I wanted to let you know about a couple new ways you can stock your fridge and enjoy some tasty meals at home while helping to support restaurants. First, there’s Feastin, a new delivery platform offering a variety of restaurant meals and dishes and kits, plus groceries and cocktails. What’s great is you can support restaurants and enjoy the convenience of delivery without having to use the primary delivery apps and see the restaurant lose with commission fees—with Feastin, you pay a 20 percent fee that covers contactless delivery throughout the Bay Area, service, tax, and tip for the company’s full-time drivers, all of whom are food handler-certified and wear masks. (Just be sure you’re home for your delivery, since things are held in refrigerated trucks, but aren’t delivered on ice packs.)
Co-founders Sebastiaan Van De Rijt and Hannah Wagner set out on a mission to build a better delivery partnership to support the Bay Area restaurant community. “2020 devastated the restaurant industry in ways no one could have ever predicted and forever changed the way people eat and cook at home,” said Sebastiaan Van De Rijt, Feastin co-founder and restaurateur behind the Bay Area’s Bamboo Asia restaurants. “Even the most exclusive restaurants started selling meal kits, prepared foods, and specialty provisions in order to survive. These restaurants have to rely on doing their own deliveries or working with third-party platforms that take up to 30% of their profits. Feastin is a commission-free platform built to help restaurants thrive and grow revenue opportunities.” You can order heat-up-at-home dishes like two kinds of lasagna from Che Fico, or steam-your-own xiao long bao from Palette Tea House (they come out perfectly), and a hearty tonkotsu ramen from Angry Ramen, plus you can stash some beef noodle soup from Mama Liang’s in the freezer for that night when you have no idea what to cook. Other restaurants include Pinoy Heritage, alaMar, 620 Jones, Atelier Crenn, Zero Zero, Izzy’s Steakhouse, and more.
I also picked up some smoked Nova salmon from Acme at a great price (3 oz. for just $3.29), blueberries for cheap (groceries can be up to 70 percent off), and then you can buy things like a quart of queso dip ($6) that ended up coming in really handy for egg dishes, midnight snack attacks, and drizzling into tacos. I also got a quart of their tikka masala ($6) which I spiked up a bit and used it for four dishes: two quick dinners with seasoned chicken thighs that I sautéed and threw in and served with rice, plus in scrambled eggs with sliced cherry tomatoes (soooo good), and I even made a pasta dish one night with it. Love having things like that on hand. New restaurants are being added (like Presidio Social Club Exchange), and there are also cocktails, pantry items, and more. Check it out.
Meat lovers, you’ll want to check out the goods at Roam Butcher Shop! The folks known for their tasty burgers around town are now offering quality, pasture-raised meats from reputable small-family-owned farms in the U.S. you can buy for cooking at home. You’ll see an array of steaks, tasty grass-fed lamb chops, sausages from Llano Seco, heirloom chicken, and, of course, some grass-fed ground beef from 4K Ranch ($11/lb.), plus a lot more. There are also some themed butcher boxes. Get a $20 gift card to Roam Artisan Burgers and free local delivery in SF, Lafayette, and San Ramon areas (for a limited time for orders $100 or more). Otherwise, you can arrange for local pick-up and delivery, details here.
Some xiao long bao and pork and chive dumplings from Palette Tea House via Feastin. Photo: © tablehopper.com.
