San Francisco Genuine / Popular / Local Foods?

[Korianne]

For those of you who live in or travel to San Francisco frequently, please let me know what foods are an "absolute must" try.... what says "SF best" and is usually recommended to tourists? Any suggestion will be highly appreciated! Thanks a lot.

[hyperbowler]

Dutch crunch bread didn't originate in San Francisco, but it's especially prevalent here, and would probably be a novelty to those not from Northern California.

[Robert Lauriston]

People from other areas might know it as tijgerbrood, pao tigre, or mottled bread.

[Spenbald]

Is there a perfectly crunchy Dutch Crunch roll/bread in the area? I've tried Semifreddi's a couple of times, and while the bread is perfectly fine, it didn't have the crunch I was expecting. Theirs seems to be the one I see most often, so I'm wondering if there are others I'm missing.

[hyperbowler]

I've been eating dutch crunch for about ten years, and never really gave it much thought. I made my above comment after eating a delicious dutch crunch roll from Haight Street market's sandwich counter yesterday. Wow. The crust was thick, sweet, memorable, and especially crunchy. I'll ask where they source it next time I head there. I doubt it, but I could imagine it being a Semifreddi's roll that was toasted in a way I haven't had before.

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Semifreddi's
4242 Hollis St, Emeryville, CA

[hyperbowler]

I stand corrected--- Wedemeyer Bakery makes the dutch crunch at Haight Street.

[Korianne]

rworange, you got it me! I am researching for a contribution I am making to the Food Wiki, maybe you heard of it: MyCityCuisine. I hope you guys don't mind if I'm going to include your suggestions in the dish list I already started making for San Francisco. I also found previous threads and they helped a lot. If anyone is curious about what I have done so far, check this out: http://www.mycitycuisine.org/wiki/San... It might not be entirely accurate, but as this is an open project anybody can contribute / change / delete so please feel free to do any of those. If you have some other suggestions, I will be happy to include them there. Thanks again!!

[Robert Lauriston]

local specialties worth seeking out:
Mission-style burrito
cioppino
sand dabs
Rex sole
Dungeness crab
BBQ oysters

famous dishes of local origin:
Hangtown fry
Joe's Special
Green Goddess dressing
crab Louis
celery Victor
fortune cookies
crab Rangoon
warm goat cheese salad
Martini cocktail (debatable)

often misidentified as of local origin:
Irish coffee
chowder in bread bowl

[lrealml]

Just curious, but do you consider sour dough bread (minus the chowder) an SF food or do you think it is misidentified as well?

[Robert Lauriston]

People have been making sourdough bread for thousands of years. How distinctive the local style once was and whether anyone still makes it is debatable:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/671481

[Paul H]

Robert, can you provide a pointer to a source for "warm goat cheese salad" originating here? Thanks.

[Glencora]

Google the history of Chez Panisse. Wikipedia says it was invented there in the late 70s.

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Chez Panisse
1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709

[Robert Lauriston]

It's hard to prove a negative, but I haven't found any reference to it before Chez Panisse started serving the dish in 1981. "Alice's idea of warm goat cheese in a salad was apparently unprecedented. 'There may have been baked goat cheese in France,' she says, 'but I don't think anybody had ever combined it with a salad.'"—Thomas McNamee, "Alice Waters and Chez Panisse"

http://events.nytimes.com/recipes/2472/1983/06/12/Alice-Waterss-baked-goat-cheese-with-salad/recipe.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/18/din...

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Chez Panisse
1517 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94709

[mariacarmen]

on my 3rd trip to Paris in 1999, i had a salad with warm goat cheese. so are we assuming it had made its way from Berkeley to France (among other places) by then?

[Robert Lauriston]

McNamee goes on, "The salad has proved so popular that it is now seen on a good many bistro menus in France ...."

[rworange]

I see from your only other post that you are collecting info for a project. Is this for a newspaper article, blog, school, wikipedia ... what?

[rworange]

Some starts. If you search the board, this topic has been discussed in the past.

1 Appetizers

Local oysters

2 Soups

Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl (for tourists only)

Artichoke (coastal areas)\

3 Salads

Crab Louie

Green goddess dressing

4 Main courses

Sand dabs

Dungeness crab

Cioppinno

5 Side dishes

Rice-a-roni (kidding ... not really a SF treat)

6 Desserts

It's it Ice creampie

Ollieberry pie

7 Fast food

Taco trucks

8 Street food

Mission style burrito

9 Drinks (Non-alcoholic)

Locally roasted coffee

Chinese tea

10 Drinks (Alcoholic)

Wine (lots of local bouque wineries)

Irish coffee (for the tourist crrowd)

Anchor steam beer (already listed)

Numberous other boutique, local beers

[Robert Lauriston]

An It's It is an ice-cream sandwich made with oatmeal cookies dipped in chocolate. The original was vanilla ice cream. Joe's Ice Cream makes a Joe's It that's much closer to the handmade original than the contemporary mass-produced factory product.

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Joe's Ice Cream
5420 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94121

[rworange]

Good suggestion.

Since the original page lists Rice-a-roni as a main dish ... without irony ...I don't think good is a criteria. ... just "Genuine / Popular / Local "

[Robert Lauriston]

If something's not delicious, that's always relevant on Chowhound, whether the original poster cares or not.

Rice-A-Roni did originate in SF, though it was a national product and I don't think it sold particularly well here.

[sugartoof]

I didn't realize Joe's was hand dipping ice cream sandwiches again. Thanks for the tip.

[Robert Lauriston]

I could be out of date, haven't been there in a while.

[vulber]

went earlier this year and they were

[Windy]

Thank you for asking.

[ROCKLES]

Sourdough Bread!!!
Crab on the Wharf
Chinatown Dim Sum