Here's the first preview clip of Top Chef: Just Desserts, and the contestants are surprisingly grouchy and mean. Hit the link to travel to "a land of asshole pastry chefs," where butter gets stolen out of spite (sabotage!), people call each other names, and you can, as one of the contestants says, "all just suck it." [-EN-]
Top Cheffage
Alexander's Steakhouse; Contraband Coffee and MORE
SOMA - Bacar replacement Alexander's Steakhouse is upon us, with an opening day of Monday announced via Inside Scoop today. Remember partner Jeffrey Stout will be chef here and this is the second outpost of a successful operation that's been open for five years in Cupertino. The menu is American with Japanese flair, including items like Hokkaido scallops with kaiware salad, grilled T-bone with salt trio and wood-roasted halibut with Mendocino uni butter; so it sounds as if this will fall closer to the forthcoming steakhouses from Michael Mina and Douglas Keane, as opposed to the Bobo's and Harris' out there. And yes this here manly signage marks the spot. [ISSF, EaterWire]
Boom or Bust, What's Up With Bay Area Restaurants?
Sure Bauer called "boom time" for San Francisco restaurants and all, but yesterday's article in his very own paper of note explains restaurants here in the Bay Area are still closing at nearly twice the national average. It says the spew of "high-profile" new openings we've seen of late is a consequence of more affordable leases, restaurant contractors willing to work for lower prices and "risk-taking" restaurateurs. It also echoes what Kauffman said in the recent KQED spate about successful restaurateurs taking advantage of existing staff and reputation.
Little Henry's: The "Ettis," The "Inis" and The Fuzz
It's time for another installation of Who Goes There?, that regular feature wherein Laurel May cracks the doors on mysteriously enduring San Francisco restaurants—unsung, curious mainstays with the dusty, determined look—to learn secrets of longevity and find out, who goes there.
[Photo: Laurel May, Yelp]
Imagine Chef Boyardee and Mama Celeste had a love child. They swaddled him in a sticky red-and-white checkered plastic tablecloth and taught him to cook hearty, unexciting Italian food just like a Midwestern farmer's wife. Eventually, they turned him out to ply his trade smack dab in the middle of the 'Loin.
Food Trucks On The Loose
We warned you about this food truck storm about to hit hard in the Bay Area. Well now it's officially time to batten down the hatches as an abbreviated versions of the Fort Mason Off the Grid food truck party will roll out in the Upper Haight and the Civic Center this Thursday and Friday respectively. SFoodie can tell you exactly which carts will be where and when so you can decide if you'd like to embrace or avoid the onslaught. [SFoodie]
Freebie Alert
Free Scream Sorbet today at the Ferry Building, kiddos. This is the same locally made treat Amy Sherman just referenced in her list of "Summer Eats" as "surprisingly creamy" with "an intense blast of flavor." The Cooking Channel has a truck-full of the stuff ready to go from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today. Too bad it might not hit 60 degrees over there. Dress accordingly. [7x7]
Chapelle at Pakwan; "Crack" at Pal's Today; Spiked Milkshakes
Massawa, soon to be Haight Street Market expansion. [Photo: Eater SF Flickr Pool/Brian Brooks]
· What If Restaurants Stopped Hiring Illegal Immigrants? [NYT]
· On the Spiked Milkshake Phenomenon [NYT]
· Michael Mina and Meadowood Chefs & Soms Talk Wine Pairing [Wine Enthusiast via ISSF]
· All Of The Association of Food Journalists 2010 Winners [-EN-]
· Fox Renews Ramsay's MasterChef [HR]
· The "Open and Spacious" Lush Lounge Remodel [SFBE]
· A Sandwich Rubbed In "Crack," Today Only at Pal's [SFoodie]
· Solar Cooking Enthusiasts In The East Bay [EBX]
· Once Dave Chapelle Ate At Pakwan In the Mission [Mission Mission]
Jennie Lorenzo, On A Bustaurant; Yoshi's Sake Blast; More
SIGNS OF THE TIMES - Just when you thought Jennie Lorenzo was out of here for a while since she dashed off from Fifth Floor over the weekend, news has spread rapidly that she'll be popping up at the Le Truc bustaurant, of all places, during Friday's Off the Grid in Fort Mason. She'll be falling in step with Le Truc's Asian food theme with some Japanese numbers inspired by her travels. And it sounds as if this may actually be her last appearance for quite some time. [GrubStreet, ISSF, SFWeekly]
REMINDER - A16 is on a two-week hiatus, starting today. [EaterWire]
SAUSALITO - This week Sushi Ran will stop serving its summer Saturday lunches. Lunch hours are now Monday through Friday from 11:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. [EaterWire]
FILLMORE - Yoshi's is hosting a huge sake tasting on Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. complete with this menu of delicious-looking Japanese bites by executive chef Sho Kamio. 178 highly rated and/or rare sakes will also be on offer for your tasting pleasure. Tickets are here. [EaterWire]
BBQ WIRE- Over the weekend, Haighteration reported that Memphis Minnie's has joined the gaggle of local restaurants on GrubHub. Minimum order is $25, but nobody eats bbq by themselves anyway. [Haighteration]
LAFAYETTE - According to Sig. Lucchesi La Boulange has opened it's 13th outpost in Lafayette. They are also still trying for the former Bistro 9 space in The Sunset. [ISSF]
Ms. Lorenzo, pre-bus days. [Photo: GrubStreet/Georg Lester]
2223 Restaurant
What: "$12 Tuesdays:" $12 dinner entrees, $6 entrees
When: Tuesdays from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.
Where: 2223 Market Street between Sanchez and Noe, 415-431-0692
[via GrubGirl]
Popular
Launches And Releases
Today OpenTable extends its Spotlight initiative to San Francisco, Chicago and LA. It's another email service offering limited-time weekly deals at "top" OpenTable restaurants: usually 50% or more off your dinner bill. Deals are teased with a "secret clue" a day or two prior to their official announcement and are revealed at about 5 p.m. on Tuesday. Eater got a preview peek at the first two Spotlight offers and can vouch that they are decent. Here's the teaser clue. Spotlight already piloted in New York, Boston and Atlanta, and since these deal emails are all the rage lately; it'll probably stick around for a while. [EaterWire]
Iron Chef America: Cat Cora vs. Christopher Kostow
[Photo: Food Network]
This past Sunday saw the epic face-off between Restaurant at Meadowood Chef Christopher Kostow and Cat Cora on Iron Chef America. The tricky secret ingredient was the "humble, rustic" oat, and Kostow squeezed out a victory by one point despite admitting to Food Gal earlier that he doesn't like eating oats at all. Still both chefs gave a masterful showing with creations like oatmeal custard with frisee salad (Kostow) and oatmeal papardelle with veal ragout (Cora), but perhaps the most entertaining parts of the show were Kostow's quips in response to the judges' feedback. At one point judge Liliana Cavendish says his oatmeal pudding reminds her of Northern Italian polenta, which looks "like food for horses, but it's soo good." To which Kostow responds, "It's like food for horses but good. Gotcha."
Namu Sunday Market With Kimchee & County Line Produce
Namu started serving brunch a few months ago; and now starting this Sunday at noon, they'll be offering a regular box pickup for County Line Harvest's rogue market as well. The brothers who own the Inner Richmond Korean-Japanese-Californian restaurant: Dennis, Daniel and David Lee, are just back from a field trip and farm cookout up at County Line, so they're very excited to be starting the program. It works just like a CSA with a "mystery box" of local, organic produce, but you don't have to commit to more than a box at a time.
SF Supes Will Vote Soon On New Alcohol Fee
Today's meeting of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will include the first reading on a new alcohol tax, targeting wholesalers to SF bars, nightclubs and grocery stores. Eleventh district supervisor John Avalos has proposed the tax as a means to payback the $17.7 million San Francisco spends yearly on emergency room visits, prevention programs, a sobering center, Fire Department ambulance transports and other costs linked to excessive drinking. The fee is estimated to pull in an additional $16 million per year, but many industry reps think it unfairly targets smaller businesses, as larger retailers like Safeway will be able to redistribute its effects more easily due to other income streams. For consumers, the proposed fee will translate roughly to an additional 3 cents on a 12-ounce bottle of beer, 4.5 cents on a 6-ounce glass of wine and 3.5 cents on a standard cocktail.
Week in Reviews
Bauer-San arrives at Masaharu Morimoto's Morimoto Napa for this Sunday's review, albeit "with a bit of trepidation and skepticism." But he ends up liking the "modern and vibrant" dining room, the $100 sushi sampler, most things on the $110 omokase menu and other dishes, like the yose dofu ($16). There's a frozen iceberg wedge ($18) fail, but the end result is as follows: "Like the restaurant itself, Morimoto takes diners on a roller coaster of serious and sometimes whimsical dishes. Despite some that left me wondering what the chef might have been thinking, I always left satisfied." And the Iron Chef's "wild culinary mind" gets the three star stamp of approval across the board. [Chron]
Haight McDonald's Homeless Controversy
The owner of the McDonald's in the Upper Haight recently got rid of the Dollar Menu; and many homeless people in the area think it's a strategy to get rid of them. The McDouble used to cost an accessible 99 cents and is now $1.49. The owner says any speculation that the price increase is directed at the homeless in the area is "absolutely false." But Nicholas Newhart, who lives on the street nearby, says he now has to go to the trash can when he's hungry. [SFGate]
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