What’s Cookin’

Look at that burger. Isn’t it begging for a serious chomping? Thanks to a tip from an East Bay food-savvy friend, I can now say I have experienced the Ahn’s pastrami burger—an indulgent, messy, and completely unsustainable burger, which is why it only put me back $4.95 (plus $2.30 for fries). Go Oakland.

More cheap eats highlights: I went back to Off the Grid on Friday evening with a couple of friends, where we did a sisig taco tasting (we tried tacos from Adobo Hobo and Hapa SF—both were stupidly tasty, and with great texture), and plowed our way through some lumpia, hot dogs, a samosa, a huarache, and a quesadilla. Talk about a culinary mash-up. And yes, we left full, very full. Fortunately everything goes really well with beer. You can check out my mini Flickr album of the evening here.

I’m really fired up to announce I am co-hosting an after party for the SF Chefs opening event on August 13th called Happy Ending at E&O Trading Co. The event is highlighting Asian street food from local street food vendors and restaurants, with about eight stations in all (and of course some cocktails will be figuring prominently). Read all about it in the socialite—hope to see you there!

So, you coming to see me this Wednesday at the J Lounge at Jardinière? I’ll be guest bartending from 5:30pm-8pm, serving up a nice bourbon-y cocktail for you to enjoy, “The Enchantress.”

One other fun thing tomorrow: Bruce Hill’s Zero Zero is opening in SoMa, and you get the first peek at the menus here! I hope you had a filling lunch, because you’re liable to get a bit peckish reading about the pizzas (and more).

I am officially beginning my countdown—am leaving for Tahoe next week for a mini-break. Can’t wait to watch chipmunk TV and jump in that ice cold blue lake. Yeah, just one more week of this lame grey weather. At least it’s good eating weather, ha ha.

Boy, someone was the queen of naps this past weekend. I wasn’t sure if I was in a food coma, or just tired, or fighting something. Perhaps all three, because this kind of a lineup can wear you out: Friday night was all about a friends and family test dinner at Café des Amis, which opens Wednesday for dinner. The menu is the picture of appetizing, and high marks for their luxurious French onion soup and juicy chicken ballontine—great wine pairings, too. Saturday I went simple and had sushi at the counter at Ino (totally dug the smelt temaki with shiso—what an unexpected flavor party). Sunday was all about the takedown: the Lamb Jam event at Fort Mason. Whoa, there were a lot of talented chefs making a whole lotta lamb—it even had my friend waving the white flag toward the end (and his nickname is “The Pit,” so you know this event was serious). I totally passed out afterward for an hour at home like I had just finished a three-hour pranzo at my relatives’ in Italy or something. Mamma mia.

So, let’s talk about how much you rock, shall we? Thanks to all of you who filled out the tablehopper questionnaire! If you haven’t had a chance, if you could please fill it out over the next week or so—we’re surveying until Friday July 30th. Thanks muchissimo for your time (the questionnaire takes about 15 minutes)—your answers will help me (and tablehopper) immensely. Meow.

How is it July 20th already? Damn. Summer better get here quick—I’d like to get started on my tan. And make refreshing drinks. Speaking of drinks, I’ll be able to make you a cocktail when I’m guest bartending at Jardinière next week: check it out in the lush. Oh, and you might not get a visit from me this Friday—this week is all kinds of nuts. Crazy town. Wish me luck.

See ya on the track,

Hello from ‘hopper HQ. Guess who was out a little late last night? Yes, yours truly had a dear friend in town, so we had to tear it up a little. And speaking of tearing it up, this week’s review of Z & Y Restaurant is not messing around, so proceed with caution. Seriously, flip those hazards on.

Since I’m in need of a little extra caffeination today, I thought I’d share a pic from the espresso training and info class I attended at Equator up in San Rafael this week. It was amazing to pull a shot on their beautiful La Marzocco machine, and look at that crema! I so wish my home machine could do that kind of magic. (This was the Ethiopian Amaro Gayo—what fruit! Total blueberry. And a bonus point: it comes from Ethiopia’s only female miller/exporter.)

Okay, beloved readers—it’s favor time. No, I’m not asking for money. Or for the last bite of your fried chicken sandwich (never!). But I am asking for a little bit of your time. See, I’m taking a look at some big-picture stuff for tablehopper, and I could use your input. I am working with two very smart and strategic planners on assessing my brand and business, and they have some questions for you. The tablehopper questionnaire should take about 15 minutes, which I know is a lot during these busy, busy days of ours. But your answers and input would be so freaking helpful—so can ya help a ‘hopper out? I’d be so very grateful. Maybe you can consider it a little coffee break with yours truly. (Sorry the conversation will be so one-sided.)

The link to the questionnaire is here. We’ll be collecting answers until Friday July 30th. And again, thanks for taking the time to help make tablehopper better, faster, and stronger—but hopefully not fatter. Meow.

Ready for the weekend? Uh huh! It’s full of all kinds of meaty potential, from the High on the Hog event at EPIC this Saturday, to the Lamb Jam on Sunday at Fort Mason (am looking forward to it).

Have a swell weekend!

Hola, peeps. Up for something new to do this Friday evening? Last Friday night, a friend and I went to check out the new-ish Off the Grid gathering in the Fort Mason parking lot. What a cool event: there was an impressive lineup of street food vendors and numerous trucks serving crazy-delicious food hailing from all over the dang place, from India to Seoul to Malaysia. Check out my Flickr album to survey the damage we did—it was serious. Sorry the pics don’t come in Smell-O-Vision—let’s just say it was the best-smelling parking lot I’ve ever been to.

What I really was digging was how mixed the crowd was: young and older, hip and nerdy, and it was a total international mix, from Indians to Filipinos to Japanese, all hanging out and eating some sick vittles. Now, I don’t know if the nasty July weather—complete with a blustery wind—kept some folks away, but the lines were never too long and onerous, and hello, there’s a bar in the corner of the lot, so you can sip a margarita while you’re waiting for your kathi roll. It all happens again this Friday, 5pm-9pm.

Sunday my friends and I went to watch the World Cup final game in Civic Center, what a cool thing—here’s hoping they keep broadcasting future events here for everyone to watch together. (Space Cowboys playing afterward and all the street food stands were total gravy.)

Oh, and one more highlight from last week: I was invited to visit the temporary Levi’s Workshop at 580-582 Valencia, which is all about celebrating the craft and different forms of printmaking. Let’s just say the writer in me was pretty stoked to look at the different vintage letterpresses they have in there, and my wheels literally started turning with what I could create to print on their “open studio” days on Sundays (from 11am-8pm), when you can come in and get help from the talented staff using some of the equipment, including silkscreening. The calendar is full of all kinds of unique and arty events (heck, even Alice Waters is involved), but it all comes to an end on August 28th, when the next stop is New York (they will have a workshop on photography). And psssst, there are some super cool band show posters you can buy in there for $25—and all proceeds from anything sold at the workshop go to one of three local charities, like the Women’s Building (you can choose which charity).

Whatcha doing for lunch this Thursday July 15th? I have been invited by the Green Zebra folks to come to their Environmental Action Center at the farmers’ market in the Crocker Galleria to sign books! I’ll be there from 11:30am-1:30pm, and Kika’s Treats will be there with me, offering their tasty goodies! Details here. Hope to see you there!

This week, we have a couple new openings in the chatterbox, soirée options for Bastille Day, a bookworm that will inspire you to do something fab with all your stone fruit, and all kinds of sporty starlets.

Have fun out there.

You’ve almost made it to the finish line—well, those of you who work normal office hours. Congrats. I’ve been off that track for 10 years, but I can still appreciate Friday. I am also appreciating how many cool restaurant openings we have going on right now—keeps my job very interesting. This week I’m dedicating some serious pixels to the upcoming Café des Amis project opening in Cow Hollow on July 21st, from the Bacchus Management Group. It’s an impressive project—and I was lucky to get my mitts on a working draft of the menu, so I hope you enjoy today’s hardhat-meets-sneak peek.

This issue also features a revisit to Bar Tartine. It’s been pretty busy over there—now you can see why. (The delicious-looking sandwich to the right, however, is from Local Mission Eatery, where I recently had a fab lunch—another one to add to your roster.)

I’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday with some fun Bastille Day options and more, but in the meantime, take a look in the lush for reminders on three cool upcoming wino events coming up on Sunday and Monday. You can also get out of town and head up to Sonoma on Sunday for some beautiful weather (and eats) at this Nido oven lunch. And of course there’s that mega soccer game match happening on Sunday… FUN!

Ciao for now!

How was your holiday weekend, folks? Let’s hear it for destination weddings. I got to spend the weekend up in Hopland; it’s past Healdsburg and Cloverdale on the 101—about 12 miles south of Ukiah for those of you who like to know such things. Talk about summer heat—I was definitely wilting in my car in the 98-degree daytime temperature, but the evenings were beautiful, full of crickets and stars. And it was great to finally visit the Graziano tasting room, a favorite winery of my parents (it was totally Arneis weather).

Of course, on my drive home yesterday, I had to stop in Healdsburg for a cappuccino from Flying Goat Coffee (j’adore the espresso drinks they pull there), and I brought a Joe’s breakfast pizza from Downtown Bakery & Creamery with me on the drive (definitely my idea of road food). A reader recently recommended that pizza to me, and all I can say is it’s a good thing that pizza is normally far, far away from me, mamma mia. (It’s a rocking combo of thinly sliced squash, mushrooms, bacon, fresh herbs, mozzarella, Asiago, and a farm-fresh egg in the middle.)

No comment on the fog bank that was waiting for me in the city, but a spicy dinner from Mission Chinese Food definitely helped perk me up—you can read about it in today’s issue, with news about all kinds of tasty things you can put in your maw. Oh yeah—and here are the latest pics in my Surpies! mini photo series, when I surprise friends and family with slices of the monthly pie I receive from Buttercup Grill. Haven’t had anyone say no yet.

Oh, and a couple more media notes: I now have a quick pick list on the Nirvino mobile app called “The Tablehopper’s Ten Wines That Put a Hop in Her Step.” And Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park put together this fun little video about my book—thanks guys!

Until Friday… Ciao!

Hello troublemakers. Are you ready for another sunny weekend? Yes, we quite deserve it. Enjoy every sunshine-y second. If we break San Francisco’s track record of colored fog for July 4th, I’ll be shocked. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday…

So for today’s installment, I wanted to share a few tidbits with you: a little Friday afternoon snack, if you will. Although this is not to imply the flavors at Nombe in today’s fresh meat review are even close to being an incidental little bite—they’re more on the scale of a Mack truck, so I’d suggest making some room.

Honk.

Why hello there. I am certainly much less fussy than last week—that lame weather was ridiculous. Fortunately we got blessed with some epic weather, how fabulous—and even better, I got to go play in it. I enjoyed a couple lunches out: a tasty one at Marlowe (pictured here), and some friends invited me over for a leisurely lunch on Friday (yes, we consumed some bubbles). Sometimes you just have to punch the clock early, right? This past Pride weekend was all about a much-needed break from the computer (dance floors are much more fun). It was great to catch up with so many friends I hadn’t seen in a long while.

But, I have once again traded my dance card in for a dining card, and this week is bizzeee: I’ll be checking out Pica Pica, the revamped Presidio Social Club, and Thursday is the San Francisco magazine Best of the Bay party, always a good time. I am most looking forward to a mother-daughter day in the city on Friday—we’re going to visit our family friend at his new business, The Sandwich Spot, and we’re checking out the Shanghai exhibition at the Asian Art Museum, can’t wait. And then for the holiday weekend, it’s up to Hopland for a friend’s wedding, which is going to be faboo drive in my convertible. Vroom.

As a reminder, my reviews are now coming out on Fridays, so don’t be surprised with the second installment in one week.

Have a sunny, smoky, and meat-tastic holiday weekend. Boom!

Oooh, don’t even get me started on this weather. I’ve been downright cranky over it. But fortunately food is a surefire distraction. Here are two things that have made me very happy this week: two stellar burgers, one at Bar Tartine (with the option of a bone marrow supplement, no joke), and the other, the famed burger at Marlowe, equally decadent with its bacon fat-smeared bun. Both were all kinds of crazy delicious.

I also perked up over a friends and family test dinner at Prospect last night—it was an exciting sneak peek of this much-anticipated restaurant. (You can read my full update on the project in Tuesday’s column.) I’m also going to try to go to Off the Grid tonight since I’ll be too busy partying in Dolores Park to make it to Outside In 5 tomorrow—both events look like so much fun, drizzle be damned.

In today’s issue, I just have a little piece of news for you in the chatterbox, and a review of one of my new favorites in town, ~SPQR~. Have a swell weekend, and see you on Tuesday!

Happy Pride!

Pride is always one of my favorite times of the year in San Francisco: Market Street becomes a boulevard of billowing and bright rainbow flags, dear friends fly into town from all over, an amazing group of volunteers climb Twin Peaks in order to create a gigantic pink triangle, and San Francisco just skyrockets with megawatt gay energy and smiling people. I remember last year I was toiling away at home on my manuscript, missing the annual Pink Saturday party with all my friends in Dolores Park. But this year, hell no! I am off the chain the entire weekend. Here’s wishing you all a wonderful celebration.

Last Saturday was no slouch, however. Thanks to everyone who came to the tablehopper Indian Street Food Event at Dosa—we had a sold-out room! And the Dosa kitchen staff made sure we totally feasted (quite!), and the Robert Oatley wine pairings were delicious. Here is a link to my photo album of the event, and here’s another set from a tablehopper reader who attended. I also thought I’d include a link to this fun video about the street food of Mumbai. It features many of the places I went to in January—I was missing the food so much I had to have it again, hence this event. Thank you for being game, Dosa!

Last week’s culinary highlights also included Thursday’s StarChefs Rising Stars Revue Gala; my favorite dish was Scott Nishiyama of Chez TJ’s (dear lord, hold me) Moulard duck foie gras “neige,” with blackberry gelee, cashew purée, sliced baby radish, and housemade mustard toast. The “neige” (snow) was a fluffy cloud of frozen and then grated foie gras. In-sane. (No surprise that it won the People’s Choice award at the event.) I also couldn’t resist eating two of Liza Shaw of A16’s sardine crostini with minted peas and topped with pickled onions. Heck, the entire event featured so many impressive dishes, kudos to all.

After the event, I swung by the Comstock Saloon for a couple oh-so-excellent cocktails (am loving the name, Gill Sans, for a cocktail), and then hit the after-party at Orson, which included Elizabeth Falkner’s deep-fried Monte Cristo sandwich bites. Pure evil. Suffice to say, the next day was all about vegetables, and lots and lots of water.

Cheers! Have a swell week!

P.S. A few of you seem to have forgotten, so here’s a little reminder: Marcia (rhymes with Garcia). Heh.

And just like that, the weather has taken a dip. Downright cool, but so not cool! At least tomorrow’s tablehopper Indian Street Food event at Dosa on Fillmore is inside, so we’ll be toasty and warming up on things like spicy chiles and wine. There are still a few spots left in case you’ve decided you would like to feast on a ten-course Indian street food lunch with wine tastes for only $45. Hell yeah you do! I went to the pre-event tasting on Wednesday, and let me tell you, lunch is going to be a tour de force of flavor and texture. Lunch kicks off at 12 noon.

This little Friday installment is all about an update on Tyler Florence’s Wayfare Tavern, opening next Tuesday. It’s quite the project, and the restoration was a wonderful homage to the historical building that it’s in.

This week I also did a few updates to three of my older restaurant reviews: Cha-Ya, Fifth Floor, and Orson. Just scroll to the bottom of each review for the updates, and new pictures are posted as well.

This Sunday is Father’s Day, and while I’m a little bummed my precious papa is far away in South Africa, I know he’s having the time of his life with my sister watching World Cup games, and then going on safari. And with Italy playing New Zealand on Sunday, a win would be the best Father’s Day gift ever, so FORZA AZZURRI! (Just in case you need some last-minute Father’s Day location ideas, here’s my round-up from Tuesday.)

Happy weekend, all.