But we're only a week into summer, you bemoan? Nonsense. It's summertime and thus never too early to get summer items on the menu. (See: AQ Restaurant, a noted SoMa joint that changes its decor along with its menu each season.) It being San Francisco, we don't need to tell you that the summer is fitting for a bowl of soup. And with that, we bring you Perbacco's Minestra Genovese, a soup rife with seasonal vegetables and pummeled basil. Staffan Terje, chef and owner of Perbacco in San Francisco, explains, "I love this soup because it speaks of summer. It's light, yet hearty and the mortar pounded basil pesto brings all the flavors together."

The soup will run you $10. If you think that's expensive, which it really isn't, read this piece by Michael Bauer on the $14 salad. Learn it and learn it well.

And there you have it. In other gastronomic, be sure to check out our daily list of foie gras dishes that, come July 1st, will come to an end. Stay tuned.

Perbacco, 230 California (at Battery), S.F., 415-955-0663

Like a top-drawer Folger's Crystals switcheroo, Benu executive chef Corey Lee, the former chef de cuisine at The French Laundry, developed a fake shark-fin soup that's fooling even the most rabid fans of the taboo brew. Cecilia Chang, the lady credited with introducing Northern Chinese cooking to America, couldn't even tell the difference. "She had no idea it was faux," Lee said.

But how does he do it? Well, according to The New Yorker, with all sorts of deliciousness. And science—lots of science too.

To prepare his version, which is served (untraditionally) with steamed black truffle custard, [Lee] said, “We make a tang—soup with broth—a double bouillon with chicken, Chinese ham, aromatics, and Shaoxing wine.” The “shark fin” texture—he describes it as “gelatinous and brittle at the same, like properly cooked jellyfish”—comes from treating the broth with hydrocolloids, a procedure he arrived at with the help of some food scientists at the San Diego branch of C.P. Kelco, a major producer of culinary and household gums. “The research involved having real shark fin, so they could have a reference point,” he said. “I prepared it and sent it down.”

Mmm, Benu's tang.

The sale of shark fins and shark-fin soup, if you recall, will be banned in California come New Year's Day. The mass collecting of said fins not only poses a feasible threat to sharks, but to underwater ecosystems. Celebrities from Alice Waters (who once jested that her last meal would be shark-fin soup, but recently signed a Humane Society pledge to eschew the soup) to former NBA star Yao Ming have publicly renounced the traditional Chinese cuisine soup.

[via Inside Scoop]

Artist Luke Chueh revealed a bold statement last week at the "Getting BIG 36 Sharky Show" at the Toy Tokyo Underground Gallery in New York City. Chueh's telling 36"-tall fiberglass piece titled "Sharky Fin Soup" makes a pretty good case about the plight of sharks being harvested for their titular soup. The work featured a shark and a severed fin sitting in a bowl of blood -- i..e., shark fin soup. a popular soup of Chinese cuisine served during very special occasions. It was sold for an undisclosed amount.

The California State Assembly this week voted to ban shark fin sales, a harrowing practice that requires fishermen to rip the fins from the endangered creatures and toss them back into the ocean.

(Thanks for the tip, Debra Walker!)

Al Yeganeh, the man who inspired the "Soup Nazi" on Seinfeld, is coming to San Francisco. Well, his chain of soup store will come here, anyway. "The Wharf outpost of The Original SoupMan will be the chain’s first West Coast location, and is anticipated to debut around late May," reports Paolo Lucchesi of Inside Scoop. "All the famous soups will be there (Seinfeld geeks will remember that Jambalaya, Lobster Bisque, Crab Bisque, and Mulligatawny all got noted on the show), and since it’s San Francisco, there will be an added bonus of Cioppino." [Inside Scoop]

by Joe Payne

Following in the vein of simple sidewalk hot plates and astute gourmet food carts, The Soup Lady at El Rio (every Thursday and Tuesday night) has brought an inventive and surprisingly filling take to the after-ten-drunk-food-economy. Rivaling Cancun across the street in not only taste but smell, her ten hour simmering soups promise to be a sobering experience for those of you downing a few pints.

While we cannot vouch for her vegetarian option, we can unequivocally say that her pot roast soup is grounding; a taste of sanity on a Thursday night. Like all meaty soups the secret ingredient is in the broth, and the Soup Lady was more than kind of enough to provide me with a whole cup to sip free of charge. We've never tasted anything so deeply refreshing or satisfying in the Mission on a Thursday night.

Info:
The Soup Lady
El Rio on Tuesdays and Thursdays Fridays and Saturdays
Veggie and meat options, pay what you can
Facebook, Twitter

Sunday afternoon they won their ninth straight game, and seventh straight on the road, against the Minnesota Wild (not, as you might guess from the uniforms, the Polar Elf Sniper Brigage). Marleau saved the game with one of the most spectacular defensive plays of the year, batting a fluttering shot that was deflected past goaltender Evgeni Nabokov out of the air as it was heading for an open net in the final seconds of regulation. After a scoreless overtime, Marleau scored the game winner in the shootout. Where you been all this time, Patty?

The improved play of Marleau and Jonathan Cheechoo (who has been scoring goals in absolute bunches lately, signifying he's fully recovered from double-hernia surgery) has been one of the primary reasons for the Sharks recent dominance, but the catalyst was the arrival of slick-skating defenseman Brian "Soup" Campbell from Buffalo in exchange for the promising but unseasoned power forward Steve Bernier. Sharks GM Doug Wilson has been looking for an offensive-minded d-man who can lead the breakout and quarterback the power-play for many years now. Campbell is that guy. His spin-o-rama goal to cement the Sharks entertaining win against the Montreal Canadiens last week is going to be in highlight reels for years to come. He's also good defensively, capable of playing the body, and a good mentor for young defenseman like Christian Ehrhoff and Marc-Eduard Vlasic. He'll also be an unrestricted free-agent at the end of the year, so let's hope that Wilson can work on an extension for Campbell. Like a midwestern hot dish, the universal binding ingredient, what brings all the flavors together, for this year's Sharks is Soup.

By our hockey correspondent, Ian

So what will you eat? We posted some bang-up tips awhile back for gravy and stuffing. After the jump: Our mom's awesome Mushroom Soup. But what else is there to eat? Share your fave recipes in the comments, plz. We're going to be hosting a vegetarian and we don't know WHAT we will serve. A giant fruit platter, maybe? Are they allowed to eat food that's served on plates?

The big excitement in previous years was around the TurDuckEn -- a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. Daring! But also kind of old-fashioned and over-trendy. We're all abuzz about this year's new invention: the TurFishStrich! A turkey, stuffed with fish (chef's choice, but usually haddock or mackerel) wrapped in an ostrich. There's only one bay area restaurant where you can get them: a classy European joint called Nous Sommes Chanceux que ce Soit Vendredi, located in San Bruno.

After the jump: mushrumps!

After the first two games of the season, Niners fans are all giddy and glowing about things. They have the same look on their face one has when one finally hooks up with their obsessive infatuation and starts dreaming up whole relationships/trysts in their heads. But the problem with all this giddiness is that, well, said infatuation was also really, really, really drunk and pissed off because their obsessive infatuation blew them off. And no, we're not projecting. At all. What we mean is that while the Niners are 1-1 and played well even in their loss, their two opponents in those games were not exactly the top of the line in NFL teams. The Cardinals are the Cardinals, perpetually doomed to doormatness, and the Rams appear to be still trying to find their way in a post-Martz world.

So here comes to the 'Stick the big, bad Philelphia Iggles-- two years removed from the NFC Championship, four time division winner, and one epic fourth-quarter collapse from being 2-0. They have a great D, their physical, and their lead by one of the stars of the NFL, Campbell Soup's very own Donavan F. McNabb. All of which means that we'll be sure to discover more about the Niners this week than we did the previous two weeks. The truest way to determine just how a team measures up isn't how they do against bad teams, but against really good teams.

Last year, the Eagles KILLED the 49ers, losing 42-3 as Donavan threw five touchdown passes, two to T.O. Okay, granted, anything other than losing by 39 points again will be a vast improvement but considering how well the team looked the past couple of weeks, Niners fans should be expecting a competitive, hard-fought game. If it is, the Niners can legitimately claim to be up-and-coming. If not, the Niners will have to face the fact they just might not be as good as they are now thinking they are. In a way, it's not necessarily to win the game, but more important to lose well. Although a win would be super sweet.

It's not what you think, the food is quite good. Inka must serve domestic sodas, but there you can try some Inka Cola, the Peruvian equivalent of Coca-Cola. If you were a sommelier trying to find a pairing for Inka Cola, you'd be working the birthday party of an eight year old where the only food is bubble gum. This is an achingly sweet concentrate of artificial flavor. One sip, and the Shangri-la effect would kick in right away.

We had to try, if only to educate ourselves. It was the only major faux pas at Inka, a homey little restaurant which took over the old bank/Rock Soup/Stray Fish space. The space is rather dramatic, even intimidating from outside -- is it going to be too hip for us? --, but the restaurant is a charming little family affair. We found a kid playing around while her mom was waiting on us, and the dad cooking. Don't expect a professional polish of an institute trained waiter, and forgive the few mistakes that are bound to happen. In our case, they were slow to refill water, or forgot to write down -- and thus cook -- one order.

Picture of the Inka building in its Stray Fish incarnation, courtesy of A9.com