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Don’t miss the San Francisco Silent Film Festival presentation of the “Hitchcock 9″ with live musical accompaniment on June 14-16 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. More info at http://silentfilm.org/special-events/the-hitchcock-9
San Francisco Silent Film Festival

Rockridge’s new Ramen Shop, from a trio of Chez Panisse alums, just got a big pictorial and piece in the Times’ T Magazine, penned by an alum of the CP organization himself, David Prior. He quotes partner Sam White saying, “We didn’t want to make a place that is like a Japanese place, but a place that our Japanese friends will like.” And even though the place has been crazy busy since the moment it opened, this bit of national press should definitely make that even worse. [NYT]

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Filed Under: national interest, ramen shop

Grub Street San Francisco

The Dapper DinerFrench toast at Cafe des Amis comes in brick form. There are several places in San Francisco sane people try to avoid when darkness falls, like the blocks surrounding 16th and Mission,
SFoodie

Abbot’s Cellar

Virginia Miller is first out of the gate this week with a review of Abbot’s Cellar, though it’s part of a group of shorter reviews of new beer-pairing restaurants including St. Vincent (which is more wine-focused, but they do have nice beer too), and Upcider, Polk Street’s new cider bar. Of Abbot’s she says, “As a temple dedicated to beer, the Cellar succeeds immediately,” and she goes on to say plenty of nice things about chef Adam Dulye’s food. She loves the bone marrow dish, and the braised rabbit with handkerchief pasta and English peas, and she also digs the “insanely juicy” pork chop. The only misstep she mentions is a dry roast pheasant. [SFBG]

Jesse Hirsch captures the whimsical spirit of Mission favorite Lolo thusly: “Walls are papered in bean advertisements and Mexican lottery results. Your check comes in an infant’s sneaker. Food is plated with a merry, Mad Hatter design sense.” He notes that the original Turkish-Mexican mashup of the place has given way to a primarily Latin-focused menu, but it’s still fun and unpretentious. He’s mad about the beef-tongue sliders (“Thin slices are then feathered onto chewy brioche buns, topped with an ancho-infused tomato sauce and a slaw of cabbage, kalamata olives and sun-dried tomatoes.”), and he also likes the chicken tinga tostadas, and the “salmon medallions polka-dotted a plate ringed in panko crumbs and crushed pistachios before being finished with a loopy drizzle of wasabi cream.” [Examiner]

And finally Weekly critic Anna Roth visits Bar Tartine’s new sandwich counter, open during the day, and conclude there will be lines out the door very soon. She likes the creative, open-faced smørrebrød sandwiches, and the pickled green cherry tomatoes. She concludes that she’ll be doing a lot of line-standing herself at this place. “Things on bread is a basic concept; their approach is anything but, and as they keep us guessing, we will keep queueing up.” [SF Weekly, Earlier Slideshow]

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Filed Under: the other critics, abbot’s cellar, anna roth, bar tartine, jess hirsch, lolo, virginia miller

Grub Street San Francisco

BART took its first stab at journalism today with this man-on-the-street report detailing how riders felt about today’s first Bike Friday, where cyclists were allowed to bring bikes on board BART trai
The Snitch

During Wednesday’s dinner, chef Michael Cimarusti of L.A.’s Providence presented this King salmon filet with cranberry beans, brown butter, chicken boullion, and nori.

Last night marked the final alumni dinner in celebration of Manresa‘s tenth anniversary, and chef David Kinch is now recharging quietly at home in Santa Cruz in anticipation of another busy week at the restaurant. Grub Street spoke to him briefly today about how it all came off, and he says, “It was a lot of fun,” and adds that he was really touched to see how in the dishes created by his various protégés at Saturday and Sunday’s dinners, the marks of their time at Manresa showed up in each. “You could see each of their personalities in the dishes, but there was an underlying Manresa touch to everything. I thought that was really cool.”

He adds, “The idea was for them to do all the cooking,” but he was also in the kitchen each day and collaborated on a couple of dishes.

Joining Kinch for Saturday and Sunday were former chefs de cuisine Jeremy Fox, James Syhabout, and John Paul Carmona, along with pastry chef Belinda Leong and former sous chefs Michael Gaines and Charlie Parker. He says that newly promoted chef de cuisine Jessica Largey really held her own with the gang, managing a bunch of personalities whom she’d never worked with before, and he really loved the amuse bouche she contributed as well.

But he admits he had a soft spot for the dish Fox created, which was a variation on the classic Manresa garden dish, and which Fox asked Kinch to collaborate on with him. He explains, “It was a bunch of leaves and herbs from the garden, but on the bottom of the plate with did this purée of fava beans and this South American herb that’s sort of like cilantro. Also, we took vegetables and confited them in duck fat and beef suet, chilled them and then cut them up in interesting shapes, and drizzled on top was this raw cream and green curry oil that was redolent with lime leaves. It appeared to be a vegan-like dish but it had this protein component from the cream and the animal fat. It turned out really well.”

Last Wednesday Kinch welcomed a good friend from L.A., Michael Cimarusti, to cook in the Manresa kitchen for the first time. Cimarusti also happened to be Largey’s original mentor, several years back when she worked at Providence. He and Kinch alternated courses on a primarily seafood-focused menu that seemed seamless and of a piece from a single restaurant and chef.

Then on Thursday he was cooking with John and Karen Shields, a pair of young chefs from Virginia who are opening a restaurant in Philadelphia and whom Kinch said he had a hunch would be great representations of the younger generation of chefs. “I’m happy to say my instincts were right,” he says, and he was wholly impressed with the way the two worked collaboratively in the kitchen.

Friday was a dinner with a good friend, Carlo Mirarchi of Roberta’s in Brooklyn. “He’s a real talent and I’m always looking for an opportunity to cook with him. And this was a celebration, so I wanted to invite people like him who I was close with. We had a really fantastic time.”

Earlier: SF Mag Bows Down to David Kinch, Says Manresa ‘Eludes Classification’

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Filed Under: anniversaries, charlie parker, david kinch, james syhabout, jeremy fox, manresa

Grub Street San Francisco

My name is Leslie Sbrocco and I’m the host of Check, Please! Bay Area. Each week, I will be sharing my tasting notes about the wine the guests and I drank on set during the taping of the show. I will also share some wine tips with each episode.

Check, Please! Bay Area guests drank the following wines on the set of episode 705:

2007 Trione Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, California
From third generation grape growers in Sonoma County, this beautifully aged Chard meshes the core brightness of Russian River fruit with the lushness of the vintage. It’s a wine to sip poolside with nothing but your suit, or table side with everything from fish to fowl.

2009 Lasseter Family Winery “Chemin de Fer,” Sonoma Valley, California
You know the name, John Lasseter of Cars and Toy Story fame. Add one more credit to John’s resume — vintner — as he and his wife Nancy are the proprietors of Lasseter Family Winery. In a nod to their Francophile passions, they focus on French-style wines including this Rhone blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre grapes. It’s succulent, spicy and simply superb.

Related posts:

1. Check, Please! Bay Area: Wine Tips – 4 S’s of Wine Tasting
2. Wine Tips: Pairing Dessert Wines
3. Wine Tips: About Shiraz, Syrah and Petite Sirah

Check, Please! Bay Area