San Francisco Food Festival 2013…Lasting Impressions

It’s been a few days and I’m starting to recover from my food coma. Last Sunday La Cocina pulled off another amazing event. It was a beautiful day, a little sultry, lots of fun, and well attended as usual. Without going on and on, I just want to share some pictures from the day’s festivities, including a few awards.

2013 “Cronut” Award for the Longest Line-Nombe Izakaya

This years “cronut moment” came in the form of a burger like no other. Nombe’s Ramen Burger was a huge hit and hands down was the longest line of the day for good reason. I had read in Inside Scoop that they were featuring a ramen burger at their popular Mission Street Restaurant. The Burger consists of a 50/50 blend of pork belly and Wagyu beef, caramelized onions, tomato, blue cheese, shio-koji pickled Japanese cucumbers and mizuna, all on a fried “Ramen” bun. It was blissful!  I understand that the Ramenburger is now a regular menu item at Nombe. I hope so…I am looking forward to another. You can find Nombe on the web here.

Twitter update:

Nombe Hey #Ramenburger fans – the Ramenburger is featured for dinner every night. It’s not available at brunch or for takeout. 8/25/13 10:56 AM

2013 New Discovery Award-Clairesquares

Clairesquares are not new; as it turns out she has been in business since 2006. They are only new to me. We were not quite ready to start in on sweets when we came upon Clairesquares. One bite was all it took. Super buttery shortbread is topped with caramel and then topped with Belgian chocolate. These squares are handmade in small batches based on traditional Irish recipes. They are like “cookie crack”. After knocking off a couple bars we went back to get some more because we wanted to share them with friends. Fat chance that is going to happen… we are keeping them for ourselves! Fortunately, they are available at many local markets, and are even available for shipping. You can read about Claire and her fabulous bars on her website here.

2013 Wrong Line Award-Us!

Remind me next year to make sure when I get in a line that I am standing in the right line. The lines were not really bad at all, but like I always say, when you see one, get in it…there is usually a good reason for such a long line. We were going to get some Larb Pork (one of my favorites) from Lers Ros when about half way through we realized we were in the State Bird Provisions line. This was no problem since we wanted to try their Hand-pulled Garlic Bread with Burrata. Paul went over to get some Larb for us to enjoy while we waited for the Garlic bread. They were both perfect. You can check out State bird Provisions here, and check out Lers Ros here.

2013 Honorable Mentions

 

 

With so many participants it is impossible to mention all of the great food and hard work that goes into making this festival such a success.  This wonderful event is not only a lot of fun, but supports a great cause. Here are just a few more shots from La Cocina’s 2013 San Francisco Street Food Festival. If you attended the festival I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. See you next year!