Paolo Bicchieri in SF Eater on the mai tai at LiPo Lounge at 916 Grant Ave in SF Chinatown -
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In a season of Bay Area trademark drama, it might not come as a surprise to learn a bar went ahead and trademarked the recipe and name of its most popular beverage. But, for what it’s worth, the history of the mai tai is already a hotly contested one. The Bay Area claims (probably correctly) that Trader Vic’s in Emeryville originated the sugary drink. Li Po’s rendition, though, is different — hence the name “Chinese” Mai Tai, explains manager Vincent Lee. According to random signage at the bar and documents related to the registered trademark, the infamously powerful punch contains both light and dark rum, pineapple juice, and “Chinese liqueur.” For $11, the liquid phenomenon is well-known and almost always the same: so sugary and pleasant, one doesn’t even notice how super drunk they’ve become before a second is even halfway gone.
Travel alongside Cook’s Country’s Editorial Director Bryan Roof as he explores the communities and cuisines that make up the great American dinner table. In this episode, he visits Oakland and digs into sinigang at FOB Kitchen, sisig with popup Likha, and then sits down at Abaca to discuss Filipino fine dining.
Delaroque’s award-winning pâté en croûte ($49 per pound for the chicken, duck and duck liver blend and $42 for the pork, apricot and chanterelle combination) He buys pork from Olivier Cordier, a jovial French-born butcher with a shop on Illinois Street in The City, who offers the highest quality custom cut meats. The artisan pâté en croûte that Delaroque will enter in the competition in Lyon includes spices, pig’s blood, apples and pistachios, which add color and crunch. The right texture is essential and so is the appearance. It has to look like a work of art.
I was thrilled to see FOB Kitchen on Cook’s Country. We ended up going there a few days after, and the owner hadn’t known that her episode had run. (Really good food and drinks; service is a bit slow even when the restaurant isn’t crowded.)
Luke Tsai and other guests talk about spices and the spice trade on KQED Forum at 88.5 FM radio at 9 am on Wed Nov 16 and repeated at 8 pm
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The proprietary egg noodles are a local favorite for a reason. “We don’t skimp on ingredients,” Cribbin says, divulging that only “real eggs,” flour, salt, and water make up the dense noodles for which Yuen Hop Co. is known. These noodles also make killer garlic noodles, an enduring example of Asian fusion food that reportedly originated in the 1970s with San Francisco restaurateur Helene An. The version Cribbin and her mom make is a balanced crowd-pleaser, leveraging fish sauce, oyster sauce, and Parmesan cheese for an umami punch
Matt Yan of Boston Globe going to Chronicle next summer as food & wine intern.
Alix Wall in the JWeekly -
Hazie’s
501 Hayes
SF
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A pozole with dumplings made from a mixture of masa and matzah meal is on the dinner menu (but beware — it has pork). The brisket sandwich on the lunch menu comes with melted provolone and pepperoncini salsa, and Altman said he hopes eventually to make his own pastrami, too. Coming soon to the brunch menu is one of Altman’s favorite Jewish dishes of all time: matzah brei.
Chef Joey Altman says that all restaurants should be known for a speciality, and he hopes Hazie’s will be known for its latkes. (Photo/Alix Wall)
Just to make it clear what the story is about: Bachan’s Japanese Barbecue Sauce, started in Sebastopol and now made in Santa Rosa. I use it, quick and easy marinade for roast salmon or chicken!
The E’ville Eye had the good word that Turkish baker Hatice Yildiz has quietly opened Simurgh Bakery in Emeryville. Yildiz’s fresh baklava, eggplant dolmas, honey cakes and many uniquely Turkish creations…
Simurgh
4125 San Pablo Av
Emeryville
Elena Kadvany in Chronicle on Reem’s opening in Ferry Building
I was driving down San Pablo on Weds and saw a long line out the door, perhaps a dozen long and thought it was Arizmendi… but after reading this, likely was for Simurgh Bakery.
Cesar Hernandez in the Chronicle raves abut the $10 breakfast burrito at the Emeryville Home Depot
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Inside a leopard-spotted flour tortilla is a scramble of eggs, hash browns, cheese and hickory-flavored bacon. All the components of the filling blend together, creating a smoky, starchy and cheesy portable breakfast parcel. The tangy, faintly bitter and spicy salsa bolsters the smoke and acts like the final, shiny coat of paint.
Thank you, as always, for posting the latest food news! I didn’t realize that Special Noodle was now in Pacific East Mall in Richmond. I’ve been getting my sheng jiang baos in Newark/Fremont, so I’m happy to have another source closer to me. When I get them, I’ll report back.
Melanie Wong retweets the story of indigenous amaranth seed growing in the Berkeley Hills -
In radical acts of courage, Indigenous farmers grew the plant in secret while seed savers protected caches of the seeds and passed them down through family, dreaming of a day when amaranth could be grown freely again.
Mark n’ Mike’s , the Jewish deli pop-up that has become a permanent part of San Francisco restaurant One Market, is offering eight kinds of latkes this year, one for each night of Hanukkah. Some of the options: a wild mushroom latke with cheese, a Philly cheesesteak latke, a chopped liver latke, and a dessert latke topped with apple pie and ice cream. The latkes are on the menu Dec. 1–23.
ALCATRAZ WOMEN’S CLUB COOK BOOK.
Sold Out
68 pp. Pictorial white wrappers, black shoelace ties. First Edition. Alcatraz Island, 1952.
A collection first published in 1952, by the wives of prison guards who formed social clubs on “The Rock” to counter some of the isolation they felt there. Chinese sweet & sour spareribs, sloppy Joe’s, tamale pie, butterscotch bread, peach cobbler, etc. Very good; a scarce first edition.
