Category Archives: New Products

Introducing the Updated Version of Food Gal’s Bay Area Dining App & A Giveaway

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Introducing my new, improved app.

Drum roll, please.

Just as I am my own person, I’m also my own app now.

If you remember back to February, I proudly launched my “Food Gal’s Ultimate Guide to Bay Area Dining” for iPhones.

Back then, it was under the umbrella of the new venture, the “Know What” network of apps for favorite bars, food, hikes, museums and more. So, you had to buy the “Know What Essentials”  app first, before you could add on more specific modules, such as my own.

Now, with the blessing and help of the team behind Escape Apps, which created the “Know What” network, you can bypass that step and just buy my app alone for $1.99.

My app has been updated to  feature more than 75 restaurants, bakeries and wine bars to check out in the Bay Area — from the tony to the hole-in-the-wall.

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Beefy Burgers and A Food Gal Giveaway

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Juicy grilled burgers made from Piedmontese beef.

Nothing says summer backyard gatherings like a great grilled burger.

These are particularly flavorful, made from the Piedmontese breed of cattle, which originated in the foothills of Italy.

Raised on ranges, where they grow up eating grass and are finished on grains, these cows produce meat that is less marbled, and therefore lower in saturated fat and cholesterol. Because of their genetic makeup, the meat doesn’t have the usual stringy fibers of regular beef, making it naturally tender.

Recently, I had a chance to try samples of these burgers from Montana’s Ranch Brand Natural Meats, which contain no antibiotics or growth hormones. The sizable 8-ounce patties are dense, almost just shy of sausage-like in texture. They are very beefy tasty and despite being on the leaner side are quite juicy.

A package of 12 Piedmontese Steak Burgers is $38.54. They are shipped on ice packs to their destination.

They’re just one of many items available via FromtheFarm, a California company that bills itself as an online farmers market. It partners with growers and producers around the country to ship produce, meat, flowers, baked goods and jams directly from the farm to your house.

Through Aug. 27, Food Gal readers can get 10 percent off the purchase of Piedmontese beef. Just use the code: FOODGAL.

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win a dozen Piedmontese burgers, courtesy of FromtheFarm. Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST Aug. 18. Winner will be announced Aug. 20.

How to win?

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Michael Pollan In My Backyard

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Michael Pollan -- the tomato.

Yes, Michael Pollan made a splashy appearance in my backyard recently.

Um, that would be my tomato plant named for the respected food activist, author and journalist, not Mr. Pollan in the flesh, himself.

Of my four tomato seedlings planted this year, it was this one that grew most vigorously and produced not only the first tomatoes of the season, but the most fruit so far, too.

Guess it pays to be named after a man who takes food seriously.

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Ice Cream Sandwich Time & Dan Gordon Performs at the San Jose Jazz Fest

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Can't resist this ice cream sammy at Sift Cupcakes. (Photo courtesy of the bakery)

Ice Cream Sandwiches on the Menu

When the weather heats up, there’s nothing as joyful to enjoy as an ice cream sandwich. It can’t help but bring out the kid in each of us.

Try an “Ice Cream Sammy” at Sift Cupcake & Dessert Bar, the only Bay Area bakery to win the Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars.”

With locations in Napa, Santa Rosa and Cotati, the bakery takes organic gelato and sandwiches in between big cookies. Try the “All for the Cookie” ($4), which features cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream stuffed between two chocolate cookies.

Look for a San Francisco location to open later this summer, too.

Mozzeria's loaded ice cream sandwich plate. (Photo courtesy of Mozzeria)

San Francisco’s Mozzeria is getting in on the act, too, with peanut butter ice cream sandwiched between two chocolate cookies ($6). It gets even better, too. The sammy is served on a homemade fruit roll-up — with a side of spicy beer nuts. It’s a meal.

Mozzeria is one of the first deaf-owned restaurants in the country. Its global menu features everything from roast duck pizza with hoisin to Japanese pumpkin ravioli.

Dan Gordon — Beer-Maker and Musician

Sure, we all know that the founder of Gordon Biersch Brewing Company knows how to make great beer.

But how many knew that Dan Gordon also is an accomplished musician?

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