#130 | 🍺 Did Anchor Brewing Really Run Out of Steam?
😢 La Cocina's Tenderloin Food Hall to Close
Hello!
These Days
whatever you have to say, leave the roots on, let them dangle And the dirt Just to make clear where they came from
—Charles Olson, from Black Mountain Poems, An Anthology
Hey there - I'm Bruce Cole, Publisher of Edible San Francisco. If you’re new here, welcome to Eat.Drink.Think., a newsletter spotlighting seasonal recipes, the latest SF Bay Area food news, poetry, and more!
👉 ICYMI: The most-clicked link from our last newsletter was our poll (thanks to everyone who participated!) with the query: You're out to eat; how did you get there? 36% of those who responded traveled by car, 21% took public transportation, 20% put one foot in front of the other, 14% pedaled on two wheels, and 9% dialed up an Uber/Lyft/taxi.
🚫 Tipping: King of Hospitality, Danny Meyer (NYC restaurateur and Founder & Executive Chairman of the Union Square Hospitality Group), insists you don’t need to tip when ordering a coffee or picking up a to-go order. “If you’re just taking out food and it was just a transaction—I give you money and you give me a cup of coffee—I don’t think there’s any obligation to tip whatsoever.” Meyer, also the chairman of the board of Shake Shack, his national burger chain, has no doubt disappointed his employees, who, as they hand over bags of burgers and fries to customers, have their fingers 🤞 that they’ll get a tap-for-a-tip on the digital checkout tablet. Bon Appetit
Related: Are we at the tipping point of no tipping? NPR
Peach Celery Salad: This summer salad hits all the right notes, and it can stand to sit around for a moment (ideal for potlucks and picnics). Edible Communities
Juicy Tomatoes with Chile Crisp: Another dead-simple recipe from Andy Baraghani’s James Beard Award-winning The Cook You Want to Be, which we made on the regular last summer. “The truth is, most tomato salads don’t need a recipe. Vinegar, olive oil, plenty of crunchy salt, and call it a day. If you have some herbs on hand, throw those in. What would a tomato salad look like if it deserved a recipe? Something like this.”
More Summer Recipes:
🍅 SF Cooking School’s Fresh Tomato Soup with Basil Oil and Garlic Croutons
🍓 Kantine’s Royal Party Cake (pre-order Chef Nichole Accettola’s upcoming cookbook Scandinavian From Scratch, A Love Letter to the Baking of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden)
SPONSORED
While many lay claim to pouring the first Margarita, the story of Ziegfeld Follies dancer, Marjorie King, is a legend worth our salt. The mystical entertainer was rumored to be allergic to many spirits, but able to brave tequila with the help of a clever bartender. Our recipe strikes a dramatic balance between sweet, sour, spicy, and smoky—with notes of agave, citrus, and habanero—your tastebuds will be dancing all night long.
Keep in fridge, stir over ice, and if you are truly civilized, serve with a salted rim.
Tasting Notes:Bright Citrus, Gentle Heat, Complex
Ingredients: Reposado Tequila, Mezcal, Orange Liqueur, Agave, Habanero and Mango Syrup, Lime Juice, and Sea Salt. Bottle Size: 750 mL (Pours 12 Drinks), ABV: 25%
Awards:
Sunset Spirits – Double Gold – 2020
Sunset Spirits – Double Gold – 2021
Bartender Spirits Awards – Bronze - 2021
Bartender Spirits Awards - Silver - 2022
NY World Spirits Competition - Silver - 2022
Check out our new mini cans for a little dose of the grandiose!
👀 Can You See Me Now? Did you know a single oyster can filter as much as 50 gallons of water daily? Although there’s a variety of oysters available to us in Northern California, there’s only one that's indigenous to the San Francisco Bay, the Olympia (Ostrea lurida), which was essentially wiped out during the gold rush era due to overharvesting and sediment from mining. You can learn more about the effort to bring back these native oysters to San Francisco Bay to help restore the ecosystem, including filtering the murky waters of our bay, via the Wild Oyster Project.
🤔 Coincidence? Tyson is dropping its “no antibiotics ever” label after the USDA announced plans to start verifying claims like “raised without antibiotics.” “In a major announcement this week, America’s largest chicken seller revealed it would reverse policy and restart selling chicken raised with antibiotics—the caveat now being that it won’t give its animals any antibiotics usually used while treating sick people.” —Chloe Sorvino for Forbes
🍦The Most Popular Ice Cream Flavors: Vanilla is #1, followed by Chocolate, but #3 may surprise you (we guessed strawberry). But there’s a dispute over who created this favorite flavor. Mashed
Related: Icelanders are fond of ice cream road trips; they even have a name for it: Ísbíltúr (ease-beel-tour). “It might sound a bit random, but it is in fact a very well-defined cultural recreation.” Visit Reykjavik
🍺 Out of Steam? “Anchor was doomed because its true value was invisible to owners (Sapporo USA) who simply didn't care to recognize it. Of all the ways for a San Francisco icon to be shattered right now, it's almost too on the nose.” —Soleil Ho for the SF Chronicle
🍺 How Sapporo USA Sank Anchor Brewing Co. Let’s start with the rebrand in 2021, which discarded the legendary logo for an ugly lemon yellow theme. “That was a major flop and we all know it, just another mistake[n] corporation thinking they can wipe away history.” Vinepair
😢 La Cocina’s Marketplace to Close: Done in by its location in SF’s most notorious neighborhood combined with the lasting effects of the pandemic, the food hall offered an economic opportunity for women entrepreneurs and an affordable dining space for the Tenderloin community. The marketplace’s food stalls will close on Sept. 1 and convert to incubator kitchens for La Cocina clients. SF Chronicle (gift article)
🧂More Salt Is Always the Answer: “This is the way. You'll screw it up sometimes and go overboard, but if you can consistently get right up to that edge, your food will taste the best it possibly can. This works particularly well with steaks and burgers...my burger went from "pretty good" to "holy shit" solely on the application of the proper amount of salt.” The OG, Jason Kottke of kottke.org
Related: David Chang’s Unified Theory of Deliciousness. “When a dish is perfectly seasoned, it will taste simultaneously like it has too much salt and too little salt. It is fully committed to being both at the same time.” Wired
Top Shmeff: Not a fan of cooking shows? Comedian Jimmy O. Yang has got your back.
That’s a Wrap: An illustrated ode to an endless roll of plastic wrap by Jenny Ziomek. New York Times (gift article)
On Repeat This Week: MARO
“As captivating as birds who sing in sync, MARO's guitar trio brought an almost imperceptible, natural beauty to her Tiny Desk, characteristic of an artist truly in her element.” NPR
That’s all for this week.
We’re outta here. Be well and take care,
—Bruce
“There are those who love to get dirty and fix things. They drink coffee at dawn, beer after work. And those who stay clean, just appreciate things. At breakfast they have milk and juice at night. There are those who do both, they drink tea.”
—Gary Snyder