Waterbar is hosting a three-day event, ~OYSTERFEST~, which includes two special oyster dinners at Waterbar (Oct. 15th and 16th) and an afternoon festival on the outdoor patio (Oct. 17th).

Guest chefs and oyster lovin' restaurants and farms include: Ryan Simas and Mark Franz (Farallon), Jan Birnbaum (EPIC Roasthouse), Adam Mali (Nick's Cove), Kenny Belov (FISH), Teresa Ebilane and Emily Luchetti (Waterbar), Parke Ulrich (Waterbar), George Morrone, Preston Point, and Tomales Bay Oysters. Dr. Frances Gulland, director of the Marine Mammal Center, will speak at the dinner on Friday October 16th.

The dinners on Thursday October 15th and Friday the 16th are a multi-course affair, and cost $125 (all-inclusive, with wine pairings). To view a PDF of the menus for each night, check them out here. Each dinner begins at 6pm.

Meanwhile, the OysterFest afternoon festival on Saturday October 17th runs from noon-3pm. The cost is $50, which includes admission and five tickets each, good for redeeming on small plates or beverages. There will be dishes like oysters on the half shell, grilled BBQ oysters, an oyster BLT, chowder, and more, and beverages from Anchor Steam, Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, Drakes Bay Oyster, J Vineyards, Ferrari-Carano, and Matanzas Creek Winery. There will also be a hot sauce competition, a shucking challenge, and live music by the Monophonics.

Proceeds to benefit the Surfrider Foundation and The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito. 

This year, we are excited to present our 2nd Annual DISH event.
 
DISH will be a sampling of 30 unique restaurants along with wine and spirits tasting.  
 
The event will serve to benefit One World Children's Fund, a non profit organization supporting community-based organizations around the world that serve vulnerable children and their care givers. www.oneworldchildrensfund.org.
 
Here are the details:
 
When: Thursday September 24th, 6:30-9:30 PM
 
Who: XYZ, Out The Door, Fish & Farm, Circa, Pacific Catch, Zazil, Rose Pistola, Sugar Cafe, Papalote, Roti, First Crush Sam's Chowder House, Circolo, among others.  Wineries and spirits include Lange Twins Winery, Sobieski Vodka, DON Q Rum, Tyku, Pama, Peroni, Frey Vineyards, Rosenblum Cellars, B.R. Cohn and many more.
 
Where: CITY VIEW at Metreon, San Francisco

Cost: $20 per ticket.  Please act quickly, this will be an incredible event!
REMEMBER: This is all you can eat and drink for a very good cause!

Please click here to purchase tickets:
https://www.snagtickets.com/partner/?caseid=site&pid=14646 

 

 

September's "Joy of Sake" Soiree at Yoshi's features 100 gold and silver award-winning sakes from the 2009 U.S. National Sake Appraisal. Guests meander through the lounge and up into the mezzanine, sampling junmai, ginjo and daiginjo labels along the way. A delicious array of sake appetizers will be served from 8:00 to 10:00, making Yoshi's Sake Soiree the Bay Area's sake event of the year.

Sake Soiree – San Francisco, $50
Sep. 10, 2009 • 7:30 - 10:30 p.m.
Yoshi's, 1330 Fillmore Street, San Francisco

Purchase by Phone
To charge tickets over the phone, call:
Toll-free Hot Line 888-799-7242

Purchase by Fax
To purchase tickets by fax, fill out the order form and fax it to the number listed on the form no later than September, 8th.
 

Three-day event in Jack London Square celebrates good food, featuring taco trucks, street food, fresh fruits and vegetables, artisan specialties, and more

Events will raise money for and awareness of food accessibility and farmland issues

SAN FRANCISCO (MAY 28, 2009) – The Eat Real Festival, the country’s first celebration of street food made with sustainably produced products, will take place at Jack London Square in Oakland, August 28-30. Featuring the best of the Bay’s taco trucks, ice cream vendors, and the finest beers of Northern California, the mostly-free event will put eaters in contact with the real people in the Bay Area -- the farmers, chefs, and producers -- who make our food.

As part of the celebration, Eat Real has partnered with La Cocina, a San Francisco based incubator kitchen that enables low-income entrepreneurs to launch food businesses; the Community Alliance with Family Farmers, a state-wide organization working to build a movement of rural and urban people to foster family-scale agriculture that cares for the land, sustains local economies and promotes social justice; and, the Peoples Grocery, a community-based organization in West Oakland that develops creative solutions to the health problems that stem from a lack of access to and knowledge about healthy, fresh foods.

Eat Real Festival will also anchor a week of street-centered food events in the Bay Area: on August 22nd, La Cocina will kick off a weeklong street food celebration, with an all day event in San Francisco. Bridging the two weekends will be a week’s worth of fundraising dinners for several other Eat Real partner organizations.

 “This event celebrates what’s best about Bay Area food – top quality fresh foods, terrific artisan foods and locally-brewed beer,” said Anya Fernald, Eat Real Festival’s founder. “Eat Real will celebrate how the Bay Area is putting the food back in fast by showcasing delicious street food plus local farm products and brews.”

Highlights of the Eat Real Festival three-day event include:

•    Good to Go Market - featuring local produce and hand-made foods straight from the farmers and purveyors in the Bay Area. 10am - 4pm, Saturday and Sunday.
•    Street Eats - dining at freshest with the Bay Area’s top street food trucks and carts selling tacos, Vietnamese sandwiches, barbeque, hot dogs, ice cream and more, all featuring select sustainable and local ingredients. 11am – 9pm, Saturday and Sunday.
•    Beer Shed - showcasing the best of Northern California’s handcrafted beers under one tent, and featuring a rotating series of IPAs, imperials and cask ales. (tickets on sale now – please visit www.eatrealfest.com for more information)
o    Friday, 4-9pm
o    Saturday, 10am-9pm
o    Sunday, 10am-5pm

•    From Scratch Kitchen – cooking demos from Bay Area chefs, making delicious fresh foods from scratch. 10am-4pm, Saturday and Sunday.
•    Street Stage – presenting local writers, artists, musicians and activists on stage. 10am-6pm, Saturday and Sunday
•    Curbside Cinema - outdoor film festival, featuring the best food flicks beginning around 8pm, Friday and Saturday.
•    Keeping it Real Dinners – fundraising dinners for non-profit partners at some of the best Bay Area restaurants serving their own special street food menus. Tickets to go on sale in June.

Partners and collaborators include:
•    People’s Grocery
•    Community Alliance for Family Farmers
•    La Cocina
•    Dave McLean, Magnolia Pub & Brewery and Alembic Bar
•    John Randolph, Randolph Designs
•    CCS Architecture
•    Baldauf Catton Von Eckartsberg Architects

For complete information about the Eat Real Festival and the La Cocina Street Festival, as well as information about the ticketed events, please visit www.eatrealfest.com.

About Eat Real Festival
Founded in 2008, Eat Real Festival is a social venture created to inspire eaters to choose tasty, healthy, good food. Through a vibrant, local festival in Oakland, CA, and a focus on delicious and sustainable “street food,” Eat Real puts eaters in contact with the real people -- the farmers, chefs, and producers -- who make our food. Eat Real Festival will donate a percentage of its profit to several California organizations promoting access to healthy and affordable food, entrepreneurship and economic development.

CUESA (The Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture) is hosting their SECOND ANNUAL GRILL FEST: BURGER CHALLENGE. Four local chefs will be battling it out on the grills: Mark Sullivan of Spruce; Andrew Swallow of Mixt Greens; Taylor Boetticher of Fatted Calf; and Elizabeth Falkner of Orson. Chefs will be provided with all-natural grass-fed beef from Marin Sun Farms, and each will be creating a surprise side dish with ingredients they will individually source from the farmers' market the day of the event.

Want to be a judge? There's one lucky guest spot that will be drawn by either signing up at the CUESA kitchen, or by email to sarah@cuesa.org. A limited amount of mini-burgers will be available for audience members to enjoy for a $2 donation, all proceeds going to CUESA. Saturday June 27th, 11am-12:30pm. This event is first-come, first-served. Seating for 30 is available along with room to stand. South Driveway of the Ferry Building (adjacent to Prather, Blue Bottle, Fatted Calf).

The VIP experience starts at 3:30pm, with a reserve wine tasting by five winemakers including Ghost Horse World, Chase Cellars, and more TBA, plus an artisan cheese reception. There will also be Domaine de Canton cocktails, pre-pig party snacks, beers from Magnolia, and guests can "meat and greet" with the chefs, winemakers, and judges of COCHON555. (This portion is $200). The Fairmont San Francisco, 950 Mason St. at California.

COCHON 555 SAN FRANCISCO
“Five Chefs, Five Pigs, Five Winemakers”
June 14th, 2009 at 5pm
The Fairmont San Francisco

WHAT: A group of top San Francisco chefs will each prepare a 100 pound heritage breed hog from head to toe for this friendly competition. Guests and professional judges will determine a winner based on presentation, utilization and overall best flavor. The winner will be crowned the “Prince of Porc”. In addition, five selected winemakers will showcase their wines. COCHON 555 is a tribute to heritage and heirloom breeds, chefs and winemakers.

Each 100 lb pig can be pre-cooked, braised, grilled, pressed, pickled, rubbed, smoked, seared, sauced, spiced, injected, marinated, cured in any way, or otherwise prepared. Guest of the event will experience the chef creations during a 2.5 hour stand-up reception. Chef stations will alternate with winemaker tables. Guests should not arrive late for this event.

WHO: A Taste Network Event www.tastenetwork.org featuring:
Ryan Farr, 4505 Meats
Nate Appleman, A16 / SPQR
Staffan Terje, Perbacco
Ravi Kapur, Boulevard
Peter McNee, Poggio Trattoria

Wineries include: Krupp Brothers, Hirsch Vineyards, Elk Cove Winery, Arcadian Winery, K Vintners / Charles Smith's Wines

Judges include: Lessley Anderson of CHOW.com, Bruce Cole of Edible San Francisco, Elaine Johnson of Sunset Magazine, Jeremy Fox of Ubuntu, Bruce Aidells, Author "Complete Book of Pork", Dave Mclean of Magnolia Brewing, Sheamus Feeley of Long Meadow Ranch, Randall Graham of Bonny Doon, Nancy Oaks of Boulevard, Chris Cosentino of Incanto, Peter Jacobsen of Jacobsen Orchards and Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo. More tba.

The VIP experience starts at 3:30pm with a reserve wine tasting by five winemakers including: Ghost Horse World, Chase Cellars, Patz & Hall and Bonny Doon. Artisan cheese reception by Taste Network and Cheese Plus. Mixologists will be passing artisan libations from Domaine de Canton, delicious pre-pig party snacks, tasty beers from Magnolia, and best of all, guests can meat and greet with the chefs, winemakers and judges of COCHON555. (This portion is $200).

Then at 5PM, the fun begins, guests will witness a pig breakdown and porchetta demonstration by THE BUTCHER Taylor Boetticher of Fatted Calf , over 400lbs of swine, great wines, heritage beans from Rancho Gordo, a pig perfect dessert by the chefs of Magnolia and tasty pig infused truffles. There will be an after party at a location to be determined. This is a full day of new and old relationships, great chefs, swine, wine and we look forward to sharing it with you.

Please sign up to "Bacon Bits" the newsletter for event updates and announcements. Please visit the website where you can also find us on Facebook and Twitter under Cochon 555 and Cochon on Tour. http://www.amusecochon.com

WHERE: The Fairmont, San Francisco - 950 Mason Street
 
WHY: To promote heritage pigs and breed diversity in local and national communities.

HOW: RSVP IS REQUIRED. Tickets are $125 per person (discount to industry) - email event organizer
COCHON 555 began in Atlanta and is national in scope. San Francisco ends our 10 city tour with cities such as New York, Portland, Seattle, Boston, Des Moines, Chicago, Washington D.C. and in the future, all winners will be invited to compete in Grand Cochon. Chefs and judges from each city are selected by Taste Network to participate in the event. www.amusecochon.com

Taste Network is a Georgia-based company delivering experiential services to the artisan wine and cheese industries. The company’s mission is to provide cultured events and education focused around artisan wine, cheese and cuisine to its clients and the public at large. Right now, we love the pig!!! We suggest you request more heritage pig from the menu to the meat counter. Support heritage species. www.tastenetwork.com

Media Contact:
Carolina Uribe
404.201.0796
carolina@tastenetwork.com

WEBSITE: www.amusecochon.com

Come and enjoy the STREET FOOD FESTIVAL (presented by La Cocina) on Saturday August 22nd. It's part of a longer week with Eat Real Festival in Oakland. La Cocina's street food vendors (think El Huarache Loco's huaraches, Estrellita's Snacks' pupusas, Onigilly rice balls) in 10x10 tents with two items each, priced at about $3 and $8. There will also be four booths for non-profit partners with the SF underground street food scene (think Tamale Lady, bacon-wrapped hot dog folks, perhaps the crème brûlée cart guy, etc.) and eight spots for Bay Area restaurateurs playing by some street-food rules (like Poleng Lounge).

There will be homemade drinks at the booths, plus a spirits, beer, and wine garden with cool bartenders. On top of all that, there will also be street music (think roving mariachis, the bucket drum guy) and a kids' area with Mission Pie. It will be free to get in, but tickets for munchin' are available ahead of time online at Brown Paper Tickets. Website and more details coming soon. Event updates, for now, via streetfoodsf on Twitter. And where will it be? Check this out: Folsom Street will be closed down from 25th to 26th Street. 11am-7pm.

Tickets just went on sale for SF CHEFS. FOOD. WINE. the four-day food and wine hootenanny to be held in San Francisco from August 6th - 9th, 2009. On Saturday the 8th, I will be a part of a panel discussing restaurant reviewing, and moderating another one on culinary matriarchs, featuring Nancy Oakes (Boulevard), Annie Somerville (Greens), Cindy Pawlcyn (Mustards Grill), and Patricia Unterman (Hayes Street Grill). I'll be doing a full recap on the event in a week or so, but thought you'd want to take a peek at the line-up and perhaps get tickets now.

Inspiration.
San Francisco is and always will be a major influencer for food and wine trends, food politics and the sustainability movement. It is a community rich with farmers, writers, winemakers, spirits distillers, artisans and vibrant independent chef owned restaurants. The population is well-educated, diverse and appreciative of great food and good living. Mild weather ensures quality produce year-round. The moderate climate is also perfect for growing grapes, and Northern California is recognized as one of the top wine producing regions in the world. A devotion to social consciousness has led the area to become the epicenter of sustainability in farming, fishing and ranching. Rounding out the natural bounty is Pacific Ocean seafood from just outside the Golden Gate, one of the richest fisheries in the world.
          
The Event.
SF Chefs. Food. Wine. is a four day food and wine event celebrating the unique flavor, diversity and bounty of Northern California. The main tasting tent will be in Union Square, where chefs, wine makers and distillers will offer an exploration of taste featuring local products. Classes and seminars will offer interactive opportunities for the public to participate with local farmers, ranchers, chefs, winemakers, distillers, media, luminaries, authors, vintners, mixologists and culinary experts in an entertaining forum.

The Cause.
The event supports three charities. Feeding America is a major sponsor of the San Francisco Food Bank, which provides food to needy families in the community. Meals on Wheels provides food and meal delivery especially to seniors and others with mobility issues. The Golden Gate Restaurant Association Scholarship Foundation provides funding for culinary and hospitality students based upon economic need. All three charities will receive funding from the weekend’s activities.

At A Glance.
Event Dates: August 6-9, 2009
Location: Union Square and surrounding hotel and retail spaces as well as restaurants throughout the city.
Guests: 1500 attendees per day
Tickets: Go on sale Friday, May 22nd.
Children free at Sunday family activities. 

Sunday June 14th,  JEANTY AT JACK'S  will be celebrating its oyster house history with a special party, Consider The Oyster, featuring seven California oyster growers and 20 wines from 11 wineries, including Schramsberg, J, and Iron Horse. There will also be live music. The party is from noonˆ6pm, and is $60. 615 Sacramento St. at Montgomery, 415-693-0941.

From Menu Pages Chicago (blogs.menupages.com/chicago) and the San Francisco Chronicle (www.sfgate.com): For the SF Gate, restaurant critic Michael Bauer wonders why it is that it's so much more expensive to open a restaurant in San Francisco than it is anywhere else in the country. (The answer, in a nutshell, is that minimum wage there is a whopping $9.36, and employers are required to shell out about $2,340 a year per employee for mandatory health care provision.) In looking at service costs for his city, Bauer compared it to estimated service costs in other major restaurant markets - New York, Boston, and of course Chicago. Ever wanted to open your own shop here? According to Michael Bauer, here's how much it'll cost you for employee services alone:

    Chicago
    Minimum wage (w/Tip Credit) $ 3.90
    Server Labor Cost $ 7,800
    Payroll Tax & Work Comp $ 1,248
    Total Annual Cost [Per employee] $ 9,048
    Cost for 12 Workers $108,576

This figure comes in just under New York's $128,064, and above Boston's obscenely low $73,219. And be grateful you're not opening your joint in the Bay Area: the total cost for 12 workers out west is $296,076. Of course, none of this takes into account rent, facilities, kitchen staff, the cost of food, and all the other little incidentals. No one ever said opening a restaurant was easy.

The Barbary Coast Conservancy of the American Cocktail Presents:

The Third Annual San Francisco Cocktail Week Celebration, May 11th – May 18th, 2009

 The Barbary Coast Conservancy of the American Cocktail, proud presenter of San Francisco Cocktail Week, was founded in order to preserve the Cultural Heritage of saloons and their cocktails in San Francisco, while also celebrating California’s Culinary Philosophy and Tradition via Special Events, Publications, and Educational Seminars.

A Week In Honor of San Francisco’s Vibrant Cocktail Culture

San Francisco Cocktail Week celebrates the dynamic beverage culture of our community. Here, our many bright bartenders access local farmers, local distilleries and local wineries; here, we devour cocktail lore, we pair with chefs, and we teach each other in order to create delicious cocktails. We strive to remember the past in order to balance the new. In San Francisco, we dare to celebrate both the classic cocktail concoction and the avant-garde potation.

We, the bars and bartenders of San Francisco Cocktail Week, invite you, the thirsty, to enjoy the best of history with the promise of the future; shaken or stirred, up or over, and always in a chilled cocktail glass. Join in the third annual celebration during a week filled with cocktail parties, farmers’ market cocktail demonstrations, one-of-a-kind spirit, bar, and cocktail related classes, and historically inspried, booze laden, literary explorations.

The events of this year’s Cocktail Week are being held in partnership with The Museum of the American Cocktail, The United States Bartender’s Guild, Imbibe Magazine, CUESA, and leading San Francisco and Bay Area restaurants and bars. Following the tradition set during last year’s innagrual Cocktail Week, some of the most popular bars, restaurants, and lounges around the Bay Area will participate in San Francisco Cocktail Week 2009, May 11th to May 18th, by featuring two limited-edition cocktails: one classic recipe and one original cocktail created by that bar’s “Cocktail Champion.”

Visit the Event Schedule page for a complete list of the week’s events.

Media Contact:
Santiago Ruiz Coco Corona
Executive Director Event Producer
415.206.7747 415.269.9844

“Media Release”
MISSION NEIGHBORHOOD CENTERS PRESENTS
“San Francisco CINCO DE MAYO” at Dolores

SAN FRANSICO CINCO DE MAYO Festival is a wonderfully unique experience--Bring your picnic blanket andentire family, including los abuelos/grandparents, to enjoy the sun, cultural entertainment, recreation and dramaticcity view!

What: Mission Neighborhood Centers invite the entire bay area community to San Francisco's CINCO DEMAYO Festival, Saturday, May 2, 2009, 10a-6p at Dolores Park between 18th & 20thSt. -- FREE all day HealthScreening, Cultural Entertainment, Kid's Activities, Art/Crafts, Lucha Libre Wrestlers, Soccer Skills Camp andMission Dolores tour -- a short walk from BART 16th St. Station and Muni/Light Rail Church/18th St. stop.

FREE hypertension health screening, sponsored by the American Society of Hypertension (ASH), including bloodpressure, glucose, and cholesterol testing with onsite results and referrals —FREE health tools given away to adultsand children while they last!

This Year's Mascot: Cartoon Network’s “Scubby Doo” will be at the park taking pictures and giving paw-prints todog lovers and the kids too!

MNC's festival’s goal is to promote education, healthy lifestyle and alternative resources for family/childrenby introducing new, “Health”, “Education” and “Going Green” sections featuring community non-profits, county/stateagencies, and retail vendors along with our traditional/cultural arts/craft/food vendors—all in an alcohol-freeenvironment.

The stage program will include Univision morning show “Al Despertar’s” delightful host, Kira Vilanova, as SF Cinco’sevent mistress of ceremonies, as well as LA rockeros “Zhono” and “Futuro Picante”, Mariachis “Colima” and“Femenil Orgullo Mexicano”, Azteca/Folklorico Dance, illusionist “Anthony the Magic”, Soloist “Berta Olivia”, “LuchaLibre” personalities and more.

This event targets 10,000 families which is 4+ (parents, child+, and grandparent) via our outreach to SF UnifiedSchool District student/families, our multichannel media partners COMCAST, Univision KDTV14, TeleFutura 66,Radio LaKalle, general KISSfm, MOVINfm, and Green960am, print, web placement and transit partner BART viabay area wide electronic platform signs and more.

WHY: The event benefits the Mission Neighborhood Centers, Inc., Celebrating 50 years of Community Service“1959-2009” (www.mncsf.org). Since 1959, MNC has provided a wide variety of social services through qualityprograms that promote self-sufficiency and community growth for the Mission District’s low-income residents throughtheir Head Start, Youth Development and Senior Services Programs.Event Sponsors: Mission Neighborhood Centers, Inc., SF Grants for the Arts, Comcast, American Society ofHypertension, Wells Fargo, Western Union, SF Health Plan and more.

When: SATURDAY, MAY 2, 200910:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Where: DOLORES PARK18th & Dolores Street, San Francisco, CAFREE EVENTPROGRAM BEGINS AT 10:00 A.M.THERE WILL BE FREE MUSIC, BALLET FOLKLORICO AND AZTEC DANCERS, ARTS ANDCRAFTS, BOOTHS AND MORE!