Bay Area Restaurants

Do you remember these guys, the baby chicks the kids got around Easter? Well, the babies are growing. In the past couple of months they’ve gone from this. To this. They’re teenager chickens now—with all the squeaking and drama you might think goes along with that stage of life. They’re pretty amusing. They’re not the only residents in the garden these days. When I came back from my April travels there were two new chickens. My mom didn’t want to wait for eggs, so she bought two pullet hens—four to six month olds—who are closer to laying. The baby chicks won’t start laying until end of summer or fall. We’re an impatient family, apparently, when it comes to eggs. When I came home I met these two. I had hoped I might get to name one of the chickens. The babies were named by the niecelets and their toddler brother, who each gave them their favorite food name—Pancake, Cookie, and Raisin. I was going to follow up with Waffle (because waffle the chicken is just funny). But I was out of town and the kids went ahead and picked names. Meet Domino and Snow White (called “Snowy”). We also have a chicken coop now. This happened mostly while I was gone. In the still-muddy spring, walls went up and windows were framed in. The cool thing about the chicken coop is that it was built primarily from reclaimed materials. A bit of wood needed to be purchased, but the windows, most of the wood, and the roofing materials were all recycled in some way. Our friend Bruce, who designed and built the chicken coop, used old pallets and other wood he had found. The windows used to be in my mom’s house, and the whole thing is covered by metal left over from a re-roofing project. Bruce estimates 80% of the building supplies were reclaimed. Pretty cool. So now the chicks have a spacious new house to hang out in. Which is good, because my mom was getting pretty eager to have them out of her kitchen. And now we wait, for eggs. In the meantime, these guys are funny. Domino is my favorite. Such a pretty chicken. Things are getting busy in the garden these days. There’s clucking and scratching and…anticipation. —Tara

FILLMORE—30-year-old Fillmore stalwart, Rasselas Jazz Club and Restaurant (1534 Fillmore), appears to be headed for closure in the coming months, and will be replaced by something called Era. Stay tuned for more. [Inside Scoop] OUTER RICHMOND—Pop-up bakery outfit Marla Bakery, which has earned some fans recently at appearances at State Bird Provisions, Dear Mom, and elsewhere, will finally have a permanent home in spring/summer 2014 at 3619 Balboa Street. [Tablehopper, Inside Scoop] FIDI—Barbacco is in its second month of a series of special regional Italian menus, focused on some of the unsung culinary regions of the country. This month it's all about Lazio, featuring things like gnocchi alla Romana, which are a baked semolina style of gnocchi that are more like polenta. All dishes are à la carte. [EaterWire] TEMESCAL/OAKLAND—Grease Box Mobile Kitchen, which apparently makes some mean gluten-free fried chicken, has just inked a deal for a brick-and-mortar space in the Temescal district. Maybe the one vacated by Scream Sorbet? [EBX]

Disgruntled concession workers at AT&T Park have been building toward a protest since February, when they were seen distributing this flyer at Giants Fan Fest. Tonight they're asking all ballgame-goers either not to cross the picket line or to bring their own food and boycott the concessions in recognition of their one-day strike for higher wages. At issue is the fact that the Giants and the Park have raked in millions during the team's two recent World Series-winning seasons, with ticket prices and attendance up 20% since 2009 and hot dog and beer prices about 10% since then, but the concession workers' union has been unable to negotiate a wage increase out of the concessionaire, Centerplate. Wages have apparently been flat for the last four years, and they're seeking better healthcare too. The union, Local 2, staged a similar one-day strike at a day game on May 25 to no avail. · Concession Workers Protest At AT&T Tonight; Bring Your Own Food, Fans [SFist]

The Willows 1582 Folsom Street at 12th Phone: 415-529-2039 Web: facebook.com/thewillowssf Status: Softly opening June 19 The Willows, a spinoff of The Sycamore from brother and sister Liz and Tim Ryan, is softly opening Wednesday at the corner of Folsom and 12th, and we'd like you to know right now that they have a Big Buck Hunter HD video game. As Tablehopper reports, they're doing handcrafted cocktails as well as offering a "beer den" of rare beers on tap and by the bottle. And since prior to being Mercury Lounge the space was once home to Hamburger Mary's, they've got a tribute on the menu with Mary's Burger, as well as sliders like those they serve at The Sycamore, and other sandwiches, fried chicken and meatloaf too. Hours will be Sunday to Thursday 11:30 a.m. to midnight, and weekends 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. · The Sycamore Team Opens a New Location in SoMa: The Willows [Tablehopper]

[Photo: Patricia Chang] Swig, the second bar in the now significant Future Bars empire (Bourbon & Branch, Rickhouse, Wilson & Wilson, Tradition, Local Edition, with the shuttered Anu being the first) was the last not to have a Bourbon & Branch-style cocktail menu, not to mention the ten-year-old space was in need of some remodeling. Partners Brian Sheehy, Doug Dalton, and Justin Lew decided to fix that this spring, and during off hours and a few closed weekdays, they've revamped the place with a fresh look, a new menu, and a seriously major whiskey collection. As Dalton tells Eater, "Swig was our second bar in San Francisco [after Anu], dating back to 2003, and we've really grown as a company and we wanted Swig to reflect that growth." He says that the goal was to have the space aspire to aesthetic quality that their brand has become known for at their other locations. They accomplished this by breaking up the tables, making more lounge space in back and breathing room up front, and redoing all the walls and fixtures. "We've noticed over the years how people flow through the space, and so we wanted the new design to reflect that," Dalton says. He, Lew, and Sheehy all collaborated on the design, and they employed a metal artist to copy the pattern from the wallpaper to the light fixtures, the doors, shelves, and the upstairs wall hangings. They also wanted to add a mixology program, which now includes a concise list of classic and original drinks, as well as punches on draft. Also, here's the list of beer and wine. Additionally they redesigned the bar to make it more functional, and they now boast the broadest and deepest whiskey selection, they think, of anywhere else in town. "We have a pretty diverse selection at Tradition, with the best of the best from every type and brand, but here we wanted a more fluid offering," Dalton says. So, at Swig, they've covered every type and brand, but they're also offering the different iterations within the brand for comparison, like blends, single-barrel, and cask-strength whiskeys. Swig is open weekdays at 5 p.m., Saturdays at 6 p.m., and Sundays at 7 p.m. The upstairs "loft" and downstairs spaces are available for private events, and you should inquire about that here. · Eleven Great Old Fashioneds To Drink In San Francisco [~ESF~] · Where To Drink In San Francisco Right Now, Fall 2012 [~ESF~]

Starting a neighborhood farmers' market in San Francisco is no simple feat. More than three years after Richmond SF first reported on a group of neighbors petitioning to have a few produce stand...

Post by Bill Chappell, The Two-Way, at NPR (6/17/13) President Obama will be advised to veto a multi-year farm bill slated to be discussed in the House this week, the White House says. The administration issued a statement on the legislation Monday afternoon, criticizing it for cutting food programs for the poor. At more than 575 pages, the bipartisan bill was introduced by Reps. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., and Collin Peterson, D-Minn., the chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Agriculture. When it was released in early May, Rep. Lucas called the bill, officially titled the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013, “a responsible and balanced bill that addresses Americans’ concerns about federal spending and reforms farm and nutrition policy to improve efficiency and accountability.” The Obama administration doesn’t agree, saying today that the “bill makes unacceptable deep cuts in SNAP, which could increase hunger among millions of Americans who are struggling to make ends meet, including families with children and senior citizens.” The White House added that if the bill’s sponsors want to make budget cuts, they ought to reduce federal subsidies, such as crop insurance. “Rather than reducing crop insurance subsidies by $11.7 billion over 10 years, as proposed in the President’s Budget,” the statement reads, “H.R. 1947 would increase reference prices for farmers by roughly 45 percent and increase already generous crop insurance subsidies at a cost of nearly $9 billion over 10 years to the Nation’s taxpayers.” A summary of the bill released by the House Agriculture Committee says the legislation will “eliminate or consolidate over 100 programs,” in addition to enacting the “first reforms to SNAP since the welfare reforms of 1996, saving more than $20 billion.” Among those changes, Republicans say, are two moves to keep states from adding more people to the food program than the law was meant to allow. Earlier today, Lucas tweeted a photo of a chart listing those reforms. When the farm bill was released, Rep. Peterson said he believes “there are more responsible ways to reform nutrition programs,” but he added that “the bottom line is that this is the first step in the process and it is past time to pass a five-year farm bill.” Copyright 2013 NPR.

Thrillist has a quick solution for those seeking to get both quickly drunk and fat: The "world's largest" beer float. It may not be on the menu at Suppenkuche, but you can bring your own ice cream in and assemble yourself. They employed one of the restaurant's 68-ounce beer boots filled with dark Weltenburger Kloster beer, and added 12 scoops of Smitten vanilla ice cream. Those Thrillist boys can always be counted on for such boozy stunts, and we'd suggest not trying this at home without at least five people to eat all that ice cream. The beer, obviously, should be no problem for most of S.F.'s seasoned drinkers. [Thrillist]

Hutch Bar & Kitchen 2022 Telegraph Avenue (at 20th), Oakland Phone: (510) 419-0622 Web: hutchoakland.com Status: Open A new restaurant devoted to the American south has just swung open its doors near the Fox Theater in Oakland, and it's called Hutch Bar & Kitchen. The place takes over the space formerly occupied by 2022, and as the East Bay Express reports, one of chef David King's main goals was to bring good grits to the Bay Area. In fact, he says, he wants to "promote grits as the new mac 'n' cheese." The menu features fish and grits, grillades and grits (that would be veal), and the classic shrimp and grits, as well as other Southern stuff like Benton ham and hushpuppies. And on Sundays he'll be doing special prix fixe dinners with family-style entrées like Memphis-style ribs and fried chicken. In addition to the small selection of bar bites and bigger plates, there's a raw bar with two types of oysters available nightly, and a cocktail program focused on classics, and centered on American whiskey. We also note that they're doing their own interpretation of the Trader Vic's original Mai Tai, called the Heyday Mai Tai. King's most recent gig was as the opening chef at S.F.'s Southpaw BBQ, which was part of a wave of new Southern and BBQ-focused restaurants to open in San Francisco in 2011 and 2012. Opening hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 5 to 10 p.m., and on Sunday (for the prix fixe), 5 to 9 p.m. [Photo: Luis M./Yelp] · At Oakland's Hutch, Southern-Style Grits Are King [EBX]

Delicious — in moderation, folks. Photo: Randy Bayne/Flicker Creative Commons Listen to the Story on Morning Edition Post by Allison Aubrey, The Salt at NPR Food (6/18/13) You’ve likely heard about the link between sugar consumption and Type 2 diabetes. But fresh research ties another dietary pattern to increased risk of the disease, too: eating too much red meat. It’s not that we are trying to pick on meat (I’m a meat-eater, in moderation), but the recent studies linking carnivorous habits to health problems seem to be piling up. We’ve had Salami Suicide and Death By Bacon. Now, there’s a study that links red meat consumption to an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes. The researchers tracked what happens after people changed their meat-eating habits, using data from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Nurses’ Health Study, which include about 100,000 people. Diet was assessed by food frequency questionnaires. “Some people [in the study] increased their red meat consumption and other people decreased their consumption,” says Dr. Frank Hu of the Harvard School of Public Health, one of the co-authors of the paper, which appears in JAMA Internal Medicine. The study found that among those who started eating more red meat, about 3.5 servings more per week, the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes during four years of follow-up increased by almost 50 percent, which Hu describes as “a really large increase.” As with previous studies linking red meat to health concerns, the researchers found that processed red meats such as hot dogs and bacon were more strongly associated with the risk of diabetes. Among those who starting eating less red meat, the risk of developing diabetes dropped by about 14 percent during a 10-year follow-up period. Now, to put this study in context, it’s important to point out that the most significant driver of Type 2 diabetes is body weight. People who are overweight and obese are much more likely to develop the condition. Since red meat is typically high in calories and fat, some experts say that it’s likely these factors that create the link between heavy red meat consumption and and increased risk of diabetes. But in this study, the link held up even after the researchers controlled for the role of weight gain. And this suggests that there’s an independent effect of red meat consumption increasing the risk of diabetes. It’s not clear what’s happening in the body, but there are a few theories. It’s possible that heavy red meat consumption can lead to iron overload, which sets the stage for insulin resistance. It’s also possible that compounds called nitrosamines play a role. “Our understanding is that, especially [when they occur in] processed meats, these nitrosamines can cause inflammation,” explains Dr. David Nathan, who directs the diabetes center at Massachusetts General Hospital. And there’s also some evidence that nitrosamines can damage the cells in the pancreas that make insulin. But experts say more research is needed to understand these connections. In the meantime, Nathan says his advice is to pay attention to the big picture. If you like the occasional hot dog, that’s OK. It’s the overall pattern of eating and maintaining a healthy weight that’s most important. “Red meat should be considered in the setting of a balanced diet,” says Nathan. Copyright 2013 NPR.