Breakfast:Model Bakery’s famous English muffin — a favorite of Oprah’s — can be had for $2.50, while bagels with a spread from Meadowood chef Christopher Kostow go for $5 at his new Jewish deli, Loveski. Contimo Provisions in downtown Napa has become a breakfast staple among locals for its hearty $4 biscuit sandwiches, like the Ham & Jam filled with smoked molasses-brined ham and homemade jam.
The Monterey Bay King Salmon season has arrived. In Santa Cruz, H&H has informed me that they will have some available starting tomorrow. It’s a short season, so take advantage while you can. I thought that last season produced the best salmon I had ever tasted.
As part of the Bay Area Book Festival on Sunday May 8 from 2-3pm In-person and Live Streamed from Freight and Salvage in Berkeley.
Mother, Daughter, Collaborators (Plus the Book That Changed the World of Food): The Lappés
Sunday, May 8 | 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
In-Person and Live Streamed
excerpt:
Extraordinary mothers, extraordinary daughters: together, they can change the world. Frances and Anna Lappé prove that, when it comes to visionary thought and action, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Frances “changed how we eat” ( The New York Times ) with her first book, Diet for a Small Planet , which has sold over three million copies and, in 2021, celebrated its 50th anniversary with a special edition. She went on to publish 20 more books, and is a leading advocate for “living democracy”—which she describes as not only a government accountable to its citizens, but a way of living aligned with the deep human need for connection, meaning, and autonomy. Frances’ daughter, Anna Lappé, is also a bestselling author ( Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do About It ), as well as an educator and expert on food systems. The New York Times proclaimed her a “Food Fighter,” and she has received a James Beard Leadership Award.
The Noceti Group said they weren’t going to allow the Gilroy Garlic Festival to be canceled and have decided to host it this year. Exact details weren’t released.
Each sizzler has a base of pasta or noodles that gets topped with assorted grilled vegetables, shredded cabbage and, sometimes, cheese. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
excerpt:
… A Mumbai-style sizzler is as much an experience as it is a meal. In some ways, it’s more like multiple meals combined into one. A typical version consists of grilled vegetables or meat, finely chopped cabbage and a variety of spicy sauces—all steaming on top of a hot cast iron platter. While the sizzlers I tried in Milpitas incorporate Americanized ingredient combinations, sizzlers in India tend to lean toward Indo-Chinese flavors, with lots of red chilies, soy sauce and ginger. Everything is meant to melt together into one harmonious bite, in the same way as a good plate of nachos or loaded fries.
…
Mozaik’s World Market on Saturdays at San Pablo Ave and 31st Street in West Oakland as well as Minto’s Jamaican on 15th Street near Franklin St in downtown Oakland sound interesting -
MINTO’S JAMAICAN RESTAURANT & BAR We missed this one earlier in the year — Minto’s now has a third location in Oakland in this welcoming new restaurant and parklet on 15th Street. Look for island-style dishes such as jerk chicken, curry goat, salt mackerel, oxtail and a range of soups, as well as a menu of Ital (Rastafarian) specialties. Drinks include beer, wine, Jamaican rum punch and coconut rum with spices, as well as flavorful nonalcoholic drinks. (Minto’s also runs a nearby juice bar.) Minto’s Jamaican Restaurant & Bar, 412 15th St. (between Franklin Street and Broadway), Oakland
MOZAIK WORLD MARKET The parking lot outside West Oakland’s closed Community Foods Market grocery store is the first home for new weekly open-air market Mozaik, featuring food stands, local artists and a range of other vendors. Grand opening was on April 23; the market will be held on Saturdays going forward. Mozaik World Market, 3105 San Pablo Ave. (Saturdays outside the closed Community Foods Market), Oakland
Good-To-Eat Dumplings sets a May 12 opening at 1298 65th St near Hollis in Emeryville.
According to KQEDArts last year,
The aforementioned lion’s head meatballs, for instance, are stewed with just napa cabbage—no water—to yield an intensely flavorful broth. Lin and Tung will serve a chicken soup that gets slow-cooked in a clay pot for 24 hours. They’ll serve Taiwanese-style stuffed cabbage rolls. And they’ll be able to more regularly serve their labor-intensive pork belly gua bao, which include mustard leaves that they ferment in-house.
At the same time, the restaurant will continue to serve all of its staples: the dumplings, the noodles, the various small plates.
Uptown Oakland’s First Friday event returns tomorrow, Friday, May 6 2022, from 5 pm to 9 pm on Telegraph Ave from West Grand to 27th St. with food, music and art exhibits. General admission is free and no ticket is needed but you can register. The theme this month is Latin Pride.
Elena Martinez of Tacos Picantes says that her family traditions from El Salvador help create pupusas for her customers as a labor of love. She will be at the First Friday event in Oakland on May 6 with her food truck.
For the opening menu, Gonzalez will have dishes such as ceviche de champiñónes made with trumpet mushrooms, a smoked salmon tostada, and two tacos, one made with a morita sofrito and the other made with charred yam. Gonzalez also highlighted the tabla de carne, a meat board of sorts that will feature a carne seca — a dried beef rubbed with citrus, chilis, and sea salt, and dehydrated in-house — along with a carnitas ríete, pickles, and corn tostadas. There will also be a cheese board, or tabla de Quesos Salazar, highlighting cheesemaker Queso Salazar. That board will feature a salsa macha-marinated queso fresco, quesillo, a Oaxacan-style cheese, along with others, including local honey, spiced almonds, and pickles. The menu will also offer three types of desserts, including two vegan offerings, like the Budín de Chocolate, a dark chocolate pudding spiced with cinnamon, cayenne, and chilis, which Gonzalez calls a “mole inspired pudding.”
The Commons, KQED Headquarters - 2601 Mariposa Street, San Francisco, CA 94110View Map
Cost
In Person: $15 / Livestream: Free
Description
Join Food Editor Luke Tsai and Check Please! Bay Area’s Cecilia Phillips as they share treats from Taiwanese food stops all over the Bay Area. Audiences are offered small bites from local chefs.
Matt of Fisherman’s Life (1.1 million subscribers on YouTube) and friends catch halibut on the San Francisco Bay and take it to Aura Restaurant in the Dogpatch at 2368 3rd Street, San Francisco, to be prepared as ceviche, fish and chips, and Vietnamese Cha Ca with dill and turmeric. Outstanding.
The segment of the video that goes to Aura Restaurant starts at the 6:30 mark.
That is an impressive piece of food history, tracing the origin of the American steak chain to the Mumbai restaurant where Indian sizzlers got their start and their subsequent evolution, apparently beloved in India now!
thanks for sharing this! Especially cool to see the halibut made into Chả cá Lã Vọng, which I remember fondly eating in Hanoi many years ago! (and yet another sizzling platter dish!)
