Venerable restaurant blog Eater debuted its San Francisco edition yesterday. At the helm is none other than Paolo Lucchesi, late of this very blog. As long-time MP:SF readers know, Paolo is a fantastic writer and as MP workers know, he's also a great guy. Eater SF (which follows Eater New York and Eater LA) looks to be off to a great start. We recommend adding it to your links list...after MP: SF, of course.

Eater SF [Official Site]

•Mexico DF provides San Francisco with some damn fine sit down Mexican food. [Bay Area Bites]
•Drunken college students and good food abound at Midtown Taqueria. [Burritophile]
•Looking for bargain congee? Try Hing Lung Restaurant . [Grub Girl]
•Michael Bauer blogs about restaurant bloggers. How meta. [Between Meals]

Local resident John Glass did not have a great weekend. On Sunday, the 29 year old decided to head to a Haight Street McDonald's for, you know, the usual: some food and a stolen Ronald McDonald house charity canister. Glass stole the canister (filled with about a hundred bucks) and then returned to pick up the food he had ordered. You know, as you do. The police found him sleeping on the steps of St. Agnes three hours later.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this story is the fact we discovered while looking at the Hamburgler entry on Wikipedia. Did you know that the Hamburgler has different names across the world? For instance, he is called the Hamburglerkrau in Germany and Dozer in many other countries. True story. The Hamburgler: just like Santa Claus only shorter and more inclined toward kleptomania.

Would-Be Hamburgler Arrested in San Francisco [The Examiner]
Hamburgler [Wikipedia]

[Photo: The Cookie Jar Store]

One of our favorite innovations of the past few years has been the proliferation of online television options. Watching your beloved network and television shows online is super-awesome, but even better are the online-only shows (we're rather fond of Wainy Days, from the genius behind Wet Hot American Summer and The Ten). A few days ago, Slashfood turned us on to a new online-only channel that promises to be almost as addictive as watching YouTube clips of people lip-synching. It's called Chocolate Television and it is awesome. How awesome? See for yourself in the below clip. Feel free to ignore the bizarre joke about foie-ttage (™MP: Chicago).

Mmmm...Chocolate Television! [Slashfood]
Chocolate Television [Official Site]

Hayes St restaurants:
lots and lots of good choices
on a "transformed" street.

What a helpful piece!
Learn how to make bo tai chonh
and to barbecue.

Spasso: great small plates
and stellar service are nice
for San Carlos peeps.

Tajine "shines brightly."
Fancy new space, same great food
full of "hidden charms."

In this world, they can steal your mind, erase your memory, and give you another identity. But the most dangerous thing that can happen to you is...TOFU RECALL.

SFist reports that local manufacturer Quong Hop has recalled several of its tofu products, namely: "Soy Deli brand tofu with a date code of Dec. 17, 2007, and three other brands: 16-ounce Quong Hop brand Water Pack Tofu with a date code of Sep. 23, 2007; 12-ounce Soy Deli brand Water Pack Tofu with a date code of Sep. 23, 2007, or Oct. 9, 2007; and 30-ounce Soy Deli brand Nigari Tofu dated either Sep. 23, 2007, or Oct. 17, 2007." The affected tofu may contain listeria, a bacteria that is quite harmful for the elderly, pregnant women, babies, and others with weakened immune systems. There is no word yet as to whether Arnold Schwartzenegger will be getting involved, ideally as "a construction worker who has been experiencing dreams about exploring the planet Mars with a sexy brunette."*

*:We will level with you. We have never actually seen Total Recall. We have, however, seen director Paul Verhoeven's masterpiece Showgirls, which taught us that if your name is Polly-Ann Costello, you should probably change it to Nomi Malone and that "there's always someone younger and hungrier coming down the stairs after you." So true, Cristal Connors, so true.

Tofu Warning/Recall [SFist]
Quong Hop [Official Site]
Total Recall [Wikipedia]

Ever since we read food writer Paul Levy's recent piece in Slate, we haven't been able to get it out of our mind. Levy's piece, which is titled "Food, Inglorious Food: My Decision to Opt Out of the Macho Food Writing Movement", alleges that in the thirty years since he burst onto the scene, food writing has increasingly begun to consist of "a bellow of bravado. It's a guy thing, sure, but (with a few honorably hungry exceptions) these scribblers mostly ignore what's on the plate. They view themselves as boy hunters and despise sissy gatherers, thrive on the undertow of violence they detect in the professional kitchen, and like to linger on the unappetizing aspects of food preparation. The gross-out factor trumps tasting good as well as good taste." Levy goes on to contrast his "serious" description of a durian ("Some find the smell excremental, some find it reminiscent of sick") with that of John McPhee's in a recent issue of The New Yorker ("a fruit that smells strongly fecal and tastes like tiramisu"). Throughout, he refers to the new food writing as "macho" and "virile" and to the practitioners of such writing as "Bad Boy chefs."

Even if we politely ignore the fact that "excremental" and "fecal" mean exactly the same thing and are on exactly the same level of technical/euphemistic language, it is difficult not to see Levy's piece as a bit ridiculous and, rather unfortunately, as a case of sour grapes. To start with, why is the pottymouthed new wave of food writing necessarily "macho?" As anyone who has met us in real life can attest, it's not just dudes who have sailor mouthes and while, admittedly, there aren't many women practicing that style of food writing, we'd argue that this has more to do with a depressingly low number of major female food writers, which is another topic altogether, than with the new food writing being an intrinsically male phenomenon.

Our major issue with Levy's piece, however, is the assertion that the type of food writing practiced by folks like Bill Buford and Anthony Bourdain (two of our four favorite food writers, by the by) is lesser than Levy's own measured, heavily intellectual style of writing. For better or worse, Levy comes off as a complainer upset that no one gets his Goethe references. We're as fond of a Dickensian pun as the next girl, but reading a pallid description like Levy's "the meat had dark skin attached to it, was quite fatty and looked like pork … chewy, and had a very strong, though not disagreeable flavor" (about eating dog!) doesn't make us feel hungry or excited or even, truth be told, terribly interested.

We'd argue along with Grub Street that what Levy calls "macho" food writing is simply food writing that appeals to a wider audience. America (and, as we understand it, Great Britain) is in the midst of a food revolution. People are becoming more aware of what they eat and the increasing popularity of food writing has both contributed to and been influenced by this rise of epicurianism. There's still a place for Levy's style of writing (as Slashfood noted, one of the best things about the foodie revolution is the chance to hear lots of different voices in food writing), but the more active, exciting, and accessible style of Mssrs Bourdain, Buford, et al is becoming the norm, and frankly, we're okay with that.

What do you think? Do you enjoy books like Kitchen Confidential and Heat or do you prefer the food writing of yesteryear?

Food, Inglorious Food [Slate]
British Toff Decries The Coarseness of Modern Food Writing [Grub Street]
Is Food Writing Better or Worse Now? [Slashfood]
Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly [Amazon]
Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany [Amazon]

[Photo: Anthony Bourdain]

San Francisco is a city of superlative Mexican food, but the more, the merrier, right? Rick Bayless, of the Frontera empire in Chicago, is opening a branch of his quick-service Frontera Fresco restaurant (well, the second one) at the Union Square Macy's in around two months. The one in Chicago is also in Macy's (née Marshall Field's), implying some sort of grand corporate scheme with nationwide consequences. Is Bayless selling out like the Bay Area's own Tommy Keller? We hope so!

Rick Bayless' empire ventures to S.F. [The Stew]

French Laundry's Keller Takes Plunge With Frozen Foods, Burgers [Bloomberg]

•Summer is over, which is sad news indeed. [Bay Area Bites]
•Don't be too sad, though, because the newly crisp weather is a perfect excuse to make consomme. [An Obsession With Food]
•Cafe Gratitude's owner responds to an unpleasant incident from last week. [Becks & Posh]
•Guys, there are apparently some awesome burritos in Mountain View. [Burritophile]
•There are still sushi bargains to be had in San Francisco! [Grub Girl]
•What can you do when you're served awful wine at a restaurant? Talk to the sommelier. [Between Meals]

•Morissey says: meat is murder and you can't eat it around him. [SFist]
• We're pretty sure the Mozzer also believes that eggs are murder, but that shouldn't stop you from raising a chicken. [Curbed SF]
•We sure wouldn't mind a dark and stormy and some lomo embuchado right about now. [Gastronomie]
•Our lust for the Old Mandarin Islamic menu just increased threefold. [GrubGirl]

As we've been wont to do, here's the most recent CHOW Obsessives video. The man you see is James Norwood Pratt. The first of the seven videos is above, and in the course of the seven short--and endlessly interesting---Pratt "tea-stifies" (sorry) on everything from his memorable tea experiences, teabags and lovemaking to gaiwans, Starbucks and water.

The Proper Cup of Tea [CHOW]

A recent thread on Chowhound discussing the best Turkish destinations in the Bay Area prompted us to bring up one of the Haight-Ashbury's better hangouts, Kan Zaman. Since opening in the early 90s, Kan Zaman's exotic atmosphere (Edward Said would have had a ball there) and bountiful hookah pipes continue to make it a crowded weekend destination. Plus, as some online photos can attest to, there are bellydancers aplenty. Alas, menus are not as plentiful, so it's up to your, dear MenuPages users. Help us out. Email us a menu or fax it to 415-358-5770. Let it be known: we want Kan Zaman.

Kan Zaman, 1793 Haight St (Btwn Cole & Shrader), 415-751-9656

L.E. Leone eats
a famous salad (with cheese!)
and thinks a whole lot.

Destino is good.
Nuevo Latin bistro
caters to hipsters.

Minnesota is
land of a thousand lakes
but hardly any beans.

La Finestra: yum.
A focus on Sicily
garners it two stars.

Venezia rocks.
Well, mostly. Not all plates gel,
but still a good bet.

Range splashed on the national dining scene when the Michelin inspectors awarded it a fabled star, making it the Cinderella story (i.e., the biggest surprise) of the inaugural Bay Area edition. After all: a Michelin star ... in the Mission?!

Suffice to say, under Chef Phil West, Range has lived up to its reputation and has continued to be one of the destination restaurants in what is quickly turning into the city's restaurant row.

If you live in the Bay Area, you've had to play tour guide at least once. With San Francisco tours, there are two givens. First, your chubby Midwest visitors will be wearing shorts in the dead of summer, despite your warnings that summers in San Francisco are rife with 50 degree weather, ceaseless fog belts and a refreshing freezing offshore breeze.

The second sure thing is that they'll want to see the (in)famous Fisherman's Wharf, also known as the biggest culinary wasteland in the best food city in the nation.

Enter Making A List. Assuming the $150 tasting menu at Michelin-starred Gary Danko is out of the question, here are our picks for the best places to eat in Fisherman's Wharf. So avoid the overpriced fish restaurants, ignore the temptation to try Lieutenant Dan's Drunken Shrimp at Bubba Gump and check out our picks.

Super-great recommendations, post-jump ...

Boudin Cafe: Our favorite sourdough bread bowls in the city, Boudin makes their bread fresh every morning, using the decades-old sourdough starter. There's one in Ghirardelli Square and another on the wharf itself.

Fiddler's Green: You're going to need a drink or four after entertaining the guests all day. Fiddler's Green has many a beer, not to mention a host of authentic Irish dishes.

In-N-Out: The legendary California burger joint opened its first and only San Francisco outpost on the wharf, forever forcing natives to frequent Pier 39. Ugh.

Tarantino's: The cioppino is decent, but you can probably find better elsewhere in the city. Then again, cioppino is a San Francisco thing, and this is the best option for it in this neighborhood.

Scoma's: Probably your best bet for a nice dinner in the area. The fish is fresh and the pastas are done well. The prices might be a little steep, but it's the kind of place your grandma would love. We know ours does.

A. Sabella's : In the same vein as Scoma's, it's a nice dinner-type place, with one notable difference, the 87-year-old A. Sabella's is closing come November, so you best get your crab-abalone fix in while you can.

Hey there! Are you free tonight? Do you have $190 burning a hole in your pocket? If you are and you do you should check out tonight's Champagne Henriot Dinner & Tasting at Silks . Tanya Pringsheim of Champagne Henriot will give an hour long presentation at 7:00, which will be followed by a four course dinner with, of course, appropriate Champagne pairings. The menu is a doozy, packed with dishes like fennel-orange gazpacho and air-dried duck. Yum. Perhaps the biggest part of the event's appeal is its date: after all, what could be more amazingly decadent than a champagne dinner on a Tuesday night? Nothing, that's what. So get on out there, you raconteur, you bon vivant, you. Call (415) 276-9787 to save your spot.

Champagne Henriot Dinner & Tasting [Local Wine Events]
Champagne Henriot [Official Site]
Silks [MenuPages]
Silks [Official Site]

Try as we might, we can't track down every single menu in the city. That's where you, dear user, come in. Menu Mission is a feature where we make a plea to our users to send us an commonly-requested menu.

Old Mandarin Islamic is an old-school kind of place ... as in centuries-old. It's one of the only places in the Bay Area that serves authentic northern Chinese hot pot. For those of you who haven't experienced a Chinese hot pot dinner, it involves dipping thinly-sliced meats and vegetables (we recommend Old Mandarin's lamb) into hot oil and then dousing the quickly-cooked meat with a very complex, very spicy sauce concoction. It's amazing and pretty much unlike anything you've ever had. It's even Chowhound-approved.

Also, for you non-Muslims hanging out in the Outer Sunset, they are BYOB.

Old Mandarin Islamic, 3132 Vicente St (btwn 42nd Ave & 43rd Ave), 415-564-3481

•The doughnuts of the Pacific Northwest sure sound mighty tasty. [Bay Area Bites]
•What's so American about the American edition of The River Cottage Meat Book? Apparently, not much. [An Obsession With Food]
•Cafe Gratitude didn't quite live up to its mission recently. [Becks & Posh]
•A fistfight in the kitchen does not make for a great night at a restaurant. [Buon Appetito!]
•Why is a burrito eating competition taking place in Maine? [Burritophile]

We meant to get to this last week, but we should acknowledge the sad/scary story about the Richmond restaurant that got trashed because the owner refused to pay "protection money" to a group of local young thugs:

Three San Francisco men have been arrested for allegedly trying to wring protection money from a Richmond District restaurant and bar, then going on a rampage when the owner didn't agree.

Peng Chen, 21, Enrun Lin, 18, and Rui Liu, 19, allegedly sought money from the owner of the Maze Cafe at 4134 Geary Blvd., then smashed up the bar Aug. 23.

Protection money: the next great food trend.

Update: The brother of one of the aforementioned suspects was arrested Friday on gun charges.

3 arrested in extortion plot against Richmond District restaurant [SFGate]

As you undoubtedly know by now, San Francisco lost one of its most legendary voices last week. Phil Frank's "Farley" cartoons graced the Chronicle's pages for over 30 years. One of the great things about "Farley" was the extensive and developed cast of characters.They represented--and parodied--all types of San Franciscans, from the title character quite (possibly the world's only newspaper reporter/park ranger ... though we suppose Kerouac in "Desolation Peak" comes close) to the various mayors (Feinstein to Newsom) to the family of bears who were die-hard Giants fans and ... ran a restaurant called the Fog City Dumpster (there's the food relevance!).

He will be missed.

Phil Frank dies - cartoonist who captured spirit of Bay Area [SFGate]

MP: Boston rang in the school year with a balanced breakfast of beer cereal and then kicked off the fall arts calendar by interviewing a food critic-turned-playwright.

MP: Chicago warned of incoming frost, but couldn't quite quit summertime.

MP: Philly shared the joy of college. Sometimes college is hard, y'all!

Since MP: SoFla doesn't really experience autumn, the passing of Labor Day means the conclusion of Top Chef draws near and, um, Chipotle?

*No, we have no idea who "them" refers to either.

Every Friday, we provide you with the best--and the worst--user reviews from the week. The following reviews are real, valid, submitted, unedited (except where marked) reviews from our various sites.

As many of you may know, we usually try to tie together our favorite good, bad and ugly user reviews with some type of loose theme. Unfortunately for our organizational attempts, there are many reviews that just cannot be categorized. Hence, this week's collection of those non-sequitur gems.

First off, you know how much we love malapropisms...

No "place to be scene," but great value

The food was something you could have gotten from a diner and the waitress was something you could have picked up in a diner parking lot.

Poor grammar always gets a smile:

Even though I and a friend we're the only customers at about 6 p.m

The tom kah gai is not worth ordering-- it tasted like sunscreen mixed with chicken broth.

Case in point: this week's Bar Bites showcases one of the finest little wine bars around: Que Syrah:

Owners Stephanie and Keith McCardell decided to think small. They focus on small wineries around the world, and their 25 seats are arrayed in a vaulted sliver of space so narrow, you can almost touch both sides. Dark wood and a stripped-down mahogany bar - plus some plastic vines that seem to have wandered in from a Billy Joel song - offset white stucco walls in a living-room-hip aesthetic. It's a pleasantly comforting setting in which to wander into uncharted wine territory.

Bar Bites: Que Syrah [SFGate]

[Photo courtesy: Flickr/y4fgsta]

Here at MenuPages, we are constantly updating our vast menu database. Every morning, we'll highlight five or so menu updates to bring you the latest in San Francisco culinary upheaval.

Today's updates: East African faves.

• Assab, 2845 Geary Blvd (Btwn Wood & Collins St), 415-441-7083

• Cafe Ethiopia, 878 Valencia St (Btwn 19th & 20th St), 415-285-2728

• Massawa, 1538 Haight St, (Btwn Ashbury & Clayton St) 415-621-4129

• Rasselas, 1534 Fillmore St (Btwn Geary & O'Farrell St), 415-567-5010

• Fancy plates in restaurants are fun to look at, but can often be impractical. Just try cutting a whole-leaf Caesar salad in a deep-sided bowl. [Between Meals]

• Bloggers love the puns, and when a McDonald's employee put extra, extra salt on a policeman's burger, the comedy pyramid just flourished. [The Grinder]

• Chefs and fashion collide at Toast of the Town. Hey, it's for charity. [Bay Area Bites]

• An inside peek at the Potrero Hill Whole Foods. [Curbed SF]

• Congrats to the Restaurant Whore, who just finished her first book. Hooray food bloggers. [Confessions of a Restaurant Whore]

• Another event for a good cause is Wine By The Bay 2007, which benefits CUESA and Friends of the Children. Click through to the SFist link for more info. [SFist]

Still, we can't wait for Dungeness season, bittersweet as it may be.

Closings: A. Sabella's To Call It Quits [MenuBlog]

Oh goodie.

The Castro has a new casual cafe: Frisee.

Located near the always-fun corner of Market and Castro at 2367 Market St (also known as the former home of the restaurants formerly known as Khun Phoa II, Crave and Malacca), Frisee is the brainchild of Brett and Nathan Niebergall. The salad-centric modern menu consists of a veritable pantheon of organic, sustainable and gourmet ingredients, from biodynamic wines and Acme bread to sushi grade ahi and pistachio-dusted salmon fillets.

Our initial reactions to the menu is that it looks absolutely delicious, but we can't help wondering if $12 salads will fly in that particular area of the city. After all, it's not the FiDi, where there are plenty of officegoers ready and willing to shell out the cash for a gourmet salad. Plus, 2367 Market has, thus far, been somewhat of a cursed location.

Thoughts? Will Frisee flourish in the Castro?

Frisee [MenuPages]
Frisee [Official Site]

Yesterday, the Chronicle's Inside Scoop reported that the venerable Fisherman's Wharf Italian-seafood restaurant will close on November 4:

"My sister and I, we just think it's time," said Antone Sabella II, the fourth generation of his Sicilian family to work the corner of Taylor and Jefferson streets since 1920. Their first fish market and restaurant was kitty-corner to the current location at 2966 Taylor.

Sabella first worked at the restaurant 45 years ago, when he was 12, and has been running it for almost 20 years, most recently with his sister, Laureen. When he realized it was time to remodel again and no one from the next generation wanted to take over, he asked himself, "Do I want to keep doing this?" The answer was no.

A. Sabella's to close after 87 years [Inside Scoop]
A. Sabella's Restaurant [MenuPages]
A. Sabella's Restaurant [Official Site]

[Photo courtesy: SF Boating]

Here at MenuPages, we are constantly updating our vast menu database. Every morning, we'll highlight five or so menu updates to bring you the latest in San Francisco culinary upheaval.

Today's updates: Restaurants in Potrero Hill

• Aux Delices, 2327 Polk St (At Green St), 415-928-4977

• Crustacean, 1475 Polk St (At California St), 415-776-2722

• Out the Door, 1 Ferry Building, 415-861-8032

• Turtle Tower Restaurant, 631 Larkin St (Btwn Ellis & Willow St), 415-409-3333

As a giant Whole Foods open its doors to the public in Potrero Hill, rumors of another in Noe Valley have surfaced. From The Noe Valley Voice:

Whole Foods Market is in negotiations to take over the Bell Market grocery store on 24th Street and bring its natural and organic food products to Noe Valley.

But in late August, neither the Austin-based grocery chain nor Bell's commercial landlord would discuss details of the sensitive talks, which have been under way for some time...

However, the upscale grocery telegraphed its intention to expand into Noe Valley by posting a notice on its web site. On a page titled Stores in Development, the company said a Whole Foods Market was coming to "San Francisco (Noe Valley),...opening date to be announced." The web page did not identify the exact location of the new store, but noted it would have 16,790 square feet of space.

Bell, which company executives have been trying to sell for two years, is the only Noe Valley location that approximates the square footage indicated on the Whole Foods web site.

Whole Foods Could Be Coming to Bell Market [The Noe Valley Voice]

If you work in the SoMA/Embarcadeo/Rincon Park area, odds are that you've attended one--if not a handful--of Happy Hour celebrations at Palomino. Last Friday a group of drinkers at Palomino had their weekend-kickoff ruined by a shower. The interesting part is that the "rain" wasn't coming from the heavens, but from the brand-new Google headquarters:

The boss says he complained to the waiter, who promptly blamed Google. The search giant, which rented the floors above Palomino for its new San Francisco digs, apparently installed cooling misters on the deck overlooking the restaurant for its own employees-- ostensibly to ward off the heat generated when the SOMA sun meets the patio's slate floor. But Google placed the misting machines in just the right spot to send the moisture cascading off its deck onto Palomino's patio.

Oh, and feel free to insert your "baptism" and/or "golden shower" jokes in the comments field.

Google rains on happy hour parade [Valleywag]
Palomino [MenuPages]
Palomino [Official Site]

In a shocking upset--that we predicted, thankyouverymuch--the Board of Supervisors blocked the now-infamous Starbucks branch. The denial gives victory to the much-maligned people of the Richmond and marks the first enforcement of the new city law that protects small businesses:

The Board of Supervisors voted 9-1 Tuesday to prohibit Starbucks from moving into the Richmond district at 4041 Geary Blvd., near Fifth Avenue. The Starbucks would have occupied a 750-square-foot space within a new Toyota service center under construction.

The Planning Commission had approved a permit June 14 to allow Starbucks to open up for business. Jesse Fink, head of the Clement Street Merchants Association, which represents 30 businesses in the Richmond district, appealed the decision under the new law, which says formula retail businesses — defined as having 11 or more locations nationwide — are to be approved based on “desirability, compatibility and benefit.” Fink said he collected more than 4,000 signatures opposing the permit.

Now if the city would just do something about that Java House predicament, which isn't looking nearly as rosy.

S.F. supes shoot down Starbucks proposal [Examiner]

When Bacar opened about seven years ago, it was one of the restaurants that helped define the dot-com era, with its lofty surroundings, live jazz and extensive wine list, including 100 by the glass. Now there are about 60 by-the-glass selections - and the live music has been moved downstairs, further moderating the noise.

The changes have made the restaurant feel more grown-up, while Lewis has made the menu more contemporary, with foams and unusual combinations such as a complimentary appetizer - beet macaroon and goat cheese sandwich. However, it tasted like dessert and foreshadowed other minor miscalculations that cropped up during two recent visits.

More reviews, post jump.

Elsewhere in the valley of reviews: Paul Reidinger goes to the "restaurant row of the Mission" and gets in touch with his Greekish side at Parea, L.E. Leone gets thrifty at cheap eats destinations like Memphis Minnie's, Patricia Unterman discusses Rosh Hashanah treats at various Bay Area bakeries, the Chronicle's Mandy Erickson heads to San Rafael's Citrus & Spice and the Chowhounds share thoughts on the Hayes Valley location of Peninsula breakfast standby Stacks.

[Photo courtesy: Flickr/amacedo]

Here at MenuPages, we are constantly updating our vast menu database. Every morning, we'll highlight five or so menu updates to bring you the latest in San Francisco culinary upheaval.

Today's updates: Restaurants in Potrero Hill

• Aperto, 1434 18th St (Btwn Missouri & Connecticut St), 415-252-1625

• Baraka, 288 Connecticut St (At 18th St), 415-255-0387

• Chez Papa, 1401 18th St (At Missouri St), 415-824-8210

• Hard Knox Cafe, 2526 3rd St (At 22nd St), 415-648-3770

As if the date September 11th could slip your mind, tonight is the fateful and long-awaited Board of Supervisors hearing in which the fate of the much-protested Starbucks in the Richmond hangs in the balance.

To recap the main points: The venerable citizens of the Richmond filed an appeal on July 11th to block the construction/opening of a Starbucks branch on Geary Boulevard between 4th Avenue and 5th Avenue. On August 7th, the protesters--with nearly 3000 signatures in hand--crashed the Board of Supes meeting; the Board then decided to postpone a decision ("a continuance of the vote") until tonight, September 11th.

Oh, and somewhere along the way, a protest blog was formed, and the most recent post (last Friday) indicates that the number of signed petitions has eclipsed the 5K mark (many of whose signers will be present tonight at City Hall).

It's going to be a fun night!

Bad maps, angry merchants and 5k worth of signatures [Stop Starbucks Blog]

The French Laundry really doesn't need an introduction or a back story, but in the above video, the most interesting moments may be when Thomas Keller discusses the evolution of his flagship. From keeping some signature dishes to staying cutting edge to handing the reins to chef de cuisine Corey Lee, it's easy to see how the French Laundry--and the rest of the Keller empire--has never missed a beat.

Chef Thomas Keller [Official Site]

Over the weekend, Alice Waters made an appearance at the 22nd annual Farm Aid concert in New York. The event--headlined by the likes of Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John "This is ooooouuuuurrr country" Mellencamp and Dave Matthews--is the longest running annual concert event in the country.

Along with the big name rock acts, Waters spoke about the farm crisis looming over America:

We have an unimaginable food crisis, environmental crisis, a cultural crisis. We need to spend the money upfront and what the effects could be have yet to be realized.

For more information on Farm Aid, check out their official site. If all those, ahem, older rock stars can put on a show for 22 straight years, surely you can do something productive.

Farm Aid Concert Makes NYC Debut [WNYC]
Farm Aid [Official Site]

Via Metroblogging SF comes news that the Frjtz location in Hayes Valley has closed due to the landlord's refusal to renew the lease. The good news is that, according to a vigilant Flickr spy's photo of the goodbye note on the Belgian cafe's window, it seems that the Frjtz people will merely slide into the space next door as soon as it is remodeled ("sometime around the holidays"). In the meantime, get your fries-crepes-beer fix at the newly-opened and much more expansive Mission location.

Hayes Valley Munchies Update [Metroblogging SF]
Frjtz [MenuPages]
Frjtz [Official Site]

Here at MenuPages, we are constantly updating our vast menu database. Every morning, we'll highlight five or so menu updates to bring you the latest in San Francisco culinary upheaval.

Today's updates: Updates requested by users.

• Acquerello, 1722 Sacramento St (Btwn Van Ness Ave & Polk St), 415-567-5432

• Cassis, 2101 Sutter St (At Steiner St), 415-440-4500

• Delfina, 3621 18th St (Btwn Dolores & Guerrero St), 415-552-4055

• Pescheria, 1708 Church St (At 29th St), 415-647-3200

• Pizzeria Delfina, 3611 18th St (Btwn Dolores & Guerrero St), 415-437-6800

• Zagat reveals some cheap eating destinations for undergrads. Because poor college students go to Zagat-rated restaurants. [Zagat Buzz]

• BAB takes us to the candy shop. [Bay Area Bites]

• Vodka wars! Vodka wars! [Serious Eats]

• Michael Bauer discusses restaurant design flaws. Here's one that we get annoyed with: the three-seat bar. Like, other than aesthetics, what's the point? [Between Meals]

• The winning design for the Transbay Terminal Building is .... [SFist]

A week or two ago, one of our favorite blogs, Bay Area BItes, did a little post on the various difficulties afflicting potential San Francisco restaurateurs. Among the hurdles to be hopped: the hefty price tags, the preponderance of food blogs and well, the sacrifice of life as its known.

Tinderbox Restaurant's trio of owners, GM Ryan Russell, Front-of-house Manager Miles Clark and Chef Blair Warsham, are first-handedly experiencing the growing pains--not to mention chaos--of opening an ambitious restaurant in the middle of a major urban city:

Launching a restaurant gets referred to as a high-wire act, but high-wire acts tend to be over within an hour. Russell, Warsham and their front-of-house manager, Miles Clark, haven't worked less than an 18-hour day in as long as they can remember. They have no recollection of their last full meal. There's the optimal refrigerator temperature to settle on, and a system for servers to get what they need without getting in the way of the kitchen, and learning how many dishes to prep for. There are purveyors to call, and menus to send to MenuPages.com, and repairs to make daily, and bloggers to communicate with, and recipes to improve (today, Warsham is adding blueberries to his molé). There's the front of the house to manage, and the large wine list to maintain. And because the staff is already something of a family, there's Kyle's flat tire to fix at 1 a.m.

Can they take the heat? Inside the launch of a San Francisco restaurant [SFGate]
Tinderbox Restaurant [MenuPages]
Tinderbox Restaurant [Official Site]

But in San Francisco, a city known for both its casual culture and obsession with quality food and drink, a visit to a wine bar can be an unpretentious pleasure. The city has long had wine bars — the London Wine Bar, downtown, opened in 1974 and is said to have been the first in the United States. Now, a wave of new wine bars has been opening, often in unexpected neighborhoods.

How long must a trend sustain itself before losing its "trendy" status? Will the wine bar movement ever fizzle?

Snobless Sipping Where a Glassful Is Just a Glassful [NY Times]
Hotel Biron [MenuPages]
Hotel Biron [Official Site]
Yield Wine Bar [MenuPages]
Yield Wine Bar [Official Site]

• Michael Bauer eschewed the city for his weekend review, instead opting for the trek to Nick's Cove in Marshall (population 50; just south of Bodega Bay). The new seafood-centric restaurant, "painstakingly re-created" by the folks behind Farallon, impresses Bauer to the tune of three stars, but he worries that it may succumb to the "tourist-view virus that compromises most restaurants along the coast." [SFGate]

• Before you kn