SFs’ newest and possibly most *genuine* chocolatier is in Beta. I say genuine because they are truly making their own chocolates, not re-melting as noted on their website. We were lucky enough to have made their nice list, getting our first (hopefully of many) samples today.

This batch is named C. Ghana 0.16B, noted, Chocolatey, and indeed it is. Of note, TCHO is seemingly steeped in local business color, including the likes of Louis Rosetto and Timothy Childs.
(more…)

I’m not a huge Citysearch fan, but this season I was looking for food resources for the holiday and came across their simple and excellent Thanksgiving Planner. It has places to get birds both vegan and animal, ready to cook and pre-cooked; pre-assembled meals that you can order in a few minutes online (for pickup at Whole Foods locations around town), and even local restaurants that are doing dinners and events. Who knew Waiters on Wheels will cater your Thanksgiving with, say, a turkey meal from Lefty O’Douls? The planner iz truly excellent if you’re having an event or want to go out. Then again, the holiday is an odd one; best to rent Addams Family Values and enjoy all the free, open parking. One year for Thanksgiving, instead of orphan potlucks or suffering with other people’s families, I took acid with a bunch of friends and wandered around SF in daylight hours. We tried to fly a kite. It took us a while to realize there was no wind. Good times.

But — I was excited to see this on the Citysearch list: my favorite (and not cheap) gourmet vegan restaurant Millennium is doing a $60 five-course feast from 2:30pm to 7:30pm (the menu is in their events).

So I have the honor of making Thanksgiving dinner for half of my large family this year. I was at the Ferry Building the other day, taking a break while biking home from the gym, when I talked to Golden Gate Meat Co., and they told me to buy one right away (this was Sat.) as folks have ordered 3 weeks in advance and they only have two left. I bought a 15 pounder, and had them hold it until I swung by with the car. I’m walking around the Ferry Building checking out the recipes, veggies, and whatnot, and thinking, it’s never easy to double park here, and parking is a drag. Why not just put the turkey in my bag? I have a Timbuktu smallish messenger bag. So I return to the butcher and hold open the bag, and we manage to squeeze it in. One of the butchers says, “Trying to get a turkey in a messenger bag, it’s that season.” I strapped the other side of my bag down for balance and security, and managed a very nice stately bike ride home along the embarcadero. I now know I’m not going to gain 15 pounds, because my legs really hurt the next day. Anyways, that’s the story.

Last February, wrote “Ritual and Clover” and now, in the Economist. Voila. (OK I did have a connection to the founders, but still, we are so hip!)

Too Much Pork For Just One Fork…

it’s one of my favorite songs by “Southern Culture On The Skids” who are in town on Sunday night…but apparently if you want the free pork, you’ll need to look up their locally based labelmate Chuck Prophet.

Sunday afternoon, local rooty rawk maestro Chuck Prophet returns from his recent European tour foray with his band the Mission Express, and plays a free set at Amoeba Records on Haight St at 2 pm. Later that same night follow the El Tonayense taco truck to the Makeout Room for the free tacos out front in celebration of Prophet’s new album “Soap & Water” on North Carolina based Yep Roc records.

Chuck claims The El Tonayense folks:

“do a killer “al pastor” which is sort of like a Mexican doner kebab; a slow cooked pork thinly sliced off the spit with a machete-like knife.”

.

Don’t forget to get in the club to hear the mighty Mission Express run through their retinue of rocking new material lab tested over the past few weeks on the European continent. It’ll be yer only chance for awhile, as the band splits to head out across the great divide on a North American campaign until December. It’s all going down at an early show scheduled to start at 8pm, which means you have time to head over to The Great American Music Hall later that night to catch Chuck’s Yep Roc labelmates “Southern Culture On The Skids” who are known to fling bulging buckets of Fried Chicken and down home danceable sounds around in copious quantities…

Preview tracks via mp3′z from both bands after the jump
(more…)

It sounds like I’m about to write about a bad porn flick, but Amber is actually one of the most dee-lish things I’ve had to drink in a long time: Amber is Macallan scotch with a hint of pecan, so yummy. I tried a sample at the Litquake opening night party, but declined to have their mixed version and opted for over ice, same way I prefer my Scotch. It was musky and smooth, and the pecan came across like peaty hazelnut — and thankfully, not too sweet (but it totally smelled like waffles). Here’s a review on The Scotch Blog.

Amber is a locally-focused phenom; Citizen Cake is making pastries with it, Absinthe is re-inventing cocktails around it (“Absolute Sacrilege” is muddled blood orange, Amber, bitters, tequilia and ice), Miette has made butterscotch with it, Last Supper Club is making Hot Toddys with it, and the list goes on and on. It’s either good marketing, or the stuff is just drop-dead delicious (it is). You can get it at BevMo, but Amber doesn’t seem to have a website, doh.

At any rate, I just had to rave for a minute — and give a heads-up on an Amber tasting this Monday October 22nd at Citizen Cake, from 4-6pm (390 Grove @ Gough). Pastries and cocktails on a Monday sounds do-able to me…

The same demographic that was targeted by marketers who put a scantily clad & wet Paris Hilton in Carl’s Jr ads to sell burgers is being hit again, using a locally raised celebrity.

This time though the tables are being reversed somewhat as the wet nubile blond cavorts for the cameras in order to get you away from the beef… go figger.

It must be the work of some sort of vegan sex cult… perhaps with Bill Maher as a consultant. Alicia Silverstone, who was born naked here in San Francisco is once again baring all, this time for Peta.

The first market to get the ads of the dripping pool cavorting starlet is Houston Tx, (but we have a sneak preview streaming vid below).

If you are prepared for the type of analytical observation that has to be done to fully understand our local contributions to the national culture wars, then I’ll see ya on the other side of the jump:
(more…)

The 39,000 sq. ft. Whole Foods at 17th and Rhode Island officially opens Wednesday, so if you live or drive through the area, get ready for a real change in traffic patterns as hungry yuppies circle the block looking for parking. They have parking in the building, but if it’s like the chain’s other locations in the city, that won’t be enough.

Readers of the Noe Valley Voice were startled this month by an article that claims the chain is interested in taking over the Bell Market location in the center of the upscale neighborhood. The market, formerly part of a small locally run chain and currently being operated by the Ralph’s chain, is only half the size of the new WF markets, but it is certainly in the right yuppified location. Notice its listing on WF’s own new stores page (scroll to find “San Francisco (Noe Valley)”).

Yuppies on Potrero Hill are beginning to salivate over the August opening of this brand-new Whole Foods, located at 17th and Rhode Island in the The Potrero development. The development, which takes up a whole block formerly occupied by the S&C Ford service facility, has been under construction for a year as the chain continues to expand in Northern California.
(more…)

Despite officials in both San Francisco and Berkeley promising stronger efforts to pursue & convict those who commit “Quality of Life” life crimes, and the federal gov’t imposing tougher deportation measures on illegal immigrants, one of the most dangerous threats to California’s citizenery remains relatively obscure.

We’ve all heard the media warnings of various Middle Eastern terrorists, not to mention Russian/Asian/Mexican and South American drug cartels & gangs coming across borders to reek mayhem, but few seem aware of the latest uninvited light brown guests from Australia & New Zealand that have hit California this year. Officials have logged almost 4,000 sightings of these destructive and deadly invaders, and there’s surprisingly little panic in the streets. State officials have put out an APB and are asking all citizens to be on the lookout, to immediately report any sightings, and some go as far as to suggest you kill on sight if you must to detain the suspect.

I’m talking about the Light Brown Apple Moth, who made his US debut right here in the San Francisco Bay Area, click here to see the PDF map. 80 percent of the moths trapped have been in Santa Cruz County, but the first sighting occurred in February in the Berkeley backyard of a retired entomologist.

It’s apparently a real menace to us all, with capability to produce three generations a year with an unparalleled appetite for foliage of all sorts. The state’s agriculture industry faces $100′s of millions in losses if this interloper gets a more serious foothold in the agricultural zones of the Central Valley, and already nursery stock & cut flowers from 8 Bay Area & Northern California counties are quarantined and not allowed to ship interstate.

More photos, and info and even what you can do, about this perplexing problem after the jump…
(more…)