So we made it through Free Cone Day without treating ourselves to a free cone. The willpower harnessed was unprecedented, but we awoke this morning victorious.

The thing is, after all of the free cone hullabaloo all we can think about is ice cream. Of course, we can’t have ice cream because we’re on a diet so we’ve found a good, if not better, substitute: gelato.

There are several good gelato places in the city, Ciao Bella in the Ferry Building for instance, but one of the nice things about Holy Gelato in the Inner Sunset is it offers quality product without taking itself too seriously.

First of all, the owners and staff have some pretty quirky nomenclature going on when it comes to naming their flavors. Our personal favorite is the Condoleezza Rice Pudding, but even the innocently named S’mores has a picture of Michael Jackson in a boy scout uniform that serves as a label. The shop also has all sorts of mugs and novelty items (blow-up moose heads, talking piggy banks, specialty cookies jars) as well has a full espresso bar (Mmmm, afogato) and a sizable tea selection.

But what we’re really after is the gelato, which is great, and the selection goes a good step beyond normal flavor fare. The offerings change frequently depending on season and availability, but some of the more memorable include the Tarmac (soy-based with peanut butter, chocolate and cookies), Goat Cheese (tastes like cheesecake made with Greek yogurt), the Habanero Chocolate and the Honey Lavender. Did we mention they also have a whole case of sorbet and dairy-free flavors?

But unquestionably our favorite thing about Holy Gelato is their portion size versatility. They offer the cutest little mini cup of gelato we’ve ever seen and believe us when we say, it’s the perfect amount when you really want something sweet and creamy, but can’t deal with the consequence of several scoops. Even better, the cups are recyclable so if you go with, say, half Pomegranate sorbet and half Chocolate Hazelnut in a mini cup (3 ounces), it’s one less carbon footprint and one less pound gained.

Holy Gelato [Official Site]
Ciao Bella [Menupages]
Ciao Bella [Official Site]

Photo: S’mores and Tarmac at Holy Gelato by buncheduptv

Welcome to your afternoon coffee-break roundup of the local food sections. Dig in!

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

A profile of the vast Michael Mina empire [Michael Mina's magic touch]

The Chron celebrates the victory of Mexican forces over the French in the 1862 Battle of Puebla with Mexican recipes and a very special headline [South to North: Happy Cinco de Margaritas]

The Accidental Vegetarian celebrates the season in the produce aisle [Springing forward with greens galore]

Looks like our locals are officially out of the Top Chef race [What's New: Last S.F. contestant booted from 'Top Chef']

And it looks like Frisson is gone, at least for a lot longer than expected [Inside Scoop]

Over in the San Francisco Bay Guardian:

Paul Reidinger takes a visit to LoLo, which he describes as "hybrid" Mexican/Turkish cuisine, eschewing the word "fusion." [When Turkey met Mexico ...]

Reidinger also weighs in on Top Chef [Chefs that go crunch]

And LE Leone talks about movies, killing and, for a second, Thai Noodle Jump [Cheap Eats]

Finally, over in the SF Weekly:

Meredith Brody takes her turn at Waterbar, [Fish Story]

The legal status of absinthe in this country is still kind of up in the air, but we now have two producers of the spirit: St. George's Distillery in Alameda, Calif., which began selling it last December, and now the newcomer Sirene Absinthe Verte from North Shore Distillery just north of Chicago. The latter hit the market just this month after debuting at WhiskyFest. Chicagoist has some tasting notes from the event:

The 110 proof white absinthe has a sharp, herbal bite to it. the 124 proof green absinthe is, oddly, smoother than the white. It also has an amazing mouthfeel. With absinthe shaping up as the year's new hot spirit, this should sell well.

Until just last year, the importation of absinthe was prohibited, and the only way to get it was to very carefully hide it away in your luggage and hope that no one in customs felt the need to verify your declaration. In 2007, a few brands were approved for sale, but they had to meet the FDA's ban of thujone in consumable products.

Thujone's the bad guy here, the one that's been blamed for all of the evils supposedly brought about by absinthe consumption. It can wreak havoc on your brain and nervous system if consumed in large quantities. But by the time you've drunk enough absinthe, which can be up to 75 percent alcohol, to experience any effects from the thujone, you're dead from alcohol poisoning.

We're not exactly running out immediately to try absinthe — we've never been particularly fond of anise-flavored foods — but we love the ceremony involved with drinking absinthe. The special spoons, the cube of sugar, and the precise way of pouring the ice cold water over it.

Introducing Sirene Absinthe Verte [North Shore Distillery]
St. George Spirits [Official Site]
Absinthe [Wikipedia]
Sorry, Absinthe Trippers: Scientists Say You're Just Really Drunk [Wired]
Chicagoist at WhiskeyFest [Chicagoist]

Photo: diana.lundin [Flickr]

It didn't take long, once the new Grand Theft Auto IV was released yesterday, for foodie/gamer/blogger Adam Kuban to take a virtual tour of the game's eateries. He found that many of the spots bear a striking resemblance to actual New York establishments. That's not surprising, as Liberty City is basically supposed to be a virtual New York.

What is surprising is the level of detail with which the game portrays its fictional Big Apple. Unlike previous versions, which included major landmarks, such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Capitol building in GTA: San Andreas, GTA IV gets right into the neighborhoods to portray actual local foodie faves. They've also got hilarious take-offs of other local institutions such as the musical Banging On Trashcan Lids For An Hour (Stomp) Check out the screenshots over on New York Eats.

It's just too bad the virtual world doesn't (yet) include smell and taste. Of course, that would make games such as Cooking Mama a lot more fun, too.

The Real-Life Restaurants in New York City from 'Grand Theft Auto 4' [New York Eats]
GTA: IV [Official Site]
Cooking Mama [Official Site]
Adam Kuban [Wikipedia]

You know what marginal group of tens of millions of people are being put at risk for poor nutrition by the global surge in food prices? American school children! Back in the salad days of 2006 when money grew on houses, glowing accounts abounded on plans to revamp the way kids eat at school, trading the fattening and soulless frozen pizzas and burgers that fueled the childhood obesity crisis (remember that?) for the new religion of local/seasonal/organic.

Now that reality has set in, schools are swapping fresh for canned, seeing higher demand for subsidized lunches, and wondering how they'll cope with 30% to 50% cost increases while the federal per-meal subsidy remains static at an unrealistic 23 cents. Probably not all that well! Our youngest citizens have been historically poor budgetary advocates for themselves, so when their slice of the pie shrinks, that's generally the end of the story. Federal law will see to it that students are provided with a minimum number of calories each day, but that's also true for prisoners.

In this rapidly shifting environment for school meals, you have to wonder, just what are the children eating? Thanks to the wonders of the internet, hundreds of cafeteria menus are available for our inspection. Here's a sampling from around the country of what's being served for lunch today:

• Wicomico County, Maryland — Pork dippers with dipping sauce and dinner roll or hot dog on bun and potato rounds, cole slaw, pears

• Fulton County, Illinois — tortellini, pork tenderloin/bun, baked potato, salad bar, uncrustable PBJ, garlic bread, tossed salad, pineapple chunks, shape up in cup

• Fond du Lac County, WIsconsin — Grilled cheese, chicken noodle soup, raw vegetables and dip, mandarin oranges

• Pinellas County, Florida — Cheeseburger, Cuban pork with yellow rice, cheese stick munch and dip, potato wedges, beans, broccoli, Cuban toast

• Tate County, Mississippi — Salisbury Steak w/Gravy, Baked Chicken Nuggets, Fruit and Yogurt Salad, Ham & Cheese on Bun, Black-Eyed Peas, Straight Cut French Fries, Seasoned Cabbage, Chilled Peach Slices, Mixed Fruit, Fruit Juice, Central MS Cornbread, Rice, Saltine Crackers.

Illuminating! Almost everyone is eating pig products for lunch, and there also seems to be a preponderance of dippable items. Regional themes are clearly in play, like the Cuban toast in Florida and the intriguing "Central MS Cornbread" in Mississippi. It's heartening to see that, however unhealthy the dishes and low quality the ingredients, there's still a nod to culinary heterogeneity. Every school seems to be offering fruit and vegetables in some (unexciting) form, but that's a legal mandate; and besides, one of the articles mentioned that broccoli is now cost-competitive with flour!

But even as our school lunch program is stymied by high costs and crappy product, at least we don't have massive food poisoning outbreaks at our nation's cafeterias! For now, anyway.

Economic crunch seen in school lunch rooms [Bradenton Herald]
Food Crisis Forcing Cafeteria Managers To Try New Menus [AHN]
Food prices take bite out of school lunch menus [Star-Ledger]

[Photo: pingnews/flickr]

We were crazy indulgent last week. And while we originally thought the Fat Pack article that ran over a month ago in the New York Times was a bit outrageous, we’re ashamed to say we haven’t necessarily been helping the food writer’s image these past few days.

Time for change. Back to healthier choices and healthier portions. While we refuse to sacrifice quality and taste for our girlish figure, we do love our favorite pair of jeans and it’s important that our meal choices compliment, not adversely affect, our sense of style.

So we’ve started eating salads for dinner again. This isn’t so bad considering San Francisco is brimming with salad opportunity. But we also know it only takes one high fat dressing or a handful of croutons to make any salad about as healthy as super burrito. This is why we love spots like Pluto’s that place the ingredient guilt on our own shoulders by letting us build our salads from the ground up. Even better, their toppings change daily depending on what’s fresh and what’s in season. This prevents us from ordering the same thing everyday, which we know is cause for boredom, which usually leads to falling off the health food wagon and grabbing a super burrito. Need an extra incentive to reacquaint yourself with the salad fork? We were pleasantly surprised to find that Pluto’s has a new Sesame Ginger dressing that was savory, yet light. It's also healthier-sounding than the Gorgonzola Vinaigrette and we all know how important sound is when it comes to food.

Healthy as you wanna make it, affordable and crafted at lightening speed for those us that have barely have time to boil water for rice let alone make dinner every night. Pluto's knows where it's at. Here’s to good health.

Pluto’s [Menupages]
Pluto’s [Official Site]

Photo: Pluto’s salad by basykes

With grain prices skyrocketing, corn doing double duty between the gas tank and the table, and beef still reeling from that gigantic recall back in February, the American food industry seems strained, to put it lightly. This might be a good time for a new, more streamlined meat product to start making inroads in the market.

And, according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article re-printed in Restaurants and Institutions, that's just what's happening with goat meat. Would you call it the soccer of meats? Maybe:

"It's the No. 1 consumed meat in the world," said Scott Hollis, a goat specialist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "It's very popular - except here."

Goat is especially popular with Muslim, Hispanic and some Asian communities, particularly around certain holidays, such as Greek Easter, which was Sunday, Cinco de Mayo, and the end of Ramadan, which comes in the fall.

Until recently, though, it was difficult to find American goat meat. If shoppers found goat in stores, it was likely to be imported frozen from New Zealand or Australia, the world's largest exporter of goat meat.

That is starting to change as American farmers get into the meat goat biz - which, as it turns out, doesn't require all that much.

Goats aren't expensive to buy and don't need nearly the land that larger livestock does. That means more small-scale "hobby farmers" have gotten into the business as word of new demand has spread.

While goat-meat burgers may not appear on the menu at McDonalds any time soon, we're glad to see a more worldly, eco-friendly meat treat gaining popularity. A brief internal poll revealed MP staffers overall like the stuff in curries, Jamaican jerk-style, in burritos and whole on the bone. MP Chicago editor Adam Peltz remembered a particularly transcendent cut he ate in Lima: "so i got this amazing leg of kid — so succulent and flavorful for juvenile meat."

As for us, eight years of vegetarianism stunted our meat discovery growth, but just as it is gaining fans in the American marketplace, goat is on its way to the top of our meats-to-try list. Now, if we could just find a local restaurant that serves the stuff...

THE OTHER RED MEAT? Goats find way to U.S. plates [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]
The American Meat Goat Association [Official Site]
Largest Recall of Ground Beef is Ordered [NY Times]
Photo: Mark Verner [Flickr]

• Rice: food crisis caused by 1) demand 2) distribution difficulties/costs 3) biofuels [IndiaTImes]
• UN: don't forget about commodities speculators! (and the craptastic dollar) [CanadianPress]
• Senate wants to add $200m to the $350m already requisitioned for food aid [NYTimes]
• Following Mars-Wrigley's megadeal, small candy members disheartened [Tribune]
• PM of Thailand, a former cooking show host, to personally make dinner for PM of Myanmar [AP]

We’re happy to report that airports seem to be wising up when it comes to frequent flyers and their eating habits.

Airlines stopped serving full meals years ago, the record number of flight delays is becoming commonplace and the laundry list of carry-on restrictions is growing lengthier by the minute, meaning flyers have to get to the airport even earlier just to make it through security. That said, people are spending more time in the terminals and the need to catch a bite before catching a flight is more prevalent. But if we’re going to be spending top-dollar for food and beverage it no longer seems acceptable for a $20 tab to come from two McDonalds cheeseburgers.

Catching a morning flight last week we were pleased to become acquainted with the fairly new Terminal Two extension at Oakland International Airport in part because it’s shinny and clean, but mainly because there was a full service Andalé Mexican Restaurant & Bar and we were able to get made-to-order Huevos Rancheros for breakfast (we were particularly impressed watching the cook fire up a real grill and break real eggs into the skillet).

If we didn’t have to squeeze into a bridesmaid dress a few days later we probably would have enjoyed the seasoned Mexican potatoes that came with, but we figured that the 3 eggs, refried beans and fresh corn tortillas were already pushing it and took pleasure in the side of flavorful fresh fruit instead.

With our gate only a few paces away we were able to have our food plated and experience an honest, civilized breakfast. In fact, we were almost sad to hear our boarding announcement with the full bar and top shelf tequila calling our name, but we were grateful to have a happy, full belly for the trip and arrived at our destination ready to pick up flowers and finish reception favors.

We couldn’t be more stoked for the option to have carnitas, chorizo and guacamole instead of a shrink-wrapped, three day old deli sandwich at the airport. And with more weddings looming and a much-needed vacation on the horizon, for once we’re actually looking forward to the airport portion of our upcoming trips.

Andalé Mexican Restaurant & Bar [Menupages]
Andalé Mexican Restaurant & Bar [Official Site]

Photo: By Lucahjin

It's time, folks: Take a long lunch, get your car/bus/train fare together, buy a magazine or two for the wait. Ben and Jerry's Free Cone Day is tomorrow, and the lines will be phoenomenal!

Nah, we're just being dramatic. It's great. Ben and Jerry's feel-good ice cream company has been giving out free cones since it's one-year anniversary in 1979. Now, on it's dirty 30th birthday, the secret has somehow gotten out. Expect a bit of a wait, but it just may be worth it. You can find participating stores here, and a fun little B&J history lesson here.

No, they're not bribing us with any more free ice cream than you get.

Ben and Jerry's [Official Site]
Photo: Cresny [Flickr] Free Cone Day 2007

Add this shocker to the list of things we have in common with Drew Carey: A love of bacon-wrapped hot dogs. During our long tenure in San Francisco, we developed a late-night affection for the singular street-treats while stumbling home from bars in the Mission district.

The pork masterpieces are available from carts in many U.S. cities, as well as all over Mexico, so we know it's not just a local cuisine. Who wouldn't want a grilled, bacon-wrapped hot dog smothered in grilled peppers, onions, salsa, crema and sometimes even guacamole?

For starters, the Los Angeles Health Department, according to this fine piece of reporting by Drew Carey for Reason.tv. Take a look at the saga of an intrepid street vendor and her struggle to give the people what they want. And then try to walk away from this and not stop for a package of hot-dogs and one of bacon on the way home. Bet you can't eat just one!

Food Fight: Battle of the Bacon Dogs [Reason.tv]
In Videos: Drew Carey in 'Food Fight: Battle of the Bacon Dogs' [Required Eating]

•The new Clover machines make sure that Starbucks coffee doesn't taste like soil. [MP: Boston]
•The last paragraph of this post contains probably the raunchiest joke ever made on MenuPages. [MP: Chicago]
•No matter how much you love Obama, it's probably unsanitary to purchase his half-eaten breakfast. [MP: Philadelphia]
•OMG, San Francisco has a chain called Pizza Orgasmica! [MP: San Francisco]
•Eating on the sand seems precarious. What if the wind blew it into your food? [MP: South Florida]

Walking up Valencia heading back to the Inner Sunset after a night of merrymaking, our tired, hungry troop passed one of the sidewalk hot dog vendors grilling up hot dogs and onions like it was nobody’s business.

Us: Seriously, bacon-wrapped hot dogs are a brilliant gastronomic indulgence.
Friend: I haven’t had a hot dog in a really long time.
Us: Yeah. Where the heck do you get a good hot dog in this town when you’re not in the Mission on a Friday night?
Friend: What about the place over on Judah?
Us: [We stop walking. We do that thing where we look up at the sky trying to visualize what we’re thinking about] Right…that place. We need to check it out. A Sap.

And so we did.

Underdog, a couple of blocks before 19th avenue on Judah in the Sunset (yes, “way out” in the Sunset), is really a fabulous discovery for hot dog lovers. Even hot dog lovers that don’t eat hot dogs. This place has something for everyone. Veggie dogs, vegan dogs, chicken dogs, roasted garlic dogs, bratwurst…pigs may be filthy animals, but we’re convinced Underdog could make a believer out of any anti-pork consumer.

Admittedly, this American food fixation we’ve been entertaining for the last week or so is fairly unhealthy so we decided that as yummy as the roasted garlic and herb hot dog sounded, instead we would try out the Veggie-Dog with stone ground mustard, organic sauerkraut and a whole wheat bun. The hot dog was amazing. Really. There was only one moment of pause when we considered checking out the possibility of getting a side of barbecue sauce and avocado to go on top of the mustard and kraurt, but we resisted and thoroughly enjoyed the link anyway.

We’re pretty sure after our up-coming week of dieting Underdog is going to become our new favorite guilty pleasure. And yes, next time we’re there we’ll to see if they can possibly wrap our Veggie-Dog in bacon and serve it up with grilled onions.

Underdog [Menupages]
Underdog [Official Site]

Photo: By chotda [Flikr]

America's most exclusive restaurant? It's not what you think. Not Le Cirque or Momofuku Ko or the French Laundry. Nope, the single-table Talula's Table, in tiny, historic Kennett Square, PA, about an hour outside Philadelphia, only accepts reservations one year in advance, and you have to be damned lucky to get one at all.

An upscale market by day, they convert to a restaurant after hours and do one seating a night for their renowned tasting menu. NPR reporter Alex Chadwick visited recently and reports:

A single farm table becomes center stage for one of the country's most exclusive dining experiences. A dozen lucky people gather around it to share an eight-course meal that runs from egg custard with Jonah crab to osso bucco made from pork, all prepared with local ingredients by husband-and-wife proprietors Bryan Sikora and Aimee Olexy.

Because of the restaurant's popularity and its single nightly seating, [proprietor Aimee] Olexy has devised a special system for selecting diners. Though the phone often begins ringing with requests at sunrise, she does not pick it up until 7 a.m. on the dot. The caller is then offered a reservation exactly one year later. Requests for earlier or later are denied, as are attempts to play the VIP card to skirt the procedure entirely.

Talula's: The Toughest Reservation in the U.S.? [NPR: Day to Day]
One restaurant, one table, and a year-long waiting list [Slashfood]
Talula's Table [Official Site]
Photo lifted from Hypsography

• Ban Ki-moon laments global food crisis for the bazillionth time [AP]
• The stalled farm bill contains much-needed relief for poor families [Tribune]
• Reuters has two detailed writeups on the food crisis that review the causes and recount the latest woes, of which there are many [Reuters, Reuters]
• Our pretend cousin Nelson Peltz just bought Wendy's for $2.3b [NYTimes]

Pie seems to be all grown up these days.

It’s kind of like going back to your hometown for a wedding or a reunion and finding out that the nice, awkward, curly-haired kid that sat next to you in Biology grew into their looks and locks and is not only no longer awkward, but is actually out-hipping you while they sip their glass of red wine and share self-effacing stories of non-profit work gone awry and exotic travel that wasn’t so exotic.

The banana cream tart at Tartine Bakery is this kid. We ordered it expecting it to be good because well, it’s Tartine and it was bound to taste like banana cream pie, but what we weren’t expecting was the addition of a burnt caramel and dark chocolate-laced crust that lent itself to a seductive, adult sophistication that is altogether missing from a traditional banana cream. But we’ve been around the food block a few times ourselves so we caught on quickly and made sure that the charm of the freshly whipped cream didn’t take advantage of us (but oh how we cleverly turned the tables and took advantage of it).

Don’t worry, we eventually came out of our food coma and decided that Tartine’s banana cream tart is just the thing that could permanently steer us away from the time-honored, all-American pie we know and love. So a few days later we trekked over to Mission Pie —Mission street and 25th—and got a sampling of slices for our monthly movie night.

Mission Pie never disappoints. The pie is freshly made and tastes like home if home is nostalgic and magical. The apple pie is a staple and every time we order it we consider topping it with cheddar cheese (we’ve never actually done this, topping pie with cheese, but it seems so delightfully kitschy that we can’t help but consider it). We also took home a slice of pumpkin and slice of the pear ginger. It’s ridiculous how this pie tastes so right without having to try very hard. Simple, fresh, sustainable ingredients go such a long way in the food industry and Mission Pie makes sure every patron recognizes this fact.

Simple or sophisticated, we love pie. And we’re happy to have both Tartine and Mission Pie around to meet our expectations and then some. Now, if only somone would reinvent the Poptart things would be perfect.

Tartine Bakery [Menupages]
Tartine Bakery [Official Site]
Mission Pie [Official Site]

Photo: By missionpie [Flikr]

Psst. Ever wanted to have you own hot dog cart? Maybe you've entertained dreams of making your own dirty water dogs. Maybe you've read A Confederacy of Dunces one time too many. Or maybe you're just a rich person with too much free time on your hands.

Either way, Hammacher Schlemmer is here to help. We just got word that their catalog now features an "Authentic New York Hot Dog Vendor Cart. Here's the word from HM:

"Made of durable food-grade 18-gauge stainless steel, the cart rolls on two 20" pneumatic wheels and a locking caster with two handles that provide easy maneuvering. It has three removable 360" cu. stainless steel steamer trays that can each hold up to 20 hot dogs or sausages. The front of the cart has a storage ring and hook-up for a propane tank (not included); propane provides fuel for the dual burner assembly housed in the rear interior of the cart directly under the three steamers; burners may be individually controlled by knobs in the cart's rear. A top-loading 3,000" cu. ice cooler keeps your beverages and meats cold; a drain plug on the bottom of the chassis allows you to drain meltwater. The front of the cart houses a two shelf storage or display area for drinks, buns, or condiments; additional storage area is located underneath."

The best part? The cart can be used to make Chicago-style dogs as well.

The Authentic New York Hot Dog Vendor Cart [Hammacher Schlemmer]

We’re not even going to try to claim we have a handle on the best SF pizza places because frankly, San Francisco just isn’t a pizza city. What's more, there are simply too many variables to consider when talking about pizza. Crust preferences, sauce snobbery, topping theatrics--there is just too much room for conflict and disagreement in the pizza world. Which is too bad because we’ve been on a major pizza kick, but because we’re tired of getting into cat fights and screaming matches about which place has the best slice of pepperoni, we’ve decided to go it alone and find the pizza that best suits our needs.

For us that usually means voluptuously doughy crust and bold toppings. This is one of the reasons Pizza Orgasmica got our delivery order last weekend. In light of our continuing love affair with the white anchovy sandwich, we couldn’t resist ordering the Divorce (blue cheese sauce, anchovies, garlic, onions and clams), but we suspected that it might be on the salty side so we went half and half with the Aphrodisiac (Orgasmica® white wine cream sauce, salmon, scallops and Orgasmica® marinated shrimp). Seafood and pizza is such a good idea. The only thing that could have made it better would have been the addition of avocado and barbecue sauce.

After eating most of the medium pizza ourselves, we had pizza on the brain and decided to go at it again the next day (we swear) and get a pie at Pizzeria Delfina on 18th at Guerrero. We almost went traditional and ordered the Margherita, but of course we were seduced by the elaborate sound of the day’s special Carbonara pizza, which boasted leeks, pancetta, 2 eggs and pecorino cheese. We didn’t know what pecorino cheese was until we asked our friendly waiter (it’s a sharp sheep’s milk variety), but now we’re on the lookout for it on menus around the city.

We have to say that considering San Francisco's national pizza reputation, our standard-issue pizza needs have been adequately met even without going for an always popular deep dish extravaganza at Little Star Pizza, which is pretty hard to knock no matter what your pizza preferences may be.

Pizza Orgasmica [Menupages]
Pizza Orgasmica [Official Site]
Pizzeria Delfina [Menupages]
Pizzeria Delfina [Official Site]
Little Star Pizza [Menupages]
Little Star Pizza [Official Site]

Photo: Pizzeria Delfina official site

There's a very enticingly titled post from Tuesday on Bon Appetit's editor's blog. It's called How To Start A Cooking Club. That sounds like a great idea. We (densely) never even thought of it before, but it's a club where a bunch of friends get together and cook interesting stuff. Fun, right?

While the body of this particular blog entry doesn't specifically outline instructions on cooking club formation &mdash rather a series of jealousy-inducing photos of the author's own cooking club's latest accomplishments &mdash the author sends readers to the extremely handy Bon Appetite Cooking Club page, which does feature pdf downloads on the basics of starting and organizing a cooking club, as well as monthly menus, including recipes and a game plan.

This is definitely the season for getting out of the house, sipping wine on the fire escape, lollygagging with your friends in the park and destroying the kitchen with way-too-ambitious recipes. Get out there and do it, folks!

How To Start A Cooking Club [Epicurious/BA Blog]
The Bon Appetit Cooking Club [Epicurious/BA]
Photo: Aftermath, by Dishevld [Flickr]

• Our little Sam's Club rice sales limit tagged as "food rationing" [Guardian]
• Japan's butter shortage initiated by dairy cow cull two years ago [Salon]
• More countries (Uganda this time) telling their citizens to garden [AllAfrica]
• FDA to animal feed manufacturers: no more mad cow prions in the mix [Reuters]
• Farm bill, still unresolved, is increasingly out of step with reality [NYTimes]

Here's your Wednesday coffee-break roundup of the local food sections. Enjoy!

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

The local king salmon collapse means fish-eaters will have to turn to other sources for this summer's fare. [Goodbye, king - hello coho]

We finally get a review of hot spot Waterbar [Views, seafood compete for attention at Waterbar]

Amanda Gold checks out La Trappe [Dining Out]

Looks like the Mina crew are opening a cocktail bar [Inside Scoop]

And we get a first look at Anchor & Hope [What's New]

Over at the San Francisco Bay Guardian:

Paul Reidinger is moderately enthusiastic about L'ardoise [Let's go to the board]

Reidinger also comes up with some solutions for wasteful airline infrastructure [Fly, read, eat!]

And L.E. Leone muses on bad jokes and barbecued pasta sparing a paragraph for Alameda's La Pinata [Cheap Eats]

Finally, in the SF Weekly:

Meredith Brody checks out San Francisco's Little Saigon: a few blocks of Larkin Street [Two Blocks of Vietnam]

Just as the country has finally re-embraced carbs after the whole Atkins nightmare, now we're all going to be forced onto low-carb diets by rising food prices. First, wheat. There's the worldwide rice shortage that will soon be seriously affecting us. Now beer prices are increasing because of the scarcity of hops and barley.

Two ingredients — hops and malted barley — are behind much of the price increases.

Hops produce the chemicals that give beer its distinct flavor. Some varieties are used to bitter the drink. Others impart its floral aromas. Most commercially grown domestic hops come from Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

After water, malted barely is the next-biggest ingredient in beer. It provides the sugars that turns into alcohol when the beer is fermented.

Barley prices have risen because of worldwide demand for grains, including wheat, corn and rice. Philip Sutton, owner of Skyscraper Brewing Co., a small brewery in El Monte, said the price of a 50-pound bag of malted barley had jumped to $22, or 57% higher than a year ago.

Hops prices are soaring even more. Sutton paid $3.40 to $4.70 a pound for hops a year ago. The least expensive hops he has found this year were $12.63 a pound, and he's paid all the way up to $22.45. But that's only if he can find them.

"The hops that we like to use just aren't available," Sutton said. That has forced him to substitute other hops in some of his beer recipes "and that makes a different beer. It's still good but isn't what we would ideally have," said Sutton, who has raised his prices 20% to 30%.

Rising beer prices hard to swallow [Los Angeles Times]
Asia limits rice exports as prices and uncertainty rise [Christian Science Monitor]

Photo, of barley: Shandchem [Flickr]

After reading yesterday's item in trade mag Restaurants and Institutions about a drive-through dispute that resulted in a double stabbing in Texas (!?), we got just curious enough to Google the term "fast-food rage" (but without the quotes).

Turns out there are all kinds of examples of idiots wailing on one another while in line or in the parking lots of fast food restaurants. Usually, it seems to have to do with vehicular disputes, more like road rage that happens to be taking place in the parking lot of a McDonalds, though there is this one case in Georgia back in August where a woman got so mad at perceived line-jumping inside the store that she tried to run down a couple outside. Yikes!

But none of these fights seem to stem from the one behavior in fast food restaurants that makes us seriously consider throwing a punch: the jerk who takes too long at the self-serve coffee machine. Seriously, if you don't drop that cream in and mix it as you're walking away so the rest of us can get our fix, we think manhandling you out of there should be a viable option.

But a Google search for "coffee rage" (with and without quotes) turned up only this incident in Boston, to speak of, where a couple of customers got into it in the drive-through of a Dunkin Donuts. Again: road rage, not coffee rage.

People, here this now: You're spinning your wheels fighting each other over French fries and drive-through windows. If a state of terror existed around the self-serve coffee dispenser, the world would be a better place.

Fast food drive-through rage leads to double-stabbing [Restaurants and Institutions]
Fast food flare-up: Possible road-rage at McDonald's [KTVB Idaho]
Angry Woman Gets Revenge At McDonald's [Associated Press]
Food Fights Across Boston [Universal Hub]
Photo: Coffee Rage album cover, lifted from Mad Blasts of Chaos

• PETA offers paltry $1m for construction of artificial meat lab [AP]
• Bad press forces meat industry to support banning downer cows [PE]
• Another cause of the food crisis: structural adj. programs [AllAfrica]
• Congress mad at USDA for sucking, in wake of herapin scandal [VOA]
• In sign of times, McD int'l sales way up, US sales way down [Tribune]

A torrent of articles from around the country have made certain what we noticed anecdotally the other day at the supermarket: America is in the grips of a severe matzo shortage. While there was just enough to go around for seders on Saturday and Sunday nights, observant Jews are scrambling to find supplies of the unleavened bread to sustain them for the rest of Passover, another five or six days of dietary restriction.

Theories for why this is happening this year abound, but are ultimately limited in scope. The aforementioned articles have pointed to recalcitrant retailers like Trader Joe's who have declined to carry matzo this year, stymied suppliers like Manischewitz that couldn't make Tam Tam mini-matzos because of equipment failures, and cantankerous consumers who didn't plan ahead and rushed to buy the limited cache of matzo all at once.

But these explanations ignore the reality that, while matzo is certainly a niche product, what this amounts to, more or less, is a bread shortage. As people around the globe are increasingly — and for many, painfully — aware, the price of wheat has DOUBLED in the past year. Matzo, as you may or may not know, is made of NOTHING BUT wheat! So it costs more to make, and less was made. We're merely implying causality here, but let's put aside our lack of hard evidence and consider the following:

All of a sudden, the people of the developing world are rapidly increasing their average daily calorie intake while the land, water, and energy resources used to grow food products are rapidly diminishing in quantity and quality. The wealthiest ten percent of the world has been materially unaffected by this imbalance, but billions are forced to sacrifice and hundreds of millions are on the brink of starvation. It is unfortunate that the richest decile of the world's population — the people who are in the best positions, politically and economically, to address the food crisis — have little in the way of structural incentives to make the sort of wholesale systemic changes to the global food/energy system that is necessary to ensure sufficient, reliable and equitable supplies of foodstuffs.

Earth Day and Passover are just the kinds of navel-gazing opportunities we need to encourage us to consider how to go about feeding ourselves in this new era of unprecedented high demand and low supply. While many await a technological panacea to rescue us from our present conundrum, no real solution is possible without a shift in attitude by the world's producing class (that, or we could start eating a hell of a lot less meat). The matzo shortage story may not exactly be a warning shot across the bow, but it's certainly a sign that no one's entirely immune to global commodities turmoil.

It’s Passover. Who’s Hiding the Matzo? [NYTimes]
Matzo in short supply for Bay Area Passover [SFGate]
Hit or miss with finding matzo as Passover looms closer [MercuryNews]
As Passover nears, matzo in short supply [Contra Costa Times]
Matzo shortage at many Reno stores looms for Passover [Reno Gazette-Journal]
Price Volatility Adds to Worry on U.S. Farms [NYTimes]
In Lean Times, Biotech Grains Are Less Taboo [NYTimes]
Rising Demand for Meat Takes Toll on Environment [NPR]

[Photo: no more matzo, in any language (missapril1956/Flickr)

N.B. Special bonus! There's also a shortage on Kosher-for-Passover margarine because farmers planted ethanol corn in lieu of cotton last year. Hope you like your flourless chocolate cakes dry!

Maybe it was the ridiculously warm weather a couple of weekends ago or maybe the patriotism of the elections is creeping into our eating habits. All we know is we’ve been craving American food like none other these last few days and we’re having a surprisingly hard time trying to find it.

The thing is, when you live in a city were ethnic cuisine reigns supreme and health consciousness is so very in vogue, it’s kind of hard to find quality comfort food. That said, this week we’ve decide to devote the rest of our posts to all things American, starting with our quest for the ultimate burger.

We all know there are some damn tasty veggie burgers to be had in this city, but what we really want is meat. Preferably from a happy, farm-raised, grass-fed cow. After taking an intensive poll, there seems to be a fight for Burger king between Burger Joint and Burgermeister; both restaurants get solid reviews for their classic, big burgers and tasty fries and both have several locations in the city.

But for a completely different take on the classic burger, our ultra-foodie friends swear the Slow Club in SOMA makes the best bistro burger in town, but we’ve also had some good experiences in SOMA building our own frou-frou sandwich at Custom Burger. General rule of thumb when creating any meal: avocado and barbecue sauce can be put on anything. Anything.

At the end of the day we usually end up at In-N-Out Burger because it’s fun to order off the “Secret Menu” and it’s a California institution.

Yeah so, it looks like we have the burgers figured out, but please don't get us started on the fries situation...

Burger Joint [Menupages]
Burger Joint [Official Site]
BurgerMeister [Menupages]
Burgermeister [Official Site]
Slow Club [Menupages]
Slow Club [Official Site]
In-N-Out Burger [Menupages]
In-N-Burger [Official Site]

Photo: Burgermeister burger by Marshall Astor [Flickr]

As America gets ahold of itself in the wake of Pope Benedict XVI's recent visit, the time has come for parsing and analyzing every little thing His Holiness did while abroad in our native land. Not the least of these is what he ate.

Last week, former Cardinal John Ratzinger visited the United States for the first time since becoming the Catholic church's 265th pope in 2005. While in New York City, celebrity chef, local restaurateur and cookbook author Lidia Bastianich, along with a team of high-profile chefs cooked for His Holiness. Bastianich emigrated from Italy in 1958, when she was 12, with the help of Catholic Charities. From the New York Daily News:

Bastianich was asked two months ago if she would like to cook for the Pope, and didn't even believe it at first. "I looked around behind me, to see if they were talking to someone else," she says. "The Pope even looks like my father, and I kind of feel as if it's my father coming to dinner. For me, it is an opportunity to welcome someone as family and make the Pope feel comfortable."

You can take a look at the full menu on Serious Eats, as well as some recipes on ABC's website. There's also a website dedicated to the visit with a full roundup. We simply can't imagine the pressure Bastianich must have felt, but she seems to have pulled it off. Congratulazioni, Lidia!

Bastianich plans a meal fit for the Pope [NY Daily News]
Cooking for the Pope: Lidia Bastianich Comes Full Circle [Serious Eats]
Recipes: Cooking For The Pope [ABC]
United States Papal Visit 2008 [Official Site]
Lidia Bastianich [Official Site]
Photo: Nuncatrezeamesa [Flickr]

• Fast food calorie listing rolls out in New York to yawns [NYTimes]
• Food safety art project terror professor's case dismissed [TimesUnion]
• Federal crackdown on raw milk not sitting well with farmers [Tribune]
• WFP: 100m more people on food assistance than six months ago [BBC]
• Slow Food movement looks for a hook in Asia's fast lane [Reuters]
• Matzo shortage raises more questions than it answers [NYTimes]

see more crazy cat pics

Omg, lolcatz are soooo cute. You know who agrees? Jones Soda. They luv the little guys so much they haz contest for label! And you can vote!

For the uninitiated (anyone, anyone?) lolcatz are the hilariously cute photoshop jobs where people make "capshuns" of pictures of animals &mdash usually cats &mdash in lolspeak, "teh furst language born of teh intertubes." They come from the site icanhascheezburger.com.

Now the way hip marketing staff over at way hip Jones Soda (known for using customer-submitted snapshots on its labels) has this very fun idea to make lolcatz labels for its bottles. They did a call for submissions, and now there's a post up where you can vote on the favorite. It is, no surprise, getting a lot of hits, but the funniest part is the ire raised in hardcore lolspeakers posting comments about how their submissions didn't get picked:

i uhgri meh copeez have ben owevrluked. maybeh dis kitteh site needz mawr hutzspa awl mai cheezez neber make it wen i iz lauffin 2 much at mai own. theez wunz nawt sew hyoomoruss

When it comes to dinning out we don’t need an excuse, which is great news for Dinning Out For Life , the annual fundraiser taking place Thursday in San Francisco that partners with restaurants nationwide to help stop the spread of HIV.

Good causes and good food makes for a good time. And every eatery from Asqew Grill to Rubicon seems to be participating this year so there’s really no reason folks can’t leave the ground beef in the freezer and let someone else do the cooking tonight. Besides, 25% of the bill will go to the STOP AIDS foundation.

In an effort to continue our quest for some solid Americana cuisine we’re trying to decide between Blue and Home . Both serve comfort food and both are in the ever-colorful Castro (admittedly, a stereotypically appropriate neighborhood for the fundraiser). Both restaurants serve Mac and Cheese, but Blue pushes the envelope a little and offers it with chicken, as in actual chunks of chicken swimming merrily in sharp cheddar cheesy goodness. Of course, checking out the nightly specials it looks like Home is going to be serving Cornflake Fried Chicken and you can’t get much more American then fried chicken AND cornflakes.

We’re probably going to flip a coin, but everyone else should check out the list of participants (the SF site allows you to search by neighborhood, cuisine and meal) and help raise some money while you raise your glasses.

Asqew Grill [Menupages]
Asqew Grill[Official Site]
Rubicon [Menupages]
Rubicon [Official Site]
Blue [Menupages]
Blue [Official Site]
Home [Menupages]
Home [Official Site]

Photo: By Beyond Robson

Have you ever heard of meat, actual meat, that does not come from an animal? Well, it exists, and according to the New York Times, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants it to take over the food world.

The animal rights group has offered a $1 million reward for the “first person to come up with a method to produce commercially viable quantities of in vitro meat at competitive prices by 2012.”

In vitro meat is the laboratory-grown meat substance based on stem cells taken from live animals. it's been around for a few years, but so far scientists haven't found a way to make its mass-production economically viable.

The attraction to PETA is obvious: Get lab-grown meat main-streamed and you reduce the amount of animals getting slaughtered for actual meat. But according to the Times, the move caused something of a schism in the PETA office.

Lisa Lange, a vice president of the organization, said she was part of the heated exchange. “My main concern is, as the largest animal rights organization in the world, it’s our job to introduce the philosophy and hammer it home that animals are not ours to eat.” Ms. Lange added, “I remember saying I would be much more comfortable promoting eating roadkill.”

PETA’s Latest Tactic: $1 Million for Fake Meat [NY Times]
In Vitro Meat
[NY Times]
Evil Monkey’s Guide to Kosher Imaginary Animals [Ecstatic Days]
Photo: Andreyphoto.com [Flickr]

• Ban Ki-moon issues his daily reminder on the direness of the food crisis [TPA]
• If the food crisis is bad now, what happens when there are 9 billion of us? [CSM]
• For starters, we'll have to give up our opposition to GM crops. Oh well! [NYTimes]
• Meanwhile, crop prices are wreaking counterintuitive havoc on farmers [AP]
• China's new food safety laws carry a maximum punishment of life in prison [Guardian]
• Gullible Australians believe the stupidest food safety myths [SMH]

•"When in France (even though this loaf is not a French native), one must have a nice and crusty bread to have on the counter, in case of emergency (or spontaneous company)." [MP: Boston]
•"Pastries are funny." [MP: Chicago]
•"Philadelphia is every bit as much a hamburger town as New York." [MP: Philadelphia]
•"Discounted drinks and cheap eats; there’s nothing better to get the reluctant tax payer spending again." [MP: San Francisco]
•"Sure, we want restaurants to have sufficient toilet paper in their restrooms, and we like it when they offer up the daily specials' prices. But it's not really something that needs to be legislated." [MP: South Florida]

• The global food crisis and riots aren't going away [NYTimes]
• Guyana's idea: give everyone seeds for gardening [AP]
• USDA brazenly says slaughterhouse oversight sufficient [Baltimore Sun]
• Will the country-of-origin labeling bill go far enough? [LATimes]
• Walmart to pull the plastic baby bottles w/ leaky chemicals [Tribune]