Original Joe’s returning, Psycho Donuts and White House chef dish …
In October 2007, a fast-moving fire did $2 million damage to the beloved Original Joe’s Restaurant in the Tenderloin. A week hasn’t gone by that a reader hasn’t inquired about its reopening. Now, we have the answer.
Real estate entrepreneur-lounge owner Regan Caponi and the Duggan family of the 71-year-old Original Joe’s are in contract to jointly operate the renowned
Original Joe’s Restaurant.
“A few details need to be worked out, probably by tomorrow [Tuesday/yesterday]” said Caponi.
Marie Duggan, the daughter of founder Tony Rodin, her husband John, and their kids will still be central to the operation of the restaurant with Caponi.
Caponi owns the Comet Club at 3111 Fillmore Street and the
Milk DJ Bar-Lounge on Haight Street.
As far as the hotel-apartments above the restaurant, Caponi says they need a lot of work.
If all goes well, everyone can get their mesquite-broiled hamburger steak and zabaione groove on this coming June.
When someone on my walking tour told me about Psycho Donuts in Campbell, my interest was piqued. I interviewed the owners, was sent pictures, but I didn’t have time for a trip to Campbell.
Enter my business partner, Susan Dyer Reynolds, who is from the South Bay and visits friends there often. She tipped into Psycho Donuts, bought a dozen and tasted a teeny bit of each, cutting a notch out of the fried confections. Hey, a girl has to watch her waistline! She gave the rest to her dog’s babysitters. Here is her report:
The donuts are creative for sure — a bit much for me. Tons of goo, nuts and cereal bits. The standards were terrific — really moist and almost creamy inside. They were my faves — the glazed, the chocolate-maple glazed (chocolate glaze with drizzle of maple glaze running through), and my total fave, the "Major Head Trauma" — a jelly donut with a face with x's for eyes and the tongue hanging out and, where the jelly is shot into the donut, the red jelly oozes out of the hole like a bullet wound. Macabre, but tasty. It’s my kind of place.
The owners of Psycho donuts are two techies, Jordon Zweigoron and Kipp Berdiansky. “We are racquetball buddies, and we went for coffee and donuts after a game,” says Zweigoron. They wondered why donut shops were all the same, looked the same, and carried the same donuts. They thought they were all very 1970s.
Here are some of the “out of the ordinary” things the co-psychos are doing:
Employees themed as nurses and psychiatrists
Customers trying on straitjackets in a padded cell
And of course — very crazy and unusual donuts …
Because the owners still have day jobs, hours are limited to mornings Monday through Thursday with extended hours Friday through Sunday.
They almost didn’t recognize me at Yuet Lee, the fab Cantonese-style restaurant at 1300 Stockton Street at Broadway. It was 9 p.m., not 3 a.m. Despite the early hour, I tucked into a few of my favorites: the whole garlic Dungeness crab, Dou miao (the immature tips of snow pea and sugar pea plants, which are plucked as the plant keeps maturing. I eat them stir fried with garlic.), and Hong Kong chow mein (mixed meats and seafood), crispy noodle style. I took a bunch home.
I talked to Timmie Yu, part owner, who said that right now the restaurant is not for sale, despite all the bloggers jumping the gun.
Starting on March 24, they will close for a two-week vacation. When they come back, Timmie’s brother Sam will take more responsibility for the restaurant. In the meantime, Timmie has some health problems and will be taking a break.
“It’s not a good time to sell or look for another space; we’ll hang in there,” said Yu.
Pasta Moto, a fledgling restaurant chain, will open in the Hamilton Market Place (5800 Nave Drive) in Novato late April or early May. The Pirraglia family, who originally owned a restaurant in Abruzzi, Italy, is behind this fast-casual concept.
In this country, they have branches of their upscale Tuscan Oven restaurants in Norwalk, Connecticut and Mount Kisko, New York. The first Pasta Moto opened in 2006 in the Westfield San Francisco Centre food court. The oldest son, Mike, who lives in San Diego, is spearheading the western expansion the next few years.
Besides pasta and pizza served very near my house, I like the idea of 16 wines by the glass.
I also recently slid by Toast in the Hamilton Marketplace. It was brunch, but I didn’t feel like eggs, so I ordered fish and chips. Both the battered fish and french fries must have come from some frozen mass purveyor. It was generic fish and chips you could get at any fast-casual joint. But it was one meal, so I am not ready to write them off yet.
First there was the presumptuous letter from the big foodies, Alice Waters, Ruth Reichl and Danny Meyer imploring the new Prez to hire a slow food-sustainable-organic- leaning chef.
At a party during the inauguration festivities, as reported by Marian Burros in the New York Times, former White House chef Walter Scheib called out Waters on her implied criticism of his successor Cristeta Comerford, who worked with Scheib for several years.
Scheib, the ex-White House chef, explained he has been aggressively defending the organic and sustainable practices of the White House in response to the "suggestions" in the letter. As reported on http://www.eatmedaily.com, Scheib started buying locally from farmers during the Clinton administration.
The White House buys from about 40 different local farmers and co-ops, although for security reasons, this was not widely discussed. If word leaked out that a purveyor was
supplying food to the president, it was immediately dropped from the list — a Secret Service requirement.
It’s a bit annoying to learn that big-time foodies were calling for the head of the first female White House chef, who is also Filipino-American.
Now better informed and reasonable folks, namely Dave Murphy, the co-founder (with Paul Willis) of Fooddemocracynow.org, arranged for a meeting with Tom Vilsack, the new Secretary of Agriculture. Here is a report of the meeting from Slow Food activist and PR queen, Eleanor Bertino:
It took place on February 24 and I was invited by Paul and Dave as one of the original signers of the petition, which received over 87,000 signatures. It began as a petition suggesting candidates for secretary of agriculture, and after Vilsack's appointment, evolved into suggesting candidates for undersecretaries of agriculture.
As I've told a few people, this is the first time in my life I was sitting at the table rather than standing on the steps with a protest sign. Vilsack struck me as very informed, highly intelligent and quite passionate about issues of nutrition and sustainability …
Bertino continued:
We discussed the Child Nutrition Reauthorization, which determines school lunches and the WIC program, both up for renewal in the fall of this year. As noted in the Washington Post, Vilsack feels strongly about childhood nutrition, having been a ridiculed overweight child himself. That being said, I emerged from the meeting believing that while change is possible in a way that it hasn't been for many years, it will require a very strong, united, vocal, mass movement to counter the powerful and well funded food and agriculture lobbies. So, the ball is in our court.
A group also met with Senator Tom Harkin's (D-IA) staff and one of the pluses of that meeting was a suggestion from a young staffer for a moderately priced restaurant for dinner in D.C. Bertino reported:
One of the young staffers was very enthusiastic about 2 Amys. The pizzas were good and the small plates and salads were great — beautiful ingredients, great combinations, obviously devoted to the local, sustainable mantra. We all loved it.
When I’m cruising 24th Street in San Francisco, I have a bunch of favorites, but none more dear than the Belmar Gallinitas (2989 24th St. / at Harrison St.)meat market.
If I’m shopping for food, I skip into the meat market for skirt steak, oxtails, chicken, innards, salt cod, and real rendered lard. Leaving the carniceria, I always pick up a package of the handmade tortillas.
But the other day, I wasn’t in the mood to rattle any pots and pans that night, so I got food to go. In the entry room of Belmar, you can buy lottery tickets, send money to loved ones overseas, and enjoy simple home-style Mexican cooking prepared by the senoras wailing in the back.
For the princely sum of $8.99, I took home almost a quart of birria (goat stew) and a bunch of regular tortillas. For $1.50 more, I got a small container of Spanish rice. They also make a rotating menu of caldo de res (beef soup), menudo (tripe soup), tacos, and tamales.
I spoke with Cesar, the son of the Vasquez family that founded the market in 1961. He knew a friend of mine, Patricia Rose, who is a muralist and works at Precita Eyes, almost next door.
“Ask your friend about the ribs I do on Mondays and Tuesdays,” he said enthusiastically. I’ll be back.
Tourists and locals visiting Muir Woods will be able to enjoy healthful food when the Santa Fe-based Ortega Enterprises, going under the name Cloudless Skies, takes over the concession with a 10-year contract.
The concession stand and gift shop will be closed until May 1 to install a new kitchen and improve the indoor space. The giant food company Aramark of Philadelphia, Penn. has had the contract for 20 years. Coffee and snacks will be available in the interim.
Taste of the Week: Many bloggers, yelpers and chowhounds can’t wait to “discover” the next new taste. That’s all well and good, but consistency has immense value for me.
For more than 30 years, I have been enjoying Liliana Crismani’s Italian cheesecake at Mario’s Bohemian Cigar store. Not that I don’t love New York Jewish deli-style cheesecake, but Italian cheesecake is made with ricotta, not cream cheese. It’s lighter and just as yummy.
I always enjoy it with a cappuccino con VOV at Mario’s. VOV is an egg-based wine drink. It’s like adding a shot of zabaione to your cappuccino. Yum-City! Liliana is the widow of Mario and has always prepared the meatballs, eggplant and pastry for the cafe. Brava!
Email: graceann@yummyletter.com
