Bi-Rite Market's Eat Good Food

July 11, 2011
Mogannam, the owner of Bi-Rite Market in San Francisco's Mission District, and food writer Gough capture the spirit of the unique neighborhood market with 90 recipes, profiles of local purveyors, and buying, storing, and using instructions for ingredients, organized by market departmentâreaders can browse the "aisles" of the title, including "The Deli" "The Produce Department," "The Butcher Counter," and "The Dairy Case." A focus on community and emphasis on supporting local, organic, and sustainable products (Bi-Rite brings things as close to home as possible, producing honey on the shop's roof and running a small farm in Sonoma) permeates the title with extensive, but never preachy, information on how to shop and use ingredients. Easy-to-follow and diverse recipes include family recipes, like Mom's pear skillet cake, and mujadara, a Middle Eastern lentil and rice dish; Delfina's spaghetti, shared by the city's famed Italian restaurant, Delfina; Bi-Rite deli-counter favorites such as the roasted beet salad with pickled onions, and butternut squash latkes; and desserts, such as the chocolate sour cream bundt cake with chocolate glaze. A beloved West Coast institution is celebrated between the covers of this inspiring cookbook.