Kamala Came Back to the Bay and Of Course She Grabbed In-N-Out

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Haters will undoubtedly hate, but that won’t change the fact that In-N-Out Burger — soggy but never-frozen fries aside — basically got the vice presidential stamp of approval according to some very important and useful reporting by SFGate. On Wednesday, vice president and Oakland native Kamala Harris returned to the Bay Area to rally support for Governor Newson (who faces a historic recall election in just five days) and before she headed back East, you can bet she made time for an In-N-Out run. (Ok, so she probably didn’t have to brave the chain’s ridiculously long drive-thru line herself, but still.)

According to social media posts from journalists in the press pool, Harris had an In-N-Out cheeseburger and fries, which is an objectively acceptable order though far from ideal — an ideal order would obviously be a cheeseburger with Animal-Style fries, and a vanilla milkshake, but we’ll let it slide. Oh and in case anyone needed another excuse to stan the West Coast chain, word is officially out about its secret pet menu.

In other news...

• Congratulations to San Francisco’s Gaby Maeda of State Bird Provisions and Oakland chef Matt Horn of Horn BBQ for being named two of Food & Wine Magazine’s Best New Chefs of 2021. [Food & Wine]
• SF Chronicle critic Soleil Ho is singing the praises of the $35 tasting menu at Mama in Oakland, which offers courses like a sugo of braised beef and pork and Spaghetti alla Nerano so good it almost brought her to tears. [SF Chronicle]
• There’s a lot of history, some of it dark, behind West Sacramento’s Tree House Cafe, the Bee reports. The cafe, which serves farm-to-table fare using ingredients grown on site, was once the home of a Filipino-American family who were forced from the neighborhood by violent acts of racism. [Sacramento Bee]
• And finally, if you’re still mad at Disneyland for getting rid of free FastPasses (and who among us isn’t?) then please join us in celebrating the fact that you can get your immersive Star Wars fix at this San Francisco bar, which has a pretty sick Star Wars–inspired cantina complete with a Baby Yoga (yes, yes, we know his name is Grogu), lightsabers, and “the dismembered arms and legs of C-3PO.” [SFGate]