Another Ba-Bite at the apple
Quick-service Israeli restaurant Ba-Bite, which was closed by a landlord dispute last summer, is returning to Piedmont Avenue this fall. Owner Mica Talmor is crowdfunding to re-open under the new name Pomella in the former Chow Piedmont Avenue location (which closed after less than a year in 2018). Talmor’s Kickstarer will help her buy a big new machine to churn out more of the smooth, creamy hummus for which Ba-Bite was known.
A new chef is shaking up Absinthe
Hayes Valley’s longtime favorite brasserie, Absinthe, has a new executive chef, Ryan Fowler, and to kick things off, he’s jazzing up the brunch menu with pain perdu and Dungeness crab and avocado omelettes. A former chef de cuisine at Chicago’s Au Cheval who arrives from a position at Che Fico, Fowler will lead the 21-year-old flagship of the Absinthe Group (Bellota, Barcino, and Comstock Saloon), working with the group’s executive chef Ryan McIlwraith.
Eat Drink SF returns this weekend
The Golden Gate Restaurant Association’s annual food and beverage festival is back this weekend, heading to the Midway in Dogpatch. This year’s Eat Drink SF is slightly scaled back, with just one day of “grand tastings.” Saturday afternoon and evening events each include bites from more than 25 restaurants like China Live, Charlie Palmer Steak Napa, M.Y. China, Cockscomb, and Mission Bowling Club — plus an appearance from Souvla’s new frozen Greek yogurt truck. Some tickets to the event are still available.
Samin Nosrat and Jonathan Safran Foer talk food in Berkeley
The writers behind Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat and Eating Animals are discussing climate change and food in Berkeley (and on the radio) in September. Tickets to their eKPFA Radio event are available now, and the impetus for the discussion is Foer’s new non-fiction book, We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast.