Original San Francisco Dishes/Recipes
Our fabulous city is noted as the mother to a great number of original foods such as Green Goddess Dressing, Crab Louis Salad, Irish Coffee and the Fortune Cookie. Do any chowhounds out there know of others? Maybe there are resources on them. I think it would be neat to have a list of these and maybe learn a little about the foods made famous by our city by the bay.
denochow
Jan 06, 2008 12:22PM
Chop suey in the mid 1900's due to the Chinese laborers working on the U.S. transcontinental railroad here or said to be because the Chinese ambassador Li Hung Chang’s cooks while he was visiting New York.
The big overstuffed burrito?
Sourdough bread?
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I'm sure you mean 1800's as the gold spike, joining the East and West, was pounded in 1869 at Promontory Utah. Part of the California connection was Leland Stanford the elder.
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maybe you are on to something ealier-
http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodasian.html#chopsuey
http://www.snopes.com/food/origins/chopsuey.asp
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070628000220AAhZ40S
this one reads 1849-
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/...
It's interesting I did not know any of this- ggood post from the OP.
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Unfortunately all of San Francisco's wonderful innovations (does Sourdough bread count?)... were undermined by the absolute ruining of the Burrito (aka Mulita) =)
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Well the mulita was created by Mexicanos so at least it's an authentic mutation. Same goes for a lot of immigrant food like pizza, chop suey, etc.
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ha ha funny I said Sourdough, what about it used a bowel to eat clam chowder out of and not the red kind?
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I don't think even Andrew Zimmern is up for eating clam chowder out of a bowel...
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hangtown fry - I think it's a gold miner dish
celery victor (a bit obscure, but delicious), from the chef at the St. Francis whose name was Victor.
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Hangtown fry
You put down your poke (bag of gold) and take your chances on which version of the story you want to believe.
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Histor...
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Crab Louie, the Martini and the Fortune Cookie. The martini is actually from Martinez. The fortune cookie was invented by a Japanese American for a tea ceremony in Golden Gate Park. Crab Louie is bit more contentious...some say Seattle, others SF.
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Cioppino.
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hum don't know I grew up thinking it was pismo beach?
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A couple more, and some superlatives can be found here:
http://gosanfrancisco.about.com/od/re...
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Well, if the Mai Tai of Trader's Vic origin is going to be credited, don't forget crab rangoon also from the same place.
While It's It is definately San Franciscan, I never heard the popsicle was invented in the area.
While it is not a menu creation, sand dabs are very local ... found at Tadich's, Sam's and various Fisherman's Wharf restaurants.
Rice-a-Roni, crab Rangoon, fortune cookies, Mission burritos ... amazing that SF became a food city.
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Info re the Popsicle and SF: http://www.associatedcontent.com/arti...
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Just passing along a source, Krys -- don't shoot the messenger!
I'd add Crab Louis to your list of embarassments, as well. Why pour all that goop over perfectly good crab?
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Whew, there's a real case of the tone being misunderstood in print. I went back to read if it could be construed as cranky. I was writing it in a bubbly sort of manner, I was surprised about popsicles and just thought some of the things we are famous for aren't something to especially be proud of. Has a San Franciscan ever eaten Rice-A-Roni regularily? Well, a Chowhound San Franciscan ... even a foodie San Franciscan.
Yeah, I'll probably get a million Rice-a-Roni love responses.
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Apparently, Gavin Newsom.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article...
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Crab Louis's history from SF is debatable. While Helen Evans Brown, in her cookbook West Coast Cook Book, states the following on the history:
"Just which Louis invented this West Coast specialty I am not prepared to say, but only because I don't know. I do know, however, that it was served at Solari's, in San Francisco, in 1914, for Clarence Edwords gives their recipe for it in his epicure's guide, Bohemian San Francisco. However some credit the origin of Crab Louis Salad to the chef at Seattle’s Olympic Club in Washington. In 1904, when the Metropolitan Opera Company played in Seattle, Washington, Enrico Caruso (1873-1921), considered the world's greatest tenor, kept ordering the salad until none was left in the restaurant's kitchen."
And the reason for the "goop" is that 100 years ago, crab was peasant food. Meaning, only the poor would eat it plain while being rich meant you could have it dressed up.
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Just like lobster was considered fit only for servants and prisoners in old New England!
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Joe's Special, recipe here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...
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My mom used to make it sometimes when I was a kid, but I haven't had it in ages.
Now i'm getting nostalgic....
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How can we forget Rice-a-Roni?
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Thanks to "The Streets of San Francisco"
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Actually, R-a-R goes back to 1958, so we get to celebrate its 50th this year.
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Rice-A-Roni
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Of course, the real trick is, where can one go to sample some of these more obscure dishes (if anywhere)?
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For starters, the Flytrap has Hangtown Fry (for lunch) and Celery Victor (for dinner).
http://flytraprestaurant.com/home.html
John's Grill has both Hangtown Fry and Joe's Special
http://www.johnsgrill.com/
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The Flytrap also has Chicken Jerusalem(!) Haven't seen that in years. Don't know if it's an SF original, (it could be - it features artichoke bottoms). It used to be common in upscale restaurants.
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Brenda's makes a super Hangtown Fry.
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There is always controversy about the origin of cocktails, but the Lemon Drop was supposedly from here, too. I know people will contest this because it sounds French, but Creme Brulee also originated in SF. That's really true.
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Also European-sounding, caffe latte originated across the Bay in Berkeley, invented by Leno Meiorin at the Caffe Mediterraneum.
I bet Sharuf remembers "The Med."
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The Med -- big seedy-looking place full of boho-style slackers eager to sell you their poetry books. Is that the place? Is it no longer there? Haven't been to that end of Berkeley in a long time.
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Caffe Med is still there...although it has gotten run down. Still I like it for reasons unrelated to coffee. It was always open on weird holidays and was quite nice when no one was there. I remember having Xmas breakfast there one year during break.
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What do you mean "Gotten Run Down?" That's probably the way I would have described it around 1962, when I first set foot inside. I think it was as Sharuf described the day it opened.
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I mean it's gotten worse. Age and time does that.
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The Latte (Cafe con Leche) has been common in Latin America for at least 100 years (all the classic Cafes in Veracruz are about 100 years old) and I bet it has a much deeper history than that... perhaps Leno just invented the clever European sounding name?
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There's some overlap in the terminology, I think. I believe Cafe con Leche is the same as Cafe au Lait, which is coffee and milk; somewhat different from Caffe Latte, which is made with espresso. I'd always assumed Caffe Latte originated in Italy, but who knows?
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I am not sure about elsewhere but I am 99% certain that in Cuba & Veracruz (both famous for their Cafe con Leche) they use espresso.
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I first had cafe con leche in Mexico City in 1963. It was cafe au lait.
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No one has mentioned It's It yet, have they???? The BEST ice cream treat in America!
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its its??
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You've never heard of an It's It? You must be masquerading as a San Franciscan!
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what a tragedy lori! you're missing out. be sure to wave at the factory on your left as you drive down 101 after sfo. they were my snack of choice at the high school cafeteria, either coffee or mint. i wish they sold those cookies on their own too! that was the best part.
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They'll never taste as good as they did at Playland-at-the-Beach, which at the time was the only place you could get them.
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Remember the Hot House? The only Mexican restaurant that served french bread instead of tortilla's with your meal.
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I still crave the Hot House cup tamale. Especially after a few beers. The closest I have found to their sauce (remember it--orange brown with just the right amount of spiciness) is, believe it or don't, Safeway Select Enchilada Sauce.
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It's true, they fresh dipped them there, but if you get a fresh batch at the store they're still the most incredible store bought ice cream treat in the country! Truly San Franciscan! So glad they got a mention.
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My husband works at Google, where they have custom-made Its its, using (I think) organic ingredients. They taste just the same, thank heaven!
For the uninitiated: Ice cream sandwiched between two oatmeal cookies, dipped in chocolate. Sigh.
http://www.itsiticecream.com/
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A number of good replies...
Does Strawberries Romanoff count?
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Perhaps not.
http://members.cox.net/jjschnebel/str...
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Great thread! I'll add Joe's Special, Warm goat cheese salad, jelly bellys (unless you're rooting for Los Angeles), Green Goddess dressing, and a ton of other extinct specialties.
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"Fortune cookies are almost certainly originally from Japan."
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/din...
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The Junior Leage of San Francisco publishes cookbooks for fundraising purposes. San Francisco Flavors, published in 1999, offers tested recipes for lots of local favorites. Here is a link to purchase the cookbook from the jlsf.org website:
http://www.jlsf.org/sf/npo.jsp?pg=sto...
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Has anybody else had their families so devoted to Malfatti as us?
The story about Malfatti is that Mrs Armanino of The Depot Hotel, in Napa was in a hurry, having a bad day,had a storm blow over the tray of ravioli that she was making i, it's not really important. what is is that she couldn't make pasta that day. Seizing initiative, she mixed the ravioli stuffing, beef parmigiano, parsley, chard, bread crumbs, with the eggs and flour, mixed it well, and made little finger sized Malfatti. Malfatti in English is badly made. She boiled them , like ravioli, and then dresed them with her famous sugo, gave a bit of parmigiano, hence Malfatti.
I'm making Malfatti for a family gathering next week.
Thanks for listening.
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You're not alone, judging from these malfatti comments,
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/303311#1705051
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/306462
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Italian immigrants brought recipes for malfatti with them from Italy, so I don't think that counts as a local specialty unless it's diverged significantly from the original (as cioppino has from cacciucco / ciuppin).
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IRISH COFFEE- Try the Yerba Buena Cafe, The inventors of the irish coffee 50 years old! Its all in the way the mix the cream. Next best- The Cliff House at the beach.As for Crab Louiis Salad- Try Westlake Joes, The Best dressing (NOT THAT CAN STUFF) You will leave satisfied, And Not Hungry!
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Irish coffee was invented by Joe Sheridan at Shannon Airport in the 1940s, and the concept was brought to the Buena Vista by SF Chro