Robert Sietsema

Serious Eats: In Defense of Iron Chef America

Specialist Referrals

Everybody orders the same particular thing at these Korean finds — for a reason.

Mars Fights Hershey With New Pure Dark Pop-Up

Jonathan Kauffman​Wednesday sees the launch of a pop-up store in Cow Hollow promoting a line of artisanal-looking chocolates that SFoodie has never encountered before: Pure Dark. Today, SFoodie was sent a press packet containing a thick 70 percent cocoa "slab" whose edges were marked with the tine ... More >>

Weather Shoots Down Christophe Hille's A16 Reunion

Caleb Ferguson/Village VoiceChristophe Hille, right, with Nathan Foot.​In a holiday redemption story worthy of the Hallmark Channel, Christophe Hille ― who left A16 in 2006 to seek farm-to-table fortune in New York, most recently at Northern Spy Food Co., which he co-owns with Nathan Foot †... More >>

Underground Market Gets National Exposure, a Seasonal Produce Chart for the Detail-Obsessed

​Today's notes on national stories, local trends, random tastes, and other bycatch dredged up from the food media. 1. The New York Times Discovers the Underground. Times Bay Area correspondent Patricia Leigh Brown visits the Underground Market, which she calls a "crave." (Mmm ... not buying it. ... More >>

Upselling: The Scourge of Dining Out

Sometimes dining on feels like you're being waited on by canvassers.​Ready for another cocktail? You know, that sauvignon blanc will be fine, but for another $20... Yesterday, Village Voice critic Robert Sietsema called out a development in restaurant service that he thinks is becoming too dom ... More >>

Why Don't We Send Waiters to School?

foodpictures / ShutterstockThis used to be a common sight in dining rooms.​Up until the middle of the last century, being a waiter required a significant amount of culinary skill: You didn't just greet customers and deliver food, you dressed salads, carved chickens and deboned fish, and sautéed m ... More >>