Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://specialtyfoodmagazine.epubxp.com/i/102355
PHOTO: NOSA RIA MARKET PHOTO: CRAFTSMAN AND WOLVES STORE TOUR Craftsman and Wolves Nosa Ria Market Bites by the Bay BY LAIKO BAHRS T his year's bounty of new openings in the Bay Area is focused on three hopping areas: the Mission District, Hayes Valley and Oakland. In the Mission, new locations from two renowned chefs and a chocolatier add to the mix of restaurants, cafes and bars in this destination corridor. Hayes Valley, already well stocked with such food spots as Fatted Calf Charcuterie, Smitten and Chantal Guillon, is becoming even more of a gourmet haven with three new additions. And Oakland, a hotbed of dining, now boasts more distinctive provisions. Here is a look at some notable new openings. CRAFTSMAN AND WOLVES French- and Asian-inspired edible art in a reworked industrial space DANDELION CHOCOLATE Award-winning, small-batch bars produced right on-site Visionary pastry chef William Werner has garnered a deeply dedicated local following, and is now serving some of the chicest, most inventive pastries in San Francisco at a stylish garage-turned–bakery and cafe in the Mission. A recent addition to the already restaurantcrammed Valencia Street corridor, Craftsman and Wolves lays out its beautifully crafted, French-inspired, often Asian-influenced fare like edible art on matte black counters. Already offering breakfast pastries (passion-sesame croissant is a surprising best seller), lunchtime sandwiches and an array of sweets, the shop recently added its own creative spin on afternoon tea, with locally based Naivetea, Monday through Wednesday afternoons. But you can drop in anytime to nibble favorites like The Rebel Within, a savory, sausagestudded muffin enclosing a sous-vide soft-cooked egg, or savor a forkful of the Chocolate-Vietnamese-Cinnamon Cube Cake paired with a Sight Glass cappuccino. Rightly labeled on the menu under "Separation Anxiety," find take-home treats like smoked almond brittle, "damn fine" granola and chocolate-shoyu caramels. After much anticipation, this bean-to-bar chocolate company recently opened its first retail space doubling as a production facility on Valencia Street just a few doors down from trendy bakery Craftsman and Wolves. After selling their tech startup in 2008, Todd Masonis and Cameron Ring decided to use the profits to build another business from the ground up—only this time, they wanted to make something truly hands-on. In 2010, they started Dandelion Chocolate, dedicated to sourcing quality beans and making superlative small-batch chocolate bars using nothing but beans and sugar—no vanilla, no extra cocoa butter, no soy lecithin. Since then, they've built an audience among San Francisco's artisanobsessed cognoscenti by selling and sampling their $8 bars (like the top-selling 70 percent Madagascar bar) at farmers markets, food events and local retailers. In 2012, Dandelion won a coveted Good Food Award for its 70 percent Costa Rica bar. Masonis and Ring hope to add a chocolate-focused cafe, including pastries and a variety of creative hot chocolates, to their retail space. JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013 105