BlogHer Food '09

2009 offered BlogHer conferences and its community many advances and exciting new adventures – here’s a quick look at 2009…

What is stopping you from using your food blog—or, really, any blog you write—to save the world? What is your barrier to entry into that place where your blog goes beyond telling a story and actually serves as a platform for the causes about which you’re most passionate?That was the question asked by Lydia Walshin of A Perfect Pantry and Drop In & Decorate® cookies for donation at the end of How Food Blogs Can Save The World, our panel at BlogHerFood ’09, and a worthy question which which to grapple. The participants in the panel--who also included Pim Techamuanvivit, who has raised more than $250,000 through her Menu For Hope event on Chez Pim, and Valerie Harrison of More Than Burnt Toast, who will release a fundraising cookbook in November as part of the efforts of BloggerAid: Changing the Face of Famine--were in various stages of their efforts, and they wanted to share their expertise with conference attendees.

If you’re traveling to San Francisco for BlogHer Food 2009, you might want to leave a little extra room in your suitcase. Not only is this a city of great eating and drinking, this is a terrific city for culinary shopping and tourism.

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned since I’ve moved to the Bay Area, it’s this: San Francisco is a city of unbelievable cocktails. This is not the land of your average gin and tonic, folks. This is the place to seek out drinks designed to make you think differently about what goes in a cocktail glass. Here are six places that ought to leave you highly satisfied. Most of them are within walking distance of the St. Regis, but I’ve included two of my very favorites that will require a little more of a trek. And here’s a bit of a bonus: Four of the six also serve up incredible food, so bring your appetite along with your thirst.

I’ve described my move to the Bay Area many times as making an extended pilgrimage to foodie Mecca, and even now that I’ve lived in Oakland for more than a year, I am still wide-eyed at the amazing eating experiences I’m having, week by week. If you’re coming here for BlogHer Food ’09, I encourage you to eat your way across town. But with so many possibilities, how do you pick where to eat? After all, even in San Francisco, you can find yourself savoring just an average meal, and with limited time and room in your stomach, that would be an epicurean tragedy. This is just part one of a series of posts that will run over the next few weeks. Next on the docket? Notable cocktails (and, in some cases, those cocktail purveyors will also provide a spirited eating experience). Finally, I’ll give you a wrap-up of some interesting places to do some foodie shopping while you’re in town. But first, you must eat. I’ve compiled a list of five places I think worthy of your attention.