A Gingerbread Monolith Rose and Fell in San Francisco

Welcome to p.m. Intel, your bite-sized roundup of Bay Area food and restaurant news. Tips are always welcome, drop them here.

• It appeared at the top of Corona Heights park on Christmas Day: a three-sided monolith like those seen around the world this bonkers year, but this one was made of gingerbread, and was laden with gumdrops and icing, KQED reports. “We will leave it up until the cookie crumbles,” SF Recreation and Parks Department General Manager Phil Ginsburg says, and by Saturday morning the seven-foot structure had, indeed, crumbled, says ABC 7, but not before becoming a popular selfie destination. As of publication, it’s unknown who constructed the pastry tower, or why.
• SF Supervisors are working on a $1.9 million relief plan for Chinatown restaurants, in which the businesses would be paid to cook for residents of area SROs. [KTVU]
• Stony Hill, a Napa winery founded in 1952 that’s best known for its Chardonnay, has been sold to Gaylon Lawrence Jr., a billionaire real estate investor who’s “quickly becoming one of [Napa’s] important land owners.” [SF Chronicle]
• California’s regional stay-at-home orders in central and Southern California could have lifted today if ICU bed availability improved, but case rates across the state remain remarkably high, so officials say “It is likely that the Regional Stay at Home Order will extend for many regions in California.” [Bay Area News Group]
• SF’s acting public health officer, Dr. Susan Philip, says that the DPH won’t share contact-tracing data to determine the risks of activities like outdoor dining, as “we don’t want to implicate a sector or industry unfairly just because the people we happen to be able to reach name that.” [SF Business Times]
• A patron of San Jose Vietnamese spot Cafe Paradise bought a lottery ticket worth $18 million at the restaurant, but has yet to claim the prize. [NBC Bay Area]
• Some of the Bay Area’s most prominent chefs say these recipes got them through 2020. [The Guardian]
• Patrons waited as long as four hours to pick up Christmas dinners from House of Prime Rib. [ABC 7]