When you think of fast food, you probably imagine gigantic multi-national corporations churning out unhealthy, mass-produced food that is high in fat and low in quality. San Francisco, one of the most vibrant cities in the country, is no place to try out a McDonald’s hamburger! However, if you’re on the go and uninterested in a sit-down lunch, there’s another quick way to get good, locally made meals: the newly popular food truck culture. In a city that is renowned for its walking food tours and special foods, the trucks are a great way to experience San Francisco as the locals know it.
Food trucks have become very popular over the past few years in California; the mobile kitchens are capable of producing fresh food to hungry locals, and the ease of transport means that a truck can go to customers instead of the other way around. Spreading word through social media and word of mouth, the trucks can set up shop at festivals, events, and even a parking space. They are cheaper to rent or own than a commercial space, which makes them good options for small business owners. The collaborative feeling between truck owners provides a unique market atmosphere, with more cooperation and less competition. The Truck Stop, at Mission Street between 1st and Fremont, is an open lunch space that hosts a rotation of popular vendors each day, making every lunch hour a new culinary experience. Off The Grid has become the go-to advocacy organization for food trucks; it has opened fifteen market spaces all over California where vendors can gather regularly. It also schedules and organizes Food Pods, where 1-4 trucks will gather in selected neighborhoods to serve meals at peak hours when demand is highest.
What can you get from a food truck? Depending on the vendor, the answer is virtually anything your taste buds desire. Bacon Bacon is a San Francisco favorite, whose primary ingredient is pretty obvious! There are vendors specializing in crème brulee, Filipino fusion, authentic tacos, homemade hamburgers, and even edible insects! The portable, small-scale nature of the food truck allows the vendor to focus on more specific types of cuisine, rather than trying to juggle a large restaurant-style menu that may not be the chef’s specialty.
However, 2012 was a tense year for the rapidly growing food truck industry in California; while House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called them a “model for small business innovation,” there was significant opposition to the mobile vendors. It came from traditional restaurants worried about lost revenues from rent-free competitors, and from educators who claimed that food trucks were counterproductive to the state’s efforts to introduce healthy school lunch programs. Assemblymen proposed a bill which would ban the food trucks from vending anywhere within 1500 feet of an elementary, middle, or high school between 6am and 6pm; the confusing permit process for trucks created lots of headaches for truck owners and restaurateurs alike. The bill would have banned food trucks from roughly 80% of San Francisco’s streets; after public outcry, it was withdrawn from the legislature.
2013 has seen even more growth in food truck culture. Supervisor Scott Wiener has proposed legislation that would appeal to both restaurants and trucks, calming the tension between the industry leaders. Rules would include not allowing trucks to park near restaurants that have similar menu items, and would allow trucks to park in new areas of the city, like hospital and university campuses, while reducing the distance ban near high schools. There are still a lot of details to be worked out, like providing designated truck parking spaces and reworking the permit systems, but it’s clear that food trucks are here to stay. These on-the-go meal vendors are quickly becoming a beloved and vital part of San Francisco’s culinary identity.
by sffoodie at February 16, 2013
The Secrets of Your Local Barista
One of the highlights of a Local Tastes of the City tour is the chance to taste some authentic Italian espresso from the cafes in North Beach. While Seattle was the birthplace of the Starbucks domination, San Francisco was actually one of the first places where Italian coffee culture came to America and had a chance to thrive. Initially a niche product, espresso drinks and coffee bars are now on every corner. While our parents’ summer jobs may have involved delivering papers or flipping burgers, many young people are getting their early work experiences making lattes and cappuccinos. Because the industry is still so new, the perspective from behind the counter is still relatively unknown to many cafe patrons. But once you’ve been a barista, you will never forget what you wish you could tell your customers. Here are some of the secrets of the baristas we know.
Caffeine Content
If you’re bleary-eyed, a strong dark roast coffee might sound like the perfect jolt to wake you up. Most coffee shops offer at least two roast levels of black coffee for their customers. But while the darker blends may taste stronger, they actually have slightly less caffeine than the light roasts. The roasting process burns off some of the caffeine and water content in the beans. However, the difference between levels is relatively small, so go with the flavor you like best.
And what about a shot of espresso? Some people swear that espresso actually has less caffeine than a standard cup of coffee. This is both true and false, mostly because coffee beans and grinds vary so widely from one cafe to the next. First of all, espresso is not a type of bean; it is a method of production, and can technically use a lot of different coffee beans at various roast levels. While a cup of espresso has about the same amount of caffeine as a cup of brewed coffee, the serving size is much smaller and the caffeine will be in a higher concentration. What is certain, though, is that the hot milk in your latte will likely make you drowsier instead of more alert in the morning!
The Key to a Perfect Latte
Many people have their preference for a latte; a pump of vanilla syrup, some fat-free milk, or an extra shot of espresso. But the best-tasting and most authentic lattes use whole milk; the fat content is the key to steaming milk that can be used in latte art, which is a sign that it’s perfectly made. A skim milk cappuccino is nearly impossible to properly make because the milk just won’t foam enough. And those sugar-free flavor syrups still have a lot of chemicals in them; just because the calorie content is lower doesn’t mean that it’s good for you to have four pumps of hazelnut in that latte.
by sffoodie at December 25, 2012
Lattes and Cappuccinos: The Steamy Truth
Espresso drinks have become so ubiquitous in recent years that it’s almost impossible to remember how novel they were in America. Starbucks was the first to offer lattes and cappuccinos to a mass customer base, but now every coffee shop has a hissing espresso machine and a new subculture has sprung up around prizing the “authentic” versions of drinks. While you might have ordered a pumpkin spice latte or caramel macchiato hundreds of times, you might not realize that there is a definite difference between all of these espresso drinks, and some of them are very different in their original Italian form. While all of these drinks contain espresso shots and milk, they are all unique; indeed, it’s remarkable how so much diversity can arise from such simple ingredients.
Latte
Perhaps the most popular espresso drink, the caffè latte has many names and many definitions. Coffee and hot milk have been a part of European dietary habits since at least the 1600s; the French enjoy café au lait, the Spaniards have café con leche. The basic Italian caffè latte consists of a shot of espresso and steamed milk, with a small layer of wet foam on top. Expert baristas can create latte art when the espresso is thick and the milk is steamed just right, which allows them to pour out a design using the microfoam.
Cappuccino
The cappuccino is the latte’s thicker cousin, with far more foam on the top layer of the drink. The traditional proportions call for a cup to be one-third espresso, one-third milk, and one-third wet foam on top. The cappuccino is named for the Capuchin friars of Vienna; their brown robes supposedly resembled the color of coffee with a few drops of hot cream. Some coffee chains offer cappuccinos with dry milk foam on top instead of the traditional shiny wet foam. An authentic wet cappuccino is actually one of the most difficult drinks to make successfully, as it requires careful attention to achieve the correct ratio of foam to milk.
Americano
The Americano got its name during World War II, when American soldiers would pour hot water into their coffees to resemble American drip consistency. An Americano consists of a shot of espresso topped with boiling water, which dilutes the flavor. While it may look similar to percolated brew, the taste remains quite distinct. Some places call this drink a Long Black, and gently pour the espresso shot on top of the hot water, rather than adding the water to the espresso. This method preserves the crema in the drink, resulting (according to some) in a slightly more full-bodied flavor. Either way, it’s delicious!
by sffoodie at December 18, 2012