So now that Peet's Coffee is set to open kiosks in BART stations throughout the Bay (you’ll find a newly fenced-off section at the Montgomery station complete with a hiring sign), we've been thinking of other things that would be nice to have in BART stations.

1) Dim Sum. There is no food more perfect for a quick bite than Dim Sum. One well-steamed barbeque pork bun or a trio of potsickers could hold anyone over for a long commute, make for a last-minute lunch or satisfy the pre-happy hour munchies. We know there’s no eating on BART, but we also know from experience that almost all Dim Sum can easily be consumed while waiting for a train to arrive or while walking up the escalator in route to one’s destination.
2) Free weeklies. Yes, it’s nice to have a discounted Chronicle readily available for the ride, but sometimes you just want to check out Best of the Bay or do one more crossword puzzle. We like options when it comes to periodicals and for whatever reason, remembering to grab a free weekly before we get down to the station is asking too much.
3) Chargers for electronics. It never fails that when we really want to zone out and do nothing but listen to music for 30 minutes on our BART ride, we’re met with a near dead battery. All we need is for our music player to last one leg of the commute, but we know it’s not going happen and so we listen to the lovely screeches of metal on metal instead. On a recent trip to Oregon, we noticed that Portland International Airport has stations for charging various electronic products (cell phones, laptops, iPods, etc.) and now that we’re all more plugged in than ever, this seems like a handy thing to have in a BART station.
4) Useable restrooms. Enough said.

We’re excited about the Peet’s if only because it means one less block to walk to ensure that we’re properly caffeinated on the way to work. We’re also interested in seeing how the heck BART plans to enforce the no drinking or eating rule on trains when there’s a kiosk selling tasty beverages and fresh pastries only steps away from loading zones. Don’t get us wrong, we like clean public spaces too, but we also like to be able to enjoy hot coffee and tea when it’s actually hot.

Peet's Coffee & Tea [Menupages]
Peet’s Coffee & Tea [Official Site]

Photo: By voxipsa

Pabst Blue Ribbon, the beer that's somehow turned from a working class standby into a hipster fashion accessory, has made it into two separate news stories lately.

First: The PBR Coffin (shown above). Bill Bramanti, a 67-year-old beer fan in suburban Chicago, ordered a coffin shaped like a Pabst Blue Ribbon can to use when he dies "100 years" from now. To celebrate, Bramanti threw a party for his funeral home and his friends — a party centered around showing off his coffin. Of course, he also used the coffin to store the beer cans at the party:

"The silver coffin is laminated with the design of a red, white and blue PBR beer can. The inside contains a black liner to prevent seepage so Bramanti can store cold brews in it until he winds up inside. On Saturday, it was filled with ice and PBR. Bramanti thinks it can fit about 15 cases of beer and 150 pounds of ice.

"I wouldn't expect anything less for my dad," said Bramanti's daughter Cathy, who was one of about 25 people munching on roast beef sandwiches and sipping PBR inside a 2,000-square-foot barn Bramanti built in South Chicago Heights for parties. "He's a man that loves to entertain. He likes it when people are happy. This is what he does. There's all kinds of things in here."

USA Today has more.

Meanwhile, a certain Mr. Barack Obama has publicly declared his love for PBR. At a campaign appearance at the Raleigh Times pub in North Carolina, Obama proudly quaffed a Pabst — and thereby upstaged Hillary and the Boilermaker one last time.

Man plans to be buried in Pabst Blue Ribbon coffin [Southtown Star]
Illionis man designs beer can coffin [USA Today]
Obama woos blue collar voters with his beer taste [The Telegraph]

[Image via Southtown Star]

So here it is months after publication and you still haven't read Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food. Everybody else seems to have at least skimmed it, but you're still working on Omnivore's Dilemma (and haven't made a particularly impressive go at that, either).

Never fear. Those tech-savvy gluttons at Google got him to come by for a talk, and have posted said talk on their very own Youtube. It's about an hour long, so don't start it up in order to put off that next project for five more minutes. Maybe watch over lunch. That's what we're going to do because we've got a penchant for guilt.

Michael Pollan At Google [chayday Food Journal/Accidental Hedonist]

• With over 100k confirmed dead, Burma finally accepting food aid from...everyone [Yahoo]
• 2m people in Sadr City running out of food and other supplies no good for anyone [NYTimes]
• North Korea, as out of food as anyone, ended negotiations with US for aid "sincerely" [RadioAU]
• India's banned commodities trading of several foodstuffs, for all the good it'll do [Bloomberg]
• As drumbeat against ethanol intensifies, corn state senators keep plowing away [AO]

The hole that Burger King was in after the failure to agree to a penny-per-pound increase for tomato workers has just been getting deeper and deeper. Last week, we learned that a vice president in the company wrote some blog posts criticizing the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. There's also talk of some e-mails sent from the BK server that were sympathetic to the group.

And today we learned that Burger King actually hired someone to spy on another group, the Student/Farmworker Alliance, that works with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers:

In March, a woman named Cara Schaffer contacted the Student/Farmworker Alliance, saying she was a student at Broward Community College. Her eagerness aroused suspicions, but she was allowed to join two of the group’s planning sessions. Internet searches by the alliance revealed that she was not a college student.

Ms. Schaffer is the 25-year-old owner of a private security firm. Her company, Diplomatic Tactical Services, seems like the kind of security firm you’d find in one of Carl Hiaasen’s crime thrillers. Last year Ms. Schaffer was denied a private investigator’s license; she had failed to supply the Florida licensing division with proof of “lawfully gained, verifiable experience or training.” Even more unsettling, one of her former subcontractors, Guillermo Zarabozo, is now facing murder charges in United States District Court in Miami for his role in allegedly executing four crew members of a charter fishing boat, then dumping their bodies at sea.

According to the company, the spying was done for security purposes in an effort to prevent any violent acts and ensure the safety of its employees and assets. Which would be justified if the group had a history of violence, which it does not. At all.

So, this could be fun. Sit back, relax, and watch the corporate backpedaling.

Burger King probes e-posts [Miami Herald]
Burger with a Side of Spies [New York Times]
Coalition of Immokalee Workers March Today On BK Headquarters [MP: South Florida]
Burger King [Official Site]

The Slanted Door has been one of the city’s worst-kept secrets since its inception as a tiny storefront in the Mission District. We know your friend who used to live in San Francisco insisted you must bask in the glory of this high-end Vietnamese restaurant, but here you are in SF and you forgot to make your reservation three weeks in advance. Are you out of luck? Maybe not.

First, it should be noted that The Slanted Door does keep a certain amount of the tables and the bar open to walk-ins, but you can expect an extremely long wait only to enjoy your crispy imperial rolls with all the other walk-ins looking hungrily over your shoulder the same way you did to the people before you. It is a little easier to get in during lunch time, but we would suggest you make it a late lunch or early dinner to avoid to the work crowd.

They do an afternoon tea between 2:30 and 5:30 p.m., but the menu is limited to a few appetizers, salads, noodle dishes and, well, tea.

We find the food is just as good, if not quite as wide-ranging, and with near complete lack of atmosphere, at Out The Door, The Slanted Door’s outlet on the bottom floor of the Westfield Center at 845 Market St.

If you’re really just had it with the whole scene, head down to Ghirardelli Square where there is an amazing Vietnamese restaurant called Ana Mandara that we feel rivals The Slanted Door in every way. The food is exquisite, the décor is an experience, the service is outstanding and, best of all, it does not book up weeks in advance. Thanks to the hype of its famous competitor, Ana Mandara really is one of the best-kept secrets in San Francisco.

The Slanted Door [Menupages]
The Slanted Door [Offical site]
Ana Mandara [Menupages]
Ana Mandara [Offical site]

Photo: The Slanted Door by wasabicube

Thank goodness nobody was hurt so we can make jokes like that. Seriously, though, the thought of hundreds of thousands of chili peppers going up in flames is kind of awesome (in the traditional sense, meaning awe-inspiring, not the slang sense meaning good). Here's the story:

HYDERABAD, India - A fire has broken out at one of India’s largest chili markets, burning hundreds of thousands of pounds of chili peppers.

Residents and officials say the burning chili smoke is stinging the eyes and throats of people in Guntur in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

One local official says 150,000 bags of chilies have been destroyed across a 20-hectare area in Saturday’s blaze.

Officials have evacuated nearby residents, and firefighters are still trying to control the flames.

No casualities have been reported. It remains unclear what started the fire.

• Two of the founding fathers of our country, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, are both known to have grown chiles.

• Capsaicin is a colorless, pungent, crystalline compound, C18,H27NO3.

• The shorter the molecular chain, the hotter the pepper.

• One fresh medium sized green chile pod has as much Vitamin C as six oranges.

• One teaspoon of dried red chile powder has the daily requirements of Vitamin A.

• The heat from a chile pepper is concentrated in the interior veins or ribs near the seed heart, not in the seeds as is commonly believed (the seeds taste extra hot because they are in close contact with the hot veins).

• If, when a chile pepper is cut open, the veins have a yellowish orange color in that area, it usually indicates the pepper will be a potent one.

• To date, the hottest chile pepper in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records is the "Red Savina" habanero. It measured an amazing 577,000 Scoville Units.

Giant chili market catches fire in India [Hot Sauce Blog]
Chile Pepper Facts [Cosmic Chile]
Chile Facts [The Chile Pepper Institute, University of New Mexico]
Image: Cosmic Chile

We got a tip that there’s a pretty cool exhibit over at the Asian Art Museum. And the tip seems to be legit.

Zhan Wang, a highly respected artist from Beijing, has really given San Francisco the right to call itself a foodie city, maybe even the foodie city by creating a very detailed model of SF from stainless steel kitchen supplies. Soup spoons, cheese graters, serving trays--as you can see from the photo, no popular cookware item has been spared.

Undoubtedly this installation is more than just entrainment and playful interpretation, but for now we’re headed over strictly for it’s aesthetic value (we’ll get educated when we get there). We’re also hoping that the weather shapes up so we can enjoy the patio dinning at Cafe Asia. It may be cafeteria style, but we’ve had many a good lunch break sipping mimosas and martinis on the patio and of course, the food is good too.

But if we’re feeling adventurous we may try Morty’s over on Golden Gate Ave for the Pastrami Reuben. Frankly, this is one of the only delis in the city that gets it when it comes to a Rueben. Two words: Russian Dressing. Forget that Thousand Island nonsense, a real Rueben should have Russian Dressing and sauerkraut and that’s all there is to it.

Cafe Asia [Official Site]
Morty’s Delicatessen [Menupages]
Morty’s Delicatessen [Official Site]

Photo: By the Asian Art Museum

• UN finally starts moving food to Burmese cyclone victims [ET]
• WFP: let's rebrand it as a "global hunger emergency" [VOA]
• Have you noticed ingredient shifts at your local diner? [AP]
• Attention urban vacant lots: you will be farmland [NYT]
• Ghrelin's role in eating more pervasive than ever! [SD]

Things you know about Myanmar/Burma:

1) On May 3-4, the country's Irrawaddy delta region was hit by a powerful cyclone, killing 22,500 and leaving over 40,000 missing as of publication time (nationwide population: 55 million)

2) Last fall, the ruling military junta cracked down on widespread, monk-lead demonstrations, leading to the political imprisonment of hundreds and quashing hopes of a democratic revolution

3) Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel prize-winning democracy activist, has been under house arrest there for much of the past two decades

Things you may or may not know about Myanmar/Burma:

1) "Myanmar" is a pre-colonial name that the junta encourages you to use, and "Burma" is the somewhat racist colonial appellation that Aung San Suu Kyi prefers, because one really sticks it to the junta that way

2) Until a few days ago, Burma — let's just go with that...stupid junta — was a net exporter of rice, but the country's rice bowl (this is an official term) was storm-surged into oblivion. Maybe China will give them rice?

3) Burma is shunned by most of the world for its human rights violations and narcotics-based export economy. The junta is reasonably good friends with China

Things you don't know about Burma:

1) The junta is being pretty cagey about taking aid from the international community, but you can donate through the Anglican Relief & Development Fund

2) Burma has a unique and wonderful cuisine that's hard to find in the United States but always a joy to come across. It's a natural fusion of Indian, Chinese and South-East Asian traditions, meaning you can get chicken biryiani, durian ice cream and night market rice noodles in a single sitting if you so desire. They even have their own form of tofu, made from chana dal (split, skinless chickpeas) or yellow split pea flour, depending on the ethnic group. Better than soy-based tofu? In many ways. You like dumplings? The Burmese have half-a-dozen indigenous varieties to try. And so forth.

For us, though, the single biggest achievement of the Burmese kitchen is its myriad and exotic salads. Thai salads are more famous, but the Burmese do a job at least as sophisticated throwing raw and pickled vegetables and miscellany together into something greater than the sum of their parts. Observe:

• Pork Ear & Tongue Salad from the recently closed Burmese Cafe in Queens, NY (Jane! Jane! Jane!):

• "Burmese Feast" Tofu Salad from Golden Triangle in Whittier, CA (Tales of an LA Addict):

More salads than you could properly digest, after the jump...

Continue reading "The Salads Of Myanmar/Burma: A Timely Appreciation" »

Discovering what's really in the food you eat can be depressing. You've surely heard that Americans eat as much as two pounds of insects per year without knowing it. But that seems pretty benign compared with the other stuff you may be ingesting. Pesticides, rodent droppings, way more fat than you had ever imagined... Fortunately there are web resources to scare you / gross you out / educate you about what you're throwing down the hatch. This new information may not keep you from your favorite greasy spoon — nor should it — but it may help you choose some healthier or more sanitary options for your general snacking and dining.

Chow today linked to this handy roundup of local health departments. Many make their scores available online, but some require you to ask for them. This information is public, and the departments' phone numbers and addresses are at least available, so if you're really curious you can find out just what's up with that weird aftertaste in your soup. Or you may not want to.

There are a lot of diet-related online tools to help you count calories and fat, but the USDA's What's In The Food You Eat is the most comprehensive we've found for counting not only the bad stuff, but the vitamins and minerals as well. It doesn't list every single food in the world, but there's a good overview.

You're right to worry about pesticides in your food. Some of those things can be downright lethal. That's their job, after all. Here's an EPA write-up on their guidelines for pesticide levels in American foods. Additionally, the World Health Organization has this page on chemical risks in food, where you can check out global statistics.

How Many Insect Parts and Rodent Hairs are Allowed in Your Food? [Sixwise]
Restaurant Health Inspection Scores Online [Allfoodbusiness]
What's In The Food You Eat [USDA]
Setting Tolerances for Pesticide Residues in Food [EPA]
Chemical Risks in Food [WHO]
Photo: Perceval de Mons [Flickr]

• Guess which President's daughter's wedding's going to be organic! [AP]
• Whole wheat pasta service restored after Harvard student riot [BH]
• Myanmar cyclone kills 22k, shuts down the exporter's rice region [AFP]
• Thailand had an idea about a rice OPEC, but then backed off [Guardian]
• Letter: "it's not ethanol's fault that people eat too much and are wasteful" [Tribune]
• Editorial: "nevertheless, ethanol is doing more harm than good" [NYTimes]

Continuing with our Cinco De Mayo Mexican food coverage, we'd like to point out a developing taco truck issue in Southern California — Los Angeles County, to be specific. You'll be hard pressed to find bigger fans of taco trucks, in general, than us, but they are out there, and they are taking to the Internet in droves to protest L.A. County's proposed move to effectively legislate the trucks out of existence. From the Bon Appetit blog:

A few weeks ago, Los Angeles County supervisors passed a new law restricting taco truck vendors from selling their goods in any one location for more than an hour. Breaking the law means a $1,000 fine and/or six months in jail. Although taco trucks were already required to move every 30 minutes, the punishment was a mere $60 ticket, if any at all. The ordinance "protect[s] the health and welfare" of LA county residents, says Gloria Molina, the County Supervisor who proposed the new law.

This being the future, pro-taco-truck activists have gained a lot of traction online, circulating petitions through a website called Save Our Taco Trucks and grabbing headlines in the L.A. Times among other publications. The Times covered not only the issue but it's galvanizing effect on desk-chair activists:

Zane Selvans, 32, of Pasadena offers an explanation. "There are at least two distinct populations that visit the taco truck," Selvans said. "There are the native Angelenos, and then there's the kind of hipster population who think it's cool."

Both groups have organized -- on the Internet, through blogs and social networking sites -- to get the law repealed. In a way that issues such as homelessness and healthcare have failed to do, the taco truck seems to have galvanized residents who until now didn't pay much attention to the workings of local government.

Save The Taco! [Bon Appetit]
Save Our Taco Trucks [Official Site]
For the love of L.A. taco trucks [L.A. Times]
The Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dog: So Good It's Illegal [L.A. Weekly]
Photo: Courtesy of saveourtacotrucks.org

The current issue of Gastniomica features an interesting essay about tacos (“Was the Taco Invented in Southern California?”). Having read this essay we’ve been curious about Mexican food and it’s origins and with Cinco de Mayo being held under fire for promoting drinking more than it does patriotism, we’re wondering if some of the Mexican food we love should also be given more scrutiny.

Born and raised in California it’s hard to imagine life without salsa, tortillas and pinto beans. It’s also hard to imagine being anything but an absolute authority about Mexican food and its authenticity. How many times have we cried, “That’s not real Mexican food!” or “Man, the carnitas at [insert favorite taqueria here] is the real deal.”

But the truth is, we don’t have a clue what authentic Mexican food is, being, well, Californian. But we do have a better idea than most. We know that the tacos at Taqueria San Francisco are a far cry from the tacos at Taco Bell and that even though we love the corn mash at Chevy’s, El Farolito probably knows a little more about tortas and carne asada. Actually, more than a little, they know a heck of a lot more.

Nonetheless, all of this talk about authenticity has left us a bit insecure about our recommendations so rather than try to recommend the best taqueria or most authentic Mexican food experience in San Francisco in honor on Cinco de Mayo, we trust everyone will eat what makes them happy, authentic or not.

El Farolito [Menupages]
Taqueria San Francisco [Menupages]

Photo: By xamesm

Today is two things: It is Cinco De Mayo, and it is probably the last day you can pick up something for Mom and get it in the mail in time to reach her by next Sunday. You know what you do? You send her Mexican food.

It sounds impossible, we know, but you're probably going to eat Mexican food tonight to celebrate the victory of Mexican forces over the French in the battle of Puebla in 1862. While you won't want to pack something home from the restaurant and save it for your mother all week, we think you may be in the spirit of fiesta today, so have collected some web resources to help get that burrito into Mom's hands by Mother's Day. Put in your web order or make your road trip plans now and that guacamole and margarita will taste so much better tonight.

We can't speak to the quality of the food at Burrito Brothers, but their mailing service does include burritos and other freeze-able products. Even a sub-par burrito would be a treat by the mail, and this way, all mom has to do is heat the thing up.

Aside from sending whole, cooked food products through the mail, probably the most effective way to get your mother a Mexican feast from afar is to send its individual components and maybe instructions on assembly, if required. You could shop at your local Mexican market and pack them yourself or, if you do not have one nearby, think about ordering some (admittedly over-priced) sauces and whatnot from Mexican Food and Gifts To Go. It may not be quite as fun as delivering whole burritos, but we think that, for the right woman, a case of salsa counts as a real gift, and not just a novelty. Something to consider.

Finally, if you're driving or taking the train to visit Mom, and want to bring her the real item, fresh from your local taqueria and still hot, the good folks at Burritophile have perfected a technique. Basically, it involves storing the burrito/tacos/torta in a cooler with a hot brick. This works for at least two hours, according to Burritophile.

Burrito Bros. Taco Co [Official Site]
Mexican Food and Gifts To Go [Official Site]
How to Keep Your Burrito Hot on a Road Trip [Burritophile]
Cinco De Mayo [Wikipedia]
Photo: Starbuckguy [Flickr]