I recently received an email from Cooking School.net asking if I would share a graphic on the benefits of Sriracha, My answer was yes, since a bowl of healing hot & sour soup or even chicken noodle has been kicked up a notch when I started adding a squirt of this magical sinus clearing sauce. Also, as someone who lived in the SGV for a couple years, I like any local business.
So, let the infographics fill your brain and remember to squirt on.
Created by: CookingSchools.net
I was born and raised in Santa Cruz, California and so I thought I knew hippie dippy stuff, but I thought wrong. Four years ago when my mom was separating from my stepdad they seemed very adamant that they didn’t want my little brother to have to suffer more and move from house to house. Since everyone was on good terms and it was a financial option, my mom took it upon herself to do something called “birdnesting,” which meant that the child would stay in the home and the parents would go in and out. Here’s a local article about the concept and another family who practices this. The way it worked was that my brother stayed in his room and four nights a week my mom would live at the house, two nights a week my stepdad would be there and sleep in a guest bedroom, and then one night a week they would all be there and live in the same house. I was living in LA at the time and this just sounded like the absolute weirdest thing to me. The entire house now basically belonged to my 7 year old brother?!? That couldn’t be healthy.
Anyway, it actually worked for my family for about a year and then people grow up, actual divorce had to happen and this “perfect solution” was no longer an option.
I thought that was the end of weird bird examples and parenting and then this video of Alicia Silverstone surfaced. I was a girl who grew up in the 90s so Alicia was god and Clueless and Crush were my bibles.The vegan Alicia with bad skin and hair is just not my thing, I wish she could see herself as Cher would, “As if”
I mean, seriously. Remember Cher?
I feel like such a heifer. I had two bowls of Special K, 3 pieces of turkey bacon, a handful of popcorn, 5 peanut butter M&M’s and like 3 pieces of licorice.
Now imagine her chewing up her food and spitting it into her child’s mouth. The visual is as gross as Mary’s neighbor Magda tongue kissing Puffy.
David Lawrence shares a laugh with Studio Gourmet host Brad Lev
Inside the Actor’s Studio meets the Food Network is how we would describe the new web-based show called Studio Gourmet SF. The concept is that a local chef with a good story will do a cooking demo, an in-depth interview with the host Brad Lev, and then the live audience can eat the signature dish from the chef.
On Sunday, we arrived at Circolo for the live taping and the chef of the month was David Lawrence from 1300 on Fillmore.
For the cooking demo we got to see how Lawrence’s signature shrimp and grits are made. It was surprising to see a guy with a British accent cooking southern food; it turns out Lawrence is from the U.K., but his wife is from the U.S. south and when she first made grits he knew he could improve them. Grits with butter and water didn’t cut it for David and he has now perfected the grits with cream and mushroom stock. Upgrade!
Shrimp and grits 1300 style
One of our favorite stories happened after Lawrence came to the Bay Area and the Chronicle ran a big piece on black chefs in the area for Black History Month. Lawrence was asked to go to the James Beard House and make soul food. He wasn’t sure how to do that, but he wanted the trip so he agreed. He did a huckleberry foie gras dish and everyone, including himself, knew that he was on to something and this would be the direction for his career.
Lawrence has still never visited the south, so his version of the food has no blinders or tastebud blockers. He says he is delighted when guests visit from those areas and say, “This is just how grandma would make it.”
1300 is truly his dream restaurant: he actually dreams right above it. Yup, the Fillmore is his home, and it’s interesting how he found it. He was working at another address-named restaurant, 231 Ellsworth in San Mateo, and he found it difficult to find a black barber nearby. After someone did the unthinkable and wet his hair before cutting it, he was told that the Fillmore in the city was his haircutting destination.
Lawrence sees the kitchen as his stage and nothing thrills him more than sitting in the kitchen on a packed Saturday night and seeing his audience applaud with empty plates and full stomachs. He said he auditioned for Chopped and did great until the producers asked him to “really bring it,” when he laughed and reminded him that he is British.
The full video from the evening should be available shortly on Studio Gourmet as well as tickets to future events.
Lev says his goal is to interview a different chef each month. We can’t promise that other chefs will be as interesting as David, but that would be the shrimp on the grits.
Through hard pressing journalism (read: asking Lev directly) we learned that Lev is also the Special Events Director for 1300. He says that normally he will be unaffiliated with the chefs he interviews.
Original published on sfweekly.com – Original Post
We have been so accustomed to the endless cycle of Top Chef that when the last finale night didn’t butt up against the premiere of a new season, we were taken aback. Despite being well versed on the fact that Chef Rocco is rumored to have “a perfect penis” we couldn’t endure even a second of Rocco’s Dinner Party.
Give us Top Chef on Wednesdays or give us death.
Thankfully, Top Chef: Just Desserts is back to sweeten up our hump day primetime. Last season brought us a new crush and a San Francisco winner, Yigit Pura, so our hopes are high.
The intro had this phrase, “It’s not just cupcakes and lollipops.” Trust us, we remember last season with the sugar highs and lows and the “Red Hots are for my mommy” freak-out.
Last night’s season two premiere began with a quick intro of the pastry chefs, and then host Gail Simmons explained the Quickfire: create a modern soda fountain treat.
We saw Cap’n Crunch shakes and learned our new favorite acronym, NFG: non-functional garnish. The winners were Amanda Rockman and her partner Nelson Paz, who both earned immunity. Amanda claimed that her last duty before she left her job for the show was pickling 10 pounds of cherries. She said no matter what her partner wanted, those cherries would be highlighted in their dish of chocolate sponge cake with pickled cherries and pistachios.
Nelson makes an edible flower
For the Elimination Challenge, teams were chosen by picking a fairytale book and the two winners got to choose any team to be on: Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, or Little Red Riding Hood. Nelson stole our heart when he explained that he was originally from Argentina and had no idea what they were talking about or even what a fairytale is. Oh, honey, grab your warm milk and cookies and sit on our lap, we’ll explain.
The challenge was to create a fairytale showpiece and two plated desserts for a fantasy costume gala.
The Goldilocks team wanted to make rice pudding and call it porridge but Orlando Santos was mortified: “That is a dessert that you make old people, because they can’t chew.”
In the building of the showpieces the inevitable happened, and a cheftestant remarked that the sound of sugar breaking is the sound of all hopes and dreams being destroyed.
The winning entry
The winning team was Little Red Riding Hood with its architectural showpiece, rose-scented bomboloni, coconut tapioca, and red berry gelee, and lastly blackout sponge cake, cocoa nib nougatine, poached cherries and micro basil. This team was so sophisticated that they went with the floral scent because apparently Little Red was picking flowers before she encountered the Big Bad Wolf.
For the losers there was a lot of throwing under the brioche at Judge’s Table and, in the end, it was Lina, who didn’t think to make a gingerbread house for Hansel and Gretel — come on, how obvious was that? — who was sent home. The old witch of the forest would have approved.
Original published on sfweekly.com – Original Post
As we watched a real New Jersey housewife fight with a fictional New Jersey Big Pussy, we realized celebreality has officially taken over food TV.
VH1′s Famous Food is the latest food show to pop up on a previously nonfood channel, a trend the Los Angeles Times wrote about recently.
The concept of Famous Food is that seven “stars,” some of whom aren’t shining so brightly these days, will create a new restaurant from concept to operations, with one winner.
The contestants are as varied as they are vapid. Our favorites were DJ Paul and Juicy “J” from Three 6 Mafia, who once tried to pitch a cooking show called Cookin’ Ain’t Easy and had this great quote: “If you can run a rap group with guys from prison, then you can run a restaurant.”
The Mafia boys were very happy to meet one fellow contestant, because they had a picture of her in their recording studio. Who was it? Ashley Dupre, who leveraged her fame from being Eliot Spitzer’s favorite call girl into her current gig as an advice columnist for the New York Post.
Keeping up with that theme was Vincent Pastore, aka Big Pussy from The Sopranos. From reality whore fame was The Bachelor and Dancing with the Stars contestant Jake Pavelka; Danielle Staub, who was booted off Real Housewives of New Jersey; and Heidi Montag, who had been on MTV’s The Hills before making the aptly titled album Superficial.
The celebtestants are responsible for taking over a restaurant on the Sunset Strip. They have 28 days to come up with a concept, name, menu, staff, floor plan design and just about everything else.
In week one, the concept becomes Italian-soul fusion after Big Pussy gives a long explanation about how “Italians and blacks have the same blood.” The biggest himbo on the show, Bachelor Jake, confesses that he doesn’t know what it means, but imagines a drumstick with a piece of spaghetti wrapped around it.
Heidi says that the name should be Fame, because they are all famous and half the concept is bling. Bada bling!
Everyone is amazed by how easy the decisions are at first, but inevitably heads butt and fake boobs bond. Bosom buddies Danielle and Heidi ditch the group for happy hour. Real tension builds between Danielle and Big Pussy: She calls him a big shot, and he is convinced that she is a Desperate Housewife (wrong show) and a complete and utter bitch. She so is.
What happens when they pitch their idea to the entrepreneurs who will actually have to fund the restaurant? A cold stare, finished off with an “It sucks, the idea.”
Shockingly, the girl we thought sucked, literally, for a living, saves the day. Ashley Dupre comes up with the name Picnic and has a concept of picnic tables. The investors love it and the show goes on.
Danielle’s hatred of the idea will have us tuning in next week. While Top Chef is on hiatus, this might become our new guilty pleasure.
Original published on sfweekly.com – Original Post
Host Curtis Stone checks in with San Francisco finalist Traci Des Jardins. - via Bravo TV
Last night brought the finale of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters, and our SF-based Traci Des Jardins was in it to win it. On the line was $100,000 for the cheftestants’ charity of choice. For those of us rooting for the home team, we hoped La Cocina would be victorious.
The episode began with the remaining three chefs (Des Jardins, Mary Sue Milliken, and Floyd Cardoz) joining host Curtis Stone and critics James Oseland, Ruth Reichl, and Gael Greene in the kitchen. The final challenge was to create the three-course meal of their lives. The first course was to be inspired by their first food memory, the second course was about what made them want to be a chef, and the third was critic’s choice.
Des Jardins was paired with our favorite insatiable critic, Greene, who wanted French-inspired fried duck. Des Jardins is trained in classic French cookin, so she looked relieved and then overjoyed when Morgan Mueller, her executive chef at Jardinière, got to join her for the challenge. Greene to Des Jardins: “This is kismet.”
The dish that made Des Jardins want to be a chef? A quail salad from Zola in San Francisco during the ’70s. It was served at the exact moment when she was figuring out if she wanted to go to college and her life was forever changed.
When it came down to prepping and cooking, Los Angeles native Mary Sue Milliken knew it was a rainy day in LA. She kept all of her shopping to one stop and was the first in the kitchen. Unfamiliar with the local traffic, New Yorker Floyd Cardoz made several grocery stops that kept him out for far too long and left him to enter the kitchen with the shortest amount of time on the clock. The only twist for the finale was a sexy and sweet one: Host Stone made a surprise light lunch for the finalists.
Diners for the last supper of the series included OG Top Chef head judge Tom Colicchio and Top Chef Masters alums such as Milliken’s other cooking half, Susan Feniger. Milliken explained that in this Laverne and Shirley of food relationships, she always has Feniger try things first. (We like to call it the canary in the coalmine method.) Case in point: Feniger did Top Chef Masters first and married Milliken’s husband first. Quick, Bravo, get these ladies a spinoff show!
Milliken prepared Asian tartare, shrimp two ways, and the lemon soufflé Reichl requested. Reichl noted that this dessert enhances and continues her love affair with lemons, and Alan Sytsma (who used to work with her at Gourmet) added that the dish tasted like Reichl.
Des Jardins made shrimp Creole, quail with sweetbreads, and duck two ways. Unfortunately, it was not fried, and Greene was happy with only one of the duck preparations. When asked whether she would still be a food critic if she was served this duck several years ago, her answer was no. We were heartbroken, but liked the idea of Green still writing “silly stories for Cosmopolitan about how not to get dumped by your husband on his way up.” Cardoz served the most subtly complex meal with a polenta upma with coconut milk and mushrooms similar to his afterschool snack, snapper in a tomato and fennel broth, and the rendang Oseland requested and loved.
The competition was as stiff as Stone’s overgelled hair, but Cardoz was crowned the Top Chef Master. His winnings support the Young Scientist Cancer Research Fund, selected in honor of his late father. We were bummed that Des Jardins didn’t win, but in her stint she raked in $30,000 for La Cocina — masterful work!
Original published on sfweekly.com – Original Post
Courtesy Traci Des Jardins
Our local Top Chef Masters cheftestant Traci Des Jardins didn’t win the title last night, but she did take home more than $30,000 for La Cocina and made us very proud. We spoke with her this afternoon, just for the duck of it.
SFoodie: We have been so excited watching the dollars roll into La Cocina and hearing the nationally televised shoutouts. So, our first question: Why La Cocina?
Traci Des Jardins: I was on the board for many years, up until a year and half ago, and I love the organization. I wanted something food related and something that was unique to San Francisco. It’s just such a cool concept.
Any idea what they will do with their winnings?
Caleb [Zigas, director of La Cocina] and I are going to sit down and talk soon. It will definitely be a conversation. I am all too familiar with their financials so I know that $30,000 is a lot of money for them. It’s exciting.
When we learned in the finale that the dish that made your paired partner Gael Greene want to be a food critic was duck in France, we felt relieved for you. Gael said it was “kismet” — is that what how you felt?
Absolutely, it was a sigh of relief. Duck is one of my favorite foods in the whole world. I am the second-largest buyer in the Bay Area of duck, according to my purveyor. I always have duck confit and breast on my menu. It was totally perfect.
Gael wanted fried duck and you didn’t give it to her. Are any recipes coming your way?
[Laughs] Um, yeah, I can’t imagine any French person frying a duck. Gael has her memory and I knew going in that it was a tough translation. I had to translate something and the results were not resounding.
If you had to do it over again, would you still do duck the two ways?
I think I would. Product is really important and I wasn’t familiar with that particular product. I didn’t know that duck and that was my downfall.
What is your favorite place in S.F. that no one would ever guess?
I’m loving the pop-up thing and the spirit of that. I know it has been written about like crazy, but I really love Mission Chinese Food. It is a way to take an idea and passion without needing tons of money. For young chefs, they don’t have to deal with the financial aspect of running a restaurant.
Would you be interested in hosting a pop-up and/or working with any of those young chefs in the city?
Definitely, Mission Chinese Food or the Wise Sons guys. The Bay Area was missing that. It’s just fun to see young people and their passion.
Original published on sfweekly.com – Original Post
If you’re an avid SFoodie reader you know these last few weeks have been ultra scandalous, from a faux condom dessert to vegan vulva cake, we’ve no doubt gotten some of you in the mood. And with Valentine’s Day around the corner, we want you to stay that way, but with a bit more subtlety — like with these eight dishes designed to get your valentine salivating.
Carina's cheesy heart dip.
8. Cheesy hearts.
Stuff with hearts are mandatory for this holiday. We recommend making a simple artichoke heart and hearts of palm dip. Top it with cheese and roasted cherry tomatoes. Dipping and scooping will put you in the mood, and your date will know how perfectly cheesy and romantic you are.
7. Tossed salad.
A tossed salad can be boring, but never underestimate the double entendre. On love’s special day we recommend tossing in aphrodisiacs: rocket, phallic carrots, avocado, and pine nuts all have a rep as romantic stimulants, so toss ‘em in! During this course, feel free to mention in passing, “Howard Stern was talking about salad-tossing this morning. You’d never want to try thatwould you?”
6. Alcohol, the social lubricant.
On a holiday like this, remember: Rosé is okay, but bubbles are better. What’s better than better? Hard liquor! Couldn’t afford a romantic seaside escape? Make a Sex on the Beach. Also approved is any cocktail with the word “kiss” in its name, though the word “cocktail” sort of throbs as it is.
5. Get some balls.
The circular form just screams good time. We happen to think meatballs are best. They also often accompany spaghetti, which is a few steps away from some Lady and the Tramp action. Other ball variations we like: albondigas, falafel, odango.
4. Shuckin’ and suckin’.
Since the days before Caligula, oysters have been the world’s best-documented aphrodisiac. Hard to deny they share a likeness to ladyparts, from the way they’re opened (shucked) to the manner in which they’re consumed (slurped). Plus they’re packed full of protein, so they nourish for hours. Other seafood hotness: mussels and clams, which open up ever so lightly when steamed. And uni is simply the sexiest seafood there is.
3. Red hots.
Red’s the color of passion, whether from a nice slab of juicy meat, chiles, Syrah, strawberries, cherries, or tomatoes — so it needs to be on the table. The only things we caution against are beets. Though delicious, they’re not so great for romance. Hit the bathroom after dinner and you might think you have to hit up the emergency room.
2. Chemical romance.
It’s cliche to say that women prefer chocolate to sex, but often it’s true: Chocolate (mainly dark) hits brain’s neurotransmitters, leaving one feeling happy and energized. If only every man could offer such a payoff. After a piece of dark chocolate, your female date’s brain will be oozing positive vibes … followed, maybe, by other organs.
1. Bananas + cream.
Dessert time. Hot apple pie is for teenagers, banana cream pie is for lovers. Do we have to spell it out for you?
Original published on sfweekly.com – Original Post
It’s a new year and that means it’s time to update your dating profile. Valentine’s Day is around the corner and you need to find your special date/mate. And if you are lucky enough to find someone to go out with, you’ll have to decide where to take them ― like one of these 10 local first-date options.
Best Late Night Date
Are you trying to go out with someone who’s booked solid? We suggest Absinthe for a late-night date. Sit in the front room and indulge in cocktails and dessert. On a recent trip we had the Earl Grey pavlova with Meyer lemon curd and mint ice cream. Such mounds of goodness and strong cocktails might just be a prelude to seeing your date’s lovely lady lumps.
Best Wine Bar Date
Your date might give you a bit of a strange look or a text you a ??? when you suggest a place that has “hotel” in the name for the setting of your first outing. Relax: This adorable wine bar and art gallery is not an actual hotel, and your date will be instantly charmed to enter this back-alley establishment. The wine list is vast, the mood is romantic, and suddenly the idea of a hotel doesn’t sound so bad. After all, you’ll already have a reputation as the person who knows how to find and navigate the ever-so-pleasurable secret spot.
Best Bar with Hotel Option
For dates who seem to be looking for just a drink, a good time, and are possibly DTF, we recommend hotel bars for first meetings. The Burritt Room serves strong and interesting cocktails, is a bit hidden, and if the mood arises a room in the Crescent Hotel is just an elevator ride away .
This Sufganiyot Sundae made with Humphry Slocombe Manischewitz sorbet and a Dynamo doughnut filled with Meyer-lemon jelly was a one-time Hanukkah collaboration, but you get the idea.
Sweetest Date Spot(s)
Dynamo Donut and Humphry Slocombe
Do you want to cream the hole but your future date will only offer you a midday date on a weekend? No problem. We know how to sweeten up an early afternoon date. Meet at Dynamo and order your doughnuts to go, then walk with your date to Humphry Slocombe for a scoop. You will have just shown your date two of San Francisco’s sweetest treats, proving yourself a genius matchmaker. We recommend pairing Dynamo’s maple glazed bacon apple doughnut with Humphry Slocombe’s Secret Breakfast and creating your own version of an ice cream sandwich.
Best Coffee and Tea Date
Stable Cafe
Coffee dates are not so glamorous; they’re definitely the most interview-like of all dates. However, if you insist on only dropping a few bucks for a cup of Joe, we suggest Stable Café. You enter through the largest doors imaginable ― the place was an actual stable in the 1800s and kept the mayor’s horses, before becoming an auto shop. Drop that fact and your date won’t mind that you’re only dropping for drip. If you’re really feeling your date, spring for the lavender sea salt shortbread. You won’t regret it.
Best Sushi Date
We love sushi, but there’s nothing more cringe-worthy then when someone mentions sushi for a first date. It screams “douche,” and you have to pray that your date is not a fan of cream cheese in their sushi. Umi is a sushi place that can please anyone: delicious and superfresh sashimi, some standard Americanized rolls, and delicious pork katsu donburi. The space is quiet, the food is good, and there are some paintings of naked ladies for setting the mood.
Best Romantic Italian Date
Our most romantic memory is from childhood, with the spaghetti moment from Lady and the Tramp: two pairs of lips brought together via a strand of spaghetti. Hot! Italians do romance like no others, and a giant of bowl of pasta always warms the heart. Poesia (Italian for “poetry”) is nestled in the heart of the Castro. You walk upstairs as if you were visiting someone’s home. That’s how it feels inside: authentic Italian accents, homemade pasta, and old black and white movies projected on the wall.
Best Hands-On Date
Breaking bread is one way to get to know each other, but we prefer breaking crab. The salt and pepper crab at R&G Lounge is unbelievably addicting, plus you can watch your date use her hands and lick her fingers. Warning: The garlic comes on strong, so you may not want to go in for a kiss after it’s all over. Although, who cares? You just got to make out with a succulent Dungeness.
Best Separate but Equally Pleasurable Date
Shabu-shabu can be incredibly boring (it’s the watery, flavorless broth). That is so not the case at Shabu House. Order yours with spicy miso broth, and shabu-shabu becomes a pot worth dipping your meat into. Make sure you and your date get separate pots, since you definitely don’t want to get all into your date’s meat on the first night.
Best Big Beefy Date
The Tenderloin may not seem like a good place for romance, although in this neighborhood with a cut-of-meat-name you can get your meat served up in seven courses for a mere $16 each. Your date will think you’re edgy for choosing this part of town, you get to drop minimal bucks, and the little Vietnamese restaurant will charm the pants off anyone. Pagolac is minimally decorated, which means more attention for you. You also get to see how your date handles raw beef, as well as grilling, rolling, and dipping ― a culinary journey that ends with a beef porridge that should warm both of your hearts.
Original published on sfweekly.com – Original Post
Photo courtesy of FeatheredTar on Flickr
Whether red and raw or sweet and caramelized, onions always entice me. The only thing that excites me as much as food, and men excluded, is words. Here are my favorites in onion poetry:
Ode to an Onion by Pablo Neruda
Onion,luminous flask,your beauty formedpetal by petal,crystal scales expanded youand in the secrecy of the dark earthyour belly grew round with dew.Under the earththe miraclehappenedand when your clumsygreen stem appeared,and your leaves were bornlike swordsin the garden,the earth heaped up her powershowing your naked transparency,and as the remote seain lifting the breasts of Aphroditeduplicating the magnolia,so did the earthmake you,onionclear as a planetand destinedto shine,constant constellation,round rose of water,uponthe tableof the poor.You make us cry without hurting us.I have praised everything that exists,but to me, onion, you aremore beautiful than a birdof dazzling feathers,heavenly globe, platinum goblet,unmoving danceof the snowy anemoneand the fragrance of the earth livesin your crystalline nature.
Fruits & Vegetables by Erica Jong
I am thinking of the onion again, with its two O mouths,
like the gaping holes in nobody. Of the outer skin, pinkish
brown, peeled to reveal a greenish sphere, bald as a dead
planet, glib as glass, & an odor almost animal. I consider
its ability to draw tears, its capacity for self-scrutiny,
flaying itself away, layer on layer, in search of its heart
which is simply another region of skin, but deeper &
greener. I remember Peer Gynt; I consider its sometimes
double heart. Then I think of despair when the onion
searches its soul & finds only its various skins; & I think
of the dried tuft of roots leading nowhere & the parched
umbilicus, lopped off in the garden. Not self-righteous
like the proletarian potato, nor a siren like the apple. No
show-off like the banana. But a modest, self-effacing
vegetable, questioning, introspective, peeling itself away,
or merely radiating halos like lake ripples. I consider it
the eternal outsider, the middle child, the sad analysand
of the vegetable kingdom. Glorified only in France (other-
wise silent sustainer of soups & stews), unloved for itself
alone-no wonder it draws our tears! Then I think again
how the outer peel resembles paper, how soul & skin
merge into one, how each peeling strips bare a heart
which in turn turns skin…
