SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Lemons Even though the SFist kitchen staff is at a writing conference, we're giving you some homework for the next two weeks: Swing by a local farmer's market, pick up some lemons, and give
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Rancho Gordo Beans As soon as the weather presented a semblance of winter, we headed straight for the Rancho Gordo stall at the Saturday Ferry Plaza Market, where Steve Sando sells his excellent dried beans, explaining
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist Tries WineParty It's not hard to figure out the appeal. You get a bunch of people together in a friendly environment with a half-dozen or so bottles of wine, and people get to unearth new
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Fennel We fell under this vegetable's spell long ago (as opposed to the Fennels on Veronica Mars, which are more recent faves) and we're happy to see it back at area markets, where it
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Citrus Techniques But instead of once again extolling the virtues of winter's fruits we decided to offer some basic citrus techniques that will impress everyone who comes to your table. Photos by Melissa Schneider
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Braising We're holding the hypothermia at bay by braising everything around us. This cooking technique, where food is cooked in a little liquid for a long time at low temperature, produces luscious, tender meals
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Cabbage Yes. In fact, we thought about just pointing you to Seattlest Molly's eloquent ode to cabbage and ending this post there. But then we realized that we should do our own part to
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Brussels Sprouts Brussels sprouts are one of those love-em-or-hate-em vegetables, and we hope you'll use the comments to share your opinions on the little cabbages. We used to be firmly in the hate-em camp, but
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink Favorite Farmer's Market Vendors of 2005 I rely on a number of high-quality producers for the Kitchen column. Some I've written about in depth, some make frequent cameo appearances. Here are the unsung (at least at this site) producers
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Oysters Holiday shopping and holiday parties leave us little time to cook this season. As we wandered the waterlogged Ferry Plaza market this weekend, we passed by the stalls of produce, knowing any veggies
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink How To Open Sparkling Wine With party season in full swing, we want to provide a reminder about the proper way to open a bottle of sparkling wine. Here's a hint: It's not about how far the cork
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Turnips Dark greens last week, turnips this week. If you need proof that winter is here, the produce at local farmer's markets drives the point home. On the other hand, Kitchen photographer Melissa spotted
misc The 'Fisties: Best Place to Shop For Food The Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market gets plenty of press, and we do love the high-quality ingredients you'll find there. But it's not perfect: High prices make for expensive visits, and the many tourists
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Chard We were sick of chard after just a few shipments. This early in the season, we can once again admit that the earthy flavor of chard complements other deep flavors on a plate.
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Mandarins Maybe Huckleberry Hound always sang Oh My Darling, Clementine because he too was mourning a drowned love that he's replaced with her younger sister. But we think he started to sing it when
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Gravy and Stuffing We think the idea will catch on. But what should you serve? Turkeys are at the height of their season right now: Every market seems to have them. (Note, we used a chicken
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: European Pears We've always thought the European pear (as opposed to its expensive Asian cousin) was more forgiving. It keeps well in a cool environment, allowing a producer to stretch the season for months. It
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Pomegranates Back in the day, Hades abducted Persephone while she frolicked in the fields. Boo on that, we say. Her mom, Ceres, goddess of the harvest, eventually found her and brought her back to
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Stock Though this column usually focuses on farmer's market finds, we want to occasionally offer some advice on common kitchen techniques. Great ingredients make great food, but so do great skills. Have something you'd
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Juliet Mae Spices We found FitzHenry, a stylishly dressed, slim, energetic woman, at Oakland's Grand Lake market. We left with and a small armful of other ingredients. FitzHenry's extensive background in marketing is in evidence at
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Persimmons We later learned that not all persimmons do this: Acorn-shaped Hachiya persimmons are highly astringent for most of their lives, tomato-shaped Fuyus aren't. So why do farmers sell Hachiyas this time of year?
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Winter Squash "But, um," you're thinking, "shouldn't that read 'winter squash is to '? Because, you know, they're winter squash?" Pish tosh, we say. The winter add-on is more about how long you can store
Arts & Entertainment Cody's Books on Union Square So we're giddy about the new Cody's Books at 2 Stockton Street, in the old Planet Hollywood space across from the Apple store. Cody's, a Berkeley institution started by Pat and Fred Cody
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Chili Peppers We know people who show off their by chomping on hot, raw chilis. Not us. We'd be happy just to have a higher tolerance. Then maybe we could appreciate the subtle flavors described
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink SFist in the Kitchen: Sweet Peppers All the pretty peppers at the market are in the species , but there are two main subdivisions: sweet peppers and chili peppers. We'll give you some ideas for sweet peppers this week, but
