us the way to the true flavors of Thailand.
When Kin Khao opened in 2014 on the ground floor of downtown’s Parc 55 Hotel (a place rarely visited by locals), the whole city was basically blown away. The restaurant served made-from-scratch, intense, and stunningly delicious Thai food in a funky, low-budget space and, in 2016, earned a Michelin star, which it has retained every year since.
But hold on, because Nari is not Kin Khao 2.0.
Greenery sprouts up throughout the space, lending an urban oasis feel. (Anson Smart)
The scope of the place is your first clue. Inside Japantown’s Hotel Kabuki, the dining room can seat up to 100 guests for dinner plus another 40 in the upstairs bar and lounge.
The interior is also decidedly more polished than Kin Khao’s. Kitted out by Lundberg Design, the aesthetes behind the interiors at Mourad and Quince, Nari is modern and elegant—an open two-story space with floor-to-ceiling windows that shed light on lush ferns and trendy monstera growing up between half-circle booths upholstered in exquisite floral fabric. In Lundberg fashion, there is thoughtful woodwork and sculptural fixtures.
Design-wise, you might call Nari the brighter yang to Kin Khao’s darker yin, and while Techamuanvivit has always helmed Kin Khao, there are strong feminine wiles at work here. The restaurant’s name itself means “women” in Thai, and the operation is run by a powerhouse team of femmes.
Techamuanvivit, who developed the menu, is joined by chef de cuisine Meghan Clark (also of Kin Khao) and bar star Megan Daniel-Hoang (formerly of Whitechapel). The cocktails here are named after women characters in Thai novels; there is also an extensive wine list.
Left to right: The Manora, the Rojana and the Montheo (Sarah Chorey)
Nari’s cocktail program is reason enough to visit. The Manora is similar to a Thai version of a pisco sour, made with egg whites, pineapple sherbert, yellow chartreuse falernum, and lime. The Rojana brings together a light rum, Smith & Cross rum, lime cordial, pineapple gum, orgeat, and Thai bitters for am elevated play on a daiquiri. The Montheo is pleasantly tart thanks to a bit of sea gin made with seaweed, sherry, chareau, vanilla, absinthe, cucumber, muddled basil, and a hint of lemon.
Once you’ve settled in, it’s time to forget about pad Thai and open your taste buds to a new dimension. Salty meets sweet in most of the dishes here, and funky-intense flavors come through thanks to ingredients such as shrimp paste and fish sauce. The best approach: Order with an open mind and no expectations.
The kapi plah is an intensely flavorful chilled dip is made with gulf prawns and shrimp paste relish and comes with a spread of crisp radishes, beans, and sliced pear. (Sarah Chorey)
Start with the punchy miang, an intensely green betel leaf topped with stone fruit, trout roe, and fish sauce caramel. Sample the yum tawai, a platter of haricots vert with bits of chicken, peanuts, sesame, and coconut and tamarind sauce. Indulge in a pretty spicy version of gaeng bumbai aubergine, a curry of eggplant with hints of lemon basil and topped with crunchy fried shallots.
Nari’s gaeng rawaeng (Sarah Chorey)
The gaeng rawaeng is a menu standout. The whole cornish game hen is cooked in a rich rawaeng curry sauce, and served with buttery roti bread perfect for dipping up all the juices. Like next-level comfort food, it’s guaranteed to become a Nari signature dish.
The desserts, like the cocktails, shine. Saved room for the babin coconut cake, a thick, pudding-like slice of coconut, basil, and ginger, topped with toasted coconut flakes. We did also love the makrut lime tart with bright strawberries, creaming creamy citrus filling, and crispy rice puffs rolled in powdered sugar.
We’ve all jumped on a wellness trend or two—a new workout class, a few steps of a Korean skincare routine, periodic conscious disconnection from our devices.
If eating more plants is on your list of self-care (and environmental) goals, you may now do a little a dance: Wildseed is a full-service restaurant that’s taking vegan eating beyond your usual grab-and-go salad and green juice.
Greenery finds a home in every nook and cranny. (Sarah Chorey)
The conscientious concept comes to us from the folks at Back of House Restaurant Group (A Mano, Beretta, Lolinda, Starbelly, etc). CEO Adriano Paganini tapped chef Blair Warsham, of The Bird, to devise a menu of vegan eats; Warsham got all prolific with a huge menu of meat-free delights centering on purely seasonal ingredients.
Wildseed’s corn cakes channel flavors of a fancy cornbread, with a thicker, richer intensity. (Sarah Chorey)
There are snacks—think probiotic plates and harissa-spiced veggie chips; shareables—grilled avocado toast, Mexican corn cakes, and curried cauliflower; salads and bowls (try the mushroom-based “neatball masala”); and entrees including a super grain paella, rigatoni Bolognese made with Impossible meat, and a spicy yellow curry. Still hungry? There’s dessert too.
Meyer lemon agave cheesecake with a gluten-free graham cracker crust and whips of coconut. (Sarah Chorey)
Just because this is a plant-based restaurant, doesn’t mean it’s a crunchy-granola scene. The old Belga restaurant has a bright, effortless atmosphere thanks to a sprucing up by designer Hannah Collins. The palette is warm wood and white with accents of teal in pretty tiles behind the bar and in upholstery on the banquettes. Tropical fans lazily spin overhead and light spills through the windows. It’s the kind of atmosphere that makes you want to eat healthy.
The zinc-topped bar is an inviting spot to have a drink. (Sarah Chorey)
“Wildseed is about giving everyone a chance to make a better choice—a place where you can feel good about the decisions you are making,” says Paganini. “Not only because the space is beautiful, but also because you know that the food is good for you without sacrificing satisfaction or flavor.”
Cubes of chilled beets are topped with slices of cucumber, macadamia crumbles, a dash of ponzu, and sesame seeds, paired with seaweed crackers. (Sarah Chorey)
// Wildseed, 2000 Union St. (Cow Hollow), wildseedsf.com
At World Famous HotBoys, I once felt the sweat beading on my forehead just from watching someone eat their “hot”-level fried chicken sandwich. To personally consume a “hella hot” sandwich would mean giving the world my best impression of an erupting volcano.
Some people just love the burn; I’m not one of them.
The style of spicy fried chicken HotBoys delivers is directly inspired by Nashville hot chicken. The chicken meat is marinated in a water-blend of seasoning, floured, fried and sauced using a paste spiced with cayenne pepper. “Things like how you spice the chicken vary,” explains HotBoys co-owner Victor Ghaben. “The type of peppers vary but the flavor profile outside the peppers does not.”
The family behind Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack, the birthplace of Nashville hot chicken, has converted many diners to their fiery chicken — they even inspired Yo La Tengo to write three entire songs about the dish (“Flying Lesson (Hot Chicken #1),” “Don’t Say a Word (Hot Chicken #2),” and “Return to Hot Chicken”). The annual Music City Hot Chicken Festival started in 2007, celebrating the city’s unique treat. Restaurateurs fell in love with Nashville hot chicken and spread the spicy gospel; the dish (or a variation of it) can be found all over the U.S.
In May, the Los Angeles Times ran the story “Nashville hot chicken is taking over Los Angeles,” pointing to over two dozen hot chicken joints opening in just the past three years. Bigger brands like Tyson and KFC have jumped on the bandwagon, offering their own versions of the Nashville hot chicken in restaurants and grocery stores.
Bay Area comes in (s)winging with new hot fried chicken spots
HotBoys isn’t the first to bring Nashville hot chicken to the temperate city by the bay, and it’s hard to say who was. Hard Water, opened by Charles Phan of Slanted Door, was one of the earlier adopters. According to the restaurant’s spokesperson, “Hard Water opened in March 2013. We put Nashville style chicken on the menu maybe about a year after the opening.”
WesBurger ‘N’ More’s hot chicken sandwich debuted in 2014. (Grace Cheung/KQED)
WesBurger ‘N’ More’s owner Wes Rowe dabbled with hot chicken while managing his successful burger pop-ups. “I started making Nashville hot chicken at the pop-up in 2014 and it was a huge hit,” he says. It’s also one of his personal favorite styles of fried chicken. When his brick and mortar in the Mission officially opened in April 2016, hot chicken earned a spot on the menu. “It is the number two best-selling item and the number one best-selling item in delivery orders,” Rowe says.
And what about The Bird, one of San Francisco’s premiere fried chicken sandwich destinations? Though their spicy fried chicken is similar, it’s not true to the style of Nashville hot chicken. Their gluten-free, berbere-spiced batter is closer to East African hot chicken.
In 2019 we can now say we have two Bay Area businesses completely dedicated to the tried and true Nashville hot chicken: Hotbird and World Famous HotBoys (both originated in Oakland). The former was founded in late 2017 by Aaron Nam and Caleb Longacre, two chefs who met while cooking at Iyasare.
Two chicken sandwiches from Hotbird. (Arielle R./Courtesy of Hotbird)
After Nam tried and fell in love with Los Angeles’ Howlin Rays, the two spent months testing their own hot chicken recipe; Hotbird started out at Oakland’s First Friday art walks before moving on to Off the Grid at Fort Mason and the Presidio Picnic.
[pullquote size=’medium’ align=’left’ citation=’Victor Ghaben, HotBoys co-owner’]’The hottest thing we have might end their whole week’s plans.'[/pullquote]
“I believe most people really enjoy fried chicken and the spicy profile is something they look for,” Nam says. “So it’s almost like a perfect combination there.” Their spice levels run from “no heat” to “hot,” “extra hot” and “burnin’” — they use ghost peppers and Carolina Reaper peppers to achieve those higher levels.
Ghaben and HotBoys co-owner Berk Gibbs started with pop-ups out of Ghaben’s backyard in 2017. Their recipes finalized, they revealed World Famous HotBoys to the public around June 2019 with pop-ups at Forage Kitchen while working on their Oakland brick and mortar. Like Hotbird, their spicy chicken has levels: “mild” to “hot” and “hella hot.”
How hot can you go?
True Nashville hot chicken is supposed to be hot … like, really hot. Ghaben describes his first time eating it as “an out of body experience.” For people who aren’t prepared for it, he advises sticking to medium-level spice for a first try. “The hottest thing we have,” Ghaben says, “might end their whole week’s plans.” WesBurger ‘N’ More doesn’t offer different levels of spice—theirs is “just spicy.” Meanwhile, Hotbird’s owners describes their hottest level is “pretty spicy, but not spicy enough where you can’t finish half your meal.”
The Bay Area’s take on the classic hot chicken sandwich leans heavily into all the fixins’. Nashville hot chicken is normally served with slices of white bread and pickles, and Hard Water’s version fills the carb slot with cornbread. However, WesBurger ‘N’ More, Hotbird and HotBoys all serve theirs as sandwiches — perhaps for portability’s sake. Plus, fried chicken sandwiches do seem to be all people are talking about these days (we’re looking at you, Popeyes).
Hotbird’s current sandwich has an apple cider vinegar slaw, comeback sauce (Nam explains that it’s “a Southern staple”), dill pickles and brioche buns. Rowe serves his sandwiches in his trademark burger buns (“they’re basically like white bread buns”) with garlic mayo, dill pickles and iceberg lettuce.
By early 2020, both HotBoys and Hotbird will open brick and mortar shops (the former in Oakland, the latter inside San Francisco’s Twitter building). Nashville’s specialty has already spread nationwide, and now it’s time for the Bay Area to enjoy their own versions of cluckin’ good hot chicken.
When Laura Meyer won the World Pizza Championship for pan pizza in Parma, Italy, the Italian judges called her the male word for champion. Despite her first-place victory, she was the only winner who didn’t get a trophy that day. Hers was mailed a year later.
“They basically refused to acknowledge that a woman had won,” she said, recently recalling the snub. She was the first woman to win — and the first American. That was 2013.
The next year, competing as the only woman, she won best non-traditional pizza at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas with a triple-infused rosemary dough (rosemary water, rosemary-infused olive oil, and chopped rosemary). And last month, Meyer’s simple pepperoni pizza won the first-ever American pizza division of the Caputo Cup, a pizza-making contest in Naples, Italy, the birthplace of modern pizza, and placed third for traditional pizza at a September contest in Atlantic City, N.J.
Meyer is a pizza powerhouse, any way you slice it. But to many in and out of her profession, she’s just a woman.
“Women have always been part of pizza, but it’s very macho. It has a macho problem, like most of the job world,” she said from Tony’s, the prestigious pizza parlor in San Francisco where she is owner Tony Gemignani’s right hand and runs its International School of Pizza. “Guys stare at my chest. They think I don’t see. Guess what? I see. My very first day of work, a coworker just watched me do my job like I was a show, entertainment, an ooh-la-la toy. So many people think I could only be as high up as I am because I’m Tony’s wife. I’m not his wife. I’m his talent.”
Broadly and frequently, male chauvinism is baked into pizza at every step: from the presumption that pizza delivery people are men to the dearth of female pizza-maker statues. “Pizza making is a profession where men tell you that you belong in a kitchen, but not as a career,” said Meyer. “They celebrate grandma slices but not the actual grandmas.”
She is trying to change that.
Meyer is a star in a recent surge of prominent female pizzaiole across the country: Sarah Minnick at Lovely’s Fifty-Fifty in Portland, Ore.; septuagenarian Norma Knepp in Pennsylvania Amish Country; Nancy Silverton at Osteria Mozza in Los Angeles; Audrey Kelly of Audrey Jane’s Pizza Garage in Boulder, Colo.; and this year’s best chef in the Midwest, according to the James Beard Foundation: Ann Kim, a pizza maker in Minneapolis.
In New York, where a pizza slice is quintessential to local identity, Nicole Russell serves pickup-only Last Dragon Pizza out of her home in Queens. At the New York Pizza Festival this month, which included pizza makers from Naples and across the U.S., spectators recorded Russell making her tandoori chicken pizza — unofficially the best in show, lifted by a lingering seduction of spices including ginger and mustard oil. One stranger nudged another with a tourist’s stage whisper: “She made that! I just saw her do it!”
Later, Russell shrugged. “As a black woman, I’m used to people underestimating me,” she said. “But I have a proven customer base and a following. I’ve had tourists from Texas who came to New York with my pizza on their bucket list. We’re not just those women over there. Women aren’t just coming up in the pizza game. We’re winning up in the pizza game.”
With pizza makers finally and firmly having wrestled the national consciousness about pizza away from cheap mega-chains like Domino’s, Little Caesars, Papa John’s and Pizza Hut, their pies have been released into a renaissance of artisanal styles — bar, cloud, Detroit, Roman, Sicilian — and unorthodox cultural mashups, including Argentine, Korean, Japanese and Swedish. That openness has created a welcoming culture. Yet pizza’s association with fast food still impugns it among foodie snobs, to the point that no pizzeria in the United States — or on the planet — has a Michelin star, even though the prize has been given to a $1.50 noodle stall in Singapore, a cheap dim sum chain in Hong Kong, and a crab omelet street food shop in Bangkok.
The off-radar nature of pizza makers has given them stealth potency — if not for seismic change, then at least for visibility. It sounds, well, cheesy, but in Naples the menu at Sorbillo’s, arguably the standard bearer of Neapolitan pizza, now offers a special pie — pink ricotta (blended with tomato), mozzarella fior di latte, extra virgin olive oil and fresh basil — in partnership with Barbie, which last year debuted a pizza-making doll. (Gino Sorbillo’s young daughter, Ludovica, is an aspiring pizza maker.)
“Women can make progress in pizza that is harder in the macho restaurant world,” said Kim, the Minneapolis pizza maker. “I love that because that world can be limiting. It has finite goals of money and awards. I prefer the infinite reach of intention and purpose. The most-popular item on my menu is a Korean barbecue pizza that, for some people, is their first taste of Korean food. It’s all the things we say we want food to be.”
Pizza-making also doesn’t have fine dining’s militaristic brigade setup — chef du cuisine, sous chef, saucier, pâtissier, etc. — or its penchant for bullying (and worse); it’s far more collaborative and flexible, casual and supportive even at its upper echelons. Though its ethos is often far from feminist, pizza making can be a very feminine craft in the way that it doesn’t cling to the rules of a male-dominated kitchen.
When Kelly opened her Colorado pizzeria in 2015, after earning a degree from Le Cordon Bleu, her father urged her to include her name in the title. He and her mother have run a local chain of bagel shops for decades, but they’re widely seen as “his.” He wanted better for his daughter.
At first, Kelly’s kitchen was all men (and her). Now it’s 50-50, and some days is all women. “I think of gender equality as craft, as rewarding balance,” she said. “We’ve had men who haven’t worked out because they don’t want to listen to a woman, which I know because they’d listen if my husband told them the same thing I did.”
Now some of these women are banding together — including Kelly, Meyer, and Russell — to make Women In Pizza a movement like Girls Who Code or White Coats Black Doctors. A formal alliance debuted in September: www.womeninpizza.com. And this year the World Pizza Champions, a kind of industry Justice League, increased its female members from 3 to 5 (out of 39 active members).
“Is it lame to say I do it just because it’s fun?” said Tara Hattan, who said she is the only female pizza maker in her town of Broken Arrow, Okla. “Girls come just to see me do my pizza acrobatics. I get to be the inspiration or role model or just example I wish I had when I was younger. That’s why I bring my ProDough everywhere, out to bars or parties. I want everyone to know women can do this, because they’ve seen so with their own eyes.”
Women in pizza still have frustrations, of course, but flagrant sexism is abating. “Ugh,” Meyer groaned in Naples last month, readjusting her trophy for a moment as an Italian television crew scampered over to interview her about her victory. “I’m going to have to wear my hair down.”
Closures of beloved restaurants have become a way of life here in the practically-impossible-to-do-business Bay Area — we miss the likes of Jardinière and Commonwealth, and will soon say so long to Oakland’s iconic Flora.
Once they’re gone, it’s rare for a restaurant to re-open. But now, at a time when we could all use a bit of nice news and something comforting to eat, one of San Francisco’s old favorite restaurants is back for seconds; and tbh, we couldn’t be happier about it.
The reopening of Aziza — Mourad Lahlou’s Michelin-starred Moroccan restaurant in the Outer Richmond, first opened in 2001 — is the happy result of a seriously epic delay. In May of 2016, Lahlou closed the restaurant for renovations; the process, which was estimated to take two months, dragged on for more than a year thanks to the city requirements that kept piling on.
At Aziza 2.0, the best seats in the house can be found beneath the palms. (Sarah Chorey/7x7)
Eventually, the chef got restless and envisioned an all new project. Aziza, he decided, would make way for a Mexican-meets-Moroccan concept called Amara, which would blend the cuisines of his Moroccan heritage with the Mexican background of Aziza’s then-chef de cuisine, Louis Maldonado. Another year passed without the new restaurant’s unveiling, and Maldonado departed to take the toque at Gibson. Amara’s much anticipated opening would never be. And then came the surprise twist.
Today, if you find yourself standing once more at the corner of Geary Boulevard and 22nd Avenue, you can open the heavy wood door, cross the tiled threshold, and find yourself again in the small Moroccan-style oasis that feels like it has always been meant to be Aziza.
Roasted prawns are plump and juicy, packed with a bit of heat thanks to harissa and red charmoula spices. (Sarah Chorey/7x7)
The refreshed interior is Instagram-ready. Architectural designer Kristen Mayberry Simmons spearheaded the relocation of the bar to the back of the space, creating a glowy cocktailing haven that feels like an occasion; as well as the addition of more windows for better light.
Interior designer Lucy Brown McCormick added some saucy touches: splashy aquamarine tiles and coved-beam ceilings. In the front dining room, casual design and subtle desert vibes reign via glowing Venetian-plastered walls, wicker lanterns, and natural leather hides on modern minimalist chairs. But it is past the bar that you’ll find your photo op: a third, more intimate space dressed in tropical palm wallpaper and tufted booths. Is this real life? At Aziza, it is.
The beef cheek tagine will arrive in the traditional clay pot; when the lid comes off, breathe in the aroma of a steaming hearty stew with tender chunks of meat, rice puffs, almonds, apricots, and spiced root vegetable jam. (Sarah Chorey/7x7)
In whichever room you pull up a chair, the menu offering will be the same: a mix of Aziza classics with a few fresh twists. Regulars to the old place won’t hesitate in diving back into the flaky chicken basteeya laced with crumbled almonds, or the hearty beef cheek tagine for a cozy comfort food moment.
Oysters are also on offer, as are dips and spreads, juicy kefta meatballs, and a hefty lamb shank, all of it thoughtfully incorporating spice and highlighting Moroccan cooking techniques with Californian ingredients.
A skewer of five tender kefta meatballs, on a pool of cilantro vinaigrette, is served with a chilled salad of shaved jicama and halved grapes for a refreshing contrast. (Sarah Chorey/7x7)
Back in the day, Aziza was the first Moroccan restaurant in the U.S. to earn a Michelin star; and Lahlou’s eponymous restaurant, Mourad, holds it own in terms of wattage. So will Aziza reclaim its celestial status? We think the future is bright.
Of the dozens, if not hundreds, of dumplings styles from around the world, momos certainly have one of the most fervent followings in the Bay Area. Whether they’re compact, juicy ones filled with turkey or meaty, doughy variations packed with tender lamb, local diners sure love their momos. They are really the perfect introduction to the very exciting, not particularly well-known cuisine of the Himalayas.
Any glance at a Himalayan restaurant menu will yield familiar sounding dishes from neighboring countries India and China, especially the western parts of China like the Xi’an, the Sichuan region and the Muslim-heavy Xinjiang region. Naan accompanies meals as often as rice or lentils, and Thali platters frequently are the style of eating lunch.
Curries form a huge part of Nepalese and Tibetan cuisines, though generally they manage to be lighter in most cases than their Indian counterparts from not using as much butter, ghee or cream. Meats are often grilled in tandoori ovens, with lamb and chicken being the most frequently used for that (and chicken is probably the most popular in momos).
Clearly, there is lots of overlap, which also explains why many of the local Himalayan restaurants are also Indian restaurants that have a special section of the menu devoted to specialties from Nepal.
The Bay Area doesn’t have a huge population of Nepalese immigrants but it does have a sizable one, roughly 5,000 in 2015 according to the Pew Research Center. That number is easily tripled or quadrupled when also factoring immigrants from Tibet and Bhutan, which share a pretty similar culinary heritage (which is why many restaurants say ‘Himalayan cuisine’). The total figure of Nepalese relocating in the Bay Area also saw a significant uptick after 2015, the year of a tragic 7.8 magnitude earthquake that killed over 9,000 people.
Many of the Bay Area’s Nepalese and Tibetan restaurants started from the same root: the chef was a chef back home and realized there wasn’t much of their home’s food in the Bay Area. Slowly but surely, that number of options to sample the cuisine is growing. Nepalese restaurants centers on three main areas (Solano Avenue in Berkeley and Albany, Bernal Heights and the Tenderloin) but can increasingly be found all over the Bay Area.
Tibetan restaurants are much harder to find or have a couple dishes folded into the menu at a Nepalese restaurant. Nearly all of the restaurants go to extreme levels to make everything homemade from grinding the spice to momos to noodles for soups. The pace is wonderfully relaxed because everything is made from scratch, the quality is high and the welcome is always very gracious.
Enjoy this Berkeley and San Francisco tour of Nepal and Tibet’s wonderful cuisines!
Eight momos and the open kitchen in the background where hundreds of momos a day are prepared at Bini’s Kitchen (Trevor Felch/KQED)
There certainly were several Nepalese restaurants in the Bay Area before Binita Pradhan started making momos in San Francisco seven years ago, but it’s fair to say that this La Cocina graduate has had the greatest single influence on making our local region more knowledgeable about Nepal’s cuisine.
Pradhan’s fans followed her during her opening years of exclusively catering and popping up at farmer’s market and Off-the-Grid stands. Then she added a weekday lunch kiosk by the Montgomery BART station and eventually unveiled this year’s brick-and-mortar debut for Bini’s Kitchen in a sun-filled, high-ceilinged, industrial-chic space on the ground floor of a new affordable housing building in a still challenging part of SoMa.
The restaurant’s design highlight is a mural depicting Pradhan’s culinary journey from Nepal to SoMa. For Bini, who is originally from Kathmandu and worked in the food and hospitality business there, it certainly was a long journey for her to reach Sixth and Howard. She’s a domestic violence survivor who fled west with her son from her abusive husband in Mississippi, and she has been an industry leader in San Francisco for hiring women in the same position as her.
The turkey and vegetable momos at Bini’s Kitchen in SoMa (Trevor Felch/KQED)
As guests order at the counter in the restaurant, it’s hard not to notice the constant parade of momos coated lightly with burnt orange tomato-cilantro sauce emerging from the open kitchen. The momos, filled with turkey, veggie or lamb (ask for a half and half of combo of turkey and lamb for our favorite order), are the core of the Bini’s experience and they’re absolutely marvelous.
Compared to other Bay Area momos, these are much smaller and have a spiral, pleated exterior that their peers almost never have. Each two-bite (or one huge bite) momo sports the perfect dough to filling ratio, with neither dominating the other. The restaurant also offers Nepalese burritos and ledo bedo (various Nepalese curries). Unlike most other Bay Area Nepalese restaurants, Bini’s Kitchen caters to individual diners by offering “build your meal” sets with four momos and a ledo bedo atop khana (rice).
‘Dhading chicken,’ goat curry and garlic naan at Dancing Yak (Trevor Felch/KQED)
Goat curry is one of the key dishes of Nepalese cuisine and one of the finest versions of it in the Bay Area — lush in texture with the bone in-tact and a silky broth in flavor from ginger, garlic, tomato and garam masala —is at this bustling, hip restaurant from Nepal native (and first time restaurateur) Suraksha Basnet and chef Tara Ghimire.
The menu doesn’t veer too far towards a modern direction like the sleek atmosphere does. Dancing Yak excels at the classics like that goat curry, along with some hearty stewed lentil-and-vegetable dishes, chicken or vegetable momos, and several appetizers that either are or similar to India’s chaat snacks.
Like Bini’s Kitchen, the momos here are very compact and show a pleated dough surface tied together at the top that instantly make most diners confuse them with Chinese xiao long bao. Each vegetable momo has a lovely cabbage-based mix while the chicken ones showcase a bit more character from the poultry’s juice mixing with chives and garlic.
Along with the chicken momo and goat curry, an order of nicely charred, fragrant garlic naan and ‘dhading chicken’ (a chicken curry with similar spices as the goat one except with cilantro added) are all but necessary. That latter curry is a staple of highway roadside restaurants in Nepal according to the restaurant.
A chicken and vegetable momo platter at the Mission’s Dancing Yak (Trevor Felch/KQED)
Along with turquoise booths, purple walls and dim lighting, what’s the biggest difference at Dancing Yak compared to the other Nepalese restaurants? Just look at the giant bar on the north side of the space — cocktails. There’s an old-fashioned ‘Nepal’ where the bourbon is infused with turmeric and peppercorn., and the ‘Avalanche in Everest’ is a take on a pineapple and vodka refresher with lassi added.
Best of all is the Instagram-ready ‘When in Kathmandu’ where basil seeds adorn a rum, ginger and mint libation that is a perfect celebratory companion for enjoying with a plate of momos.
And in a few weeks or months, according to Eater SF, San Francisco diners can look forward to Nepalese small plates from Basnet’s team in the former Schmidt’s restaurant space on Folsom Street.
Momos are a centerpiece of both Nepalese and Tibetan cuisines, here as part of a meal at Nomad Tibetan (Trevor Felch/KQED)
Husband-and-wife team Jamyang Gyalkha and Tsering Lhatso have created a special destination at the Albany/Berkeley border for what possibly could be the finest momos in the Bay Area and one of the few opportunities to try specific from Tibet, where Gyalkha left as a teenager. The lamb, beef and vegetable momos are dramatically different from elsewhere — larger, more doughy, a full crescent shape, and bursting with so much juice that you run into a wonderful conundrum: they’re too big for one bite, but if you cut into it, the dumpling explodes on your hand.
The momos and other dishes are enjoyed in the mid-sized space anchored by various Tibetan art pieces, a skyglass above the center of the restaurant that’s partially covered by Tibetan prayer flags and a large square table with bench seating to the side in a semi-private room that has a stuffed lion and a panoramic Himalayan mountain painting backdrop. Of all the restaurants we visited for the guide, this was no doubt the one that most prominently featured the massive mountain range itself.
A lion gazes over the Himalayan landscape at Nomad Tibetan in north Berkeley (Trevor Felch/KQED)
But, it’s really the tremendously warm hospitality (Gyalkha does the cooking, Lhatso runs the front of house) that is reflected in the food and the whole experience. Noodles, dumplings, sauces — they want you to know that these are genuinely homemade and they hope you sample as much as you can. Try the fantastic thaen-thuk lamb broth with bok choy, halved ripe tomatoes and short hand-pulled noodles that has an unwaveringly deep concentration of lamb’s trademark meaty-gamey flavor. Stir-fried eggplant turns out to be a perfect combination of slightly sweet, slightly tart sauce and wonderfully tender eggplant and peppers.
Lhatso will even mention to get a side of ting-mo, a hand-rolled steamed bun somewhere between a pretzel knot and a croissant, that is perfect for scooping up broths and curries. You’ll thank her later after each plate is squeaky clean.
Himalayan Pizza and Momo, located by Civic Center and UC Hastings (Trevor Felch/KQED)
There’s a lot going on during a typical weekday lunch period at Golden Gate Avenue and Hyde Street, where the Civic Center blends into the Tenderloin. Stroll into this low-key oasis with a giant open kitchen right behind the ordering counter, and you’ll instantly relax.
And, you better calm down, because you’ll be told an order of the outstanding homemade momos takes 15 to 20 minutes, which might explain why so much of the business here appeared to be take-out or delivery. Pro tip: go across the street for a coffee to bring back from the quirky, excellent George & Lenny cafe.
The name mostly says it all for this year and a half-old spot from the owner of the Saffron Grill that seems so humble when you’re inside of it but actually has an enormous following across the city and beyond. There is pizza since the chef, Nab Raj Dhakal owned a pizza restaurant in Nepal and the place previously was a pizza shop. And then there are indeed momos in several forms.
A plate of chili momos at Himalayan Pizza and Momo (Trevor Felch/KQED)
This is the place to see how momos can be served in different forms. ‘Jhol momo’ sort of translates the customary tomato-cilantro dipping sauce into soup form. For ‘chili momo,’ unusually giant steamed dumplings filled with an umami-heavy diced chicken mixture get sautéed at high heat, so the usually soft, slightly rubbery skin becomes crisp to the point of al dente. Then they are tossed about with a thick chili-spice based mixture and some vegetables for a pretty spectacular carbs, vegetables and meat stir-fry. Ask for some rice on the side to really absorb everything going on together in this ensemble and to cool the pretty substantial heat.
For the real experience, hang out, watch the busy kitchen prep pizzas, pastas and curries simultaneously, and enjoy.
Cuisine of Nepal’s signature chicken and cashew cream curry, served as a thali platter at lunch (Trevor Felch/KQED)
The story of this Bernal Heights Nepalese dining stalwart (as seen on Check, Please! Bay Area) literally includes climbing the Himalayas. Chef/owner Prem Tamang was a porter for trekking expeditions then eventually grew to be a lead guide for climbs, often showing ambitious American visitors how to climb some of the world’s largest peaks. All the while, he was interested in cooking his home cuisine — and brought that to the U.S., which Bay Area diners can now sample at his restaurant inside a building with funky fake house façade.
The momos here, like everywhere we went, are excellent though more on the lighter cooked side (moister dumpling skin) but make up for that with a more substantial amount of filling than others sampled on this journey. As a bonus, the restaurant is happy to let diners try all three momo flavors (lamb, vegetable and chicken) in a six-dumpling sampler.
It’s common knowledge among regulars that Chef Prem’s kukhurako ledo (chicken curry) is the star of the show at the restaurant — and they’re right. With a cashew cream base, there’s a spectacular richness-with-levity to the broth. Combined with the moist cubes of flame-roasted chicken, it’s one of those special dishes that leaves guests still saying ‘”wow” when the check arrives.
Cuisine of Nepal’s excellent momos come six to an order (Trevor Felch/KQED)
When that curry is the centerpiece of a lunch set with rice, naan, salad and a particularly spicy potato salad for $8.99, you’ll understand why everyone seemed to be ordering it at the lunch hour. In present day San Francisco, it’s not easy to find such a special full meal like that for under $10.
And at dinnertime when neighborhood regulars fill the awkward-shaped long, narrow dining room that features a banquette with individual sitting mats and scenic paintings of Nepal on the walls, you’ll likely see large servings of that chicken curry anchoring almost every table, along with rare-to-find Nepalese curries based on butternut squash, mustard greens, or basil and lamb.
It’s an extensive, authoritative menu that requires many visits to fully explore — and we’re guessing you’ll want to come back many times to do just that.
A few weeks ago, we set out to make a crowd-sourced guide to the Best Dumpling Spots in the Bay Area. We provided a definition of a dumpling and let the comments on our social media outlets speak for themselves. The dumpling fanatics of the region did not disappoint: an incredible (and growing) list was born to share gems across the Bay Area.
As far as filling-stuffed-in-dough creations go, there are many culinary traditions of dumplings that have found a home in San Francisco that didn’t end up on the original guide. To celebrate these, we’ve compiled a short guide to San Francisco eateries that serve culturally diverse takes on fresh, prepared in-house, and epically delicious dumplings.
Some you may recognize. Others might be completely new to you. A few may be controversial (strong opinions on the Internet have spent a lot of time and energy trying to ascribe a direct meaning to “dumpling” as a category.)
At the end of the day, is it really worth having a food fight over which cultures claim proprietary rights over dumplings? Perhaps it’s more interesting to consider how social forces impact the ways we value, think about, and even eat different types of dumplings.
For now, take a day to travel to our 6 spots and savor a diverse array of dumplings that makes San Francisco’s culinary world go round.
Bini’s momos are available with chicken, turkey, and vegetable fillings. (Olivia Won/KQED)
Visit Bini’s Kitchen for a fantastic momo, a steamed Nepali dumpling. Founder Binita Pradhan, a La Cocina graduate, brings flavors from her native Kathmandu to her expertly spiced dumplings which are available with chicken, turkey, and vegetable fillings. Each order of momos is smothered in a creamy tomato-cilantro sauce that you could probably eat on its own as a soup — it’s just that good.
Grab them to go from Bini’s kiosk at McKesson Plaza or head to her brick-and-mortar restaurant on Howard St. if you want to sit down and enjoy your momos.
Pushkin offers boiled Russian and Ukrainian dumplings called pelmeni. (Olivia Won/KQED)
You could easily walk by the entrance to the International Food Court that houses Pushkin and never realize the good eats you’re missing out on. Pushkin offers boiled Russian and Ukrainian dumplings called pelmeni. Flavors like smoked gouda with beef and lamb with mint fill the neatly folded pelmenis, which are served in a hearty chicken broth.
For vegetarians, there’s a pan-fried potato-filled pelmeni coated in sweet, caramelized onions.
The boiled Northern Chinese dumplings at Yuanbao Jiaozi are made in front of your eyes. (Olivia Won/KQED)
For boiled Northern Chinese dumplings that will bring tears of epicurean joy to your eyes, Yuanbao Jiaozi on Irving Street is the place to be. Behind a glass window in the back of the restaurant, you can see the chefs rolling out wrappers and expertly sealing perfect dumplings in record time.
The freshness really does make a world of difference: the dumplings, with shitake mushrooms and fish or rich pork and three delicacies fillings, are incredibly tender whether served plain or in a hearty soup.
Italian Homemade Company’s pasta is made in house and boiled to order. (Olivia Won/KQED)
Get your fix of Italian dumplings at the growing Bay Area chain’s original North Beach location. Stuffed pastas, including tortellini and ravioli, are made in house and boiled to order. The tortellini — whose shape is modeled after Venus’ belly button — is filled with prosciutto, mortadella, pork, and parmigiano. The ravioli comes with a delicate ricotta paired with either spinach or beef. A choose your sauce adventure then begins with options of butter and sage, pesto, bolognese, or pasticiatta.
Bon, Nene’s original potstickers are filled with pork, sprouts, cabbage, ginger and garlic. (Olivia Won/KQED)
At Bon, Nene in the Mission, thoughtfully executed Japanese potstickers, or gyoza, shine in an airy bistro ambiance. The original nene potstickers, filled with pork, sprouts, cabbage, ginger and garlic, are served beneath a crispy batter-skirt and accompanied with a bright ponzu dipping sauce. The combination of the light, earthy filing with the sharp citrus sauce makes for an exquisite bite.
Pera’s delicate beef manti, covered in garlic yogurt sauce and smoked paprika butter. (Olivia Won/KQED)
For the tiniest dumplings you’ve ever seen, head to Pera in Potrero Hill. Pera serves traditional Anatolian manti, filled with herbed beef and covered in garlic yogurt sauce and smoked paprika butter. The cool tanginess of the yogurt and the warming Turkish paprika combine for a delicate, light dumpling experience.
If you walk near Bayview’s 3rd Street corridor around lunchtime, you’ll catch whiffs of barbeque before noticing the Bayview Bistro. You’ll see Harold “Big H” Agee, the owner of Big H Barbeque, greeting almost everyone walking by, offering hugs and an infectious smile. His daughter and granddaughter are by his side, taking orders and assembling plates.
A lifelong Bayview resident, Agee has been sharing his love for barbeque through pop-ups and catering gigs for the past few decades but never occupied a regular space. That changed when Agee became one of the inaugural vendors at the Bayview Bistro, a new food hub for entrepreneurs with deep ties to the neighborhood. Since July, Agee has been at the corner of 3rd Street and Hudson Avenue three days a week with Soul Bowlz and Yes Pudding.
Harold Agee, owner of Big H Barbeque, preparing for the lunch rush. (Olivia Won/KQED)
Before the Bistro, the privately-owned lot had been left vacant for the past decade. With the help of community demand, funding from San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s contractors and The Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development and management by Andrea Baker Consulting, the lot was transformed into a gathering space in July 2019. With a colorful mural, picnic benches, and plenty of space to come together over food, the Bayview Bistro offers local Bayview food entrepreneurs a platform for growing their businesses.
What makes the Bistro unique? Not just anyone can become a vendor. You have to be connected to the Bayview district, either by living, owning a kitchen, utilizing a commercial space, possessing a cottage food license or maintaining a brick and mortar presence in the neighborhood.
The place-based approach to selecting vendors intends “to make sure the local community that has been here for generations gets some of the first opportunities in the economic activity coming into Bayview,” says Tracy Zhu, the Social Impact Partnership Manager with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
A colorful mural invites customers at the Bayview Bistro. (Olivia Won/KQED)
Alexis Woods, the current Bayview Bistro Hub Manager, is a lifelong Bayview resident and the former manager at Isla Vida, the beloved Afro-Caribbean restaurant in the Fillmore that recently closed after a year of rave reviews. As a new, black-owned business in a gentrifying, historically-black Fillmore district, Isla Vida’s closure cut deep, especially for Woods, who had poured her heart and soul into building a community there.
Bayview-Hunters Point has long struggled with economic disenfranchisement and harmful environmental conditions. Now, the tide of gentrification is rising, bringing closures of black-owned businesses and skyrocketing property values. For Woods, this is exactly why the Bayview Bistro matters: “Finally, there’s somewhere they haven’t taken over yet. We now have somewhere we can sit and we can be a community. That means something because that’s what it used to be.”
Still, the Bistro’s main goal isn’t to create a permanent space; the lot is slated for a mixed-use development project in a few years. Rather, Zhu says, it’s to find a way “to support growing small businesses to become sustainable in the long run.” This involves tailored technical help, which can “include menu creation and pricing, assistance registering as a city-approved vendor, and development of a marketing plan.”
Customers gathering at the Bayview Bistro. (Olivia Won/KQED)
And the growth is visible. As Agee’s customer base has grown via word of mouth among barbeque fanatics on social media, so too have his operations. He’s gone from being cash-only to adopting a POS system and frequent eater punch cards. “To be able to shift from an informal vendor to the owner of a registered business [is] a huge deal in raising vendor’s profiles and putting them in different professional realms,” Zhu comments.
As the vendors phase out of the Bistro, their next steps will vary based on the specific needs of their businesses. Nima Romney of Soul Foodz will start appearing at SoMA StrEAT Food Park and plans on building a website for her catering business. Quanisha Johnson of Yes Pudding is stepping back from regular sales to focus on her business strategy with the goal of selling at farmers markets before opening a brick and mortar. Agee plans on building up his catering menu and continuing event pop-ups. Eventually, he hopes to acquire a barbeque trailer so he can take his cooking to hotspots around town, like the newly constructed Chase Center.
As with most projects, there have been bumps along the way, including communication issues between stakeholders and a need for more foot traffic. But even with the challenges of building something from the ground up, Woods believes in it deeply. “It’s remarkable to be a part of the Bistro. No matter if it’s here for a year or if it’s here for five years,” she says. “Bayview is everything to me. My roots are in Bayview. I mean, who wouldn’t want to work right down the street from where they were born?”
Maybe that’s what makes the Bayview Bistro unique. It’s private-public partnership that believes in the power of food to strengthen community in a more radical way than any other food park in the Bay Area. It’s about people with connections to the neighborhood using food entrepreneurship to cement their rightful place in a rapidly changing Bayview, trying to come out of the transition better than ever.
As Harold Agee reflects, “To be starting my business in my community has been a beautiful thing. I just want to stick around and be a part of the change.”
“Ronnishia Johnson and Rheema Calloway are The Vegan Hood Chefs. They specialize in turning soul food and American style favorites into delicious vegan meals.”
Rome’s Kitchen
“Roman Rodgers grew up in the Bayview and started his business this year. Rome’s Kitchen specializes in Italian style soul food.”
“Ron Cain, resident of the Bayview, is the owner of Ron’s Pit Stop BBQ. He utilizes a food truck from Hunters Point’s Eclectic Cookery, San Francisco’s first and largest commercial kitchen.”
“Gerardo Rodriguez is the owner of Tacos Rodriguez and resident of Bayview Hunters Point. He specializes in Mexican food including tacos, burritos, and quesadillas.”
Big H Barbeque will stay at the Bistro for Phase 2. For up-to-date information about where to find Soul Bowlz and Yes Pudding, consult their social media pages.
Bayview Bistro 4101 3rd Street San Francisco, CA 94124 Every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. For the most up-to-date schedule information, visit the Bayview Bistro website.
Who says the winter farmers market is a quiet affair? In California, we are blessed with a bounty of cool-season crops and locally made goodies to make your holiday celebrations fresh and delicious.
You can make your holiday dinner prep easier (and delicious) with seasonal produce and handcrafted products while supporting family farmers and food makers. Here are some seasonal specialties from the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market to help you make the most of the winter market.
Hachiya and Fuyu persimmons
Persimmons are a fall favorite, available in two styles at the farmers market: Hachiya and Fuyu. (CUESA)
Persimmons are a fall favorite, available in two styles at the farmers market: Hachiya and Fuyu. Acorn-shaped Hachiyas must be enjoyed fully ripe, so select fruits that are delicately soft and mushy (otherwise they’re astringent). They can be dried to make the Japanese treat hoshigaki or used in preserves and baking (as in this cookie recipe). The squat and sweet Fuyu, on the other hand, can be eaten when it is still hard. Slice it into salads or dry the slices into thick rounds.
Old Dog Ranch offers flavors like Mexican Hot Chocolate, Whiskey Spice, and Rosemary to bring a toasty crunch to your holiday snack plates and salads. (CUESA)
Fall is the time for harvesting walnuts. Excellent chopped, toasted, or glazed, the walnut, with its rich and satisfying flavor, lends itself just as easily into a roasted beet and goat cheese salad as it does into a dark chocolate brownie. Find freshly harvested walnuts at Glashoff Farms and Old Dog Ranch. The latter also offers flavors like Mexican Hot Chocolate, Whiskey Spice, and Rosemary to bring a toasty crunch to your holiday snack plates and salads.
Beyond butternut
As decorative as they are delicious, winter squash can be found in various colors, sizes and flavors. (CUESA)
Winter squash are harvested during the fall, when their rinds hardens, and can be stored until spring, lasting through the critical cold months. Sweeter and denser than the summer squash, winter varieties make a belly‐filling basis for soups and pies and a hearty vessel for stuffing.
As decorative as they are delicious, winter squash can be found in various colors, sizes and flavors. The most well‐known varieties include butternut, spaghetti and acorn, but local farmers are helping us explore lesser‐known members of the winter squash family.
Look for through the farmers market, and check out our winter squash guide for a primer on varieties.
Heirloom apples
Devoto Orchards has many apple varieties. (CUESA)
Up your apple pie game with heirloom apples from the farmers market. At grocery stores, you might only find a handful of apples such as Red Delicious and Granny Smith, but at the farmers market, you’ll find more than 50 fresh and flavorful varieties with evocative names like Mutsu, Gravenstein, and Black Twig, each available for a brief, delicious window of time.
Ditch the canned cranberry log and try honey fermented cranberry sauce from Wise Goat Organics, a Santa Cruz‐based maker of handcrafted ferments, to add flair to glazes and syrups to accompany your holiday feast. Nutritional therapy practitioner Mary Risavi’s nutrient‐dense version includes organic cranberries, ginger, wildflower honey, orange peel, and cinnamon.
Fruit and herb syrups for distinctive dressings
June Taylor’s unique herbal, floral, and fruit syrups. (CUESA)
Bringing a contemporary twist to Christmas food traditions, June Taylor sources from local farmers for her unique herbal, floral, and fruit syrups. With flavors like Douglas Fir & Rosemary, Yuzu & Mint, and Santa Rosa Plum and Rose Geranium, try them in vinaigrettes, glazed over fish or meat, drizzled over ice cream or cake, or mixed into cocktails.
Hidden Star Orchards also offers pure fruit juice extracts in flavors like pomegranate, which provide highly concentrated flavors for sauces and salads dressings.
Alternative nogs
Beber Almondmilk provides a vegan alternative to eggnog. (CUESA)
For a vegan alternative to eggnog, check out Beber Almondmilk’s almond and cashew-based version, ideal for holiday entertaining, cookie dipping and warming up by that open fire. For dairy drinkers, Alexandre Family Farm has super‐creamy organic eggnog made from old‐fashioned A2/A2 milk from crossbred grazing cows on their regenerative dairy ranch in Crescent City.
No‐ABV holiday bubbly
Eatwell Farm Softer is a lactofermented soda that is made the old-fashioned way. (CUESA)
Avoid the holiday hangover with a refreshing Eatwell Farm Softer, a lactofermented soda that is made the old‐fashioned way. In flavors like lavender, lemon verbena, rose geranium, and rosemary, Softers are made with botanical hydrosols using fresh herbs from Eatwell and other local farms.
The result is an effervescent beverage that is naturally low in sugar, probiotic, and brimming with bubbles for holiday toasting.
Modern mulling spice
Little Apple Treats’s apple cider caramels, vinegars, and shrubs are all made using apples from their Sebastopol farm. (CUESA)
Little Apple Treats has made a name for themselves with their award‐winning apple cider caramels, vinegars and shrubs, all made using apples from their Sebastopol farm. Perfect for cozy holiday celebrations, their mulling spice will add holiday cheer to hot mulled wine or nonalcoholic punch, with a special blend of dried roses, dried heirloom apples, hibiscus, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and allspice.
Pasture‐raised meats for your feast
You can find chicken, duck, and pork at Root Down Farm. (CUESA)
A Bay Area delicacy around the holidays, Pacific Dungeness crab is cheaper than lobster and has a sweeter taste. (CUESA)
A Bay Area delicacy around the holidays, Pacific Dungeness crab is cheaper than lobster and has a sweeter taste, but it is just as savory when boiled or steamed and served with butter. Locally caught crab is usually available from H&H Fresh Fish starting in November, but the 2019 commercial season has been delayed this year and is expected to start in mid-December.
