How to Eat Chocolate All Weekend, and More Food Events

Eater SF does a weekly roundup featuring the best food and drink events in San Francisco and the Bay Area. Every week, our editors sift through emails, tips, and listings for the most interesting food festivals, pop-ups, guest chefs, special dinners, cooking classes, cookbook signings, and more. Every event here is a personal recommendation from an Eater editor. It’s the stuff we’d actually attend or send a friend to. They’re selected because of an intriguing menu, truly delicious delicious dishes, or the involvement of an exceptional chef or restaurant.

The focus is what’s happening this week, but occasionally, we’ll tease upcoming events you might want to buy tickets for stat (before they sell out). Have an event you’d like listed here? Send it our way at sf@eater.com.

Craft Chocolate Experience

March 6 to 8

The Craft Chocolate Experience is a big new festival specifically dedicated to craft chocolate, which means not just the commercial manufacturers, but smaller growers, makers, confectioners, and pastry chefs, who are focused on the bean-to-bar movement. Tastings will feature 95 chocolate makers from more than 21 different countries, and speakers include John Scharffenberger, Gary Guittard, Michael Recchiuti, Lisa Vega from Dandelion, Angela Pinkerton from Che Fico, Avery Ruzicka from Manresa, and Emily Lucchetti from the Big Night Restaurant Group. The opening party on Friday night is $95, a one-day pass for either Saturday or Sunday is $35, and an all-weekend pass is $145.

What else is on this week:

• March 6: With this weekend’s season debut, Off the Grid Fort Mason kicks off its 10-year anniversary celebration. The season runs March 6 through October 30, with the food trucks rolling in every Friday night. New this year: Sarap Shop, quesabirria from El Garage and OG Tacos, bone marrow from the Golden Marrow, and soft serve in fish cones from Uji Time.
• March 7: San Francisco’s Black Cuisine Festival is partying for its 40th year with fried catfish, braised oxtail, sweet potato pie, and live music in the Bayview.
• March 8: Family Cafe in North Beach is hosting a Japanese pop-up to support local sushi chef Tim Phung, who is battling late-stage pancreatic cancer — and will cook for this event before starting his next round of treatments. Chefs from prominent SF sushi spots like Akiko’s, Robin, and Ichi are putting out a lavish, multi-course menu for $175 (drinks inclusive), with three seatings. Both of the dinners are sold out, but there are still a few seats left for lunch.