Hello!
It’s here (almost)! After a whole year off we’re back in the magazine business and the truck with our spring issue onboard arrives Tuesday. This is issue #60 by the way, which is just mind-boggling, but since we did launch this ship back in 2005, the math adds up.
We’d love your support!
If you’d like to get your hands on this issue and the rest of the stellar content inside, you can subscribe here. We’d really appreciate your subscription as it helps to grow and sustain Edible San Francisco and support the talented writers, illustrators, and photographers that contribute to the magazine.
Do you work at a small business in the city? We’d love to give you a stack of the spring issue for your customers, for which they are free. Ping us at ediblesanfrancisco@gmail.com and we’ll drop some off.
Are you a business owner in the city that wants to reach our devoted readers with an ad in the magazine? Some points to consider:
Edible readers spend a remarkable 59.4 minutes with each issue and what they like best about the magazine is “that it’s local.”
72% of readers pick up their copies of Edible at local businesses.
96% of readers stated that they would be likely to patronize a restaurant featured in Edible.
63% of readers have read at least 3 of the last 4 issues.
We have an ad to fit every budget.
By the way, I'm Bruce Cole, Publisher of Edible San Francisco. If you’re new, welcome! You're getting this email because you subscribed. Spam sucks, so I'd never opt you into this newsletter automatically. If you'd like to hop off anytime, simply unsubscribe. I appreciate you reading this newsletter. Let’s eat!
Here’s a sneak peek at the spring issue:
Celia Sack, the proprietor of Omnivore Books on Food, has been contributing a regular column, “The Bookmongers Book Reviews,” to our magazine for years (thank you Celia!). For this issue, she talks about Lindsay Gardner’s beautifully illustrated Why We Cook: Women on Food, Identity, and Connection, which is a who’s who of women in the contemporary culinary scene and taps many Bay Area icons, including Joyce Goldstein.
“Goldstein says the highlights of her career include cooking many times for her culinary hero, English cookbook author and writer Elizabeth David, as well as for famed food writer MFK Fisher. Endlessly curious and ambitious, Goldstein keeps her cellar full of meticulously stacked homemade jams and preserves, made with fruit from the farmers market at San Francisco’s Ferry Building, which she visits every week.”
For those of you who’ve been around long enough, you’ll remember Goldstein’s restaurant, Square One (1984-1996), tucked into 190 Pacific Street and opening onto the lovely Sydney Walton Square. And the food? From a 1987 New York Times review by Bryan Miller:
“Joyce Goldstein, the veteran cooking teacher who helped make Square One a resounding success when it opened in 1984, epitomizes the trend in this city toward eclectic, well-focused cooking that values flavor over flash. I still daydream about a pasta I had at lunch here: linguine glistening in garlic-infused olive oil with flash-grilled shrimp and just enough hot pepper to add an addictive edge. It's my favorite dish in San Francisco. The wood and glass dining room is contemporary and casual, with a long, open kitchen at one end. It is a wonderful spot where you can mingle with the San Francisco business crowd, who, compared with eat-and-run New Yorkers, appear as relaxed at lunch as if they were on a Mediterranean holiday. With food like this, it is easy to imagine.”
We were fortunate to have our wedding rehearsal dinner in the private dining room at Square One a few years before it closed and can still remember, in exquisite detail (but alas we don’t have that kind of room to go into it here), all of the magical moments of that night as well as the glorious food and drink that was served.
We’ll be sharing more of the spring issue in the coming weeks, but here’s a list of what’s inside:
Dan Bransfield’s “Back of the House” illustration features Cathay Bi's Dumpling Club, in which members get weekly portions of small-batch dumplings hand-folded by Bi and Linda Mei, with accompanying ingredients to make a complete meal.
Airyka Rockefeller laments the year-long closure of one of her favorite restaurants in “Dear Frances.”
Christian Reynoso, a former sous chef at Zuni (you’ve probably seen his byline in the SF Chronicle too) shares his recipe for “Caramelized Spring Onion Tart Tatin.”
Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks shares the recipe for “Sriracha Tomato Soup” from her new book, Super Natural Simple.
Tara Duggan and Rachel Levin share the recipe for “Snapped Asparagus with Chermoula,” from their upcoming book Steamed: A Catharsis Cookbook for Getting Dinner and Your Feelings On the Table.
Omar Mamoon talks to Brendon Pineda and Arianna Olivares about their venture into winemaking and their new label, Hidden Society.
Wayne Garcia, the proprietor of DIG Wine, offers tips for pairing lamb, salmon, and spring vegetables with wine, with illustrations by Kristen Rieke Morabito.
Molly Watson talks about how cooking’s curative properties found their limit in the face of a pandemic in “When Cooking Stopped Working,” illustrated by Dan Bransfield.
And from Eat This Book, Stacy Michelson shares her knowledge of garlic alongside her wonderful illustrations.
Here’s that subscribe link again 😉.
That’s all for this week.
ICYMI we posted our April Spotify dinner jams playlist a few weeks ago. This month’s list leads off with a Fontella Bass classic from 1966 and quickly segues into a rambling mix of covers and culture, including Durand Jones and the Indications outstanding version of David Bowie’s “Young Americans.”
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We’re outta here. Be well and take care,
–Bruce
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