2024 Northern and Central California Food News and Journalism [SF Bay Area, Northern California, Central California, Northern Nevada]

zippo1 · September 28, 2024, 9:09am

from NBC Bay Area -

Sep 27, 2024

In three months, Sam Wo, a 115-year-old restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown, could shut down for good, by end of the year. That’s the word from co-owners, if they can’t find a new chef to run the restaurant and a buyer in the next three months. The goal is to keep Sam Wo in Chinatown, but owners say, all options are on the table.

from Edible East Bay -

One of my favorite recipes in the book is the Banana Bread Pudding. “When our Costco croissants got too old to eat fresh,” Phu explains in the headnote, “my mom would turn them into this amazing bread pudding, which she’d cook in our crappy little toaster oven.” The sliced croissants are mixed with a coconut batter, layered with lady finger bananas, baked to set, and finished with a darkened caramelized top. The warm, buttery sweet dessert—creative, resourceful, and deeply satisfying—reflects different aspects of Phu’s Vietnamese and American heritage and epitomizes the spirit of this highly personal cookbook.

from Lauren Saria in the SF Standard -

Han II Kwan offers $20 Korean lunch at 1802 Balboa Av in the Richmond District of SF -

The meal starts with a spread of banchan: seven small, white bowls brimming with a multicolored array of sides that could make a light meal on their own. You can count on a fiery red pile of classic kimchi and crunchy bean-sprout salad, accompanied by sesame-inflected batons of cucumber, irregular hunks of radish, tiny wheels of pickled daikon, jiggly cubes of mung-bean jelly, and meaty slices of fried fishcake. Then comes the appetizer: a hot stone bowl brimming with a bubbling, soft tofu stew. It’s not a sample-size starter but a substantial portion of mild stew that’s punched up with kimchi and brimming with molten tofu.

mts · September 28, 2024, 2:04pm

Sam Wo’s was old when I went there 50 years ago! Good old Edsel…

zippo1 · September 29, 2024, 5:01pm

Oysterfest returns to Waterbar in SF today, Sunday, Sept 29 -

Betty Yu on KTVU 2 -

Waterbar’s Oysterfest, which features live music, dancing, food, wine and oysters, returns on Sunday. This event benefits the Marine Mammal Center of Sausalito.

Lauren Saria in SF Standard -

The SF Ferry Building is Hot Again -

zippo1 · October 1, 2024, 8:22am

from America’s Heartland -

Urban Tilth farming in Richmond, CA is in a program to provide food as medicine along with a local clinic

starts at about the 2:00 mark:

and at the 17:45 mark is the story of Dig Deep farms in San Leandro

zippo1 · October 1, 2024, 7:45pm

from KCRA 3 in Sacramento -

Today, Tuesday, October 1st [corrected] is National Taco Day.

I really like the reporter’s taco hat.

from Oaklandside on eating spots for Cal freshmen -

Lauren in SF Standard -

Saving Sam Wo:

from SF Gate -

Cafe Bastille and B44 in SF Belden Alley to close this month.

https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/sf-cafe-bastille-b44-restaurant-closures-19804397.php

Paella served at B44 in San Francisco. The Spanish restaurant is expected to close Oct. 26, 2024.

Nina Z. on Yelp

from Edalatpour in the East Bay Express -

Honor reopens in Emeryville -

from Edible East Bay -

Today October 1 at the Elmwood Theatre on College Av in Berkeley, a documentary on Berkeley’s soda tax:

Lethe2020 · October 1, 2024, 9:00pm

[zippo1, post:258] re: from SF Gate on Deetz’s Le Colonial closing -
… “After 26 years, San Francisco French Vietnamese restaurant Le Colonial closed on Sept. 1. Executive chef and general manager Geoffrey Deetz told the San Francisco Chronicle that the restaurant closed due to a slow summer and Union Square’s lack of post-pandemic recovery…”

Such a shame to see Deetz’s second restaurant go dark. We loved Temple Club/Oakland, where he lost his lease when the owner wanted to redevelop the property.

I did think it was a big mistake not to rename the restaurant. The “Le Colonial” name was trashed by years of poor reviews, and today’s social media fans want their Asian fusion eateries to have contemporary names.

Deetz got good traction from diner reviews and local food critics for Temple Club, but Le Colonial was, I think, a big black hole too deep for even a fine chef like GD to gain sufficient media attention.

I know Deetz returned to the US because he wanted his kids to go to US schools and colleges. I hope he and his lovely wife (who did the pastries, I believe) aren’t so discouraged that they are forced to leave the SFBA for less-expensive digs, as so many of our fine young chefs have done (such as Brandon Sharp and Sophina Uong).

zippo1 · October 2, 2024, 7:40am

Alan Chazaro in KQED.org writes about Rose International Persian Market in Mountain View -

Rose International Market (801 W El Camino Real Suite B, Mountain View) is open daily for groceries from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and hot food from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Ibrahim Almamori, a Rose International Market employee of over 30 years, makes Kabob Koubideh, in Mountain View on September 23, 2024. (Gina Castro/KQED)

excerpt:

Dinner at Rose Market might begin with fesenjan, a sweet pomegranate stew bathing thick, uneven chunks of chicken and mixed with ground walnut. When scooped on top of an order of cabbage rice, it smacks harder than just about any dish I’ve ever had. You can pair that with koofteh Tabrizi, a delectable meatball bigger — and meatier — than my balled up fist. The saffron and cinnamon mingle with fresh herbs, onions and prunes, while a massive walnut stuffed at its core awaits. Unlike the average American meatball, which usually functions as a sidekick to pasta, the Iranian koofteh is a meal unto itself. Served in its own juices, it needn’t be accompanied by much more than your appetite.

from SF Eater -

Oakland’s Stylish Gold Palm Mixes Pakistani Party Food With a ‘Secret’ Bar

The team behind Oakland’s Bar Shiru debuts a new bar and restaurant project in Oakland’s Floral Depot building

Gold Palm (1900 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland) debuts the week of October 6, and will be open from 4 p.m. to midnight, Tuesday through Saturday.

Lethe2020 · October 2, 2024, 5:11pm

More sad news: Decades-old Café Bastille and B44 restaurants to close in SF on Oct 26, 2024. Belden Place, an alley between Pine and Bush Sts. in the shadow of the original Bank of America HQ, was a charming “pedestrians-only at lunch time” block where half a dozen restaurants competed for the now-vanished hordes of office workers in the Financial District.

The slow but inevitable decline, as BofA was taken over by Nationwide of Atlanta, GA; and Chevron and Schwab moved their HQs out of SF, was given a final blow by COVID and the ‘work from home’ movement. Almost all the restaurants there, save for the classic old Sam’s Grill, are now gone.

We went several times to both restaurants in their heydays of the 1990’s, when we still lived in SF and I worked down in the FiDi. It was a unique little enclave, charming and unexpected in the midst of a frenzy of high-rise construction. Sorry to see it disappear into the past!

zippo1 · October 4, 2024, 5:05am

Luke and Thien at KQED.org:

Martinis and Veggie Weenies at Tallboy, 4210 Telegraph in The Temescal District of Oakland -
Tallboy is open 2 p.m.–midnight on weekdays (except Wednesdays, when it’s closed) and 2 p.m.–2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays at 4210 Telegraph Ave. in Oakland.

excerpt:
But the main selling point of Tallboy’s hot dog menu is the Lion Dance–pedigreed array of multiculturally inspired topping combinations. The namesake Lion Dancing Dog comes garnished with cucumber, peanuts, pickled chilies, cilantro, fried shallots and a seriously spicy sambal aioli — a fire blast of bold, Southeast Asian flavors and crunchy textures. We liked the Korean-inspired Cheese in the Trap even better: The combination of well-fermented kimchi, vegan American cheese, gochujang aioli and crispy noodles is incredibly soothing, like a bowl of dressed-up Shin ramyun in hot dog form. If we had any minor complaint, it was that the buns were too big and overly bready — your classic wiener-to-bun ratio problem. But even the simplest dog, topped with nothing but brown mustard and an avalanche of diced onions, scratched a certain comfort food itch.

from Oaklandside -

Richmond CA Restaurant Week October 7 - 13:

https://www.tasteofrichmondca.com/

Tacos El Tucan owner Alfredo Padilla said Richmond is becoming more of a food destination. Credit: Tacos El Tucan

Sara Deseran in the SF Standard on Korean food at Kothai Republic at 1398 Ninth Av in SF Sunset District -

Inspired by a Sichuan peppercorn-infused dish Park had in northern China, the braised lamb shank comes with roti for mopping. | Source:Andria Lo for The Standard

mts · October 4, 2024, 3:36pm

I am thankful for the dining memories I have of the old days. Sometimes I can pull up the taste of a dish or the scent of the dining room. At this age, I’m glad the brain stil works!

Annegrace · October 4, 2024, 10:19pm

One of my best food memories was living in SF in the late 1970’s and every Friday night lining up on Kearny to get into the very popular Henry’s Hunan. Chinese chicken salad, onion cakes, smoked ham and harvest pork still makes my mouth water.

zippo1 · October 8, 2024, 7:57am

America’s Heartland -
from about 1:55 to about 17:00
Cultural Roots Nursery in Winters CA farms unique Asian produce and Balakian Farms in Reedley CA grows organic fruits and vegetables inspired by their Armenian roots.

Octavio Pena at KQED.org -

Shaddai Guatemalan Cuisine (1302 South 1st St., San Jose) is open Tuesday–Friday 11 a.m to 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Cash only.

New Guatemalan food truck in San Jose:

Shaddai, a new Guatemalan food truck in San Jose, sells hard-to-find specialties like garnachas — essentially tortilla chips topped with shredded beef, salsa and curtido. (Octavio Peña)

Food trucks tend to focus on meals that can be enjoyed on the go, so when I came across Shaddai, a new Guatemalan food truck in San Jose, I was shocked to see cooks walking steaming-hot bowls of pepián de gallina and caldo de res over to eager diners. More than that, the menu is huge — literally a banner as tall as the truck — and features hard-to-find specialties like chow mein tostadas and Guatemalan enchiladas.

zippo1 · October 8, 2024, 3:01pm

from World of Nuance on YouTube -

Two Guatemalan spots in the Excelsior District of SF, Tikal and Cafe Guatemalteco, as shown by Guatemalan immigrants in SF.
Starts at about the7:30 mark through 12:50.