Jane on Fillmore in San Francisco

There’s been a lot happening in the lower Pacific Heights area of San Francisco, specifically along the busy Fillmore corridor. While a lot of focus has been on Elizabeth Faulkner’s Citizen’s Cake moving from Hayes Valley to the old Vivande spot, a newcomer right next door is also getting some attention.

Jane is an upscale coffee and tea house that’s hard to describe. The spacious room with a tiny mezzanine nook has a bakery feel because of the abundance of baked goods from coffee cakes to scones to cookies. But then in the back you see an open kitchen counter where chefs are prepping ingredients for the salads and soups, making it seem like a fast-casual café.

Owner Amanda Michael, a former pastry chef who named the place after her daughter, says the décor is a little bit of 70s punk-rocker in an English tea parlour. The design is definitely bold and conversation-inspiring, from the patterned walls to the yak head above.


When I checked out the place on a rainy Saturday afternoon, there were a lot of people sitting at the tables in the front, sipping either the Four Barrels coffee or the heirloom organic tea from San Francisco’s Five Mountains.

I tried a slice of the layered coconut cake ($3), and it was a comforting but elegant treat. The flavors were spot on and the cake was light, with a just-as-light cream that was definitely restaurant-quality.

Jane is a bold new space for the neighborhood and the offering of coffee, tea and treats make it a place you’ll come back again and again to try each one or a soon-to-be favorite.



Jane on Fillmore, 2123 Fillmore St., San Francisco. PH: 415.931.JANE. www.janeonfillmore.com

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10 Days and Counting to 'Fragrant Harbor'

I haven't been able to sleep well lately. It might be me still trying to adjust to the dang change in Daylight Savings Time, but I'm sure a lot of it is just my excitement about my first planned foreign trip in three years. At the end of this month I fly out to Hong Kong for a week of gastronomy, HK style.

My Mom is from Hong Kong (translated to mean "fragrant harbor" because of the early trade of sandalwood), so we used to visit a lot when I was a kid. But I think the last time I was there I was maybe 11? I barely remember it. And I haven't gone back as an adult. So I figured it's about time to check out this cosmopolitan city of the East. It's going to be a quick trip, but I'm pretty sure all I will be doing is eating, eating, and maybe some more eating. I have a long list of places to try, but if you have any "don't miss" advice for me, please let me know!

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Secret Menu at Betelnut

Offal Dishes Highlight Home-style Malaysian Cuisine
2030 Union St. (at Buchanan), San Francisco
Cow Hollow
PH: 415.929.8855
Open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. (till midnight on Friday and Saturday)
Reservations, major credit cards accepted
www.betelnutrestaurant.com

I recently got a Blackboard Eats membership, which is a food site that offers up limited discounts at restaurants around San Francisco. But one of the first deals that I took advantage of wasn’t a discount but a special all-access-pass to a secret menu at the consistently popular Betelnut.

I recruited my fellow blogger friend Foodhoe, who’s the only person I know who will travel by bus in the rain across town to try out an offal menu, as we met for dinner on Tuesday. Foodhoe was running late because of the rain, so I waited at the bar and ordered up a Singaporean Sling – the touristy drink made up gin and cherry herring. The drink came out looking red just like the walls serving as backdrop to the 1940s Shanghai décor.

It’s been a long time since I last visited Betelnut, but the bar still had the mechanical bamboo fans playing up the tropical vibe of Southeast Asia. The open kitchen seems new to me, offering up a view of the kitchen staff firing up the specialties.

When Foodhoe arrived, we settled into our table and started to strategize about the secret menu. The Blackboard Eats special allows members to order from an offal menu designed by Chef Alex Ong, who offered four items that were influenced by his Malaysian childhood.

I convinced Foodhoe to skip the crispy chicken liver because the dish was deep-fried, after I confirmed it with the server. (I’m not a fan of deep-fried dishes.) So we decided to go with the salt-and-pepper veal sweetbread ($12.88) because I love sweetbreads and I thought they would be prepared pan-fried like I’ve seen at other restaurants.

The dish, however, was also deep-fried and Foodhoe and I thought it was odd that the server didn’t warn me after I made such a big deal about not ordering the chicken livers. Anywho, I did try just a few pieces of the sweetbreads (I know it won’t kill me). The pieces were like little fried nuggets, smaller than most sweetbreads (the glands of veal), and it was simply served with chopped chile and scallions.

Even though it was simple, and the deep-fried aspect took away any moisture of the sweetbreads, I did enjoy the salt-and-pepper spice with the chile and declared (yes, I make lots of declarations as I eat) that this would be a popular street food item to sell in the current food truck craze.

We moved on to the cured lamb tongue ($11.88), which was served in a light dressing of lime juice and galangal and topped with tiny sprouts and bits of taro chips. The tongue seemed really tiny, and they were braised and thinly sliced. The presentation was like eating sashimi (sliced raw fish). The tongue lacked any gamey flavor, instead given a brightness from the lime.

Then came the highlight of our meal, which was the fish-head tamarind curry ($15.88). The dish is supposedly a celebratory dish in Malaysia but served only at home and rarely on a restaurant’s menu.

I had reservations about eating a fish head because I thought the head would be small and not have a lot of meat, but Ong’s version was made from the head of a huge striped bass. When the casserole container was brought to the table and the lid taken off, the entire dish looked like a lot.

Foodhoe and I started to dissect the head, using our spoons to scrape off the tender flesh from the cheeks, and then sucking on bones to get as much of the curry sauce. We also dared each other to eat the fish eye. First we found the pupils, which looked like a more round white tic tac. It was hard and tasted like chalk, so I don’t think the pupil is the best part of the eye to eat.

Then we discovered the eye socket, which was gooey like raw squid and it actually didn’t taste too bad. The texture was like eating uni, or sea urchin. Foodhoe said it was like eating a small raw oyster.

The curry sauce was a subtle blend of spices, not super spicy to mask the natural sweetness of the fish meat that we were able to suck off the bones of the head. The work put in to eat this dish reminded me of eating Dungeness crab – you eat with your hands and it can be messy, but so worth it.

I suggested to Foodhoe that we also order something from Betelnut’s regular menu. Throughout our dining experience, I could smell the other dishes being made for the other diners and they all seemed to have the strong savory flavor of soy and sugar. Glancing at the regular menu, I could see that there were a lot of the Chinese dishes that appeal to American diners such as firecracker shrimp, minced meat lettuce cups, and glazed short ribs.

I wanted to avoid these dishes and maybe order something different, so that’s how we ended with the “Beggar’s” chicken ($21.88), a half chicken wrapped in lotus leaf and then encased in clay and baked for almost two hours. (Yes, it was a long dinner.)

Our server brought out our chicken dish and handed me a wooden mallet to crack our clay-encased chicken. I tapped the clay in the spots that he pointed to and this is how it ended up looking, like some cracked dinosaur egg.

Then our server went about removing the clay pieces and pulling back the lotus leaf, which released an aroma that Foodhoe caught right away since she was sitting closest to the chicken. When the chicken was unveiled, our server pulled out some of the stuffing, which included wood ear mushroom and smoked pork belly pieces.

The chicken is brined overnight before being encased in clay, and that resulted in this extremely moist chicken. I enjoyed the texture of the meat, but I wished that it picked up more of the extra flavoring from the lotus leaf and pork belly. Instead the flavors were more one-dimensional. Still, eating this dish that was served tableside was a production that had diners at other tables turning their heads.

We didn’t order anything else from the regular menu because we were full from the chicken and the fish head curry, but mostly because Foodhoe wanted to save room for dessert, which was a chocolate-filled mochi that she had read about.

The trio of mochi came in a variety of flavors, including a chocolate mochi (mochi is the Japanese sticky rice treat) filled with a marshmallow (not my favorite), a mochi with white chocolate (just OK), and the mochi with chocolate ganache filling (the clear winner). The mochi were also served with a coconut-flavored cream on top of a pineapple sauce that was a bit salty and created this interesting salty and sweet playfulness in my mouth to offset the chewyness of the mochi.

Our secret menu dinner at Betelnut was a fun evening of trying unique dishes that also seemed to be the most authentic of dishes compared to those found on the regular menu. I don’t know if maybe Chef Ong doesn’t think his regular diners would like offal dishes or if he’s just playing it safe, but I feel the uniqueness of these offal dishes play more to the growing experimental hunger of Bay Area diners. Hopefully Ong won’t keep this menu a secret any more.

You can check out Foodhoe's version of our secret menu dinner on her scrumptious blog here.

Single guy rating: 3.25 stars (get pass the kitschy décor for the authentic flavors )

Explanation of the single guy's rating system:
1 star = perfect for college students
2 stars = perfect for new diners
3 stars = perfect for foodies
4 stars = perfect for expense accounts
5 stars = perfect for any guy's dream dinner

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Dinner Fast: Farro Risotto with Rapini Video

Risotto is always a quick dish to make for dinner because it takes about 20-25 minutes to cook the rice, and then you have this creamy goodness for a meal. But this time I mix it up by using farro instead of the traditional Arborio rice.

I discovered farro, an Italian grain, last year and love the healthy aspect of it because it’s a whole grain. Then I started seeing it on restaurant menus, mostly in soups or salads, but once as a risotto. So that’s how I came up with this simple farro risotto and rapini dish. This dish is healthy (well, except for the cheese and butter) and it’s all vegetarian. (Full recipe is below.) Enjoy!

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Farro Risotto with Rapini Recipe

Copyright 2011 by Cooking With the Single Guy

Ingredients:
1.5 cup farro
2-3 cups rapini, chopped
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup dry white wine
3-4 cups vegetable stock
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 T unsalted butter
2 T extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan or sauté pan, warm olive oil over medium high heat, then add onion and garlic. Saute until translucent, about two minutes. Add the farro and allow to toast for a few seconds, then add white wine and cook over medium until most of wine is evaporated. Start adding the vegetable stock a couple of ladles at a time, adding as the stock gets absorbed by the farro. The farro should take about 20 to 25 minutes to cook.

Half way through cooking the farro, add the rapini and allow it to wilt and cook. (Don’t add it too early or else the rapini will get really soggy.) Cook for another 10 minutes until farro is done. (Check by taking a bite and if farro taste soft and how you’d like it, then season with salt and pepper to taste. )

Remove pan from heat and add butter and cheese. Stir to mix well and then serve immediately. Garnish with more grated cheese. Serve with garlic bread or a small mixed salad.

Makes 2 to 3 servings.

Pair with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

TIP: It’s still not easy finding farro. I buy mine at the Pasta Shop at the Rockridge Market Hall in Oakland, and it’s sold by the pound. It’s often sold dried. The fresher the farro, the shorter it’ll take to cook. You can find it at specialty Italian stores, or you can substitute it with wheat berries.

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David vs. Goliath of Whoopie Pies

I thought I would do my next taste-off on whoopie pies. I mean, I read they were the next cupcakes, after macarons and then after, well, regular pies.

Whoopie pies supposedly are an extremely popular treat on the East Coast, where there’s a debate about where they originated. (Some say it started in Dutch country in Pennsylvania.) Then they were supposedly invading California, with a few restaurants offering them up.

But over the last few months, I kept an eye out for whoopie pies to try. And after looking at various bakeries, I only found them at two places. So my big taste-off of whoopie pies pretty much boiled down to a simple battle between the Teacake Bake Shop on the East Bay and SusieCakes in San Francisco, which probably piqued people’s interest in this nostalgic treat in the first place.

When you look at the two versions, it really is a battle between David and Goliath, with David being from Teacake and Goliath being the monster whoopie pie from SusieCakes. Here’s a closer look.

Teacake Bake Shop’s whoopie pie ($2.50) has the traditionally look of the chocolate cake-like sandwich and the vanilla icing filling. The one I got couldn’t really keep its shape because the top cake looked like it was sliding off as I tried to take a picture.

The cake was like a chocolate cupcake cut in half, and the filling was really sweet. But I have a feeling that people like their whoopie pies to be sweet. I’m not a real sweet person so it seemed too much for me, although I did eat it up pretty fast.

SusieCakes’ whoopie pie ($5) is like twice the size of Teacake’s and just holding it in my hand it felt hefty. The sandwich portion is a cookie, instead of a cake, though it was soft enough to bite into. The filling was just as sweet as the Teakcake version, but because there was more of it, it really was too much.

In the end, I have to say I like the SusieCake version just because of the cookie portion of the whoopie pie was really good. But because I’m not into really sweet desserts, the fact that both whoopie pies had really sweet fillings made both not very appealing. So maybe I'm not a whoopie pie person.

Teacake Bake Shop, 5615 Bay St. (Bay Street Mall), Emeryville. PH: 510.655.0865

SusieCakes, 2109 Chestnut St., San Francisco. PH: 415.474.2253

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Bodega Bistro in San Francisco

Vietnamese in the Heart of the City
607 Larkin St. (at Eddy), San Francisco
Tenderloin
PH: 415.921.1218
Open for lunch and dinner daily
Reservations, major credit cards accepted
www.bodegabistro.net

Because I don’t have a car, I’m often running my errands around the BART stations, and over the last few months I found myself getting off at the Civic Center in San Francisco to connect to other destinations. And often as a respite in my errands, I found myself at a table at the Bodega Bistro Vietnamese restaurant.

Bodega has been around since 2003, playing up the street food delicacies of Vietnam. The window even displays the popular scooter that most Vietnamese use to get around the major cities. But sometimes Bodega gets eclipsed by another popular Vietnamese restaurant a few yards up the street called Turtle Tower.

That’s a shame, though, because I think the selection of dishes is more plentiful than Turtle Tower and the quality almost on par – but without the crowds hanging out in the front.

When I first visited, I met my friend Ken who lives near the area for a quick lunch. I wanted something simple and easy, so I ordered the Pho Ga, the Vietnamese version of chicken noodle soup ($7.20). The bowl of rice noodle was fresh and tasty, but nothing exciting or spectacular.

Ken, being a vegetarian, ordered the Pho Rau Thap Cam ($7.20), which was a colorful bowl of pho, the rice noodles, with an assortment of fresh vegetables. While the soup was good, Ken said the flavor tasted so rich that he suspected it might have been a chicken broth base instead of a vegetarian stock.

One of my favorite Vietnamese dishes is bun, or the rice vermicelli in a bowl with fish sauce. Bodega offers a Bun Tom Thit Nuong ($8.10) or rice vermicelli with broiled pork and shrimp. The bowl that came out was a massive bowl with thinly sliced pork with just three pieces of shrimp, and with the accompanying thin threads of carrots and cucumber and dusted with peanut bits. The vermicelli was clumpy, which is typical of Vietnamese restaurants who cook the noodles ahead of time, but overall it delivers the freshness and satisfaction of the vegetables mixed with the pork.

I’ve also tried the Bun Rieu ($8.10), which is the rice vermicelli but served in a soup stock like pho. Bun Rieu is made using a tomato soup base and flavored with crab meat. But the crab meat isn’t what we’re used to and instead is a paste that gives a richer crab flavor but without the natural texture of crab. Bodega’s version is better than others I’ve tried in the city, giving this air of authenticity and served with shredded cabbage and other unusual vegetables, not the typical basil and bean sprouts often used to eat with pho.

And in my last visit I ordered a rice dish, the Com Ga Nuong Xa or broiled lemon grass flavored chicken with steamed rice ($7.20). The platter of food came with chicken breast that was pounded into thin pieces and then grilled. The chicken was tender but with just a subtle scent of lemon grass. It was a lot of food, with the chicken served up with steamed broccoli.

Side note: Although there are some dim lights, I always felt that it was so dark inside the restaurant even though I ate mostly at lunch.

Service at Bodega is welcoming and friendly in the beginning but they can forget about you at times, so you end up having to flag someone down to keep things moving. But the food is a nice value and offers a decent alternative to the crowds at nearby Turtle Tower.

Single guy rating: 2.5 stars (convenient and fresh)

Explanation of the single guy's rating system:
1 star = perfect for college students
2 stars = perfect for new diners
3 stars = perfect for foodies
4 stars = perfect for expense accounts
5 stars = perfect for any guy's dream dinner

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Chile Pies and Ice Cream in San Francisco

They say pies are the new cupcakes, and there’s no better way to test this theory than at Chile Pies and Ice Cream.

This corner shop in a quiet neighborhood north of the Panhandle in San Francisco has been opened since last spring. I noticed it awhile back and always made a mental note to check it out, which I finally got around to this past weekend.

Chile Pies was opened by Trevor Logan, who previously ran the Green Chile Kitchen in the space. But he moved his restaurant up the street to a larger space and opened this pie shop in its place. Logan’s Green Chile Kitchen focused on the flavors of New Mexico, and that theme continues with his homey pie shop.

Chile Pies has a wonderful home-made feel to the décor, with eclectic toy pieces on shelves and lots of hand-written chalkboard signs. It plays up the whole country feel, from the galvanized tin cans to the mason jars used for water glasses.

With a place totally dedicated to pies, you can imagine the selection – and the challenge of making a decision. I actually came around lunchtime, and not having lunch yet, I decided to order a savory pie. One of the few savory pies on the menu is the house specialty, the Chile-Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust.

Side note: A slice of pie cost $5 and you can buy whole pies for $25. The ice cream served at an additional cost is sourced from Three Twins Ice Cream.

The Chile-Apple pie was this humongous piece of pie that was made by layering several thinly sliced apple. The chile, of course, gives it that heat and that’s why it’s considered a savory pie, but sweetness still comes through with the walnut streusel and honey. I really enjoyed the streusel, like a crumble, and even though the pie was supposedly cheddar, the cheddar flavor only comes when you eat the crust’s edge. (It was actually kind of nice, like eating cheddar cookies.)

I probably would have been OK just with that one big slice of Chile-Apple Pie, but when trying to decide I saw this amazing Country Peach and Blueberry pie and had to get a piece. And with a sweet pie, you need the ice cream so I got a scoop of cardamom ice cream, which was so lovely. The pie itself was so good, even though I wondered how they got such great-tasting peaches this time of year. Again, I loved the crumble on top. The pie filling wasn’t sweet – just the naturally sweetness of the fruit coming through.

I learned that you can’t really design a lunch around pies, but you can definitely have an enjoyable pie-eating experience at Chile Pies, which offers up some delectable pies made fresh every day. (I have to go back for the lemon buttermilk or chocolate peanut butter or banana cream! But only one slice at a time next time around.)

I still like looking for cupcakes, because they are smaller than pies. But if pies are the new cupcakes, Chile Pies is definitely leading the way.

Chile Pies and Ice Cream, 601 Baker St. (at Fulton), San Francisco. PH: 415.614.9411. Website

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Kitchen Towels Should Stay in the Kitchen

It's just a sign of the economy. Like staycations a few years back, restaurants have been trending toward casual and comfortable so people won't feel bad about going out to eat. It's supposed to feel like you're dining at home, I guess.

Problem is, I don't use a kitchen towel to wipe my mouth at home. Kitchen towels are for wiping the counter top, not to lay on my lap.

One of the latest things popping up at restaurants lately are kitchen towels used for napkins. Gone are the white linens. Now we get these big towels that to me seem awkward on the lap, like I'm on a break from washing the dishes. But my main pet peeve about kitchen towels for napkins is not that it seems weird, it's that after a few wash they often seem to lose their shape and then you get lint all over your pants.

I don't mind the kitchen towel for napkins when it fits into the restaurant's concept, like at a restaurant that has crab feeds where you get messy or when the place is called Mama's. But at almost every other restaurants, especially where entrees begin at $25, maybe they can still afford a nice napkin for their guests.

My friends think I'm making a big deal about this because a napkin is a napkin, even if it came from the kitchen. What do you think? Do you think it's an odd trend to use kitchen towels for napkins or do you think it's a cute gimmick for the times?

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Delfina's Pork Sugo Recipe

One restaurant dish that always leaves me in awe is pork sugo, especially when it's preceded with the words "five-hour" or "four-hour" or "any-long-ass-time hour." The idea that someone slaved over the pot for hours in the kitchen makes it worth ordering to try. And the dish of rich pork, sauce, and pasta never fails.

When I saw that 7x7 Magazine published the pork sugo recipe from the popular and award-winning Delfina Restaurant in San Francisco, I told myself I had to make it for myself. Not only does it take a few hours to cook, it's actually a two-day cooking experience.

So here's the full recipe from the 7X7 website, but I'll walk you through it here when I made it recently in my kitchen.

I started with both pork spareribs and pork butt. I guess Delfina likes the idea of the flavor of both cuts. I browned the pieces in my heavy-bottom pot. When they were done, I removed them and set them aside.

Then I worked on the vegeables, sauteing the onions, carrot, celery, garlic, and herbs (fresh rosemary and sage). So far, the ingredients weren't anything "secret" or unusual. Sounded like just the very comforting vegetable base. After the vegetables softened, then I added a tablespoon of tomato paste (I cut the overall recipe by half, so don't try to match my ingredient measurements to the official Delfina recipe), which gave the overall pot a nice red color, giving it the start of that Italian flavor. I deglazed with white wine and then returned the pork back to the pot and covered it up with chicken stock. Then I placed it in the 325-degree oven and cooked it for about two hours until the pork meat became tender.

Then the recipe said to put the pot into the refrigerator overnight. So that was day one.

The next night, this was how the pork mixture looked in my pot after sitting in the frig overnight. The congealed fat had an orange hue to it. Of course, this made it easy to scrape up the fat and discard. Then I warmed up the sugo on low heat and then removed the pork pieces again.

The recipe said to then put the sugo mixture into a food mill to puree it. But I don't have a food mill so I used my hand blender to puree the mixture until it was a smooth sauce. Then I let it simmered until the sauce thickened.

For the meat, I used a fork and shredded them into pieces and removed the bones from the spareribs. Then I returned the pork back into the sugo and seasoned everything with salt and pepper. Now I was ready to serve it, and the Delfina recipe tells you how to cook just enough sugo you plan to eat that night, leaving the rest for later nights (or freeze in the freezer).

I had some pappardelle, which is the flat ribbon pasta. Sorry, I didn't make it myself (come on, I already spent two days cooking the pork) and if you're looking for pappardelle and can't find it, just buy sheets of ready-made pasta and cut them in wide pieces. While the pasta cooked, I warmed up the sugo in a saute pan with some butter, and then added chopped flat leaf parsley, shredded parmesan cheese, and a pinch of chile flake. When the pasta was ready, I just added it straight into the pan and blended everything together.

And here's the final dish ready to eat. I served it up with more freshly shaved parmesan cheese, and had it with a glass of Napa Valley merlot, which was perfect for this rich dish.

So how was it? I can't say it was as perfect as at Delfina, but it was good. I think it needed more salt but I was afraid to add too much salt during the seasoning because already restaurant recipes has all the butter, etc. So I held back, but the next night when I made the rest of the sugo, I added a bit more salt and that brought out the flavor of the pork. And like anything else slow-cooked, the sugo seemed to taste even better two days after sitting in the refrigerator.

Despite this being a two-day cooking process, the actual steps of the dish aren't very difficult. This is a really comforting dish, and making it makes me feel like some Italian grandmother. I'm definitely bookmarking the recipe and will be cooking it up again when I feel like a dish that will stick to my ribs.

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Single Guy’s Planner

Ooops, I missed a planner for last month because I was busy. Plus, February’s such a short month by the time you hear about an event, it’s over! So let’s just focus on March, which seems to be springing with a whole bunch of foodie events. Go check one out!

March 9-12 (Wednesday-Saturday) – Oliveto’s Whole Hog Dinners. This Oakland establishment hosts its annual celebration to the pig when it serves up all the various parts in entrée items featured on the dinner menu. You can bet there’ll be a lot of salumis along with all sorts of offal selections. For more information check out the restaurant’s website or call 510.547.5356 to make your reservations.

March 11, Friday – Camino hosts Gabrielle Hamilton, chef/owner of New York’s Prune Restaurant. Prune is an extremely popular restaurant, especially for brunch, and its chef Gabrielle Hamilton has released her memoirs entitled “Blood, Bones and Butter” that is already receiving rave reviews. Hamilton will be in town promoting the book at typical book signings, but if you like your book signing with a side of entrees, then check out Camino Restaurant’s special dinner event. Ticket is a bit hefty at $127 (via PayPal), but that gives you cocktails with the author chef followed by a three-course family style dinner at the popular Oakland restaurant. If you don’t want to pay the service charges on PayPal, you can call the restaurant to reserve your spot (ticket will then only be $100) at 510.547.5035. Check the restaurant’s website for updates on the menu. Camino, 3917 Grand Ave., Oakland.

March 12, Saturday – The Clandestine Dinner Series. A real underground dinner, unlike the pop ups that exist in real restaurants, will take place somewhere in the Mission. You have to fork over the $105 for the six-course dinner and you get emailed the address. The dinner starts at 7 p.m. on Saturday, and there’s also one at 5 p.m. on Sunday, put on by Stag Dining Group’s Jordan Grosser and Ted Fleury. Tickets for Saturday can be purchased here and Sunday here.

March 13, Sunday – SWAP: Homemade Dinner. Just like when you’d swap your brown bag lunch as a kid, 18 Reasons take it to a whole level by having people swap meals at its Mission District community space. Make one meal (enough for four people) and bring them in pre-portioned to-go containers between 4:30 to 5 p.m. and swap it for another meal made by someone else. Cost is $5 (not including your expenses to make the dinner) and RSVP is required at info@18reasons.org so they know how many swinging cooks there are. 18 Reasons, 593 Guerrero St., San Francisco. For more information, check out the group’s website.

March 17, Thursday – Schroeder’s St. Patrick’s Day Street Party. This longtime German restaurant loves the polka, and they really kick up a storm with an Irish twist at this annual block party that’s free and draws a lot of young Financial District types. Street closed off in front of the bar on Front Street at California. Kick back some green beer.

March 17, Thursday – "Life on the Line" Book Signing with Chef Grant Achatz. Noted Chicago Chef Grant Achatz has a compelling story. Some of you may know that the chef of the renowned Alinea restaurant was diagnosed with tongue cancer a few years ago. He's better now, and has come out with his memoirs, written with business partner Nick Kokonas. The two will be signing books form 12:30 p.m. at Book Passages at the Ferry Building. For more information, go to the store's website.

March 19, Saturday – Honey Celebration at the Ferry Building. The Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA) puts on series of events at the Saturday farmers market focused on honey. At 10 a.m., Sunset Magazine Food Editor Margo True talks about the bees’ role in the garden and makes two desserts, while Fairmont Chef J.W. Foster talks about his bee-keeping adventures on the roof of the famous San Francisco hotel. The regular cooking demo at 11:45 a.m. is by Chef Brandon Jew of Bar Agricole. Event is free to the public at the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero.

March 19, Saturday – "Childhood Favorites" Brunch and Book Signing. Berkeley's Summer Kitchen Bake Shop puts on a special brunch with kid-themed foods as a benefit for Children's Hospital of Oakland. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., shop for some kid-friendly brunch items like pop tarts and Dr. Seuss-inspired green eggs and ham, of course. Also at the store will be children's book author Kelly Corrigan, who will be signing copies of her latest book "Lift." Summer Kitchen, 2944 College Ave., Berkeley.

March 26, Saturday – SF Underground Market at Public Works. The latest installment of the community/home-made market runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the take-home products and 6 p.m. to 2 p.m. for the night-time hot food fun. Admission is $5 for the day event and $10 for night, and don’t forget as always you need to sign up to be a member to attend. The Public Works space is located at 161 Erie St., San Francisco.

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