Exploring Factory Farming Alternatives in San Francisco
“I don’t want to contribute to the problem of factory farming when I eat out, but I still want to eat meat in San Francisco, what places can I eat at that serve meat raised in open fields on family farms?” If this is a question you might find yourself asking San Francisco is a good city to be in, because the Bay Area is home to the largest supplier of family farmed meat in the country, Niman Ranch. (www.nimanranch.com/AllNaturalMeats) Which promises meat that is raised strictly on family farms and ranches, has never had anti-biotics or added hormones, and completely vegetarian fed. Niman Ranch started in the 1970s in Bolinas, a small town just north of San Francisco and became popular quickly with the city’s restaurants. In 1995 Paul Willis joined and Niman started offering beef, pork, and lamb and today has 676 independent American farmers and ranchers. Plenty of restaurants in the city serve Niman Ranch meats and their website features a number of chefs from around the Bay. Namu has a popular Niman Ranch burger with daikon sprouts and you can even add kimchi for a buck. The burger is charred using Japanese white charcoal called Binchotan and cooked juicy for maximum farm raised flavor. (http://blogs.sfweekly.com/foodie/2009/07/city_of_burgers_namu.php) Burger Joint is another popular place that serves Niman Ranch burgers in locations all over the city. (http://burgerjointsf.com/) With locations on King Street, Valencia, and at two terminals in the airport, as well as a southern Joint in Burlingame you are never too far from a hormone free burger in San Francisco. For Chinese food lovers there is Betelnut on Union Street which serves Niman Ranch meats like beef satay, pork short rib, cumin lamb, beef bacon, and American Kobe beef tataki. (http://www.betelnutrestaurant.com/) If Oakland or Berkeley are your stomping ground you might try Oliveto in Oakland which offers intriguing items like pork meatballs or terrina of pork head, all from Niman Ranch. (http://www.oliveto.com/) Or you could go to Cafe Rouge in Berkeley which has Mediterranean as well as American food and an oyster bar, meat market, and full bar and serves organic and farm raised pork, beef, lamb, and poultry. They serve such meaty delights as a 16oz rib eye with red win shallot butter and pork pot pie with butternut squash and chestnuts. (http://www.caferouge.net/) If none of those restaurants are peeking your fancy you might think about getting farm raised Mexican meat dishes. Regalito has just that and serves traditional Mexican meat plates like chile Colorado, tinga de pollo (shredded chicken), conchinita pibil (banana leaf wrapped pork), and their namesake pollo regalito (chile-garlic marinated chicken). (http://www.regalitosf.com/menu) The Little Chihuahua on Divisadero is another San Francisco locale serving Niman Ranch meats at a reasonable price. They have Mission style burritos, tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, and even a personal favorite Mexican dish of mine tortilla soup. (http://thelittlechihuahua.com/) All of these places serve food at a reasonable price, and Little Chihuahua is only a dollar more expensive that most Mexican Taquerias in the city on most items. Chipotle, which does use free range meat is another good alternative, although it is not very much cheaper.
