The French Laundry's $957 Check Average, Alice Waters' New James Beard Foundation Leadership Award, and More

KELLER WIRE - The French Laundry has been rated as the most expensive restaurant in America thanks to its check average of $957, according to this pseudo-scientific Bundle infographic. Eater National details the remaining 25 restaurants on the list, including Michael Mina at #3, Manresa at #13, Coi at #19, Baume at #21 and Cyrus at #24. [Bundle via -EN-]

AWARDS SEASON - The James Beard Foundation announced the recipients of its inaugural Leadership Awards today. Winners include Will Allen, Michelle Obama, and Alice Waters. They will be honored at a dinner ceremony on October 12 in which individual tickets cost $1,000. Before you get your hopes up, Obama Foodorama gets word from the White House that Michelle Obama will not be attending. [JBF via -EN-]

NOW OPEN - Tablehopper catches Kama Sushi in the act of opening over in Noe Valley. See? Early Yelp reviews, here. This went into the defunct Amberjack Sushi slot in Noe Valley. [Tablehopper]

COMING ATTRACTIONS - As everyone's recovered from SF Chefs, it's time to look forward to San Francisco Cocktail Week, coming up Sept. 19th to 25th. Ticket sales have begun to the various events: bar crawls, parties, seminars, cocktail pairing dinners and what have you. There's also a "preview" at the Ferry Building on Aug. 24th, complete with 2 full-size cocktails and 14 shots sample-sized cocktails. Tickets here. [EaterWire]

COMING ATTRACTIONS EXTRA - $40 buys unlimited oysters, wine, beer and live music at OysterFest on August 27th at Waterbar. Oh and there's also an oyster eating contest judged by Olympic Gold Medalist and Food Network host Brian Boitano. Last year they served 6,000 oysters at the event. Advance tickets here. [EaterWire]

CHINATOWN - Writer David Farley embarked on a quest to find out where chop suey comes from and no one in any of the Chinatown restaurants he visited knew. Chris Cosentino says it was invented in San Francisco. Can anyone out there elaborate? [AOL Travel]