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JULY
22, 2008 | SAN FRANCISCO Before
diving in here, have you heard of ~TALK
SHOW LIVE~?
It’s a monthly variety show
that just moved to 330 Ritch, and yours truly is going to be a
guest on Monday, August 11th. The doors open for live Django-gypsy
jazz music by Café Americain
and mingling at 7pm, and the guest interviews and performances
start at 8pm, with host Kurt Bodden. Joining me will be sketch
comedy troupe Kasper Hauser, and web design pioneer and internet
personality Jennifer Niederst Robbins—you can read all about
us here.
Tickets are $15 each, or bring a friend and take advantage of the
$20 Talk Show Live two-for-one ticket (available online). Anyone
who buys
their ticket online gets
the special VIP package: seating up front in a reserved section,
and entry in a VIP-only prize drawing after the show—you
just have to be at the club by 7:30pm to claim your seats. 21 and
over. See you there? I’ll be out on a rare Monday night!
330 Ritch, between 3rd and 4th St., Brannan and Townsend.
So while the
Nopa project in the outer Mission is in flux, one new project
that is underway is ~FLOUR + WATER~, moving into the former Mi
Mazatlan Restaurant space on the corner, across the street from
Café Gratitude. This 49-seat restaurant will offer
five–six rotating kinds of pizzas from a wood-burning oven,
and the same number of house-made pastas each day, plus two–three
entrées, like branzino with salt crust. There will also
be seasonal antipasti, vegetables, and salumi; ingredients will
be local and organic where possible. No chef yet—the search
is underway, and will be decided once things get closer. No dish
will be over $19, and all wines will be $59 and under. Another
interesting note about the wines: they will all be made in Italy,
or from makers of Italian descent, or Italian varietals.
flour
+ water is a project from two Davids: David Steele, and David
White, most recently of Nua. The look of the space will be unique:
Sean Quigley of Paxton
Gate will
be designing it. His aesthetic has been described as "David Lynch
meets Martha Stewart," with some monkeys thrown in for good measure.
Reclaimed materials will be highlighted, plus there will be communal
seating, some window seating, and eventual outdoor seating as
well. There will be a strong neighborhood focus, with bicycle
delivery and a big bike rack out front (thank you), plus some
fun touches, like an album-oriented musical program of indie
music instead of the usual iPod shuffle. flour + water will be
open for lunch and dinner daily, 11am–11pm, and later on
Fri–Sat. Look for a March 2009 opening. 2401 Harrison St.
at 20th St.
MMMM,
donuts. Yup, ~DYNAMO DONUT & COFFEE~ opened
today, just next door to Casa Sanchez. As a sleuthy Mission-residing
tablehopper reader so kindly recaps for us: “Gourmet, organic,
handmade, yeast-risen donuts made by Sara Spearin, Liberty Cafe
alum. Today they had vanilla glazed and banana dulce de leche.
I can vouch for the vanilla glazed. It may have been the best
donut I've ever had. Old-fashioned cake style with zero trace
of that typical donut grease after taste. Soooo good! The whole
deal will be locally sourced as soon as Jeremy from Four Barrel
is good to go. In the meantime [the coffee is] Stumptown.
All made-to-order French press coffee and espresso drinks.” Open
from 7am–5pm
daily. 2760 24th St. at Hampshire, 415-920-1978.
Rumors have
been swirling a-plenty about chef ~JEN BIESTY’S~ next move (she was most recently at COCO500 and was a contestant
on Top Chef). A few weeks back, I heard she was being
considered for the executive chef position of the Drake Restaurants,
which would mean overseeing Scala’s Bistro, the Starlight Room,
banquets, and room service—but nothing is final yet. She’s
asked me to remain mum about her other potential gig, consulting
at a local Mediterranean place—everything is TBD and off
the record at the moment. Darn, sometimes I hate OTR!
But
the one thing that is confirmed is Biesty just launched Savage
Feasts, a catering gig
that’s an extension of Living Room Events, and was started
for newly married gay couples looking for a caterer. As for the
name, no, it’s not an homage to having a secret, burning
love for Fred Savage—it’s actually a play on her last name, which
sounds like beasty. Take THAT, all you bratty kids in Brooklyn
who teased her when she was growing up!
The
opening of ~ZARÉ AT
FLY TRAP~ is getting close: the
opening is potentially looking like August 5th. The team is coming
together, with Marisa Churchill on board as the pastry chef and
Reza Esmaili as the opening consultant and head bar manager (while
still working at Conduit).
Esmaili plans to put together a list of classic “Barbary
Coast cocktails,” honoring
the restaurant’s century-long history, and is also putting
together some Mediterranean/Middle Eastern cocktails, utilizing
ingredients from the main menu, like saffron, fenugreek, cardamom,
and citrus.
Speaking of
the menu, I got a peek at some initial dishes, all inspired by
flavors from the coasts of the Mediterranean (Spain, Italy, Greece,
and Turkey) and the Persian flavors of Hoss Zare’s
Iranian upbringing. A few potential dishes may include pistachio
meatballs with harissa-spiced honey-pomegranate glaze; warm salad
of grilled baby octopus and calamari, frisee, borlotti beans and
roasted shallots in a lemon-pulp vinaigrette; saffron and yogurt-marinated
Alaskan black cod with herb couscous and chorizo tzatziki; and
braised single-bone short ribs (read: meaty) with bone marrow and
saffron-baked fennel.
Here are items
from Churchill’s dessert menu: "Greek
yogurt & honey": Fage panna cotta served with white truffle
honey, clover honey tuile, and red flame grapes; goat cheese cheesecake
with fresh figs, lavender blossom syrup, and toasted pistachios;
and "rocky road" dark chocolate torte topped with homemade
Tahitian vanilla marshmallow, chocolate ice cream, curried candied
peanuts, and soy salted caramel. The all-day menu will be available
from 11:30am–midnight, with about five salads, 15 appetizers,
ten entrées, and five sides total. There will also be not
one but two ten-top communal tables. 606 Folsom St. at 2nd St.,
415-243-0580.
Jessica
Battilana of 7x7 Bits + Bites unintentionally helped me do my
work (thanks girl!) and has an update
on ~LIMÓN~,
which remains closed after the fire upstairs, plus news about
a new restaurant from chef-owner Martin Castillo. From her posting: “Turns
out that he’s just waiting for the insurance money to come
through, after which time he plans to fully remodel Limón,
creating, in his words, ‘a brand new restaurant’ which
will more of an emphasis on ceviche and lounging. But even more
exciting is what he’s been doing while waiting for that insurance
money to come through—opening another restaurant! Two weeks
ago he quietly took over the Pollo Rico space on the corner of
21st and South Van Ness (also known as one block from my house).
I noticed a bit of construction there over the weekend but didn’t
think much of it. But Martin tells me they are putting in new windows,
floors, and bathrooms and that he plans to open his Peruvian-style
rotisserie and small plates restaurant, quietly, by Wednesday of
next week—named, simply, Limón Rotisserie. There will
be a ceviche bar here, too, and he’s working now on getting
his beer and wine license, with plans to serve sangria. They’ll
also be doing take-out…” Limón, 524 Valencia
St. at 16th St., 415-252-0918.
Over
in Bernal Heights, Eater broke the story that after ten years
of business, owner Judy Hedin is selling ~MOKI'S
SUSHI AND PACIFIC GRILL~ to Jason Kwon and
Ziah Lee of Sozo Sushi in Pleasanton. According to a pic of the
letter
in the window,
the name, staff, and menu will all remain the same—just the
ownership is changing. And Judy is off to France. 615 Cortland
Ave. at Moultrie, 415-970-9336.
And here’s another week of even more Boulange empire news,
although it involves the closure of ~LE PETIT ROBERT~, after something
like six years of business. I spoke with Thomas Lefort of Bay Bread,
and the restaurant, one of Bay Bread’s last, will be closing
on July 31st; this trend is a continuation of Bay Bread unloading
their table service restaurants (Platanos, Cortez). The renovation
will take a couple months, reopening in October as a larger La
Boulange de Polk, which is just next door. The kitchen will be
modified, and a counter area will be installed. I put in a request
for the croque madame to remain, we shall see. 2300 Polk St. at
Green.
Quick update
on the ~WASHBAG~: I spoke with new owner Susan Tiernan, and a
late September opening is the plan. Besides the new flooring
and paint job, everything about the interior will be the same,
and exactly in the same place—including Michael McCourt behind
the stick. They are still looking for the right chef to execute
the same menu, so I’ll let you know once that’s final.
1707 Powell St. at Columbus.
~LAIOLA~
is celebrating its one-year anniversary: swing by next Monday
July 28th from 5pm–7pm for complimentary cava and some nibbles.
Starting next week, Mondays will also mean no corkage at Laïola
from here on out (they are reenacting their first two weeks when
they were operating without a liquor license). So all you industry
folks with a bottle of something special, now you know where to
go on your night off. 2031 Chestnut St. at Fillmore, 415-346-5641.
And
now, congrats to the semifinalist teams who will be competing
in Orlando in September to represent the USA in the ~BOCUSE
D'OR~ (AKA culinary Olympics) in Lyon
in January. The winning team in Orlando will be off to train for
three months at the French Laundry cooking facility with Thomas
Keller and Roland Henin, the USA team coach. Here are the semifinalists:
Richard Rosendale of Rosendales in Ohio; and USA Culinary Olympic
team captain
Tim Hollingsworth, sous chef at French Laundry
Rogers Powell, instructor at French Culinary Institute
Michael Rotondo, chef de cuisine at Charlie Trotter’s
Kevin Sbraga, culinary director of Garces Restaurant Group
Percy Whatley, (yay Percy!!!) Delaware North Parks executive chef,
Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite
And yes, Hung Huynh, former sous chef of Guy Savoy, and the winner
of Top Chef season three
Damon Wise, corporate chef at Craft, withdrew his name
and is
being replaced by John Rellah Jr., executive chef at Hamilton Farm,
Gladstone, New Jersey
~OUT
THE DOOR~ has reopened at the Westfield Centre after
that nasty flooding; there is more seating, some changes to
the menu (some Yelpers
are NOT happy), and the wine bar should be opening soon. Westfield
San Francisco Centre, 865 Market St., 415-541-9913.
As
an addendum to my write-up last week of ~EPIC
ROASTHOUSE~:
some new brunch dishes are being launched this weekend. Items
include buttermilk drop biscuits with mushroom pan gravy ($9.50);
bubble and squeak with jalapeño gravy and poached eggs
($12); soft grits with homemade sausage, tomato sauce piquant,
and poached eggs ($12); Dungeness crab cake Benedict with chive
hollandaise ($17); and New York steak and poached eggs with potato
hash and pico de gallo ($19). The menu also includes oysters
($2.50 each), soups, and salads, and some $10 hangover drinks,
like a bloody Mary. Sat–Sun 11am–2:30pm. 369 Embarcadero
at Folsom, 415-369-9955.
I
just had to bring attention to this tidbit on the line
cook. blog:
~NOPA~ hit their all-time record of 530 covers in one service.
Dude.
I got a phone
call from Higher Ground Coffee House owner Monhal Jweinat about
his Glen Park family-style Italian place that he’s
opening in the old Bird & Beckett bookstore location: the name
will be ~MANZONI~, and he’s hoping to open in September or
October. 2790 Diamond St. at Chenery.
Over
in the East Bay, a new series of ~ARTISAN
PALATE TASTING EVENTS~
will be hosted at Paulding & Co.,
A Creative Kitchen. Events include Artisan Cheese Wine And Spirits
on Thursday July 31st, an introduction to cheese, wine, and spirits
pairing principles through the aromas and flavors of regionally
produced beverages and foods, $70/person, 6:30pm–9pm. And
Friday August 15th is California Artisan Cheese ($65/person). Class
size is limited—register online at www.pauldingandco.com.
A Creative Kitchen, 1410 D 62nd St., Emeryville.
Found
this little clarification posting on Chowhound
entitled ~“FACTS
ABOUT KAYGETSU”~ by the restaurant owner, which I thought would be a little useful:
“As a restaurant owner, I read Chowhound time to time to
see what’s new and what people are interested in. I’ve
noticed that there are few posts about our restaurant recently.
I usually keep silent when there are few minor misstatements about
our restaurant. Since I’m a co-owner of Kaygetsu, as I understand
the posting etiquette, I am not allowed to comment on any reviews
or refute on our food quality. However, I noticed that there seems
to be some misunderstanding going on; and I thought this time I
need to straighten out some facts which I am allowed to do. So,
here goes…..
“1) We never had “the chef” who was in charge
of all kitchen operations. Katsuhiro Yamasaki and Shinichi Aoki
had been working for us since we had Toshi’s Sushiya on El
Camino. They were working as sushi chefs back then. Since both
of them had experience in Kaiseki, we decided to open Kaygetsu
in 2004 and sold Toshi’s. They were equally responsible for
kaiseki menu – each was responsible for half of the menu
items. Katsuhiro had left and opened his own restaurant as most
of you know already. I sent out an e-mail in February to our customers
to let them know of what’s happening rather than keeping
silent about it. It’s unfortunate that it seems that e-mail
created some misunderstanding that “the chef” has left.
Shinichi, one of the two kaiseki chefs, is still with us; and he,
in fact, oversees the whole kitchen operation since mid-February
“2) Our sushi chef and co-owner, Toshi, is still preparing
sushi and sashimi as always has been. I hope this clarifies some
misunderstanding. Thank you very much.” 325 Sharon Park Dr.,
Menlo Park, 650-234-1084.
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