Category Archives: Enticing Events

New Vietnamese Eatery, Cyrus Japan Fund-Raiser, Food Truck Fun & More

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Bun Mee's version of a Vietnamese Sloppy Joe. (Photo courtesy of James "Slim'' Dang)

San Francisco Welcomes Bun Mee

While her friends were scarfing down burgers, Vietnam-born Denise Tran was enjoying banh mi, the bargain-priced sandwich of her homeland made with roast pork, tangy pickled veggies, and paté stuffed inside a fresh-baked baguette.

Now, she’s reincarnating that favorite sandwich with modern twists at her new Bun Mee cafe on upper Fillmore Street in Pacific Heights, a short stroll from the Best Western Tomo in San Francisco.

The 16-seat restaurant, decorated with corrugated metal finishes and bicycle wheel chandeliers, specializes in Vietnamese street food, with most dishes priced at $5 to $7.

Choose from nine different banh mi, including a “Sloppy Bun” with curry ground pork, shaved onion and Thai basil; and the “Bun Mee Combo” of house-carved roast pork, paté de champagne, mortadella, house garlic aioli, shaved onion, pickled carrot and daikon, jalapenos and cilantro.

You just want to take a bite, don't you? (Photo courtesy of James "Slim'' Dang)

For more variety, the menu includes salads such as the “Mekong Shrimp” with grilled prawns, sliced mango, tofu, pickled daikon, and julienned cucumbers over mixed greens with blood orange vinaigrette; and “Momma Tran’s Crispy Egg Rolls” made with ground pork, crab, wood ear mushrooms, glass noodles and lettuce. Then, quench your thirst with Vietnamese coffee, kaffir limeade, and strawberry lychee aqua fresca.

“From my own travels to Vietnam to spending hours cooking with Momma Tran, I am really excited to bring the Vietnamese street food experience to Pacific Heights and introduce guests to one of my favorite things to eat,” said Tran in a statement, who collaborated on the restaurant with her mother.

Celeb Chefs Come Together for a Japan Benefit

Chef Douglas Keane of Cyrus has invited some of the biggest names in the Bay Area food scene to cook for a very worthy cause: the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund, which is administered by the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California.

April 19, Keane will be joined by the likes of David Kinch of Manresa in Los Gatos, Corey Lee of Benu in San Francisco, James Syhabout of Commis in Oakland, Michael Cimarusti of Providence in Los Angeles, and Nicole Plue of Cyrus for a spectacular tasting menu.

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An Evening at La Mar with Freeman Winery

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At La Mar Cebicheria in San Francisco, even dessert comes with a little pisco.

The quenching, tart Pisco Sour may be the usual drink of choice at La Mar Cebicheria in San Francisco, but about once a month, the restaurant also hosts winemaker dinners.  And you know these events are guaranteed to be stellar when they’re presided over by the restaurant’s consulting wine director, Emmanuel Kemiji, a certified Master Sommelier who not only makes his own wine, but has worked with some of the best chefs in the Bay Area.

In fact, Kemiji was responsible for introducing me to one of my new favorite Pinot Noir producers — Freeman Vineyards and Winery of Sebastopol.

Freeman wines.

It’s no secret that I have a soft spot for Oregon Pinot Noirs, with their more earthy profiles, rather than the jammy fruit-forwardness of so many California-style Pinots. Freeman Winery — owned by Ken and Akiko Freeman — make Pinots in that elegant style with notes of dark cherry, loamy mushroom and gravel. They are pure silky pleasure to drink.

Recently, I was invited to be a guest of the restaurant at a special dinner spotlighting Freeman wines. When the San Francisco fog gives way to warmer evenings, the wine dinners are held in the spacious back patio with its spectacular view of the Bay. But on a chilly night like this one, it took place at a long chef’s table beside the bustling kitchen.

The chef's table at La Mar is next to, but separated from, the exhibition kitchen.

La Mar is famous for its cebiches — raw seafood that’s “cooked” with citrus. But Pinots and Chardonnays typically clash with such acidic fish preparations, so there was no cebiche on our tasting menu that night. Instead, there was an amuse that paid homage — a shot glass filled with spicy, tangy, prickly cebiche-like marinade transformed into almost aperitif.

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New Cupcake Bakery, Food Truck Gathering in San Jose & Much More

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A chocolate cupcake from Sinful Bliss. (Photo courtesy of the bakery)

Who’s Hungry for Cupcakes?

Downtown Pleasant Hill welcomes a sinful addition in April — Sinful Bliss Cupcakes, to be exact.

Owner Tammie Parnell believes in celebrating life’s everyday moments with something sweet. After surviving breast cancer, being laid off from her banking job and watching her husband lose his own job, she decided to bet the future on her love of baking.

Her cupcake shop offers a dozen flavors, including chocolate peanut butter cup, Nutella, raspberry and Red Velvet cheesecake. Mini ones are $2 each; regular size ones are $3.25 each. Parnell also does custom designs upon request.

Sinful Bliss Cupcakes will celebrate its grand opening at 10 a.m. April 17 with a ribbon-cutting and free tastings. The event is also a fund-raiser for the Pleasant Hill Middle School Art Department, which will receive 100 percent of that day’s cupcake profits. The students will be creating inspired artwork, which will be displayed at the bakery.

Morever, during the grand opening, children are invited to make their own cupcake design. Fifty of the winning designs will be made and sold on April 23, with profits of the sales going to Pleasant Hill Elementary School.

Custom cupcakes from Sinful Bliss. (Photo courtesy of the bakery)

A Food Truck Meet-Up in San Jose

Aren’t you tired of hearing about all those great food truck gatherings in that city to the North and that other one to the East?

Well, South Bay foodies, you don’t have to feel left out anymore. Here’s the event you’ve been waiting for –  SJEats: A Moveable Feast, noon to 8 p.m. April 2 in the Fallon House parking lot at Saint John Street and Almaden Avenue in San Jose.

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Healthful Pizza, Ruth Reichl Visit, Chef Demo & More

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The Mexican pizza at ZPizza in San Francisco. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

Organic Wheat Flour Pizzas in San Francisco

Laguna Beach, Calif.-based ZPizza, which has more than 90 locations nationwide, now has a locale in San Francisco at 833 Mission St., Suite C (at Fourth Street).

The pizza dough is made from certified organic wheat flour, the sauces are prepared fresh daily, and the cheese is part-skim, rBGH-free mozzarella from grass-fed cows. Gluten-free crust and vegan cheese also are offered. Gourmet ingredients include cremini and shiitake mushrooms, as well as truffle oil and the African hot sauce known as pili pili. For delivery, the pizzas are ferried via bicycles to reduce carbon emissions. Gourmet salads, pastas and sandwiches round out the menu.

Pizza choices include the Thai, with peanut sauce, mozzarella, spicy chicken, cilantro, bean sprouts and serranos; the Mexican with housemade salsa, mozzarella, spicy lime chicken, green onions, avocado, sour cream and cilantro; and the Casablanca, with roasted garlic sauce, mozzarella, ricotta, mushrooms, artichoke hearts and parmesan. Pizzas are $10.95 for a small, $19.95 for a large, and $24.94 for an extra-large.

The one and only Ruth Reichl. (Photo by Fiona Aboud)

Ruth Reichl at Stanford University

Join former Gourmet magazine Editor-in-Chief Ruth Reichl at a free event at the Cubberley Auditorium on the Stanford University Campus in Palo Alto at 6 p.m. March 29.

Reichl, now an editor and author at Random House, will be speaking on “The Intersection of Food, Culture and History.”

A Different Look at Vanilla, Saffron and Chocolate

Sure, they taste good. But did you know all three of those ingredients are rife with politics?

Learn all about the intrigue in getting these three ingredients from harvest to plate at “Politics of the Plate — What’s Behind the Silky Sexiness of Vanilla, Saffron and Chocolate,” 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. March 16 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of San Francisco (Starr King room), 1187 Franklin St. at Geary Street.

Experts Patricia Rain (vanilla), Juan San Mames (saffron) and Mark Magers (chocolate) will be on the panel with moderator Janet Fletcher, a San Francisco Chronicle food writer.

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Food Gal Giveaway — Luxe Ferrari-Red Espresso/Beverage Maker

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One lucky Food Gal reader will win this snazzy Kaldi beverage system.

I like to call this the Ferrari of coffee makers because of the sleek, 125-mph metallic color. Can’t you imagine yourself test-driving this baby in your own kitchen?

One of you will get the chance to do just that because Food Gal is giving one lucky person the gift of a new Kaldi single-beverage system by the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. It’s valued at $149. How’s that for a contest to perk you up on a Monday morning?

You can make espresso, brewed coffee, tea and other specialty beverages just by inserting a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf capsule in the machine. The Kaldi has a twin pressure system, so that you get high pressure to create the crema on an espresso, and lower pressure for brewed coffee and tea. The machine, which can accommodate a variety of mug sizes, comes with a sampler pack of 12 capsules containing coffee, tea and espresso.

Contest: Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight March 19. Winner will be announced March 21.

How to win?

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