Chat Room: Food 2026
Chat Room: Food
June 18, 2026
Swedish American Hall
2174 Market St.
Doors: 6 p.m.
Show: 6:30 p.m.
Entry includes free flow beer and wine from 6:00-9:30 p.m. This event is 21+.
Food will be available for purchase from pop ups.
All Chat Room events are free for Gazetteer SF paid subscribers but space is limited. Subscribers may write to chelly@gazetteer.co to receive your free ticket code. Non-subscribers may purchase tickets here for $30 + fees.
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We’re excited to announce that we’re returning to a most important topic for the last Chat Room of our second season: food.
What’s for dinner? What’s for lunch? What’s for breakfast? How did it get there? Who made it? How much were they paid? Where were the ingredients sourced?
Also, what’s the next matcha? The next ube? The next Dubai chocolate? What’s the hottest Japanese-Filipino vinyl listening café in San Francisco?
Food inspires so many questions.
On June 18, Chat Room returns to chew over this scrumptious subject with San Francisco’s top food industry folks.
At our first Chat Room: Food event in 2025, the crowd munched on pop up fare while taking advantage of the open bar and being delighted by insightful panels.
This year, we’re serving up new dishes and talking to some new favorites.
Acclaimed food writer Paolo Bicchieri will serve as MC and we will be assembling some of the best pop-ups in the Bay to satisfy every kind of appetite. Read on for the full program.
The Korean food renaissance is here to stay
In the last few years, Korean culture has flooded the mainstream consciousness, and our social media feeds, thanks to an explosion of interest into the country's music, movies, and cuisine.s this surging trend a flash in the pan, or a sign of more to come? Find out at Chat Room: Food, where Gazetteer SF city reporter Eddie Kim will discuss with leaders of SF’s Korean dining scene, including Thomas Etheve (San Ho Won), Hwanghah Jeong (Jilli), and Ina Jungin Lee (Korner Store, Matko).
Recipes from the front lines: The making of ‘Ukraїne’
Chef and recipe creator Anna Voloshyna chats with Gazetteer SF food & drink reporter Olivia Peluso about her forthcoming cookbook, Ukraїne.
The chef's role in transforming food systems
So many inputs affect what ends up on our plate — location, climate, culture, farmers, ranchers, fisherfolk, food scientists, restaurant operators, corporations, subsidies, technology, laborers, transportation, artisans, legislation, global trade, wholesalers, consumers. For those interested in redesigning and improving that system, where do we even begin? Gazetteer SF food & drink reporter Olivia Peluso will discuss with chefs Kevin Chen (Four Kings), Will Koh (Outta Sight Pizza), and Gary Podesto (Chez Panisse).
Recipes for success
Running a restaurant in San Francisco is harder than ever. Inflation is driving up ingredient costs, labor, and rent. Tastes are fickle, dining habits have changed drastically since the pandemic, and competition is fierce. What is the chef’s role in driving the commercial success of a restaurant? How do chefs balance their primary goal of cooking great food with the operational grind of managing staffing, sourcing, accounting, and marketing? How do operations and the culinary sides of the business interact and intersect?
Gazetteer SF city reporter Eddie Kim will discuss with Intu-on Kornnawong (Shoji), Amanda Flores (Flour + Water), and Reem Assil (Reem's).
Pop-ups
Come hungry! Three top pop-ups from the Bay Area will be selling their tasty creations.
Ovinloven
Rachael Strickler’s pop-up Ovinloven is known for seasonally inspired, locally sourced sweet and savory pies. She has a background in human rights advocacy and community organizing in the reproductive justice and prison abolition movements; she hopes to continue embodying their principles in her present and future work. Ultimately, her goal is to nourish her community both physically and spiritually. She aims to tap into nostalgia while also providing a new and elevated experience through her recipes. She views pie as the perfect blank canvas for celebrating ingredients and telling stories—it has been an incredible vehicle to allow her to connect with and shine a spotlight on local farmers, makers, and small businesses. Community is at the center of everything she—and by extension, Ovinloven—does.
Provecho
Eder Ramirez’s Oaxacan cuisine pop-up Provecho is all about flame-kissed meats and seafood, often served on tostadas or memelas. While including Oaxacan techniques and ingredients, Ramirez pushes things forward with his cooking – often combining Japanese and Korean touches like raw fish or kimchi. Ramirez is a first-generation son of Oaxacan parents, who has made the Bay Area his home since 2007. Provecho has popped up at such locations as Berkeley Bowl West, Millay Sake + Wine Bar, Temescal Brewing, and Tahona Mercado.
Uncle Tito
Vincent Dayao is the chef and founder of Uncle Tito, a Filipino-American pop-up in the San Francisco Bay Area. Inspired by his childhood, family, and culture, he creates modern Filipino-American comfort food that honors tradition while doing it his own way—paying homage to the generation before us, connecting with our generation, and introducing the next one to the food and culture we love.
Music Partner: