from Grub Street San Francisco

Douglas Keane

Tomorrow night’s Top Chef season finale goes down at Healdsburg’s Cyrus, with chef Douglas Keane acting as guest judge. As we noted last month, Cyrus was closed in October during shooting, so no surprise to see it appear in the finale. Keane, the 2009 James Beard award winner for “Best Chef, Pacific,” opened up his kitchen for the season-ending free-for-all, which was served in Cyrus’s dining room. So what does he like? Keane has spent his entire career in fine dining, moving from Lespinasse and the Four Seasons in New York to Jardiniere and Restaurant Gary Danko in San Francisco. At the five-year-old Cyrus, he cooks in a style he calls “contemporary luxury,” showcasing high-end ingredients like lobster, truffles, and foie gras. Could be promising for molecular-gastronomy enthusiast Michael Voltaggio.

Earlier: Top Chef Stars Napa’s Brix Tonight [Grub Street SF]

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Filed Under: top chef, cyrus, douglas keane, four seasons, jardiniere, lespinasse, restaurant gary danko

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from Grub Street San Francisco

Google is looking to get into the window-sticker game, sending out 100,000 decals to popularly searched “restaurants, bars, and hangouts” nationwide. The “Favorite Place on Google” stickers recall those already being used by places like Zagat and Yelp. The technological twist here is that Google’s stickers have a little bar code that you can scan with your smart phone and get reviews, coupons, and other online materials about the place.

Explore a whole new way to window shop, with Google and your mobile phone [Google Blog via SF Gate]

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Filed Under: marketing gimmicks, google, yelp, zagat

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from Grub Street San Francisco

Tonight’s Top Chef episode continues the show’s jaunt to Wine Country, stopping by Brix restaurant in Napa. In typical fashion, details of the challenges and judges are very hush-hush, but we can glean a bit just from the location and some earlier information.

Brix is a wine shop as well as restaurant, and they’re in wine country, so it would stand to reason that the challenge will have something to do with wine and/or pairings, possibly in some kind of party situation. Remember, the cast members were spotted a few weeks ago bussing their own dishes, the Press Democrat noted. Brix is, of course, hyping its involvement by sending out uninformative photos (like this one) and a press release that doesn’t say much at all. “The party had all the elements of a true Napa Valley-style meal: wonderful food, well-made wine and great conversation,” said co-owner Valerie Kelleher Herzog. In the same release. Excutive chef Anne Gingrass-Paik was also at the shoot, according to the press release. “It was great fun to see the excitement on the chef’s faces as they shared their dishes with the guests and judges and their overall enthusiasm for their Top Chef experience.” So what’s on deck tonight? We’re going to put money on a sunset wine dinner or cocktail party for some Napa Valley bigwigs out on the veranda. Sounds delightful, no?

Earlier: Top Chef to Close Season in Napa [Grub Street SF]

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Filed Under: top chef, anne gingrass-paik, brix, oenofile, valerie kelleher-herzog

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from Grub Street San Francisco

For those wondering why Bay Area foodies routinely get so worked up over snide little comments from New York, 7×7 drink editor Jordan Mackay took a stab at the question in the New York Times last week, positing that Bay Area chefs may be a bit paralyzed after 30 years in Alice Waters’ shadow. “One of the hardest and one of the most wonderful things about being a chef in San Francisco is that people know the farms,” Wexler’s Charlie Kleinman told the Times. “‘They know who grows what. That’s great, because it makes you stay seasonal.” But that also makes chefs timid to alter their prized produce.

But perhaps New York’s nastiness stems from the fact that San Francisco trends are catching on there as well. Kleinman pointed out to the Times that the menu at Momofuku Ssam Bar reads like a San Francisco menu. “It’s got farms everywhere… and a section of the menu devoted to hams he has handpicked from producers he has personal relationships with and most cherishes.” Someday soon New York chefs will surely agree that that’s not a bad thing, and San Francisco chefs will give themselves permission to cook something once in a while. And then, as Mackay predicts, “a big hug.”

Bay Area Chefs Dodge New York Knives [NYT]

Earlier: Chang to Face San Francisco Chef Squad [Grub Street SF]

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Filed Under: beef, alice waters, charlie kleinman, david chang, momofuku ssam bar, wexler’s

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from Grub Street San Francisco

Et tu, Martin Yan?

To add to the cacophony of voices in food media, Google today launched a series of food-centric themes and gadgets for your iGoogle page. The new “gourmet” bells and whistles include background themes like holidays, “foodscapes” (landscapes made of food), and individual chefs (check out Michael Mina). New gadgets range from somewhat useful tools like the Supercook recipe creator to feeds from Martha Stewart and Rachael Ray which, if you’re a food-obsessed iGoogle user you probably already subscribe to. But hey, they sure look pretty.

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Filed Under: marketing gimmicks, google, martha stewart, martin yan, michael mina, rachael ray

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from Grub Street San Francisco

So after last month’s whole “figs-on-a-plate” flap, it turns out David Chang might be right about San Francisco. SFist unearthed a Chez Panisse menu from last year featuring “A bowl of Cannard Farm Black Mission figs and a Frog Hollow Warren pear” for $8.25. [SFist]

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Filed Under: beef, chez panisse, david chang, fig-gate

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from Grub Street San Francisco

The same folks who identified the nation’s hottest young farmers back in July have turned their attention to chefs, calling out 40 under 40 years old who patronize the sustainable farmers it last profiled. High on the list we find Philadelphia’s Jose Garces, 38, the favorite on the Next Iron Chef and chef-owner of Amada, Tinto, Distrito, Chifa, and Village Whiskey. San Francisco’s Kin Lui, 29, a chef and partner at sustainable sushi venture Tataki, also made the list.

In Brooklyn, Sawa Okochi, 32, got a nod for her work as chef de cuisine at The Good Fork, while a bit upstate in Pocantico Hills Josh Lawler, 30, picked up props as chef de cuisine at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Oakland’s Bryant Terry, 35, is an “eco-chef” and author who also made 7×7’s “Hot 20 under 40.” In Chicago, props go out to Jason Paskewitz, 37, a chef and partner at Gemini Bistro, and Andrew Zimmerman, 39, executive chef at Sepia. And in Los Angeles, Mother Nature Network recognized 32-year-old Matt Molina, executive chef at Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza. It’s never been hotter to be part of the virtuous food supply chain.

40 Chefs Under 40 [Mother Nature Network]
Earlier: Hot Young Farmers Cultivate Vegetables, Followings [Grub Street SF]

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Filed Under: bright young things, amada, andrew zimmerman, bryant terry, chifa, distrito, gemini bistro, jason paskewitz, jose garces, kin lui, matt molina, osteria mozza, pizzeria mozza, sawa okochi, sepia, tataki, the good fork, tinto, village whiskey

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from Grub Street San Francisco

What does a super-chef Thomas Keller make when he’s dining in? “I usually cook one-pot meals like roast chicken and vegetables. I do stuff on the grill,” he told Reuters. We bet he painstakingly sources his charcoal. [Reuters]

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Filed Under: thomas keller, dining in

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from Grub Street San Francisco

Last February, two weeks before Laiola owner and Tacolicious co-founder Joe Hargrave set off for Mexico City with Tacolicious cohort (and 7×7 editor) Sara Deseran, Rick Bayless happened by Laiola for dinner. “Can you imagine?” Hargrave told Grub Street. “I’m in the restaurant, I’ve bought tickets for Mexico City, and guess who walks into the restaurant?” After Hargrave introduced himself and told Bayless he was going to Mexico City, the Latin superchef gave him a list of food destinations to visit. “After he wrote me the list, he sat there and talked to me with so much animation, as if I had a camera crew with me. He’s so un-celebrity. I was very taken by it,” Hargrave said. After their Bayless-guided food tour, Hargrave and Desaran now use the techniques they observed in their pop-up Laiola spin-off, Tacolicious. Hargrave shared Bayless’s list with Grub Street, as well as his impressions of each spot.

• Fonda El Refugio, Liverpool 166 Col Juariez
“You kind of sit at a counter. They have almost a hibachi, it’s a tiny little griddle. It’s like short-order cooking. Really simple. For their El Pastor, they have the grilled pineapple, which is such a cool addition to tacos.”

• Pujol, Petrarca 254
“We didn’t go in. It was a little too fancy for what we were looking for. It was definitely something like a first-world expensive restaurant. It looked beautiful, but we were getting away from that.”

• Contramar, Durango 200, Col. Roma Norte
“That restaurant might have changed my life, it’s so great. We went twice. It was unbelievable. In all of Mexico City, we went back. He even wrote it in his notes, ‘best seafood restaurant in Mexico City.’ And it was. It was so, so good.”

• Mercado Medellin, Coahuila, Colonia Roma
“That was what he sent us to as a must, but the bigger one we spent more time in was the [Mercado] Merced. That was near the Zocalo. It’s so crazy enormous. It goes on and on and on. Just a ton of stuff, food, music blaring. We were literally the only white people in there. It was so dense.”

• El Moro, Eje Central Lázaro Cardenas 42, Barrio Chino
“It’s a churroria, a little churro spot near the Zocalo. They serve them with different hot chocolates.”

• Taqueria El Farolito, Tacámbaro 4, at the corner of Alfonso Reyes
“It’s a small chain. The one he sent us to was the original, and that was in Condesa.”

• El Califa, 22 Calle Altata
“Even being from California and having spent time in Mexico as a kid, I’d never experienced anything like Califa before. A sit-down restaurant where they bring out the menu and there’s many different kinds of tacos, and salsas, and grades of meat. That’s kind of what I’m trying to do with Tacolicious right now.”

Stop by Laiola tomorrow night for T-Lish Tuesdays, when you can get a Tacolicious taco, a shot of Don Julio Reposado, and a can of Tecate for $10.

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Filed Under: user’s guide, contramar, el califa, el farolito, el moro, fonda el refugio, joe hargrave, laiola, mercado medellin, pujol, rick bayless, sara deseran, tacolicious

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from Grub Street San Francisco

Late-night diners are a staple of life in any city, but if you’re not a regular it can be hard to know which will be a hit and which a miss. If you want to take Playboy’s word for it, they’ve published a list of the country’s top 10 after-hours diners. In New York, Big Nick’s scores with its Sumo Burger and continuous Three Stooges loop. The editors seemed surprised to find a greasy spoon in the Castro in San Francisco, but they did so in Orphan Andy’s, which is jumping after 2 a.m. Philadelphia’s Dining Car and Market made the list with its chicken croquettes and Jewish apple cake, while Chicago’s Diner Grill got a nod for its epic “Slinger” — a pile of burger patties, eggs over easy, and chili. And in Los Angeles, The Original Pantry Cafe, which former mayor Richard Riordan bought to save it from the wrecking ball, still serves 3,000 customers a day.

Top 10 Late-Night Diners [Playboy]

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Filed Under: lists, big nick’s, diner car and market, diner grill, original pantry cafe, orphan andy, playboy

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from Grub Street San Francisco

According to the folks at PETA (who should know), Ike’s Place in San Francisco has the best vegan meatballs in the whole country. “For a sandwich shop that isn’t even all vegetarian, Ike’s has a huge vegan menu, including two vegan meatball favorites: the Vegan Meatless Mike and the Not So Sloppy Ike,” the group’s VegCooking Blog notes in its top 10 Vegan Meatballs in America list.

Runners up included The Greenery in Encinitas, for its veggie-walnut meatballs, Gianna’s Grill, in Philadelphia, for its “Haastile” Meatball Sub, New York City’s Caravan of Dreams for its savory almond-Brazil nut meatballs, and the Buddha Hut in Worcester, Mass., with its Italian meatball soup. Oakland’s Breakroom also got on the board with “homemade vegan meatballs served on a French panini and topped with vegan mozzarella.” Ironically, a lot of these cities also seem like go-to destinations for regular meatballs. We doubt PETA will publish that top-10 list, though.

Top 10 Vegan Meatballs in America [Veg Cooking Blog]

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Filed Under: lists, buddha hut, caravan of dreams, gianna’s grill, ike’s place, the breakroom cafe, the greenery

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from Grub Street San Francisco

Now that everybody’s over that whole “figs on a plate” thing of last month, David Chang has more opinions to share with San Francisco. During his latest Bay Area book tour, he and Momofuku co-author Peter Meehan weighed in with Yumsugar on the most overrated restaurant in San Francisco: Taylor’s Automatic Refresher. “[It's] definitely not as good as In-N-Out. I’ve had their patty melt, and it could be better,” Chang said. For burgers, they both love In-N-Out, which they plan to hit up while in town as well as Quince, Commis, and Chez Panisse. But Chang is still thinking about that earlier dust-up. He told Food Gal, “I was at the farmers market today (Ferry Building one in San Francisco), and I didn’t want to look at anything because I was so upset… People don’t know I come to San Francisco 10 times a year. I love San Francisco.”

Momofuku’s David Chang Talks Sabbaticals and San Francisco [Yumsugar]
Momofuku Chef David Chang Visits Kepler’s [Food Gal]

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Filed Under: beef, commis, david chang, in-n-out, peter meehan, quince, taylor’s automatic refresher

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