ANDA PIROSHKI.....RUSSIAN HOTPOCKETS IN THE HAIGHT'S SECOND ACT MARKETPLACE

The rise of the food scene in San Francisco has led many folks to try and get their foothold into its ever burgeoning popularity. Along with the wealth of options around town, purveyors and property owners have gotten creative in finding new ways to offer a variety of up and coming chefs and cooks to the populists appetite. One new way to serve up different foods is what I'll call a re-invention of the food court. They've come out of the shadows of malls and are stand alone entities on their own. Places like Cortland Marketplace, The Hall, the soon to open Market Hall and Second Act Marketplace to name a few. It was on a recent trip to Amoeba Music in the Haight that I stumbled across Second Act, a tiny space with a handful of food stalls.

YOUR WEEKLY DIGESTION OF FOOD NEWS TO CONSUME....HOLIDAY EDITION

Yikes! The holidays are a busy time, particularly when you work retail like I do. Thus my chance to sit down and do the food blog run slim and I don't get to post as often as I would normally like. Thus, right before Christmas rolls in, I'm rolling out this expanded food news edition along with a mini-review to tide things over until the madness subsides and I can get my act and schedule regular again. So, last time I went by Starbucks and got Xmas cookies so why not give Peet's equal opportunity for tempting me with some holiday fare. As I wandered into this particular Peet's I did see some Christmas cookies but they were the standard sugar cookie with colored crystal sprinkles on them, not iced frosting, and I just wasn't feeling them. Then what to my wandering eye should appear but this lovely gingerbread loaf with cream cheese icing and candied ginger pieces. With my taste buds alight I plopped down my $2.35 and asked for the piece that looked like the biggest. With greedy delight I grabbed my slice and settled in for a bite of my treat. 

It's a hefty, hearty piece that falls well within my value range for the money. One bite in and you taste the moistness of this filling bread. There is a lovely snap of ginger through out, though I could stand just a tad more to really kick it up. The cream cheese is tasty, not too sweet smear across the top and for me any addition of cream cheese frosting is most definitely a plus. Sadly, loafs are not like cake so the frosting is just across the top and adds a nice touch, but in my fantasy it is smeared like butter across a piece of toast. I think I'd have to make my own for that, oh well. I liked the addition of candied ginger on top even though weirdly I'm not the biggest fan of it. Yeah, I know, I like gingerbread and things with ginger in it but something about eating straight up ginger can be harsh and bitter even when candied. Still it wasn't over the top and just a few bits. For the most part this is a good piece of gingerbread loaf that will fill the void when you get that craving for a holiday treat. It also helps that there are a number of Peet's around the Bay Area, not as many as Starbucks, but still enough you could find one to pop into and pick up a slice. It's a soft, moist piece of spiced cake with enough cream cheese frosting to make it interesting. It is a holiday seasonal thing for them so if you are interested you'll need to get by before it is gone and then it will be back to citrus loaf and banana bread. All well and good, but they are no gingerbread! Happy Holidays all!

• Chez Papa in Potrero Hill is closing after 12 years. We've still got Mama. 
• Le Bauer won't review these three restaurants, and he's gonna tell you why!! Hmmm...still sounds like mini-review/bad review to me. 
• Nombe in the Mission is closing by years end. 
• Here's your guide to Progress, from those State Bird People, cause you're never gonna get in here either. 
• Hey, the Castro got another coffee shop.
• Hey, the Castro got another Mexican restaurant. 
• Burma Superstar opening a Mission outpost of their way too popular Richmond restaurant.  
• Even taqueria's have secret menus these days. Have they jumped the shark yet?
• You can win dinner at French Laundry since you can't get through on the reservations line. All you need is a lotto ticket, a selfie and a 500 word essay? Ugh, which is harder. 
• Christmas is coming! Here's some places that will be open for eating. 
• Here's were you can get your tamales for Christmas Eve snacking. 
• SFist thinks these are the best restaurants of the year to open. I still don't get the 4505 love--they are 0 for 4 (visits) for me. 
• Jersey style pizza is coming to SOMA thanks to the Rosenthal brothers. 
• It's a chic beer bar--in Union Square--do these things go together?
• Cookies on demand. Like Now! Now! Now!
• A 2,000 square foot coffee shop? What have we come to? That's like 4 studio apartments. 
• Looks Like NIMBY's and neighborhood associations are a pain for foodies in Oakland too.
• Hey, the Castro got a new candy shop. At least it wasn't Mexican food or coffee. 
• Wise Son's Deli is now getting their dinner on. 
• Dugeness crab can be pricey, so here's how you can DIY it!

BRENDA'S MEAT & THREE...SERVING IT UP DOWN HOME STYLE ON DIVISADERO

Brenda's French Soul Food has been a staple in this town for some time. It's quite the popular spot as evidenced by the lines waiting to get in, that's what happens when you put out good food and don't take reservations. As waiting in line for something is like a right of passage in San Francisco. For whatever reasons, the folks at Brenda's hadn't done much about expanding--that is until recently. Suddenly they've opened up a cafe/coffee shop/store a few doors down called Libby Jane and in the last couple months they've taken over the old Blue Jay Cafe (websites seem not to go away) space and turned it into Brenda's Meat & Three (some websites need to be worked out). I like the original, so when I heard about this outpost I was interested in giving it a try to see what if any differences there would be between the places.

YOUR WEEKLY DIGESTION OF FOOD NEWS TO CONSUME...JUNK FOOD HOLIDAY COOKIE JUNKIE

It's holiday cookie madness I tell ya'! Your standing in line for you vente double latte mocha frappa whatever and there they are, staring right at you, calling your name. "It's Christmas! Eat me!" With their snowy white frosting and chocolate hats. And that's what I do. I plop down my $2 and change and grab a Christmas snowman cookie to go so I can eat it in private shame. After gobbling it down while walking to work (yes! exercising and eating at the same time!) I can honestly say--it didn't suck. The cookie is not as sweet as you'd think with that icing. It's kind of a semi-sweet sugar cookie without the sprinkling of sugar baked into it. It's more like a thin shortbread with a layer of frosting. The cookie was crispy and crumbly but not so much so that it left a trail of crumbs on your shirt. The frosting was just thick enough to also not overpower the cookie. All in all, for a mass produced cookie, it won't too bad. Being the junk food junkie I can be, I'd say this is probably the perfect compliment to whichever coffee or tea you get at Starbucks. It's also a bigger than my hand sized cookie for under $3 which you know in my book is a big plus. Overall flavor is decent, though it mostly just tastes like a basic Christmas cookie. There wasn't anything that made me go wow, but for what it is and where I got it, it was fine. And yes, if I was there getting something and was in a cookie mood, I'd probably go holiday and get the snowman again. It was just good enough to fulfill my sweet tooth craving--at the moment. 

• Batten down the hatches, the hot new thing from State Bird Provision folks is set to open and Tablehopper has all the inside scoops and pics. Hipster foodies get ready. 
• Hate waiting in lines? Mission Chinese is now, kind of, sort of taking reservations.
• Like (or don't mind) waiting in line? Here's the time frame on some brunch favorites. 
• Tis the season they say and here's a line up foodie gift ideas if you've run out of your own. 
• Manresa gears up for it's rebirth from the flames with a January return. 
• There's a vegan deli/butcher shop opening in Berkeley....because, Berkeley.
• Zagat says these are SF's 50 best restaurants--welcome to the top--Kokkari Estiatorio? 
• Local bars do the eggnog now--it's officially a thing again.
• SFO restaurant workers strike--for two days--they'll be back for the busy weekend travel. 
• TBD and De La Paz Coffee suffered mysterious fire--cause still--tbd.
• The Infatuation interviews Emily LaFave of Forage.  

FEASTLY....DINING WITH STRANGERS COMES OUT IN THE OPEN

Me and the SO have been doing the underground dining scene for quite some time now. Groups like Ghetto Gourmet, Canvas Underground and Wild Kitchen/ForageSF have been around for awhile. Used to be you'd see a listing on Craigslist or something which led you to a website where you put in an email address to get on a secret list. When dinners were announced you'd get a notice and then send your credit card info to some stranger. From there you would get an email the morning of the day of the meal about the location which could be anything from a fish monger warehouse to a closed down taqueria to a house in a sometimes slightly sketchy neighborhood. Then you would show up with wine in hand and be treated to a multi course dinner of surprising food with folks you don't know. Dinner with strangers.

TWO FISH BAKING COMPANY..FROM SEA RANCH TO SOMA IT'S PIZZA/COOKIE TIME!

**Well, this is sad. Seems Two Fish has given up on San Francisco and closed their SOMA location. Folks will just have to hit up their Sea Ranch locale for the goods. Too bad, I really liked their cookies and calzones***

I'm trying to remember what great person said "you can never have enough bakeries"--oh wait, that was me. I mean really, you just can't. As the seasons progress in San Francisco, more do seem to be opening, though sadly, many of them are not necessarily convenient to those of us who live in SOMA. Fortunately, or maybe hopefully, the tide is beginning to turn as a popular Bay Area fave, whose original location is up at The Sea Ranch, has opened a small outpost in the hood and we now have our very own Twofish Baking Company. (Though their hours are strictly M-F 7:30am-3:30pm right now, I have hopes they will try some Saturday hours soon, fingers crossed.)

YOUR WEEKLY DIGESTION OF FOOD NEWS TO CONSUME...THE GERMAN SCHNITZEL EDITION

This is schnitzel from Little Red Riding Truck. They are a German inspired food truck that hits up various spots around the Bay Area. I checked them out on a visit to SOMA StrEat Food Park one day as I found myself in the mood for something fried. And what better way to go fried and German than with schnitzel. Pounded pork tenderloin, battered and pan fried, served with a choice of one topping, I went with bacon and onions, of course, and a side of french fries. First off I will say it was a bit on the overcooked side as you can even see the black burn marks on the breading. Plus it came off a little dry because of it. The onion bacon topping wasn't really hot, more room temperature, thus it was kind of a soggy glop on top of the meat, which didn't help things too much. This also came with fries (no choices there) which was odd as they do serve bacon fried potatoes with their bratwurst and I think that would have been a much better accompaniment to the schnitzel as opposed to fries. In this case it wouldn't have helped it be any less dry and flavorless, but they would have been better than the fries which were vastly under seasoned, salted, whatever. All around, sadly, it was just a big mess. And not a cheap one, roughly $12 for this. Oh well, that in and of itself is the joys and pitfalls of food trucks, sometimes the food is good and sometimes it isn't. Maybe I just caught them on a bad day or a not particularly good cook day, either way, it won't stop me from trying other trucks, though I will probably think twice or look harder at other choices before I pick Little Red Riding Truck again. Till then I'll just go to Walzwerk for my schnitzel fix.  

• Baker makes gingerbread version of Bouchon Bakery to get a job--oy, some people.
• This whole tip/don't tip/service charge is getting crazy.
• Here's a small handful of holiday lunches and dinners for December. 
• 7x7 calls these under the radar bakeries, I've been to 5 of them (of course) so I disagree, but do agree they are worth trying.
• NIMBY's strike again, try to shut down outdoor seating for folks who want sit in the SF cold.
• Monsieur Benjamin in Hayes Valley "quietly" just started serving brunch. Though all the area blogs posted about it, thus not so quiet. 
• Lambpigcow--I don't know what else to say.
• Because everyone wants to know where hipster techies go (and thus the rest of us can avoid them). 
• Interesting interview with the Chef/Owner of Boulettes Larder here and here. It's a two parter.
• Urban Bees, know we know how they are able to afford their rent! Working hard for the greater honey.  

LONG BRIDGE PIZZA DOGPATCH...OVER THE RIVER AND DOWN 3RD STREET WE GO!

Vacation has long passed and it's time to get back into the pizza flow, because nothing says holiday like pizza--am I right? It's quick, it's easy, they deliver, it can be red and green--what more do you want? I'm diving right in with a new place that opened not long ago in the Dogpatch neighborhood called Long Bridge Pizza Co.

 

I have the occasion to run down 3rd every now and then and my nostrils had connected with the delicious baking smell wafting from their doors. Each time I ran by I thought, I gotta try this place sometime.