YOUR WEEKLY DIGESTION OF FOOD NEWS TO CONSUME....AND I SWEAR THE LAST OF DIM SUM WEEK...MAYBE

Canton Dim SumJu and Seafood Restaurant is only a few blocks or so over from me in the lovely SOMA hood. We'd been there before to try out the whole dining room, select from carts experience. Turns out, they have a spot just around the corner where you can get stuff to go. It is sort of on a side street and then you go down some steps into a basement like place that looks like a long narrow cafeteria. It's got that long counter with sneeze guard and metal railings as if you could slide a tray  down it while choosing your items. They don't necessarily do all the things they offer in the restaurant but it seems to be a place to get in quick for a lunch bite. Which makes sense as it is only open during lunch hours Monday through Friday. I popped in one day as I was weirdly craving a pork bun and picked a couple baked bbq pork buns and threw in a couple egg rolls to boot for around $6. The buns here are smaller here than other places, but they still have that soft and fluffy, slightly sweet taste of others. The pork inside is not as sweet and is in more of a brown sauce as opposed to bright red orange. Fortunately for me, they also don't have that miso roast pork flavor that's not my personal fave. In general terms they were okay. Not gonna say I bit into and was wowed by any means, but in the moment they did at least satisfy the pork bun craving I had. As for the egg rolls, they were filled with shredded cabbage and carrots and what I think was small bits of ground pork. They weren't the best I've had. They were a tad overcooked and greasy. Plus, they'd probably been sitting out for awhile as they were not exactly warm. They just didn't have that crispy, fresh cooked flavor. Sadly, I forgot to get some sweet duck sauce to dip them in, it would have been helpful to offset some of the blandness. I settled for some sriracha and the hot just perfectly overpowered everything. Well, sort of one out of two ain't bad. Considering there really are not any other options for dim sum in this part of SOMA, Canton's mini to go spot, is, well, good enough, for now. 

• Just in time for pie baking season, Three Babes Bakeshop runs down the do's and don'ts to a good pie. 
• Zeke's has barely been closed a hot minute and already it's being reconcepted, renamed and reopened soon. 
• And in case you may have missed it, here's a list of some Bay Area restaurants that recently closed. 
• Sam Wo returns! Evidently this is a big thing everyone should know about. May have to wait to try it since it will probably be crowded. 
• Zagat says these are some fall dishes you must try! Though, could they not find one from a slightly more affordable place?
• That Coi guy is taking over some old school steakhouse.
• Delarosa is now open on Yerba Buena lane so you don't have to traipse down to the Marina to try it. 
• Here's an inside look at Dominique Crenn's new place Petit Crenn.
• Food delivery start-ups are turning to bloggers and writers to increase their brand and image. Here's hoping folks will write for more than just free food. 
• It's a write up about San Francisco's "no tip revolution" and odds for survival.
• From street food cart to brick and mortar location. Seems all the food carts and trucks are setting up permanent spots in the East Bay now. Seems it's easier there than in SF.
• Upscale Mexican spot Cala is now serving brunch. That didn't take long.  

GOOD MONG KOK BAKERY IN CHINATOWN...A LINE MEANS IT'S GOOD, RIGHT?

It seems I'm on a dim sum kick this week, but it's merely coincidence (riiight). Me and the SO were out and about on a random Sunday and decided to grab a quick dim sum bite in Chinatown while we waited for a MUNI bus to mysteriously appear. We walked through that tunnel up Stockton street into what I like to call the "real Chinatown" with all it's grocery stores teeming with people on a daily basis. We weren't looking for any specific dim sum place, we figured we would just venture in to whichever one we came across first. That lead us to Good Mong Kok Bakery. I can't say I hadn't heard about this place before. I'd seen lines out the door at this place on any number of occasions and seen some decent reviews online to boot. I think it is one of those spots that gets good tourist write ups which leads to lines and leads those of us who live here to find someplace else. Since we didn't have any particular place to be we decided to brave what looked like a relatively small line/wait and see what all the fuss was about.  

KINGDOM OF DUMPLING...GOING WAAAAYYY OUT FOR DIM SUM?

Sometimes it's good to get out of your comfort zone and try something new. For me that constitutes getting on the L Taraval and heading over to the way other side of town, Outer Sunset/Parkside(?) way to try a popular dim sum/noodle/dumpling joint with Ms. O called Kingdom of Dumpling. I know, this town is littered with dim sum joints so why schlep all the way from Mission Bay to there? Well, she'd heard it was a pretty good place where folks line up/sign up to eat like it's brunch or something, thus it must be good, right? We decided to try and forgo any line standing/waiting and hit up the place during the week when they first opened. Seems a few other people had this same idea and we weren't the first ones there, but it was early enough that they pretty much seated us all at the same time.  

YOUR WEEKLY DIGESTION OF FOOD NEWS TO CONSUME...AND BREAKFAST SANDWICH MAYHEM

The Plant Cafe Organic is a mini Bay Area chain with a handful of restaurants around town. There stated goal is to make it easy and affordable to eat local and organic. They opened a new spot in the Dogpatch hood recently. I'd not tried any of their locations before and when I tripped by this one I thought, let's see what they got. One glance at the menu right away tells me, their idea of affordable and mine are vastly different. Salads are $13 or more and sandwiches (with no real sides) fall into that $9 or more range that infuriates me. But, in the interest of at least seeing if the food was worth it, I decided to try a turkey sausage and white cheddar breakfast sandwich, which still set me back $8.75 plus tax. It's 2 scrambled eggs with turkey sausage, arugula, tomato and mayo on a toasted pan de mie roll. Positives: the roll was nice and there was enough mayo. Negatives: it's not a big sandwich for the price, there were just a few leafs of the arugula, the turkey sausage had no flavor and tasted like that ground turkey you buy at the grocery store. The egg, what can I say, it actually tasted dry, as in overcooked. It's almost as if they have a pre-made pan of sausage and egg made up that they then slice into squares, slap a piece of cheese between them, then microwave the heck out of it. This only serves to melt the cheese to a point of evaporation and give the egg a weird dry texture and pretty much no taste. Something a little milk or butter added to it while scrambling could have easily remedied. Some salt, pepper or seasoning of any kind would have been nice too. If I want a bland tasting overcooked egg and ground turkey sandwich, I can do that at home myself and save the money. Add in the fact, the place was relatively empty when I went, yet it still took more than 10 minutes for them to make this. This location is new and maybe they are still working out the kinks that may not be present at other locations. But considering cost, size and taste, I think I'm just gonna pass on other stuff. I mean for just a few bucks more, I can get a full pizza 2 doors down at Long Bridge Pizza and still have some left for lunch/breakfast the next day. With so many other choices in Dogpatch, it will be hard for me to go back to The Plant again.   

• It's a recipe for Swan Oyster Depot's classic combo salad. Hmmm....only looks like cold seafood slapped on shredded lettuce. How hard could it be?
• Slanted Door was still the area's top grossing independent restaurant last year. Though that only puts it at 29 on the overall list. SF still has a ways to go.
• Sous vide cocktails? Drinking is getting all molecular gastronomy now.
• Seems that whole tipless thing wasn't working for Sous Beurre. 
• And it also wasn't working for Bar Agricole and Trou Normand. I wonder if this means they will lower prices too since they were slightly elevated to cover the whole tipless thing. My tip money is on--no they won't. 
• Michelin's Bib Gourmands are out and here are the SF places that scored some kind of nod.
• No you'll no longer need to track down his pop-up as Wes Burger has found a permanent home.
• A cursed restaurant spot in the Castro (4 down and counting) has a liquor application out for a new spot to open there. Well, good luck with that.
• Former popular sushi spot Minako lives on with take from local Mission market.
• While closing one location, Pizza Orgasmica rebrands another in the FiDi district.
• Even chefs in San Francisco like to brunch and here's where they like to go.  
• Nojo in Hayes Valley got new owners and they are giving it another shot.

LITQUAKE EAT, DRINK AND BE LITERARY...STILL SAMPLING AT Z SPACE

Finishing off our visit to LitQuake's Eat, Drink and Be Literary fest this past Saturday, we just wrapped up the second panel on cookbook collaborations. A melding of chefs with the folks who managed to wrangle a tangible cookbook out of them. It was an interesting insight into the minds of Dominique Crenn, Thomas McNaughton and Anthony Myint and how they go about their own creative cooking process which doesn't necessarily involve written recipes. The writers then have to take the chefs creations and turn them into actual recipes folks can attempt to replicate at home. Lots of funny stories ensue about the collaborative process and something about a hot tub full of pasta. Chefs are so crazy! Once the panel is over me and the SO get back on the sample train.

LITQUAKE EAT, DRINK AND BE LITERARY AT Z SPACE

Litquake is a literary festival that takes place in San Francisco celebrating everything book and written and stuff. It's been going on for 16 years now and I've attended random events with them over the years being sort of into that whole books and publishing thingy. This year, for the first time, they had an event that combined food and books called Eat, Drink and Be Literary. It's the first time I can remember them doing such a thing that in retrospect, seems like it should have always been considering what a foodie kind of town this is. Needless to say I was intrigued to see what they would do, so I plunked down the dough for tix for me and the SO and this past Sunday we headed over to Z Space in the Mission to try to be literary while eating and drinking.

YOUR WEEKLY DIGESTION OF FOOD NEWS TO CONSUME....PLUS JUNK FOOD JUNKIE TIME!

It's the return of junk food junkie and yes, I have a pop-tart fixation. It's like a tiny pastry packed with vitamins and stuff! Let's just forget about all the sugar and carbs and stuff. I grew up with these as a child and these plus a Diet Mtn Dew got me through 8am classes in college. Judge all you want, but that's the joy of being young and eating what you want, until the freshman 25 or 30 or so bring you back to reality. But I digress. It seems every time I hit the grocery store, Kellogg's is pumping out a new flavor. Some make sense like cinnamon roll, some don't--hello blue raspberry? But in the spirit of fall and Halloween and Thanksgiving et al, they've brought forth pumpkin pie! And surprise, there is actually pumpkin as an ingredient, not just pumpkin flavor. Granted it's like #20 or so on the list of ingredients, but still, it's there. And also surprisingly, it kind of does taste like pumpkin pie. Whether you heat it up or just eat out of the bag, the taste is pretty consistent. (and yes, I put some butter on it and that worked too) I'm totally giving this thing a thumbs up. Yeah, it's kind of a trashy kids breakfast treat, but, whatevs. If you read me regularly you know I've got the worst sweet tooth and really like some heft to my desserts and in a pinch, this pumpkin pie pop-tart works pretty well. If I'm laying around the house and don't want to make my lazy way to Happy Donuts 2 whole, long blocks away, I'll grab these and eat both in the bag, because seriously people, who just eats one of these and puts the other one back? I mean, why bother? It will just get stale and who likes a stale pop-tart? Just eat them both and we'll all be happier. 

• Les Natali, the owner/landlord of many Castro businesses actually reached an agreement to Zapata hang around another year. 
• SF Business Times looks at/ranks the most expensive restaurants in San Francisco. How much will we be willing to plunk down for food?
• Some San Francisco bars actually made a world top 50 list it seems. Let the arguments begin!
• Oakland now has their own little extra fancy food marketplace thingy.
• Peet's bought Portland's Stumptown Coffee. Portlandiers will begin to revolt in 3,2,1....
• Some soup thing is opening in the Mission, because that's what they need.
• And not to be outdone, the Sunset gets their own soup hotpot place, so there!
• Pizza Orgasmica goes out with less than a happy ending.
• Fresh off his La Boulange rebirth, Pascal Rigo expands his workload helping out Munchery.
• Chica goes from Off The Grid booth to small take-out window. 
• It's chef shuffle time again! Actually, it seems to be a weekly occurrence these days.
• It's Spaghetti Bros., what a seemingly random and odd yet apropos name for a new spot in the Marina. 
• Asha Tea House tries to replicate their success in Berkeley with a new spot in SF's Financial District. Good luck with that. 

ATLAS CAFE IN WAIT, IS THAT OUTER MISSION OR LOWER POTRERO HILL?

Neighborhood boundaries in San Francisco can be a little confusing at times, I'll lay blame on realtors trying to sell outlier places in some "less desirable hoods" as they say. Also can be confusing when doing a walkabout round town like I am want to do. Edges keep changing it seems and sometimes I'm not sure exactly where I'm out. Such was the case when I came across Atlas Cafe in an area I think most folks will agree is mostly a quieter part of the Mission, that borders right on the edge of Potrero.

CAFE CHAAT IN SOMA...INDIAN FOOD FOR EVERYONE!

Indian food is one of those things that feels like you need a (drunk?) craving for and you only want to order it for delivery. Or maybe that is just me. Still, it's like Chinese food, you don't really go out for it and it tastes better delivered to your door so you can sit on the couch in your sweats and eat it while watching TV. Or, again, maybe that is just me. In any event, I do have a semi-favorite place to get stuff whether we are ordering in or want to grab a last second bite before hitting a movie at the Metreon. It's a not so little place on the corner of 3rd and Folsom called Cafe Chaat, or Chaat Corner or Chaat Cafe, whatever they are calling themselves these days.

YOUR WEEKLY DIGESTION OF FOOD NEWS TO CONSUME....AND BAD PIZZA! BAD PIZZA!

I think I've said before, in some version, that even bad pizza is still pretty good. Though occasionally, some place tries to prove me wrong, and not in a good way. Every neighborhood has that little corner spot that has been around forever. The food is just good enough or not so terrible that they don't have a few fans and are a go to when you are too lazy to want to leave your hood or even walk more than a block to get something. Down my way, one of those places is South Beach Cafe. It does variations on Italian food, salads and sandwiches that don't cost too much in the grand scheme of SF things. They also do single serve pizzas which all run about $10. Not bad considering other options. When ordering these, it's best to call ahead as speed is not necessarily their forte. As for the pizzas themselves, well, you know, it's pizza. The crust is thin, but instead of being crispy, it suffers from soggy tip syndrome, which is surprising as they kind of skimp on toppings most times. Also, of all the ones I've had there, the crust never reaches that nice golden brown color. Probably why it always seems to taste just a little under done. The sauce is a bit too sweet for me, thus it's probably good they don't put too much on. And the cheese--there just never seems to be enough. Flavor in general also seems to be lacking. They could really use a kick of something--oregano, garlic, hot sauce? Anything to excite it up a bit. It's not the worst pizza I've ever had, but it is still far from the best or even the okay-ish. I sometimes feel like they could make just a few adjustments with the ingredients and it could be a more than decent pizza. As is, it's more of a--well they were close, I was hungry and I didn't see anything else on the menu I wanted kind of pizza. Not a ringing endorsement, but, when it's 9pm on a Saturday night and your are laying on the couch in your sweats nursing hunger pangs after a long day at work, then beggers can't be choosers as they say. Plus, it will be slightly quicker than delivery at least. To say me and the SO have done that more than once is, well, let's just not talk about it, ok? 

• Corey Lee will head up the new restaurant In Situ at the new fangled SFMOMA when it opens. Seems he'll be copying famous chefs plates? Mmmm...k?
• Historic (?) Sam Wo restaurant will re-open in Chinatown. See, old school restaurants can survive in San Francisco!
• Mission Chinese introduces it's new creation. A burrito of salt cod fried rice and kung pao pastrami! Well, I guess if folks go ga-ga for Sushirrito, why not this.
• Koja Kitchen ye' of the food truck folks, have opened a brick and mortar location at Clement and 5th. Now you don't have to search around to get your fried garlic rice bun fix.
• Kickstarter cookbooks for a good cause are all the rage now.
• SFWeekly runs down the best places to get your Oktoberfest on in San Francisco. 
•  Another Castro restaurant closed down by the health department! Yikes!!
• Though looks like it happens in other parts of the city too.
• SFist runs down some of their fave burgers in the Bay Area, many on the high end side. Though, enough with the 4505 burger--it is overrated! 
• And Thrillist offers a compelling argument why diner burgers are better than those fancy schmancy ones.
• Upscale, sustainable, organic, local, innovative, progressive, farm to table, etc. All the buzzwords you want in a pompous new SOMA spot.