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If you were a super-hero, what powers would you have?

Teleportation

What is your favorite holiday?

Christmas 🎄

Who is your favorite musical artist?

Ella Mai

What is your favorite breakfast food?

Waffles😋

What is the most unusual thing you have ever eaten?

Whale! 🐳

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Every Movie Coming to Theaters in October

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Every Movie Coming to Theaters in October

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With Halloween fast approaching, October 2023 will see the arrival of a couple of horror movies, as well as Martin Scorsese's latest project and a concert movie from a very popular pop singer. September welcomed some big releases and movies from different franchises, such as the final installment in The Equalizer trilogy, The Nun II, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, and Expend4bles. September also kicked off spooky season with movies like A Haunting in Venice and Saw X, and also welcomed Gareth Edwards' latest project, The Creator.

Given that September saw mostly big theatrical releases, none of them are available to stream yet, but October is also bringing some of 2023's most anticipated movies, which will be exciting enough to fill in that void. In addition to that, some of October's movie releases will be available to stream shortly after their theatrical run or will get a simultaneous theatrical and streaming release, guaranteeing that everyone will get a chance to watch them. That said, October will welcome a new Exorcist movie, a Taylor Swift concert movie, a horror movie based on a Twitter thread, Martin Scorsese's latest project, and a horror movie based on a video game. Here's every movie coming to theaters in October 2023.

The Exorcist: Believer - October 6

The Exorcist: Believer is the sixth installment in The Exorcist franchise and a direct sequel to William Friedkin's The Exorcist. The Exorcist: Believer follows Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom Jr.), a single father whose daughter, Angela (Lidya Jewett), and her friend Katherine (Olivia Marcum), start showing signs of demonic possession. This unleashes a chain of horrific events that lead Victor to look for help - and the only person alive who has witnessed anything like what is happening to Angela and Katherine is Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn). The Exorcist: Believer is the first in a new trilogy of Exorcist films, with the sequel, Deceiver, scheduled for an April 2025, release.

The Burial - October 6

The Burial is a legal drama directed by Maggie Betts and based on the 1999 New Yorker article of the same name by Jonathan Harr. Set in 1995, The Burial follows Willie E. Gary (Jamie Foxx), an unconventional personal injury lawyer with a great track record who helps Jeremiah Joseph O'Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones), a financially troubled funeral homeowner, sue a large funeral home company over a contractual dispute. Also starring in The Burial are Jurnee Smollett, Mamoudou Athie, Bill Camp, and Pamela Reed. The Burial will have a limited theatrical release on October 6 prior to its streaming release on Prime Video on October 13, 2023.

Foe - October 6

Foe is a sci-fi psychological thriller directed by Garth Davis and based on Iain Reid's 2018 novel of the same name. Foe centers on Henrietta (Saoirse Ronan) and Junior (Paul Mescal), a married couple whose lives are turned upside down when a stranger arrives at their farm to tell them Junior will be sent to a large space station, while Henrietta is left in the company of a robot. Foe premiered at the 2023 New York Film Festival in September 2023.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour - October 13

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is a concert film documenting Taylor Swift's 2023-2024 Eras Tour. Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour was directed by Sam Wrench and was filmed in August 2023 at three shows at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California (with permission from the SAG-AFTRA as it happened amidst the strike). The unconventional release strategy of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour led studios to move some of their October releases, as was the case for The Exorcist: Believer, Dumb Money, Freelance, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Priscilla.

Dear David - October 13

Dear David is a supernatural horror movie directed by John McPhail and based on a Twitter thread of the same name by Adam Ellis. Dear David follows Adam Ellis (Augustus Prew), a former BuzzFeed employee who starts noticing weird things happening around his house. Adam soon discovers that he's being haunted by the ghost of a young boy possessed by a demonic entity. The Dear David Twitter thread went viral in 2017, with Ellis claiming that it was based on actual events as he was accused of making it up for profit. Dear David was originally set for a 2022 release, but it was pushed back to October 2023.

Killers of the Flower Moon - October 20

Killers of the Flower Moon is an epic Western crime drama directed by Martin Scorsese. Based on the 2017 book of the same name by David Grann, Killers of the Flower Moon tells the story of members of the Osage tribe in northeastern Oklahoma who are murdered under mysterious circumstances after oil is found on their land, prompting an FBI investigation. Starring in Killers of the Flower Moon are Leonardo DiCaprio as Ernest Burkhart, Robert De Niro as William Hale, Lily Gladstone as Mollie Burkhart, Jesse Plemons as Tom White, Tantoo Cardinal as Lizzie Q, John Lithgow as Prosecutor Leaward, and Brendan Fraser as W.S. Hamilton.

Killers of the Flower Moon changed its plan for a limited theatrical release on October 6 for a global theatrical rollout on October 20, followed by a streaming release on Apple TV+ at an unspecified date.

Butcher's Crossing - October 20

Butcher's Crossing is a Western drama directed by Gabe Polsky and based on the 1960 novel of the same name by John Edward Williams. Butcher's Crossing is the story of an Ivy League dropout who travels to the Colorado wilderness, where he joins a team of buffalo hunters on a journey that will end up putting his life and mental health at risk. Starring in Butcher's Crossing are Nicolas Cage, Fred Hechinger, Xander Berkeley, Rachel Keller, Jeremy Bobb, and Paul Raci.

Five Nights at Freddy's - October 27

Five Nights at Freddy's is a supernatural horror film directed by Emma Tammi and based on the videogame franchise of the same name created by Scott Cawthon. Five Nights at Freddy's follows Mike Schmidt (Josh Hutcherson), a security guard who takes a job at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a once-successful but now abandoned family entertainment center. What Mike wasn't counting on was the animatronic mascots - Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy - coming to life after midnight and killing anyone that is still there. Also starring in Five Nights at Freddy's are Elizabeth Lail, Piper Rubio, Matthew Lillard, and Kat Conner Sterling.

Freelance - October 27

Freelance is an action comedy directed by Pierre Morel. Years after retiring from the Army, former Special Forces operator Mason Pettits (John Cena) takes a job providing security for journalist Claire Wellington (Alison Brie) as she interviews the president of Paldonia, Juan Venegas (Juan Pablo Raba). However, when a military coup breaks out mid-interview, Mason, Claire, and Juan are forced to escape into the jungle together, and it won't be an easy mission. Also starring in Freelance are Alice Eve, Marton Csokas, and Christian Slater.

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Every Movie Releasing In Theaters In October 2023

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October 2023 will see the release of a new Exorcist movie, Martin Scorsese's latest project, a horror movie based on a Twitter thread, and more.

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Monday, October 9 is Indigenous Peoples' Day

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Monday, October 9 is Indigenous Peoples' Day

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Check out this year's celebration in SF

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October is Filipino American History Month!

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October is Filipino American History Month!

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Check out this celebration in San Jose!

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Fall is here, which means spooky season has officially arrived! From spooky mazes to more family-friendly ones, we've compiled a list below of events in the Bay Area to help you celebrate this Halloween season!

Berkeley: Floating Pumpkin Patch at West Campus Pool

Address: 2100 Browning St, Berkeley, CA 94702

Time and Date: Oct. 22 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Website: berkeleyca.gov

The City of Berkeley is hosting it's second annual floating pumpkin patch.

The event will feature acivites, swimming.

Organizers said "ghoulish attire" is allowed on the pool deck, but added that proper swimming attire is required for floating.

Newark: Fear Overload Scream Park

Address: 2086 Newpark Mall, Newark, CA 94560

Dates: Select nights from Sept 29. through Nov. 5

Website: fearoverload.com

The annual Halloween attraction has returned in Newark.

This Halloween attraction offers walk-throughs that will be filled with scares and the return of their trained actors in costume to scare the guests.

Oakland: Boo at the Zoo

Address: 9777 Golf Links Road Oakland, CA 94605

Dates: Oct. 1 through Oct. 29

Website: oaklandzoo.org.

Oakland Zoo's popular Boo at the Zoo event returns for another year for the whole family to enjoy.

The event features a spooky animal-themed scavenger hunt and a costume contest.

Oakland: Halloween Jam at Children's Fairyland

Address: 699 Bellevue Ave, Oakland, CA 94610

Dates: Oct. 20-22 and Oct. 27-29

Looking for a family-friendly event? Then, this one is for you.

Children's Fairyland annual event will feature rides, a scavenger hunt and arts and crafts stations.

Pleasanton: Pirates of Emerson Haunted Theme Park

Address: Valley Ave, Pleasanton, CA 94566

Dates: Select nights from Sept. 29 through Oct. 31

Website: piratesofemerson.com

Located at the Alameda County Fairgrounds, the annual Halloween haunted park has returned.

This event will feature haunted attractions for people to scream their heads off!

Santa Clara: California Great America's Tricks and Treats

Address: 4701 Great America Pkwy, Santa Clara, CA 95054

Dates: Select nights through Oct. 28

Website: cagreatamerica.com

California's Great America's family-friendly "Tricks and Treats" event has returned for another year.

Theme Park officials said the event will feature shows, interactive characters, seasonal treats and candy.

San Jose: Unhinged: Housewarming at Winchester Mystery House

Address: 525 S. Winchester Blvd, San Jose, CA

Dates: Select nights through Oct. 31
Website: winchestermysteryhouse.com

The famous Winchester Mystery House will be hosting their own Halloween attraction.

Officials said their haunt through the mansion will include multiple routes.

Vallejo: Six Flags Discovery Kingdom's Fright Fest

Address: 1001 Fairgrounds Dr, Vallejo, CA 94589
Website: sixflags.com/discoverykingdom
Dates: Select nights through Oct. 29

Six Flags' annual Halloween event returns for another year.

The event will feature haunted attractions, scare zones, entertainment shows and Halloween themed rides.

Did we miss any events? If you want us to add an event to this list, please email us at newstips@nbcbayarea.com.

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Fall is here, which means spooky season has officially arrived!

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40 Halloween Desserts to Make During Spooky Season

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40 Halloween Desserts to Make During Spooky Season

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60 Desserts Sure To Thrill Everyone At Your Halloween Party

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Describe one of your favorite work memories.

One of my favorite work memories is finding out when I was hired that I would be working with Ludy Levita! We had worked together as temps the previous process and hit it off and I was so happy to know that we would be working together again. Who knew 23 years later we would still be here.

What is your favorite TV show or one you never get tired of rewatching?

One of my favorite TV shows is Grey's Anatomy. I have binged watched the series probably four times. I love the early years with the original cast. Thank you Netflix....Seriously? yes, Seriously!

What is one hobby you would love to get into?

A hobby I would love to get back into would be working with beads and being creative. I have so many beads, my girlfriend and I used to always joke "She who dies with the most beads, wins".

If you could host a talk show, who would be your first guest?

If I could host a talk show, I would want my first guest to be my Great great Grandmother Jane Stewart. She was the first to emigrate from Scotland to Canada in that line when she was seven years old in 1834 (can you imagine what that trip was like?), gave birth to 17 children and lived to be 86 years old. I would love to learn about her life and the joys and hardships she endured.

If you could snap your fingers and become an expert in something, what would it be?

If I could snap my fingers and become an expert in something it would have to be a professional singer/entertainer. That's what I wanted to be when I grew up, and have always loved singing...and not just in the shower. LOL

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Emilia Chavez  - 10/04

Carlos Diaz - 10/10

Erik Rose - 10/11

May Thin - 10/14

Tien Nguyen - 10/15

Rielly Wieners - 10/21

Anne Pedicord - 10/31

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Karen Blake - 2 Years

Karen Ransom - 10 Years

DJ Dull - MacKenzie - 11 years

Sarah Madgic - 16 Years

Wanapa Veeraprasit - 18 Years

Kiyoe Hashimoto - 18 Years

Brent Hsieh - 22 Years

Judi McCoy - 22 Years

Jeff Shelby - 29 Years

Deanna Fountain - 31 Years

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Describe one of your favorite work memories.

I wouldn’t say it was my favorite memory, but definitely my most memorable memory. And recalling it is pretty funny to me. When we first got into the office after the shelter in place, we received 2 and half pallets of loose viewbooks at VIS and the Central Admin Team was tasked with finding random boxes and packaging all of them. In a way, it was a nice way for our team to get to know one another as we boxed thousands of viewbooks. It was a lot of hard work, but we had plenty of laughs while doing it.

What is your favorite TV show or one you never get tired of rewatching?

Currently caught up with “What We Do in the Shadows”. It’s a hilarious show created by Taika Waititi. The show is a mockumentary following 4 vampires as they live their undead lives together on Staten Island.

What is one hobby you would love to get into?

I would love to get into Stain glass making and sword forging.

If you could host a talk show, who would be your first guest?

I would want a wildlife talk show and have conservationists on and showcase different endangered animals and maybe have episodes where I would go on the scene and travel to different habitats videoing these animals in the wild.

If you could snap your fingers and become an expert in something, what would it be?

It would be awesome to be able to snap my fingers and be an expert linguist. I am always jealous of all the people who speak more than one language.

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If you were a super-hero, what powers would you have?

If I were a superhero, my power would be being able to save plants that are dying (I love to garden!)

What is your favorite holiday?

My favorite holiday is thanksgiving - I love anything pumpkin flavored.

Who is your favorite musical artist?

My favorite musical artist is Lana Del Ray.

What is your favorite breakfast food?

My favorite breakfast food is waffles with nutella.

What is the most unusual thing you have ever eaten?

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Try this recipe out or share your favorite recipe below!

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Why It Works

The smell that wafts up from a pot of bubbling gumbo is unlike anything else I've ever cooked or eaten. No matter how much gumbo I eat, no matter how thoroughly it satisfies my cravings for comfort food, no matter how plainly delicious it is, it somehow manages to taste just beyond what's familiar. In his 1978 book, Creole Gumbo and All That Jazz, the chef Howard Mitcham expressed a similar sentiment: "Gumbo is a mystique. Like jazz and the blues...Oh, it's just impossible to describe it." I can't think of another dish as singular and perplexing. This is the mystery at the center of the gumbo-verse.

Just as difficult to understand is why gumbo has such an elusive quality. Its basic building blocks aren't all that unusual. There's the roux, and the aromatic base of vegetables that are common to plenty of other Cajun and Creole dishes, like étouffée and jambalaya. There are the various meats, sausages, and seafoods that might make their way into the pot, depending on the recipe. Sure, the thickeners, okra and filé powder, aren't so common, but those alone don't fully explain it.

Somehow, it's all of those elements combined. A lot of dishes get smacked with the "more than the sum of its parts" description, but with gumbo, I find it to be more literally true. Any one of gumbo's components would add an interesting flavor to another dish, but all of them together tie a culinary knot that isn't so easily untangled. That's part of what makes gumbo such fun to eat and to cook -it beguiles as much as it pleases.

What is Gumbo?

Perhaps I've oversimplified it. Gumbo isn't a single stew (or, as some might call it, a single soup) with a distinctive flavor. Gumbo is more like many stews, at times strikingly different ones, making it hard to always spot the common threads.

There are gumbos with every meat you can imagine, and some you probably can't, unless giant-rat gumbo is on your radar. There are gumbos with chicken and shrimp, with turkey, with crabs, with duck and beef and pork, all manner of sausage and frog and, yes, nutria (the rodent). These can be combined in freewheeling ways, or not combined.

Then there's gumbo z'herbes, a Lenten version made with an acre's worth of sundry greens and not a scrap from the animal kingdom. Speaking of vegetables, some gumbos, Creole ones, have tomato; others, Cajun ones, do not. But I wouldn't be surprised if there are Cajun gumbos that sneak in a little tomato and Creole gumbos that don't use it. (I'm not sure I've seen such exceptions, but I've also never gone looking for them.)

What do all gumbos have in common? First, they're thickened and flavored with a roux-a paste of flour cooked in fat-that's grown toasted and dark. They also share an aromatic base, known in Cajun and Creole cooking as the "holy trinity," of diced onions, green bell pepper, and celery. But an étouffée also contains a roux and the holy trinity, so those components alone aren't enough to signal that you're in clear gumbo territory. And, as we've seen, there's hardly a meat that doesn't have a place in some form of gumbo or other.

Therefore, the defining element is something else. Really, it's two things, each of which acts as an additional thickener on top of the roux. One is okra, the vegetable famous for its slimy consistency. The other is filé powder, made from ground dried sassafras leaves. Some cooks use one, some the other, some both. (See what I mean? Even when you get down to the essence of gumbo, it slithers between your fingers, refusing to be pinned down to any single explanation.)

Gumbo is perhaps the most literal melting pot. Its influences are African (okra), French (roux), Choctaw Indian (filé powder), German (sausages), Spanish, Italian, and more. Like almost everything else about gumbo, even its name evades a clear origin story. Some think it came from the Choctaw word for filé powder, kombo. Others suspect it's derived from a West African word for okra, ki ngombo. I think it's cool that there could be two such equally credible etymologies, leaving nearly everything about gumbo perfectly obscured, almost as if it were fated to be this way.

Making gumbo follows the basic method for most stews:

1. Brown the meats.

2. Sauté the aromatics.

3. Add liquid, like stock, and seasonings, like herbs and spices.

4. Cook until the meats that need tenderizing are tender and the flavors have concentrated and melded; add any quick-cooking proteins, like shrimp and oysters, at the end.

Since those steps are so familiar, the questions, for me, revolved around the roux (how to make it, and when to add it) and the thickeners, okra and filé powder (what each contributes to the pot, and how a cook should decide on which to reach for). I worked for weeks on a recipe for Cajun gumbo, with chicken and andouille sausage, to learn more.

The Roux Roulette: Dark Roux Gives Gumbo Its Signature Qualities

A roux is one of the most basic of thickeners. When flour is cooked with butter very briefly and then thinned with milk, you end up with béchamel, or white sauce; add stock and pan drippings to a roux, and you have gravy. Toast the flour more (in butter or oil), and it progresses through shades of darkness until it's the color of chocolate, just shy of black.

As I explained in my guide to roux, as the starch in the flour toasts, it becomes less and less effective as a thickener; this is because the starch molecules themselves break down into smaller pieces, reducing their thickening ability. That means the darker your roux, the more of it you'll need to get the same level of thickening power.

Since the roux in a gumbo is often cooked quite dark, you need to be fairly generous with it if you want it to contribute much thickening power at all. This heavy dose of dark roux gives gumbo one of its signature and, for most of us, unfamiliar qualities-there's nothing quite like the smell of that deep, dark roux. The closest thing I can think of is the crust on a well-baked loaf of bread, but even that's not quite the same.

How you cook the roux and when to add it as part of the basic stew-making framework are fundamental questions, with significant implications for the overall cooking time, taste, and texture of the gumbo. Let's start with how to make the roux.

The Best Way to Make a Roux for Gumbo

Traditionally, a roux is stirred over moderate to low heat as it gradually transitions from white to dark; exactly how dark is a matter of taste, though most gumbos lean toward a darker roux. The low heat is an insurance policy-you can raise it and cook your roux faster, but your margin of error shrinks accordingly. The higher the heat, the higher your chances of scorching the flour and ruining your gumbo. It's a tightrope walk between just-dark-enough and acrid, and going low and slow makes it a lot easier to get it right.

The cost of this approach is the tedium of standing over the pot, stirring frequently to make sure the layer of flour on the bottom of the vessel hasn't burned. This can take a rather boring hour of your limited lifespan to do.

You can make the most of that time by using it to dice your trinity of aromatic vegetables, bouncing back and forth between stirring and chopping. But, once again, multitasking adds to the risk: Get too caught up in the bell pepper you're cutting up, and you may accidentally burn your roux.

Another approach is to cook the roux in the oven. At 350°F (180°C), an oven roux will take several hours to reach the chocolate stage. If you're trying to cook a pot of gumbo to eat the same day, that's likely too much time devoted to the roux. If you have lots of time near the kitchen, as I did one day when testing this recipe while working from home, it can be a great approach. It's largely hands-off, since the roux won't scorch nearly as quickly as it can over a direct heat source like the stovetop, and it's so slow that it makes it almost impossible to overcook the roux. (Go ahead, prove me wrong; I know someone has it in them.)

A third option, popularized by Cook's Illustrated, is to cook a dry roux by toasting the flour without the oil. I liked this idea in theory, but I didn't warm to it in practice. Without the oil to help distribute heat more evenly, I found that my flour cooked irregularly, making it easier to burn some particles while I waited for others to catch up. Even more frustrating, I had a much harder time judging doneness visually without the presence of the oil, since toasted flour grows a few notches darker once it's wet with oil.

Ultimately, I'd encourage you to use whichever method you have time for. If you're under the gun, do it on the stovetop, and, if you want, take a risk with higher heat and more stirring. If you don't feel comfortable with that level of roux risk (rousk?), do it on the stovetop at a lower heat. And if you have plenty of time, use the oven, since it'll free you up to do other things while the roux cooks.

When to Add the Roux to Your Gumbo

One of the things most experienced cooks think about is how to nest their tasks: If you can start a lengthier task first, and then take care of quicker ones while it chugs along, you'll save time overall. But this assumes the nesting doesn't create problems for the recipe. As someone who already spends more than enough time in the kitchen, any minutes I could shave off my gumbo recipe without compromising it would be a win. The only question was if it would work.

Think of it this way. You can make the gumbo step by step, all in the same pot-browning the meats, then cooking the roux, then adding the aromatics, and finally simmering it all together. This takes forever.

Or, you could try to nest the tasks, making the roux in one pot while you brown the meats, sauté the aromatics, and simmer everything together except the roux, then adding the roux when it's done. By overlapping the roux-cooking step with the stew-simmering step, you stand to save a lot of time, but it's only worth it if the results are more or less the same.

Strangely, the results aren't the same. Everyone at Serious Eats who tried separate batches representing each approach preferred the flavor of the gumbo cooked in consecutive stages. I agreed; it was deeper, richer, and sweeter, though it was also thinner and had a pool of grease on top. The gumbo that cooked alongside its roux, and had the roux added toward the end, was less complex and deeply flavorful, though it was also better emulsified and thicker, with a glossier sheen.

I have a thought about why: A roux acts as an emulsifier, holding the oil molecules evenly dispersed throughout the water and not allowing them to separate. (Think of gravy, which shouldn't have grease pooling on top despite the presence of liquid fat.) When the roux is in the pot from the beginning and simmers throughout the entire cooking time, the emulsion is more likely to break, allowing fats to pool on the surface and leaving a thinner liquid base behind. Those pooled fats can then be skimmed off completely, leaving a cleaner-tasting and clearer broth behind.

When the roux is added later on and simmered for a shorter period of time, it has a better chance of holding a more stable emulsion. Any fats in the pot that didn't get skimmed off before the roux was added remain suspended in the gumbo. It makes for a nicer-looking gumbo, all glossy and perfectly emulsified, but one with a duller flavor.

Is that a reason not to ever overlap the roux and stewing steps to save time? No, especially if you're in a rush. But if you do have time, my tests seem to indicate you'll get a tastier gumbo if you let it all cook together from the beginning.

Getting Into the Thick of It: How to Thicken Your Gumbo With Okra or Filé

The roux gets you only so far. Yes, you could increase the quantity of roux even more to thicken the gumbo further, but the toasted flavor and fat can really start to weigh the gumbo down if you get too roux-heavy. So you still need a way to push the liquid in the gumbo to a more spoon-coating texture. Enter okra and filé powder.

Okra is a seed pod. When stewed, it becomes mucilaginous, an unappealing word if ever there was one-meaning that it turns slimy. Many people despise okra for its sliminess, but in gumbo, that slimy quality can help to thicken the cooking liquids.

Okra also has its own green, vegetal flavor, which adds another layer of complexity to the gumbo if you use it. There's not too much more to say about it than that. You likely already know how you feel about okra. If you hate it, you're going to want to get some filé powder instead. If you love it, as I do, go to town. The more, the slimier!

Either way, filé is worth trying. Made from sassafras leaves, filé powder (also sometimes called gumbo filé) is finely ground, with a green-brown color that makes it look like Japanese matcha tea that's been sitting on a shelf for a few too many years. Its similarity to tea doesn't end there-it also tastes distinctly tea-like, with a clean, green, herbal vibe. Despite coming from the same plant whose roots are used to give root beer its taste, filé powder itself has no obvious root-beer character.

If you want to use filé as a thickener, add it to your gumbo once it's finished cooking, since it loses its thickening effect the longer it's simmered. Go easy; even a half teaspoon can be enough to gloss up the liquids and give the gumbo an herbal edge. You can also sprinkle filé on each serving tableside as a seasoning, either in addition to using it as a thickener or in place of it.

Remember, the okra and filé are not mutually exclusive-you can use both. As with most things in the gumbo-verse, you have options. Lots of them.

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Cajun Gumbo With Chicken and Andouille Sausage Recipe

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Cajun gumbo is the tomato-free version of this legendary and completely customizable Louisiana stew. This recipe uses a classic combo of chicken and andouille sausage, but feel free to change it up with other proteins.

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Celebrate it at one of the restaurants linked here!

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From the red sauce palaces of North Beach to the flood of modern Californian-Italian restaurants that have folded seasonal produce, meats and cheeses into pizzas and handmade pastas, Italian food is deeply entrenched in the Bay Area's culinary history. In Oakland, Michele Belotti, born in Bergamo, Italy, and his team fill and fold tender agnolotti by hand at Belotti's eponymous restaurant; in San Francisco's Glen Park, Sharon Ardiana produces farm-to-table Neapolitan pizzas at Gialina, a restaurant modeled as a tribute to her family who came from Emilia-Romagna. Non-Italian Bay Area chefs and purveyors are just as enamoured with Italian ingredients, a fact that has given us numerous new wave pizzerias, charcuterie brands and homegrown wines with Italian grape varieties.

The Italian food scene only continues to grow. This update includes several noteworthy additions: Casa Barotti, Che Fico, Itria, Mama, Polenteria, Tailor's Son, Terun and Vico Cavone. If you're looking for more food recommendations, check out our guides to the best restaurants in the Bay Area, best Mexican restaurants and best Chinese restaurants.

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Credits
Reporting by Soleil Ho / Restaurant Critic and Cesar Hernandez / Associate Restaurant Critic . Visuals by Chronicle Photo Editors, Photographers, and Contributors . Editing by Janelle Bitker . Audience engagement by Jess Shaw and Erika Carlos . Project management by Brittany Schell / Hearst DevHub . Design and development by Danielle Rindler / Hearst DevHub and Evan Wagstaff / Hearst DevHub . Hearst Newspapers DevHub.

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Best Italian restaurants in the Bay Area

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These are the best restaurants for Italian food in the San Francisco Bay Area, from red sauce pasta in North Beach to excellent pizza to Cal-Italian like Flour + Water.

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National Hispanic Heritage Month is 09/15 - 10/15!

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National Hispanic Heritage Month is 09/15 - 10/15!

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Learn more about it here!