Michael Bauer

The Off-the-Menu Item at Blue Bottle You Haven't Heard Of

"Ooooh, I wonder what that is," people whisper to each other when you order it. The assertive even ask: "Excuse me? What is that?" Everyone loves exclusivity. We all can't be invited to Michael Bauer's secret holiday party like some of the city's top chefs, but we can at least console ourselves with ... More >>

San Francisco's Latest Food Critic: Whilst in SF

Whilst in SF is an incisive, GIF-driven Tumblr page that is open to public submission, but appears to have a unified wit. It's open to general critiques of the city, but much of the playful frustration expressed here relates to the local food scene. A choice selection of Hollywood hipster douchebag ... More >>

Meat Eaters in Denial, Guilty-Ass Cats, Stuffed French Toast, and McDonald's is Insane

​ • PETA is up to its usual shenanigans, and this time, they foray into domestic abuse! Sigh. There's so much wrong with this ad that there isn't time to go into it all, and I know PETA will consider it a success based on page views alone, but how many of those are people who click it are goin ... More >>

The Chez Panisse 40th Anniversary Tributes Are Rolling In

marioanima/FlickrThe sign for Chez Panisse should read: All hunger ye who enter here.​August 28 marks the 40th birthday of Chez Panisse, as you've probably been hearing. Alice Waters has been redecorating her restaurant with old menus and holding commemorative dinners galore, and the newspaper st ... More >>

Seven Hot Looks for Restaurant Critics

Gael Greene. Hot.​ Earlier this week, Eater ran (or is it re-ran? I've seen this post before) a post listing hot looks for hot chefs. Faced with a magazine shoot? Hold a knife! Or a pig head! SFoodie knows all too well that restaurant critics could use some tough love from Tyra Banks on our public ... More >>

New SFoodie Editor Out to Lunch

​Hi. I'm the new SFoodie Editor. I should probably use this post to introduce myself, but Jonathan Kauffman, who has the desk next to mine in this spacious office overlooking Alcatraz, already did that. Or maybe I should use this post to deliver my food manifesto. But I put the manifesto down ... More >>

California Passes a Mysterious Food Handling Card Law, Diet Coke Officially Makes You Fat

​Today's notes on national stories, local trends, random tastes, and other bycatch dredged up from the food media. 1. Do you have your food handling card? The Chronicle's Michael Bauer delivers a real inside scoop: Thanks to a new law that no one in California knows about, by July 1 -- that's Fri ... More >>

Why Are All You Guys Reviewing the Same Place at Once?

Kimberly SandieDid all you critics need to gush over Nojo's tempura this week? ​Today's question comes from B.T.: Why did you, Michael Bauer, and Patricia Unterman review Nojo in the same week? Did you all go to the restaurant together?In the days when I read restaurant reviews rather than writin ... More >>

Fresh Eats

Our weekly roundup of SFoodie news

Locavore's $7 House-Made Sausages

John BirdsallLocavore's maple andouille sausage with honey Treviso, $7.​Tuesday, January 4, 2011 Jason Moniz was the opening chef at Oakland's Flora in late 2007, back when Michael Bauer liked the place. Last fall, Moniz and his business partner, Mario Duarte, opened Locavore, in a deep store ... More >>

Fresh Eats

Our weekly roundup of SFoodie news

The Year in Food 2010: Big-Ticket Dining Surges

Lara Hata/SF WeeklyProspect: High-end dining in San Francisco is not in danger.​Twelve months, ten storylines: It's SFoodie's annual look back at the year in food.Back in January, people were talking about the San Francisco restaurant scene as if it were flagging fast. The fretting was fueled by t ... More >>

Casey's Pizza Spins New York Thin Crust on S.F. Streets

Casey's PizzaCasey Crynes, right, with his brother Christian, on a street in the Mission. Kai Kronfeld of @NoshThis is in the background.​In his review of Zero Zero, Chronicle critic Michael Bauer seemed to know he'd hyped too far when he busted out the French Laundry in reference to Bruce Hil ... More >>

How Safe Is Chicken Tartare? A Saga of Discovery

CAKES A./FlickrChicken tartare at Ippuku: Just looking at this photo makes me crave it again.​In the week following simultaneous restaurant reviews in the Chronicle and SF Weekly of Ippuku, a Japanese restaurant in Berkeley, the Chronicle's comments sections filled with disgust over a dish that bo ... More >>

What Happens When a Food Critic Isn't Exactly Anonymous?

ubrayj02/FlickrLA Weekly critic Jonathan Gold, captured at Flying Pigeon in L.A.​Our favorite morsel from the blogs. The top editor at Chow had a moment of ethical self-doubt last week. Jane Goldman showed up for Plow's first weekday breakfast, liked the frittata and lemon-ricotta pancakes, a ... More >>

Chron Writers Win AFJ Awards

​This weekend, the Association of Food Journalists ― one of the two major professional organizations for food writers ― announced the winners of its annual awards. Bay Area writers took home three prizes: The Chronicle's Michael Bauer won first place in the "Best Newspaper Restaurant Criticism ... More >>

A Resource Guide to Pie in the Bay Area

Tamara PalmerChile Pies' green chile apple cheddar pie.​It's been declared pie season at SFoodie HQ, although we certainly don't mind celebrating it all year round. There seems to be a new enthusiasm for pie in the air right now. Even Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer recently wondered ... More >>

With Locanda de Eva, Former SF Weekly Critic Robert Lauriston Switches Sides

Locanda de Eva​I find myself in an odd position: Interviewing one of my former restaurant-critic colleagues about the restaurant he's opening. Robert Lauriston, prominent Chowhound and eater-about-town, has written restaurant reviews for both the East Bay Express and SF Weekly, as well as SFoodie ... More >>

More Evidence of S.F.'s Fusion Renaissance

Jun BelenSisig from Hapa SF: Subtle fusion, maybe, but fusion all the same.​Our favorite morsel from the blogs. Jonathan Kauffman's response to Michael Bauer's Friday lament re: the death of fusion cuisine had a predecessor. In April, Urban Stomach blogger Alex Hochman echoed (um, pre-echoed? ... More >>

Chronicle Top 100 List Quietly Swells to 101

John BirdsallMarlowe's burger seems to have helped make it a late addition to the 2010 Top 100. Or the first addition to 2011.​Believe us, we know all about the urge to engineer a do-over for something that, weeks after publishing, we've reconsidered. When it comes to last month's Chronicle To ... More >>

Calling Bullshit on Eater's Crusade to Bust Restaurant Critics

One-time New York Times critic Ruth Reichl in disguise.​Our favorite morsel from the blogs. To catch a d-bag: Tim Carman of Washington City Paper calls Eater a dick for its initiative to unmask food critics. Eater National's Greg Morabito, you see, has this ongoing obsession he calls "To Catc ... More >>

Poleng Lounge to Close in Jan., Anna's Jazz Island Closed

Poleng Lounge, soon to be R.I.P.​January is a bad month for pink slips. Not only have I been getting multiple goodbye emails from publicists laid off from their jobs at the labels in the past week, but now I'm getting word about local venues that are shuttering in 2010. The biggest among them is P ... More >>

Save the Date: Foreign Cinema's Feb. 11 Birthday Tribute to Marion Cunningham

Marion Cunningham​Marion Cunningham is a local culinary powerhouse, a close friend of James Beard's who wrote the 1994 edition of The Fannie Farmer Cookbook and 2003's Lost Recipes. On Feb. 11, Foreign Cinema (2534 Mission at 21st St.) will pay tribute to Cunningham, who's turning 87. No doubt ... More >>

Acme Chophouse To Close at the End of the Year

The upscale steakhouse is being axed -- er, cleavered.​The Chronicle's Michael Bauer reported on his blog last night that Acme Chophouse (24 Willie Mays Plaza at AT&T Park) is closing December 31. Rumors have been swirling for at least a year about the upscale steakhouse that emphasizes sustai ... More >>

Doggy Bag: Battle of the Blogs

​Our favorite morsel from the blogs. Take a victory lap around your laptop: Congratulations to Carolyn Jung, who came in second for best food blog in a competition by the Association of Food Journalists. Jung's blog Food Gal clocked in behind Between Meals by Chron senior critic and exec food ... More >>

Pop Review: Frigid Melon and Good (But Not Amazing) Pizza at Gialina

zipfly/FlickrWho are we to disagree with Ed Levine, for chrissake?​We're not sure why we turned down Delfina for this. Dinner was a thoughtful treat, extended impulsively out of sympathy for a rough 24 hours culminating in 10 excruciating minutes with the most alarmingly awful customer service ... More >>

Doggy Bag: Today's Odds and Ends

​Our favorite morsel from the food blogs. Ethic cleansing: At Between Meals, Michael Bauer ever so gingerly toe-kicks the issue of ethics. Did Mel's Diner cross some line when it offered diners 20 percent off their -- oh, let's say bacon burgers and freezer fries -- if they produced a glowing ... More >>

Meat Fire = Us: Is Barbecue at the Root of Being Human?

wallyg/FlickrBarbecue's a reliably toasty topic, a hallowed strain of American Southern cookery known for endless regional variations and no shortage of strident expert-y opinions about them. Even here in San Francisco, debates rage on. This week, Chronicle reviewer-in-chief Michael Bauer mad ... More >>

Glitz, Glamour, and the Girl Fight That Almost Was: Who We Saw at SF Chefs.Food.Wine

M. Ladd Circa's Erik Hopfinger, bearing tasty lamb chops. At the opening reception for SF Chefs.Food.Wine in Union Square last night, several attendees were giggling over reports that horns had trumpeted the appearance of Mayor Gavin Newsom minutes earlier. SFoodie spotted Michael Bauer and ... More >>

Doggy Bag: Today's Odds and Ends

​Our favorite morsels from the food blogs and beyond. Crimped and glazed: At Bay Area Bites, the increasingly excellent Andrew Simmons slices into pie. Lettuce-leaf conspiracy: Michael Bauer copped to checking out the soft opening of Gussie's Chicken & Waffles last weekend, part of Between M ... More >>

Our Picks for the Four Hottest Tickets at This Weekend's SF Chefs.Food.Wine. Fest

​This weekend's first-ever SF Chefs.Food.Wine culinary festival is a chance to get up close and personal with local food and wine talent through tastings, classes, and even a cocktail contest. The cost might make you balk (ticketed events are $40 and up, day passes $150), but keep in mind that ... More >>

Saturday Freebie: Delfina Panna Cotta at Macy's

After that scoop of Ben & Jerry's this Saturday, foodies can flock over to the Union Square Macy's (170 O'Farrell at TK) cellar for another freebie. At 2 p.m., Delfina Executive Chef (& ahem! James Beard Award winner) Craig Stoll and Pastry Chef Koa Duncan will demo and offer tastes of "summ ... More >>

Doggy Bag: Today's Odds and Ends

Our favorite morsels from the food blogs and beyond. The third estate: Call her the Judith Miller of the gutter food press (and believe us, we'd know). In yesterday's Yummy Letter ex-Chron Inside Scoop reporter GraceAnne Walden related what happens when you play spoiler to a TV food show. Last week ... More >>

WSJ Calls San Francisco Dining Scene 'Big White Blank'

Mecca Makes The Shit List: Bauer Lays The Hurt On

Chronicle's De Afghanan Kabob House Gaffe: R.I.P. BYOB

Chronicle Turkey Team Cook-Off: The Fame! The Glory! The Leftovers!

Chronicle Turkey Team Cook-Off: The Fame! The Glory! The Leftovers!

Fishing Again

Charmed by a thoughtful neighborhood restaurant celebrating seafood and spirits

You'd Better Chop Around

A preview of Pac Bell Park's new restaurant, the Acme Chophouse

Letters to the Editor

You Don't Have to Tell Us About the Clowns in This City; Maher Is Less; Responding to Terrorism; Leftovers; Correction

Foie Gras for the Soul

Restaurants react to last week's attacks

Pop Philosophy

Two clubs and a little Norwegian

Side Dish

Red Rover, Red Rover; Wine Country Grows in the City; Wick, Wick, Whack; Every Positive Has a Negative

Side Dish

Upstairs Downstairs

Letters

Letters

Letters

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