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.
Out on the dining circuit, The Musical Offering Cafe combines food, music, and books in Berkeley. Karola Saekel gives it an overal two-and-a-half stars.
Michael Bauer, the restaurant critic for the SF Chronicle, brought up the subject of service charges at restaurants on his blog. Tipping, whether you like it or not, is still the standard in the US and diners are used to it. Up until recently, the only time that a service charge was included on the bill in lieu of a tip was when you had a very large party out for dinner. Some restaurants, notably higher-end places like Chez Panisse and Per Se, have flat-rate service charged tacked on to the bill regardless of how many diners are in your party, streamlining the process for those footing the bill and giving the restaurant staff an ample enough fee that some of that charge can be diverted to "tip" the back of the house staff.
More recently, in a strange hybrid between the two styles of gratuity payment, at least one restaurant has begun to add on a service charge to cover the back of the house, while expecting customers to tip the waitstaff. Incanto, in San Francisco, is the example that Bauer pointed to. He noticed that they added a 5% service charge to his bill with no explanation. When he asked his waiter, he was told that it was supposed to be in addition to the normal tip, although some customers deducted it from what they would usually leave. Clearly, having both additional fees wasn't working out well for the front of the house staff even if it did benefit those in the kitchen.
As Bauer points out, it sounds like we may be reaching a turning point in this country when it comes to tipping. He says he is "beginning to edge closer to the opinion that maybe an automatic service charge should be applied, or that prices of the menu should fully compensate the staff." It certainly sounds like a reasonable solution.
Even though it sounded like a promising idea, activists for the "scent sensitive" have gotten the chocolate chip scentbanned from bus shelters after only one day! These complainers - oops, I mean activists - claimed that the smells could potentially trigger an asthma attack, although there were no cases of such things occurring. CBS Outdoor, the company that put up the scented strips for the California Milk Processor Board's campaign, said that the strips used no chemicals and that there was no way that they could have directly triggered any allergic reactions, although they are complying with the city's request to take them down.
Honestly, if you can't handle the scent of chocolate chip cookies, how on earth can you handle taking a bus in a big city? Do these activists actually walk around San Francisco? It's not the cleanest-smelling city in the world. Besides, in just about any city the scent of chocolate chip cookies would be an improvement over exhaust, sewer and trash fumes. Perhaps they found the scent to be too appealing and were actually worried that cookie cravings would cause people to hyperventilate in excitement. Or maybe they were worried that their own cravings would make them blow their diets the next time they walked by a bakery.
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:
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.
Three-month-old Xyclo in Oakland gets two stars (**) for its "modern meets Mekong" Vetnamese-style cuisine. Two stars (**) also awarded to Katia's: A Russian Tea Room. Michael Bauer re-visits Mecca, and says that "We shouldn't have to suffer for good food, but in the case of Mecca, it might just be worth it." He gives it three stars (***).
In the news, THomas Keller's temporary Ad Hoc is open, Cindy Pawlcyn does fish at Go Fish, and Gary Danko tops the Zagat survey. Pan-Asian Red Ginger in El Granada and Oakland's country French JoJo both receive two and a half stars (**½). Mescolanza in the Richmond District gets two stars (**).
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.
The feature story this week is on the Bay Area's small-batch coffee roasters.
The feature story this week is on restaurateur and 
Michael Bauer, the restaurant critic for the SF Chronicle, 
Even though it sounded like a promising idea, activists for the "scent sensitive" have gotten the 
In most cases, they'd be barely legal, but with 
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, 
Cakes so amazing they'd be hard to cut into
Fruit juice: An invitation to diabetes?
Morbid thoughts? Have a cookie
