Kitchenette Team Aboard Heart, Food Network Stars as Kids

THE MISSION—Valencia's upcoming wine bar/gallery Heart continues to come into focus, with the latest detail being that the team from Kitchenette will be handling the food program. According to tomorrow's Scoop, the menu will be in the same spirit of the Kitchenette sandwiches, but "nibbles and full plates more suitable to the wine bar setting." [Chron]

BAY AREA—With the uncertain economy, local restaurants continue to waver on their corkage policies. Some, like Indigo, have done away with corkage fees, claiming it somehow boosts the amount the average guest is spends more per meal. Others, like Nopa, have kept fees, saying that corkage "is like bringing your own meat to a restaurant and asking us to cook it for you." [WSJ]

TELEVISION—Food Network Humor has an awesome photo gallery of your favorite FN stars when they were young. Click through to see Mario Batali, Rachel Ray, Duff Goldman, Anthony Bourdain, Sandra Lee, Guy Fieri, and yes, even Paula Deen before they were famous. [FNH via Eater National]

FAST FOOD NATION—Little did you know that the Golden Arches has some of the safest food in the country: "McDonald's is considered one of the best, if not the best, company in the United States when it comes to food safety. 'They're the top of the top," says Caroline Smith DeWaal, food-safety director of the non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest." Just some of the procedures that the burger chain uses: automatic hand washers, multiple metal detectors for food, and guaranteed bacteria-killing cooking processes, among others. [USA Today]

[Photo: Yelp]