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Foodbuzz Blogger Festival 2010 Saturday Taste Pavilion at the Metreon

Lando — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 05:53:38 +0000

Day 2 of the 2nd Annual Foodbuzz Blogger Festival – Taste Pavilion Photos

Here are some of our favorite photos that we took Saturday afternoon:

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Foodbuzz Blogger Festival 2010 Opening Night

Lando — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 23:56:17 +0000

It was just about a year ago, I was writing a post recapping the 1st Annual Foodbuzz Blogger Festival in San Francisco. I can’t believe that a year has already gone by and that the 2nd Annual Foodbuzz Blogger Festival just wrapped up this past weekend. Here I am again, recapping this year’s event.

Friday night started off with our Opening Reception and Street Food Fare. Hundreds of food bloggers strolled into Herbst Pavilion in Fort Mason to kick off the weekend. After a quick welcome from Foodbuzz and a foodie gift exchange with fellow bloggers, Foodbuzz finally turned us loose to savor all of the various food from restaurants and street food vendors that were in attendance.

A spread of Mission Minis Cupcakes was on display. The little cakes were arranged in an artful mosaic way, spelling out Foodbuzz. It definitely caught the attention of many.

Our first bite of the evening was some of Daniel Isberg’s Viking Gumbo. It was hard not to line up when we saw them mixing up the batch of gumbo to serve up. Spiced and seasoned just right to warm up the evening.

4505 Meats’ had a Pork Loin Sandwich on the menu. The pork loin was brined in jalapeño liquid and encrusted in corn meal. To finish the sandwich, it was topped with beans, onions, and a coriander aioli. A side of airy-melt-in-your-mouth Chicharrones was served as well. The Chicharrones ended up being my favorite of the evening. I only wished that Chef Ryan Farr had Lay’s Family Sized bags of Chicharrones to give away that night. I’d be first in line to grab a pack.

RoliRoti was busily assembling their Porchetta Sandwiches. I’ve spent many Saturdays at the Ferry Building Farmers Market enduring long waits in line for their porchetta sandwiches. There even were times that I waited in line and came up empty handed because they ran out of porchetta to serve. Just watching them slice the roast and wipe up the juices with the bread will get you to wait in line to get your hands around this sandwich. Being able to pick up a sandwich without the long wait was a blessing.

With all of the savory food surrounding us, Straus Family Creamery was serving their ice cream to satisfy everyone’s sweet tooth.

It seems that you can’t talk about street food without mentioning tacos or taco trucks. So seeing Tacolicious featuring some of their tacos during the event fit the whole theme of being at a Street Food “Fare”. I was able to try their Guajillo Braised Beef Short Rib tacos.

Namu was also in attendance showcasing their take on street food with their Korean style tacos. What makes it a Korean style taco? You take the idea of a taco, but instead of a tortilla, you have slices of toasted seaweed, and you layer in kalbi – traditional barbecued Korean short ribs, rice, tomatoes, and top it with a kimchee salsa.

Does fine French food and street food add up? Well, for Spencer on the Go, that’s their entire concept – taking French cuisine and serving it from their converted taco truck. Here, we waited in line to order their New England Lobster Cappuccino, Escargot Puff Lollipop, and a Braised Lamb Cheeks Sandwich. Seeing French food come out of a mobile kitchen like this will make you rethink your perception of what street food is.

To think that this was only the beginning… We looked forward to what was in store for the weekend ahead.

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A Bite of SF Street Food Fest 2010

Lando — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 18:37:09 +0000

La Cocina’s Second Annual San Francisco Street Food Festival concluded yesterday bringing on food loving crowds from all over the Bay Area. I had the chance to attend again this year. Although during last year’s event I did experience a few setbacks – limited space for the crowds of event goers that arrived, long lines, and vendors running out of food – I still tried to make the most of it and overall had a good time. Despite what had happened last year, I thought that having an event like this would help spread the awareness of smaller food entrepreneurs. It was good for the city and for the community.

This year’s event aimed to avoid the problems of last year’s event by providing more food vendors and space to accommodate all of the crowds, while still remaining true to the same concept of bringing together street food vendors and restaurants to celebrate their passion for food. Just a quick stroll down Folsom Street, I could already tell that this time around, things would go much more smoothly. By having more vendors and space at the event did help spread out the crowds so that the lines for food wouldn’t be so long. Below are some of the sights of yesterday’s event and what I was able to sample:

Pork Sisig Tacos from Hapa SF

Melon, Duck Prosciutto, and Lardo Salad from Flour + Water

Pork Sausage with Butter Bean Salad from Flour + Water

Curtis Kimball of @cremebruleecart armed with his torch

Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée from @cremebruleecart

Chef Mourad of Aziza busy on the Grill

Fried Chicken with Harissa from Aziza

El Porteño Empanadas filled with Beef, Olives, Raisins, and Egg

A look at the Kung Fu Tacos truck

A list of all of the participating vendors of yesterday’s event can be found here. To learn more about La Cocina and the SF Street Food Fest, visit their FAQ on their website.

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Coverage of the 29th Annual Santa Cruz Clam Chowder Cook Off & Festival

Lando — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:19:26 +0000

Saturday wasn’t your typical day at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. It was time to celebrate the 29th Annual Clam Chowder Cook Off & Festival, where individuals, restaurants, and organizations compete for the title of best clam chowder. All of the festivities efforts go to raise money for the City of Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation Department programs.

Rain or shine, we were going to cover the event as Foodie Correspondents thanks to Foodbuzz. Thankfully, the weather stayed dry throughout Saturday’s festival where the crowds of hungry chowder fans walked the Boardwalk in search of the best Manhattan and Boston clam chowders. Booths were all set up attracting crowds. Some simple, others with playful themes like dancing mermaids or Oompa Loompas complete with a Willy Wonka commanding the crowd. It was all about checking out each booth because to try out the chowder, you had to give up one of five of your precious tasting tickets from your tasting kit.

Just like last year’s festival, we walked the Boardwalk just before the public tasting began to see the final prep work being completed.

You could see contestants busily mixing up their batches of chowder, chopping the remainder of their ingredients, and setting up for the rush of people ready to come to their booth. I can recall the smell of bacon permeating the air at one of the booths. Seeing all of this action was enough to get anyone excited to eat.

Right when 1:00 P.M. hit, it was time for the public tasting. Armed with our tasting kits – which included 5 tasting tickets, a People’s Choice Ballot card, reusable chowder cup, and spoon – we began to line up. We sampled chowder from all three divisions: individuals, corporate/media, and professional, to get a balanced selection of different chowders. Below is what we were able to try.

Draeger Construction
Boston: This was the booth where I smelled bacon being fried, so I wanted to line up here first. Bacon fans would rejoice to the plentiful bacon bits. To complement the bacon, you had plenty of chunks of clams, potatoes, and celery.

Manhattan: Just like their Boston chowder, their Manhattan chowder was chunky. The taste of sweet tomatoes shined through.

Mom’s Clam Diggers
Boston: Right away, just visually the differences can be seen between Mom’s Clam Diggers’ chowder and Draeger Construction’s chowder. We noticed that their chowder wasn’t thick at all, but more of a lighter cream broth with a smokey and peppery finish.

The Clamtone Cruzers
Boston: It was back to the thicker Boston chowder with The Clamtone Cruzers. It seemed that the flavor mainly came from herbs they must have used.

Cabrillo Culinary Arts
Manhattan: Those who like a little heat would have enjoyed this Manhattan chowder. The chowder was bold and spicy.

Boston: On the other hand, Cabrillo Culinary Arts’ Boston chowder had a very sweet finish.

Aegis of Aptos
Boston: Strangely enough, the last Boston chowder that we sampled was almost a combination of every Boston chowder that we had. Both sweet and smokey, every bite reminded me of what I had throughout the afternoon. Almost the perfect way to end it.

We went to the festival not looking for the best… That’s left for the judges to decide. We were there more for enjoying everyone’s take on clam chowder and appreciating all of the uniqueness each competitor brought to the cook off. Whether they were cooking clam chowder based from passed down family recipes or just a plan amongst a circle of friends, everyone was out to have a good time.

Below is the list of the winners of the 29th Annual Santa Cruz Clam Chowder Cook Off & Festival:

Best Professional Boston
1st Place – Severino’s Grill, Chef Antonio Gomez (Aptos)
2nd Place – Blackboard Catering, Chef Clint Hughey (Santa Cruz)
3rd Place – Lil Biscuit House, Chef Martin Krawetz (San Mateo)

Best Professional Manhattan
1st Place – Severino’s Grill, Chef Miguel Ponce (Aptos)
2nd Place – Blackboard Catering, Chef Clint Hughey (Santa Cruz)
3rd Place – Cabrillo College Culinary Arts, Chef Danny Pena (Aptos)

Best Individual Manhattan
1st Place – “Little Kahuna” – Brad Winding (Castro Valley)
2nd Place – “Dragonmama’s Red” – Michelle Ber (Fremont)
3rd Place – “Mitchell’s Chowder” – Zack Mitchell (Santa Cruz)

Best Individual Boston
1st Place – “Ye Oldde Cape Codders” – Darin Wallace (Oak Grove)
2nd Place – “Clam Rock” – Chris Hirz (San Jose)
3rd Place – “Clamma Lamma Ding Dongs” – Amy Gilmore (Roseville)

Best Corporate
1st Place – Dominican Hospital (Santa Cruz)
2nd Place – Jerry’s of Hollister (Hollister)
3rd Place – MYC Delta Clammers (Martinez)

Most Original Team
1st – Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing (Santa Cruz)
2nd – Dominican Hospital (Santa Cruz)
3rd – Cocoanut Grove Castaways (Santa Cruz)

People’s Choice
Professional: Severino’s Grills (Aptos)
Corporate: Dominican Hospital (Santa Cruz)
Individual: Grandma’s Clam Digger (Aptos)

Most Tasted
Professioinal: Carmona’s BBQ & Deli (Watsonville)
Corporate: Draeger Construction (San Jose)
Individual: Rosie’s Clam & Get it (Soquel)

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Foodbuzz Dinner & Awards Ceremony at the Green Leaf Produce Warehouse

Lando — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:55:54 +0000

Just when you thought we couldn’t eat anymore… Foodbuzz treats us to a dinner and awards ceremony at the Green Leaf Produce Warehouse.

Seasoned Shrimp Chips, Kimchi & Pickled Vegetables, Mushroom Dashi, Udon with Grilled Monterey Calamari

Salmon with Fried Garlic and Japanese Curry Powder

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Soy Braised Beef Cheeks and Oxtails

A special thank you goes out to Foodbuzz, Outstanding in the Field, Green Leaf Produce, and the team at Namu.

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Foodbuzz Blogger Festival – Morning at the Market and Afternoon Taste Pavilion Photos

Lando — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:26:37 +0000

I’m sure all of the food bloggers who attended this weekend’s festival are exhausted. I know that I’m still recovering from the food frenzy of events and eating.

Rose and I started off with a little breakfast from Rose Pistola & Café at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, followed by a California olive oil tasting session, and then finally we ended up at the Metreon for the Afternoon Taste Pavilion event. Here, there were plenty of goods available from Foodzie vendors to sample, wine seminars, food demos by several Foodbuzz Featured Publishers, and plenty of eating going on. Here’s a look at some of Saturday afternoon’s events.

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The First Annual Foodbuzz Blogger Festival – Day 1

Lando — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:58:33 +0000

What an amazing first night to kick off the weekend. Food bloggers from all over all gathered together for this one special weekend. Amidst the crowd of unfamiliar faces, we still managed to say hello to familiar food blogger friends Inuyaki, Jo, and Chrystal & Amir. It was also great to meet other local Bay Area food bloggers, YummySF and Kitchen M.

Below is just a sample of how the night went during the Taste of SF Street Food “Fare” event at the Ferry Building. Lots of…

… great food. It awesome to see food bloggers all come together to celebrate our passion and dedication to writing about food. What’s the best way to reward our hard work? By eating and drinking, no doubt. By the looks on everyone’s faces, everyone looked like they were having a good time just being a part of the event. I have to hand it to Foodbuzz for starting the festival this way. It gives other food bloggers who aren’t from the Bay Area just a sample of how San Francisco does street food. I can’t wait to see how the rest of the weekend will unfold. Cheers to more good food and drink…

Below was taken from my attempt to do a live blog coverage for the event:

The first annual Foodbuzz Blogger festival is about to kick off in just a few hours. First on the agenda is a meet and greet at Hotel Vitale at 5:00 P.M.

We’re going to try to do a live blog coverage of today’s festivities as the night carries on. See you all there.

Check back later for more updates.

We just arrived at the Hotel and checked in. The give away bags they are handing out are stuffed with some good things.

Going to the Ferry Building next!

Chowing on so much food. The Hog Island Oysters are delicious.

Tacolicious!

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Feasting the Streets of San Francisco’s Street Food Festival

Lando — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:04:52 +0000

The crowds were in full effect on Saturday at San Francisco’s Street Food Festival. Street food vendors and restaurants gathered together on Folsom Street, in front of La Cocina, to celebrate the city’s growing affinity for street food culture. From Curry to Adobo, the number of food carts tweeting their locations to hungry city roamers is on the rise. Who can blame them? This city embraces great food and will go out of their way in search of it.

We arrived at noon to pickup our passports. From there, we had to make our way through the crowds (again) and finally said to ourselves that we would go back later in the day to see if the crowds would die down. Fast forward three hours later and the crowds were still there. That wasn’t the worst part. Some of the food that we wanted to try began to run out. No oysters from Poleng Lounge or hot dogs from Chef Jaime for us.

The time to hit all of the vendors was impossible, so you were left to carefully chose what you wanted to eat. Knowing you could be in line for more than 30 minutes added to how important that decision would be. Although their offerings sounded good, we ended up skipping booths like Delfina and Aziza because we had already had a taste of their food at their restaurants. All of us wanted something new to try.

Looking back, we knew the lines would be long, but with enough patience you were rewarded with good grub.

To start things off, a couple of sandwiches from Kasa. On the left is the Kati “Bun”, which was supposed to be charbroiled chicken, wrapped in roti, but Kasa ran out of roti and served it on a bun instead. On the right is a Pav Bhaji – a serving of spiced potatoes on a bun, which reminded me of a samosa. Both stayed true in being classic street food dishes from India.

We were in line sipping on Black Milk Tea from Slanted Door, while waiting for…

Slanted Door’s Lemongrass Pork Vermicelli Bowl. Tender barbecued pork was served on top a bed of vermicelli mixed with their sweet fish sauce. I haven’t ate at any of Charles Phan’s restaurants yet, but this small sample is making me want to.

We had a quick dessert before we left – A smore from Kika’s Treats. One fluffy marshmallow between dark chocolate and Kika’s famous caramelized graham crackers.

You could say that La Cocina accomplished what they set out to do – getting San Francisco together for the love of enjoying food. I would call it a crème brulee-baconwrappedhotdog-chickensandwich-slowroastedpork-vermicellibowl-oyster-smores-n-tacos feasting extravaganza. If you haven’t found out by now, this city loves to eat.

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SF Chefs. Food. Wine. 2009 – Urban BBQ & Chocolate Enchantment After Party in Union Square Coverage

Lando — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:31:23 +0000

Saturday night, the heart of San Francisco’s Union Square was transformed into a spectacular food centric event featuring some of the city’s chefs and local wineries for the Urban BBQ Night. This wasn’t your ordinary barbecue, but a showcase of many chefs’ culinary talent with their takes on backyard cuisine.

Right from the moment you enter the venue, you are surrounded by all of the food, wine, and cocktail booths. To put it simply, “Where do I go? What do I eat first? Cocktail? Sure!” is the first thing to spring up in your head. With so much to choose from, several tours around the venue was the best approach. A little bite here. Stop. A little cocktail there. Stop. With of course, the occasional water break in between.

Throughout the night people rocked out to a Bay Area chefs band, The Back Burner Blues Band, for the Gumbo Jam. Not your ordinary jam session, but a food inspired session, where each member of the band contributing ingredients to a batch of gumbo being cooked. You also had several Bay Area artists busily working on pieces of art on their canvases as the night drew on.

Music and art may be one slice of this party, but you can’t have a barbecue without…

Starting from the top-left, going clockwise: Indulging in a Delectable Cake from Absinthe, a Dungeness Crab Chowder from the Blue Mermaid Chowder House, an Andouille Sausage Roll from 1300 on Fillmore, and BBQ Pulled Pork Shoulder Sliders with Slaw from Anchor & Hope.

A Short Rib Slider Coated in a Port Veal Reduction from Sears Fine Foods, Featured Wine from Wente Family Estates, Albacore Tuna Sashimi and a Refreshing Sweet Mint Watermelon Salad from Betelnut.

An Endless Array of Pastries from Eatz Catering, Niman Ranch Baby Back Ribs Glazed with Honey and Ginger from La Colonial, and a Hearty Chicken and Black Eyed Peas Soup from the San Francisco Soup Company.

A Smoked Catfish with Sweet Corn Bite from Miss Pearl’s Jam House, Pork Sliders, and Sweet Shrimp and Watermelon Salad, both from Urban Tavern.

Buckeye Road House Standing Out with Their Dungeness Crab Sliders – Not Pork! And, Ahwahnee Hotel’s Smoked Diestel Ranch Turkey Sopes.

Liqueur Infused Mojito Sorbet from Silver Moon Desserts, an Assortment of Chocolates from TCHO, a Serving of the Gumbo from the Gumbo Jam, and finally, a Sloppy Bob Featuring Ground Angus Beef on a Freshly Baked Bun from Best-O-Burger.

You can imagine seeing everyone bouncing booth to booth, eager to try what was available.

Cocktails from some of the city’s bars were also available to sample. The sound of cocktails being shaken can get you thirsty.

Cocktails from Nopa, Mojitos from 15 Romolo, Bourbon & Branch, and Sweet Pepper Margaritas from Cantina.

Just before the night came to a close, Chef and DJ Hubert Keller took the stage. Not only can you see him slicing it up on Top Chef Masters, but you can catch him on the turntables and hyping up the crowd, bringing on good vibes until the night came to an end. By looking at the expressions on the faces of those who attended, you could see that everyone was having a good time.

If this is what to expect if you invited some of these chefs to your own backyard, then by all means come on by place and I’ll provide the grill. I could only imagine if my own barbecues were as exciting as this one.

Just when you thought the evening was over, the Chocolate Enchantment after party was getting started atop the Westin St. Francis Hotel which gave a breathtaking view of city.

A decadent selection of Recchiuti and Ghirardelli chocolates were available. And any dessert lover would’ve been astounded by the beautiful display of chocolate confections by Pastry Chef Jean-Francois Houdre.

This was only one part of San Francisco’s, SF Chef. Food. Wine. event, that took place August 6th to the 9th. A special thanks to Foodbuzz for allowing us to provide coverage of last night’s event.

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Your Local Bay Area Spice Hound

Lando — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:49:55 +0000

Tammy of Spice Hound can guide you through the world of herbs and spices. Based out of Sunnyvale, this local Bay Area company goes out in search of herbs, spices, and salts from across the globe. You might just come across something that you can’t find at your local grocery store just by browsing Spice Hound’s Online Store.

Tammy and I met this weekend at the Connoisseur’s Marketplace in Menlo Park. The array of salts that Tammy had on display was enough to stop me in awe.

Sure I was familiar with a few special salts like Fleur de Sel and Pink Hawaiian Salt, but nothing like what Spice Hound had on display. More exotic choices like Porcini Mushroom Sea Salt, Black Truffle Sea Salt, and Hawaiian Black Lava Sea Salt, is a sample of what kind of salts you can expect from Spice Hound. To know that Spice Hound had salts that were infused with these amazing flavors was incredible. You don’t have to be a gourmet cook to try out these salts either. Just let your creative cooking self out or follow what the label suggests. I was tempted to buy a jar of the Porcini Mushroom Salt after reading that it would be wonderful for risotto. I could only imagine the aroma that the salt would have created.

Tammy and I talked about how her interest in salts before the food trend of specialty salts being the “it” thing. Whether it’s being ahead of food trends or just having a genuine passion for what she does, Tammy is in the right business. It shows. I said to myself, “Who else better to talk to than the team of Spice Hound, when you’re in search of specialty salts or spices.”

You can check out some of Spice Hound’s offerings on their website. Or better yet, try to see Tammy in person at one of the following farmers markets:

Thursdays 4-8 P.M. in San Carlos (on Laurel St. between Cherry and Olive St.)

Fridays 10 A.M.-2 P.M. in Downtown San Jose (San Pedro Square)

Saturdays 8 A.M.-1 P.M. in Palo Alto (Gilman between Hamilton and Forest St.)

Sundays 9 A.M-1 P.M in Campbell (Campbell Ave. at Central Ave.)

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