Due to the countless droves of bartenders and cocktail waitresses dying from second- hand smoke related illness, California yeas ago made it quite difficult to light up and enjoy a little of our own noxious fumes over a drink. There are havens for the smokers though, both illegal (don't worry guys, I'd never give you up) and legal. Here's a few of the legal:

The Cigar Bar on Montgomery Street prides themselves on the extensive and exclusive selection of their humidor. This is probably the highest end smoking establishment. The atmosphere lounge will get so crowded on weekends nights the line out front has been known to take over an hour.

Don't be fooled by the divey look of Whiskey Thieves at 839 Geary St. These guys have made sure the smoking laws are all squared away by making the bartenders part owners, and those bartenders take their roles seriously. They really know their whiskeys. It can get crowded, but it's one of our favorite places for a late afternoon cocktail over a pool game and an ashtray.

Where can you see a rock 'n roll show, get served drinks by sexy bartenders in leather pants and be able to smoke indoors? The Hemlock Tavern, in Polk Gulch. The smoking room is separate and missing part of a wall to allow for ventilation, but it's heated and you can bring your drink with you.

Cigar Bar And Grill [menupages]
Cigar Bar And Grill [Offical Site]
Whiskey Theives [myspace site]
The Hemlock Tavern [offical site]

Photo by ~Jeanne~ from Flickr

The Midwest often gets a bad rap. Well, at least when you’re not living in the Midwest. But we’re in Saint Louis for a wedding (yes, this is the Midwest. If you think it’s the South, talk to some Louisters) and things haven’t been so bad. In fact, San Francisco could take a few lessons from the Gateway to the West.

For starters, the Pin-Up Bowl, located in the Loop neighborhood (kind of a cross between Upper Haight and the new NOPA), is the cat’s meow. Part martini bar and part bowling alley, the Pin-Up Bowl exceeded expectations when we got to the bar to order our first cocktail and saw not one, not two, but the entire line of Hangar One vodka. Hangar One? In Saint Louis? It’s a home away from home. With a Lime Hangar One and tonic in one hand and a lightweight bowling ball in the other, it’s amazing how one’s bowling average improves. Or in our case, it’s amazing how we were actually able to get up to the lane and occasionally knock down a few pins (our final score: 69). In addition to the bar and lanes, they have a nice little food menu—the fried ravioli was hard to pass up—and there’s also a pool table and a jukebox. And can we just say, they have two George Michael albums on this jukebox. Two! And we can’t even find one at most places in SF.

We can’t help but wonder why we don’t have spots like this in San Francisco. Bowling, cocktails, food and pool seem like a no brainer. As soon as we get back we’re looking into starting a franchise. That, and improving our bowling average.

Hangar One [Official Site]
Photo: Bill in STL [Flickr]

•...treat yourself to a nice dinner before the symphony? [MP: Boston]
•...speedily prepare a monkfish? [MP: Chicago]
•...shop at a posh new gourmet store? [MP: Philadelphia]
•...check out a new art exhibition? [MP: San Francisco]
•...jaunt off to Buenos Aires? [MP: South Florida]

If you're a regular visitor to these pages, you've probably seen a little of our coverage of the recent struggles to keep street food a part of the culture in Los Angeles. Though Menupages doesn't have a Los Angeles blog (yet), we pay attention because an attack on street food there could be a harbinger to other attacks on street food in the United States. And we love street food, be it tacos, bacon-wrapped hot dogs or just good old pretzels and roasted nuts.

That's why we were thrilled when Epicurious directed us to this lengthy article in Concierge.com: The World's Best Street Food. From safe stalwarts like Mexican tacos and Vietnamese Banh Mi to culinary adventures like Moroccan sheep's head, we found this in-depth guide to be some of the best in armchair traveling/eating.

Epi-Log's James Oliver Cury takes a shot at it for not including pizza or kebabs, but c'mon, the freaking Lonely Planet will direct you to those things. Guidebooks tend to skimp on things like tripe sandwiches, however, which is why we're thankful for the weird and subjective nature of this list.

World's Best Street Food [Concierge.com]
World's Best Street Food? [Epicurious]
Photo: Gerard Van der Leun [Flickr]

So now that Peet's Coffee is set to open kiosks in BART stations throughout the Bay (you’ll find a newly fenced-off section at the Montgomery station complete with a hiring sign), we've been thinking of other things that would be nice to have in BART stations.

1) Dim Sum. There is no food more perfect for a quick bite than Dim Sum. One well-steamed barbeque pork bun or a trio of potsickers could hold anyone over for a long commute, make for a last-minute lunch or satisfy the pre-happy hour munchies. We know there’s no eating on BART, but we also know from experience that almost all Dim Sum can easily be consumed while waiting for a train to arrive or while walking up the escalator in route to one’s destination.
2) Free weeklies. Yes, it’s nice to have a discounted Chronicle readily available for the ride, but sometimes you just want to check out Best of the Bay or do one more crossword puzzle. We like options when it comes to periodicals and for whatever reason, remembering to grab a free weekly before we get down to the station is asking too much.
3) Chargers for electronics. It never fails that when we really want to zone out and do nothing but listen to music for 30 minutes on our BART ride, we’re met with a near dead battery. All we need is for our music player to last one leg of the commute, but we know it’s not going happen and so we listen to the lovely screeches of metal on metal instead. On a recent trip to Oregon, we noticed that Portland International Airport has stations for charging various electronic products (cell phones, laptops, iPods, etc.) and now that we’re all more plugged in than ever, this seems like a handy thing to have in a BART station.
4) Useable restrooms. Enough said.

We’re excited about the Peet’s if only because it means one less block to walk to ensure that we’re properly caffeinated on the way to work. We’re also interested in seeing how the heck BART plans to enforce the no drinking or eating rule on trains when there’s a kiosk selling tasty beverages and fresh pastries only steps away from loading zones. Don’t get us wrong, we like clean public spaces too, but we also like to be able to enjoy hot coffee and tea when it’s actually hot.

Peet's Coffee & Tea [Menupages]
Peet’s Coffee & Tea [Official Site]

Photo: By voxipsa

Pabst Blue Ribbon, the beer that's somehow turned from a working class standby into a hipster fashion accessory, has made it into two separate news stories lately.

First: The PBR Coffin (shown above). Bill Bramanti, a 67-year-old beer fan in suburban Chicago, ordered a coffin shaped like a Pabst Blue Ribbon can to use when he dies "100 years" from now. To celebrate, Bramanti threw a party for his funeral home and his friends — a party centered around showing off his coffin. Of course, he also used the coffin to store the beer cans at the party:

"The silver coffin is laminated with the design of a red, white and blue PBR beer can. The inside contains a black liner to prevent seepage so Bramanti can store cold brews in it until he winds up inside. On Saturday, it was filled with ice and PBR. Bramanti thinks it can fit about 15 cases of beer and 150 pounds of ice.

"I wouldn't expect anything less for my dad," said Bramanti's daughter Cathy, who was one of about 25 people munching on roast beef sandwiches and sipping PBR inside a 2,000-square-foot barn Bramanti built in South Chicago Heights for parties. "He's a man that loves to entertain. He likes it when people are happy. This is what he does. There's all kinds of things in here."

USA Today has more.

Meanwhile, a certain Mr. Barack Obama has publicly declared his love for PBR. At a campaign appearance at the Raleigh Times pub in North Carolina, Obama proudly quaffed a Pabst — and thereby upstaged Hillary and the Boilermaker one last time.

Man plans to be buried in Pabst Blue Ribbon coffin [Southtown Star]
Illionis man designs beer can coffin [USA Today]
Obama woos blue collar voters with his beer taste [The Telegraph]

[Image via Southtown Star]

Never fear. Those tech-savvy gluttons at Google got him to come by for a talk, and have posted said talk on their very own Youtube. It's about an hour long, so don't start it up in order to put off that next project for five more minutes. Maybe watch over lunch. That's what we're going to do because we've got a penchant for guilt.

Michael Pollan At Google [chayday Food Journal/Accidental Hedonist]

And today we learned that Burger King actually hired someone to spy on another group, the Student/Farmworker Alliance, that works with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers:

In March, a woman named Cara Schaffer contacted the Student/Farmworker Alliance, saying she was a student at Broward Community College. Her eagerness aroused suspicions, but she was allowed to join two of the group’s planning sessions. Internet searches by the alliance revealed that she was not a college student.

Ms. Schaffer is the 25-year-old owner of a private security firm. Her company, Diplomatic Tactical Services, seems like the kind of security firm you’d find in one of Carl Hiaasen’s crime thrillers. Last year Ms. Schaffer was denied a private investigator’s license; she had failed to supply the Florida licensing division with proof of “lawfully gained, verifiable experience or training.” Even more unsettling, one of her former subcontractors, Guillermo Zarabozo, is now facing murder charges in United States District Court in Miami for his role in allegedly executing four crew members of a charter fishing boat, then dumping their bodies at sea.

According to the company, the spying was done for security purposes in an effort to prevent any violent acts and ensure the safety of its employees and assets. Which would be justified if the group had a history of violence, which it does not. At all.

So, this could be fun. Sit back, relax, and watch the corporate backpedaling.

Burger King probes e-posts [Miami Herald]
Burger with a Side of Spies [New York Times]
Coalition of Immokalee Workers March Today On BK Headquarters [MP: South Florida]
Burger King [Official Site]

The Slanted Door has been one of the city’s worst-kept secrets since its inception as a tiny storefront in the Mission District. We know your friend who used to live in San Francisco insisted you must bask in the glory of this high-end Vietnamese restaurant, but here you are in SF and you forgot to make your reservation three weeks in advance. Are you out of luck? Maybe not.

First, it should be noted that The Slanted Door does keep a certain amount of the tables and the bar open to walk-ins, but you can expect an extremely long wait only to enjoy your crispy imperial rolls with all the other walk-ins looking hungrily over your shoulder the same way you did to the people before you. It is a little easier to get in during lunch time, but we would suggest you make it a late lunch or early dinner to avoid to the work crowd.

They do an afternoon tea between 2:30 and 5:30 p.m., but the menu is limited to a few appetizers, salads, noodle dishes and, well, tea.

We find the food is just as good, if not quite as wide-ranging, and with near complete lack of atmosphere, at Out The Door, The Slanted Door’s outlet on the bottom floor of the Westfield Center at 845 Market St.

If you’re really just had it with the whole scene, head down to Ghirardelli Square where there is an amazing Vietnamese restaurant called Ana Mandara that we feel rivals The Slanted Door in every way. The food is exquisite, the décor is an experience, the service is outstanding and, best of all, it does not book up weeks in advance. Thanks to the hype of its famous competitor, Ana Mandara really is one of the best-kept secrets in San Francisco.

The Slanted Door [Menupages]
The Slanted Door [Offical site]
Ana Mandara [Menupages]
Ana Mandara [Offical site]

Photo: The Slanted Door by wasabicube

Thank goodness nobody was hurt so we can make jokes like that. Seriously, though, the thought of hundreds of thousands of chili peppers going up in flames is kind of awesome (in the traditional sense, meaning awe-inspiring, not the slang sense meaning good). Here's the story:

HYDERABAD, India - A fire has broken out at one of India’s largest chili markets, burning hundreds of thousands of pounds of chili peppers.

Residents and officials say the burning chili smoke is stinging the eyes and throats of people in Guntur in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

One local official says 150,000 bags of chilies have been destroyed across a 20-hectare area in Saturday’s blaze.

Officials have evacuated nearby residents, and firefighters are still trying to control the flames.

No casualities have been reported. It remains unclear what started the fire.

• Two of the founding fathers of our country, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, are both known to have grown chiles.

• Capsaicin is a colorless, pungent, crystalline compound, C18,H27NO3.

• The shorter the molecular chain, the hotter the pepper.

• One fresh medium sized green chile pod has as much Vitamin C as six oranges.

• One teaspoon of dried red chile powder has the daily requirements of Vitamin A.

• The heat from a chile pepper is concentrated in the interior veins or ribs near the seed heart, not in the seeds as is commonly believed (the seeds taste extra hot because they are in close contact with the hot veins).

• If, when a chile pepper is cut open, the veins have a yellowish orange color in that area, it usually indicates the pepper will be a potent one.

• To date, the hottest chile pepper in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records is the "Red Savina" habanero. It measured an amazing 577,000 Scoville Units.

Giant chili market catches fire in India [Hot Sauce Blog]
Chile Pepper Facts [Cosmic Chile]
Chile Facts [The Chile Pepper Institute, University of New Mexico]
Image: Cosmic Chile

We got a tip that there’s a pretty cool exhibit over at the Asian Art Museum. And the tip seems to be legit.

Zhan Wang, a highly respected artist from Beijing, has really given San Francisco the right to call itself a foodie city, maybe even the foodie city by creating a very detailed model of SF from stainless steel kitchen supplies. Soup spoons, cheese graters, serving trays--as you can see from the photo, no popular cookware item has been spared.

Undoubtedly this installation is more than just entrainment and playful interpretation, but for now we’re headed over strictly for it’s aesthetic value (we’ll get educated when we get there). We’re also hoping that the weather shapes up so we can enjoy the patio dinning at Cafe Asia. It may be cafeteria style, but we’ve had many a good lunch break sipping mimosas and martinis on the patio and of course, the food is good too.

But if we’re feeling adventurous we may try Morty’s over on Golden Gate Ave for the Pastrami Reuben. Frankly, this is one of the only delis in the city that gets it when it comes to a Rueben. Two words: Russian Dressing. Forget that Thousand Island nonsense, a real Rueben should have Russian Dressing and sauerkraut and that’s all there is to it.

Cafe Asia [Official Site]
Morty’s Delicatessen [Menupages]
Morty’s Delicatessen [Official Site]

Photo: By the Asian Art Museum

Things you know about Myanmar/Burma:

1) On May 3-4, the country's Irrawaddy delta region was hit by a powerful cyclone, killing 22,500 and leaving over 40,000 missing as of publication time (nationwide population: 55 million)

2) Last fall, the ruling military junta cracked down on widespread, monk-lead demonstrations, leading to the political imprisonment of hundreds and quashing hopes of a democratic revolution

3) Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel prize-winning democracy activist, has been under house arrest there for much of the past two decades

Things you may or may not know about Myanmar/Burma:

1) "Myanmar" is a pre-colonial name that the junta encourages you to use, and "Burma" is the somewhat racist colonial appellation that Aung San Suu Kyi prefers, because one really sticks it to the junta that way

2) Until a few days ago, Burma — let's just go with that...stupid junta — was a net exporter of rice, but the country's rice bowl (this is an official term) was storm-surged into oblivion. Maybe China will give them rice?

3) Burma is shunned by most of the world for its human rights violations and narcotics-based export economy. The junta is reasonably good friends with China

Things you don't know about Burma:

1) The junta is being pretty cagey about taking aid from the international community, but you can donate through the Anglican Relief & Development Fund

2) Burma has a unique and wonderful cuisine that's hard to find in the United States but always a joy to come across. It's a natural fusion of Indian, Chinese and South-East Asian traditions, meaning you can get chicken biryiani, durian ice cream and night market rice noodles in a single sitting if you so desire. They even have their own form of tofu, made from chana dal (split, skinless chickpeas) or yellow split pea flour, depending on the ethnic group. Better than soy-based tofu? In many ways. You like dumplings? The Burmese have half-a-dozen indigenous varieties to try. And so forth.

For us, though, the single biggest achievement of the Burmese kitchen is its myriad and exotic salads. Thai salads are more famous, but the Burmese do a job at least as sophisticated throwing raw and pickled vegetables and miscellany together into something greater than the sum of their parts. Observe:

• Pork Ear & Tongue Salad from the recently closed Burmese Cafe in Queens, NY (Jane! Jane! Jane!):

• "Burmese Feast" Tofu Salad from Golden Triangle in Whittier, CA (Tales of an LA Addict):

More salads than you could properly digest, after the jump...