All Together Now

PIRATE'S BOOTY

The founder of SubCulture Dining (SCD) prefers not to give out his name. Instead, he’s taken on an alter ego that he calls the “Dissident Chef.” DC, a 25-year industry veteran who’s worked with Wolfgang Puck and Michel Richard, began his “pirate dining faction” a little over a year ago while waiting for a space to materialize so he could start his own restaurant. In the meantime, he’s been turning out elaborate meals in home kitchens throughout the city—a loft one week, a bungalow the next. “We keep moving—we’re hiding in plain sight,” says the DC, whose temporary setups would likely rankle the city’s health inspectors. His multicourse extravaganzas showcase the local and seasonal: A venison loin with favas and morels one week, tuna confit with Persian radishes and hearts of palm the next. But whipping up a four-star meal in a one-star kitchen is no easy task. With all the shopping, prepping, plating and cleaning left to the DC and his skeleton crew, it’s proved to be, as he puts it, “a friggin’ blood sport.” The next dinner is scheduled for July 13 (dinners start at about $85 per person); to sign up, go to thescdsf.com.

RADIO HEADS

Only the most hardened diner could be untouched by chef Eskender Aseged’s unbridled enthusiasm for his newfound life. Three years ago, while working as a waiter at Campton Place, he launched Radio Africa & Kitchen in his Mission District home on a by-donation basis. “I’d always wanted to work in the kitchen,” he says in his booming voice, thickened by an Ethiopian accent. “But you make a fraction of the wages.” Undeterred, he kept going with his communal dinners, serving up his personal mix of healthy “Red Sea meets Mediterranean” food, which features dishes such as fresh edamame “hummus” and slow-cooked wild salmon with lentils and pistachio essence. Eventually, Meg Lynch, the owner of Velo Rouge Café, attended one and invited him to start cooking at her place after hours. Today, alternating nights at Velo Rouge and Sweet Adeline Bakeshop in Berkeley, Aseged has been able to give up waiting tables once and for all. As the word has spread about Radio Africa, he’s been asked whether he’s going to get a publicist. “No,” he says firmly. “The PR is the people.” The next event ($50 for multicourse dinner with wine pairings) will be held on July 14 at chef Aseged’s home; radioafricakitchen.com.

READY, SET, COOK

First came the blog: Cook Here and Now, launched in August 2006, in which SF artist Marco Marinucci began posting a weekly update about the best of the Alemany Farmers Market. Then came the farmers-market meet-ups. The next step? A potluck dinner party for 40, designed around seasonal ingredients. For the first Let’s Cook and Eat Together dinner, held last October, Marinucci recruited diners on Craigslist: “We got a lot of people born outside the US who missed the feeling of community they associate with food.” Today, the monthly dinner themes are posted on his blog; within half a day, all the spots taken. At the May 13 event, held in a Bayview furniture factory whose owner was an early fan of the blog, the kitchen had the air of a home-ec class: Some cooks confidently cleaned leeks, some struggled to wrangle a fava bean. For most, the dinners provide a chance to learn from others, though participant DeeAnn Budney admits that’s why her husband stopped coming. “He said, ‘These people talk too much about food. I just want to eat it!’” Dinners are monthly and free (except for the price of ingredients).

photography by Misha Vladimirskiy