It is with a huge dollop of disbelief and a dash of righteous anger that Chron Food Critic Michael Bauer recently posted on his blog about a Wall Street Journal column that ran this past weekend calling San Francisco "a big white blank" on the "foodie map." Bauer rightly points out that Raymond Sokolov's column seems to come straight out of some bizarre time warp, perhaps 20 years ago. Aside from the excellent Ame -- opened in 2005 -- Sokolov's S.F. survey mentions only longtime institutions Aqua and Boulevard as worthy contenders for his "national standard of excellence." Without a doubt, all three restaurants are the bee's knees, but here are a few more of the fancier-schmancier places Sokolov would do well to visit (or visit again) before slamming San Francisco: Yoshi's SF, Range, and Gary Danko. But then, maybe his ultra-sophisticated East Coast palate is just too incredibly refined for San Francisco.
