A Day At The Market

Yesterday, the sun graced us with her presence, and locals took the opportunity to stow their umbrellas and enjoy a day outside.  No where in San Francisco is a better gathering place on a Saturday than at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market, basking in rare rays of sunlight and awash in the cool breeze from the bay.  The missus and I spent our morning walking the market, searching for fresh fruits and veggies for the upcoming week, and a little something special for lunch.

Since the missus is rocking her 21 day vegan kickstart, she tucked in to a raw pumpkin lasagna from Alive!, a local raw restaurant with their own tent at the outdoor market.  I had designs of my own, and they were very, very un-vegan.  Craving the chicharrones of 4505 Meats, and giddy with excitement that they had opened up a tent at the Saturday market, I couldn't wait to see what they had to offer, and I was not disappointed.

With child-like glee, I ordered the 4505 Hot Dog made "Zilla style", the hot dog topped with Namu kimchi, green onions, money sauce, and 4505 chicharrones.  This is, and I don't think I'm overstating this, the greatest hot dog ever created in the history of ever.  The Zilla style toppings can be ordered on any sausage or hot dog at the 4505 Meats tent.  And, since they are like little pieces of piggy crack, I walked away with a bag of chicharrones to enjoy at home.

This was definitely not dainty finger food.  It was messy, and I'm not even a little bit ashamed about stuffing this monstrosity into my face.  It's  just that good.  In fact, I could go for another one right about now.

After eating and picking up a few necessities for home, like that pig candy there, we left the sunny Ferry Building to get ready for the dark and seedy underbelly of San Francisco food, the SF Underground Farmer's Market.  The Underground Market is a gathering of local foodies and small, artisan producers of everything from granola to pickled grapes.  During it's short existence, the market has become incredibly popular, no surprise for something that is supposed to be "underground".  While at one point the market was crammed into a small apartment, this market was held in a loft space in SOMA, and the line to get in stretched down the block.

Tables of home made preserves, pulled pork sandwiches, freshly foraged mushrooms, and much, much more crowded this small space for people to peruse, purchase, and dine on their fine creations.  Iso Rabins of Forage SF served a delicious pork belly bun and Fat Alley Foods served an aromatic variety of gumbos, including a vegan okra gumbo that was surprisingly flavorful and just spicy enough.

The vegan okra gumbo of Fat Alley Foods:

For our first time at the SF Underground Farmers Market, we had a fantastic time.  It took us almost 45 minutes before we got in, and got out of there in just under that long.  The downside to the popular market being in such a small space is that there is literally no room to move around, making it tough to make a stop at every table.  However, with so many delicious things to choose from, you will hardly leave hungry.  The mob of hungry people was pretty well behaved, all in all, everyone accepting the ebb and flow of the crowd as people pushed through to the next table.  

Keep an eye out for the next Underground Farmer's Market at the ForageSF blog.

Foodbuzz Blogger Festival, Day 1

What a weekend. Friday kicked off the 1st Annual Foodbuzz Blogger Festival, an event for all of us food-crazy bloggers to get together and share amazing food, drink, and conversation. Over 200 food bloggers came to town this weekend from across the country and even around the world to enjoy our fair city. Luckily, Lady San Francisco kept the clouds away and the lights glittering bright for our guests to enjoy.

The festival kicked off on the terrace of the Hotel Vitale, just across the wide lanes of the Embarcadero, providing us with quite a view.

As the temperature dropped and bloggers found their way up to the plush suite and terrace of the hotel, we packed together under heat lamps sipping Skyy vodka cocktails and Speakeasy ales making new friends as we stood in line for a small bite or a fresh drink. Really, it was the best bar line in The City that night; no shoving or arguing, just folks getting acquainted and asking "so what blog do you write?"

Soon, it was off to the Ferry Building to enjoy some of the best street food San Francisco has to offer. Trucks lined the stalls of the Ferry Building's north arcade space to share their creations as we continued meeting new friends while gushing over each bite. The roving trays of chicharrones from 4505 Meats were a huge hit.

Alive raw restaurant served wafers topped with avocado, tomato and basil and an amazing raw cheesecake, almost just as good as the real thing.
Cupcakes are all the rage in the city right now, and one of the best in town is Mission Minis. These little guys are a perfect bite size, topped with sweet butter cream frosting, and are moist and delicious.
The hit of the night for most everyone came from Roli Roti and their porchetta sandwich, crispy skin together with perfectly rotisserie roasted pork belly and pork loin in a sourdough bun mopped in the roasting juices. (No good pictures of this one, sadly. I was too busy filling my belly with its porky goodness.) Topped with salt and chopped parsley, these sandwiches were way too good to miss.

I have a weakness for pizza, and when we're talking about crispy, clay-oven style pizza, it's hard for me to focus on just about anything else. The folks at Pizza Politana and their brilliant mobile clay oven turn out some of the best hand-tossed pizza in The City. These beauties here were being snatched up just as quickly as they came out of the oven.

This first night of revelry around The City's best street food left nothing to be desired, and not enough hands to take all the pictures it deserved. And while I was to busy stuffing my face to take enough good pictures, all of the vendors deserve a mention for a fantastic showing. The whole arcade was lined with amazing eats, from the simple brilliance of Tacolicious, the quick to disappear pies from the SF Pie Truck, Strauss Family Creamery ice cream, Spencer on the go, San Francisco's only mobile French restaurant, and of course the sudsy libations of Thirsty Bear Brewing Company. Am I missing someone? I probably am. So much food coming at you from all sides, it's easy to lose track.

But wait, there's more! Friday was just the start of what would become an epic food blogger weekend. Stay tuned for recaps of days 2 & 3, and our brilliant Outstanding In The Field dinner at the Greenleaf Produce Warehouse.

For even more on Friday night's festivities, check out these fellow bloggers: Food Wishes, Oldways Table, Eat, Live, Travel, Write, What's Gaby Cooking?, Let Me Eat Cake, CBSOP, and many, many more.