There's an app for that - But go old school too.

If you're like The Foodie, you've been dreaming about the San Francisco Street Food Festival ever since the calendar turned to August and well you should! Michelin-level restaurants serving their wares side-by-side more "traditional" food truck vendors & humble hawkers of bacon-wrapped hot dogs of dubious origin doesn't happen but once a year. But, if you HAVEN'T been scouring the vendor line-up like a fantasy league geek and haven't committed the map of participants to memory it's okay, 'cause there's an app for that. No really!

You can download the official SFSFF app to your smartphone here

That being said, I s-t-r-o-n-g-l-y suggest that you print out a map as well. "Why would I?", you ask. "I now have an app thanks to your brilliant foresight". And while that might be true, that same foresight would like to remind you that you'll be sharing your cell service with 80,000 OTHER text-happy, food pr0n tweeting, intagram addicts who want to share the awesomeness of the #sfsff with all their foodie friends. So, seriously, go old school and download the map too. You can thank me later...

Print me out...do it!

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OTG: Island Style

So SAT was the official launch of Off The Grid on Silicon Island @ Alameda Towne Centre South Shore, so you KNEW the Foodie & The Hottie would be there! First off, know that there's no Food Pron for this post. Both of the items we got were, at their core, Burritos and, frankly, the internet needs another JPG of a half unwrapped meat-and-veggies-in-a-tortilla-in-aluminum-foil like it needs another pic of Kim Kardasian, a kitten doing something cute or an animated GIF of ANYTHING. Maybe next time.

Target #1 was Curry Up Now for their Deconstructed Samosa. The Foodie was going to get it with Chicken but the special was Pork Belly so you know how that ended! However, when we GOT our food, it turns out we got EITHER their Burrito or Kathi Roll (still not sure which). So, yeah, they got our order wrong, BUT we loved it so No Harm, No Foul.

Target #2 was Seoul on Wheels and their Korrito with Bulgogi which was, indeed, tasty but I'd just as soon as had another DeCon Samosa Pork Belly Burrito/Kathi Roll since it was cheaper, a bit larger and, at least on this day, the food came out MUCH faster @ Curry Up Now (albeit incorrectly...maybe that's their secret?). Also working against Seoul is the fact that the Korean/Mexican mash-up has a been-there, done-that feel in 2012. Even so, I'd order either item again, I just give the edge to Curry Up, but if you're not in the mood for Indian Street food then the Korrito is a solid choice.

Target #3 was Cupkates but after waiting in 2 long lines & consuming said food they were sold out. So we wandered down to Trader Joe's and got a 4-pack of  Dark Chocolate/Peanut Butter Cupcakes for 4 bucks. Seriously. Not as good but certainly cheaper and it still satisfied the cupcake hole (not going to touch that...reference. Not going to change it either, just move along...nothing to read here).

Needless to say, The Foodie is looking forward to visiting OTG: Alameda throughout the summer and slowly eating his way through their rotating line-up of Food Trucks.

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Where to go in 'Frisco? (ProTip: Don't Call it 'Frisco)

So a mutual friend is in town and has a free day to spend in The City but, alas, The Foodie is chest deep in moving waaaaaaay too much stuff from Abode A to Abode B, so I can't really play tour guide (even though I'd really, REALLY like to). So this got me to thinking, IF one happens to be in The City for a day, where should one go, especially an adventurous/foodie type (which she is). My initial 140 character response was:

"@Missionsstfood Mission Chinese, @humphryslocombe (Ice Cream), @4505_Meats & @Boccalone (Tasty Meats) @ The Ferry Building. #nomnom"

Disclaimer: This was for a TUE trip. Under NO circumstances should anybody ever, EVER go to The Ferry Building/Farmers Market on a SAT. EVER!!! I like Blue Bottle & 4505 as much...no probably more than the next guy, but NO cup of coffee or chicharone-laden hot dog is worth 30+ mins in line with hundreds of bovine-like tourists. FFS, go on TUE or THU: Same coffee/meat/cheese/bread/whatever with 10% the people & headaches.

But of course, 140 characters, hardly does justice to any of those places. Calling Humphy Slocombe, "Ice Cream" is like calling Chalize Theron, "pretty".

It also gave me the idea of where NOT to eat in The City. Other non-Michelin Star ideas included Ghirardelli, Stinking Rose & Zachary's. To which I say Touristy, Ew and Good-But-It's-Not-In-SF-It's-In-Berkeley. I mean, as a local, we all KNOW what the "touristy" places are (I'm looking at YOU Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39) BUT the tourists don't. In fact they've done a good job as portraying these sections as "fun" San-Francisco-y places to go. Now, I won't deny that The Ferry Building has a lot of tourists, BUT it has a TON of locals there too. Why? Because Cowgirl Creamery, Blue Bottle, Boccalone, etc. are awesome & worth the trip. Fisherman's Wharf? Pier 39? The only locals there are the employees making $$$ off the cattle tourists.

Okay, so this post went askew and I started ranting against touristy places rather than pointing out places worth seeking out. So I stand by my initial four places and raise you with:

- Burgers @ Marlowe. Heavily hyped, but worth it.
- American Grilled Cheese Kitchen. Ditto on the hype/worth it and conveniently located across from 21st Amendment Brewery.
- TCHO Chocolate. Skip Ghirardelli, this is the real San Francisco deal.
- Small Plates @ Barbacco. Sleek environs, can't miss food and not too hard on the wallet.
- Smuggler's Cove. Rum.
- Cowgirl Creamery. An almost overwhelming variety of some of the best cheese in the multiverse.
- Blue Bottle Coffee. Make sure to go to one that makes the Afogatto w/Humphry Slocombe Secret Breakfast. You're welcome.

Special shout-outs to: Tonga Room, Swan Oyster Depot, Schroeders & Tadich Grill. Not places I'd generally pick to dine at but, as a tourist, they're definitely in the You-Need-To-Go-Once kinda old school places.

Extra-Special Bonus Selections for cosplaying, Canadian transplants with size 4.5 feet: Lupica Tea @ Westfield, Beard Papa's (also @ Westfield) & Minamoto Kitchoan on Market.

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Enjoy Chocolate Chips & Burgers...but not @ the same time.

Assuming you can tear yourself away from Diablo III Launch Day long enough to read this post, just a gentle reminder that today is National Chocolate Chip Day, so whip up a batch of your fave cookies or head to the local go-to cookie baker and treat yourself. You deserve it...that and the D3 servers have been wonky all day, so there will definitely be some downtime to make a cookie run.

P.S.  It's ALSO National Burger Month, but you've got two+ weeks to gorge on 4x4's and Marlowe Burgers, so plan accordingly.

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Things I Learned In Kellerville

It's amazing how popular one becomes with a 750ml bottle of Blue Apron Ale @ Addendum. Granted we were there on their slowest day of the week (THU) but still, offer some TKG-exclusive beer & To-Go orders suddenly become "I think I'll eat it here" orders. Better still, we got to hang with a couple of very cool TKG employees who had bounced around multiple venues of the Kellerverse and learned some interesting/random things from them:

(And, please note, the on-duty employee did not imbibe...he was simply enjoying the outstanding weather & convo)

- People in the know call Bouchon Bistro, simply Bouch...you know, rhymes with Douche.

- Keller has a thing for t-shirts for events. Like when you have a company picnic or bachelorette party & everybody gets an identical shirt to wear for a few hours and then they stuff it in a drawer, never to be seen again? Yeap, he likes those. It's team building...or something.

- The preferred brand of Malt Powder @ TFL is Horlick's (from the UK). IDK about you, but if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me. And I warned you this was a random list...

- Years later, people are STILL confused by the We-Only-Have-The-One-Menu concept @ Ad Hoc. Diners still come in and think, "If I don't like the menu, I can still get Fried Chicken, right?". Wrong. Also, the concept of Every-Other-Monday seems beyond the grasp of most people. If Siri can't help them, surely there must be an app for that, right?

- If you sous vide an avacado at the correct, low temp, you can kill the enzymes that make it turn brown w/o actually cooking the fruit. Hooray Science! Sadly, they couldn't recall the exact temp >_< Boo Beer! And numbers. Numbers are hard.

- Newly opened Redd Wood gets a "Passing Grade"...as in pass it by and keep going down Washington Street and eat @ ANY other place. Okay, I didn't learn that @ Addendum Per Se (That's a TKG pun I slipped in there) & I didn't even talk about it on this particular outing, but that doesn't make it any less true. Honestly, Bouch, Bottega, Redd, Ad Hoc & Bistro Jeanty are ALL superior choices...and they're on the same friggin' street!

- Once upon a time you COULD get Blue Apron Ale outside of TKG venues on the d-low, BUT somebody found out and the Kellerpolice put an end to it. Or his legal team. But, personally, I like the idea of chef-coated future cops with tasers driving around in TKG-branded BMW ActiveHybrid 7's busting people up for selling bootlegged beer & NOT using their AmEx cards @ San Pellegrino events. But that's just me.

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