B Shutters In Oakland, Thomas Keller Talks Sustainability

THE SHUTTER - B Restaurant's last night of service in its historic Old Oakland home is tonight. It sounds like the Occupy protests have something to do with the closure and Paul Ferrari of AG Ferrari is probably the next taker. [ISSF]

KELLERVERSE - After telling the New York Times "I think about quality, not geography," chef Thomas Keller takes to his Finesse magazine to clarify his stance on all things local and sustainable: "Yes, we must all have sensitivity to expending resources in a finite world. Of course the resources required to ship products to a restaurant are a piece of this puzzle. Denying this is foolhardy. But true sustainability has multiple dimensions. For example, one of the precepts of any sustaining business is quality." [NYT, Facebook via Eater National]

QUOTE OF THE DAY - Charles Phan tells the Wall Street Journal how SF diners have changed in the past 15 years: "they're willing to try weird stuff. When I first opened, I couldn't serve fish with a head on it. People were freaking out. Now it's not an issue at all." What else? "Everybody is making pretzels." [WSJ]

CHOCO WIRE - Newtree (16 Jessie St.) is a newly opened SoMa cafe serving its own line of "healthier" chocolate (Think grape extract- or quinoa-enhanced bars.), along with breakfast and lunch. The organic menu includes pastries, soups, salads, sandwiches, snacks, and "a very Belgian selection of speculoos' (biscuit spreads)." [SFoodie]

[Photo: Facebook/B Restaurant]