A display of wild foods gathered by Chef Kory Stewart and foraging expert Connie Green.

There are so many food crazes these days it’s really hard to keep up. Food trucks, pop-up restaurants, kombucha, Sriracha, low-carb meal plans, gluten-free diets. I get dizzy just thinking about it.

Add food foraging to the list. It’s a popular culinary trend, taking us back to our hunter-gatherer roots. What does it mean? Simple. You go out into the wild, find edibles in Mother Nature’s pantry and whip up a meal. It’s the closest a consumer can get to their ancestors and the abundance of local, sustainable dishes surrounding them.

Foraging for your next meal isn’t anything new. Cave people did it. Animals in the nature still do it. And now, droves of hungry foodies can partake in it too.

This trend is coming to a table and television near you. On a recent episode of No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain held a competition where chefs from around the world were tasked with getting back to their roots, literally, and cooking a whole meal. There was foraging, fishing, hunting ducks with big nets and tromping through the Japanese woods.

You don’t need to fly to Japan to experience this type of primitive dining. Locally, Americano’s Executive Chef Kory Stewart did the same Thursday night, June 6 during the third annual Wild Foods Dinner at the Hotel Vitale located on the Embarcadero in San Francisco. He and food foraging expert Connie Green, author of The Wild Table, took a food-gathering excursion out to the Sierra Nevada for this experiment.

“Wild foods are special because they grow and proliferate with little human intervention,” Stewart said. “The range of flavors and textures found in many of these foods cannot be found elsewhere.”

Indeed, over 50 guests dined on a unique six-course meal that was shaped largely by the bounty they located in nature.

The six course menu included such items as roasted venison with fiddlehead fern, local king salmon with nettle and huitlacoche and candy cap mushroom S’mores.

“We found porcinis, a variety of miner’s lettuce,” Stewart said. “We also found sheep sorrel, elderflower and a nice amount of fir tips for a cocktail we are serving.”

A display of the various edibles Stewart found in the Sierra Nevada. From bottom to top: a bowl of wild pecans, elderberries, Sierra porcinis and huitlacoche which he describes as corn infected with fungus.

Putting blind faith in their chef, patrons knew little of the menu ahead of time, but didn’t seem to mind.

Guests paid $85 per person to eat and drink foods found in nature.

The night started off with a refreshing cucumber gin sour, flavored with Douglas fir from the forest. Yes, the same Douglas fir that invades your home every December, harboring Christmas presents for the kiddies.

Douglas fir and Cucumber Gin Sours kicked off the evening on the Hotel Vitale Terrace.

Guests slurped fresh oysters on the half shell and indulged in grilled wild boar meatballs served by white-gloved waiters. Stewart himself poured the libations and helped serve the hungry guests.

Oysters on a half shell with grilled ramp mignonette were a hit with this group.

Grilled wild boar meatballs and morels with green harissa couldn’t come out fast enough.

“It’s a rarity to see a chef serving the food himself, but Kory is that type of person. He’s very down to earth,” said Green, his foraging companion.

Stewart serving refreshing glasses of cucumber gin sours on a beautiful San Francisco evening.

That was a just a taste of what these adventurous food enthusiasts were in for.

From left to right: Josh Perez, Chef de Cuisine, Connie Green, Kory Stewart, Executive Chef and local producer, Ames Morison.

Patrons sat at tables in the main dining room and were treated to an amuse of fresh halibut crudo…Delectable.

Halibut Crudo

“I’ve always wanted to try something like this,” Robert Graves, a first time Wild Foods guest said. “I haven’t been disappointed.”

Each dish was carefully paired with organic wines courtesy of Medlock Ames, a local winery in nearby Bell Mountain.

Medlock Ames Wine was served at the Wild Foods Dinner

The dishes leading up to the main course included everything from smoked mackerel escabeche with grilled octopus, seared sea scallops and watercress to house-made ricotta tortellini.

House-made ricotta tortellini with Sierra porcini, wild pecans and honey

The two main courses were certainly worth the price of admission: local king salmon with nettle and huitlacoche dumplings, fried seabeans and fresh corn polenta, followed by roasted venison with fiddlehead fern, elderberry mustard, morels and Douglas fir jus.

Local, fresh king Salmon

Vension, also known as deer, is very thin and should never be overcooked, Stewart said. If you do, it turns into jerky. Photo: Sara Bloomberg

Dinner wouldn’t be complete without Stewart’s famous candy cap mushroom S’mores with roasted white chocolate.

Candy cap mushroom S’mores with roasted white chocolate.
Photo: Sara Bloomberg

All in all, the dinner was a huge success and Stewart looks forward to many more wild food events.

This certainly wasn’t Stewart’s first time gathering food in the wilderness.

His love of wild foods began when he was only 9 years old growing up on Whidbey Island, 30 miles north of Seattle. He, his father and grandfather would find clams, mussel and wild oysters everywhere.

“I remember at super low tides we would pick Dungeness crab out of knee-deep water” he recalled.

It wasn’t just seafood. Stewart would pick wild blackberries, filling up 5 gallon buckets to bring to his grandmother who made pies from the bounty.

Despite San Francisco’s rich culinary tradition, it isn’t quite as abundant in edible vegetation as Washington. Nowdays, he has to work a little harder to pursue food in the wild, although as Stewart says, “It’s all worth it.”

These days, it seems like there’s a new burger joint firing up a grill in the Bay Area every month. While there’s three restaurants I consider my personal favorites — Chop Bar‘s at the top of my list, followed by Trueburger and Victory Burger — I recently checked out some of the latest arrivals to see if there were any promising new additions to the East Bay burger scene.

Moxy Beer Garden
3136 Sacramento Street, Berkeley, CA [map]
Phone: 510.547.6699
Facebook: Moxy
Hours: Kitchen: 11:30am – 9:30pm; Bar: 11:30am – 11:30pm; Closed Mondays

Open since late April, Berkeley’s Moxy Beer Garden has transformed the old Casa Vino wine bar into a spacious venue with plenty of seating for groups in their covered outdoor patio or near the main bar.

They offer a wide selection of beers on tap from Drake’s, Black Diamond, Thirsty Bear, 21st Amendment and several other local breweries.

All of their beef is sourced from Pacific Pastures Farm in Hydesville, CA, and bears the requisite imprimatur of quality meat: free-range, 100% grass-fed, hormone and antibiotic-free. Burgers are cooked medium rare unless you ask otherwise (and it’s a nice touch when this is the default method of preparation.) “The Burger” ($9) comes with butter lettuce, ketchup, pickles and red onion on a soft bun with your choice of cheese — I opted for Tillamook cheddar — and it was excellent. Free from any extraneous garnishes and toppings, it was just a simple, juicy burger.

A small order of house-cut garlic fries ($3.50) is plenty for two people and comes with a side of chipotle aioli; these were perfectly crispy and garlicky.

Their Moroccan lamb burger ($10) with pickled red onion & feta mustard aioli was a wonderful combination of savory flavors (and the server assured us the lamb came from sustainable source as well, although I don’t recall seeing it listed on the menu.)

With great service, an appealing menu and equipped with their own private parking lot, I predict this will be a popular spot when summertime rolls around.

The Bureau 510
5800 Hollis Street #150, Emeryville, CA [map]
Phone: 510.595.1000
Facebook: TheBureau510
Hours: Mon – Fri 11am–2:30pm; 4:30pm–10:00pm; Sat 11am–10pm; Sun 11am–3pm

From the same owner of the sleek Summer Summer Thai restaurant located right across Hollis Street in Emeryville, The Bureau 510 began serving its Niman Ranch beef burgers last December. With the menu designed by chef Edward Higgins of Quattro at the Four Seasons, its eclectic dishes reflect a fusion of classic Americana and Asian flavors. There’s the Louisiana-inspired catfish fillet, “The Bayou,” ($9) with creole remoulade; the “Chips n’ Salsa,” ($9.50) with jalapeño, tortilla chips, roasted tomato salsa, cilantro, butter lettuce and nacho cheese on Acme sesame bun; and the “Tempura” ($9.50), a fried rock shrimp patty seasoned with wasabi mayo, seaweed slaw and a ‘bun’ crafted out of pressed fried rice — just to name a few of their offerings.

Their creamy Caesar salad ($7) is topped with marinated anchovies and tossed with a liberal helping of homemade croutons (I’m taking an educated guess here and believe they were made with toasted bits of Acme’s herb slab).

The “Nostalgia” burger ($7.50) is a throwback to the basic burgers of drive-in diner days. Dressed with fresh butter lettuce, tomato, grilled onion and American cheese on an Acme bun, the Nostalgia burgers arrived with a side of housemade dill pickles and a piquant apple-poppy coleslaw. Overall the burgers were good, although there was more a bit more bun than burger; it took me a few bites before I reached the meat itself.

For another $2 you can add a crispy bucket of fries to your order; it’s a generous helping that can easily accomodate 2-3 people and comes with a side of Sriracha mayonnaise. Or you can spring for the more decadent Parmesan fries for $3.50.

With its spacious, modern interior and an outdoor patio for dining in warm weather, it’s a fine spot for casual eats in Emeryville.

Grazzy Burgers
747 San Pablo Avenue, Albany, CA [map]
Phone: 510.526.2999
Facebook: GrazzyBurgers
Hours: Mon – Thurs & Sun: 11am – 10pm; Fri & Sat: 11am – 11pm

Grazzy Burgers debuted this past March and prides itself on using ingredients from Bay Area farms, including “100% grass-fed, corn-free diet, locally-sourced and pasture-raised beef” for their burgers. (You can also order bison, lamb, chicken and salmon as non-red meat options.) So while I was impressed by their earnest mission statement, the food wasn’t nearly as stellar as their intentions. The “Grazzy Classic” ($7.50) made with a 100% grass-fed beef patty, butter leaf lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, housemade pickles and aioli on an Acme bun was a tad dry — even with the addition of Swiss cheese — and not as flavorful as I’d hoped.

The Chicken Katsu Japanese-style breaded chicken breast sandwich ($8.75) was overwhelmed by its Asian slaw, roasted tomato and red onion toppings, although the chicken itself and the Thai basil aioli dressing were delicious.

The hand-cut fries ($3.50, and you can top them with garlic, herbs or parmesan for an additional charge) were tasty, but the server brought them to me well after the burgers arrived. Unfortunately, service was somewhat uneven throughout the night, but hopefully they’ve smoothed out the glitches with their waitstaff since my visit in early April.

Grazzy Burgers is still a notch above your average bar fare and is adjacent to the Albany Tap Room, which has a diverse selection of beers on tap and for sale. You can order your food directly from one of the bar’s servers while enjoying a Belgian blonde ale.

Over the past four months, I’ve developed a new appreciation for pants with stretchy elastic bands. I’ve traded in cute shoes for kitchen clogs. And, I’ve certainly given up on manicures – I’ll consider it a win if my nails are simply clean and don’t smell like onions. Or fish.

I’ve been immersed life at the San Francisco Cooking School, and fat pants and fishy hands aside, I am loving every minute of it.

SF Cooking School came into my life somewhat fortuitously. I had been invited to cover the opening of the school for a preview story and the more I learned about the school, the more I fell in love with school’s philosophy, curriculum, and culture.

A small, intimate class. Hands-on, practical learning. And access to some of the best chefs and resources San Francisco has to offer. Sign me up! I pulled the trigger and so began my adventures in cooking school. It’s impossible to distill everything I’ve learned into a few short paragraphs, but here are a few of the big takeaways:

EFFICIENCY
Perhaps one of the biggest differences between cooking for pleasure at home and cooking with a purpose in a professional setting is the pace at which you are expected and required to work. At school, we are taught from day one to work with a sense of urgency. Whether it is a matter of using the right tool for the job, organizing your mise en place, or even walking with purpose, your goal is to work fast and work smart.

BATCH MOTIONS
Along the same lines of efficiency, you’ll work quickest if you batch together similar motions. For example, if you are forming meatballs, you wouldn’t portion out and roll each meatball one at a time. Instead, you would want to portion out the entire batch, then roll out the meatballs all at once. The work will go twice as fast. Trust me, I learned the hard way. At school, we are taught to pay attention to what are “wasted motions” or wasted effort. If you find that you have to put down and pick up your knife/utensil a lot, or if you find yourself in an awkward position, stop and reevaluate your work flow. Always arrange your work in a way that lets you complete your task with minimal effort.

ON BUTCHERY
One of the most memorable lessons we had was taking down a half hog with 4505 Meats. What a treat to be able to be able to learn about butchery from one of the leading butchers in town.

It’s amazing how similar most animals are structured. If you learn the basics of breaking down a chicken, for example, you can follow the same rules of thumb for breaking down a whole hog. Use your fingers and look for joints and natural breaking points. Follow the bone when you’re trying to remove meat from bone. Let gravity work for you.

Don’t waste anything. We used every bit of that beautiful hog. We made sausage and cured salumi, we used the leaf lard for pie dough, saved the bones for stock, made chicharrones with the skin, and even fried up the ears (PSA: pig ears splatter. A lot.)

TASTE. TASTE. TASTE.
This is probably a no brainer, but of course, one of the most important things about cooking is learning how to taste your food and then having both the know-how and ability to correct it. That second part is where it can get tricky. In order to know how to correct a flavor, you need to have some understanding about how tastes work together (how does salt balance bitterness for example), and what flavors complement one another. You need to develop your library of taste memories and then be able to draw on that information when the time comes.

Within the first week of school, we had a taste workshop with Barb Stuckey. We delved into the science of taste and learned a lot — You can smell through your mouth! Butter has no taste!! (what you perceive as the taste of butter is just aroma and texture) — ultimately, this workshop set the stage for what we were all there to learn: how do you make food taste good?

Over the past few months, we worked on tasting critically and building up our taste library. As we cooked, a tasting spoon was always at the ready. We learned to taste throughout different stages of a dish, and were even blind-tested on scent recognition of spices.

GEEK OUT
At SF Cooking School, we’re taught not just how to follow a recipe, but how to understand how and why it works so that we can fix it if something doesn’t go as planned. Understanding the whys involves a bit of science. What is happening on a molecular level when a mayonnaise breaks? Why does it then make sense to add a bit of warm water to fix it? You can go down a rabbit hole of information on any given topic when it comes to food. What I’ve come away with is to never stop seeking out the “why.”

IT’S NOT ALL SUNSHINE AND RAINBOWS
As lovely and romantic as it sounds, a career in professional cooking has its hard realities. Pep talks from SF Cooking School deans Craig Stoll and Daniel Patterson were half pep, half tell-it-as-it-really-is reality checks. Life in the kitchen is serious physical work. Hours are long. Pay is…sobering. Running a restaurant is a business and being a chef is as much about managing costs as it is about creating delicious food. And, as much as we love our local, organic, responsibly grown goods here, when breaking down a case of artichokes is one of a gazillion things on your prep list for the day, you are not being paid to fondle the produce. Which is not to say there isn’t the utmost respect for the product, there is…just, fondle on your own time.

CALIFORNIA CUISINE
It may not be all sunshine and rainbows, but we still have it pretty darn great here in San Francisco, and SF Cooking School will be the first ones to celebrate that. One of the big draws to the school for me was the focus on making use of the Bay Area as a learning ground. We hit the Monterey Fish Market on a 5 a.m. field trip and learned about sustainable fishing. We went foraging with local foraging legend, Hank Shaw. We pickled and fermented everything we could get our hands on with Courtney Burns from Bar Tartine.

SF Cooking School gave us a strong foundation of classic French techniques. We learned the mother sauces. We consumed more butter and cream in four months than we probably had cumulatively in life to date. We suffered through turning vegetables that were not meant to be perfect little six-sided footballs into perfect little six-sided footballs. But, we also embraced modern California cuisine. We cooked with the season. We feasted on local fruits and vegetables, knew the name of the farmer our hog came from, and made our own sourdough bread (Lil Spence, our starter, was a fantastic class pet).

Our time in the classroom culminated with Restaurant Week, when we transformed the school into a restaurant and served friends and family a menu we developed and prepared. Here’s a peek at what we made:

Over the next two months, I’ll be continuing my education at Locanda where I’m externing! I have no doubt that I will learn a ton from Chef Anthony Strong and his talented team. I have a feeling I will get pretty good at prepping artichokes by the end of my externship. Rest assured, they will remain unmolested on the job.

For your viewing pleasure, here are a few snapshots from a day in my life at San Francisco Cooking School:

SHED exterior facade

What would a locavore’s paradise in wine country look like? For a certain type of well-heeled agrarian, a whole lot like SHED, Healdsburg’s 21st-century grange, grocery, farm store, cafe, bar and event space.

Healdsburg SHED exterior

At first glance, it looks like the prettiest airplane hanger you’ve ever been in, with its huge, boxy shape and garage-style doors, all metal and glass. Grab the handle of that spade doubling as a door handle, step inside, and the enormous space resolves itself into a luxuriously uncrowded farm-to-table playground.

But first, grab a cappuccino from the coffee bar front and center, because everything looks rosier with a foam heart in hand. Admire the spotless white marble counters, the equally pristine bunches of frilly lettuce, the baskets of fresh-from-the-farm eggs, ecru to aqua.

Tall, pale wooden shelves display crayon-bright Japanese coffee pots and Spanish earthenware casseroles. On a wide slab of salvaged sycamore dubbed the “story table,” massive flower arrangements worthy of a Dutch still life spill their blossoms over an educational display of German-made alternative beehives.

Bee Table at SHED

Afternoon sunshine lights up the Dutch and English gardening tools hanging on the walls, glowing across the copper jam pots and hand-carved wooden tortilla presses. It all feels like a Kinfolk magazine spread come to life and tastefully available for purchase. That soft-as-ricotta, brown-as-molasses yarn? Spun from gentle black sheep. The house-fermented cider vinegar? Tap it from the barrel, if you’ve remembered to bring your own bottle. Nothing is made of plastic; nothing has a plug.

Vinegar barrels at SHED

This is not make-do, duct-tape DIY; everything here, from the beakers of fruit shrubs (sweet-tart, vinegar-based drinks, infused with fresh fruit and fizzed with soda water) and bright-magenta beet kvass at the fermentation bar to the galvanized buckets of peonies and the baskets loaded with chocolate-brown loaves of bread the size of watermelons has been curated with an eye for beauty, taste, and usefulness.

Take butter, for example, so necessary with those huge loaves from M.H. Bread and Butter. (Baker Nathan Yanko used to work with bread star Chad Robertson at Tartine in the Mission, so his loaves are as close as the wine country gets to Robertson’s cult-status levains.) Some half-dozen types of butter–cow, goat, sea salted and packed into ceramic crocks–reside in the dairy case. But is that too easy for you? Then pick up a bottle of organic cream, a hand-cranked German butter-making jar, and a couple of wooden butter paddles for shaping the result into decorative pats. What else could you have to do?

Duck into the cleaning nook nearby and you’ll find all the necessaries for fulfilling those downstairs Downton Abbey fantasies: plumy ostrich-feather dusters with 40-inch handles, perfect for polishing chandeliers; crooked hand-carved broomsticks, possibly too witchy to pass muster with Mrs. Hughes but absolutely Quidditch-ready; wooden scrub brushes of which even Mr. Carson would approve, with nary an electric toaster in sight.

SHED co-owner Cindy Daniel

SHED is the vision of owners Doug and Cindy Daniel, who created it as a celebration of Sonoma’s agricultural heritage, as a place where all kinds of crops are grown and products made, not just the wine that puts in on the map. The Daniels provide much of the vegetables, flowers, fruit, and eggs on display from their own 16 acres in the Dry Creek Valley, which they’ve dubbed HomeFarm, where 11 acres are under mixed organic and biodynamic cultivation, and the other 5 as native riparian habitat. They have Rhone-varietal grapes growing for wine, French olive trees for oil, chickens, sheep, bees, heirloom-variety orchards, including curiosities like medlars, jujubes, and pineapple guavas, plus a market garden for vegetables and cut flowers. “It’s a patchwork of things that are all related,” says Cindy, much like the store she and her husband have created.

Mill at SHED

She’s particularly proud of the milling room, where small batches of locally grown, mostly heirloom strains of wheat and other grains are ground into flour every few days. (Most of the flour is sold in the shop; a portion of it goes to M.H. Butter for use in their breads.) The shop is also a pick-up point for grainshare subscribers to the Mendocino Grain Project, a CSA for locally grown grains, including wheat, oats, rye, and barley. Inspired by Native Seeds’ week-long Seed School workshop, Cindy found herself ever more interested in promoting Sonoma’s foodshed and encouraging self-sufficiency in the face of evolving climate change and energy crises. “There used to be a grain mill in Healdsburg,” she notes, glad to be reviving one of the area’s agricultural traditions, even if just on a home cook’s scale.

Larder at SHED

Nearby, the cool larder is “a room that talks about process,” as Cindy says, where customers can peer through the glass wall at wooden shelves filled with pickles and krauts fermenting, and cheeses and cured meats aging.

Hearth at SHED

It could hardly be a true 21st-century kitchen without a live fire burning somewhere, and so, of course, flames flicker in the hearth behind the open kitchen where chef Niki Ford oversees a daily-changing menu of eclectic breakfast and lunch fare. The heavy lifting of the kitchen gets done upstairs, in an additional production space off the main event room. The designer of Boulette’s Larder in the Ferry Building consulted, and it shows: the spacious, pristine kitchen is lavished with All-Clad saucepans hanging from racks above the counters, while tall woven baskets bristle with whisks as long as shinbones and massive stock pots steam on the stove.

Production Kitchen at SHED

In the morning, locals and visitors alike can perch at one of the blond-wood tables in the open cafe area, waiting for bowls of fiber-rich hot porridge slow-cooked overnight to reach a texture described by Ford as “between gruel and chewy grains,” lavished with butter, sea salt, and damson plum jam. Those that haven’t yet foresworn gluten can treat themselves to a “toast service” of thick slabs of Yanko’s bread, toasted with butter, jam by local “jamstress” Elissa Rubin-Mahon, and housemade chocolate-hazelnut spread, or dig into “Doug’s poached eggs” over toast with oregano, sea salt, and a drizzle of HomeFarm balsamic vinegar and olive oil. A Persian breakfast, inspired by the cooking of an Iranian friend of Ford’s, is a mix-and-match assortment of feta cheese, walnuts, sour cherry jam, herbs, and more of that great bread.

Fermentation Bar at SHED

Coming in at the civilized, city-brunch hour of 1pm, we’re sorry to have missed the 11am cutoff for Ford’s heirloom-grain waffles with quince jam and maple syrup. Instead, glasses of blueberry shrub in hand, we plunge straight into the savory side, with a briny bowl of clams bathed in cilantro and cream. A previous menu offered flatbread topped with nettles, cardoons, preserved lemon and local Highway 1 cheese, but today’s offering is as straightforward as any 5 year old could desire: a pizza with tomato sauce and cheese, on a pleasantly puffy-chewy crust. At the fermentation bar–which pours not only both wine and beer on tap but kefir, kombucha, kvass, and cider–we catch up with Ellen Cavalli and Scott Heath of Tilted Shed Ciderworks, who are lunching with their young son. The bar serves their ciders, and also ferments some of it into cider vinegar, using it as a base for the shrubs and offering it in bulk from a barrel on the other side of the store.

Ford, who shares a Chez Panisse pedigree (and friendship) with Suzanne Drexhange of Bartavelle, also shares a fondness for hand-carved boards laid out with savory deliciousness. Around us, many diners are nibbling the ploughman’s lunch, generous slabs of Fiscalini cheddar from Modesto, rye bread, apples, pickled onions, and chutney, or munching their way through the salads on the mezze plate, served with housemade crackers, feta, and olives. Nettle soup is greener than grass, bold as fresh money. “We want to make a lot of room for grains, legumes, vegetables, roots,” says Ford. “There’s a lot of sophistication in making vegetables.” It’s all part of an appreciation for “what we have in our hands, being thoughtful about the ingredients,” an attitude that Ford hopes the cooks will learn to share even during busy moments on the line, all deepened by the relationships they’re building with the farmers and gardeners supplying the kitchen.

The Daniels have plans for frequent events upstairs; already, they’ve hosted Deborah Madison in conversation with local food writer and author Michele Anna Jordan about Madison’s new book, Vegetable Literacy; sponsored a showing of Queen of the Sun, a documentary about the global bee crisis; and hosted a three-course, family-style Sunday Supper featuring the produce and farmers from Bernier Farms. On May 18, bring your knives and brush up on your Knife Skills with Rian Rinn. On May 26, there will be an all-American family-style Sunday Supper out on the patio with live music. And on June 8, butcher Rinn will be hosting Hog It Up, a hog butchery demo & pop-up dinner with chefs Ian Mullen and Jason Smith of Mullen & Smith.

Information:
Healdsburg SHED
Address: Map
25 North St
Healdsburg, CA 95448
Phone: (707) 431-7433
Hours: Mon-Sun 7am-7pm
Facebook: Healdsburg SHED
Twitter: @healdsburgshed

Photo by Andria Lo. Pickled vegetables by RicePaperScissors

Maybe you’ve had your fill of friends posting pics of their latest meal on social media. If you are hungry for something more satisfying than pin-ups of perfectly plated pancakes, sundaes dripping rivulets of caramel or lurid lasagna, feast your eyes on the images in Sip. Savor. Share!, a photographic love letter to San Francisco’s food and drink, markets and mixologists, sponsored by the urban art collective Femme Cartel. The show opens May 9 and runs through May 26 at the Mission’s Roll Up Gallery.

The show features the work of local artists:
• Molly DeCoudreaux (head photographer at SF.Eater.com, frequent contributor to Refinery29, The Bold Italic)
• Aleksey Bochkovsky (contemporary art photographer)
• Andria Lo (documentary and editorial photographer, including at 7×7)
• Anna Vignet (SF Chronicle contributing photographer and cookbook artist)
• Sarah Deragon (owner/head photographer of Portraits to the People)
• Flee Kieselhorst (portrait and fine art photographer)
• Gennesis Gastilo (photoblogger at Mother Cerveza)

Femme Cartel food photography show

Femme Cartel is known for showcasing cutting-edge, urban art, from tough to girly. Its founder, Emily Howe, calls herself  “a community organizer at heart.”  ”We started with shows that focused on women artists because they seemed to have second-class citizenship in art world. Now we often include a male artist (who supports feminist ideals),” says Howe. Bay Area Bites interviewed the co-curators of this food photography show and two of the featured artists.

Bay Area Bites: You’ve done graffiti inspired art and a hip take on fashion illustrations.  Why food now? 

Emily Howe: We love San Francisco and Oakland and the food world encompasses social justice, community gardens and feminist foodies. For many years, women were relegated to the kitchen, then they joined the workforce but were  STILL expected in the kitchen as supermoms. Now, there is a return to the domestic arts, but we are reclaiming those domestic arts in new ways: it’s a choice to bottle your own beer or pickle your own vegetables.

BAB: Why a focus on female photographers?

EH: In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to think about gender, but if you look at who gets in art shows, who wins grants, who are the curators, jurors, art professors, deans of art schools — across the board it’s proportionately more men. The breakdown should be 50/50, but the big names are dudes. One of our goals is to showcase emerging artists and help people get their first show with an exciting launch. Christina Bohn, my co-curator and I  picked images that we loved and would buy ourselves. We also wanted to represent certain themes: coffee culture, cocktail culture, food trucks, Asian food, Mexican food, nightlife.

Christina Bohn: It’s timely now since the Bay Area is so into food and hand-crafted cocktails. And we include a range of images from instagram photos to fine art.

BAB: How did you find the artists for this show?

CB: We have a roster of artists who we’ve worked with in the past, but they represent more fine art, mixed media and collage. Not so much photography. We like to tap into the well of emerging artists. So we hit the Internet hard, Google, Craig’s list. San Francisco is such a beautiful melting pot of people from all walks of life. We wanted to include different threads that make up the whole scene. We pride ourselves on being a launching platform, finding artists who have never had shows and giving them opportunity to get their work out there. We love to connect people. Sometimes we know of a hair salon or pizza place that needs art on their walls and we can match them up with someone from the community.

photo by Molly DeCoudreaux – Bar Tartine

Professional photographer Molly DeCoudreaux grew up in Oakland. “What got me into loving food was the ten years I worked at Baywolf, moving from busser to waitress.” DeCoudreaux enjoys showing food communities, cheese-makers and chefs at work in the kitchen as well as bringing focus to small upstart companies.  ”I can relate to them because I’m scrappy too, I work hard, in a physically strenuous business.”

As for being part of Femme Cartel’s female-focused art show, she says, “Most photographers are men, it’s a gendered profession. There’s a lot of gear and electronics. Sometimes I go into a restaurant with all my bags of gear and some guy still says, ‘Oh, are you here for the waitress position?’ (And I’m 33!)”

DeCoudreaux shoots striking, non-traditional portraits of drag queens, porn people as well as weddings. “Weddings have a certain stress because they only do the ceremony once,” she says. “Food sits still – unless it’s a hollandaise sauce that breaks after 15 seconds.”

She admits the hardest food to photograph is BBQ. “It’s just meat covered in sauce, it can look like a brown mush. You have to light it and garnish it so it isn’t just a plate of brown.” She doesn’t usually work with a food stylist, relying instead on chefs who plate their food artistically. “I like collaborating, being in the kitchen, trying to stay unobtrusive. I like to show real people doing their work.” Instead of a perfect peach tart, for example, DeCoudreaux would prefer something a little lopsided. “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful,” she says.

photo by Andria Lo – condiments at Chinese restaurant

Andria Lo, documentary and editorial photographer and photo director for Hyphen Magazine, grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, where, she says,  ”There weren’t a lot of Chinese people. We ate Mom’s Chinese cooking at home and didn’t go out to eat at Anchorage’s Chinese restaurants.” When Lo and her family moved to Southern California’s San Gabriel Valley, she experienced culture shock at the plethora of Chinese restaurants.

Lo caught the photography bug as an art student at UC Berkeley. “It was the magic and camaraderie of the darkroom,” she says, “where people are working individually and collectively at same time.”

Although professionally, she photographs products, portraits, weddings and other subjects, Lo says, ”food photography is one of my passions. You get a finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the city. I especially like shooting the great energy at food events — like ForageSF dinners — it’s a challenge to capture the excitement in the air.”

One of the hardest places to shoot, Lo explains, is in professional kitchens. “While the dining room may be gorgeous, the fluorescent lighting, stainless steel counters and dirty dish racks present a challenge. I have so much respect for chefs. I’m visually stunned by the plating they come up with. My favorite perk is getting to eat their dishes. It’s an impetus to work fast, so that the food is still hot.”

photo by Anna Vignet

Anna Vignet: “There’s a huge variety of world flavors in only a handful of miles in the city. I love trying food from different countries with friends and learning about a country’s food and culture.”

photo by Gennesis Gastilo

Gennesis Gastilo: “Mother Cerveza is a love for the art of mixology and as in imbibing, a love for the people with whom you share your drinks. In the spirit of an intensely diverse and welcoming community, Femme Cartel’s show in San Francisco has at the heart of it: Love is indeed a miscible thing. (Peace begins with a beer).”

photo by Aleksey Bochkovsky

Aleksey Bochkovsky: “I’ve always fed off the energy from streets in big cultural cities. I need to be around people to steal moments of interaction and real feelings, however subtle. Food is a social experience and street food, in particular, interests me for its bouquet of demographic gatherings.”

photo by Sarah Deragon

Sarah Deragon: “One of the reasons I adore San Francisco is because of the dynamic foodie/bar culture. Femme Cartel continues to make history with their unique curatorial projects. I’m elated to be part of this show.”

photo by Flee Kieselhorst

Flee Kieselhorst: “I am a professional freelance portrait and event photographer and the key to my heart is food. When Femme Cartel (my favorite lady positive art organization) announced the call for entries for “Sip.Savor.Share!” I thought “Yes! An excuse to EAT!” My work in this show represents a few consecutive Fridays walking around San Francisco, meeting and shooting new folks, and of course…eating too much!”

Information:
Foodie Photography Show runs May 9-26
Opening reception May 9, 6-9 pm, food provided by Pachamama Cookery
Address:
Roll-Up Gallery
161 Erie Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Twitter: @FemmeCartel
Facebook: Femme Cartel

The Third Annual Coffee Ride

It’s officially a yearly caffeinated tradition; my friend Pamela Palma and I led our 3rd Annual Coffee Ride through the streets of San Francisco yesterday. Close to 50 other coffee-loving cyclists met us at 10AM at Stanza Coffee Bar, our first stop in the Mission.

Everyone filled up their coffee mugs and fueled up with pastries to jumpstart their 30-mile jaunt around the city. By adding more miles and hill climbs, we had designed a more challenging route for this year’s group — including a scenic mid-ride stop on Twin Peaks.

I’d be visiting all of the spots on our schedule for the first time, so I was really excited about exploring these latest additions to the city’s ever-evolving coffee community. And several folks mentioned that they’d be biking in areas or checking out cafes they hadn’t heard of before; it’s always a pleasure to introduce our fellow cyclists to new destinations as well.

Co-organizer Pamela Palma

Stanza serves up an eclectic selection of coffees from around the world as well as some unique domestic offerings such as Blacksmith Espresso from Quills Coffee in Louisville, KY.

Along with their sidewalk seating and tables in the main cafe, they also have a lovely patio out back for their patrons.

At about 11AM, we headed east towards the Bayview / Hunters Point neighborhood. Tucked away on Yosemite Avenue off of 3rd, Trouble Coffee now has a second outpost in another remote locale. It radiates the same quaint charm and vintage decor as its Outer Sunset predecessor and most of its popular menu items: thick-sliced buttery toast topped with peanut butter, cinnamon or Nutella and and fresh baby coconuts. Giulietta Carrelli, Trouble’s irrepressible owner, was manning her cozy coffee nook solo. She greeted our large, thirsty crowd by solemnly announcing she’d be ‘making no lattes’ as she’d survived a rough mountain bike crash just the night before. “Just drip coffees for all of you — and tons of toast!” she said with a mischievous grin. But as her shop’s motto is, “We serve guts and honor,” she graciously prepared one of her delicious lattes upon request.

Energized with Trouble, it was now Twin Peaks time. We wound our way through the various neighborhoods of Crocker Amazon, Balboa Park, Monterey Heights and St. Francis Wood to reach the top.

After taking in the gorgeous views of San Francisco from the summit of Twin Peaks, we headed west towards the Pacific Ocean. Situated just above the Sutro Baths and the Cliff House, Lands End Lookout Cafe is nestled inside the relatively new visitor center that opened last spring. While the Peerless Coffee they brewed didn’t earn glowing reviews from our finicky group, the sandwiches, soups, salads and warm cookies consumed during our lunch stop received plenty of compliments.

Eager to leave the chilly seaside fog and return to some sunshine, we were luckily welcomed back into the warm weather in the Marina when we arrived at Dynamo Donuts’ cute little kiosk on the eastern edge of Crissy Field.

Unfortunately, by the time our group showed up, they were all out of donuts. So Pamela and I made an executive decision to skip the last two cafes in North Beach — Beacon and Reveille — and get our sugar fix at Stella’s Pastry and Cafe for tiramisu and other Italian delights.

Relaxing in North Beach with cappuccino and an assortment of desserts was a fine way to end our long day of caffeinated adventures. We’ll be back in the East Bay next spring for ride number four!

You can see additional photos from the ride in my Flickr set.

View 3rd Annual Coffee Ride! in a larger map

The Cat. Photo: Courtesy of Kazuki Yamamoto

Post by Maria Godoy, The Salt at NPR Food (4/25/13)

Clovers? Hearts? That’s small fries, guys. It’s time you met The Cat:

That 3-D creation is the work of Japanese latte artist Kazuki Yamamoto. The 26-year-old resident of Osaka creates ephemeral works of art in espresso and foam.

Anime Character. Photo: Courtesy of Kazuki Yamamoto

From whimsical monsters crafted from milk froth …

Foam monster. Photo: Courtesy of Kazuki Yamamoto

… to adorable homages to favorite childhood cartoon characters …

The Peanuts cast. Photo: Courtesy of Kazuki Yamamoto

Yamamoto’s art makes you regret the need to consume the canvas.

Yamamoto has made a name for himself on Twitter, where more than 82,000 followers receive daily tweets with images of his latest creations. But he’s hardly the only latte artist to emerge from Japan.

Einstein. Photo: Courtesy of Kohei Matsuno

That caffeinated Einstein, for instance, is the work of Yamamoto’s friend Kohei Matsuno, a 23-year-old originally from Osaka who now works at a café in Tokyo. (He’s on Twitter, too.) Matsuno’s subject matter varies widely — from anime characters to Lady Gaga. He also takes customer requests.

I like to surprise people, Matsuno, who also goes by the name Mattsun, tells The Salt. (NPR’s Yuki Noguchi kindly translated for us.) He says he’s always looking for new images.

Monkey. Photo: Courtesy of Kohei Matsuno

Lately, Matsuno has started recreating famous works of art — like this take on Edvard Munch’s The Scream.

Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.” Photo: Courtesy of Kohei Matsuno

A toothpick and spoon are Matsuno’s primary tools in creating such fine details. The milk and foam parts go on first, then he uses toothpicks to add “shading” with espresso. The whole process, he says, takes about three to five minutes. Yes, that means the beverage isn’t always piping hot when it reaches drinkers’ lips, but hey, they say you’ve got to suffer for your art.

Sure, we have latte artists in the U.S., too, but from what Matsuno tells us, it seems to be more common in Japan. So why bother to craft a masterpiece in a mug when it’s just going to disappear down someone’s gullet?

I put the question to noted design philosopher Leonard Koren, who has written about Japanese aesthetics. He pointed me to two Japanese concepts — wabi-sabi and mono-no-aware — both of which hold, in part, that “many things are beautiful precisely because they are short-lived and fragile,” Koren told me via email.

“For example, the Japanese love the cherry blossom metaphor,” he writes. “Because cherry trees blossom for only a week or two every year, when they do blossom, there is the emotional poignancy of knowing that it is only a temporary state of affairs.”

“If you can memorialize cherry blossoms in poetry—which the Japanese do,” says Koren, “why not do the same for latte foam?”

Harry Potter. Photo: Courtesy of Kazuki Yamamoto

It’s not a bad approach to life when you think about it — always seeing the potential for magic in the mundane.

Big hat tip to Rebecca Subbiah, who blogs at Chow and Chatter, for introducing us to these two artists.

Copyright 2013 NPR.

I’m a big fan of bicycles and beer. As luck would have it, there’s a trio of cycling beer aficionados, The Grand Cru, that organizes monthly rides for like-minded adults in search of tasty local craft beers.

Israel Figueroa, Colin Elliott and Phillip Yip of The Grand Cru with Max Hunter of the East Bay Bicycle Coalition.

Yesterday they led the 3rd Annual Tour de Biere, a 20-mile route through the East Bay in honor of San Francisco Beer Week. The $25 registration fee benefits the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, a local cycling advocacy group (and I’m serving as a board member for them this year, so I was along on the ride as an official representative.) The fee also included complimentary tastings and discounts from the participating breweries.

50 riders gathered at 9:30AM at Drake’s Brewing, a short 12-minute jaunt from San Leandro BART. (Riders were encouraged to take public transportation to and from the breweries.)

The organizers provided homemade muffins, fruit, hard boiled eggs and Bicycle Coffee for a tasty pre-ride breakfast.

Community Manager Jeff McClure and Bar Manager Gabbie Chang gave us an informative tour of the brewery, and we also sampled a new batch of their 1500 American Pale Ale. Drake’s produced 12,000 kegs last year and hope to churn out at least 20,000 in 2013, as well as broaden their distribution beyond the Bay Area.

As a parting gift, they sent us away with a souvenir bottle of their IPA, their flagship brew.

Around noon, we hopped on our bikes and headed to West Oakland’s Linden Street Brewery.

We had a special stop in Alameda, where one of the organizer’s parents treated us to peanut butter chocolate cookies that were fresh out of the oven. (And I do believe they were among the best cookies I’ve ever had.)

Israel Figueroa, one of the co-founders of The Grand Cru, moved to the Bay Area after attending grad school in Chicago. “I started delving into the world of beer [there] as I started frequenting Goose Island,” says Figueroa. “Around the same time, a friend of mine got me an old Bianchi off of Craigslist and got me into cycling. At some point I thought it would be a good idea to combine the two: providing a reason to drive out to an localish brewery and doing a scenic ride in a new area. I invited a bunch of friends to come along and eventually got an email list going.” Their first group ride dates back to September 2008.

“Tour de Biere’s always memorable because we often get a great mix of people. Some learn about it through the [East Bay] Bicycle Coalition who ride often but don’t know the beer riches they have in the backyard. We also get the Beer Week beer nerds who haven’t ridden in months/years and it’s great to see them realize that cycling is a viable transportation option.”

The Grand Cru’s monthly rides vary in distance between 5 and 30 miles depending on proximity to a brewery and weather conditions — although the rides continue rain or shine, and bad weather doesn’t necessarily deter folks from venturing out for beer.

Phillip Yip, another co-founder, described one of his most memorable outings. “Despite having the worst weather for one of our rides, it somehow was our most-attended ride. My girlfriend and I decided to go for extra points and decided to add a loop through Occidental. To get there, we climbed Joy Road — which was the Worst Name Ever for a road that was a wet and miserable climb with a bunch of false summits. But now it’s a funny story. I’m amazed that my cell phone still worked after that ride. People weren’t happy during the ride but everybody was in a good mood at Russian River Brewing afterward.”

Linden Street Brewery is a perfect spot for parties, and I’ve written about their popular pig roasts in the past which they’ve co-hosted with Chop Bar. They’re in the midst of expanding their space, and a beer garden, restaurant and wine tasting room are currently under construction. Linden is aiming to have everything open by July 1st, so for now, they’re holding their tastings right out of their brewery.

Andrew Ritter, the lead brewer and manager, provided a flight of Linden’s offerings: Town Lager, Black Lager, Red Lager and his personal favorite, the Common Lager.

Here’s two Tour de Biere riders enjoying the Town Lager.

El Taco Bike also made an lunch time appearance and served up chorizo and pork tacos from its bicycle cart.

Our third stop was the Berkeley outpost of the Austrian company Trumer Pils Brauerei.

The Production Manager, Jeff Eaton, gave us a tour of their expansive facilities. They produce only one beer: a light, 4.9% abv German-style pilsner.

Their impressive in-house bottling facility can label up to 370 bottles a minute.

Then it was time to unwind in their posh tasting room.

The last stop on the tour was the Pyramid Brewery and Alehouse; unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for the final set of tastings. Although after a full afternoon of sampling beers and pedaling in the sunshine, I don’t think I had any more room for another round.

This year’s Tour de Biere sold out within 48 hours, and there was a waiting list with over 80 people. Israel, Colin and Phillip hope to expand the event to accommodate more participants next year and to increase support for the East Bay Bicycle Coalition.

I had a wonderful time with The Grand Cru group today, and I highly recommend joining them for one of their well-organized, pedal-powered adventures. I’m already looking forward to 2014′s Tour!

To learn more about The Grand Cru’s monthly beer rides, visit their blog.

Facebook: The Grand Cru
Twitter: @TheGrandCru

Drake’s Brewing
Address: map (detailed directions here)
The Brewery
1933 Davis Street, Building 177
San Leandro, CA
Ph: 510-568-BREW

Hours & Tours:
Wed.-Thurs. 3-9pm
Fri.-Sat. 12-9pm (except First Fridays)
Sundays 12-7pm

Held every Friday, excluding First Friday, at 1:30pm and 5:30pm. More info here.

Facebook: Drake’s Brewing
Twitter: @DrakesBrewery

Linden Street Brewery
Address: 95 Linden Street map
Suite 7/8 (at W. Embarcadero)
Oakland, CA
Ph: 510-251-8898

Hours & Tours:
Thurs.-Fri.: 5-9PM
Sat.-Sun.: Noon-5PM
Food served most days, tours for small groups and individuals by appointment.

Facebook: Linden Street Brewery
Twitter: @LindenStBrew

Trumer Pils Brauerei
Address: 1404 4th St. map
Berkeley, CA
PH: 510-526-1160

Hours & Tours:
Tours are offered at Trumer Brauerei Berkeley Monday through Friday at 3:15pm. Reservations are recommended. Please email tours@trumerbrauerei.com or call for more infor and to make a reservation.

Facebook: Trumer Pils USA
Twitter: @TrumerPilsUSA

Pyramid Brewery and Alehouse
Address: 901 Gilman Street map
Berkeley, CA
PH: 510-528-9880

Hours & Tours:
Mon.-Thurs. 11:30-10:00PM
Fri. 11:30-11:00PM
Sat. 11:30-11:00PM
Sun. 11:30-10:00PM

Tours are held everyday at 4:00pm, and last appx. 45 minutes long.

Facebook: Pyramid Breweries
Twitter: @PyramidBrew

The local bike shop pushbike organized a fun social ride to the Marin Brewing Company in Larkspur, and over 30 of us gathered to make the 40-mile round trip to the brewery. It was also a benefit ride for the local cap maker and home brewer Kachusha “Chuey” Munkanta.

After crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, we stopped at Cibo in Sausalito for some caffeine (like I said, we love our coffee.)

Cibo’s the home of 2girl Coffee, which has some clever descriptions for their assortment of beans.

After getting fueled up, we headed onwards to “Paradise Loop,” a scenic and popular route located just past Tiburon.

Marin Brewing Company was packed to capacity as it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

Just behind the bar, there’s a window where you can see their selection of fresh beer currently stored on the premises.

They also serve up the usual array of bar food including burgers, sandwiches and wood-fired pizza.

I ordered their Platypus Venom, a strong 10% ABV Imperial Stout (which I had to try since the platypus is my favorite animal) seasoned with star anise and blackstrap molasses. It’s a pretty hefty brew that would go well with a dark chocolate dessert.

After a leisurely lunch, most folks opted to take the ferry home afterwards from Larkspur.

But a small group of us slowly rolled back to SF — after waiting for our beer buzzes to wear off – so we could spend more time in the warm winter sunshine. Bicycles + beer = bliss!

Marin Brewing Company
Address: 1809 Larkspur Landing Circle map
Larkspur, CA 94939
Ph:(415) 461-4677

Facebook: Marin Brewing Company
Twitter: @MarinBrewingCo

Chuey is also participating in a free event at the Cervecería de MateVeza this upcoming Monday.

Cerveceria & Chuey Collaboration Benefiting the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation
February 11
5:00pm – 9:00pm
“Our good friend and prolific homebrewer Kachusha “Chuey” Munkanta came over to brew a Falconer’s Flight hopped, yerba mate infused collaboration beer. We brewed only 20 gallons, so get it while you can! Proceeds of our collaboration will benefit the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation, a non-profit organization created to commemorate and celebrate the life, interests, and good works of a well-loved and leading Northwest brewer.”

Address: map
Cervecería de MateVeza
3801 18th Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
Ph: (415) 273-9295

Admission: Free

E&F Market in Oakland Chinatown

I’m surrounded by a dozen huge tanks of handsome swimming fish, including red tilapia, black bass and silver carp at the E&F Market in Oakland Chinatown. My friend, Lisa Li, has graciously agreed to take me on an urban “fishing expedition” to buy a live fish that we will cook for lunch, in the Chinese tradition. Among the many choices of fresh and farmed varieties, she decides on a wild-caught rockfish and points the fishmonger to a tank labeled “gopher” fish. He deftly wields a hand-net and scoops up a lively, mottled brown fellow with spiky fins and bulging blue eyes. We see it wriggling for a moment before a discrete thwack on the other side of the counter dispatches it into a state ready to be cleaned and bagged. Lisa also chooses a farmed sea bass for us to compare the flavors.

Fish Tank at E&F Market in Oakland Chinatown

Lisa, who grew up in Guangzhou, China, is a world-traveler who enjoys the cuisines of many cultures and together we’ve shared Moroccan tagines and Spanish tapas. She is also happy to expand my knowledge of Chinese cooking and take me along on this shopping trip she makes weekly. “In Chinese culture,” she tells me, “we like to get our protein as close to live as possible.” What could be fresher than a fish that was swimming around less than an hour before you eat it? And for the upcoming Chinese New Year’s Eve feast, a whole fish is the traditional last course. The word for fish yu also signifies “abundance,” making simply dressed, steamed fish a symbolic and delicious way to end the meal.

Although Lisa frequents several Oakland Chinatown fish markets, she decides that this newish, spacious one would be best for me, since it has the biggest selection and its owners speak English.

A petite woman in a fish-emblazoned sweatshirt greets us, adding that we are very lucky to live in California since we have so many local fish to choose from. The co-owner of E&F Market has an impossibly perfect name: Finnie Fung. She grew up with fish, helping her parents on weekends in their New Sang Chong Market a half block away. Finnie, age 31, and her husband bought this store, formerly called Hung Wan Market, from her parents and recently changed the name to “E&F” to reflect this new identity (as Eric and Finnie) and also to connect with the younger generation.

“Many Americans [who don’t speak Chinese] are frustrated shopping at the older markets in Chinatown. They often think the shopkeepers are being rude,” explains Finnie. “They aren’t being rude on purpose. It’s just that they don’t speak English well. Here we can answer shoppers’ questions about which fish to buy and how to cook them.”

Meanwhile the orange-gloved fishmongers have quickly scaled, cleaned and bagged our two fish. And as we pay, Lisa picks up some other ingredients we’ll need: fresh scallions, ginger and cilantro.

Oakland Chinatown produce market

We chose the perfect day to stroll through Oakland Chinatown: the annual New Years Bazaar. As we walk back to the car, we thread our way through bustling streets, lined with piles of green-leafed tangerines, huge hanging pomelos, red and gold chrysanthemums and branches of plum blossoms (all symbolic of good fortune in the new year).

As children scamper by, happily holding brightly colored pinwheels, we join the shoppers examining rows of red and gold lanterns with fluttering tassels, sparkly strings of firecrackers, embroidered fish charms and strands of shiny gold money purses.

Back at Lisa’s house, her husband John helps us quickly shred the scallions as Lisa cuts the peeled ginger into large slices. The classic preparation for the fish is to steam it whole — “to represent completeness,” Lisa explains. It is essential that the fish is served with head and tail attached to make sure that the coming year has both a good beginning and ending.

She fills a large pan with water and steamer tray, places the whole fish on a plate atop a pair of chop sticks (“so that the fishy water will run off”), slits the back, so the thicker areas will cook and stuffs the fish with several coins of ginger. The fish will steam for 8 minutes over a high flame. Meanwhile, in another pan she pours some peanut oil and briefly sautés matchstick pieces of ginger and more scallions. When the fish are done, they are ringed with cilantro and topped with the gently sautéed ginger and scallions. Then she pours a generous amount of a special soy sauce for fish. “How much soy sauce are you pouring,” I ask? “Enough to puddle around the bottom of the dish,” she answers.

We move to a round dining table edged with a carved dragon and phoenix motif. As Lisa serves us the tender fish, she explains that at New Years Eve dinner, the head of the fish is always pointed towards the oldest or most honored guest. She scoops up more flesh from the bony skeleton, to refill our plates. John, presents her with the cheek, a prized morsel, and tells me the Chinese cultural belief that you never flip the fish over to get to the other side, because if you do, somewhere, a fisherman’s boat will capsize. With two spoons, he deftly extracts the meat from the underside of the fish. Lisa also likes to eat the fish eyes, which she admits have a “different texture.” She remembers her mom telling her that eating the eyes would improve her sight. “Maybe it’s just that in Chinese culture, nothing should be wasted,” she says. “People who don’t eat the head and tail can boil them with the bones and make a nice broth.” We all agree that the wild caught gopher has a more delicate taste, but the texture of the bass is creamier.

Another important aspect of Chinese New Year tradition is not to finish the fish course on New Year’s Eve, but leave some to be eaten the next day so that the abundance of the yu will continue into the New Year.

Information
E&F Market
333 8th Street, Oakland
(510) 465-1668

If you don’t feel like cooking a whole fish yourself, some restaurants offer Chinese New Year specials.