Hedonia

Leftovers: Stamp out hunger

The Postal Service (the people who deliver your mail, not the band) issue new stamps commemorating indigenous crops of the American Southwest: Peppers, beans, sunflowers, squash and corn. (Thanks, Anita)

Speaking of delivery, never wonder again what to have for dinner. GrubHub.com hooks you up with all the local restos that deliver to your address. (via SFist)

Not in the mood for take out? Too poor to eat high on the hog? Look no farther than your cupboard for some low-fat, high-nutrition pet food. You've had worse things in your mouth, seriously.

Still hungry? Tuck into the world's largest sandwich, weighing in at nearly 7,000 lbs. Besides the field of lettuce and tombstone-like slabs of ham and cheese, what really amazes me are those tremendous slices of bread. How'd they do that?

Elite Café: Bayou by the bay

I've been just dying to go to the Elite Café ever since we learned that Joanna Karlinsky, formerly of The Meetinghouse, had taken over since the renovation. We loved us those Meetinghouse biscuits and jams, yessir. So we made a brunch excursion on Sunday. (When you live in Noe Valley without a car, Pacific Heights may as well be Palo Alto It's a field trip.)

The first thing that strikes you about the Elite is the space -- airy, lofty and nattily appointed in Art Deco details, it's elegant and understated, comfortable yet still a little bit dressed up. Having made a reservation, we were treated to one of the high-backed booths on the side, which although a little tricky to get into, make for a nice, intimate dining experience. The downside is you can't see when a server, or anyone else for that matter, is coming.

We of course ordered up a couple biscuits and some sausage gravy (they come with orange butter, but that was only going to take us so far). The biscuits lived up to our memory -- flaky, buttery, scrumptious. The sausage gravy was ... good, chunky but a tad on the bland side.

Based on our server's recommendation, I went with the small serving of the seafood jambalaya, Paul had the pulled pork sandwich and we split a salad of romaine hearts with a lemon-caper dressing. The jambalaya was again solidly good, with a nice dark roux base. They thoughtfully provided one of those microscopic bottles of Tabasco, every drop of which was needed to bring the spice level up to bare minimum in my book. Paul's pork was great texturally, but again underseasoned, needing a touch more sweetness and quite a lot more vinegar, at least to our tastes. But the same could be said of the cole slaw that came with. The salad was initially underdressed (and again underseasoned) -- until DPaul found a gob of the stuff neatly tucked within one of the romaine leaves.

Still, the service was both attentive and attractive (mind the hunkorama bartenders!) and the experience overall is a pleasant one. They just need to step up to the plate and fulfill their Cajun heritage. Spice it up, folks!

Elite Café
2049 Fillmore St (at California)

Watch it wiggle

What better intersection could there be between the appreciation of all things food and all things San Francisco, particularly on this auspicious anniversary year, than a scale model of the city in wiggly, jiggly Jello? This treasure will be on display -- on a shake table, no less! -- for one day only, April 1, at the Exploratorium. And everyone is all abuzz about it! See more images of the installation in all its Technicolor glory here. (Photo: Liz Hickok via Exploratorium)

(Note: I so want to go to this, but it is the day after my last day at work, so I think the world may just be too shaky already for me on that day.)

In other news, KTVU unearthed a before unseen collection of post-quake photos of San Francisco and the Bay Area. Add it to your list of 1906-related voyeurism.

Eat me: Macarons de St.-Émilions

Our friend Kathleen is a major cookie monster. Knowing she was coming over, and since we were just up in Pacific Heights eating at the Elite Café (notes to follow!), we made a detour down to Boulangerie Bay Bread for what are hands-down my favorite cookies, Macarons de St.-Émilions. Not to be confused with macaroons, macarons are chewy, almond-paste based cookies infused with flavors (and, evidently, coloring), sandwiched around a creamy filling. The flavors are vibrant and true, but perhaps the most surprising element is the brilliant, almost psychedelic colors of the cookies once you bite through the much more muted outside. See, for example, the kelly green interior of the pistachio macarons in the picture above (click to enlarge). But what flavors: The coffee macaron is like chewing on a perfect cappuccino; the caramel is nutty and almost burnt tasting (in a good way); and the lavender is a taste of southern France, very floral yet not perfume-y. A buck fifty a pop, and worth every penny.

Boulangerie Bay Bread
2325 Pine St (at Fillmore)

The butterflies are back!

They're baaaaack: Butterflies have descended en masse once again at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. Hundreds of butterflies will hatch and flitter about within one of the wings of what is in my opinion one of San Francisco's coolest attractions.

Interpretive panels will explain butterflies' role as pollinators, as well as the transformation from chrysalis, blah blah blah ... just come check out the butterflies. We went when they had this display last time, and it is undeniably magical. The above photo was taken by my photographer husband, and more amazing macro shots are available here.

Eat me: Fig bread

Though we love to complain about living in Mayberry Noe Valley, I have to admit that there are a few culinary highlights. Chief among them is the organic fig bread at Noe Valley Bakery. The dense, crusty bread is not at all sweet, but it envelops tremendous chunks of honey-sweet dried figs. My idea of a perfect breakfast is a slice or two of this bread toasted and slathered with butter (or, if you prefer, gorgonzola) with a nice espresso. Noe Valley Bakery makes many other recommendable items, such as an apricot-ginger bread, some delicious and chewy oatmeal-raisin cookies and of course many varieties of loaf bread.

Noe Valley Bakery
4073 24th St, between Noe and Castro