Latest news with #SideA
San Francisco Chronicle
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
This maximalist new S.F. restaurant served our critic one of her favorite dishes of the year
When I was an editor at Bon Appétit, many of our most popular recipes followed a simple formula: It's this, but it's also that. It's an apple cider doughnut, but it's also cake. It's French onion soup, but it's Taiwanese beef noodle soup too. The appeal is obvious — why settle for one delicious thing when you can have two — and there is a certain type of gonzo recipe developer whose brain is naturally wired for this genre of culinary innovation. They're not the people who will spend months perfecting a classic recipe for, say, Bavarian pretzels. They're maximalists. They're going to ask hard questions like, what if Bavarian pretzels and jerk chicken had a baby? Parker Brown is that type of chef. At his new San Francisco restaurant, Side A, the menu is riddled with unholy alliances that, like Shrimp Jesus, are undeniably compelling. 'I like fried potatoes with cheese,' you think, 'and I like fried potatoes with caviar. Why wouldn't I like both smashed together?' This is not to say Side A is a restaurant that runs on AI slop-style gimmicks. After getting his start in restaurants in his native Chicago, Brown moved west to train under Michael Mina and, most recently, was chef de cuisine at Aphotic, the Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant that closed at the end of last year. His chops are real, his flavors are dialed, his technique is unimpeachable. Take the short rib gnocchi ($34). It's an Italian beef sandwich, but it's also pillowy, beautifully-seared pâte à choux dumplings. It's one of the best dishes I've eaten all year. The Parisian gnocchi swim in an impossibly rich sauce made with veal stock, but in every bite you'll encounter a burst of brightness from the house-pickled giardiniera. Fresh goat cheese from Tomales Farmstead Creamery adds tang, and the whole soupy, beefy mess is blanketed with microplaned Parm and finely chopped chives. There's also the chicken cutlet ($36), a buttermilk-brined breast coated with panko and cornflakes that gives schnitzel the golden arches treatment. The pounded cutlet, topped with a mountain of herbs, rises out of a sea of positively slurpable honey mustard sauce, thinned with chicken jus. It's McNuggets' final form. The sole element that distracted from nostalgic bliss was the braised chicories, a pleasantly bitter but texturally reminiscent of hot, wet salad. Breaking the mold is Side A's halibut ($39). Neither cute nor clever, it's simply delicious, a mature combination of beans, charred onions, fish and salsa macha. Brown obviously delights in the over-the-top playfulness of his other menu items, but the halibut sends a message. He doesn't need a 'concept' to sell a dish. If all this sounds like a far cry from the type of foam and edible flower-flecked food Brown cooked at Aphotic, that's by design. For Brown, fine dining was a job, one he happened to be very good at. It was never a passion. A former high school athlete, Brown worked as a strength and conditioning coach before making the jump to restaurants. 'Coming from a sports background, it was an easy transition to fine dining,' he told me. 'It's competitive, semi-egotistical. Very translatable.' But at Side A, the focus is not on chasing stars but rather, in Brown's words, yumminess. You may have student debt and borderline LDL levels, but what does your inner child crave? Definitely that large format chicken tender, but maybe a salad as well — specifically the garbage salad ($25), a composition that is as much jammy egg, smoked blue cheese, candied pecans and crispy pork belly confit as it is vegetables. For dessert, there's carrot cake ($18), an only barely scaled-down version of the one that Brown and his wife, Caroline, who mans Side A's DJ booth several nights a week, served at their wedding. Two people will struggle to finish it. Brown will assure you that the leftovers will be excellent the next morning with a cup of coffee, a fact to which I can attest. Perhaps this is because it's generously showered with toasted coconut and candied walnuts, essentially granola. If you weren't tipped off to Side A's Midwestern sensibilities by the Italian beef and Miller High Life on the menu, then the portion sizes might clue you in. And if the portion sizes weren't evidence enough, then the warmth of the Browns is a giveaway. 'We're huggers,' they might tell you on a second visit. The Browns set out to open a neighborhood restaurant for them and their community. If you're there, well, then you must be a friend. On my visits, my fellow diners seemed primed by that Midwestern geniality — as well as by their good fortune at having secured a tough reservation — to have a convivial time. This is no silent temple to tweezer food. Caroline, a music industry veteran, and her guest DJs pull from a deep selection of vinyl, spinning Peter Gabriel and the Police for a Father's Day dad rock set and mixing D'Angelo and Biggie later in the evening. The Browns have added sound-absorbing panels to the walls of the old Universal Café space, but it's still not the place to have a quiet tête-à-tête. Bring a date you'd like to lean closer to. Brown's maximalist swings uniformly delight, but they don't all hit their mark. While I do love both burgers and bone marrow, it turns out that I don't find them to bring out the best in one another, particularly when a luscious soft-ripened slab of goat cheese is also invited to the party ($35). With pickles and a ramekin of jus on the side, figuring out how to eat it gracefully is an intelligence test I was not bright enough to pass. And although I had high hopes for that appetizer of cheese fries bedazzled with two types of caviar ($39), it was also a challenge to eat — it's hard to balance roe on a French fry while swiping it through Mornay sauce — and somehow less than the sum of its parts. But while eating that more-is-more cheeseburger, I was reminded of my high school theater director who encouraged his actors to make big choices. 'I'd rather have too much to work with than not enough,' he'd say. Brown's ideas are bold, his cooking confident, and the space he and Caroline have created is vivacious and inviting. It's a yummy restaurant, but it's also a house party filled with nice people. Sounds like a recipe for popularity to me. Side A 2814 19th St., San Francisco. Meal for two, without drinks: $95-$150 Drinks: A large selection of wines by the glass, including a house white and red that are collaborations with Ryme Cellars ($13 glass, $49 bottle); rotating draft selection as well as the Champagne of Beers ($6); N/A options including housemade lemonades ($8) Best practices: Expect more of a party vibe on Fridays and Saturdays and a slightly more mellow situation Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. If no reservations are available, walking in is possible, but prepare to wait.
Hypebeast
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hypebeast
Palais de Tokyo Unveils Bold New Artistic Visions
Palais de Tokyounveils a new exhibition series spotlighting five diverse artists: Vivian Suter, Thao Nguyen Phan, Chalisée Naamani, Rammellzee, and John Giorno. Known for its dedication to showcasing boundary-pushing voices, each exhibition is individually curated to offer immersive insight into the artist's vision and process. Vivian Suter'sDiscofeatures nearly 500 abstract paintings shaped by nature itself — her canvases are exposed to rain, mud and foliage, blurring the line between environment and artwork. Thao Nguyen Phan'sThe Sun Falls Silentlymarks her first solo in France, presenting video, sculpture and paintings that explore historical and cultural intersections between Vietnam and France, inviting viewers into a personal dialogue with her cultural roots. Rammellzee'sAlphabeta Sigma (Side A), his first major European showcase, celebrates the legendary artist's rebellious reinterpretations of language across spray paint, textiles and neon. InOctogone, Chalisée Naamani transforms the exhibition space into a layered reflection on identity and bodily representation. Finally,Welcoming the Flowershonors John Giorno's poetic legacy through text-based installations blending love, politics, and spirituality. The exhibitions run through July 9. Tickets are available now via thePalais de Tokyowebsite. Palais de Tokyo13, avenue du Président Wilson 75116Paris, France
San Francisco Chronicle
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Dessert made with chicken? This S.F. pastry chef works wonders with unconventional ingredients
My first introduction to the chef Deirdre Balao Rieutort-Louis was a scallop. Served in its shell set over a bed of ice and kelp, it was hard-seared to a mahogany brown. My spoon sliced through it as if it were custard, which makes sense, because it was. This was dessert. Rieutort-Louis was the pastry chef at Aphotic until its closure at the end of last year. In his review of the restaurant, which served seafood as part of every course, my colleague Cesar Hernandez wrote gleefully about her oyster ice cream, 'served on a half shell with tart mignonette foam,' as well as her uni ice cream, also served in its spiny endoskeleton. The scallop dish I had, a squidgy cylinder of pudding with a crackly brûléed crust, tasted of coconut, vanilla and, ever so faintly, scallop. You'll have to take my word for it, but it worked. There was a lot of talent in the kitchen at Aphotic, a Michelin-starred, white tablecloth restaurant full of theatricality, and it's been interesting to see where alums have landed. Parker Brown, the chef de cuisine, recently opened Side A in the old Universal Cafe space. (If you're wondering if it's fine dining, he serves something called a 'garbage salad.') And in March, Rieutort-Louis began her new job at Dalida. Like Ernest, which I reviewed last week, Dalida was a restaurant many readers felt deserved a spot on our Top 100 Restaurants list. Cesar wrote a warm review of the Mediterranean restaurant in 2023, which at the time didn't have a pastry chef. When I visited last year, both desserts that I tried were puddings — one rice, finished under the broiler and topped with caramel, the other a chocolate muhallebi with a swirl of Turkish coffee cream. I enjoyed them both, but they were clearly the types of lower-lift, make-ahead desserts that could be sauced to order and sent out. When chef-owners Laura and Sayat Ozyilmaz first approached Rieutort-Louis about taking over pastry at Dalida, they thought it was a long shot. They were friends with her from culinary school, but Rieutort-Louis' path had taken her firmly in the direction of fine dining. To their great surprise, she said yes, and her presence in the kitchen is a game changer. Desserts are now an order of magnitude more complex and composed, with multiple elements on the plate. A tribute to vişneli ekmek tatlısı, a Turkish dessert of bread soaked in sour cherry syrup, features a layer of white chocolate anise cream sandwiched between the two magenta milk bread layers, a caramelized almond and amaretto ice cream, and a shard of anise meringue set over the top at a jaunty angle, like a hat at a royal wedding. There are edible flowers. My immediate thought when I read the description for the tavuk göğsü — a 'chicken and milk pudding' — was that Rieutort-Louis was once again dreaming up desserts featuring ingredients that should reasonably not be on the dessert menu. But tavuk göğsü, our server explained, is a traditional Ottoman delicacy, with boiled and pulverized chicken breast acting as a thickener in much the way that gelatin might. (This was a particular win for my dining companion, Zaynab Issa, as the dish was halal.) It was both a triumph and like nothing I've ever had before. The silky pudding, set into a thin sheet, rolled into a cylinder and brûleed, dissolved on the tongue, leaving behind the taste of cinnamon, not chicken. Paired with a strawberry-lemon sorbet and a neat pile of strawberries, it is a bewitching dessert, whether you're a Protein Bro or not. That's not to say Rieutort-Louis isn't up to her old tricks. When I visited in April, she told me she was working on a tzatziki ice cream, and I see there's a cantaloupe granita with feta and dill as well. If I didn't know who was in the kitchen, I'd be worried, but Rieutort-Louis can feed me whatever madness she wants.
The Hindu
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
The movie marketing mania
I met Kamal Haasan for an interview last Friday in Chennai for his much-awaited movie, Thug Life. The next day, he was at Sri Sai Ram College along with the entire team for the film's audio launch. On Sunday, he was present at the finals of a popular musical reality contest, Vijay's Super Singer Junior 10. In between these two big music events, I decided to watch an IPL match. Sure enough, Mr. Haasan was there on TV too, at a special programme hosted by Star Sports Tamil featuring the Thug Life team. 'I enjoy talking. It's a learning experience for me, because only when I talk, people get an opportunity to correct me,' he told me, when I pointed out his hectic travel schedule for the film's promotions. It is hard to escape the film and its team, as Thug Life's PR game has been on an overdrive in the last few weeks. I'm sure even die-hard fans of Mani Ratnam and Mr. Haasan are tired of it. At the same time, it is also heartening to watch a 70-year-old Haasan croon old melodies with a little girl, or shake a leg to a fast-paced number on stage. The world has changed a lot over the last 20 years when I began as a rookie reporter. I remember attending the launch of Mr. Haasan's Mumbai Xpress. The invite to the event was quirky: it was printed on a fake ₹500 currency note. The title read 'Raajkamal Bank of India' — a reference to both the Reserve Bank of India and his production house, Raajkamal Productions. The line below said: 'I promise entertainment for the entire family'. Before the age of mobile phones and social media, information about a film or album was scarce, so film-makers went all out to market their films in person. Some adopted traditional ways of promoting their films, such as through newspaper advertisements, while some were others were more innovative. Promotional material used to be a collector's delight. Cassettes in the 1990s gave us a quick peek into what to expect: the audio cassette of Shankar's Jeans, with music by A.R. Rahman, was packed in denim in 1998. I remember walking into a neighbourhood shop to buy a special edition audio cassette of Laysa Laysa in 2003. Priced at ₹10 at a time when cassettes cost around ₹50, it had just two versions of the title song in its Side A and Side B, serving as a curtain-raiser for the album composed by Harris Jayaraj. In contrast, today's audio invites arrive as WhatsApp notifications. Over time, promotions became more and more geared towards grabbing eyeballs. I remember the buzz surrounding the launch of Madraspattinam in 2010 — the invite featured old maps of Madras and old currency, and the venue of the event, Chennai Trade Centre, was transformed into the Madras of the 1940s, replete with soldiers and people marching along shouting slogans. Actors too have various promotion styles. While Rajinikanth did not personally promote Kabali, the 2016 film was a massive hit in terms of promotions. Mr. Rajinikanth's face was everywhere, from billboards to aircraft. Parthiban has always been the most wacky. Attendees to his Iravin Nizhal audio launch in 2022 were greeted with a mouth organ, while the invite to Teenz (2024) came with a large ruler and pen. On the other hand, actors such as Ajith and Nayanthara stay away from promotions. Today's launches are aimed at digital audiences. 'Singles' and 'hook steps' rule the roost. Unlike earlier, people unfortunately seldom wait for an entire album with songs in different genres to drop. Songs themselves are chopped up in films given our dwindling attention spans. The goal seems to be to come up with a catchy line and a distinctive dance that will go 'viral' on Instagram. So much so that the team of Thug Life had a 'Thugfluencers' event in Chennai recently, and reels of Mr. Haasan flooded Instagram feeds. Is there any place where Kamal Haasan, aka Vinveli Nayagan (Space Hero), is not present? srinivasa.r@
Irish Post
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Post
Traditional music meets the unknown on Ultan O'Brien's latest album
The wonderful paradox underpinning Ultan O'Brien's new album Dancing the Line is its ability to sound both familiar and completely new at the same time—holding each half of the contradiction as equally true. That seems about right: there are six traditional tunes and seven new compositions by O'Brien, written in Leitrim and Clare between 2023 and 2024. The new and the old are balanced against each other. O'Brien was raised in the musical tradition of his home in County Clare and has played and recorded with acts such as John Francis Flynn, Skipper's Alley, and Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin. There's a strong connection with Clare throughout the album: most tracks were recorded at Malbay Studios in the county, and field recordings from nearby Whitestrand, close to Miltown Malbay, feature heavily. Meanwhile, The Four Courts comes from the playing of Nell Galvin, who was born in Clare and to whom O'Brien dedicates the tune. He wastes no time getting straight into the thick of things, opening Side A with Iron Mountain Foothills , showing the depth of sound available on the alternatively tuned alto fiddle used throughout the album. "I found that the resonance and growl of this lower-tuned instrument sat me perfectly into the sound-world I wanted to be in, giving vibrancy to my own compositions and nestling into the traditional music I grew up with," O'Brien said of his decision to switch to the alto fiddle for Dancing the Line . Nic Gareiss's percussive dance, which first appears on the fourth track, The Boyne Hunt —a song O'Brien first heard on the 1951 Alan Lomax recording of Séamus Ennis—energises proceedings. The shuffle of his feet provides a real sense of urgency during the album's busier moments. On The Four Courts , the dance sounds at times like the deep breaths of a concertina's bellows, driving O'Brien's fiddle onward. There are striking moments throughout, particularly when O'Brien suddenly shifts the mood: the abrupt tempo change in Wayside Wonders , or the transition from The Four Courts to Rolling in the Barrel , for example. The Forde Collection—a canon of pre-Famine traditional Irish music noted by William Forde—also provides three traditional tunes on Side A: It Was in the Year Eighteen Hundred and Four (though O'Brien notes it's unclear what happened in 1804) and the uplifting pairing of the jigs Domhnall na Griana and The Butcher's March . Beyond the exuberant jigs, O'Brien offers expansive slow airs that explore the experimental side of his playing as the record shifts to Side B—O'Brien marking a clear delineation between the two halves. Packie's Pandemonium , from the playing of Packie Manus Byrne from Ardara, opens the second half. It's a luscious track of synth-like, sustained vibrato, followed by the equally rich Banbha's Ruins , with its ebbing and flowing melody. Martin Green's accordion provides an atmospheric accompaniment, blending with O'Brien's electronic flourishes. These are followed by the album's most experimental pieces: Down in Whitestrand , Secret House in Fintra Beg , and Death Doula Meet close the album. Each features field recordings from Whitestrand near Miltown Malbay, or friends in conversation. You can hear the shared influence with John Francis Flynn on these tracks—it wouldn't be surprising to hear Secret House in Fintra Beg bleed into Flynn's version of The Zoological Gardens . These final tracks, with their found sounds overlaid on ambient soundscapes, owe as much to Brian Eno as to traditional music—which is no bad thing. The result is a stunning and frequently surprising album that presents a vision of music rooted in the traditional genre, yet unafraid to reach beyond its boundaries for inspiration. Dancing the Line is out now on Nyahh Records available HERE See More: Fiddle Music, Irish Traditional Music
