Next month, the Mission outpost of sausage and craft beer emporium Rosamunde Sausage Grill marks its third birthday. Partner-owner Josh Margolis shared some meaty updates with Bay Area Bites recently: plans for an East Bay Rosamunde location are in the works.

His longtime passion has been to open a beer restaurant, and he first came to San Francisco and worked at Postrio in 1990. The UC San Diego and Culinary Institute graduate is from Los Angeles, and gravitates to Saison and Belgian beer: “Duvel in the bottle is one of my go-to drinks.”

Margolis lives in the Bayview with his husband Raymond Lobato, who is a graphic designer, DJ, artist, and feng shui artist. The two have also lived in the Mission and Noe Valley. “We met in college and have been together 25 years... he DJs here on Friday nights. He did all the artwork. We've been married four times. In 1991, we became domestic partners. Then we did a ceremony in 2000. 2004 was the best one. We saw Gavin Newsom on the news. Then we got in line and we’re probably 80th or 90th in line at City Hall. The place was on fire! The energy and ceremonies were happening every 5 minutes. It was just the two of us, and we saw our old next-door neighbors. They took pics--via cell phone--and became our witnesses.”

How did you open Rosamunde? Any chance of bringing the Tuesday Rosamunde burger to the Mission?
I partnered with Jennifer Tucci to open the Mission one. We’ve decided to keep the Rosamunde burger at the Haight only. There is a steak sandwich now every day in the Mission. We started the steak sandwich in the summer, as well as a mushroom sandwich. Our vegetarian orders are significant, and we are one of the biggest destinations for veggie diners in the city.

Lady Gaga visited in August 2010. Do you get Gaga fans trying to see where Lady Gaga hung out?
People still ask about it. It was around three in the afternoon, and only a few people were around. She came in with her boyfriend and bodyguard and was wearing a red leotard outfit. She said to the bartender Claire, “I'm Gaga” and Claire told her, “I’m Claire.” Then Claire came into the office to look her up online. Gaga hung out, drank several glasses of white wine, and stayed for two to three hours. Apparently she was on her way from San Jose to dinner in the city. She wanted Mexican, and a friend told her to go to the Mission. She saw the sign for sausages, and decided to go to Rosamunde instead.

Raymond Lobato, Josh Margolis, Jennifer Tucci - Rosamunde First Year

What’s new at the restaurant?
We’re getting ready for our 3rd anniversary on January 18. There’ll be a party of some sort. Then, there’s SF Beer Week February 10-19. We’ll host some breweries and also have a beer drinking & sausage-eating contest that will be something classy. Teams of two will compete together. Rosamunde will choose the sausages cut in 1/2 while each team will choose a unique beer. Eat as many 1/2 sausage as you can with as much beer as you need to get it down in 15 minutes. The winner gets $100 in Rosamunde gift certificates. Everyone gets $1 off the winner’s beer choice the rest of the day or $2 for the beer choice with winner’s sausage choice. All contestants get a Rosamunde T-Shirt. Team signup begins January 25th at the Mission Street location.

What are your favorite spots to shop for food?
Rainbow is my standard go to for dairy, pantry, vinegars, oils and sauces.

Sun Fat Fish Market is the cleanest, nicest of all old time seafood shops. Since November 15, I’ve been visiting them every day. I’ve been eating a lot of crab.

On Saturdays, I go to the Alemany Farmers’ Market.

I also like the European Market on Clement. They have whole walls of refrigerated cured meats, salami, sausage, and things like that. They also bring in really good German bread. It’s frozen and they bake it off. That’s the only place in town you can get that. They cure and smoke own fish, salmon, white fish, herring.

Where are your favorite date spots?
Besides home?... We drive down to Santa Cruz and make a day of it. We usually take our bikes and ride on the north side of Santa Cruz. It’s such a beautiful place and one of the best times to go is not summer. On the way, our favorite lunch spot is Sam’s Chowder House in Half Moon Bay. I like both their red and white chowder, and fish and chips.

What is your favorite meal to have with your family?
I’m pretty famous for not cooking the same thing twice. Ever. Restaurants and farmers’ markets constantly inspire me. We may have pizza once a week at home, but I’ll never make the same pizza twice.

Do you have plans for the holidays?
Kathleen is my friend from San Diego. Together we make “Turkey Prince Edward”: take the skin off a turkey, and completely debone it. Lay the meat down on the turkey skin so that you basically make a roulade. You can do Turkey Prince Edward with two turkeys, rolled and stuffed with prunes, port and chestnut. Kathleen fed us when we were opening the new place (Mission Rosamunde).

"Turkey Prince Edward"

What’s your guiltiest food pleasure?
Which one should I choose? The burrito mojado al pastor at Taqueria Cancun is a huge, swimming in sauce delicious meat thing that you pay for later. Then there are super nachos, but I don’t treat myself to that anymore.

Peter Temkin. Photo: Sarah Logan

Peter Temkin brings a decade of experience to Show Dogs and specializes in charcuterie from pates and whole-cut dry-cured meats to fresh sausages. Peter began working with Chefs Gayle Pirie and John Clark six months ago as Show Dogs’ in-house Charcutier, and recently introduced five new specialty sausages to the menu including: Merguez, Wild Boar, Chicken Curry, Chicken Boudin and Maple Bacon. Each sausage is made with locally sourced meats but incorporate seasonings to mirror the regions from which the sausages are inspired.

Peter was introduced to the culinary world in his youth while growing up in New York City -- his mother was a catering chef and his father was a book publisher for MCA/Universal's book division, now known as Putnam Books. This upbringing, coupled with travels to France and Italy, instilled an early appreciation for food and cooking traditions. He began his culinary career as an apprentice at Florio restaurant in San Francisco. Here, Temkin says, Chef Rick Hackett set his foundation for cooking -- learning everything from practical skills to the art of cured meat. Since then, Temkin has been instrumental in the opening of Nopa, Spruce, and Cavallo Point’s Farley Bar, where he developed comprehensive charcuterie programs. He lives in South City.

What’s new at the restaurant?
Things are great and the in-house sausages are really singing. We're in the process of developing several new charcuterie offerings as well, which is very exciting. At Foreign Cinema, the housemade program is starting to hit its stride, now that the salumis are beginning to show. My chefs are so supportive and generous with their talent. I'm very lucky to work where I do.

What are your favorite 2 spots to shop for food?
Avedano's on Cortland and Olivier's Butchery in the Dogpatch. I also keep my eye on anything Good Foods Catering does. Chef Dontaye gets it done!

Tell us about meeting your wife.
My wife is Melody Mitchell, who is a certified sommelier and the lead server at The Village Pub. We met through mutual friends after a catering event. I went up to her and kissed her, and we've been together ever since. That was about 6 years ago, and we've been married for over a year and a half. My sun rises and sets with her.

What are your favorite date night spots?
Slow Club because the combination of the ambiance, the decor and Chef Matt Paul's food are just devastating.... My wife and I always order his flatbread, and I know he just put his short ribs on the menu. We'll have to get those, since I've heard they're just amazing. We also love Flower Lounge in Millbrae and, well, our house! We cook quite a bit together and the food's getting better all the time. My friend Jon Reitz just opened his first place, Cedar Hill Kitchen + Smokehouse, so we're looking forward to eating there as well.

What is your favorite meal to have with your family?
My wife's chicken thighs, braised greens and scalloped potatoes.

Guiltiest food pleasure?
Stouffer's French bread pepperoni pizza

As a teacher, what are the “musts” of making charcuterie?
You have to keep your proteins clean, cold and covered. Don't let the fancy words intimidate you -- a pate is just a meat loaf that's had a couple of cocktails. Finally, patience and passion -- you'll need both to do charcuterie well.

Do you have plans for the holidays and/or a favorite dish/recipe?
Eat, drink and be merry!

Salumi Paradiso - Sausage Knot. Photo: Elisa Cicinelli

Recipe: Salumi Paradiso

20 lbs of boneless pork butt, large cube, lean and fat separated
9 oz of kosher salt
3 tsp of DQ#2 curing salt (Butcher & Packer is a fantastic source for curing salts, starter cultures and casings.)
125 g of dextrose
2 cups of non-fat dry milk powder
4 oz of dry white wine
Two large pinches of saffron
10 g of crushed chile de arbol
15 g of minced fresh ginger
15 g of minced fresh garlic
4 g of starter culture

• Place meat on a full tray sheet for 20 minutes or until very cold.
• Grind lean and fat pork separately through 3/18" plate-make sure to chill all grinder parts for at least 20 minutes before grinding.
• Place ground pork, separating the lean and the fat, on a full sheet and keep refrigerated until all ingredients are assembled and ready to be utilized.
• Bring white wine to a boil and then off heat, crush the saffron between your fingers to release the essential oils of the saffron and then, put the saffron into the white wine and let steep into liquid is cool.
• Remove meat from fridge and combine lean meat with all seasoning and spices, by hand, break the fat into small pieces and incorporate into meat mixture.
• Mix white wine/saffron liquid into meat along with several glugs of ice water.
• Place starter culture into 3 oz of room temperature distilled water and vigorously incorporate solution by hand into meat mixture, make sure mixture is tacky.
• Stuff mixture into 34-36 mm hog casings, form sausages into 1/2 foot links, tying off links with double knots on both ends.
• Prick sausages with sausage pricker and hang on dowels and place in fermentation chamber for 48 hours.
• Place in drying room with a temperature of 58 degrees and an ambient humidity of 65-70% for 4-6 weeks or until sausages have given up approximately 40-50% of their water weight.

Chorizo Breakfast Sausage (no grinder needed!)

Homemade breakfast sausage has never really been on the top of my culinary accomplishments to tackle. It seemed difficult and messy, and I wasn't sold on how much better it would taste. I was wrong on all counts. Well, except for the messy part…you do need to get your hands in there.

I started to rethink the benefits of making my own sausage from scratch when I saw this month's Charcutepalooza Challenge: Grinding. For those who are unfamiliar with Charcutepalooza, it's a monthly online cooking group, like Daring Bakers or Tuesdays with Dorie, where everyone makes their take on one dish and posts about it on a given date. In this case, it is all about meat. The group, created by Mrs. Wheelbarrow and The Yummy Mummy at the beginning of this year, quickly developed an ardent following as charcuterie novices and pros alike shared their experiences of salting, smoking, curing -- and yes, grinding -- tasty meat treats.

Now, I love me a fine prosciutto any day, but admittedly, I'm not a huge charcuterie lover by nature. My husband, on the other hand, can frequently be seen in the kitchen around 9:30 p.m. making himself a plate of meat dessert. Charcutepalooza was just the thing I needed to step up my carnivorous game.

A whole lot of pork

This month's challenge focused on free form sausage-making (sans creepy skin casings). A good way to ease into things, I thought. First thing's first, I needed to get my hands on some pork shoulder and fatback. I've never asked for fatback before; it felt a little badass.

Snowy white fatback

The experts all say that the secret to a good grind is Eric Nies--sorry, I couldn't help myself--no, the real secret is ensuring that the meat and equipment are very cold. So, I stuck my metal mixing bowl and food processor blade in the freezer while I cut the meat and fat into small cubes. Then, I added my spices.

Spices

The inspiration behind my breakfast sausage seasonings comes from some tasty Chorizo Sausage Patties I had once in New York. I had done a remake of them at home before, using store-bought sausage and chorizo and adding a blend of seasonings, but this time I would attempt to do it all from scratch.

Spice rub

I raided my spice drawer and decided on a healthy dose of chili powder and smoked paprika, cayenne for some heat, cumin, ground fennel seeds, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and a touch of garam masala to keep it interesting.

Thyme + Sage

I also added some brown sugar, garlic, and lots of fresh thyme and sage.

Ready to mingle

This party of flavors got doused over the meat and fat, and it all chilled and mingled together for two hours.

Sausage via Food Processor

Since I don't have a grinder, I used the food processor method. I worked in small batches, pulsing until everything was evenly ground. To this I added an egg yolk, a bit of milk, and vinegar to help bind it all together. I fried up a test patty, and it was good…but something was missing. My brain when to burgers (it does that sometimes) and voila! I knew what I needed -- the secret ingredient to my homemade burgers: caramelized onions.

Wit onions

That did the trick. My sausage patties were tangy, smoky, sweet, and savory, with a hint of heat. I think the biggest difference between my homemade sausage and store-bought was the texture. These definitely have more chew to them, and the fat added some great flavor. I'm already fantasizing about the killer breakfast sandwich I'm going to have tomorrow. And then, the day after that? This with Huevos Rancheros.

At this rate, I may just be on my way to meat dessert too one day.

Today's food-scape is a rich tapestry woven from a multitude of little ideas and small stories: tradition, history, science, art, and human ingenuity colliding on plates at the intersection of major political and social issues. The individual strands of this loom-y metaphor are people. They aren't always clearly visible until you look closely. People need food to survive, and in ancient times, communities were endlessly preoccupied with finding things to eat and figuring out how to cook them. Civilizations would form and thrive around the domestication of a single species of animal. Proud eating traditions have sprung from time-honed preparation techniques born of necessity. Great celebrations still honor the harvest and hunt. For evidence, look no further than Thanksgiving and the Gilroy Garlic Festival. There's a gulf between pounding poi in Polynesia and nudging a grocery cart through Whole Foods, but the parallels persist even amid changing times and circumstance: we have always been defined by how we eat -- as individuals, families, neighborhoods, cities, states, and countries. Food used to be seen as fuel; now, it's a mirror, and everything we stuff down our face-holes shows us more about ourselves and the way we live.

The view of Guerrero from inside 18 Reasons

18 Reasons, the Bi Rite-affiliated gallery space on Guerrero near 18th Street, has made such conscious, well-examined consumption its mission, offering exhibitions, lectures, tastings, and classes to draw clear bright lines between food, people, and place, existing essentially as the embodiment of its intention, as a local meeting spot for people who love food and want to talk about it, share what they know, and learn from others. The gallery has received some local press love but this summer's offerings deserve special mention.

Morgan Maki starting on the lamb

Last week, I attended the second part of a Lamb Butchery and Sausage Making class taught by Bi Rite butcher Morgan Maki, the same guy who schooled folks in Stock Theory and Knife Skills a few months ago. The first session saw a 5-foot-long 45 pound lamb broken down and whittled into chops, roasts, and other cuts for cookery. I missed that one due to illness but the pictures tell enough of the story for you to get the basic idea. It came in whole and left in chunks. Maki dropped some anatomy knowledge. Everyone ate cheese and drank wine. When I arrived at the second session, the students were chopping the trimmings from that depleted carcass, sleeves rolled up, ties tucked, and jewelry removed. It was a Tuesday night, and most had clearly come straight from work and were dutifully taxing the bottles of merlot making the rounds. The gallery's clean white walls were bare, awaiting the summer show (Julie Duffoo's semi-gristly Meatpaper photographs of local butchers). The only exhibit on display was the whirl of activity, something like a party happening around the sturdy wooden table in the center of the room: sausage as social sculpture.

Gathering around the grinder

As Maki spoke, some of the attendees frantically scribbled on yellow legal pads. A few people hung back against the walls, silent, literally watching others watch and talk. Most crowded around the table for a shot at slicing, or volunteered to help grind once the ingredients were assembled. "This is probably used in extreme interrogation techniques," quipped one dude as he eyed the sausage stuffing apparatus.

The sausage, ground

People capable of paying 60 dollars to learn how Bi Rite butchers make sausages using $2000 grinders can afford to buy sausage at Bi Rite any time they want. They don't need to learn how to make sausage at home in order to save money or make their lives easier. Prussian statesman Otto Von Bismarck (an abundantly mustached practitioner of Realpolitik who probably put away many many sausages in his day) famously compared the crafting of laws to the processing of sausages. There was once the idea that people wouldn't want to eat sausage if they saw how it was made. Now, people want to know where they can find fresh pork blood and a good deal on a professional grinder.

Those who show up at 18 Reasons for something like this aren't just amassing knowledge for themselves. They're making a personal investment in an enduring artisanal tradition and, by extension, a community. "The more people that use this space the healthier it will be," said Maki when I asked him what he wanted out of the gallery. The neighborhood has definitely taken notice. Every person walking past with laundry and grocery bags stops to peer in. Maybe they all won't shell out the ducats for a class but they'll maybe come to a free event, or at least read up on something they saw posted on the board outside.

If you want to get involved, now is a good time. Classes on the horizon promise to please. On Tuesday, July 7, Maki will teach the first section of a two-part course on Pig Butchery and Curing, in which participants will learn the basics of swine disassembly as well as several principles and techniques of curing in preparation for smoking or curing. The cost is $60 for non-members. Buy your tickets here.

Photos by Michael V. Chopko