Category Archives: Enticing Events

Yes, It Rhymes With “Witch”

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So I guess you’ve noticed that semi-naughty little badge on the right-hand rail of FoodGal. You know, the one promoting “Official Bitch Day.”

OK, admit it: You know we all mutter that word, at least in a whisper once in awhile. And you know we sometimes just have to let it all out. Well, Ladies, here’s your chance.

The social networking site, Fabulously40 (don’t worry, you don’t look a day over 32), is hosting its first dedicated day on Oct. 1 for any and all women to gripe, groan, bemoan — and yes _ bitch in a supportive environment about whatever they so desire. Just register on the site to participate, as well as to win prizes.

And let the bitching begin.

Meet Moroccan Cooking Expert Kitty Morse

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Kitty Morse, the woman who taught me how to make preserved lemons

Want to learn how to make the perfect tagine? Then, stop in at a Bay Area Le Creuset store on Sept. 20 and 21, when veteran cookbook author and Moroccan cuisine expert, Kitty Morse, visits to do a book-signing and cooking demo.

The events are free, too.

I always will be indebted to Morse because she turned me on to making my own preserved lemons. I almost always have some in the fridge now, made with Meyer lemons that have been partially cut, stuffed with Kosher salt, then packed tightly into a sterilized glass jar. After the jar sits on the counter for a couple of days, the lemons will exude their juices and combine with the salt to create a thick preserving brine.

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The Dawn of Celebrity Chefs

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(left to right) Clark Wolf, Jonathan Gold, Zoi Antonitsis, Joey Altman, and Scott Hocker

Restaurant consultant Clark Wolf remembers the pivotal moment when chefs were first transformed into celebrities in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was in the 1980s, when the visage of larger-than-life Chef Jeremiah Tower, of fabled Stars restaurant, graced a billboard advertisement for Dewar’s Scotch.

“That’s what started it in the Bay Area,” Wolf recalled. “Everyone thought, ‘How will Tower ever be taken seriously again?’ ”

He was. And the fame he garnered became the touchstone for stardom that legions of chefs after him coveted mercilessly. Nowadays, chefs are the new rock stars, the new reality TV idols, the ones groupies snap photos of, and seek autographs from. What has this era of celebrity chefs really resulted in? That was the intriguing topic earlier this week at a San Francisco Professional Food Society panel discussion at the new Miss Pearl’s Jam House in Oakland.

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New Brunch, New Restaurant, Curry Tasting At A Jeans Store, and More Happenings

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Bubble & Squeak with jalapeno gravy and poached eggs. (Photo by Mark Leet Photography)

EPIC Roasthouse on San Francisco’s waterfront is now serving weekend brunch. Cornmeal waffle with crisp apple-smoked bacon, Bubble & Squeak with jalapeno gravy and poached eggs, and Dungeness crab Benedict are sure to wake you up in style.

The EPIC Bloody Mary with house-pickled vegetables and a lavender sea salt rim or a non-alcoholic Gold Rush (homemade watermelon syrup and seltzer water) will quench your thirst as you take in the view of the bay.

Cornmeal waffle with apple-smoked bacon (Photo by Mark Leet Photography)

If you’re more a night person, Jack Falstaff in San Francisco has just launched a new Happy Jack Hour, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. Specialty cocktails like the Chef’s Side Car are $5, and can be enjoyed with bar bites such as spiced lamb meatballs and farmers market heirloom tomato salad.

Heirloom tomato salad at Elements Restaurant & Enoteca (Photo by Tom Fuller)In downtown Napa, Elements Restaurant & Enoteca has opened. It’s a project by former Intel executive Rich Poliak, Chef Charles Weber (formerly of Zuzu in Napa), and Noel Burke (former general manager at Julia’s Kitchen at Copia in Napa).

The menu features global small plates, such as oxtail terrine with a salad of summer roots ($9), “liver and onions” (foie gras and onion confit, $16), and fruit soup with eucalyptus syrup ($7).

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Free Seedlings and Chocolate — Catch Them If You Can

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Dagoba's popular lavender blueberry chocolate bar. (Photo by Crystal Munoz)

Representatives of Dagoba Organic Chocolate of Oregon will be handing out free chocolate bars and herb seedlings in six locations in San Francisco and Berkeley, today through Sept. 13.

The catch? You can find out the general locations and the dates, but not the exact times the freebies will be handed out. Dagoba says it’s a stealth, guerrilla-type operation to maintain the sense of surprise. (Uhh, I’m sure that makes sense in some universe.)

Be on the lookout in Justin Herman Plaza and Union Square in San Francisco today; the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco on Sept. 6; Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on Sept. 7; the University of California at Berkeley campus on Sept. 7; and the Berkeley Farmers’ Market (Center Street at Martin Luther King Jr. Way) on Sept. 13.

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