Mar 4, 2011, 2011, 1:42pm
It's no surprise that San Francisco was chosen as the location for an episode of the Travel Channel show Bizarre Foods. With all the interesting and weird stuff happening here, there's a lot to highlight. The program featuring our fair city aired yesterday, and you can find some preview clips here. I recommend watching the first of the top five experiences host Andrew Zimmern had while in town.
I was particularly excited about the local spotlight because it features my good friend Rosanna Yau. She runs Minilivestock, an organization that encourages bug eating, or entomophagy. The episode also mentions groups and activities that we've covered through our backstories at The Bold Italic.
I was compelled to do a little mashup with clips and photos from Bizarre Foods and Bold Italic stories. Hopefully you'll find it useful.
If you missed the full episode and don't have cable (like me!) you can download it from iTunes for $1.99 — so worth it.
Relates to our backstory Taco Belle featuring food trucks: El Tonayense, San Buena, La Palma.
Scavenging for food is featured in Free Falling, which talks about Food not Bombs and Free Farm Stand.
Photo by Travel Channel
ForageSF and their wild take on hunting for seafood was part of the Gone Fishing story.
Photo by Travel Channel
Bug eating with Rosanna Yau: relates to our own Beetle Juice.
Categories:
Food & Drink, Hidden SF, Only In SF
Mar 3, 2011, 2011, Midnight
Categories:
Film
Mar 2, 2011, 2011, 1:00pm
Still a little sleepy, I showed up on Saturday morning to Wise Sons, the new Jewish Deli that pops up once a week at Jackie's Cafe from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Mission. My hopes were high for a good brunch considering the rumors I had heard about their drool-worthy pastrami sandwich and obsession with making their own products. Visions of fresh bagels and rye bread loaves were dancing in my head.
The place was pleasantly full, but not scarily so. I was surprised to find that their famous sammy was not on the menu, but as a dedicated follower of places like Miller's East Coast Deli I knew there would be other nosh in the house. Plus the line was an indication that anything I ordered would probably be pretty damn good.
I ended up ordering the Ollie's Bialy with smoked salmon, chive cream cheese, red onion, and capers, with sweet & sour cucumbers served on the side. The "pickles" were outrageously tasty.
My companion ordered the Corned Beef Hash, with corned beef, meyer-lemon horseradish hollandaise, and a fried egg on top, served with their house-made rye toast. Yummm. The Golden Beet Borscht was a revelation as well – it was somehow lighter and fresher than yer average borscht.
The takeaway? This food is made with love. Totally different from your average brunch, it warms you from the inside. I'll be back often and probably follow them on Twitter too for a heads up on when they'll be serving that pastrami sandwich.
I also hear one of our writers is working on a larger story about Wise Sons. Curious to hear the backstory on the guys who started this cool little venture.
Photos by Nicole Grant
Categories:
The Mission, The Mission, Food & Drink
Mar 2, 2011, 2011, 11:34am
After spending so much time appreciating and encouraging great design, The Bold Italic is very excited to announce our brand new Shop, where we're housing work by some very special designers.
The Shop is a work in progress, which we'll grow piece by piece as we find new collectables we like. Right now, we're loving the limited edition, screen printed poster Jayde Cardinalli created for today's story,
"The Royal Family." These notable characters have been printed on Dur-O-Tone French Paper made from 100% recycled material.
Categories:
Art & Design, Only In SF
Mar 1, 2011, 2011, 8:00am
Have you heard of kendama? I hadn't, but a friend insisted that this Japanese toy was being enthusiastically played in competitions around the city. I have to admit, after doing a little Googling, I was really skeptical about her claim, but over the weekend I went to two unrelated events where people were really into the game. Maybe my friend was right, but I needed to know more about kendama before I was going to admit that to her.
Kendama is a traditional Japanese toy, made up of a mallet and a wooden ball attached to a string. It's reminiscent of thee olde cup-and-ball game you might've gotten as a party favor or stocking stuffer when you were a kiddie. But aside from a physical resemblance, a kendama is much more complicated than its Western cousin. Playing it involves a whole set of tricks that take extraordinary coordination and focus. Oh, and bending your knees! It's also crazy addictive. I didn't realize any of this until I entered the Kengarden on Sunday afternoon.
The Kengarden is a community that was started by San Franciscan Jake Wiens, kendama enthusiast extraordinare. That's him in the orange shirt above. He was introduced to the game about two years ago by friend and pro Matt Rice (the dude in the glasses in the second photo; he's actually a sponsored professional!). Jake became so hooked that he got all his other friends into the game and started backyard kendama battles. He would give the participating host's yard a makeover, planting succulents, ferns, flowers, and other shrubbery, to make the space look pretty for the competition and as a thanks for volunteering the space. You can't see the green handiwork in these photos, but you can check out part of the fire pit Jake & co. made as a centerpiece in the photo below.
On Sunday, a battle took place at the Mission Kengarden on Church Street. About 40 people showed up to compete in, or watch, battles for beginning, intermediate, and advanced kendama players.
People from around the world send Jake videos of their tricks and e-mails about wanting to come to a Kengarden event, but he's also noticed that the SF kendama community has grown. He said that although a lot of the people who were at Mission Kendarden were friends, he didn't know about 40 percent of the attendees.
Another reason to come to a Kengarden competition? To get a kendama, which you can't find at San Francisco stores. Jake gets the toys sent to him, and he loves spreading the gospel by giving them out to newbies.
Here's a tense moment from the advanced battle:
For more info and the date of the next Kendama Battle, check out the Kengarden tumblr and Facebook page.
All images and video by Sarah Han
Categories:
The Mission, Craft & D.I.Y., Sport
