January 29, 2021 - This week's tablehopper: it's in the bag.

This week's tablehopper: it's in the bag.                    

Fifteen SF Bay Area food treasures will be inside this custom tablehopper tote bag to commemorate the hopper’s fifteenth anniversary!

Howdy, hopper readers! It’s Friday. We made it. (Some of us, just barely.) I’m so ready for happy hoppy hour.

In honor of tablehopper’s fifteenth anniversary next month (!!), I’m truly excited to launch the tablehopper thank you x 15 gift bag today! I hustled to get it all done in time for the Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day, and it’s Black History Month! The bag contains fifteen items to celebrate and honor all these occasions—you can read about alllll the treats below! Some of these goodies are custom-made and exclusive to the gift bag, so enjoy! We’ll also be making another $10 donation per bag sold to SF New Deal.

The thank you x 15 gift bag is $225, with pick up at China Live, or delivery (in SF only) is $12. Sales end February 8th, or when it sells out. (The last bag sold out in 90 minutes, just a heads-up! But I also upped the quantity this time.) Pick up and delivery are available February 12th-14th. Email me any questions and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Thank you for all your ongoing and steadfast support! It has been such a joy to curate another gift bag and work with all these amazing businesses and makers and restaurant industry friends. They all say THANK YOU! I say THANK YOU!

With so much gratitude, ~Marcia

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So Many Celebrations in One Bag: Don't Miss Out on the tablehopper Thank You x 15 Gift Bag!

The Hopper Holiday Restaurant Gift Bag was such a hit (thanks to you!) that I’m doing it again, although this time we’re celebrating tablehopper’s fifteenth anniversary! Can you believe it? February will be tablehopper’s quinceañera—along with the Lunar New Year (Happy Year of the Ox!), Valentine’s Day, and it’s Black History Month! Let’s celebrate and honor allllll the things with the tablehopper thank you x 15 gift bag!

We all know how much our independent restaurants and bars and food businesses are hurting, so here’s one way to support and celebrate them! This abundant gift bag is packed full of delicious, local, hand-crafted, unique, and exclusive treats! I’m talking about fifteen stellar San Francisco Bay Area food products. I’m happy to have so many wonderful La Cocina entrepreneurs in this one! And, we will be making another $10 donation to SF New Deal with each bag sold. It all comes in a commemorative tablehopper 15th anniversary tote bag! (Thanks to studio1500 for generously designing another fun graphic for me!)

Who wants a dozen red roses for Valentine’s Day when you can eat your way through this bag of treasures instead?! It’s much more fun. You can order it for yourself, or you can split up the gift bag and share with friends (perfect for Galentine’s Day). Check out the goodies:

• Half-dozen nastar pineapple tartlets from 1000 Layer Bakery: baker Jennifer Huang (a La Cocina entrepreneur) made this festive Lunar New Year cookie that’s popular in Southeast Asia, filling it with housemade, Indonesian, spiced pineapple jam. The round, golden-colored tartlet and its pineapple filling symbolize fullness and wealth, and bring good luck and success in the coming year.
• Lunar New Year chocolates from Socola Chocolatier (four): celebrate the Year of the Ox with these exquisite chocolates made with candied ginger-peanut, pandan-coconut, preserved kumquat, and tamarind-sesame. Founders and sisters Wendy and Susan Lieu will be celebrating Socola’s 20th birthday this year!
• Etched water glass from Chez Panisse: this classic water glass with the Chez Panisse logo will become your favorite glass for your nightstand (and for sipping wine while you cook).
• Ginger syrup from Rye on the Road (4 oz.): you’re going to need this simple syrup to make the special tablehopper anniversary cocktail, the Hop to It. The recipe will be enclosed for this refreshing buck cocktail! Cheers!
• Hot pepper jelly from Brenda’s Meat & Three (12 oz.): this spicy and sweet jelly is magic on Brenda’s famous cream biscuits. Fun fact: Brenda Buenviaje was the first chef I ever interviewed!
• Blue and red tortilla chips from La Palma (4 oz.): thanks to SF’s beloved tortilleria and masa-makers (and our only Mexicatessen—since 1953!), we can enjoy their delicious corn tortilla chips in tablehopper’s trademark blue and red colors!
• Porcini Peperoncino A’Cruncha from Side Hustle Condiments (6 oz.): be the first to taste the latest chile crunch sauce from chef Sean Thomas! Try drizzling it on avocado toast, eggs, pork chops, pasta, garlic bread, and roasted crab!
• Superfood Baobar from Teranga (1.4 oz.): power up with this top-selling energy bar from Senegal-born (and La Cocina entrepreneur) Nafy Flately, made with all organic ingredients (dates, baobab fruit powder, almonds, cashews, dried cherries, cacao nibs, coconut oil, vanilla, and Himalayan salt).
• Truffle XO sauce from the new Lily on Clement (3 oz.): my dear friend, chef Rob Lam made this custom (and very complex) XO sauce for the gift bag, with black Périgord truffle, dried shrimp and scallops, fermented black beans, prosciutto, green and red Szechuan peppercorns, Urbani Black Truffle Perlage “caviar,” and a whole lot more. (Wait until you see the full ingredient list, wowza.)
• Three-pack of whole beans from Red Bay Coffee Roasters (4 oz. each): explore three different farms and roasts in this combo pack (East Fourteenth—dark; Coltrane—medium; and Slow Burn—espresso) from Keba Konte’s famed, fourth-wave, Oakland roastery.
• Chocolate alfajores from Sabores del Sur (four): La Cocina entrepreneur and Chilean chef Guisell Osorio is famous for her alfajores, and she dipped her dulce de leche sandwich cookies into Guittard dark chocolate to take these South American delights to the next level. ¡Qué rico!
• Lotus moon cake from Eastern Bakery: enjoy a slice of moon cake for the Lunar New Year, made with handmade lotus paste from Chinatown’s oldest bakery (since 1924!). (I didn’t order them with the traditional egg yolk, since some people don’t prefer it. Go visit the bakery and try it out, along with many other flavors.)
• Jasmine pearl tea from China Live (2 oz.): owners George and Cindy Chen source some fantastic products for China Live’s retail shop, and this tea is organically sourced and handpicked for the restaurant. Enjoy a cup with your moon cake.
• Fortune cookies from Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Co.: handmade in San Francisco, since 1962! I had a few made with custom fortunes, from me to you! Please visit them soon, order some cookies, and good fortune will come your way.
• “I’m well-aged and a little crunchy” enamel pin from The Cheese School of San Francisco: It kind of says everything, right? (I laughed.) It’ll look great pinned onto your tablehopper tote! Visit The Cheese School for a well-aged cheese to go with it.
• $10 donation to SF New Deal: your gift bag includes a donation to this remarkable organization that has been helping restaurants feed our communities in need during the pandemic. Thank you for supporting them in their work! If you want to make a bigger donation, please click here. XO
• Everything comes in an oversized, canvas tablehopper 15th anniversary tote! In honor of the occasion, and all the takeout and doggie bags I have brought home over the years, I asked studio1500 to design a custom tablehopper version of the classic THANK YOU takeout bag graphic. THANK YOU! Thank you to all of you who got me to 15! Have a nice day.

PURCHASING DETAILS Whew! So how’s that for a celebration of flavor from our wonderful SF Bay Area businesses? The tablehopper thank you x 15 gift bag is $225 (click to order), and 100 percent fabulous. All sales are final, no refunds or returns.

Everything will be shelf-stable, so you don’t have to worry about getting anything into the fridge after you receive it (but a couple items will need to be refrigerated after you open them). An ingredient list will be included (or noted on some items).

Unfortunately, there are no substitutions or custom orders. If there’s something you can’t eat or enjoy, I’m sure you can find someone who will! Thanks for understanding. If you need more details about any ingredients, please get in touch.

Items are subject to change and availability—since we’re dealing with so many items here (15!), there’s a small chance we’ll need to make a change or swap an item. Please trust it will be delicious. Thank you for understanding, we’ll keep you informed of any changes.

Like last time, quantities are limited, so you’ll want to hop to it. You have until Monday February 8th at 3pm PST to order (unless it sells out first). Email me to be added to a waitlist if it’s sold out, but please note we won’t be doing a second run like last time.

In-person, pre-paid pick ups will be available at China Live Friday February 12th, Saturday February 13th, and Sunday February 14th, from 4pm-8pm each day. The bag will be listed under the name on your order. Order $50 or more in food and cocktails online from China Live to pick up at the same time and you’ll receive a free chili bean sauce with code tablehopper (this offer is available to anyone purchasing a tablehopper bag, for pick up or delivery, Feb 12th-14th! Order food for delivery here.). Xie xie to China Live for hosting.

China Live: 644 Broadway St. (between Stockton and Grant). There is a parking zone where you can pull up. Please don’t contact the restaurant for any questions you have about the bag.

Delivery in San Francisco will also be available Friday February 12th through Sunday February 14th for an additional fee of $12. We will finalize your delivery time window after we get all orders in and can map things out. Please specify your preferred day and timeframe to start (morning is 9am-12pm; afternoon is 12pm-5pm, evening is 5pm-8pm). Available time slots will be Fri afternoon, evening; Sat morning, afternoon, evening; Sun morning, afternoon. (Stand by for more details and a better ETA soon if you choose this option.) If you miss your delivery (things happen!) and there’s nowhere safe for us to leave it, you’ll be able to pick up your bag at China Live. No delivery fee refunds (unless it’s totally our fault).

Sorry, no shipping, and we won’t be able to offer the gift bags any earlier than Friday February 12th.

On behalf of all our local restaurants, bars, businesses, makers, and me, thank you. We appreciate all your generous support, and this gift bag is a kind way to share and show and feel the love. Our Bay Area hospitality industry is so special, let’s do everything we can to show up for it.

Thank you for reading my column and supporting my venture in so many ways these past fifteen years. It has been quite an adventure, and you are such an incredible community! The best! I raise my glass to you. Cheers!