The “Weekly Beast” at One Market in San Francisco

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Every Friday and Saturday night at One Market restaurant in San Francisco, a different animal stars in a very special menu.

At the restaurant, near the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, the “Weekly Beast” dinner is a $49 five-course prix fixe that showcases the versatility and deliciousness of a particular farm-raised animal from head to hoof or foot. It’s a chance to understand exactly how different parts of one animal — be it Duroc pig or Muscovy duck — can have such different flavors and textures. For those who aren’t quite ready to make that much of a commitment, the dishes also are available à  la carte.

Recently, Chef Mark Dommen invited me in as his guest to try his “Weekly Beast” dinner featuring goat from Marin Sun Farms in Point Reyes Station. Since I”ve only had goat once or twice before — and always just one dish of it at a time — I was eager to experience the nuances evident in various preparations of the animal all at once.

“Goat is to lamb what veal is to cow,” Dommen says, meaning that it’s almost lamb-lite in terms of flavor and texture.

Before the first goat dish arrived, Dommen sent out a few amuses and extra tastes my way. A shot glass of apple water was like a soft, barely set Jell-O shot. It got even more body with a float of lemon oil was at once refreshing yet ever so decadent.

Another tiny amuse followed, this one a single grilled shrimp with great charred flavor that was dunked inside a citrusy tequila-lime float. Finally, two mini Dungeness crab tacos that were bright and crunchy. I wrapped the two-bite treats in my favorite shiso leaves for an extra minty hit.

Now, it was time to get the goat party started.

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Ad Hoc’s Crispy Braised Chicken Thighs with Olives, Lemon and Fennel

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Fat is flavor.

Big time.

How often have you heard chefs equate fatty goodness with deeply developed, satiating flavor?

Countless, I’m sure.

This simple recipe for “Crispy Chicken Thighs with Olives, Lemon and Fennel” from “Ad Hoc at Home” (Artisan) by Chef Thomas Keller is a prime example of just why they espouse that.

Chicken thighs get seared golden brown in a pan, then removed to a cooling rack. Peer into the pan and you’ll see a small pond of glistening, rendered liquid fat at the bottom.

Don’t be afraid.

Healthful, gym-rat me was tempted to pour out that fat, while good food-loving me was smacking my lips at the lusciousness pooling in the pan. In the end, the latter me won out, especially because Keller makes no mention in the recipe of cleaning out the pan before proceeding with the rest of the directions.

For good reason.

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Godiva’s Cup of Joe and Winners of the Food Gal Contest

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You can nibble a chocolate truffle with your coffee. Or you can sip a cup of Joe that tastes like a heavenly chocolate truffle.

You can now that Godiva Chocolatier has introduced a line of coffees inspired by their chocolate bonbons.

The flavored coffees come ground in these varieties: French Vanilla, Hazelnut Creme, Chocolate Truffle, and Caramel. Available at Safeway, SaveMart, Lucky and Raley’s, a 12-ounce bag is $8.99.

I had a chance to try samples of the Chocolate Truffle and Hazelnut Creme. I’m not always a fan of flavored coffees because some of them taste so artificial or overpowering.

The Godiva ones, though, were quite balanced. You could still taste the roasty, smooth Arabica beans that had just a twinge of that wonderful coffee bitterness even with the added chocolate or hazelnut flavorings. Indeed, the Chocolate Truffle coffee flavor is like a coffee candy that has a little rounded chocolate flavor added, as opposed to a full-on chocolate bonbon with a tiny espresso bean on top. As much of a chocoholic as I am, I think I liked the hazelnut one even more because of its nutty, almost creamy nature.

The steamy aromas are so seductive, too.

And now, for the winners of the “Spread It On” contest:

I say “winners” because I decided not only to award a grand prize of three Laxmi’s Delights flaxseed spreads, but two runners-up awards who will each receive a cookbook from my collection.

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New Vegan Cupcakes, New Pinkberry & Dinner by a “Top Chef” Contestant

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After a year of tinkering, Sprinkles Cupcakes has unveiled its new vegan and gluten-free versions of the Red Velvet cupcake, its best-seller.

Chef Candace Nelson, founder of Sprinkles, makes the vegan ones with all-natural soy milk, tofu-based cream cheese and coconut oil. The gluten-free one is made with gluten-free flour and topped with a thick layer of the usual cream cheese frosting.

Find them now at all Sprinkles locations.

Word is that competitor, Kara’s Cupcakes, also is working on vegan and gluten-free cupcakes. Stay tuned….

“Top Chef” fanatics will want to know that Season 6 contestant, Laurine Wickett, will be cooking dinner at Coffee Bar Cafe in San Francisco this weekend, Jan. 30 and Jan. 31.

Wickett, whom some fans thought was sacrificed to keep popular contestant Jennifer Carroll on the show longer, is the chef-owner of Left Coast Catering in San Francisco. She will be cooking a three-course dinner for $35; or $55 with wine pairings. Dishes include cauliflower soup with smoked  potatoes and truffle oil; and panna cotta with citrus compote.

To reserve a seat, call (415) 551-8100 or email: LWickettatcoffeebar@gmail.com.

Brewski — and lots of it — will be showcased at the second annual “San Francisco Beer Week,” Feb. 5-14.

Learn why the Bay Area has become a hotbed for artisan beer-making. Indeed, California has more than 200 breweries and beer companies, the most of any state. Eight of those breweries are in San Francisco.

A bevy of tastings and galas will be held at various venues throughout the Bay Area. Click here for a complete schedule.

Another Pinkberry fro-yo shop has opened in the Bay Area — this one at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto.

Look for it between Bloomingdale’s and Ralph Lauren.

San Francisco’s Waterbar invites you to try its new “Happy Hour,” 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

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Getting Ready for Pigs & Pinot with Chef Charlie Palmer

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OK, how cute is this little oinkster?

If you’re at all squeamish about seeing animals being raised ultimately for the dinner table, you might want to stop reading now. But if you’re like me, and believe it’s important to know that our proteins actually were once whole, living, breathing animals before they ended up shrink-wrapped in select cuts in the supermarket, then I hope you’ll appreciate knowing a little more about the artisan ingredients going into this year’s fifth annual ”Pigs & Pinot” extravaganza at the Hotel Healdsburg in Healdsburg.

Chef Charlie Palmer of Dry Creek Kitchen in the Hotel Healdsburg and his staff once again are overseeing the epicurean event, March 19-20. Proceeds will benefit Share Our Strength and local Healdsburg educational organizations.

If you’re thinking about joining the festivities, you’re late to the game, unfortunately. For the first time ever, the event sold out within the first half hour that tickets went on sale. But that’s what happens when you have the hoopla of  Bravo TV’s “Top Chef” added to the mix. Although the event usually attracts mostly locals, organizers were pleasantly surprised this time to see folks from the East Coast, Atlanta, and Seattle eager to buy tickets.

Besides great Pinot Noir producers from California and around the world, Palmer will be joined by “Top Chef” finalists, fan-favorite Kevin Gillespie (of Woodfire Grill in Atlanta); and Bryan Voltaggio (of Volt restaurant in Frederick, Md.), who narrowly lost the title to his younger brother Michael Voltaggio (of the Dining Room at the Langham in Pasadena). Gillespie will be creating a cold appetizer for the ”Pigs & Pinot” gala dinner, and Bryan Voltaggio will ply his skills with seafood for another course.

Food Network star Tyler Florence and Roland Passot of La Folie in San Francisco will round out the mix in the star-studded kitchen.

I had a chance to learn more about the preparations when I was invited up to Healdsburg last week with a couple of other food writers. On a rainy morning, we loaded into the back of Palmer’s truck to visit the two heritage Gloucestershire pigs he was raising for the event. It’s the first time he’s raised his own pigs for the event. Others used for the event will come from a farm in Missouri.

“Chefs are always talking about wanting to get back to the earth. You can’t get any closer than this,” he says. The two pigs are fed vegetable table-scraps from the restaurant, and will switch to an all-acorn diet for the last three weeks before their slaughter.

The two pigs, which Palmer purposely didn’t name, will grow to about 170 pounds each. They are being raised at the biodynamic-certified Quivira Vineyards and Winery in Healdsburg, which also grows specialty produce — everything from arugula to Swiss chard to apples to raspberries — for Dry Creek Kitchen and seven other restaurants in the area.

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