Posted by TheShot on 07 May 2010 | Tagged as: Café Society, Local Brew, Roasting
This industrial art space café opened in late 2009 and is easy to miss — despite its size and being across the street from AT&T Park. There are a few French café tables among the front patio and also inside, but inside it is primarily a large art space with white walls and a number [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 22 Oct 2009 | Tagged as: Beans, Home Brew, Local Brew, Restaurant Coffee, Roasting
San Rafael-based Equator Estate Coffees has long been a major enigma for us. They have heavy distribution among high-end restaurants in town — and quite a few on the low-end. But despite the occasional accolades among tastemaker chefs, we just didn’t “get it.” Over the years, we sampled the espresso at well over 30 different [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 25 Jul 2009 | Tagged as: Beans, Local Brew
Saturday mornings in the southern part of the city (my neck of the woods) — amidst a maze of freeways, live chickens in a stupor, and competitive, full-contact roller derby among elderly Chinese-American women (just without the roller skates) — is Alemany Farmers’ Market time. This ain’t no yuppie Ferry Building farmers’ market; this is [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 14 Jan 2009 | Tagged as: Consumer Trends, Local Brew, Roasting
A few things have changed since our last trip report from the Crissy Field Warming Hut. Some of the changes are related to an electric car that mysteriously burst into flames here exactly two years ago; the water damage from putting out the fire shut The Hut down for repairs for most of 2007. But [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 29 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: Beans, Restaurant Coffee
The post title is the question of the day. If I may paraphrase an old quote from a previous post — where we asked, “How does the fool who knows nothing about wine impress his guests?” — the answer is: by buying the most expensive coffee they can find — along with a good story [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 22 Sep 2007 | Tagged as: Beans, Local Brew, Restaurant Coffee, Roasting
La Colombe Torrefaction, a Philadelphia-based roaster that’s been something of an East Coast analog to Blue Bottle Coffee Company, has regularly received national recognition for the quality of their roasted coffee. But on the West Coast, La Colombe may as well be based out of Belgium; they’re largely unknown around these parts. In an attempt [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 14 Dec 2006 | Tagged as: Foreign Brew, Local Brew, Restaurant Coffee
An espresso review for a restaurant where the cheapest item on the dinner menu is $210 may seem a bit irrelevant, but it is important for what it represents: a gold standard for food and wine. Back in September, we reviewed one of San Francisco’s most highly regarded dining establishments, Michael Mina. But to many [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 01 Sep 2006 | Tagged as: Local Brew
The Pearlina tea shop shut down and was replaced by this French bakery/café. At its heart is a great artisan baker who makes extraordinary pastries and breads (and is a true artisan: no cookie cutter stuff here). This is the baker’s only retail outlet, as the French team behind it have supplied some 40 local [...]
[view full post]Posted by TheShot on 14 Feb 2006 | Tagged as: Foreign Brew, Local Brew, Quality Issues, Restaurant Coffee
Over this past weekend, Sarah Gilbert posted in the blog Slashfood that Food & Wine Magazine named Ritual Roasters among America’s top coffee bars: Top U.S. coffee ‘bars’ include La Colombe, Ritual Coffee Roasters – Slashfood. Also honored was Philadelphia’s La Colombe Torrefaction and Manhattan’s Ninth Street Espresso. It’s great to see more people in [...]
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