San Francisco Magazine Drops A Rare Quartet on Manresa, The Alembic Will Expand on Haight Street, More!

WEEK IN REVIEWS - Via Twitter, critic Jan Newberry announces the four star review for David Kinch's Manresa, released in this month's San Francisco magazine. In the issue, Josh Sens adds an explanation: "...for the first time in my nine years as a restaurant critic, I'm giving a quartet to Manresa. The first time I awarded four stars, it was to the French Laundry in 2004, and in 2005, I gave the constellation to Cyrus." The takeaway: "An excellent choice for your last meal before Judgement Day." Read the full review on page 110 of the digital mag, here. And pick up the print copy for a lengthy explanation of the magazine's star-rating system and the fallibility of such systems in general. [SF Mag]

EXPANSIONWIRE - This piece from the SFBG reveals The Red Vic movie house's last day on Haight St. shall be Monday. It also has some telling words from a collective member, who's "pretty sure that our neighbors the Alembic are going to expand into what is now our lobby, and...there's a small chance that there'll be a small screening room in the back, much smaller than the 140 seats we have now. It'll be more of a community space." Alembic owner Dave McLean confirms, "The process is really just getting started. We're sad to lose our neighbor, but we're looking forward to being able to grow a little." [SFBG, EaterWire]

PLYWOOD UPDATE - Former Rogue Cafe chef Scott Brennan will be showing off his new business, The Fifth Quarter Charcuterie for the first time on Sunday. He'll be at the Kensington Farmers Market with duck paté with dried cherries, merguez sausage, pickled lamb’s tongue, corned beef and a bunch of other hand-made, sustainable goods. Facebook, here. [Berkeleyside]

COMING ATTRACTIONS - From the minds that brought you Matcha at the Asian Art Museum comes an Asian culinary forum all about the state of Asian cuisine in the Bay Area right now. Namu's Dennis Lee, Hapa Ramen's Richie Nakano, New Delhi's Sarah Dey and Spice Kit's Thy Tran will be on hand to talk about and answer all your questions on the subject. Tickets here. [EaterWire]

Manresa's sign. [Photo: foodsnobblog]