News from the Heart and Soul of San Francisco
By FRANCINE BREVETTI February’s raucous rains may have limited the ingredients you’ve tossed into your summer salad bowl. The Fillmore Farmers Market is still trying to recoup the fruit and vegetable vendors it lost because of the rising waters on farmland this past winter. To help lead the resurgence, Grant Ike has been named as the…
THEIR FANS WERE almost ready to give up, but not the mother-daughter duo Sheila and Toni Young. Their labor of love — Bumzy’s Chocolate Chip Cookies, at 1460 Fillmore — was shut down by flooding last September and stayed closed for nine long months. But just in time for Fillmore’s annual Juneteenth Festival, their cheery pink…
By FRAN JOHNS Proper English tea in the heart of Japantown? It happens on any given day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Crown & Crumpet in the New People building at 1746 Post Street.
“THE PROBLEM IS with the economics of the boulangerie, not the bread,” Fillmore’s Pascal Rigo tells The New York Times today. “I’m going to show that you can make good bread and good money.” Both older and richer than he was in 1999 when he began a bakery empire on Pine Street he later sold to…
FIRST PERSON | BARBARA WYETH For us early morning folk, the long awaited opening of Blue Bottle Coffee on the busy Jackson and Fillmore corner is a blessing. In my mind, a strong cup of coffee is always a good thing, any time of day. That bracing dark, sweet shot of warmth and energy is…
CLASSICS | FRAN MORELAND JOHNS Ask any true San Franciscan with a serious sweet tooth what tops the list of local culinary delights and the answer you’ll likely hear: Coffee Crunch Cake. For more than three decades, customers have found this delicacy at Yasukochi’s Sweet Stop, tucked away inside Super Mira Market at 1790 Sutter…
By MARK J. MITCHELL The windows tell the tale at the corner of Sacramento and Divisadero these days: bright and beckoning, calling passersby into Maison Corbeaux, an Aladdin’s cave of wines, spirits and beers. The hanging sign still says London Market, but partners Kyle Nadeau and Evan Krow — the store’s name is a French…
FROZEN YOGURT is dead on Fillmore Street. Long live artisan ice cream. Today is the final day of business for Fraiche, the upscale frozen yogurt shop at 1910 Fillmore that brought Apple founder Steve Jobs’ favorite yogurt plus pour-over Blue Bottle coffee to the street for the past seven years. That follows by a few…
AS THE demolition, excavation and reconstruction of the Shell gas station on the corner of California and Steiner proceeds, it has become apparent it will no longer include a garage when the station reopens this summer with more gas pumps and a Loop convenience store. Neighbors rallied to save the garage, which had been on the…
By MARK FANTINO My introduction to Carol Field came in the spring of 1997, in the weeks preceding the release party for her book In Nonna’s Kitchen. An informal dinner was planned with dishes from the book, which was at least one part investigative journalism into the secrets and traditions of Italian grandmothers. The dinner was…