Upstate New York

What's Up With GMO Labeling On The State Level: A Primer

We're all sad that San Francisco has lost Jesse Hirsch, former Examiner restaurant critic and SF Weekly writer, to upstate New York and his new gig as a Modern Farmer staff writer, but we are excited to see what he digs up out East. Such as his most recent article, a primer on GMO labeling efforts ... More >>

"The Place Beyond the Pines": Father/Son Bonding

Kronos Quartet's David Harrington On Celebrating S.F. Composers at YBCA

For the last four decades, San Francisco's Kronos Quartet has been confounding the expectations of the classical music world by redefining the role of the traditional string quartet. Group leader/violinist David Harrington and his compadres -- John Sherba, violins; Hank Dutt, viola; and Jeffrey Zeig ... More >>

Announcing the Winners of the First Voice Media Group Music Writing Awards

Each week in our print editions and every day on our blogs, the 13 Voice Media Group papers feature some of the best music writing in the country. That's why we're excited to announce the winners of our first VMG music writing awards. The honor goes to the authors of one blog post and one print pi ... More >>

Karim Mayfield to Defend Title -- But Not in San Francisco

Eagle-eyed readers may recall a boxing match scheduled for Aug. 17 at Kezar Pavilion between undefeated hometown champ Karim Mayfield and challenger Mauricio Herrera. Hope you didn't show up, because it didn't happen. But it will -- far, far from here.The Aug. 17 ESPN bout was nixed after Herrera su ... More >>

Virtual Worlds: A Few of This Season's Instant Classics

How the Chicken Wing Became Synonymous With Football

I spent some time last week researching the history of the chicken wing and sports fans for this week's full review on Wing Wings in the Lower Haight, purveyor of lightly fried wings in all manner of delicious sauces. Of course I started with Calvin Trillin's seminal New Yorker piece from 1980, "An ... More >>

Top 5 Reasons Good Eggs Should Be Your New Go To

After a launch party at the Mission Community Market last Thursday, GoodEggs has gone live. It's an online food marketplace that allows local farmers and foodmakers to sell directly to people in their area -- people are already comparing it to Etsy -- and though what's live now is technically just a ... More >>

Is Cruelty-Free Foie Gras Possible? An American Experiment

abaransk/Flickr​This past week, This American Life returned to its annual "Poultry Slam" theme: fowl stories for holiday diners. This year, stories included tales of tic-tac-toe-playing chickens (apparently illegal in San Francisco) and a wild turkey who terrorized a neighborhood on Martha's Viney ... More >>

San Franciscans Are Not Googling "the N-Word"

Hey Barry! Guess what my constituents haven't been Googling!​In 2008, Barack Obama was the rising tide that buoyed all San Francisco ships -- at least the ones that floated a bit to the left. A massive turnout for "Hope" and "Change" -- 84 percent of a swollen turnout voted for Obama -- also led t ... More >>

Mormons: A Shallow Yet Helpful Guide to See If You Should Hate Them or Not

"Our Idiot Brother": Predictable and Shallow Indie Ensemble Comedy

The Less You Spend, the More Interesting Fifth Floor's Wines Are

Amy Goldberger in the Fifth Floor wine room​There might be no better sign of where San Francisco's fine dining scene is in 2011 than the wine list at Fifth Floor. It's a pricey hotel restaurant, reviewed today by our restaurant critic Jonathan Kauffman. Yet the list is currently managed by wi ... More >>

Seasunz on Hip-Hop Activism, Spirituality, and Speaking Klingon

​Ashel Eldridge has made the rounds. Otherwise known as Seasunz, Eldridge has emerged as a social and environmental activist, working with groups like Amazon Watch and Project Pink and partnering with Will.i.am to open a youth center in Oakland. And, lest we forget, he also makes music. In ju ... More >>

Remaking Borscht, Snacking on Goat Cheese Curds

​Today's notes on national stories, local trends, random tastes, and other bycatch dredged up from the food media. 1. Borscht belt comedy. The Wall Street Journal just ran what must be my favorite food story of the week: The Gold family, whose 79-year-old company in upstate New York was once a ma ... More >>

Thoroughly Modern Monsters

Garage A Trois Play Saturday, Offer 12 Last-Minute Entries in the SF Indie Film Festival

Michael Weintrob​Pan-American postskronkjazzcore supergroup Garage A Trois's new album is a stone-cold killer: It'll lure you in with sultry saxophone wails and vibraphone licks, root you to the spot with a lurching organ drone here and a cop-drama suspense motif there, and finally ... More >>

Why Small Slaughterhouses Matter, Why I Should Have Eaten at Sunset Deli 10 Years Ago

​Today's notes on national stories, local trends, random tastes, and other bycatch dredged up from the food media.1. The good meat. Last week, the Bay Citizen ran a good piece about the lack of small, local slaughterhouses to serve small-scale ranchers and farmers ― the kind many in San Francis ... More >>

Moving Beyond the Niche of Local Eating

Artbandito/FlickrCows at Marin Sun Farms in West Marin.​​Today's notes on national stories, local trends, random tastes, and other bycatch dredged up from the food media. Bob Comis, a farmer in upstate New York, just posted a duo of complementary essays on Grist and the Stony Brook Farm's blogs ... More >>

The Best New Cheeses of 2010

Gordon EdgarKunik from Nettle Meadow: Goat, meet cow.​Guest cheese blogger Gordon Edgar is the buyer for Rainbow Grocery and the author of Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge, published by Chelsea Green. He blogs at Gordonzola.net. It shows the strength and popularity of the growing world of Am ... More >>

"Marwencol": One guy's self-help project is another's outsider art

Marlena Shaw is often sampled, but she sounds great on her own

"October Country": Days of the living dead

Flora Chef, Sweet Adeline Baker Collaborating on Pizza and Frozen Custard Concept

Andrew B./YelpThe former Spud's in South Berkeley will offer N.Y.-style pizzas with Cali toppings.​Looks like South Berkeley is set to become Ground Zero for the next wave of Bay Area pizza frenzy. Hot on the heels of Emilia's (2995 Shattuck at Ashby) comes word of Addie's Pizza Pie, a collabo ... More >>

Melissa Perello of the Castro's Long-Awaited Frances: The SFoodie Interview

Melissa Perello was born in Nutley, N.J., lived in Houston, and went to cooking school in upstate New York, but San Francisco is where the 32-year-old chef formed her restaurant bones. She arrived here fresh from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., to gig with mentor Michael Mina a ... More >>

Super Cross

Sf Gov InAction: Special Faux-Guest Edition!

Do you ever get tired of doing the same thing every week? Me too. So this week I decided to imagine how SF Gov InAction would look if it were written by five of this city's most ... um ... noteworthy ... pundits. You say "parody," I say "homage." Either way: Enjoy. Monday, June 29 11 a.m. ... More >>

Last Night: The Felice Brothers at The Independent

Joseph SchellThe Felice BrothersJune 10, 2009The IndependentBetter Than: Chocolate. Seriously.Drumsticks flew, accordion players sank to their knees, and fiddlers rapped. You know that you're going to get a good performance when, before the show even starts, every instrument on stage already looks l ... More >>

Daryl Hall Invites S.F.'s Matt Nathanson Over to Play

So Daryl Hall has this newish Internet series called Live From Daryl's House where he invites other famous music dudes over to his house and they get filmed playing music together. Last month his guests were Kevin Bacon and his brother Michael. This month it's San Francisco soft rocker Matt Nathanso ... More >>

"Elliot Anderson: Equivalents"

Hard-Knock Life

Frozen River may lay it on a bit thick, but Melissa Leo nails the role of a struggling single mom.

Print is dying, but Chron gets glossy new press

Club Hide closes

Six Degrees of Separation

Lonely art-folkie P.G. Six makes new friends

The Band

Live at Watkins Glen (Capitol)

From the Devil's Music to God's Country

Local label Birdman connects with divine gospel

What We Talk About When We Talk About Spin

A Pigeon Noir

Going for Broken

Jim Jarmusch's latest road movie is filled with fetching existential ambiguities

Getting to Know Him

Indie rock's patron saint Gary Wilson emerges from the underground after a 25 year absence

The Planet Mercury

Fast approaching its sweet 16, college-rock stalwart Mercury Rev is as vital as ever, whether you're paying attention or not

Fight Club

David Rees gets his karate on

The Man Who Fell to Earth

Creature Discomfort

Laughing at Eric Bogosian's spoiled characters is almost too easy

Full Speed Ahead

Arthur Miller's daughter Rebecca comes into her own with Personal Velocity

Hangout

Street

Family Values

You Can Count on Me starts small but works its way to bigness

House Of Tudor

Bamboleo, Pendulum, "Fetish 2000," Johnny Dowd

Stage

Great Moments in the Bay Area Feel Good/Feel Better History