Do you get the summertime blues? We sure do. And word is there ain't no cure for them. Which is why tomato season is one of the few things we look forward to during these warm summer months. (And the evening fog. We do enjoy our nightly blanket of cooling fog.) Local James Beard Award-winning chef and celebrity Joanne Weir just revealed her top 10 tomato recipes for the upcoming barrage of glorious tomatoes heading our way. They are: more ›

You know what really gets our goat? Cook's Illustrated blocks most of their recipes online unless you buy an entrance fee or purchase a stupid magazine subscription. (Isn't having to sit through a half hour of Christopher Kimball's banter, Adam Ried's Equipment Corner, and Jack Bishop's patronizing Tasting Lab payment enough?) That is, until now. Starting today, you can find some of Cook's Illustrated's test-tested meals - or any number of other recipes using searches ranging from ingredients to calorie count - using Google's new recipe finder and search engine. more ›

Calling all alcoholics artisan cocktail aficionados! San Francisco Cocktail Week kicks off today, and there's no one finer, more knowledgeable, or more likable than Alcademic's Camper English. Allow the noted cocktails and spirits writer to act as your Virgil through the messy circles of booze you'll stumble down this week. Presumably, English will update throughout the week, so be sure to check to give him a looksie, OK? OK. more ›

You know what time it is? It's the height of tomato season. Or, for some, it's approaching the height of tomato season -- depending on your area and climate. Anyway, with that we'd like to share with you a perfect sauce to use for this glorious time of year, local chef Joanne Weir's aptly-titled Peak Season Tomato Sauce. It's very simply and delicious, period; and doesn't involve superfluous paste, bay leaves, carrots, celery or other filler. It's all tomato taste. Also, while it calls for you to use (preferably organic) tomatoes at their peak, good canned tomatoes (like San Marzano, but be wary, or Bella Terra) will do in a pinch. more ›

by Amy Crocker Gather ye pastries, breads, and crackers while ye may…at sundown tonight those leavened treats become verboten for eight long days. Every spring, while our Christian cousins giddily look forward to Easter eggs and ham, we Jews silently dread the onslaught of flavorless matzo and gefilte fish. It’s Passover time again. Dayenu? more ›

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. (Can you feel the collective nervousness of the turkeys? That's the feeling of flavor!) And until next Thursday, SFist will post recipes we would love for you to use, if the mood should strike, for your Thanksgiving feast. What's more, some of the recipes will be brought to you by local chefs of note! Hopefully. more ›

Culinary legend James Beard has some prestigious awards named for him, and announcements of the winners are slowly being revealed. The winners of the Journalism and Broadcast Media awards have been announced, and the Chron came up big. Seriously, I know we're like the San Francisco Chronicle cheerleading squad lately -- but that paper won several awards and we're big fans of the winners: the Food Section itself won (section F, take a bow), while Janet Fletcher won for "Newspaper Feature Writing With Recipes" for this article. more ›

more ›

Oh, man, we're coming down to it--Bravo's Top Chef just keeps getting better and better. Watch this San Francisco-based series tonight at 10 p.m. before it's too late! Someone is walking away from this competition with a bunch of stuff, including money and a spread in Food & Wine. As usual, we're reminding you what happened last week to hype you up for tonight's episode. more ›

We were excited last week to see a big sexy pair of boobies on the cover of the SF Weekly -- and we were tingly all over to see that they were inviting us in to read about the San Francisco debut of New York's flagship grrrl-powered sexy party, Cake. But then we got really confused, as all the words like "objectify" and "male gaze" made us dizzy -- until we decided to make a drinking game out of it, of course. more ›

Happy Spring! more ›

Food blogs are the new ipods: everyone who's anyone has got to have one, so SFist has decided to help you out and cherry pick this week's choicest offerings.

Which means we have no time for Elise's Simply Recipes write-up of Liver and Onions, it simply won't get mentioned. No matter how good she may make it sound, liver and onions just weren't meant to be eaten. We can fully stand behind her simple how to cook and eat an artichoke post, however, especially as they're just coming into season.

Shuna at Eggbeater, fresh from a month on the farm and a move across the bay to Berkeley, is finally unpacking and showing off her Wedgewood stove.

The ever-helpful Catherine Nash over at Foodmusings has put out an SOS for a good Black Velvet recipe for her cupcake obsessed readers, which means that not everyone just goes to Love at First Bite in Berkeley for their mouthful of bliss fix. She's soliciting readers' fave recipes in her comments, but be sure and not give grandma's recipe away entirely.

And the award for best lemonade out of lemons goes to Cookie Crumb up in Marin, who was trying to get a little kelp but settled for making her own sea salt. Any scientists out there who think this is actually safe after the boiling?

more ›

Boulevard has been a SF favorite for many years. It has long reigned over the Zagat list of best restaurants in San Francisco, and its popularity never seems to diminish. Our last meal there left us with the impression of bee's nest bustling with a seemingly chaotic activity, which somehow delivered highly structured and tasty dishes. more ›

[] more ›

EssEffist, bowing to the traditional Wednesdayness of the local food columns, weighs in with a favorite of ours, perfect for the warm days we've been having: seared ahi on a salad of tomatoes, cucumber, and grilled corn. This is a fantastically easy dish that you can start and finish in under an hour. Invite some friends over and double the recipe, and watch them swoon. more ›