The food swap is the latest D.I.Y. culinary trend cooking (from scratch) in kitchens around the country. Find out why trading radish onion relish for ginger pear butter in the East Bay and beyond is the newest food phenomenon favored by urban homesteaders.
Megan Gordon details how she turned one sandwich skeptic into a believer at Oakland’s Southie.
Oakland’s Temescal district has two new businesses ready to feed our love of cheese: Sacred Wheel Cheese and Specialty Market, specializing in domestic farmstead cheeses, and Homeroom, a mac and cheese restaurant.
Tanya Holland is the Chef/Owner of Southern cooking hotspot Brown Sugar Kitchen (BSK) in West Oakland, where cornmeal waffles and fried chicken are among the menu highlights. BSK reflects her interpretation of soul food, with influences from her African-American heritage, formal French cooking training, and “a general appreciation of a wide variety of cuisines.” She shared her favorite spots to eat, drink and shop for food in the Bay Area.
Vanessa Barrington is a food writer and cookbook author based in the Temescal District in Oakland. She is the author of the recently published D.I.Y. Delicious: Recipes and Ideas for Simple Food From Scratch and co-authored Heirloom Beans with Steve Sando. Vanessa shared her local food secrets with BAB as well as a couple of recipes from her book.
Daniel Patterson is a self-taught chef well known to eaters and readers for his food, expanding Bay Area restaurant group, and writing. His fine dining Coi Restaurant opened in 2006 in San Francisco, and won two Michelin stars in 2008. Frank Bruni of the New York Times named Coi as a top ten new restaurant outside of New York, and the San Francisco Chronicle awarded Coi four stars. Patterson opened a more casual concept called Il Cane Rosso in the Ferry Building in 2009. Plum opened in Oakland last year. On December 1st, Patterson reported on his Twitter feed that he was the soup cook “at least for a little while” for the Plum lunch debut. Bay Area Bites caught up with Patterson soon after that via phone interview.
Goats, chickens, bees, home coffee roasting, Korean tacos, a paella pan as big as a waterbed: the Eat Real Festival returns to Jack London Square to celebrate the joys of street food and DIY urban living.
By calling their enterprise a “general store” though, founders Christopher Lee and Samin Nosrit (well-known East Bay chefs I first encountered reading through Novella Carpenter’s Farm City) are actively trying to evoke the sort of life-sustaining community-generating apparatus that came to my mind the moment I saw Ness’s headline — while selling boudin blanc for $14 a pound. While such a project might draw attention to certain sections of the community — producers, chefs, growers — and bring together others — hungry food writers, people with money — the vibe — however delicious — doesn’t quite jive with the handle.
It all starts — literally — with the egg — this post, a life, my recent meal at Commis, a 10-month-old restaurant in Piedmont, Oakland.
Trueburger, the new hamburger restaurant in downtown Oakland, is, well… true. Genuine meat patties made from meat that is ground on the premises, shakes made with real ice cream (along with other stuff like actual bananas and peanut butter), all-beef kosher dogs that you can get with a side of homemade chili, and truly nice people running the joint. What more could you ask for?
I first became really curious about Lao food nearly two years ago, after a tasty meal at Champa Garden, the somewhat venerable Lao restaurant on 8th Avenue east of Lake Merritt in San Antonio–one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the Bay Area, home to close-knit populations of African-Americans, Latinos, and Asians in almost equal proportions. I tried to draw distinctions between its dominant flavors and those most prevalent in the more familiar cuisines of its Southeast Asian neighbors. Like Thai, Lao thrives on interplay between sour and spicy, crunchy and soft, and both cooked and raw ingredients. The effect however is different.
The trick, I realized, was to pick one long line–like the one for Seoul Food’s Korean tacos– and then send your friends out on recon missions to the shorter lines, so you’d have something to eat while you waited in line for something to eat.
Where the recent SF Street Food Festival skipped actual street food for slimmed-down restaurant eats, Eat Real did keep it real, with taco trucks, soul food ribs and the Sexy Soup Lady in a pink apron straddling her three-wheeled soup cart. And the prices were right, too, with nothing over $5.
Novella Carpenter took over an empty lot next to her apartment in Oakland’s gritty Ghost Town neighborhood, and over the years turned it into a lush garden and farm complete with bees, chickens, rabbits and even pigs. Urban farms are popping up in even the most cramped corners of densely populated cities, fueled by a desire for good food and a closer relationship with what we eat. Carpenter joins Forum to talk about her new book, “Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer.”
For the last two months, I’ve been part of this dinner troupe, as a stagehand — a chef apprentice. Starting in April, I took a leave from my job as an editorial writer and columnist for The Sacramento Bee to intern at Oliveto, an Italian restaurant in Rockridge.
Bay Area Bites (BAB), KQED's public media food blog, feeds you visually compelling food-related stories, news, recipes and reviews from the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Enter your email address to receive updates each time we publish new posts.
Nudging Detroit: Program Doubles Food Stamp Bucks In Grocery Stores
Incentive programs that double the value of food stamp dollars spent at farmers markets have been hailed as one of the most effective ways to encourage healthful eating and support local farmers. The flaw: Most people don’t shop at farmers markets. So a new program will soon pilot the concept at three grocery stores in Detroit.
Sorry, Dr. Oz, Green Coffee Can’t Even Slim Down Chubby Mice
An extract from raw, green coffee beans has been called a “miracle” weight-loss aid. But a study in mice casts doubt on the supplement’s fat-burning effects — and even offers preliminary evidence that it could be harmful.
Why Bill Gates Is Investing In Chicken-Less Eggs
Investors like Gates are betting that our planet can’t sustain the current rate of growth in animal-based foods for too much longer. Products like Beyond Eggs, a plant-based substitute, are designed to fill the void.
Perfect for Summer! Recipe for Herbed Zucchini Fritters with Stone Fruit Salsa
Too many zucchini? Get the jump on summer’s abundance with this recipe for tasty Herbed Zucchini Fritters with Stone Fruit Salsa.
Kitchen Window: A Guide to Grilling Beyond ‘Dude Food’
As Father’s Day approaches, you can remind Dad that there’s more to Father’s Day grilling than just cheeseburgers.
Spotlight on Summer Vegetables: “River Cottage Veg” Cookbook
British homesteader and meat-lover Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall comes to San Francisco to spread the gospel of greens with his new book, River Cottage Veg. With a recipe for River Cottage Summer Garden Soup.
Hunan Home’s Restaurant, Radius, Guerilla Café: Check, Please! Bay Area reviews
Restaurants reviewed: Hunan Home’s Restaurant (San Francisco), Radius Restaurant and Café (San Francisco) and Guerilla Café (Berkeley).
Chris Hadfield: Space Chef In Chief
The Canadian astronaut didn’t just tweet and sing his heart out during his five months as commander of the International Space Station. He also took time out to show the world what it’s like to eat up there.
Bocanova, Willi’s Wine Bar, The Rotunda of Neiman Marcus: Check, Please! Bay Area reviews
Check, Please! Bay Area reviews these restaurants: Bocanova (Oakland), Willi’s Wine Bar (Santa Rosa), The Rotunda of Neiman Marcus (San Francisco).
Sunset’s Celebration Weekend: Yigit Pura Demos and Shares Thai-Hawaiian Inspired Dessert Recipe
Stephanie Rosenbaum shares some highlights from Sunset’s Celebration Weekend — including a recipe for Coconut Tapioca Pudding with Papaya and Mango from Yigit Pura of Tout Sweet Patisserie.
Modern Day Food Foraging Comes to San Francisco
Gina Scialabba attended the third annual Wild Foods Dinner at the Hotel Vitale. Americano’s Executive Chef Kory Stewart and food foraging expert Connie Green, author of “The Wild Table” prepared a unique six-course meal that was shaped largely by the bounty they located in nature.
Antonio Lee: The Chef, The Legend, The Grandpa
A tribute to Stephanie Hua’s grandfather…and the recipe for his famous crispy, crackling skinned Chinese Fried Chicken (Ja Jee Gai).
Burger Bonanza in the East Bay
Moxy Burger, The Bureau 510 and Grazzy Burgers are several of the latest arrivals to the East Bay burger scene.
Hunan Home’s Restaurant, Radius, Guerilla Café: Check, Please! Bay Area reviews
Restaurants reviewed: Hunan Home’s Restaurant (San Francisco), Radius Restaurant and Café (San Francisco) and Guerilla Café (Berkeley).
First Impression: Healdsburg SHED
What would a wine country locavore’s paradise look like? Stephanie Rosenbaum talks to Cindy Daniel, owner of Healdsburg’s new SHED, a 21st-century grange, store, and sustainable-living center.
Bocanova, Willi’s Wine Bar, The Rotunda of Neiman Marcus: Check, Please! Bay Area reviews
Check, Please! Bay Area reviews these restaurants: Bocanova (Oakland), Willi’s Wine Bar (Santa Rosa), The Rotunda of Neiman Marcus (San Francisco).
Spotlight on Summer Vegetables: “River Cottage Veg” Cookbook
British homesteader and meat-lover Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall comes to San Francisco to spread the gospel of greens with his new book, River Cottage Veg. With a recipe for River Cottage Summer Garden Soup.
Sunset’s Celebration Weekend: Yigit Pura Demos and Shares Thai-Hawaiian Inspired Dessert Recipe
Stephanie Rosenbaum shares some highlights from Sunset’s Celebration Weekend — including a recipe for Coconut Tapioca Pudding with Papaya and Mango from Yigit Pura of Tout Sweet Patisserie.
Cheese Books for the Curd Nerd
Every aspiring curd nerd yearns to embiggen their knowledge base about the dairy darlings they adore. Garrett McCord shares two books that help you gain a broader understanding of cheese and supply you with tasteful cheese-centric recipes.
Are the benefits of genetically engineered foods worth the risks? Check out this half-hour special from QUEST Northern California that explores the pros and cons of genetically engineered crops and what the future holds for research and regulations.
Baby & Toddler On The Go: fresh, homemade foods for a busy life (VIDEO)
A precociously independent toddler packs a healthy homemade lunch and heads off to snack in Bernal Height’s Holly Park in San Francisco. This video is a promo for Kim Laidlaw’s new book: Baby & Toddler On The Go: fresh, homemade foods for a busy life.
Deaf Foodies Savor Gourmet Ghetto Tasting Tour in Sign Language
A dozen Deaf Foodies relish the tastes and history of Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto in a 3 hour tasting tour presented completely in American Sign Language (ASL) by food writer (and ASL interpreter) Anna Mindess through Edible Excursions.
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