Hello friends,
I’ve missed you and maybe some of you have missed my masa. As I mentioned in the last newsletter, we are no longer regularly at the Foodwise Mission Community Market. Direct to consumer businesses, like my own, are struggling. And, as I tend to do when confronted with the realities of capitalism, I pivot and refine.
Some of you may have seen that I am providing masa to a few restaurants. You can find rotating varietals of our masa on Tacos Oscar’s Monday menu. Our red Cónico and Xocoyul Rosada are feautured in Daytrip’s rockfish ceviche, with avocado, huitlacoche, and serrano. Greens is featuring empanadas with our masa for one more week. These partnerships have been energizing and have allowed me to further define what will come next for Bolita. I think Bolita will look more closely to our upcoming dinner at Wave Collective.
We have a dinner at Waves Collective on October 11, if you’d like to join us, you can make reservation below. The menu is coming along beautifully, and, in a year or two, you can be one of those people saying, I remember when Bolita threw a dinner party in an art gallery on Haight St. Now, they have a restaurant/cafe.
Our friend Sam Rogers is putting together a great beverage pairing and I may even break out some mezcals from my “cellar.”
Pop-Up / Market Dates
MON 10/3 - MASA POP-UP, Tacos Oscar, 420 40th St. Oakland. 5:00-7:00pm
Tacos Oscar is using our masa for their special Monday night menus. AND, I want to make it possible for you to take some home. I’ll be there selling masa, 3 varietals, from 5-7pm. Come get some tacos and take some masa home! Add to Your Calendar
FRI 10/7 - POP-UP, 1340 5th St., Berkeley. 3:00-8:00pm
First Fridays with Broc Cellars, Hammerling, Donkey & Goat. We will have Confit Duck + Mole Colorado Tamales, Pork Chile Verde Quesadillas, Mushroom Tetelas, Squash + Mole Negro Tamales, y más! More info and menu to come soon. Put it in your calendar.
TUE 10/11 - Bolita Dinner. Wave Collective, 440 Haight St., San Francisco. 7:30pm
We are teaming up with Waves Collective to host a 5-course dinner ($75). So far I have a crudo tostada, a tlayuda, and nicuatole on the menu, and am finalizing it. Our incredibly talented friend Sam Rogers is putting together a beautiful pairing of CA grown/made cider and wines, and maybe a mezcal for good measure. Optional Pairing, but highly encouraged ($50) - A portion of proceeds will go to Wave to continue offering their space to artists and makers.
MON 10/17 - MASA POP-UP, Tacos Oscar, 420 40th St. Oakland. 5:00-7:00pm
Tacos Oscar is using our masa for their special Monday night menus. AND, I want to make it possible for you to take some home. I’ll be there selling masa, 3 varietals, from 5-7pm. Come get some tacos and take some masa home! Add to your Calendar
I’m currently in Joshua Tree, at our friends’ home, sitting on a bench in the blistering sun, watching my dog chew-eat a pinecone. We’ve been cooking together, eating in groups, and socializing in our small ways. Simple moments like these help remind me of what I wanted to do with Bolita and why I started this project in the first place. I want to share masa with as many people as possible, in new and old ways.
Watching our restaurant partnerships introduce our masa to more people has revealed that sharing cooked masa may be the best way to make that introduction. Sometimes, I have to physically remove myself from the production and day-to-day grinding (hehe, puns are welcome here) to see the larger vision or raison d'être.
On Saturday, Ren, whose home I am staying in, and I decided to make empanadas with some beautiful shrimp and masa I brought down from the Bay. Then we decided we wanted to make shrimp toast. And, then, being the indecisive straw people that we are, went back and forth, looked at too many recipes, and could not decide on shrimp toast or empanadas. What we decided on was a compromise, a shrimp-sope of sorts. The filling was reminisce of a dumpling filling, with added egg white and cornstarch for bonding. Ren and Erica, my partner, made thin masa cups that then got packed with the shrimp filling, and we fried them. They looked something like a stuffed mushroom and a Bagel Bite. The masa was tender with crisped edges. The filling and the masa became one, the shrimp filling adhered to the masa and caramelized beautifully. What was meant to be a dinner for four became a dinner for ten, and we were feeding everyone these little shrimp-sopes. It was rewarding to see people eat an idea.
All this to say, I love experimenting with masa and I love feeding people.
These are the 2 things I am carrying through into what we do next. We will find more ways to sell you masa (see the pop-up calendar below) for your personal experimentation, whether it’s your first time making tortillas or your hundredth making tamales. And I will find more ways to feed you, slowly building our menu for what will eventually be a brick and mortar.
Come to our dinners. Buy our masa. Support your local masa makers.
For more visual content, you can follow my Instagram @bolitamasa