Category Archives: More Food Gal — In Other Publications

Burger Buster

Angus burger at Burger Bar in San Francisco.

Times were that chefs considered it downright unseemly and uncouth to feature a burger on their menus. These days, that old-school mentality has been ground up and reshaped into a super-sized burger bonanza. It’s practically gauche now if a beefy patty isn’t front and center everywhere you turn.

I should know. One day recently, I embarked on a challenge to eat at three different burger joints in one day. Yes, that’s nearly one burger per hour in a three-hour span with no breaks in between.

But I was on a mission for a story for San Francisco magazine about new burger restaurants in the city, which you can read in this month’s December issue. I, of course, took along my husband, aka Meat Boy, on this gut-busting experience.

Would you believe that Americans consume 14 billion burgers annually, with 41 percent of us chowing down on one at least once a week? In 2008, two market research firms found that 7 percent more restaurants, from quick service to fine dining, offered burgers on their menus than did two years ago. In fine dining establishments alone, burgers have enjoyed a 30 percent penetration growth in the past three years, according to Nation’s Restaurant News.

“People are tired of gastro obnoxiousness,” says Clark Wolf, a bi-coastal restaurant consultant. “The economy falling into the pits has made burgers just a good idea and a good meal.”

Mission Burger's astounding specimen.

Of the three places we tried, we agreed that our favorite was to be found at the most unusual Mission Burger in San Francisco, which is located inside the Duc Loi market on Mission Street.

Yes, walk into the bustling Asian-Latino supermarket, and make a sharp left to the butcher case, where Anthony Myint and Danny Bowien have rented a small space to turn out messy, drippy, heart attack-inducing ($8) burgers that will leave you speechless after one bite. They’re available only noon to 3 p.m., daily except for Thursdays.

Since they’re behind a butcher case, they grind the meat themselves from aged brisket, short rib and chuck. The meat is extruded, with the thick strands formed into a tight column that’s then sliced into thick patties, giving the burgers a very hearty texture.

The burgers are fried in beef fat (yeah, baby!), then topped with Jack, caramelized onions and house-made caper aioli. It’s a flavor powerhouse, and so rich I don’t think I could eat a whole one by myself. But Meat Boy sure can.

The fries, cooked to order, arrive piping hot and crisp as can be. They are fabulous. Order a mint lemonade and real mint leaves get muddled in your plastic cup.

Once you place your order, take your ticket to any of the grocery store check-out stands to pay, then come back to the butcher case to pick up your burger.

If you’re lucky, you can snag a spot on the old vinyl couch by the worn coffee table, which serves as seating. Otherwise, you have to take your order to go elsewhere, as it’s way too messy to eat while hoofing it around the neighborhood.

For good measure, one dollar from each burger sold is donated to the San Francisco Food Bank.

Cheeseburger at Acme Burgerhaus.

Addicting crinkle-cut sweet potato fries at Acme Burgerhaus.

Next stop, Acme Burgerhaus in San Francisco, where burgers run the gamut from beef to salmon to veggie.

We went bonkers for the crinkle-cut sweet potato fries ($3.95). The cheeseburger ($6.95) and lamb burger ($9.95) were cooked fine, but a little bland. Fortunately, the condiment bar is stocked with copious amounts of both artichoke lemon and pesto mayonnaise, and both hot and pickled peppers.

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Holiday Cookies to Bake

Bring it on -- "Feisty Ginger Cookies.''

Still hunting for the perfect cookie to make all your friends and family members thoroughly worship the ground you walk on and the kitchen you bake in?

Look no further than today’s issue of East Bay Express, where you’ll find my story on holiday cookies.

I sweet-talked three well-known East Bay bakers into parting with their favorite holiday cookie recipes.

Learn how to make “Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheels” from Oakland’s Montclair Baking; “Feisty Ginger Cookies” from Teacake Bake Shop of Emeryville, Lafayette and Corte Madera; and gluten-free ”Viennese Crescents” from Mariposa bakery in Oakland.

For good measure, I also included my own favorite Christmas cookie — “Italian Macaroons.”

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Abalone Amore

My trophy.

I’ve never hunted anything in my life — unless you count a pair of Prada boots hidden at the bottom of a consignment store bin that was one-third its original price.

The one time I went fishing, I caught zilch.

And me and a wild boar hopefully never will set eyes upon each other in this lifetime or any other.

Still, I do have what I consider a trophy of sorts.

It’s my two abalone shells.

When I wrote a story about abalone a few years ago for the San Jose Mercury News, the proprietors of the California Abalone Co., who sell live ones off a boat in Half Moon Bay, gave me two to try. I carefully put them in my cooler in the back of  the car, and drove home with my precious, expensive cargo.

Mind you, I’ve shucked clams and oysters before, but never an abalone. In researching the article, though, I was able to watch the very talented Chef David Kinch of Manresa demonstrate how to excavate the abalone, with its big, strong, suction-like foot from its single shell.

At home, armed with that knowledge, I did what any smart woman would do: I made my husband shuck them.

Hey, it’s what men are for, right? Well, that and killing big spiders.

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Feel the Love — When It Comes to Sardines

Are you a sardine lover or hater?

Sardines suffer from a bad rep for the most part.

So many of us have stinky memories of those tiny, pungent fish lurking inside pull-tab tins that our parents or grand-parents forced upon us.

But I’m here to plead with you to give sardines a chance.

At a time when so many other seafood species are on the verge of extinction, sardines are one of the most sustainable fish around. They’re super cheap, and loaded with good-for-you omega-3s, too.

That’s why a local group, whimsically named the “Sardinistas,” is waging a campaign to get you and me to better appreciate this much-maligned fish. Find out more about this group by reading my story in the November issue of San Francisco magazine.

Bay Area chefs already have courted a love affair with sardines. Find fresh ones grilled on many a menu here, their flesh silky and smoky tasting.

Fresh sardines aren’t always easy to come by at local fish markets, though, because the majority caught in Monterey Bay are exported elsewhere.

But canned ones are easily found at any supermarket.

Not only are there sardines in this dish, but anchovies, too.

And even die-hard sardine haters are sure to love them in “Fish Cakes with Caper-Parsley Sauce.”

The recipe, adapted from one published in Gourmet magazine seven years ago, actually has three types of fish in it. And two of them are despised by a good number of folks. Yes, one is the sardine. The other? Anchovy.

But hear me out before you pass judgment.

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Discover the Produce Peddler in San Francisco and San Mateo’s Thriving Downtown

Fresh, organic Yolo County Farms' produce now featured a select neighborhood corner stores in San Francisco. (Photo courtesy of Brian Collentine)

Corner markets aren’t the first places you’d normally seek out produce — unless you need something basic and fast.

Brian Collentine is seeking to change that.

When the economy fizzled, the freelance creative director found he had too much time on his hands. So he came up with the idea to set up displays of fresh, organic produce and flowers inside San Francisco neighborhood bodegas where you’d normally be hard pressed to find a squishy onion amid the six packs and cigarettes.

Instead of jumping in cars to shop at supermarkets miles away, city dwellers in certain parts of the San Francisco now can walk around the corner or a mere block away to buy just-picked potatoes, peaches, and figs from Yolo County farms.

Read more about Collentine’s fresh and delicious endeavor in my story in the October issue of San Francisco Magazine.

While you’re perusing the magazine, also check out my other story on San Mateo’s lively downtown, which has managed to thrive when other downtowns on the Peninsula have suffered untold business closings this past year.

Fancy soap from a 1905-era hardward store in San Mateo.

With its sprawling 70 blocks, downtown San Mateo is an intriguing mix of centuries-old businesses (Wisnom’s hardware store opened its doors in 1905) and new, unique attractions. It’s where both YouTube and Napster got their starts, too.

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