Hello!
Having just realized I’ve not even posted here in February I thought I must catch you up a bit before the month runs out. I’ve not been out on San Francisco’s free food circuit much lately but do have an update for you, and I’ll tell you in just a minute why I’ve been so busy lately.
This morning I decided to finally see what’s up at Martin de Porres House of Hospitality (Martin’s House). I’ve heard nothing but good reports about the food here but kept thinking it was down in the Mission district. Actually it’s just a few blocks south of Trader Joe’s and the Co-op at 225 Potrero near 16th, on the #9 busline. They do Breakfast, Brunch or Lunch every day of the week, and you can reach them at (415) 552-0240.
You enter through a gate in a wooden fence just like you’re going the back way into a friend’s house. The large patio is covered on the far half with plenty of plants growing everywhere, local art, and prayer flags across the roof covering. The crowd gathered was pretty chill for people waiting to eat, and I waited as they called the numbered tickets in groups of 10. As I arrived I smelled something onion-y being cooked and considered this a very good sign.
We were ushered in and served by some very friendly, smiling people. As I surveyed the kitchen and serving arrangement I got a very good feeling about what was going on here. These people know what they’re doing, and seem to be doing it with much joy. When my turn came I was served a heaping, steaming plate (on a real plate!) of brown rice topped with black-eyed peas, some just made cole slaw on the side, and a generous helping of fresh fruit including green and red grapes, blueberries and raspberries. The food was bland but certainly yum, and salt and pepper was on the table. While a certain degree of bland is quite normal for food these days to accommodate everyone’s preferences and dietary restrictions, I have found that spices are one of the hardest ingredients to come up with if you are working the food bank for ingredients or using donated food from other sources. Perhaps this is another good time for making a pitch to grow some local herbs in unused spaces in the city.
I left feeling full and satisfied with warm food in my tummy, and didn’t even have to use the ticket I’d been given for seconds. I was impressed with the whole affair here at Martin’s from the energy of the place and staff, to the warm, wholesome, delicious food, to the pretty chilled out vibe from those in attendance. Talking to the guy across the table he mentioned with a smile on his face that he was headed to the Embarcadero for some of those pancakes and sausage I told you about before. That smile on his face told me a lot about why these better free food events are so important to those who find themselves a bit detoured, if not completely off the track, from the mainstream of our society. If you’re living outside without a way to cook, and probably not much money to buy food, these serve as maybe the only hot food you get on any kind of a regular basis. All the sandwiches you can eat are not going to take the place of some hot food once in a while, especially on a cold day like we’re having here in San Francisco this weekend.
One can also see some friendly, often familiar, faces at these servings and you don’t have people yelling at you to “get a job” or “get off the sidewalk”. For this man I shared breakfast with, as well as many others, this free food circuit means some decent hot food, kindred spirits, and a respite from the people who think they are part of society’s problem, not a victim of it.
So Martin de Porres, Good Job! I applaud what you’re doing and how you’re doing it. I’ll be back to visit soon. And I’d like nothing better than to send the cooks from the shelters I’ve been to down your way to learn how to make and serve food. They could learn much from you.
As for where I’ve been hiding lately, I’ve been taking a little culinary training myself. That’s right, I have finally made it to culinary school. It’s not the Culinary Institute of America or even the California Culinary Academy, but the C.H.E.F.S Culinary Training Program, and with all the guest instructors we have that are working in some of the top places in town, if not teachers themselves, the instruction is top notch. Most of it so far has been review for me as I knew it would be having taken this long to get to culinary training, but I have to tell you I finally got to roast some bones and make some brown stock, something I’d never had the opportunity to do before. As with most cooking things we’ve heard of that are “hard to do”, making stock, even brown stock, is a piece of cake. Maybe I’ll blog about it in some more detail soon and offer some courage for you to try it yourself. Nothing will take your cooking to the next level like having your own stock to cook with, and it’s very doable even for home cooks. Just like making risotto and sauces like Hollandaise (which we’ve also had guest instructors in to teach) the urban lore that these things are hard to make is so untrue! You can be making these too with just a few tips. We’ll talk more later.
Another guest instructor we’ve had recently is Executive Chef Blair Warsham from Graffeats. Blair was there to teach us blueprinting, or how to design a new dish. This is a subject very dear to me, and in fact I’d spent much of the previous weekend doing some blueprinting when I got some sudden inspiration from reading “Culinary Artistry” by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, a book I’ve been waiting to read in detail for a couple of years. Definitely a keeper, my head has been overflowing with interesting combinations of tastes since I started reading it. In fact, I think in one evening I came up with the basis of an entire cookbook I want to write. Isn’t this how the Beatles got started? haha I’ll keep you posted.
Back to Chef Blair, he is doing something I am just fascinated by lately, and that is pop-up restaurants. You can read more about that scene in this article from Business Insider, including a mention about a couple of them in our very own Mission District. And take a look at Blair’s fabulous Graffeats website and see what he’s doing with pop-up food.
As for me, I’m planning on finally making it today to that Firehouse food thing I mentioned before. Really. Seriously, I’m really going to go this time. haha. Actually the official name for it is Missionaries of Charity at 1300 3rd Street, and they do dinner every nite of the week from 3:30-5:00 pm, except Thursday. And hopefully I’ll be back to tell you about it before another month goes by.
Peace and Green Pea Gazpacho,
Calliope
