I am enormously pleased to announce a scoop…and of my friend Mark, which makes it even sweeter since he continues to astonish me with his indefatigable coverage of San Francisco eateries, often apparently minutes after they’ve opened their doors for the first time. I highly recommend his blog MUS E YUM, which is not limited to food but also includes fine photography and excellent social commentary.
But i’m not writing to praise him but rather to crow over having, for once and doubtless the last time, scooped the fucker.
And to be fair, i didn’t do it by myself. The instigator was my friend Sue who some time ago had told me about her favorite bakery, which of course i immediately forgot the name of since it was way off across town. But then a couple of weeks ago she told me about the place again, mentioning that they would soon have a second location on Valencia off 24th Street.
Sure enough there was an “Opening Soon” sign, and my excitement mounted when i realized that just maybe if i kept swinging by there i could catch their first day of business and beat Mark to them.
And now i’m typing this as fast as i can because it’s even better than i’d dreamed possible. When i went there a few minutes ago the door was open but blocked by racks full of bread and pastries, and as an opening gesture they were giving away anything you wanted…well, one per customer. See, they have to do repeated tests of their new ovens.
I picked the seeded baguette. It was sourdough and superb, and Something Happened to several inches of it on the way home.
They expect opening day to be 13 October. It’s Arizmendi, 1268 Valencia @ 24th Street.
Tell ’em Matte sent you.
Late Note: Since my initial visit i’ve had the pecan roll, which was divine, and the “chocolate thing”, which was rather a disappointment even though nothing was actually wrong with it. On the other hand, both Sue and Mark agree that they’ve never eaten a better seeded sourdough baguette…and here in San Francisco, that’s saying a lot.
Later Note: Went by there on the morning of the 12th with a jar of Carol’s Little Bitter Orange Marmalade for them. They’ve finished the tests of the ovens and are no longer passing out free stuff, but i walked into the back and handed ’em the jar saying that i didn’t want it to be all take and no give on my part. They got a kick outta that idea, and even though they wouldn’t take a tip the other day, they did take the marmalade. I just love giving nice people stuff when they least expect it.
Couldn’t get a decent shot of the damn baked goods, so this’ll have to do: