Looking for Father's Day fun? Come to Urban Eats! ~ June 20

Is your family excited about cooking or growing good? Bring 'em down to our first Urban Eats celebration at the Giants County Fair. We'll be picking the winners in seven cooking and gardening contests, offering an array of seasonal produce tastings, having a cherry spitting contest, and hosting a variety of fun food and farming displays. Best of all, the event is free! Keep up with Urban Eats on Facebook. See the schedule of events for the day.

Sustainable Sausage and Beer Party ~ June 24

Kick off grill season with an evening of locally made sausage and beer. Taste grill-worthy sausages from seven local chefs and sip an assortment of beers paired by members of the San Francisco Brewers Guild. CUESA will host an “Ask the Butcher” booth with Dave “The Butcher” Budworth of Avedano’s and Marina Meats, who’ll be on hand all evening to answer questions about sausage making.  Doug Stonebreaker of Prather Ranch Meat Company will also be in an “Ask the Rancher” booth to share behind-the-scenes stories form the ranch. Proceeds from this event will go to the CUESA Seller Scholarship Fund. See the full chef and brewery line up or buy tickets.

Sausage Grill Off ~ June 26

For the third year in a row, local chefs will set up in the market and vie for the title of Grill Master. Last year’s burger champion, Mark Sullivan of Spruce, will return to defend his title against Dave Bazirgan of Chez Papa Resto, Peter McNee of Poggio, and Thomas Odermatt of Roli Roti. Whose homemade sausages will reign supreme? This CUESA-sponsored event will be free and open to the public. Guests can also visit an education display about humane meat production, and mini sausages from all the chefs will be available for a $2 donation (proceeds benefit CUESA). If you'd like to judge this year's grill-off, email Sarah Henkin. We'll draw a name from a hat and announce the winner next Friday.

On a related note: Market Manager Lulu Meyer writes about both Grill Fest events in this week's Market Watch Column on the 7x7 website.

Vote for Your Favorite Market ~ Today!

The American Farmland Trust is hosting its America’s Favorite Farmers Markets contest again. Who not take 10 seconds and give the Ferry Plaza some love? We'll love you back, three days a week, 52 weeks a year.

Embarcadero Closed to Traffic ~ Tomorrow

Due to the Giants Race on June 12, the Embarcadero roadway in front of the Ferry Building will be closed to traffic from 8 am until 10:30 am. Items may be left at Veggie Valet, but curbside pickup will not be available until 10:30 am on this day. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Dine Out for the Gulf Coast ~ Tonight and Tomorrow

The following restaurants will be donating a portion of their proceeds to the communities affected by the disaster in the Gulf Coast: Delfina, Hog Island Oyster Bar, Bottega, Maverick, Incanto, Front Porch, RN74, The Slanted Door, Heaven's Dog, Bi-Rite Market, Ozumo, Nombe, Boulettes Larder, Wexler’s, Contigo and Bix, Chez Panisse, Tra Vigne, Bottega, and The Pasta Shop. Contact the participating restaurants for details.

Slow Food SF Presents Golden Glass ~
Tomorrow

The 2010 Golden Glass event will celebrate the efforts of over 100 international wine producers who strive to protect, nurture, and revive the indigenous and classic varieties of their regions. The wines will be complemented by culinary delights from the Bay Area's top restaurants and artisan producers. Proceeds will benefit Slow Food SF's Slow Food in School programs as well as Slow Food USA's Ark of Taste program. Learn more.

Methyl Iodide Action

California is on the verge of approving a potent carcinogenic gas for use on strawberry fields and other food crops. The chemical — methyl iodide — is used in laboratories to generate cancer cells, yet agricultural applications would release it directly into the air and water. The California Department of Pesticide Regulation is accepting comments until June 29. Tell them what you think. Or read more about methyl iodide on SF Gate

Saturday, June 12 ~ Market to Table

11:00 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration and book signing
Linda Carucci, Chef Director at the International Culinary School at the Art Institute and author of Cooking School Secrets for Real World Cooks

11:45 am - Seasonal cooking demonstration and book signing
Anne Gingrass, Brix

Tuesday, June 15 ~ Food Wise Booth

12:30 - 1:30 pm - CUESA's Market Chef, Sarah Henkin, will give out recipe cards and samples of a simple meal made with market ingredients. She'll also be on hand to offer advice for all your seasonal meal planning.

Saturday, June 19 ~ No demos

We'll be busy planning the Urban Eats celebration at the Giants County Fair.

All programs take place in CUESA's Dacor teaching kitchen, in front of the Ferry Building on the north side.

Richie Nakano had been experimenting with homemade ramen for a few years when he decided to travel to New York for a tour of the city’s ramen hotspots. After slurping, tasting, and biting into tangles of house-made noodles in places like Ippudo and Ramen Setagaya, his curiosity had been transformed into a plan. When he returned to San Francisco, he decided, he would use all homemade, locally sourced ingredients to create a bowl of ramen all his own. 

“When I’d ask people if they were into ramen, they’d say 'no, not since college,'” he recalls. “But that gives us a unique opportunity to expose people to something new.”

Nakano, who was the sous chef at NOPA at the time, joined forces with Kitty Gallisa, a bartender at NOPA, to form Hapa Ramen. For the last year, the business partners have developed Hapa (as a pop-up) on top of their jobs at the restaurant; this month Nakano is leaving NOPA to make Ramen full time. Their new booth (which will appear next Thursday, June 17) at the Thursday Ferry Plaza Farmers Market is central to their plan, along with a yet-to-be-determined regular pop-up venue.

Nakano, who is part Japanese and has family from Hawaii, likes the way the Hawaiian word “Hapa” sums up his goal with the project. Generally used to mean “of mixed race” in the islands, Nakano says it also reflects his interest in combining traditional Asian techniques with modern Western ones. 

Stocking Up 
 
Nakano has worked meticulously to perfect the stock at the base of his ramen. Each batch starts off with dashi, a traditional Japanese soup base, made with kombu seaweed he sources from Tomales Bay. Then he’ll add some combination of pork bones (from Becker Lane or Long and Bailey), chicken (from a co-op in the Central Valley), and a variety of aromatics. He’ll simmer it all on a very low heat for as long as 72 hours.

“To dial it in and get it really tight I’d cook it every week and take ridiculously detailed notes about everything,” he says (see image below). “It would drive my wife crazy. The whole house would smell like stock. When we moved out the stove was destroyed.”

And yet, says Nakano, there’s really no more rewarding feeling than going to sample a stock you’ve cooked for days and having it taste exactly like you hoped it would. “And there’s also nothing more crushing than having it taste terrible,” he adds. “You can over-reduce it or thin it down too much and destroy the gelatin balance. Or you can overdo aromatics like dried mushrooms. And — if you add too much chicken — it just tastes like chicken soup.”

Not that ramen ends with stock; Nakano also makes his noodles from scratch, and adds poached eggs from Marin Sun Farms and seasonal vegetables from a variety of local farms. This month’s soup has included English peas from Iacopi Farm, snap peas from Catalán Family Farm, and chard from Dirty Girl Produce. “We’re looking forward to getting corn in there next,” he says. “And maybe roasted summer squash.”

Clear as Broth

Nakano is happy to talk about everything he adds to his ramen. “We want to take away the mystery,” he says. “A lot of chefs treat their broth like a closely guarded secret. We want to take the opposite approach and share everything with everyone…recipes, techniques, ideas.” For instance, Nakano has been exchanging ideas with Namu’s Dennis Lee, who serves his own version of the soup.

“I think everyone should get to know how to make this stuff. And everything, for that matter. If someone spends 72 hours in their own kitchen and comes away with something amazing, I’ll benefit from it.”

Hapa Ramen's first day in the market will be Thursday, June 17.

This is the most up-to-date information about which sellers will be attending the market as of Friday. If there are no changes to a seller's status, they will not be listed. You'll find a list of which farmers regularly attend each market here. Please understand that there are often last-minute changes—it's the nature of farming!

Saturday, June 12

Out: Apple Farm, Arlequin, Elston Family Farm (done for season), Flying Disc Ranch, June Taylor Co., Knoll Farms, La Cocina

Tuesday, June 15

Returning: Pizza Politano
Out: Prather Ranch Meat Co.

Thursday, June 17

New: Hapa Ramen

Returning and plentiful this month (weather willing): Nectarines, peaches, strawberries, raspberries, Armenian cucumbers, basil, corn, fresh shallots, Rocambole garlic, summer squash, Little Gem lettuce, haricots verts, snap peas, radishes, peppers, spinach, wax beans, cherries, cauliflower, beets, leeks, nopales, squash blossoms, artichokes, fresh herbs, pullet eggs, new potatoes, tomatillos, apricots, pickling cucumbers, fresh lavender, heirloom roses

Winding down/limited supply:
Blueberries, nettles, pastured eggs, hot house tomatoes, sour cherries

Value-added and vendor items not to be missed:
Heirloom tomato ketchup from June Taylor, leek and horseradish kraut from Farmhouse Culture, borage from Heirloom Organics, “DGC" cherries from K & J Orchards

Farms/vendors that may be returning this month (weather willing):
Green Gulch Farm (June 5), G & S Corn (June 19), Hunter Orchards, Candy Cot Fruit Company

New and returning Thursday Market Farmers and vendors:
Lucero Organic Farm, Farmhouse Culture, Hapa Ramen (June 17th)

Featured Recipes for June:

Radish Green Soup from Sarah Henkin, CUESA's market chef

Grilled Skirt Steak Sandwiches with Salsa Verde from Sara Deseran, 7x7 Magazine

Broccoli Rabe on Toast with Tapenade and Goat's Milk Cheese from Cookbook author Deborah Madison

Strawberry Tart with Mint & Frisée Salad from Louis Maldonado, formerly of Cortez (now at Aziza)