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

Chowhounds sounded off like crazy on a thread asking which restaurant resonated most with out-of-towners. No surprise that Gary Danko and Chez Panisse got a lot of mentions, but there are some other gems in here as well.

As for us, we always take visitors for a burrito at Taqueria San Francisco on 24th and York for a real, top-of-the-line San Francisco super burrito. Also a drink at the Top of the Mark. Every city has some version of haute cuisine, but none can match the local gem that is the Mission burrito or the views at the Top.

What's your out-of-towner standby?

What restaurant has most impressed visitors? [Chowhound]
Taqueria San Francisco [MenuPages]
Photo: View from the Top of the Mark by Christito [Flickr]

Talk about a real hit at a party. The New York Times' John Tierney posted a blog entry celebrating Pi Day, the geekiest holiday in the history of civilization, which happens to be today. First celebrated by the Exploratorium in San Francisco exactly 20 years ago, March 14 (3.14) is a day to sit back and marvel at the mathematical miracle that is pi.

Here are a couple of Tierney's food-related suggestions on how to ring in the day. Hold on to your pocket-protector:

There's a method of calculating pi that involves throwing hot dogs onto a piece of paper. You'll have to check out Wiki-How for that one.

You could eat a slice of pie at pi second: 1:59 p.m. (3.14 1:59)

Our own humble suggestion includes a nod to the time of year. We've been eating oranges like they're going out of style because, well, they are. At least, they're going out of season. But these globular fruits also encompass nature's love of a certain mathematical equation. So, using the round fruits and a round pie pan, please enjoy the following orange pie recipes.

Fresh Orange Pie [Recipe Zaar]
Mandarin Orange Pie [Essortment]
Orange Meringue Pie [Allrecipes]
Key Orange Pie [Diana's Kitchen]

Photo credit: Profkaren [Flickr]

Bad news in the follow-up to our Pink Grapefruit Mentos post yesterday: Candy Blog maven Cybele commented yesterday, and Mentos parent company Perfetti Van Melle confirmed in an e-mail today, that the pink pellets of grapefruit goodness are over and done for.

According to Jacqueline (no last name given) of PVM, "Pink Grapefruit was a limited time flavor and is no longer available." Oh. Okay, then. It would appear that the time is right for moving on, however now that seems impossible. Now that it's confirmed we'll never get to taste this candy that received a "10" from Candy Blogs, and that our friend went on and on about Sunday, it is the one and only goal we have left in life.

So what are your/our chances of ever tasting this mystery candy? Well, slim, obviously. Cybele indicated the grapefruit may still be in production for the Indonesian citrus-mix Mentos. Meanwhile, a Google search turned up a store in San Francisco, Miette, that is tracking the issue.

"Yes we have carried them in the past and I'm trying to find them again," says Miette Confisserie manager Kelly. "Currently, I'm searching for them. I'm trying to find a vendor." Kelly said the candies moved well, but that if they must be imported in future, the price may jump. It might still happen, though. These Miette people are enthusiastic about their candy. "We're in love with them. We're obsessed with the grapefruit flavor. We make a macaroon [and a layer cake] with grapefruit flavor and we carry Haro gummies. They make a white and a pink grapefruit slices... We also carry Jelly Bellies' pink grapefruit jelly beans."

Well, if anybody can track down this mystery sweet, surely Kelly will. Meanwhile, it looks like this will be a chocolate-and-jelly-bean kind of Easter. Boring.

Miette [MenuPages]
Miette [Official Site]
Perfetti Van Melle [Official Site]
Candy Blog [Official Site]
Photo: Jeffrey Zalesny [Flickr]

Get ready, folks. With Easter around the corner, the internets are abuzz with opinions on egg-shaped confections. Whether they're plastic prize eggs filled with jelly beans or foil-wrapped Cadbury cream eggs, this is the season for ingesting far too much oval candy.

But before we get into the nitty gritty discussion of which Cadbury is the best (cream, duh), it's been suggested that a new, rare and highly valued candy join the pastel ranks left by that weird clucking rabbit. A friend yesterday described pink grapefruit Mentos as "the perfect blend of sweet and tart," and we concluded that with their pink color, minimal mess and apparently sophisticated flavor, they might be the perfect plastic-egg-stuffer for grown-ups.

But where to get these elusive treats? Our friend said they were purchased by chance from some corner store in Brooklyn, never to be seen there again. According to the Mentos website, "flavors of the world" include grape, mint and strawberry. But they're holding out on us.

An August, 2007 post on the Candy Blog documented the grapefruit flavor as part of a citrus assortment sold in the Phillipines, but there is little information currently online about where to find these candies in the here and now. If you have information, it would be welcome here. In the meantime, keep your eye out for these pink wonders and stock up if you find them. They don't stick around very long.

Mentos Plus Citrus Mix [Candy Blog]
Flavors Of The World [Mentos Official Site]
Photo credit: The Candy Blog

Oh, dear Lord: We just picked this up from SFist. Seems a South Carolina man stabbed himself to death on accident while cooking. His two sons were apparently with him when it happened. From The State:

Deputy Anderson County Coroner Charlie Boseman said Downing was using a steak knife to cut up noodles in a pan on the stove when he burned himself, jerked his hand away from the heat and plunged the knife between his ribs, piercing his heart.

Anyway, yeah, poor kids. Remember folks, use a cutting board, point your knife away from you and, most importantly, please don't stab yourself or anybody else. In fact, maybe you should see if Shuna Lydon is offering her knife skills class any time soon.

After the jump: A terrifying Canadian kitchen safety advisory that was making the rounds a few months ago.

Man Dies While Fixing Supper [SFist]
Man dies after stabbing himself while cooking [The State]

Continue reading "Be Safe, For God's Sake" »

Amazing. A vigilant Chowhound has tracked down what may be the one and only legitimate Cuban sandwich slung from a mobile platform in San Francisco.

A favorite on the East Coast, the pork/ham(I know, right?)/cheese/pickles fiesta-on-a-roll is scarce here. There are six cuban restaurants in San Francisco, according to Menupages, but as far as we can tell, only Paladar does the classic Cubano sandwich.

Well, that's all gonna change. According to Chowhound rworange, a truck named Goza Goza, parked behind the 11th and Mission Goodwill store, slings classic Cubanos, like Madre used to make. We haven't gone yet, but it's a fair guess they're cheaper than the $9 jobs at Paladar. Whether the quality is up to snuff? Well, you'll have to find out for yourself.

Yes, Virginia, there IS a Cuban sandwich truck [Chowhound]
Paladar [MenuPages]
Paladar [Official Site]

So... We have a made-up word with some of our friends back in Oakland. It's "hangry," and it's a contraction of "hungry" and "angry" that describes the state in which you find yourself, for example, after a long day when you've waited too long to have dinner. All of a sudden you catch yourself answering the phrase, "honey, how was your day," with, "It was f*cking fine, now back the f*ck off," and stomping into the kitchen where you eat something and suddenly you're all kisses and "I missed you dear"s.

Wonder if people took Michael Pollan's dogma of "eat food, not too much, mostly plants" a bit too far and made themselves hangry for his talk at Stanford last night. SFist is reporting a scuffle between an old hippy and a yuppy who reportedly didn't offer an old man the seat he was saving for his mom:

Things got good when sunglasses were grabbed, and Stanford students intervened.

Spotted! [SFist]

We were staring at the computer screen, going cross-eyed, when two items on our blogroll got intermingled.

First, Gridskipper posted a somewhat morbid "bloodlust" guide to the city, including information on boxing, Bondage A-Go-Go's regular "blood wrestling" events, a vampire tour and the Red Cross.

Then, we noticed Yumsugar had up a weird-but-good-sounding recipe for a blood orange milkshake:

Blood Orange Milkshake
Adapted from Roger's Trinbago and inspired by There Will Be Blood

2 cups milk
6 scoops vanilla ice cream
1 blood orange peeled, seeded and divided into segments

1. Pour the milk into the blender.
2. Add ice cream and blend for three minutes.
3. Add orange segments. Blend for two minutes.
4. Pour into a large glass.
5. Garnish with a really long straw.

And a post was born. Please forgive us. It's a slow news day and we weren't invited to Florida for the big food fest thing. MP South Florida was, though. Check it out.

Satisfy Your Bloodlust in San Francisco [Gridskipper]
TV Dinners: There Will Be Blood — Blood Orange Milkshake [Yumsugar]

George Washington's favorite foods included ice cream and fish, if you believe the fifth graders at Abingdon Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia, who compiled presidential facts for the White House website. According to that list, Thomas "goody two-shoes" Jefferson listed vegetables among his favorite foods, but also pancakes. John F Kennedy liked New England clam chowdah. Ronald Reagan was, of course, famous for his love of jelly beans. Our current president, George W. Bush, apparently enjoys a lunch of a peanut butter-and-honey sandwich with potato chips. Get this: for dinner, Bush enjoys cheeseburger pizza!

There's a lot to learn about the men who've run our country, folks, not the least of which (well, maybe the least of which) is what they liked to eat. In addition to the Whitehouse site, you might catch some culinary gems on the History Channel's American Eats presidential special, previewed here:

Presidential Biographies [White House Kids]

Valentine's day is chocolate's big day. This is the day when even those weirdos who don't like chocolate hope for a little something heart-shaped and brown and wrapped in pink foil to be slipped into their hand or mouth. That's all fine and good, but if we have to read another roundup of the Bay Area's artisan chocolate shops or another comparison of wine and chocolate combos, we're going to be seriously put off dessert.

Other foods encompass the spirit of Valentine's Day, too, you know. It doesn't always have to be chocolate. For example, today's for things like fieres inside, hot, sweaty bodies, blushing and the color red in general. Naturally, those are all effects of eating plenty of hot sauce. That's why we were heartened to find this special, Valentine's Day menu and recipes on the Hot Sauce Blog:

MENU
SHRIMP COCKTAIL
WITH
DRAGONFIRE

LINGUINE WITH BABY CLAMS
IN WHITE WINE SAUCE
WITH
FIREPOWER

AND GRILLED PORTER HOUSE STEAK
WITH ASPARAGUS
AND
HYPERNOVA
STEAK SAUCE

You can click over to find the recipes, but it may be a bit difficult to execute unless you keep a variety of Infusion brand hot sauces in the house. If you want something a little more ubiquitous, check out the Grinder. No recipes but some important discussion nonetheless.

Fiery Valentine’s Day Menu
Would You Like Cock Sauce With That? [The Grinder]

Who says a blog like the Ethicurean is humor impaired? We had to laugh out loud after this entry had us going for a good long while. It's about a "live tortilla bar" in Oakland:

I had no idea that Mexican food in the U.S. could be so adventurous. Behind the bar there was a container of the tortillas, wriggling furiously. Every now and then the chef grabbed one with her bare hands (!), doused it in a thin brick-red sauce, sprinkled on a bit of cheese and passed it to the pick-up station.

Read the rest on their site. It's funny. Kudos, Ethicurean, for keeping it funny and conscientious. Turns out the short anecdote was sort of inspired by last year's This American Life Poultry Slam, in which Jonathan Gold eats a live shrimp.

An adventure with live cuisine [Ethicurean]

Here is a cool recipe from Bits and Bites for potato bread made from leftover mashed potatoes. We like it because mashed potatoes are one of those things that you really need to do something else with as leftovers. Yes, you can reheat them in the microwave, but they'll totally suck and be boring and disappointing.

One good standby is to cover them with a little flower, get a cast iron skillet nice and greasy, and fry the hell out of them so that they're all brown on the outside and soft on the inside. But that only works once. You can't then keep the little potato-patties around after they've been fried and browned.

But you totally could keep this bread around. And it looks delicious. Only thing is, each loaf calls for just a cup of mashed potatoes, so depending on how much you've got leftover you may be dolling these out to homeless people or friends. Which would be fine.

Leftover Mash=Potato Bread [Bits and Bites]

One final note on this Wednesday... Oh, wait, that's a Marketplace line. And speaking of that surprisingly entertaining public radio show, we heard an interesting tidbit on the podcast this morning:

You know how airlines have made it policy to starve you out on cross-country flights? And you know how strangers are always accosting you in the street with free samples of crap you don't want, like diet Gatorade? Well how would you like it if those strangers boarded planes and offered you the free samples while in the air?

Apparently Kraft and JetBlue have decided to get together and find out. Kraft workers in white tuxedos will offer samples of low-fat cream cheese to travelers in coming weeks. It's a toss-up around here whether that would maybe be kind of nice or if it would be the final straw and cause us to go into such a frenzy of annoyance that the evening news would later dub us the "Cream Cheese Killer"

Kraft tries out cream cheese on JetBlue [Marketplace]

Looks like Richie Nakano from the blog Line Cook has left his post at Pres a Vi. No word on the blog as to where he'll be going, but he did indicate that he's got a new position that he loves. Also, he said the content on the site will be different.

Good luck, Richie, and please continue to post allusions to your drunken shenanigans from the night before. It makes us feel a little better about ourselves.

On leaving, some tough questions, and more notes. [Line Cook]
Photo courtesy of Line Cook

Well, according to one sneaky SFist commenter, they dine on California Pizza Kitchen when they're in our gleaming city by the Bay. Here's what happened outside the Bill Clinton/Gavin Newsom Hillary event:

I went down to the Ferry Building last night to try and get a snapper of those dudes. i camped out behind the motorcade and when the secret service opened up one of the Suburbans, it has like 4 large California Pizza Kitchen boxes in the back.

On second thought, could those have all been for Bill?

Hillary Coughs up a Lung While on KTVU [SFist]
California Pizza Kitchen [Menupages]

There's an interesting and important, if only mildly insightful thread going on Yelp right now. The issue at hand is how to deal with that one member of the dinner party who just won't put in his or her fair share.

In our increasingly casual society, money is one of the last taboo subjects, so often a tightwad can totally get away with it. Most responses on the thread didn't seem to offer any useful solutions (beath the sh*t out of them, one poster helpfully responds), but there's got to be a way. Maybe some of our readers can help this gang settle on a good solution.

Tactfully dealing with tightwads in social situations [Yelp]

Okay, we've got a bit of news coming your way, promise, but in the meantime pacify yourself with these videos. First, there's this clip from the Mighty Boosh, an MPSF favorite:

Cheese song, The Mighty Boosh

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Got that? Now get ready for this insane cover song here:

People, the Internets are a crazy, insane place. You're all nuts.

Wow, crazy doings up at the Schramsberg winery in Napa. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

After years of living quietly overseas, middle son John Davies has suddenly re-emerged, claiming that behind the grapes and glamour of Calistoga's Diamond Mountain lies a tale of betrayal, stock manipulation and dementia. The only element missing is the score for the 1980s night-time soap opera "Falcon Crest."

Ha, okay, way to date yourself, there, Stacy Finz. But seriously, we love a good scandal, and Finz is right. This one has it all: Family infighting, mental illness, financial finagling and a beautiful, photogenic backdrop. It even has a prodigal son living overseas. We love ex-patriots who come back to claim the family fortune. Definitely worth a read.

BITTER HARVEST [SF Chronicle]

Oh, to be a winner. But what if all you do well is lie around and eat? Well, we got a whiff, via The Snitch, of a Mental Floss list of some choice amateur prize eating offered by restaurants nationwide. Didn't see that burrito place in Huntington Beach that offered to pick up the check if you finished one of their Hindenburgs, but we were pleased that Beth's Cafe in Seattle got a mention. We've been there before and couldn't understand the 12-egg omelet. Is it for sharing? We wondered. No, turns out it's just for the truly ambitious:

We didn't see any Bay Area offerings on the list, but then, we can't think of any local eating challenges. Can you?

You're Gorge-ous: Impress Your Date By Accepting a Food Challenge at a Restaurant [The Snitch]
Food Challenges for the Super Hungry, Super Competitive or Super Cheap [Mental Floss]

Continue reading "From Coast To Coast With Taters And Toast" »

The Amateur Gourmet apparently shares not only our first name, but our same love of fine cinema, as was evidenced by his "TGIF" post last week of the Steve Martin short, "The Absentminded Waiter." While not quite up to the comedic standards of "The Jerk," this short had us chuckling enough to be glad our mouth wasn't full. If only all bad service payed off like that!

By now we've had two friends who have gone through chemo/radiation therapy for two different kinds of cancer. Both of these friends were in their 20s. One lived, the other died, but both times, when we heard the news of the disease, we were destroyed. The first time we sat in the apartment, not knowing what to do or say, just processing. The second time, we cooked Spanish rice.

There is an excellent article today on Bay Area Bites about cooking for someone undergoing chemo. This is the nastiest of all drug treatments, and our heart genuinely goes out to you and yours if you or a loved one is suffering through it.

From experience, we can tell you, it is better to make rice, or some other foodstuff, and bring it over to the loved one's house, fluffing pillows and returning videos while you're there, than it is to sit in the apartment and do nothing. Bringing food to a sick person may seem anathema in this age of delivery, but we're convinced that it helps both you and your tormented friend.

There's an old-school, "'it takes a village" mentality about making and delivering food that conveys love in a very tangible way. This will help your friend to not only have something to eat, but also to be reminded that he or she has people rooting for him or her. It will also help you stay sane, knowing that you are doing something real to help. We think that helps both of you retain hope during a most unpleasant, life-threatening time.

Here's wishing you and all your loved ones good health, dear reader.

Cooking For People Undergoing Chemo & Radiation [Bay Area Bites]

This is a fun clip from the 1947 film, Dark Passage, in which Bogey steps into the long-since-torn-down Harry's Wagon, a lunch wagon on Post Street near Fillmore Street, for coffee and eggs.

We love these old San Francisco films, and this might launch a small trend here at MPSF of digging up dinner scenes in them. Along with the clip, poster "Nedsparks" throws out some history, noting that lunch wagons proliferated as a second use for horse-drawn carriages after they were sidelined:

However, the professionally built lunch wagon companies continued to flourish, and by the 1920s, were euphemistically called "dining cars" (an allusion to the excellent food served on many trans-continental trains) or "diners" for short.

God bless Bogey. Let's watch, shall we?

Okay, we tried to keep this musical theme going, but it just won't work for this post, as it is a movie. But it's such a funny movie. You just have to see it. Thanks to SFist for finding it.

See how funny that was? I mean, cell phones? fine. But what's with the bubblegum? That's just sick.

Deep Fried Cell Phones [Sfist]

After reading a story about a Chicago restaurant that makes its customers sign a waiver before ordering its hot wings, we got to thinking about some of San Francisco's hottest tickets.

The first thing that jumped to mind was the orange Habanero salsa at Taqueria Guadalajara on 24th St. The stuff is so hot that one chipful stayed with us for hours, refusing to be tamed by a whole super-nachos' worth of crema.

A Chowhound thread from back in May gets into this topic a little, and Jalapeno Girl also touches on the subject.

Also, the folks at the Hot Sauce Blog dilligently review hot sauces, as you might imagine, and provide recipes, tips and information on raw peppers. Apparently Habaneros aren't the hottest in the world, but somehow Guadalajara managed to make them so. We may never drink hot liquids again.

Snacking on a wing and a prayer [Yahoo News]
Utra Spicey? [Chowhound]

Dang. This was going to be the day. This was going to be the big Friday on which we finally unleashed the double-decker bus racing video we picked up off Telstar Logistics so many weeks ago. What with the storm and all, we figured you needed a bit of cheering up.

But wouldn't you know it? The video was taken down by its creator. That's the bad news. The good news is that the folks over at SF Foodie, the SF Weekly's food blog, tracked down an equally bizzare, not to mention more food-related, video, so now you can go out on this weirdness (we'll never watch Bambi or The Lion King the same way again, that's for sure):

New Orangina Spot: Hot Bear On Doe Action [SF Foodie]

Looks like the crew over at Bunrab feels it necessary to pay attention to the first bites of 2008, as do we. While we went for the weird with tomato beer and oysters, Gutenberg kept it standard at Sam's Log Cabin, way up in Albany. That's a place we never got to during our stint in the East Bay. Too bad, too. Those catfish bars, however ambivalent they left Gutenberg, look damned good. Go to Bunrab for more pictures.

First Breakfast of the Year [Daily Feed]

We got lucky on New Year's this year. No, not like that. We just ate some of the right stuff for the day. A cup of black-eyed pea soup was the first thing down the gullet after midnight, followed by oysters and a Clamato-mixed Dos Equis the next morning. That was at Tacos Zamorano, where we also enjoyed huevos con jamon, refried beans, rice and some of the best corn tortillas around.

An informal poll of other MP staffers revealed some lucky bites, some classics and some practical first meals of 2008.

Carolina Bolado, of MP South Florida, ate 12 grapes just after midnight, a Spanish good luck tradition. The next morning, she had more grapes, if a little aged, in the form of Raisin Bran, accompanied by an apple cider.

Leila Cohan, MP Boston editor, was too full from linguine carbonara on Monday night to eat a post-midnight snack, but she enjoyed a practical bowl of oat meal on Tuesday morning.

MP Chicago's Adam Peltz feasted on late-night nachos and a Clif bar to get through that long evening of revelry. The next day started with an omelet with ham, cheddar and cherry tomatoes over hash browns and toast with coffee and a bloody Mary.

And over at MP Chicago, Neal Ungerleider couldn't be bothered with solids after midnight, but made up for it the next morning with a classic hangover breakfast of cold pizza.

Feel free to write in with your own first bites, and please include in your 2008 resolutions a promise to enjoy more, if not all, meals for the adventure or solace they can provide.

Valentine's Day, Schmalentine's Day. Based on our own experience and asking a few friends, we've scientifically proven that the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year's are the time of year where more people couple up than any other.

Think about it: The weather turns cold and you start thinking more and more about having a warm pair of arms to come home to. There are parties galore, many of which, like work events, bring different social circles into contact. There's even a party that includes a traditional midnight kiss.

With all this intrigue, you're going to need a place to take your date. That's why this thread on Chowhound, calling for a less-than-$50 romantic dinner, will come in handy, however misguided.

It is misguided, of course, because the original poster wants a place to have an anniversary dinner. Now, unless you work for minimum wage or are on social security, you need to spring for a better anniversary place. But $50 is just about right for a first or second date. It's nice enough so that you don't look like a cheapskate, but cheap enough to write off if the date goes bad.

There are some good suggestions on this list, including the Hog Island Oyster Co. picnic. What could be better than slurping and sipping on a brisk West Marin afternoon? There are also plenty of traditional choices, too. But don't listen to those posters who recommend not getting drinks. The idea is romantic, not puritan.

SF romantic dinner for under $50 for two. Possible? [Chowhound]

OMG, if there's one thing we love around here more than overeating, drunken monkeys and local crime stories, it's bad, forced puns. This movie has them in spades. [Waiterrant]

The following video footage has nothing to do with San Francisco, little to do with food and even less to do with restaurants that serve humans. But we've been kind of obsessively watching it all day and our (barely) stifled laughs probably have co-workers wondering what the hell is wrong.

Here's the answer, and we have the Amateur Gourmet to thank for it:

Wow, has it been this long already? What a year. It was really driven home to us after realizing that this Saturday is 2007 Santacon, one of those information-age phenomena, like flash mobs or something, that involves a bunch of people getting together quasi-spontaneously to do something weird.

Only in Santacon's case, it's no 200-strong pillow-fight--we're talking a national event--and it's no five-minute flash mob, either. This marathon goof-fest involves hundreds of nerds dressed in Santa Claus costumes, doing something like a 12-hour bar crawl through the city, storming into each place, making a scene, drinking a bunch, then moving on like a pack of red-velveted liquor-locusts.

So if that sounds like fun to you, you weirdo, check out the local sight, and gaze upon these photos from last year we pulled off of Flickr and various other places:

Here's a late addition, below: A friend of MPSF in the 11th hour of last year's festivities. She's standing, but barely.

Gridskipper has done it again, folks. This time with a perfectly accurate list of the lamest bar crowds in SF.

Now, you may remember we've had strong words for Gridskipper in the past, but this time all you'll hear from MPSF is applause. This is one of those lists, the only fault of which is that it's too short. There are definitely some other bars to be added here, and we invite you to chime in with your picks.

Amazingly, only two of the eight-strong list are located in the Marina, a neighborhood that snarky, cooler-than-thou-for-real bloggers and hipsters and such love to hate. Maybe that's ok, as the neighborhood seems to get an undue amount of criticism. Let's pile a little on North Beach, Hayes Valley and the Mission. Thanks, Gridskipper.

Of course, while the Marina may be in a minority on this particular Mean Week list, we did notice that the neighborhood claimed the top two spots. Coincidence? we think not.
San Francisco's Crappiest Bar Crowds [Gridskipper]

The latest entry from Jalapeno Girl took us aback at first, as it is all about how she had, on her last catering gig, to sneak off to the bathroom twice and deposit some breast milk in the sink. It's pretty detailed:

I watched the milk squirt out and drizzle around the sink, before eventually dribbling down the drain. When some milk streamed near the soap, I wiped it away, and mumbled "Ew!" to myself. I wondered if the sink had been the scene of quick milking ever before.

Graphic, eh? well, the thing is, you can be grossed out all you want, but we applaud Jalapeno Girl. For one thing, it's good to be reminded that the polished, hair-netted professionals behind those white aprons are humans with swellings and itches and various discomforts lurking under their crisp uniforms.

It's also, in a small way, nice to hear stories about bathroom trips that don't involve actual evacuation. Just last night, at a small Hanukkah party, we retired to the bathroom to wipe what seemed like a gallon of sour cream off our jacket, slacks and sweater, dribbled there over the course of a Latke dinner.

After working the wet towel for about five minutes, we were presentable once more, but the question arose: Should we flush? Just for appearance's sake? We didn't, of course, not being crazy, but the temptation was there. Wonder if Jalepeno Girl experienced the same thing?

Milk Maid [Jalapeno Girl]

Wine drinking seems to us to be an activity, like surfing, that nobody wants to be seen out in public learning. it's a great pass-time, but you want to be already sort of fluent before you let people see what you're working with. That's hard to do on a surfboard, but it is possible to learn a little about wine before you head up to Napa/'sonoma to blow your savings account.

Derrick Schnider, the foodie, freelance writer and gamer who writes An Obsession with Food and Wine, offers a class through U.C. Berkeley's extension campus in San Francisco called Fundamentals of Wine Studies.

Part II of the class starts at the end of January, so if you are totally new to the hobby or missed part I, you may want to contact Schnider about when his next Part I class will be. If you've got a small working knowledge and a large disposable income, however, maybe you want to sign up. It's only $400 for six meetings.

Next Berkeley Extension Class: Fundamentals of Wine Studies II [An Obsession with Food and Wine]
Fundamentals of Wine Studies II: Sensory Evaluation of Wines and their Components [UC Extension catalogue]

Toward the end of this video, which went up on the Guardian's blog yesterday, we were starting to worry that nothing would come up to link it, even tenuously, to the world of food, restaurants, etc. Such phrases as "spare me my life," "Take anything you want" and " I was robbed by two men" just don't quite seem to make the jump.

Then, in the 11th hour, or fourth minute anyway, we got "Let's go Dutch." Yes. Done. Posted. Awesome:

Update: After the jump, some of the mystery of this video explained--with more video!

Continue reading "Bizarro Phrasebook" »

This is a really funny thread on Chowhound: A woman who is planning a visit to SF is looking for restaurant suggestions (surprise, surprise). It's funny, though, because she specifically wants tiny restaurants. She is, apparently, on the small side, and feels comfortable in little joints where elbow room is at a premium.

Let's help her out, eh, readers? We know you all have great suggestions on where to eat while practically sitting in the lap of your fellow diner. Slather them on:

help w/ tiny, rad restaurants in sf proper? [Chowhound]

Two posts on local food blogs have dealt with elderly people in restaurants, both in different ways.

On Waiterrant today, the Waiter gives a slightly gushing report of an elderly man dining with his family and sort of freaking out about the price. While the overall tone of the post is kindly and indulgent, it's just that kind of indulgence, and the conspiratorial winking between the Waiter and the man's younger family members, that leads to the sentiment in Michael Bauer's post yesterday.

Bauer reports on a letter he got from an elderly couple who felt like they had been singled out for bad service.

I'm not saying it never happens, but I think in most cases it's simply insensitive, uncaring service rather than blatant discrimination. It also gets to one of the core issues of running a restaurant: hospitality. If diners, for whatever reason, feel unwelcome, they end up searching for an explanation.

Well, that's true. Bad service is sometimes just bad service and doesn't necessarily mean a personal affront, but some of the the language in the Waiterrant post indicates preconception: The Waiter calls the old man "Cranky-looking," and suggests he may be suffering from dementia. He might be. It happens. But to make surmises without getting a full medical history feeds in people, especially the elderly, disabled or others for whom dining out can be a challenge, the exact kind of fears Bauer is trying to lay to rest.

Bad service is sometimes bad service, surely, but that doesn't mean it can't be biased, too.

For the record, the Waiterrant post is, overall, quite eloquent and touching, but a good example unfortunately timed.

Investments
"We accept Visa, Mastercard, but no old women" [Between Meals]

There is an awesome thread on Chowhound right now on where to find exotic candy bars. This is exactly the kind of thing we want to see on these community boards.

After a million "I'm visiting from NY and want to find the best food that I'll inevitably just poo-pooh because I think NY food is better" threads, it's so nice to see real foodies comparing real notes on something that we can all enjoy.

Got a minute?

Candyfreak - where to find obscure candy bars? [Chowhound]

Bunrab has some positively edible pictures of sausages up today. Just lovely looking links. We're going to blatantly steal one and show it to you here, just before lunch time. The rest are up on the Daily Feed.

Dog and Pony Show [Bunrab]

And for the weekend, check out this great picture of a hangtown fry (seriously, click it):

TGIF!!

The Hangtown Fry [Bits and Bites]

Yessirreee, to counter that last negative-nelly post of ours, we're pleased to announce that next week is the start of Uhuru Holiday Pie season. This is one of our favorite little holiday traditions. Doesn't take up a lot of time or money, but it's a nice way to do something community-minded, plus the pies are really good.

Every year around Thanksgiving and again around Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanza time, the Uhuru movement, along with the African People's Education and Defense Fund bakes a mess of pies, then sells them as a fund-raiser for their economic, health and education work in the African American community. Online, phone and snail-mail orders are being taken now, and the pies go on sale a week from tomorrow. You can also buy them at some local stores.

Not forgetting about the booze theme of today's blog, we wonder if the pies (or at least the pumpkin ones) would benefit from a pairing with this pumpkin pie vodka. Weird, eh?

We love Gridskipper, especially after the episode of This American Life a couple weeks ago, which was all about mapping. Here's an update, from this morning, charting donuts in SF. It happens to coincide with the buildup to the first anniversary of Club Donuts, one of these new-fangled electro/disco nights, next Monday.
We don't know much about disco or electro, but we know what we like, and what we like includes donuts (the food), the Makeup (the band) and Donuts (the club). So we're pretty excited to hear that Ian Svenonius (the singer from The Makeup) will be spinning records at Donuts.
Using this handy Gridskipper map, you can pick up plenty of the best donuts to keep yourself going pre- or post-Donuts, likely while made-up to see that guy from the Makeup. Synchronicity, we like.

San Francisco's Best Donuts [Gridskipper]
CLUB DONUTS is having a birrrthday! NOVEMBER 12th [Donuts' Myspace]

So the big news outlets aren't reporting any serious quake-related injuries or damage, which is good, but we think it's funny to read the man-on-the-street reactions. The Chron hilariously thought to interview a bowling alley employee:

The shaking wasn't bad enough to knock over bowling pins at the AMF lanes in Milpitas, where two bowling leagues were in mid-play when the earthquake hit.

"They were shocked, but they laughed about it afterward," said an employee who answered the phone at the bowling alley. "They didn't seem too scared. It was just a little weird. Having an earthquake in a bowling alley is kind of interesting."

We have to wonder whether one of the San Jose Mercury News reporters was already stationed at a son or daughter's middle-school band recital when the tremblor hit:

At Spangenberg Auditorium in Palo Alto, the Jordan Middle School Symphonic Band kept right on playing "Estampie" by W. Francis McBeth when the earthquake struck in the middle of a concert.

"They didn't tell us to stop," said clarinetist Zoe Greene, 13, with a shrug.

"I knew the lights wouldn't fall because of the safety cords, but I was worried about the curtain" said Chloe Koseff, another 13-year-old clarinet player whose knowledge of stage lighting safety procedures comes from her role as stage manager for the school's theater productions.

Band conductor Vivian Boudreaux-Mikasa kept the group right on tempo during the shaking. "At first I thought it was the wind blowing outside," she said. "If it had gone on any longer, I would have told them to duck and cover."

Had the quake struck half an hour later, the music would have been more appropriate: John Higgins' "Habitat (Visions of a Fragile Planet)".

But our favorite by far was this, from Camper English's Alcademics blog:

We just had a very long duration earthquake here in San Francisco, and I instinctively ran to the liquor cabinet to protect anything from falling out.

Sad, but true.

Ah, Camper, we're glad you have your priorities straight, as they're approximately our priorities, too.

Scary 5.6 quake jolts Bay Area [San Francisco Chronicle]

30 aftershocks recorded after 5.6 quake hits near Alum Rock [San Jose Mercury News]

Shaken, not stirred [Alcademics]

Curse our going home at the end of the day! We missed an important piece of late-breaking news. As the ever-vigilant Normal pointed out on our last post, the winners of the first-ever Oakland Grilled Cheese Invitational were announced yesterday evening.

Right about the time of the announcement, we were drinking pints of Budweiser on an empty stomach and wishing with all our hearts that some form of warm, bread-y, cheesy sustenance would magically appear before us. A contest-winning sandwich would have been just the thing, thank you, but alas, we settled for lukewarm pizza and can now only gaze at more contest photos and salivate.

Congratulations, Kathasaurus and Bustin, who picked up a score of 29.8 with their "queijo grelhado velho liso." Please look us up the next time you're cooking.

Official Results for the First Annual Oakland Regional Grilled Cheese Invitational [Grilledcheeseinvitational]

Photo Credit: Katie

While we wait for the winners to be announced in the first-ever Oakland Grilled Cheese Invitational last Thursday, the intrepid grilled cheese enthusiast Normal brings us a link to some photos, as well as a strongly worded assertion that the contest, while still undecided, has done much to further the cause of one of America's favorite comfort foods in Oakland. Thanks, Normal!

Grilled Cheese is the Winner! [Hellonormal]

Photo Credit: Marcy Mendelson

Okay, well, Thee Parkside isn’t necessarily paradise, but we’re sure that wherever paradise is, it has bands, beer and free Sunday oyster barbecues. Meanwhile, Thee Parkside, which also has those things, apparently has a bit of a rough side, too.
From the Examiner:

Two minutes before midnight, the suspect, described as a 25-year-old black male, walked into Thee Parkside on 17th and Wisconsin streets brandishing a gun.
The suspect ordered all customers to the floor and went to the bartender demanding money from the register, according to San Francisco police. After the bartender complied, the suspect went to the customers, robbing them and fleeing with an unknown amount of money, police said.

The Examiner