Single Guy’s Planner

Summer’s almost over (and I know the month is almost half over), but the events keep on coming. And several of them happen this weekend so pay attention people! As always, happy eating!

Sept. 11 (Saturday): SF Underground Market. It’s that time again for the popular market of home-made goods from home chefs and upcoming vendors. The San Francisco market is the original and gets bigger every time. How is it growing this time? They’re offering free lectures during the day (space is limited so they suggest you pre-register). You can learn to home roast coffee beans or make ice cream. Like the last time, the market will be split with the day shift (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.) filled with vendors selling jams and other things for you to take home. (I hear they’ll be someone selling cake pops. That’s right, cake on a stick!) In the evening (from 6 p.m. to midnight), vendors will be selling food and drinks that you can eat on the spot, so it’s like a Saturday night with street food. Everything occurs at SomArts, 934 Brannan St. Entrance fee: $5. Plus you have to sign up for membership to enter. For more information, visit the ForageSF blog.

Sept. 11-12 (Saturday to Sunday): 15th Annual Ghirardelli Square Chocolate Festival. With the cool weather we’ve been having, you don’t have to worry about melting chocolate all over your hands at this festival at the iconic Ghirardelli Square. There’ll be family-friendly events and chefs demos, and the popular ice cream eating contest – and entrance is free. But if you want to participate in the chocolate tasting, tickets can be purchased online for $20 (which lets you sample 15 pieces). For more information, visit www.ghirardellisq.com.

Sept. 11-12 (Saturday to Sunday): 7th Annual Brews on the Bay. You can literally get a boatload of beer at this San Francisco Brewers Guild event that takes place on the S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien docked over at Pier 45 in San Francisco. Unfortunately, advanced sales are closed, so you can only purchase the $55 admission ticket at the door. Event runs from 1 to 5 p.m. each day. For more information, visit the guild’s website.

Sept. 19 (Sunday): Food Foraging Tour by 18 Reasons. Everyone’s getting back to the earth, and the community group 18 Reasons in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood is putting on this foraging tour with the American Institute of Architecture, Forage Oakland, Neighborhood Fruit and FARM. This walking tour will start at the FARM vegetable and herb garden at 1111 Eight St. and then off to three to four foraging sites before ending at 18 Reasons’ gallery for a light lunch. Tickets are $10 for members and $20 for the public, and can be purchased online here.

Sept. 21-27 (Tuesday through Monday): San Francisco Cocktail Week. What’s more fun in San Francisco, the city of mixologists, than a whole week of festivities at bars, bars, and more bars. Well, I guess one event would be at a center, but they’ll be serving liquor! The San Francisco Cocktail Week will have a variety of events, but I have to say my favorite and most approachable is the Farmers Market Happy Hour at the Ferry Building where the city’s best bartenders mix up drinks using fresh ingredients (think lots of fruits) from the farmers market. And you also get hors d’oeuveres. This event takes place on Wednesday, Sept. 22, and runs from 6 to 8 p.m. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased online here. For more information on the entire week of events, visit the website.

Sept. 29 (Wednesday): Discover Cheese: A to Z of Cheese. Eat your way to learning more about cheese in this evening of discussion and tasting at Lava Lounge in San Francisco’s SOMA district. This is an inaugural event put on by Karen Tran, who pens the blog, cheeseplatesf.com. Tran will lead you through a tasting of all the major cheese groups, including fresh, bloomy rind, washed rind, blues, and aged. Didn’t know there were cheese groups? Then maybe you need to do this introductory tasting. Event runs from 6 to 9 p.m. at the lounge at 527 Bryant (between 4th and 3rd). Tickets are $25 in advance or $35 on the day of the event. You can purchase advanced tickets (cash only) at Lava Lounge or contact Tran at karen@cheeseplatesf.com for questions or to arrange payment.