Celebration Crab Salad on My New Year’s Eve Menu

Celebration Crab Salad on My New Year’s Eve Menu

San Franciscans love dungeness crab this time of year. The crabs are big and meaty this season. I’m making a celebratory dungeness salad with celery and shallot, EVOO and Meyer lemon. The lemon perks up the briny sweetness of the crab bathed in mellow olive 

Holiday Sausage @ Little City Meats

Holiday Sausage @ Little City Meats

I was excited when I walked into North Beach’s Little City Meats this morning. The Christmas sausage stuffed with pork, fennel, imported provolone and basil was in. Run, don’t walk. Get some before they’re all gone. I absolutely love these holiday sausages and can’t wait for 

Bolognese Pasta Sauce

Bolognese Pasta Sauce

Actually it’s called ragu alla Bolognese. It’s a long-cooked meat sauce from Bologna, in the northern region of Emilia-Romagna, the culinary heart of Italy. The ragu is traditionally served with tagliatelle in Bologna, a flat pasta a bit narrower than fettuccine. The pasta’s shape is perfect 

4 North Beach Treasures

4 North Beach Treasures

Marcia Gagliardi of Tablehopper blog fame shares her appreciation of 4 North Beach spots in her just-released video tour. Marcia visits Caffe Trieste, Molinari Deli, Liguria Bakery and Stella Pastry. Find out Marcia’s favorite coffee, focaccia, sandwich and sweet. I’m with her all the way. These 

Mercato Opens in North Beach

Mercato Opens in North Beach

Mercato Artisan Food & Gifts just opened in North Beach on Columbus near Green, nestled between Stella’s Pastry & Lola’s Card Stop. Mercato features imported and local artisan food and gift products, with a focus on Italia that befits the neighborhood. You may not know many of 

Off the Grid in North Beach

Off the Grid in North Beach

San Francisco food trucks are hot. These roving kitchens offer fantastic food from all over the world. Many follow their favorite trucks on Twitter and Facebook and track them down at various parking spots around the city. Luckily, Off the Grid brings a horde of 

North Beach Parade & Fall Bounty from Italia

North Beach Parade & Fall Bounty from Italia

North Beach’s Italian-Heritage Parade, the oldest in America, is Sunday, October 7. Book your lunch table now at one of the many caffes and restaurants on the parade route. They’re going fast. It’s a fantastic holiday. You don’t want to miss it. Everyone will be there. We’re 

Square 5 Best in SF

Square 5 Best in SF

The Chronicle’s food writers just completed a year-long culinary tour of San Francisco, one square mile at a time. The city was divided into 49 “squares”. Each Sunday the culinary adventurers shared their take on the best restaurants and food attractions in each square. After exploring 

Victoria Pastry Is Back

Victoria Pastry Is Back

Victoria Pastry Company has reopened in its new digs near Washington Square Park, on Filbert just down the street from Saints Peter & Paul Church. Victoria moved after almost 100 years on the corner of Stockton & Vallejo, across the street from Little City Meats. 

2 North Beach Sausage Winners

2 North Beach Sausage Winners

I love Italian pork sausage. Luckily I can get the best right here in North Beach. The Chronicle tasted 48 house-made sausages from all over the Bay Area, everything from traditional Italian pork sausage to Boudin Blanc and Spicy Georgia Peach Bourbon chicken sausage. Even 

Subway in North Beach

Subway in North Beach

I thought the Central Subway project currently tearing up the streets around Union Square would terminate at the Chinatown station, about 6 blocks south of North Beach at Clay and Stockton. I was pleased that North Beach would be spared from the subway construction nightmare 

Victoria Pastry Moving & Steps of Rome Closed

Victoria Pastry Moving & Steps of Rome Closed

North Beach’s Victoria Pastry on the corner of Stockton & Vallejo makes some of my favorite cakes and pastries. They’ve only been doing it since 1914! Victoria’s St. Honore rum-soaked sponge cake with vanilla pastry cream and their domed chocholate Fedora cake are two of the best. For 

North Beach First Friday Festivities

North Beach First Friday Festivities

  Columbus & Coit from the Transamerica building. Click to expand. Enjoy a beautiful night in North Beach tomorrow. Celebrate the first day of June with your friends and neighbors. Wander the Village Streets and check out what 18 particpating galleries, shops, restaurants and bars have 

Gianni Hosts a North Beach Antipasti Party?

Gianni Hosts a North Beach Antipasti Party?

The other night my Emerald Tablet friends and I put together a tasty family-style dinner at North Beach’s Vicoletto, the Calabrian restaurant on Green.  We were talking about a Gianni’s North Beach cooking demonstration and tasting at their gallery and creative learning space. They don’t 

Truffles at Cavalli Cafe Again

Truffles at Cavalli Cafe Again

We had lunch yesterday at Original Joe’s. (I had the breaded veal cutlet Milanese with a light lemon sauce and a side of ricotta ravioli in a bolognese sauce. Both were delicious renditions of classic North Beach Italian-American fare.) Original Joe’s bombolini puff pastry with vanilla