Food

When Gold Dust Lounge goes away and turns into something atrocious and forgettable that no local need patronize, San Francisco will lose yet an institution. Forever. What makes Gold Dust Lounge so special, at least to us, was its unique location (getting lit on Powell at 5 am), the decor (swinging doors, red velvet, Knott's Berry Farm-ishness), the scene (mix of old young, tourist and local all jonesing for booze), and sosmething one can't quite put a finger on. For those of you too lazy or stubborn to leave the comfy confines of the Castro, the Mission or the Marina, here's what you will be missing once this place is gone. more ›

After a year of wandering the desert popping up around town, much buzzed-about pop-up (there's that word), Wise Sons Jewish Deli will gets closer to opening their doors on a legitimate retail space in the Mission this weekend via a soft launch. Most importantly, the regular location means more regular hours when we can stuff our faces with their pastrami deli burgers. more ›

Friday marks the kickoff of every local beer geek's wet dream made real: S.F. Beer Week. We may not be Portland or San Diego when it comes to the quality and proliferation of craft breweries in our midst, but San Francisco is coming up in the beer world, and for $70 you can essentially drown in the stuff on Friday evening for four hours at the Concourse Pavilion in SoMa. more ›

Today's exercise in unnecessary neighborhood naming comes from the heart of Mid-Market where the recently arrived Dottie's True Blue Café and Pearl's Deluxe Hamburgers are doing wonders to rehab the area's stabby reputation. The Chronicle's resident Jimmy Buffett fan is on the scene, discovering the key to the "Sixth and Market streets makeover 2.0": more ›

Top Chef will hit its tenth season this year, and they are looking for San Francisco-based gastronomic talent for the big one-zero. Might you be the next cheftestant? While Bravo's food competition show shows slight signs of age — let's face it, it's no RuPaul's Drag Race; a show on par creatively and critically as Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and even Bad Girls Club, it is the most important thing on TV right now — they still showcase major cooking prowess and drama, something the Bay Area has in spades. more ›

After a couple of years of everyone bemoaning "the economy," we get some more encouraging news today, including the employment numbers, and this bit from the Chron about how well Bay Area restaurants did in the fourth quarter of 2011. Rob Black, executive director of San Francisco's Golden Gate Restaurant, says that local restaurateurs say it was the best quarter they've had in years. more ›

Wow. That was horrific. Don't get us wrong: We are not (that much of) a food snob, one who loudly sings the praises of "The Laundry," the latest obscure Mission District restaurant, or, far more obnoxious, an Oakland food truck. Aside from gastronomic trends that we enjoy, and then enjoy making fun of others for enjoying, we have a profound fondness for any sodium-rich treat that reminds us of our upbringing — e.g., Jeno's Pizza Rolls, Ding-Dongs. So it was with much anticipation that we headed out the door today and into San Francisco's Union Square to buy ourselves Jack in the Box's latest concoction, the Bacon Shake. Boy, was that a tummy error. more ›

So, Jack in the Box created a Bacon Milkshake. Why? Because you secretly want one, that's why. Shame on you. The noted fast food chain, it seems, wanted to create bacon-tinged buzz. This will probably do the trick. It's all part of a new ad campaign that asks: If you like bacon so much, why don't you marry it? SFist called our local Jack to ask more about the porky dessert. When we asked if it had real bacon in it, the store manager explained, "Real bacon? Ugh no. It's just a flavored shake, flavored with syrup, I think." more ›

Oh, brother. Valentine's Day is on its way. It's that time of year again when your coupled friends pretend not to celebrate the Hallmark Card holiday, which is merely their tissue-thin guise to do some stupid Cameron Crowe-esque indie-rock shit like split a veggie burrito and an Odwalla Superfood between them while sitting on 24th Street. It's also a day when single folks are terribly, terribly bitter and cynical. Ahem. Anyway, OpenTable's diners voted on the 100 most romantic restaurants in the United States — and San Francisco came up with only two. So, you know, grain of salt time. more ›

Artist Nate Padavick drew this precious map showcasing 12 of the Castro's most popular bars. And he drew it on a cartoon man's abdominal six-pack. It was unleashed last year around Gay Pride season, but, in classic San Francisco fashion, we just discovered it now. Anyway, it's fun. Even if it is a bit dated, information-wise. (Daddy's is called 440 and The Bar has been Q Bar for four years.) more ›

Columbus Salame company, whose manufacturing operations are down in South San Francisco, was fined $700,000 by the EPA yesterday and ordered to spend $6 million upgrading their facilities in the wake of a 2009 gas incident that sent 17 to the hospital. Apparently, the company's refrigeration system let out a toxic ammonia fart that released 217 pounds of anhydrous ammonia in to the air back in February of 2009, forcing the closure of Highway 101 and sickening downwind employees at Genentech nearby. more ›