Great Contest – From Daily Candy Making to Daily Candy

By Susie, 17 August, 2010,

It only takes a few minutes to enter and winning either of these food contests would be a boon to any small business:

1) For those wanting to grow their food businesses, enter the Daily Candy contest: “Each winner will receive $10,000 each, be flown to New York City for a one-day small business intensive with industry bigwigs and a party in their honor on October 28, and get (at least) fifteen minutes of fame.” Most importantly, once you’ve been candied your life will never be sweeter.

Just today the Wall Street Journal published a story about women transitioning from more traditional careers into starting fun* food businesses – the time honored story of so many new food businesses. And now imagine if they won.

*One of them “drives a pink Scion she calls “The Fudgemobile,” with the Fat Ass donkey logo.”

2) And for those focused on “real” food, whatever the business goal, the Good Food Awards are a must enter for makers of beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, coffee, pickles and preserves that are exceptionally delicious and also support sustainability and social good.

The Elmwood in Berkeley – Come for Jeremy’s, Stay for the Food

By Susie, 16 August, 2010,

In French “ici” means here. In Berkeley Ici means “ice cream made here,”, long lines, and happy faces. The last time I was on this block of the Elmwood, it had quite a ghostly feeling of not having much there, there. The old hardware store’s future seemed questionable. A few places were vacant. The rebirth of this wonderful part of Berkeley surrounded by many brown shingle Craftsman homes is thrilling, much like North Berkeley / Gourmet Ghetto’s evolution. The Elmwood shopping area is just a few blocks long, centering around Ashby (an easy exit off Highway 80) and College Ave.

The Elmwood Cafe lets you vote for which charity 50% of its profits should go to. Oh and they serve up great coffee in an old soda fountain / drug store.

At Summer Kitchen, Charlene and Paul hope “guests feel that our Summer Kitchen is an extension of their own kitchen.”

A wine shop and new food market further spice up this vibrant chunk of college. (In fact the other day I joked with someone we spent an extensive evening in a 50 feet area, from a cafe, to a restaurant, to the Elmwood Theater.)

Many long time businesses are equally exciting as the new life:

Nabalom Bakery on Russell St. off of College is a very very old and amazing bakery with buttery pastries – filled with fresh fruits, cheese, and other delights. You can also find at Philz Coffee, both in San Francisco and North Berkeley (as far as I know). They also have wifi.
Body Time used to be called the Body Shop, before the Body Shop came to the U.S. Celebrating their 40th anniversary, they make wonderful natural bath and body products and will customize to your own blend. The China Rain is a favorite.
And of course Jeremy’s, for bargain designer clothing and shoe shopping for men and women. (A new designer consignment store just opened too, in a space formerly occupied by a car repair place, on Ashby.)
A string of long-time, tiny restaurants lead up to Jeremy’s. My friend dreams of Holy Land falafels, which I tried recently and found fabulous. And did you know it’s possible to find $2.75 sushi maki rolls at Manpuku? Jam packed too.
We mustn’t forget Dream Fluff donuts, a long time maker of Homer Simpson’s faves that also features a full breakfast for $4.99.

What are some not-to-be-misseds that I missed? There’s really too much to list!

Jeremy's clothing store Elmwood Cafe ici ice cream flavors Summer Kitchen and the block

East Bay Underground Market Goes Outdoors

By Susie, 10 August, 2010,

ForageSF organized another successful underground food market. This first east bay market took place in an Oakland parking lot on 24th street near Broadway. Hungry and curious foodies waited for new and different tastes, in a line that was much shorter than previous San Francisco events, thanks to the gloriously airy outdoor parking lot.

Read more in my post on Oakland Local. In the meantime, experience my banana cream tart and other foods…

Click a photo to enlarge…

Homeroom Cooks Up a Community-Powered Mac & Cheese Restaurant

By Susie, 10 August, 2010,

9/9/10 Update: Homeroom 510 is a Top 10 contender for Daily Candy’s small business $ award. Given they exceeded their Kickstarter funding goal, if Homeroom 510 wins, we’ll all be enjoying their mac & cheese for years!

If Homeroom were a student they’d be kicked out of class for all the noise they’re making. And the restaurant isn’t even open yet. The team’s efforts are a great example of reaching out to the community to make their dream of an all mac & cheese restaurant in Oakland a reality.

They’re at the ForageSF Underground Markets building up a clientele in advance.

Homeroom at the East Bay Underground Market

They’ve got a Kickstarter project to raise money for their finishing touches. For a mere $10 donation you get a future mac & cheese as thanks, a wise investment.

And they even got threatened by McDonald’s, one of my perennial publicity ideas.

Their Twitter stream reads like a MacGyver plot. I mean HomeroomGyver plot. Overall an A+ + + for marketing through community involvement – the perfect strategy, whether planned or not, for a restaurant revolving around comfort food.

LA Food Fest – A Taste of Street Food Trucks

By Susie, 3 August, 2010,

The LA Food Fest in July was a glorious celebration of mobile food businesses and old school Mexican food trucks, dishing out generous portions of artisan ice creams, dim sum, sweet potato fries, and ethnic foods from around the world. (Street food is so hot in LA it’s become part of the dating scene. “My truck or yours?”)

Coolhaus made me want to move to LA

Even for those on a budget, the Food Fest was truly a great value for unlimited tastings from tons of trucks, as well as addictive nut butter crunch from my friends at p.o.p. candy. (It was fun handing out samples to foodies, glaze-eyed from this fabulous food orgy yet as they stood in line for ice cream.)

Click a photo to enlarge…

You Ate the Food Now Check Out the Art

At the Renegade Craft Fair I couldn’t get enough of 3 Fish Studios – particularly their linoleum block prints of real food trucks in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Both in black and white and in some versions hand painted with color, they’re an awesome homage to the street food scene.