11.3
Fire up the Afterburners
Is Four Barrel going to begin roasting soon?
I was in Four Barrel Coffee today and witnessed what, I believe, may be the last piece of the roasting operation puzzle for them. There was a monolithic oriented strand board box sitting smack dab in the middle 
of the front of the house as I walked in. Not long after, a fork-lift (yes, a fork-lift) came rumbling through the (already open, of course) front doors. The owner of the joint was climbing on and around both the forklift and mystery box like Spider Man making sure nothing mussed up his new café’s decor as the box was pulled out the front door. It was the tightest of fits.
When asked about the contents of the, now absent mystery monolith, I was told it was the “after burner” for the roaster. The after burner incinerates all the fine particulate matter thrown off during the roasting process so that it doesn’t make a surprise, sudden toasty mess of one’s roasting operation at a later date.
The missing piece? I’m not sure but, the practice of repackaging all of those (admittedly tasty) Stumptown beans I witnessed a couple employees partaking in today? I’ll bet you it’s days are numbered. Here’s hoping 4B adds another tasty coffee roaster choice to the mix.
10.20
Life’s Little Luxuries
Call me an elitist or a sell-out, but I’ve come to love life’s little luxuries like chairs, tables and bathrooms [...]
– manseekingcoffee
From the mysterious “manseekingcoffee”, on his excellent blog of name same, from his review of the (fairly) recently de-funkified (no more alley location!) Four Barrel Coffee in The Mission in San Francisco.
Of note: Four Barrel is owned and operated by a Ritual alum and, like Ritual’s early days, serves Stumptown coffee. That, my friends, is going to save me an untold amount of shipping costs (and/or airfare, for that matter) in my continuing quest to fill out this blog’s “What I’m Drinking Now” section. Amen to that.
10.19
Blue Bottle in New York
Well, I’ll be, Blue Bottle’s stellar beans have hit New York and have taken up residence in “A Restaurant That Respects Espresso”.
Design + Coffee = Topic Nirvana
Architecture firm Sagan Piechota’s renovated office (and “salon” space as well, apparently) on Linden Lane provides the space for Blue Bottle Coffee’s seminal “bricks and mortar” retail outlet and hopefully, soon, right out front, a nice little alley renovation that will make sipping one’s finely crafted espresso beverage just that much more enjoyable.
9.19
Bella Donovan
What I’m drinking now: Bella Donovan.
From Blue Bottle, natch. “A classic moka-java blend”, indeed: smooth like one, floral/earthy like one. A classic.
9.18
Manteca, Resurgent
After a hiatus, begun nearly 100 years ago, pork fat is back. Tip off by dk.
7.15
A Commodity of Errors
McDonalds is now Starbucks’ main competitor and Starbucks has nobody to blame but themselves. By opening up so many stores and introducing so many “frou-frou” drinks that they commodified the coffee buying experience, Starbucks gutted the value proposition of buying an espresso drink at their stores and, in so doing, created a monster in their own competitive space by inviting the king of commodified food service operaters - McDonalds - into the business of selling coffee. Starbucks has gone for the big middle ground and given McDonalds a new lease on life in becoming the scrappy underdog in the battle for the palettes of middle-america. Good job, Starbucks.
The wonderful thing about all of this is that Starbucks has made plenty of room for the so called “third wave” of coffee to gain a foothold in the marketplace. The commodification process Starbucks has undergone has allowed other shops to compete on the quality of their product. While Starbucks’ focus in making you an espresso drink is to get it in your hands as fast as they can, others are focussing on making sure that the beverage you are holding in your hand is of a certain quality: that the money you just shelled out is reflected in the integrity of the drink. They are bringing the craft back to the espresso bar. Good job, Starbucks.
In honor of the announcement that Starbucks will be closing 600 stores nationwide, a list of posts on Starbucks here at Dan Markham dot net.
6.26
Good Pie
In “On pie”, Dean Allen writes his treatise on the finer points of good pizza. Simple, really: a little skill, a little time, a focus on process, add just a few good ingredients and voila: good pie. Sounds familiar.
6.21
Like Strawberries
I just spent the first three years of my sons life trying to get him not to eat blocks, and now youre telling him they taste like fucking strawberries
– Gabe (last name?)
Kellogs has introduced a new fruit candy for kids called “Lego Fun Snacks”.
Another blatant siphon off of John Gruber’s Daring Fireball.
6.19
What is Good Tequila?
“Ten years in the making”, a short, concise guide to quality tequila. via Daring Fireball
6.9
James Beard & The Bay Area
The James Beard awards (aka “the Oscars of the food world”) were good to San Francisco this year. Craig Stoll of Delfina was named the best chef in California and Hawaii and the owners of Tartine were named the best pastry chefs or bakers in America. Mmmmm … both so good and both of them are in the Mission. Imagine that.
FYI: if you have not been to Delfina’s pizzaria you have not fulfilled your mission here on earth.
4.27
Why is New York-style pizza so difficult to replicate?
On kottke.org, a one-man, one-post discussion – I’ve never seen so many updates in one post – on the real issues surrounding the question of why New York style pizza is so hard to replicate in other parts of the country.
1.16
How to Eat Cupcakes
Split it. Top it. Smoosh it.
A step-by-step guide on how to eat cupcakes by mathowie on flickr.
1.14
A More Expensive Habit
A hop shortage is driving up prices of a very important ingredient in the production beer.
Don’t know what a hop is?. Wikipedia to the rescue.
1.10
Anthony Bourdain @ The A.V. Club
An interview with the pontifical Travel Channel TV star, former chef and author. Wherein Bourdain is surprisingly lenient on Rachael Ray, reliably (but rightly) harsh on Sandra Lee and shows a new flexibility on the whole issue of “selling out”:
And I’m beginning to think that it’s just vanity that’s kept me from selling out, and doing Imodium commercials or something. [Laughs.] I really don’t know why I’ve avoided it. I’m beginning to think it’s for less noble reasons than I have been telling myself.
Don’t do it Anthony. Your unique legacy is intact as long as No Reservations continues to mean that you will try anything, go anywhere and tell it like you see it and not that you’ll shill for anything for the right price.
1.5
McD’s India Menu
It’s still a wonder, where this internet will take you.
From an article in the New York Times on the dying art of the letter writer in Indian culture (worth checking out, I might add):
But for every occupation that vanishes, another is born. There are now mall attendants in a nation that until lately had no malls, McDonald’s cashiers in a country where cows are sacred, and…
McDonalds in India…hmmmm…what do they eat at a McDonlads in India anyway? For your consideration: the menu.
1.2
From Behind the Scenes of Paris’ Hidden Kitchen
@Rion.nu (one of the original photobloggers, apparently), a post on Hidden Kitchen which is a secret supper club in Paris that was created by two Seattle expats.
Wonderful photos of what looks like wonderful food. In Paris, no less.
There are links to other references, from the internets, to this and other secret supper clubs around the world.