Increasingly, the under-10 crowd is showing up at Bay area restaurants, and the restaurants happily accommodate.

The Baja meets the Bayou with fish tacos and accompanying fiery salsas, beets get an undeserved bad rap, the Roving Feast goes to Berlin for Potato Salad and Big Meatballs, and a Hae-muhl Pah-jun, Korean seafood "pancake," pairs well with wine.

The liquor of the moment is absinthe, with recipes for Sacred Heart, Sazerac, and Death at Dusk.

Flatbreads are the most consumed bread in the world, whether eaten plain, or as part of a dish: Thyme Bread (Manaqish bil-Za'atar), Moroccan Flatbread (R'ghayef), Turkish Meat Bread (Etli Ekmek), Yemeni Fried Bread (M'lawwah), and Yemeni Cilantro Chutney (Z'houg).

The Working Cook keeps within the Mediterranean theme with Chicken and Eggplant Kofte with Bulgur, then does an Asian Spicy Shrimp with Lemon-Peanut Kale & Rice. The Moveable Feast also does Asian with a Mu Shu Vegetable Wrap, and Vijay Bist, owner of Amber India restaurants in Mountain View and Santana Row, shares his recipe for Konkan Steamed Mussels.

There's a whole slew of new restaurant openings around the Bay.

In most cases, they'd be barely legal, but with 20 years in food journalism, the Chronicle has got some street cred. To celebrate, they select their favorite recipe from each year, along with a runner up:


1989

If this isn't an American dream story, I don't know what is. Ulises Valdez left the tiny village of Los Cuachalalates, Mexico, for Mexico City at the age of 10 to work for his uncle. After moving around from place to place, he eventually crossed the California border and made his way to Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley. There, he worked the fields, eventually gained citizenship, struck up a partnership, bought out his partner, and in July of this year, Valdez Family Wines launched.

The Chronicle's Wine Selection of the Week is Napa Valley Syrah. Of the 21 wines they tasted, three received three out of four stars (***): 2004 HdV Carneros Syrah, 2004 Sand T Cellars Brookside Vineyard Napa Valley Syrah, and 2004 Novy Page-Nord Vineyard Napa Valley Syrah.

To go with that Syrah, there is a recipe for Sausage and Lamb Bolognese. The Cheese Course is Comte,a A cow's milk cheese from the Jura mountains of eastern France, near the Swiss border, which a former Bay Area chef hand picks from the aging caves in France.

Bill Addison visits 85 taquerias in 10 weeks and picks the best of the burrito bunch. He also awards 1½ stars to Moki's Sushi and Pacific Grill (*½). Royal Cafe in Albany gets two stars (**) for their breakfast, lunch, and kitsch. Also getting two stars (**) is Baker Street Bistro.

Bottarga, cured roe sacs of gray mullet or tuna, are a finishing touch to Salad of Zolfini Beans, Dry-Farmed Tomatoes, Celery & Bottarga. The Roving Feast adds accents to Tomato-Ginger Concasse and Pears Poached with Lemongrass & Lime.The Working Cook turns the day upsaide down with Goat Cheese Pizza with Peppers & Artichokes and Corn Griddle Cakes with Smoked Salmon, Tomatoes & Cream for dinner.

The San Francisco Chronicle Wine section has officially moved from Thursday to Friday.

Wine tasting isn't exactly a cheap pastime, but still, California wineries drew more visitors than Major League Baseball in 2003. Because tasting rooms are a critical source of income for many wineries, they're stepping up wtih creating fancier, more elaborate :destinations." If you're planning to go tastin gin the Wine Country, the Chronicle aslo has tips for how to do it like a VIP, and ratings/reviews of tasting rooms. This week, the ylook at Coppola and Parducci, both of which get three out of four stars (***).

The Wine Selection of the week is South Central Coast Zinfandels, which "could convert Zinfandel naysayers by demonstrating that high alcohol and fruit can be present but not overshadow the wines' other charms."

To pair with the Zins? Braised meatballs. If you're drinking something along the lines of "a red wine that is not too serious or weighty, such as a California-appellation Merlot," then pair it with Beecher's Handmade Flagship, a Cheddar-like cheese from Seattle.

There's a new wave of artisan chocolatiers, and the Bay Area is at the forefront.

Recipes and stories this week are: Grandmother's Oven-Baked Chicken, Almond Milk Curd (Hung Yun Dow Foo), Cojondongo (Gazpacho Salad), Mrs. Hyder's Mango Gazpacho, and Mango-Cucumber-Jicama Street Food.

All kinds of news-y tidbits: a soymilk maker, north Berkeley's old Bendean is now Bui, and kids' cookbooks from Williams-Sonoma.

With childhood obesity getting out of hand and food allergies becoming more severe, kids' school lunches require careful attention. If you're packing it to go, try: Corkscrew Pasta Salad with Edamame, Red Peppers & Crunchy Noodles, Mini Pita Pizzas, Quinoa for Kids, Sweet Potato Burritos, Chicken Nachos and Chunky Salsa Base to go with the nachos or burritos.

Lunch-to-go isn't just for back-to-school. Adults pack lunches to take to work: Sesame Soba Noodles with Tofu and Spinach, Chicken and Rice PIlaf with Tomatoes, Chilled Artichoke with Homemade Tartar Sauce, Thai-inspired Noodle & Vegetable Salad, and Pan Bagnat.

If you'd rather go out for an hour during lunch, pick from Amanda Berne's fairly long list of favorite lunch spots around the city.

We're no strangers to blends, but we're probably far more familiar with wines that have been made from blending different grapes in the fermentation tank. However, wines made from different grapes that were grown together in the field, called field-blends, are "aromatic, seamless...more than just the sum of its parts."

The Wine Selection of the Week is Sauvignon Blanc from the Sonoma County. The highest rated of the bunch is 2005 Gary Farrell Redwood Ranch Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc ($25), which received three out of four stars (***).

A summery gazpacho uses up the tomato harvest and pairs well with Sauvignon Blanc. Smoky Italian cheese, Scamorza, is a good stand-in for mozzarella.

This week, the feature story is not on wine, but cocktails. Rather than relying on the standard, vodka, Bay Area bartenders are turning to artisan tequilas, locally brewed and Mexican beers, rum and other exotic spirits. There are recipes for Neptune's Garden, Leilani Volcano, China Clipper, Coconut Batido, Basil Gimlet. Watermelmon Margarita, and Sidewinder's Fang.

The Chronicle's Wine Selection of the Week is Pinot Noir, about half of which are from the Santa Cruz Mountains, the other half from the Central Coast.The opt of their favorites is 2004 Carmel Road Monterey Pinot Noir. The Bargain selections are light, summery whites, including a sparkling wine, NV Lorikeet South Eastern Australia Brut.

Black Bean Spareribs pair well with the Pinot Noir selection, and the Cheese Course of the Week is a buffalo-milk mozzarella, Bubalus Bubalis.

When is a tomato not a tomato? When it's an heirloom and goes by its own name, like "Brandywine" and Marvel "Stripe." Recipes are for: Cavatelli with Cranberry Beans, Warm Spinach Salad with Bacon & Potatoes, Bruschetta With Fresh Ricotta & Cherry Tomatoes, and Sliced Heirloom Tomatoes with Buttermilk Dressing.

The Grande Dame of Mexican cuisine, Diana Kennedy, shares recipes for Tamales Cernidos con Rajas y Queso (Tamales filled with Poblanos & Cheese) as well as an accompanying Salsa Verde.

Edna Lewis' classic The Taste of Country Cooking has been reissued, Scala's Bistro in Union Square has re-opened with a new look and a new menu, Etoile, Domaine Chandon's restaurant has reopened, and Bistro 1689 in a new French-California place in Noe Valley.

I am a big fan of the SF Chronicle's Michael Bauer's blog, Between Meals, and have mentioned issues that he has brought up before. His post yesterday was particularly interesting though, bringing up the issue of whether food critics should somehow be licensed, after a commenter mentioned that there was a lack of standards in the industry.  Such a task, however, might be nearly impossible. Would "taste" be judged? Writing ability? Tests could be implemented in all industries, but the reality of working is that the best way to get good at something is to do it - over and over again. Writers have to write and chefs have to cook. Critics have to learn how to convey the unique experience of dining at a restaurant to their readers because chefs do not all use identical recipes and there is no one "right" way to make a marinara sauce.

As Bauer rightly points out, "Good chefs rise to the top, and good critics develop a following." A good critic's readers can trust what they write and use their recommendation as a means to decide when to try (or not to try) a restaurant. Of the skills a critic needs - ability, knowledge and passion - only one can be taught or tested, while the others come naturally and over time.

The standards of taste are not hard and fast rules and people look to critics to create a baseline, a jumping off point from which they can form their own judgments. The only hard and fast rules I want to see are the ones that the health department enforces.

When it's DVD night, what do you drink? The San Francisco Chronicle Wine section this week suggests a Top 10 list of wine and movie pairings for the likes of Casablanca, James Bond and French Kiss, with a few runners-up.

The Wine Selection of the week is Rioja, with a list of 41 reds made from the Tempranillo grape. To pair with a red Rioja, there's a recipe for Lamb Meatballs with Thyme-scented Rice Pilaf.

The Cheese of the Week is Perail, a thin, flat, Brie-like round that early producers made for themselves as they made Roquefort for the masses.

From Bed in NYC, Wet Spot is a cocktail made from Plymouth Gin, apricot brandy, apple juice, lemon juice and elderflower syrup. 

The big feature this week on the whole slew of "other fish in the sea" available to the Bay Area because the local supply of salmon will be short. There are recipes for Rockfish Tostadas, Breadcrumb-crusted Halibut with Thyme, Pan-fried Sandabs, Halibut en Papillote with Favas and Yellow Squash, and Halibut & Lemon Kebabs. Of course, if you do a simple grilled fish, they've also got a recipe for Homemade Tartar Sauce.

LA may not have great cherries, but SF sure does, and they pair so well with pork. The recipe is for Pork Chops with Cherries and Edamame. Also, beans make Lupe's Enfrijoladas, Basic Black Beans, and to garnish them both, Chile de Arbol Hot Sauce.

We're all familiar with Hass avocadoes, but there are actually close to 1,000 different varieties out there - with which to make Avocado and Marinated Anchovy Bruschetta.

It's high time for summer travel, and since we're foodies around here, we will be tempted to bring back souvenirs and gifts of...food. However, if you're doing international travel, there are some things you have to consider when you're going through customs. The San Francisco Chronicle explains the dos and don'ts of some of the more popular items that travelers try to bring across the border like meats, cheeses, fresh produce, and liquor. They also have a great list at the end of the article that has suggestions from Bay Area chefs of what kinds of things to bring back from certain countries, e.g. mole from Mexico and curry paste from Thailand.