San Francisco -

by BS

A San Francisco Sugar Crawl with Top Chef Just Dessert’s Tim Nugent

SF pastry chef Tim Nugent may have been asked to pack his knives stack his measuring cups and leave Top Chef: Just Desserts last week, but it was just in time for him to take ES on a tour of all his favorite local desserts. From the classics to the craziest, here are Tim Nugent’s favorite San Francisco treats.

TCHO Pot de Creme at Absinthe

“This is done the right way, the French way,” says Tim — just eggs, sugar, and super-rich chocolate from SF-based TCHO. “I get all that other stuff out of the way and just go right to the chocolate.” (Photo: Alex)

Crazy donuts, crazier ice cream and the one dish that strikes fear in the heart of all Top Chef-testants. Keep reading for more of Tim’s favs…

by BS

Getting Sauce-y in San Francisco

Earlier this year, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution officially encouraging local restaurants to adopt the mantra of “Meatless Mondays,” the one-day-a-week-without-meat initiative pushed by such visionaries as Yoko Ono, Kim O’Donnel and gansie. But contrary to what you might think, not all SF chefs are hippie-dippie enviro crusaders who immediately rallied to the cause.

Ben Paula, the executive chef at Hayes Valley neighborhood spot Sauce and a proponent of putting bacon on everything was one who did respond quickly — by adding a Monday night prime rib special to his menu. After dining at Sauce, I can see why. We here at ES support eating local, lowering your meat intake and all the rest of it, but this is one restaurant where I might cry if I returned and they had dropped the pork.

We started with the app you see above, which Chef Ben humbly calls tater tots, but that’s a bit of an undersell. Creamy mashed potatoes are mixed with white truffle oil and cremini mushrooms, then breaded and fried crispy. A tasty snack even for a vegetarian, actually, but I dare anyone not to dip them in the smoked gouda and bacon fondue provided. Personally, I wanted to take a bath in it.

in Cheese / Fowl / Pig / Politics / Red Meat / Trends 4 comments

by BS

Introducing the Pie Shake…Yes, That’s Pie. Shake.

Walking through the NoPa neighborhood of San Francisco recently, the veggie gf and I stumbled upon a restaurant with a name so simple and enticing we couldn’t resist: chile pies (& ice cream). Yep, that’s the name of the restaurant. And they have just three basic menu items:

– Classic New Mexico-style frito pie (for the uninformed, that’s chili poured over a bed of fritos).

– Fresh slices of sweet&savory pie with outrageous varieties such as green chile apple pie with walnuts and a cheddar crust.

– Ice cream and frozen yogurt in creative flavors like bittersweet chocolate and horchata.

Obviously, this was already approaching a pretty perfect restaurant as far as I’m concerned. But then I scanned to the bottom of the menu and saw one more item that just about knocked me over…

in Desserts / Drinks / Featured / Food Travel 16 comments

by BS

Peaches ‘N’ Pita

As I mentioned earlier in the week, the veggie gf and I are spending the next month or so in San Francisco, while she completes a medical rotation here and I — well, eat. We found a nice little one-bedroom sublet on craigslist that was not a scam at all (phew) and have been spending most of our free time so far wandering the streets casually in search of grub.

Sunday morning, our first full day here, we strolled down the hill (goddamn, they are not kidding around about these hills) and stumbled into the Fort Mason farmers’ market, where the free samples alone were basically a full breakfast. There were about 12 varieties of fresh peaches, plums and nectarines cut up for people to try, and each of them was about 100 times better than anything I’ve tasted on the East Coast so far this year. Needless to say, we left with several different kinds of peaches to take home.

That night, I picked up some coffee before heading home (goddamn, these people are not kidding around about their coffee), and while at the store, grabbed some pita for breakfast in the morning — I like to toast it up and melt a little butter and maybe some herbs on it — a simple but satisfying breakfast.

So while our place is nice, it turns out the girl we are renting from is, shall we say, significantly less obsessed with cooking than I am. She has no toaster. No coffee maker. No microwave. No spices past salt and pepper. It turned out even my simple breakfast of toasted pita was too fancy for this bare kitchen. I had my single-brew coffee maker on hand for emergencies, but clearly, I had to improvise.

in Breakfast / Recipe 4 comments

by gansie

Golden Bubbly Showers

Editors’ Note: Our newly relocated friend Westcoast, has, as you can guess, finally moved to the West Coast. San Fransisco to be exact. In his first month out there he’s already been tasked with an Endless Simmer assignment. Grueling. Miserable. Terrible. Assignment. Party for Pride. Here’s his story, turned into a drinking game.

Disclaimer: If you are looking for a drinking game (since drinking has become muy popular on ES this summer) you’re in for a Pride 2010 treat! Drink each time you find a gay-themed word (some are sexual, some not and some are disguised as other words, but spelled the same as their naughty cousins).

Second Disclaimer: I am writing this from my new home in San Francisco and you might find some of the content offensive. That sucks for you. [Drink.]

Ok. So San Francisco Pride is kind of a big deal. For a gay, err, queer (have to use the new left coast lingo) young man like myself, coming to San Francisco Pride is like being welcomed home to the mothership. Two years ago Lady Gaga headlined the festival before we even knew what a poker face was or meant. This year the Backstreet Boys are the headlining act. Next year maybe we’ll have Paula Abdul and MC Skat Kat (obligatory use of scat complete). Because sometimes moving forward in time is like moving backward in time, to a time you don’t really miss that much (two steps forward…two steps backstreet boys).

Supperclub San Francisco once again invited ES to experience one of its amazing events. If you have never been to a Supperclub (Los Angeles opens soon), I strongly encourage you to consider. It is truly an experience you won’t regret. All of your senses are dazzled at Supperclub…there’s amazing food and drink, a DJ spinning funky thump lounge, a VJ opening up your brain to dramatic, yet artistic visuals and live performance art throughout the night, all culminating in a huge dance party. Oh, and we had a spectacular hostess extraordinaire, Miss Vee, who poured sparkling wine all over herself during a dance number.

This event was billed as an official San Francisco Pride Event and birthday bash for all Geminis. It just so happens that my best friend, who just turned 30 himself, is a Gemini and likes to paint live performers with paint brushes in front of an audience (we all have our fetishes). His arm also makes a nice prop for pictures. Though we weren’t ever completely sure that we were at a pride event, we certainly had a blast. On tap for the night was a surprise four-course dinner created by Executive Chef Daan Jetten and event-specific, yummy drinks. Here’s where the review begins and the blow-by-blow of the food, since we all like to eat out.

in Desserts / Holiday / Restaurants 3 comments

by gansie

A Famine of Fashion

Editors Note: The Endless Simmer inbox is the recipient of mostly press releases, a lot of product offers and once in a while, something really funky. I had absolutely no idea what an interactive fashion show dubbed Avante Garde Supperchic would be like, but I knew I needed someone to check it out. The early April event took place in San Francisco so I invited ES fan Mariah Carey to attend on our behalf. She convinced her friend, who we’ll call interWEBBz, to go with and write it up. Here’s her take on this trial of fashion and food.

“It’s a Famine of Fashion. A FAMINE OF FASHION.”

I’ll be honest, there was no shortage of fashion or lack of food, but whenever there is an opportunity to paraphrase André Leon Talley, my fellow lover of all things cuisine and couture, I can exhibit no self-control.

When this San Franciscan thinks of San Francisco, three things instantly come to mind:

An abundance of restaurants with delicious (albeit sometimes pretentious) food
Fashion-forward designers and last but CERTAINLY not least
The likelihood that you will be out-dressed (and all around out-done) by the gays

Sure, some who’ve never been here might be inclined to say the Golden Gate Bridge, Trolley Cars and Nancy Pelosi. Other San Franciscans may say GoCars, Bay to Breakers or Mission Hipsters at Dolores Park on a sunny day. But the above three constant sources of inspirations in my life converged at the “Avant Garde Supperchic” interactive event at Supperclub.

I thought the bed in bars thing was over the second Carrie Bradshaw and her crew drank champagne while laying on sheets, but I guess not. Upon entering this fashion and food event, I was escorted to a roman-style bed by a woman with rhinestone nipple tassels (see first picture, left). My lord, I thought, the evening could only go up from there.

in Restaurants / Trends 3 comments