By Becky Duffett

There’s no place like Bi-Rite for the holidays, where many families and friends return year after year, to pick up their holiday feasts and all the trimmings. Bi-Rite has been honored to help celebrate Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas traditions in San Francisco for more than 25 years, with housemade roasted turkeys, herbed stuffing, mashed potatoes, brisket, latkes, and more. And now, with the opening of the new Market location on Polk Street, and three pickup locations across the city, the team is busy prepping for the best Thanksgiving yet. They’ve been hard at work for months to make it happen, so let’s take a peek inside the holiday kitchen at Bi-Rite, and see how the stuffing is made.  

Executive chef Paul Piscopo has been cooking in San Francisco since the ‘90s, running kitchens for hotels, the Mina Group, and Off the Grid. As a longtime local, he always dreamed of working at Bi-Rite, and finally joined the team in fall 2021. Today he leads the crew at the commissary kitchen in the Bayview, where the holiday magic happens. On the savory side, ​executive production ​chef Eduardo Martinez, aka the stuffing champion of San Francisco, wields two extra large spoons. On the sweet side, executive pastry chef Jessica “JP” Penner, who you may know from ice cream cake and Bûche de Noël fame, crimps pie after pie. Altogether, this team ​includes​ skilled cooks ​and​​ efficient packers​, and many have been part of the Bi-Rite family for years or decades​.​ In particular, Martinez has been cooking with founder Sam Mogannam since 1994, first as a chef in his restaurant Rendezvous du Monde, before joining the opening team at Bi-Rite Market 18th Street in 1998, when they built out the kitchen in the middle of the store. So he’s been part of the Bi-Rite family, personally tossing your holiday stuffing, for more than 25 years.

Bi-Rite Brings Holiday Magic Year-Round

Bi-Rite really does keep the holiday spirit the whole year round, because as soon as the holidays have wound down, the team immediately regroups and starts planning for the next year, Piscopo says. Because they work with small and local farmers, they place orders for turkeys many months in advance. 

Today Bi-Rite trusts their longtime partners Mary’s of Pitman Family Farms to take care of the turkey, leaving the roasting to the poultry pros, who have perfected golden skin and juicy meat. That California family farm has been raising turkeys since 1954, and today offers organic and free-range birds, name-dropped on many restaurant menus across San Francisco. ​​​ 

​​​The team makes the most sage stuffing, ​and they still toss every single batch by hand​​​. ​They take sweet batard bread from one of our beloved local bakeries, cut it into generous cubes, and toast them until golden before adding roasted mushrooms and a shower of fresh herbs for lots of woodsy flavor. Martinez makes big batches in wide bowls, and he’s mastered his method over the years, taking two slotted spoons and turning it all together so those finely chopped mushrooms cover every cube, adding umami to each bite. ​​     ​​ 

​​​​​​​The mashed potatoes ​feature organic russet potatoes, which are a classic for a reason, with a reputation as the fluffiest spud. The team boils them until just tender and lets them drain and steam until completely dry to maintain maximum fluffiness. Then they blend them just until smooth, without overworking them, and smash them ​with plenty of good butter and cream​ from our old farmer friends at Straus Family Creamery​. “Our goal is to make the ​​best mashed potatoes, year in and year out,” Piscopo confirms.​     ​​ 

Many of the recipes originally came from the Mogannam family, and Martinez and the team have iterated on them over the years. “We’ve got the mashed potatoes down to a science,” Piscopo laughs. To ensure quality assurance, they taste every single batch, the same way chefs do in restaurants. Each station is stocked with clean spoons, and each batch gets triple tasted, first by the cook, then by a chef, and one last time right before packing. Starchy dishes like stuffing and mashed potatoes tend to soak in flavors, so that final stuffing signoff is critical to make sure that your meal not only tastes incredibly delicious when you get it delivered hot by Bi-Rite Catering for an event, but especially so it reheats beautifully at home for your holiday table.

The housemade stuffing and mashed potatoes. | Bi-Rite Market

Custom Holiday Feasts to Fit Your Style

Bi-Rite Catering offers everything from full feasts for a dozen guests to TV dinners for the solo diner​, and of course showcases seasonal produce in fresh veggie sides​. Piscopo reports the trend these days is toward la carte, giving you the most flexibility to pick and choose. If you love to dig into one big project, spend your time on the roast, and let Bi-Rite support with all the sides. Or if you have the most fun with the sides, let Bi-Rite tackle the bird, and go wild. You don’t have to make dessert, or you could only make dessert, if holiday baking is your jam. The point is, why not focus on what brings you joy this holiday season? Piscopo’s advice is “to order and make your holiday super easy and fun, so you can enjoy it. We’ll take care of all the heavy lifting.”  

Hard Work, Lot’s of Heart, and Even More Fun

Behind the scenes in the holiday kitchen, the team is going to have a blast making whatever you need. “Even on the busiest days, the staff is still laughing and enjoying themselves, even while working so very hard,” Piscopo says. “It speaks volumes to the level of dedication and love that they put into everything they make.” They even have a Mr. Potato Head trophy, awarded to the most dedicated spud masher every year.  

Becky Duffett is a food writer living and eating in San Francisco. Follow her on Instagram at @beckyduffettopens a new window.