IL CASARO PIZZERIA & MOZZARELLA BAR IT'S NORTH BEACH CHEESE

North Beach is a tourist mecca whenever folks come to town and visit. Sitting on the edge of Chinatown, it's a mix of strip clubs, bars, touristy trap restaurants and Beach Blanket Babylon. Over the years it had managed to miss out on the new foodie explosion of places to dine and was populated by eateries aimed at city visitors with attractive hostess hawking menus to passersby, a very Europeanish thing to do. In the last couple years though, there seems to be a slow progression of new exciting places taking over locations that had been previously occupied for what seemed like forever. One such new place is Il Casaro Pizzeria & Mozzarella Bar which took over the spot of long time stalwart Steps of Rome.

YOUR WEEKLY DIGESTION OF FOOD NEWS

La Boulange's old fashioned glazed doughnut as sold at Starbucks. I didn't hate it. Plus it was actually pretty good heated up. 

• Even if you don't like Twitter maybe their new food hall will be worth it?
• Want to help start a new restaurant? Kickstarter breaks out the food categories.
• CUPCAKES ARE NOT OVER! We now have a tour! Take that cronut!
• I'm not the only one who feels protective of their small plates.
• Bars near Caltrain stops--because we want to be trapped in small spaces with drunks. 
• Another new coffee shop cafe in SOMA--yeah?
• La Rondalla is finally reopening! Or so they say again....
• European style food halls are popping up all over the city. 
• Elite Cafe revamps menu for first time in 8 years. Fillmore-ians rejoice!
• Anthony Mangieri explains the anatomy of his only available on Saturday pizza. 
• Neil Gottlieb, owner of Three Twins Ice Cream, had a better summer than all of us. 

UMAMI BURGER SECOND LOCATION SECOND LOOK

The SOMA part of town (near the baseball park) is a hit or miss 'hood when it comes to food. It's kind of a hodge podge of ballpark catering low end joints and some really high end (expensive) stuff. For those of us who live down here it doesn't feel like there are many choices, particularly on weekends and evenings when a number of the places, that seem to cater or draw the start-up lunch crowd, are closed, leaving residents with few options. A handful of places have even come and gone recently like the outpost of Burger Joint, which scaled back their operations to the original location and the ones at the SFO only, supposedly due to financial issues of late. The space they were in didn't stay vacant long, and while I had hopes for something more interesting, it was snapped up by Umami Burger. A seemingly affordable burger place replaced by a moderately less affordable burger place--ahhh...only in San Francisco. This is the second location in SF for this emerging California mini-chain and I'd already been to and reviewed the original Union Street location. Because of pricing I wasn't overwhelmed, but because the SO hadn't tried the place so we decided to go and check them out since they are just down the street.

TABLE FOR ONE: EATING SINGLE IN THE BIG CITY...COFFEE SHOPS

"Another Saturday and I ain't got nobody.." isn't that how the lyrics to the Cat Stevens song go? And here it is a Saturday or Tuesday or Friday or any night of the week. All your friends have plans or need to "wash their hair." You are totally bored and hungry and want to get food but don't want to order in Chinese or pizza....again. What's a person to do? Now is the chance to take your first opportunity to step out on your own and grab a bite to eat by yourself. That's right--ALONE. Folks seem to have this innate fear doing most anything by themselves in public as if it will brand them a loser or something, but I disagree and think more people should take the chance and eat out solo. I mean this probably won't be a regular occurrence with you but with everyone having seemingly hectic lives and work schedules it's hard to coordinate all the time. Thus the need to eat with yourself. As part of the learning process for those who are not used to such a thing let's start small and easy. One type of place that makes it easy for people to grab a bite for themselves is the coffee shop.

YOUR WEEKLY DIGESTION OF FOOD NEWS TO CONSUME

Fish and sweet potato fries at AT&T Park. At only $10 it's one of the few "bargains" at a SF Giants game and it was pretty good. 

• The three martini lunch is still alive and well in San Francisco. 
• Here's 7x7's list of 50 sweet treats to try in SF--SUGAR RUSH!!
• Selling restaurant reservations of hard to get into places--NOW tech has gone too far.
• Tablehoppers smattering of openings and expansions of food places to look out for. 
• Seems Cosentino can't leave the pork alone, Incanto has reopened as Porcellino.
• 12 forthcoming spots you may decide to hit up this summer---or not. 
• Bacon Bacon and their ultimate goals. World domination maybe?
• Charles Phan at home. But I don't see any slanted doors or bourbon?
• 4 new pizza places to check out because...it's pizza!
• I guess if you have to go to Oakland you may as well get brunch. 

STUFFED HAVE THEY GOT A PIEROGI FOR YOU!

When you think of pierogi, and well who doesn't, you don't normally think "oh, let's go down to the Mission and get one!" Not to mention going deep 'hood at 24th and Mission, but that's exactly what me and the SO did one late Saturday afternoon because...why not. Our destination was Stuffed (they don't have a website, just a Facebook page). But what is a pierogi you say? It's a dumpling of unleavened bread with a filling that is boiled and then either baked or fried in onions and butter. Think of it as the Eastern European version of the pot sticker. And it was this little item that brought us to one of the more unique corners of this town.

TABLE FOR ONE: EATING SINGLE IN THE BIG CITY

No one likes to eat alone, or at least that is what most folks will tell you. I know from personal experience it's not always the funnest thing in the world. I mean it is nice to have a fellow conspirator to enjoy (or complain) about the food or restaurant you are trying. It can make the evening go by faster and sometimes it can influence how you though about a certain dish by having a different take or set of tastebuds weigh in. But in this crazy busy, time compressed world we live in, sometimes it's hard to mesh schedules with cohorts and SO's in order to have dining companionship. For all the places I've eaten, there is a large majority I ended up going to alone and it is something I've gotten "used to" and actually don't mind it. Plus, long before I had an SO I had quite a number of single years and spent many a night eating out by myself, just because I wanted to get out of the house and more importantly, because I could. It's not a sad thing and I don't think it should be stigmatized, in short it really should be empowering and of course you kind of have to like yourself enough to do it. Isn't that what all those self-help books say--in order to like others you have to like yourself first--or something empowering like that. I mean in this day and age when ever we go out to grab a bite we are seemingly still connected to people and things with all the technology of phones, laptops, etc, it's like we are never really alone (or unplugged) are we?

YOUR WEEKLY DIGESTION OF FOOD NEWS TO CONSUME

Glazed bacon brittle brioche donut from A Spoonful of Sugar in San Francisco. At $4 a pop it's kind of pricey, but it was bigger than my hand, definitely fluffy, cakey and tasty. 

• Time to dine out on the waterfront, here's SFGate's list of where to eat. 
• Great more artisan chefs in San Francisco making pricey food. 
• Looks like Dixie in the Presidio may have bit the dust. The South falls again. 
• Rainbow Grocery joins the hi-tech delivery parade. What will the hardcores say. 
• If you must wait to get in State Bird Provision here's what SFist recommends. 
• Now you can brunch Monday through Friday at these places because why not. 
• Passover begins on Monday April 14th and EaterSF has you covered with places to eat. 
• The 25 Lusk folks will try their hand at a mall eatery at the Westfield. 
• The Mills Josey Baker releases his cookbook Monday--$4 toast at home!

FOOD TRUCK QUICK BITE: THE BONEYARD

BBQ meats are the new trend in San Francisco. Over the last year everything from brisket to pulled pork has been showing up on menus from high end to low end restaurants. Being a fan of meat, I'm not only okay with it, I'm also willing to try out all the incarnations to see whether any of it is worthwhile. Food trucks were some of the original places to jump on this new bandwagon and fortunately ones that serve up the goods can be found at most all of the locations chow wagons congregate. So it was on another Friday finding myself at Off The Grid and hitting up a meat truck, this time The Boneyard.

THE RAMP IN SAN FRANCISCO SUNS OUT BRUNCH OUT

With the advent of spring comes relative sunshine and as seen recently some spectacularly warm days. On the heels of that, folks in San Francisco emerge from foggy hibernation to participate in one of their favorite weekend activities--having brunch outside. A fair number of places have a few tables outside their establishments, but there are some which have large outdoor patios to accommodate patrons wanting fresh air and food all in one. A popular off the beaten track option for this is The Ramp located near Pier 66 in China Basin, it's a go to choice for folks who live in SOMA/Dogpatch neighborhoods.

YOUR WEEKLY DIGESTION OF FOOD NEWS TO CONSUME

Red Velvet Cake from The Grove in SOMA. It's a decent version of the classic cake, though could up the red color a bit. 

•  It's not just In-And-Out with secret menu items, Off The Grid food trucks have them too. 
• Because we don't have enough choices here Red Bay Roasters hits town. 
• The restaurant boom continues in the area, see what's new here. 
• SF Examiner/Gate adds Jonathan Kauffman to its burgeoning food coverage-interesting.
• Hey more places serving brunch in San Francisco! What took them so long?
• Bauer now hates Mission Chinese--foodie hipsters everywhere cry fake tears. 
• It's asparagus season and here's what local restaurants are cooking up.
• Oakland gets in on the brewery boom sweeping San Francisco. 
• Maybe it's time to explore being a celebrity chef? It seems to pay off. 
• Tartine Bakery and Heath Ceramics-match made in heaven? We'll see in 2015.

PAPALOTE MEXICAN GRILL IN THE MISSION IT'S A BURRITO THING

I'm on a random Sunday stroll through the Mission, because it's good to get out of the house sometimes. I usually have no particular direction or goal outside of just wandering around to see what's new, still the same or totally forgotten about. On this particular walk I reach the outer edges of the Mission around 24th and Valencia, a few blocks before it becomes Bernal Heights or something and start to turn around when I see folks heading into this small blue tiled place on 24th Street. Piqued, I walk over and see it's Papalote Mexican Grill.

PIZZETTA 211 TINY SPACE BIG FLAVORS IN THE RICHMOND DISTRICT

Boredoom...it can drive one to do lots of things, like get on 2 different Muni buses to make my way out to the Richmond District of San Francisco. My goal on this slow day was to just get out of the house and do something. Hit up Green Apple Books and maybe grab a quick bite to eat. Fortunately for me my friend Miss O works out this way and her BF lives nearby also so after browsing without luck at the bookshop I last minute texted her to see if they were up for food while I was in the hood. She said sure and after tossing out some ideas we settled on Pizzetta 211.