in praise of sardines

Menu for Hope: $10 buys you eggbeater + vinography + me

I've sweetened the pot for my Menu of Hope prize, UW17, "Contigo Conmigo."

I'm excited, humbled, and honored to announce that wine blogger extraordinaire Alder Yarrow of Vinography and superhuman pastry chef Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater and Sens restaurant have joined forces with me.

You read that right.

Three savory courses cooked by me.
A different wine for each course from Vinography's Alder.
Dessert prepared by Eggbeater's Shuna.

If you will UW17, your evening will go something like this. Together with your 7 lucky guests, you'll start your evening gathering around my fireplace sipping an aperitif selected by Alder. Then you and your friends will sit down at the long cherry table in my dining room where I will serve you 3 Spanish-inspired savory courses, each one paired with a different wine from Alder's extensive personal wine collection. You'll finish off your evening with dessert lovingly prepared by Shuna (and a dessert wine from Alder, natch).

All that for $10!!!

Go NOW and donate! There's only one day remaining. Specify UW17 for this prize.

Buy as many tickets as you can.

One (or ten) for yourself.

One for each of your loved ones (hint: put the ticket in your friend's name and let her know in a card that you donated money to the World Food Programme on her behalf... and that she may win a fabulous dinner party).

Last I checked, there were less than 60 tickets purchased for this prize, so your chances of winning are excellent (especially if you buy more than one ticket).

Remember, win or lose, all your money goes towards supporting the farmers and children of Lesotho, Africa. So, really, we all win.

Menu for Hope: UW17 "Contigo Conmigo"

As many of you already know, Contigo is the new name for my restaurant set to open the middle of 2008 at 1320 Castro Street in the Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco (read more about the restaurant here).

The name is Spanish for "with you." The name highlights one reason we go out to eat: connecting and reconnecting with friends and lovers, perhaps over a plate of charcuterie and a bottle of Cava. I like to expand that circle of friends to encompass our connections and relationships with farmers, ranchers, cooks, servers, diners, neighbors, lovers, trees, bees, and the person sitting next to us at the kitchen counter.

I'm thrilled that my first real post since announcing the name Contigo is about another relationship: our connection to our brothers and sisters in Africa who struggle daily with hunger and survival. Longtime IPOS readers will remember Menu for Hope, the annual fundraising event where food bloggers and others in the food industry offer prizes to raise money for humanitarian causes. Last year we raised over $60,000 for the UN World Food Programme.

This year Menu for Hope again partners with the WFP. Specifically, the funds raised will go towards partnering with rural African farmers to supply grain for school lunches to children in Lesotho, a tiny kingdom in Africa. Founder, organizer, and host of Menu for Hope, Pim Techamuanvivit of Chez Pim, explains the reason we chose this program:

We chose to support the school lunch program because providing food for the children not only keeps them alive, but helps them stay in school so that they learn the skills to feed themselves in the future. We chose to support the program in Lesotho because it is a model program in local procurement - buying food locally to support local farmers and the local economy."

Read more details about the UN World Food Programme and Menu for Hope on Chez Pim.

UW17 "Contigo Conmigo"

This is the third year in a row that IPOS will offer a prize for Menu for Hope. I'm dubbing this year's prize "Contigo Conmigo." Conmigo means "with me." The winner of my prize, UW17, will literally dine with me.

I will host a 4-course dinner party for 8 people in my home.

That's right. Together with his or her 7 most favorite friends, the winner will be invited to be guests in my Noe Valley flat one night during the upcoming winter/spring before Contigo opens. I will personally cook every part of your meal in my kitchen or fireplace.

I'll work with the winner to choose a mutually acceptable date and to tailor a menu to his or her tastes, one that will showcase my restaurant's focus on seasonal, sustainable California fare with Spanish flair.

This is your chance to be the first kid on your block to say you've eaten at Contigo! Imagine the smug satisfaction as you lean up against the water cooler and casually drop the line before Contigo even opens "Oh, that old place, I ate there months ago. Be sure to order the sardines."

You'll get a unique behind the scenes look at the evolution of a restaurant's menu, the kind of inside look usually limited to restaurant investors and friends.

Best of all, you'll get to spend an entire evening hanging out conmigo, the handsome and witty raconteur and bon vivant behind your favorite website on the internets! Hahaha! Just kidding. The actual best part is that I'll cook for you without making you wash the dishes.

There's some flexibility to the prize. The winner and I can discuss alternatives, such as the possibility of holding the party at their home or converting their prize into $300 worth of gift certificates to dine at Contigo after it has opened.

To Enter

If you're interested in buying into the Menu for Hope raffle, here's what you need to do:

1. My prize is one amongst many, many others. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from the complete prize list on Chez Pim. The West Coast prizes are detailed on Rasa Malaysia.

2. Go to the donation site at First Giving and make a donation.

3. Please specify which prize you'd like in the "Personal Message" section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code. Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. For example, a donation of $50 can be divided amongst 2 tickets for UW01 and 3 tickets for UW17. Please write 2xUW01, 3xUW17.

Check back on Chez Pim on Wednesday, January 9, 2008, for the results of the raffle.

Thanks for your participation, and good luck in the raffle!
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* Note to players of the Name Game. Don't worry. I haven't forgotten. I'm going to announce the winner of dinner for two at Contigo in a few days. I needed to take some time off from blogging to get caught up on my sleep, bills, cleaning, cooking, sleep, work, my social life, sleep, stuff like that. Thanks for your understanding.

contigo!

I'm happy to report that the issues have been resolved and I've republished the post announcing contigo as the new name for my restaurant (scroll down to Monday). Again, thank you so much for playing along!

I edited the original post down quite a bit as the first version was written after about 2 hours of sleep. The original comments have also been republished. Please leave your comments on Monday's post.

Behind the paper: demolition derby

Let's not concern ourselves with the Name Game for a few days. Everything will straighten itself out. The issues are not of a legal nature. It's a long story. Nothing to worry your pretty little heads over.

The reward for your patience is the first of the construction photos in a series called "Behind the Paper," which I'll update from time to time here and on my FlickR page. In this set are the "before" pictures of the interior and the beginning of demolition. The jackhammers have been on a rampage!

To see a complete description of what's going on in each picture (such as what the blue tape is outlining), go to the construction set on my FlickR page.

The Name Game: new developments

I'm typing from my mobile phone, so please excuse any typos. I've been informed that there may be some unforeseen, er, issues with my choice of name for my restaurant. I've unpublished the post for now. I apologize to those of you who left comments.

Will this drama never end? Tune in again tomorrow!

The Name Game: the winner is ...

contigo

contigo. "With you." Intimacy. Connection. Togetherness. Friendship. Community. The relationship between farmers and consumers. Sharing the table with friends. Conviviality. Love. It says it all. Unlike ampersand, it says it in Spanish.

That was the clincher for me. I wanted the new name of my restaurant to be rooted in the source of my inspiration: Spain.

contigo was inspired by a love song. Love and food are intimately intertwined in my mind, like the arms and legs of lovers falling asleep in a too small bed. More than any other name you or I have come up with this past month, contigo embodies that image and message.

This is going to sound sappy, but I like that metaphor. My cooking, my work, my restaurant is my serenade to you. I chose this line of work (sometimes I think it chose me) because I like to take care of people, provide warm hospitality, and, with a little luck, add some sparkle to your lives. Opening this restaurant is my tiny, humble attempt to leave the world a better, happier place.

I hope you've enjoyed playing the Name Game as much as I have! I cannot thank you all enough for your participation. I firmly believe that I could not have come up with such a fantastic name without your help.

I've been really happy with the Name Game process, warts and all. I wouldn't have changed a thing. I loved all your candid, heartfelt, and often amusing comments. Even, no, especially the critical ones. I appreciated your openness. I have been astounded and tickled that so many of you put so much thought and effort into this game even though you have no stake in the end result. I will always remember how much support you showed me throughout this process. Your voting did play a key role. Your repeated support for the name contigo in all the polls really helped me to see her charms. Sometimes you need your friends to take you aside and say, "look, Brett, don't be an idiot. She's a real catch. You'll regret it if you let her go." I truly believe we came up with this name together. How fitting is that? With you. Contigo.

I had a lot of fun and I hope you did too! I'm not worried whether everyone will like the new name or not. It's just a name, after all. I know from your comments that you all would have been supportive of my restaurant no matter what I ended up calling it (with the possible exception of Castropoda). I cannot wait to meet you all in person once I open contigo's doors late next spring!

I haven't forgotten. In a few days I'll hold a drawing from amongst all the people who left comments to determine the winner of our other prize, a free dinner for two at contigo and invitations to all the opening festivities. Remember, each comment counted as one raffle ticket.

Oh, and guess what! Stay tuned for construction pictures any day now in the new "contigo update."

The Name Game: drumroll please...

Happy Monday, amigos! In case you had better things to do over the weekend than read food blogs (as if), the big news on this little blog is that later this afternoon, at 4 pm PST (12 midnight GMT) to be precise, I'm going to announce the new name for my restaurant.

There's still time to vote! Please take a minute to pop on down to yesterday's post and let me know which of the final two names you prefer: contigo, the dark-eyed Spanish troubador serenading you on his guitar, or ampersand, the mysterious beatnik poet who arrived at the party fashionably late.

Thanks. See you later today!

The Name Game: the final 2

This post is more difficult for me to write than I had imagined it would be. But it has to be done.

Today we bid adieu to our dear friend olallie.

Olallie has been the name associated with my restaurant for well over a year. I registered the name with City Hall during the olallieberry season before last, shortly after discovering a neighbor's blackberry bush hanging over my future restaurant's backyard. Since that time, the name has been publicized frequently on this blog, on other food blogs, and in the print media, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Edible San Francisco and the local Noe Valley Voice.

While the name had its critics, I shall always remember the loyalty that olallie's fans have shown throughout this Name Game process. I heart you, my dear olallistas! Please accept my sincere apologies! Your emails and comments took me by surprise and truly touched my heart. I had no idea how much some of you liked the name.

I have been impressed by your fierce determination to convince me to keep the name olallie. I've made herculean efforts to use your persuasive arguments to reframe my own thinking. There was the existing buzz. The hassle of changing the name. The poetic, feminine sound of the name. The connection to local farms. All true. All are reasons why I chose the name in the first place. I was most impressed when, after suggesting that my restaurant's name should convey a sense of sharing the table with friends, one commenter mentioned that olallieberries, which grow in clusters, could be seen as a symbol of connection. You really had me with that one. I was nearly hooked.

But something just didn't sit right with me. I started this seemingly interminable Name Game for one simple reason. I had fallen out of love with olallie. I knew in my heart that I had to change the name. I am not the same person who selected the name olallie. The circumstances of my life have changed too much these past 6 months. I have changed. I see life differently now. I see my restaurant differently. My restaurant will not be the same as it would have been had I opened it as planned (the doors would have opened this month had I not halted construction in June). Although it's strange to admit, I know in my heart that all these changes have made me a better, happier man. I also know that these changes will result in a far better, more convivial restaurant.

As you will eventually learn, the choice to say goodbye to olallie was mine alone. It was not based on the results of yesterday's poll.

So, dear friends of olallie, I hope you will forgive me and will come to embrace the new name as warmly as you did olallie. After all, we are only talking about some little neighborhood restaurant's name. What's in a name, any way? What really matters is the complete package: the food, service, and ambience. (By the way, no, I won't be asking you to vote on menu items. I vow that after today you will never ever see a poll on this blog again).

Speaking of which, let's not forget our final poll. The Name Game isn't over yet! What on earth are we going to call this little neighborhood restaurant? Please vote and leave comments! And remember, bribes are not only accepted but encouraged.

My restaurant's new name will be announced Monday at 4pm Pacific Standard Time (12 midnight GMT).

The Name Game: then there were 3

We're down to 3: olallie, contigo, and ampersand.

"Huh?" you ask. "Where did that last one come from? I checked yesterday morning and saw two impossibly long polls and decided to read Cute Overload instead." Yes, I know. Sorry about that. I now know what eyeballs simultaneously rolling into the back of several hundred heads sounds like. Trust me, it ain't pretty. *shiver* Read yesterday afternoon's post to find out more about ampersand, the latest dark horse contender.

As promised, I have revealed the results of all the previous polls. For me, the most interesting question was whether I should keep the name olallie. 52% said change it, 48% said keep it. It's essentially the 2000 presidential election all over again. Guess who's Florida.

Hmm. This is a food blog. Maybe I should change that analogy. Did you watch "The Next Iron Chef"? Guess who's Ruhlman.

Please vote in this, the second to last poll (yay!). The results of this poll are for my eyes only (for the time being).

Tomorrow we'll pit the two finalists against one another in one final smack down. Most likely they will be the two names that receive the highest number of votes, but I'm not going to guarantee that. At this stage of the game I have final say as to which of the three should, as they say on reality TV, pack their knives and go home (not one but two TV analogies by a guy who doesn't even own a TV. Weird, huh?). Trust me though, your votes and comments play a very influential role in my decision making process. Bribes don't hurt either, come to think of it.

Once I have decided upon a name (to be announced 4 pm PST Monday!), I will reveal the results of today's and tomorrow's polls.