Culinary Pioneers: from San Francisco Gate

[Gifted Gourmet]

article from SF Gate

This is one highly interesting article on how certain food trends begin and develop.

What do sourdough bread, energy bars, microbrewed beer, Rice-a-Roni, the lemon drop cocktail, Hangtown Fry, commercially roasted and ground coffee, mesclun greens and vegetable patches in school yards have in common?

They all started their climb to fame within a fog horn's sound of the Golden Gate.... it's a fortuitous convergence of history, environment and cultural influences that allowed trends to emerge here -- and provided them fertile ground from which to grow and spread.

The last portion of the article talks about specific foods and the way in which they were, and are still being, received.

Are any of the trends here something you have used in your cooking?

I am a big fan of both Ghirardelli and Guittard artisan chocolates and do shop at Williams Sonoma ...

[Carlsbad]

Thanks calling attention to this article. It brought back some fond memories.

[ludja]

Nice article.

At times, San Francisco's attention to matters of the palate takes amusing turns. In what other city would a major daily newspaper put a culinary quest on the front burner -- and the front page? The San Francisco Chronicle did, with a February 18, 1963, banner that screamed "A Public Disgrace -- The Terrible Coffee in S.F.'s Restaurants." The story itself was headlined, "A Great City's People Forced to Drink Swill."

The crusade continued for several weeks. The results: Street sales of the newspaper soared -- and the coffee served in upscale restaurants improved markedly.

It may be time to try this strategy again...

[Gifted Gourmet]

Nice article.

At times, San Francisco's attention to matters of the palate takes amusing turns. In what other city would a major daily newspaper put a culinary quest on the front burner -- and the front page? The San Francisco Chronicle did, with a February 18, 1963, banner that screamed "A Public Disgrace -- The Terrible Coffee in S.F.'s Restaurants." The story itself was headlined, "A Great City's People Forced to Drink Swill."

The crusade continued for several weeks. The results: Street sales of the newspaper soared -- and the coffee served in upscale restaurants improved markedly.

It may be time to try this strategy again...

←

about which foods exactly?

[ludja]

Nice article.

At times, San Francisco's attention to matters of the palate takes amusing turns. In what other city would a major daily newspaper put a culinary quest on the front burner -- and the front page? The San Francisco Chronicle did, with a February 18, 1963, banner that screamed "A Public Disgrace -- The Terrible Coffee in S.F.'s Restaurants." The story itself was headlined, "A Great City's People Forced to Drink Swill."

The crusade continued for several weeks. The results: Street sales of the newspaper soared -- and the coffee served in upscale restaurants improved markedly.

It may be time to try this strategy again...

←

about which foods exactly?

←

Regular coffee after dinner.

It is still amazing how many good top tier restaurants will serve mediocre coffee after an excellent meal. They may or may not be serving a good coffee brand, but the end result is still often a very weak, indifferent cup of coffee. (This problem is not at all relegated to SF; I've heard much comment re: this problem in high end NYC restaurants as well). When it occurs, I've taken to pointing it out at restaurants... i.e. "How was everything?" "The meal was wonderful but we were disappointed by the weak coffee at the end of the meal; it was not at all in keeping with the quality of the rest of the meal..."

[melkor]

The Martini House in St Helena is the only place I can recall being served excellent coffee in the past few years. Sadly, coffee service at restaurants simply isn't a priority.

[Gifted Gourmet]

How about if I return to my initial post and ask Are any of the trends here something you have used in your cooking?

Would enjoy hearing your responses!

[MaxH]

It is still amazing how many good top tier restaurants will serve mediocre coffee after an excellent meal.  ... (This problem is not at all relegated to SF; I've heard much comment re: this problem in high end NYC restaurants as well).

That's a good point, ludja, and it may relate to the way they get their coffee. There's a US "foodservice" tradition of specialty firms providing coffee machines and then furnishing the beans regularly -- roughly like how firms sell/lease office copiers and then provide paper for them. One of the respected local independent coffee roasters (who buys good beans, traveling to Latin America and so on to check them out) was telling me how such a local firm can supply beans to restaurants at prices that meet what the coffee-machine sales reps charge, and provide fresh-roasted 'varietal" beans as well as blends.

It's pleasant to find quality coffee after dinner. Some parts of the world seem to have that ritual down pretty well. (I've also found a good standard of coffee, with a particular twist sometimes for local taste, but anyway a high standard of flavor, around New Orleans in the past.)