what’s cookin’
Hey there, I hope you had a Happy 415 Day! I love rebranding tax day. In the same SF spirit, don’t forget it’s SF Restaurant Week. I ran some of my favorite deals and meals last week, and you have through Sunday April 19th to enjoy special-priced menus from 200 restaurants. And, it’s a good weekend to stay in the City—the Caltrans work on I-80 and subsequent nightmare with Bay Bridge traffic begins Friday night through Monday morning, eeeee.
4/20 is puffing up next Monday, and SF Space Walk is already underway with a series of events and party drops at local dispensaries all week, check the lineup here. Don’t miss the Sunday screening of the Join the Club documentary film about Dennis Peron I wrote about a few months ago, it’s so moving and important! Incredible doc. Your $30 ticket includes a Brownie Mary Democratic Club membership, and it’s screening at Meadow HQ in SoMa, who are such fine folks!
Another film tidbit: there’s an entertaining weekly newsletter I subscribe to, Secret Breakfast, which pointed me to this short film, Sandiwara, shot by the talented Sean Baker (Anora) on an iPhone in two days (!) with the gorgeous Michelle Yeoh, who plays five characters (almost all have a connection to food) in Penang, Malaysia. Enjoy the visual banquet.
More eye candy! The San Francisco Art Fair is running April 16th–19th, at Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion. (Don’t miss my good friend John Nieto’s work in Vaunt Gallery’s booth D30.)
This Saturday April 18th is the 120th anniversary of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, and there are still a couple spots open on this special cocktail and bar history walking tour with writer Camper English of Alcademics. Enjoy the sunny day while walkin’ and boozin’ and learnin’. 1:30pm–4:30pm. $100. 21+.
Attention shoppers! It looks like Imperfect Foods/Misfit Foods is running another $25 referral offer for first-time users of their grocery delivery service. I order from them about once a month since they have some good deals and you don’t need me to tell you how expensive it is to get groceries in SF. Some current faves include the MeatCrafters Thai chicken sausage (tasty for lunch), Ataulfo mangoes, their organic blueberries have been delicious lately with organic coconut yogurt, their five-year aged cheddar is a solid staple in my cheese drawer, and any deals they’re running on Fishwife products (like smoked trout with red chimichurri). The special offer ends 4/30!
Your gurl is getting ready to leave for New York next week for my first Cherry Bombe Jubilee, and I’m getting excited. It feels fitting to celebrate tablehopper’s 20th anniversary with a trip to New York! This next week is going to be hectic as I try to get outta here, so apologies in advance if I don’t get back to you quickly.
And I need to turn the beat around—an herbal supplement I took over the weekend took me down hard, after just one dose. Not to be TMI, but a bunch of you readers are in my demographic, and I think it’s worth sending a quick cautionary tale for my fellow (peri)menopausal ladies who take herbal supplements: tread carefully with black cohosh! She isn’t playing! I almost passed out in my Sunday yoga class and I’ve been wiped out for four days, WTF. And, yes, I went to my doctor and we’re looking at my labs—things are off. (I was telling my weird story to a friend and she told me about a bad experience with DHEA supplements and HRT.) See, all the Gen X ladies are out here disrupting menopause and running interference for everyone. Just consider this a PSA that if you’re taking black cohosh, please read more about how it can potentially react with your liver, and in some rare cases even damage it. Lesson learned, jeesh.
Last week, I was so sorry to see the awful news that chef Jeremiah Tower’s dear husband, the shining Curtis Cox, has passed away due to a longterm, incurable illness and complications from COVID. How devastating. Some friends have launched a GoFundMe to help Tower cover memorial expenses and some debt he incurred from medical and related bills while caring for Curtis. You can also show support by subscribing to JT’s must-read newsletter, Out of the Oven. Sending condolences and caring thoughts.
Let’s get into today’s column. I should be able to follow up with more news and stories for you next week when I’m feeling less punky.
Take it easy,
~Marcia
the chatterbox
The Owners of the Original El Faro Just Had Their Rent Doubled and Now the 65-Year-Old Taqueria Is for Sale
I hated hearing the news that the landlord of the original El Faro in the Mission has doubled the rent of the 65-year-old taqueria, which has basically forced owners Raymunda Ramírez and Patrick Kocourek to put the restaurant up for sale to avoid bankruptcy (via SFGATE).
The taqueria is a Legacy Business, founded in 1961 by Febronio Ontiveros, who claimed to have made the first super burrito (La Cumbre also lays claim to making the first Mission-style burrito).
Ramírez started as an employee in 1979, and bought the business from Ontiveros in 2003. She has weathered so many tough times recently (you may remember she was trying to recover from four robberies!), and now, she’s fighting to avoid eviction. At the moment, she really needs help to cover the new double rent; please read her personal letter on her GoFundMe that she launched March 24th (fortunately, the GoFundMe is halfway there—let’s keep it going so she can catch her breath).
I’m hoping to hear a story of this matter getting shown some support by Mayor Lurie’s office. People, do what you can! And go get a breakfast burrito. Open daily 7am–7pm. 2399 Folsom St. at 20th St.
Quick Opening Notes: New Ramen on Polk, Cemitas, Specialty Vietnamese Coffee
A First Kitchen Table Book from a Longtime SF Restaurant Consultant, Bon Vivant, and Lifetime Lover of Food
Last week, I plunked into a corner booth for dinner at The Big Four with my longtime friend, Faith Wheeler—we were introduced in the beginning of my freelance writing career, which was before I launched tablehopper, so it has been more than 20 years! Joining us at the table was the sole copy of her brand-new and first book, Chickens Don’t Fly.
Anyone who has been involved in San Francisco’s restaurant industry for some time should know Faith Wheeler, the creative consulting force behind restaurants like The Slanted Door (she visited in the restaurant’s first days and offered to rewrite Charles Phan’s menu for free), and she’s the Faith of the Faith’s Cheese Toast that was on the menu at Town Hall. Prior to founding her own restaurant consulting firm, FW&Co., she was marketing director for Larry Mindel’s Spectrum Foods, a restaurant group some of you may remember fondly, with trendy white-tablecloth restaurants like Ciao! (one of SF’s early Cal-Ital restaurants) and Prego (the breadsticks!). What a time to be in the restaurant world.
Faith had right timing in her career: prior to her SF restaurant consulting life, she was working in advertising at Goodby Berlin and Silverstein, and before that, she was in New York in the ’80s at Ogilvy & Mather, with clients like Tiffany & Co. and Steuben Glass. She was born a New York City girl, and raised in New Jersey, but left to attend Vanderbilt University in Nashville for a Mid-South chapter in her life—and her new book.
She’s calling Chickens Don’t Fly a “kitchen table book,” which is a combination of a coffee table book, a cookbook, and a memoir. There are 220 pages of stories, photographs, and over 100 recipes that span seven chapters and settings of her interesting life: NYC, Nashville, San Francisco, St. Helena, Asia, Paris, and Todos Santos, MX, where she currently spends as much time chasing sunsets as possible.
Unless you’re family or friends with Faith, you wouldn’t necessarily know how much a great cook she is—but you don’t have a career in the restaurant industry as long as she did unless you really love food and drink (and good stories). The recipes have been collected along the way in her peripatetic life, improving with age and experience, from her winning college chili (now made with Rancho Gordo beans), to her French onion tart inspired by a chef friend, to her version of the iconic Diana’s Meat Pie from Henry’s Hunan. They’re all tried-and-true dishes you want in your wheelhouse (the Wheelerhouse?), whether you’re hosting brunch or cooking midweek dinner for your daughters or in charge of Christmas dessert.
It’s a beautiful, classy book with her favorite green on the cover (published by PRINT, a book agency and company formed by two Assouline alums), with evocative photos by Clay McLachlan of New York restaurants, vintage signs in Nashville, and hunger-inducing Korean-inspired short ribs. There are only a few chicken recipes—like the title implies, you will find it’s Faith’s personal stories that are meant to inspire you to live your life fearlessly. She’s big on trusting your gut, whether you’re reading the vibes or a menu. You may not know Faith, but you’ll share a good dinner with her while cooking your way through her book. Keep it on your kitchen table for inspiration of all kinds.🍸
How to Order/Book Signings
You can pre-order the book here, and be sure to meet the dynamic woman behind the Devilish Deviled Eggs at these upcoming book signings at Hudson Grace stores around California. The signing in SF next week (April 22nd) is going to be a blast, I wish I was in town.
April 16th (5pm–7pm): Hudson Grace 2403 Larkspur Landing Circle
April 22nd (5pm–7pm): Hudson Grace, 3350 Sacramento St., San Francisco
April 26th (1pm–3pm): Signing in the kitchen at the SF Showcase
April 29th (5pm–7pm): Hudson Grace, Brentwood
May 1st (4pm–6pm): Hudson Grace, Montecito
sponsored event
Get Your Tickets for a Weekend of Fun Events at the Fifth Annual Healdsburg Wine & Food Experience, May 14th–17th
Experience the best of Sonoma and beyond at the Healdsburg Wine & Food Experience (May 14th–17th). This weekend-long festival celebrates local farmers, world-renowned winemakers, and top chefs from around the world and local favorites!
The Vintners Plaza Grand Tasting on Saturday May 16th is the centerpiece of the weekend, with over 150 wines, beers, and spirits, plus curated bites from nationally recognized chefs including Joe Sasto, Nadia Caterina Munno “The Pasta Queen,” Viet Pham, Lee Anne Wong, Britt Rescigno, and more!
Start the weekend early with lunch on Friday at a special Shifting the Lens Brunch with chef Stephanie Izard at J Vineyards and Winery, or a Garden-to-Table Lunch at Kendall-Jackson Wine Estate & Gardens. Or chow down at a lunchtime Barbecue with Matt Horn at Orsi Family Vineyards.
Rock out Friday night to an Outdoor Concert at Rodney Strong Vineyards, featuring the soulful sounds of 19-year-old, award-winning guitarist-singer Grace Bowers. Opening for Grace is Hannah Ellis, a country music singer/songwriter who will sing her hit song, “Wine Country!”
Want to up your wine game? Join dynamic and fun wine seminars, including 150 Years of Beringer and “Don’t Bust My Chops” Red Wine Loves Lamb: Food & Wine Seminar.
This is your chance to indulge in the ultimate Wine Country celebration. Join us May 14–17th—tickets are on sale now at healdsburgwineandfood.com.
the lush
Spring for the New Release from Brucato Spirits
the archivist
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