wild mushroom/truffle stores in SF?

[alexhills]

I'm cooking thanksgiving for a couple of vegetarians and was thinking I'd go with some kind of mushroom and/or truffle risotto. Can anyone recommend any stores in SF that have nice selections?? Fresh wild mushrooms and the odd proper truffle (summer truffles booooo....) would be especially appreciated... cheers, Alex

[melkor]

There's a mushroom shop at the ferry building. The truffles I saw there yesterday were domestic, but the other mushrooms looked good.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Where do you live? Besides the Ferry Building which Melkor mentioned, the Pasta Shop in Berkeley has a great selection as well. They also carry imported truffles.

Edited to add that when I was at 99 Ranch last weekend, they not only had some great Asian mushrooms (maitake, shiitake, and woodear) as well as chanterelles. Really inexpensive!

Edited November 21, 2004 by Carolyn Tillie (log)

[Randall Stickrod]

There's a mushroom shop at the ferry building.  The truffles I saw there yesterday were domestic, but the other mushrooms looked good.

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The Whole Foods store on California/Franklin is bursting with mushrooms right now. Just saw the biggest display of chanterelles ever.

[jschyun]

I don't know if you have a Japanese store near you, but usually they are stocked with a bunch of different kinds of mushrooms, not sure if they're the kind you want though.

[derricks]

Where do you live? Besides the Ferry Building which Melkor mentioned, the Pasta Shop in Berkeley has a great selection as well. They also carry imported truffles.

An addition to Carolyn's comment. There's also a Pasta Shop in Oakland, part of the Market Hall complex near Rockridge.

[blakej]

I'm cooking thanksgiving for a couple of vegetarians and was thinking I'd go with some kind of mushroom and/or truffle risotto. Can anyone recommend any stores in SF that have nice selections?? Fresh wild mushrooms and the odd proper truffle (summer truffles booooo....) would be especially appreciated...  cheers, Alex

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The mushroom shop at the Ferry Building (Far West Fungi), which others have mentioned, had black truffles from France and a few white ones from Alba last Saturday. The incredible heat wave in Europe last year sent prices sky-high, and they don't seem to have come down much at all this year. Far West was selling white truffles for around $230/oz last weekend. I didn't buy any, but I took a sniff of one little one that they had in its own holder ... it was the most intense truffle smell I've ever experienced. Pretty amazing.

They also had fresh porcini, chanterelles, black trumpets, cinnamon caps, and a few small matsutake. I've been really pleased with everything I've gotten there, though they do charge Ferry Building prices.

[tanabutler]

Far West was selling white truffles for around $230/oz last weekend.  I didn't buy any, but I took a sniff of one little one that they had in its own holder ... it was the most intense truffle smell I've ever experienced.  Pretty amazing.

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I'm surprised they didn't charge for the smell.

I am so glad I can easily live without truffles or foie gras. I know, more for the rest of you, but JeeeeeHOvah.

I'm waiting for someone to brag that their Humvee gets mileage similar to this cost. $230/gas per ounce (or gallon, let's be generous). "Decline and fall of the Roman Empire for $800, Alex?"

On the other hand, I'm friends with some mushroom foragers who are having a great year, though not at the $3700/pound level.

[melkor]

The mushroom shop at the Ferry Building (Far West Fungi), which others have mentioned, had black truffles from France and a few white ones from Alba last Saturday.  The incredible heat wave in Europe last year sent prices sky-high, and they don't seem to have come down much at all this year.  Far West was selling white truffles for around $230/oz last weekend.  I didn't buy any, but I took a sniff of one little one that they had in its own holder ... it was the most intense truffle smell I've ever experienced.  Pretty amazing.

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D'Artagnan has white truffles for $175/oz. Hardly cheap, but even with shipping a fair bit better than the ferry building.

[alexhills]

Well, I shall head to the ferry building this afternoon and report back. $230/ounce might be a little steep for the white truffles..... sigh.... On the UK board people were buying them for around $4500/kg which if my metric conversion is right is about half the price. Fresh porcini seems, indeed, less likely provoke the fall of our new rome... give me truffles over gasoline any day though.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Don't feel bad, Alex. A few years ago, when Shawn asked me what I wanted for a holiday gift, I told him a white truffle. When we looked into the price, Shawn suggested I take up cocaine instead -- it was far cheaper!

[chasmartel]

It may be a little late now (and it isn't in SF), but I've often found a very good selection of mushrooms at a very good prices at Monterey Market in North Berkeley. I bought chanterelles there last Friday at $9.00/pound. I've gotten fresh porcini and black truffles there in the past as well. And with the Monterey Fish Market and Magnani Poultry up the street . . . what a fun trip.

The mushroom seller in the Ferry Building seems pretty good. While higher than Monterey Market, the prices seem to be within the bounds of reason (white truffles notwithstanding).

The mushroom seller at the Marin Farmer's Market, however, is ridiculously overpriced. When Monterey Market was selling chanterelles for $9/pound earlier in nthe fall, the farmer's market price was, I think $25/pound. Just a little rant.

[blakej]

Far West was selling white truffles for around $230/oz last weekend.  I didn't buy any, but I took a sniff of one little one that they had in its own holder ... it was the most intense truffle smell I've ever experienced.  Pretty amazing.

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I'm surprised they didn't charge for the smell.

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Y'know, I would've been willing to pay for that smell. I've joked about that before, at a truffle dinner at La Folie where they brought out the basket of black truffles and let us take a sniff ("that was probably a two-buck sniff right there!"), but the aroma of the white truffle at Far West was truly in a league of its own.

One of my friends, who I took to the Ferry Building for the first time a couple months ago, commented that one of the best things about it was all the free good smells. And while truffles are anywhere in the neighborhood of $230/oz, free smells are all I'm going to be having.

[alexhills]

Well, just made my trip to Far West. It has to be admitted that in a way the process does seem slightly illict, all that weighing and sizing up... However, I bought one very excellent looking fresh porcini, a tub of black trumpets and an Oregon black truffle. The truffle smells pretty nice and potent actually, a good size and texture, $25/ounce. They had euro black and oregon white as well, no imported white at the moment. The oregon white was pretty underwhelming on the nose and they were very small, only $16/ounce. Thanks for the tips on where to go, now looking forward to eating the fellas....

[tanabutler]

Speaking of foraging mushrooms...

Foraging dinner in a redwood grove...

On the menu were chantarelles, porcini, butter bolete (sp?), and candy cap mushrooms. Also wild boar, served five ways. (I like four of them.)

Harold McGee attended, and he was just great.

Edited November 24, 2004 by tanabutler (log)

[fiftydollars]

The Berkeley Bowl is my favorite place to get wild mushrooms, but I doubt they have truffles. The Bowl almost always has a half-dozen different types of wild mushrooms and their prices are really great. The last time I purchased chanterelles there I did so for under $15/lb, which might not sound like a great price to everyone, but it sure did to me. In the past I've purchased morels, lobster mushrooms, as well as your more common shiitake, portobello, etc...

I recommend taking a look if you're looking for wild mushrooms.

I also agree that you should take a look at the place at the Ferry Building for the mushrooms. I got some of the French black truffles a while ago and I would definitely buy them again. I can't wait to try the alba truffles... as for whether I'll work up the courage to put down that much cash...

[fiftydollars]

...the farmer's market price was, I think $25/pound...

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Now that's closer to the type of prices I'm used to looking at...

[Squeat Mungry]

The Bowl almost always has a half-dozen different types of wild mushrooms and their prices are really great. The last time I purchased chanterelles there I did so for under $15/lb, which might not sound like a great price to everyone, but it sure did to me.

Tonight Bi-Rite market on 18th Street in the City had chanterelles for $14 and change per pound. Nice-looking ones, too. Too bad they were not in the budget for today's shopping.

Cheers,

Squeat