Grant does Grant: The Bold Italic's Nicole Grant plays tourist in Chinatown, a nabe that intrigued Oscar Wilde in 1882. Grant:
These days, it's hard not to think of Chinatown as a larger version of the 30 Stockton, crowded with old, cackling women hoarding doorways and throwing elbows over greens. Still, I'm convinced the real Chinatown must still exist in the back alleys we pass by, somewhere in between Wilde's romanticism and our cynicism. I follow the pink shopping bags to find it.One place she looks is New Woey Loy Goey.
Nine steps lead me down underground and I enter a brightly lit room with critter tanks of scuttling crabs. A group of men with crow's feet crowd around a lazy Susan. Some read the paper, and some chatter over steaming cups of tea. As dishes start to pour forth from the kitchen, I decide to order "what they're having."Soup, a seafood plate, eggplant. Grant finds it all intriguing, delicious too. We believe her, but still: Is Chinatown really as shadowy and inscrutable and crone-cackly as all that? Isn't the writer guilty of the same romanticism Oscar Wilde expressed about what he saw as the Chinatown of opium dens and brothels? It's almost as if Grant seeksto find the real Chinatown, and stumbles instead onto a film set. Ah so!
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In an e-mail to supporters, she said, "Home is where the heart is. Thus, this home must change hands, along with everything in it." Celebi-Ariner promised complimentary muffins and chai -- Amuse Bouche staples -- and unspecified memorabilia. She told SFoodie she's leaving for France next week on a short-stay visa, but would apply for permanent status once in the country.
As for Murat, Celebi-Ariner said he was okay, but adjusting to life back in France. "He's still kind of dealing with the trauma of what he went through," she said.
One of the great things about Lake Tahoe, aside from the perfumed forests and rampant wildlife and crystal-crisp oxygen and the jewel-toned lake itself, is the great preponderance of creatively conceived hot cocktails. The region's alpine climate and winter-playground ambience have created a milieu ideal for après-ski fireside quaffing of soul-stirring, body-warming beverages more or less unknown in more or less snowless San Francisco.
Nepheles (1169 Ski Run Blvd. at Tamarack, South Lake Tahoe) is a warm and cozy option for sprawling and sipping against the High Sierra chill. Nestle into the cushiony lounge area and wrap your lips around a Siberian Snuggler (hot chocolate spiked with Absolut vanilla and peppermint schnapps), a Skier's Broken Leg (hot cider, Maker's Mark, and a cinnamon stick), the Chip Shot (coffee, Tuaca, and Bailey's), the Chocolate-Covered Cherry Café (coffee with vodka, Chambord, and amaretto), or our favorite, the Hot Apple Pie, a simply satisfying concoction of hot cider and Tuaca with a Matterhorn-like crown of whipped cream. Forest-green sweater with little blue grizzly bears de rigueur.
This'll be the fifth year Café Gratitude hosts the Thanksgiving appreciation meals, meant as an expression of gratitude to customers and other fans. Meals will be served on a first come, first served basis, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Ingredients donated by Veritable Vegetable, Bariani Olive Oil, and other local purveyors. Interested in donating products yourself? E-mail info@cafegratitude.com with 'Thanksgiving' as the subject.
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In September, a few months removed from some biting accusations of fraud, Scanwiches reported it had been invited to ROFLCon II, a major Internet culture conference set to take place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in April 2010. We think Chonko should come west and scan some San Francisco specials -- a wet torta from Los Picudos, a shawarma from Old Jerusalem, maybe the drippy pork belly bocadillo at Contigo. Any other ideas?
When Kate McEachern decided to become a mobile street-food vendor in the city of Berkeley, she was determined to do it right. Write a business plan, get all the necessary licenses and permits. She even bought an old taco truck and spent the money to have it customized. McEachern says she submitted a route map to the city, and was instructed by a code enforcement officer she'd be allowed to sell from metered parking spaces.
And while that's exactly how McEachern has been selling her Cupkates cupcakes since August, it all came to a screeching halt Friday, when McEachern says the same code enforcement officer told her she was violating the law. By e-mail, McEachern told us the officer said that "according to a city municipal code‹it is illegal to vend from a metered parking space and that I was to shut down immediately or be issued a $500 citation. I showed him my permits and documentation and referenced our earlier conversation, but he insisted I close."
McEachern said she got conflicting information from two Berkeley city departments Monday: one told her her permit is still valid, the other confirmed that she was, indeed, in violation of the municipal code. Yesterday, the Cupkates vendor was hoping a deputy city manager would meet with her, but that didn't happen, and McEachern said she was escorted out of City Hall by police officers.
The crossover between Bay Area foodies and Bay Area DJs, pop legends, and lords of the tasty guitar solo is fierce -- witness Tamara Palmer's set list of gastro musicians at our sister entertainment blog, All Shook Down.
Turns out Hubert Keller and Pam the Funkstress have more in common than a love of hair products: They're both gastropreneurs. Read Palmer's sometimes surprising list here. You'll realize Papalote's Triple Threat burrito isn't just a reference to its likely effects on your GI system.
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