All stories about "Cafe Gratitude"

· Inquiring Minds Want to Know About Mint Leaf's Wine-Dispenser [CH]
· The Cult of Cafe Gratitude Shills Its $13 Granola [CH]
· More Discussion on WSJ's "Big White Blank" of San Francisco [Mouthfuls]
· And Someone Tell the Panamanian About SF's Brand New Rep [Serious Eats]
· The Terror of Taking the Sous Vide Dive [FohBoh]

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You can't have a proper cult sans a child god to worship. [Photo: Flickr/rafaeljarmann]

· Cafe Gratitude Makes the List of Local Cults; Congrats Hippies! [G'skip]
· Kabuki and Its Restaurants Leading the Gourmet Movie Movement [NYT]
· More on Oxbow Market's Grand Opening This Weekend [SJMN]
· Musing on In-N-Out's Response to the Beef Recall [Eater LA]
· Local Blog Star Amy Sherman Gets a New Gig [CWA]

For such a notoriously hippie-dippy, peace-love-raw restaurant, the always self-righteous Cafe Gratitude has some surprisingly harsh words for the hot topic du jour: almonds. After a pair of recent salmonella outbreaks were traced to raw almonds, the Almond Board of California is pushing for a regulation that requires a pasteurization process, much to chagrin of the Cafe Gratitude cult following family, who insists on the need for raw almonds. Since over half of the Cafe Gratitude menu incorporates raw almonds, the folks there are pretty shaken up. Here are some select quotes from the crew: (note: the quotes from the manager are more entertaining if given the voice of a Summer of Love attendee):

1) "[Manager Vinicio] Penate says that for him, eating a raw almond is like eating the almond tree."

2) "'All that strength, all that force, all that information, all the genetics,' [Penate] said, staring at a container of almonds. 'They're all there. They're just untouched.'"

No, charbroilers aren't dangerous in the Original Joe's way.

CITY-WIDE—Taking the cake in today's ridiculous restaurant news, an anti-smog group of crazies say beef (yes, beef) emits too much air pollution when charbroiled. To counter the threat, they are proposing a law that would force restaurants to install $60,000 worth of equipment that would limit the pollution caused by beef in particular, since it is more dangerous than fish or poultry (really). Our favorite quote from the article: "Charbroiler pollution is small compared to diesel cars, the group said." Well, now that that's clear... [CC Times]

CHINA BASIN—It's your last chance to enter our sister site's inaugural Curban Planning Challenge. The deal is that the creative person who comes up with the best mixed use plan for SWL 337, better known to us layfolk as the 16-acre parking lot to the south of the ballpark. Earlier today, Curbed released a sample idea involving some well-known restaurant names: "Why not transform SWL 337 into its very own biosphere? It could totally save the environment and be a mixed-use project: Alice Waters and Cafe Gratitude can collaborate on an on-site restaurant/ spa/ meditation center." Added bonus: we hear Alice totally backs controversial projects, for a price (hint: a half-million dollars worked last time). [Curbed SF]

We don't do reviews per se here at Eater, but we hear there are a few food bloggers in the Bay Area that do. Know of a blog that should be on our radar? We're all ears.

Warning: SPQR May Cause Pleasure Groans [Kesler Archives, 9/27/07]

1) Leading things off, let's do some PlumpJackin', shall we? VinDivine makes a return to SoMa hotshot Jack Falstaff, and my, how the place has improved within the last year:

This place has it changed for the "even betta". I mean it was good before, but now, they've cranked it up a notch. And even though it's part of the pretentious and snooty Plumpjack group, we are in love with it. The seasonal menu changes rock.

2) Speaking of updates, it's been a while since we've checked in at SPQR, but rest assured that the Roman osteria continues to improve. Bay Area Bites' Jennifer Maiser reports on her new fave: "My love for this new restaurant has already been documented, and I've been back three times since that initial report. This trip was fun ... beets with ricotta, chanterelles and sunchokes, and the panino dessert -- which was groan-causingly good." [BAB]

Last week, a mugging victim stumbled into the Mission location of Cafe Gratitude, that haven of vegan, hippie feel-goodness with menu items like "i am cozy" and "i am precious." According to Sam from Becks & Posh, the problem was that following the violent mugging, "not one member of Cafe Gratitude's staff did anything at all" to help the traumatized victim.

The inflammatory post spread through the interwebs like wildfire and today, owner Terces Engelhart responded to the allegations of hypocrisy and indifference.

The full email, after the jump: