Top chefs of San Francisco will serve bites of their food and hobnob with the public at the annual SF Chefs festival in Union Square on Aug. 1-7, 2011. Packed with cooking demonstrations, classes and tastings of food as well as wine, beer and spirits, SF Chefs is one of splashiest events of the Bay Area foodie year.
The heart of the food fest is a huge white tent erected in Union Square, where tasting sessions feature chefs, vintners, brewers and bartenders offering samples of their wares. Four tasting sessions are scheduled from Aug. 5-7, and each 3-1/2-hour session includes signature dishes from more than 30 different notable restaurants.
Between the tent tasting sessions are side parties scheduled to let you keep eating and sipping. The first of these is a cable car crawl on July 31, in which guests ride a cable car to munch at four different restaurants.
Discussions and seminars at the Westin St. Francis hotel include Cecelia Chiang, Joyce Goldstein and Nancy Oakes talking about their pioneering restaurants and the chefs of Michael Mina, Delfina and Piperade and their children showing how they cook healthy meals at home. In an Iron Chef-like cook-off, Chris Cosentino of Incanto and Elizabeth Falkner of Citizen Cake battle Dominique Crenn of Atelier Crenn and Russell Jackson of Lafitte. Other panel presentations during the week delve into specialty cocktails, restaurant operations, delectable aphrodisiacs, pork and food plating and appearance.
Should you have an appetite but can’t get to Union Square, some three dozen restaurants in San Francisco and the Bay Area are serving a $20 two-course lunch and/or a $35 three-course dinner for the week. Restaurant Week participants include Home of Chicken and Waffles, Kuleto’s, One Market, Spruce and 1300 Fillmore.
SF Chefs
August 1-7, 2011
At Union Square, Westin St. Francis and other San Francisco venues
Ticket prices vary. Visa Signature cardholders may receive a 20 percent discount on tickets.
