Almost exactly two years after it opened, Sozai is looking for a new operator. The Japanese restaurant and sake lounge was ahead of the izakaya curve, opening its doors just before O Izakaya and paving the way for spots like Deep Izakaya, Otoro, and the upcoming Nombe. If you want to get into the izakaya game too, the price of entry is just $20,000 down and $4,300 a month in rent.
Cozy Japanese Restaurant for Lease [Craigslist]
If you missed David Chang's appearance with the cadre of Bay Area chefs at Cafe du Nord Wednesday, you're not fully out of luck. The Momofuku chef/author is still in town and will be appearing at Omnivore Books on Food with Ubuntu's Jeremy Fox this Sunday. The conversation should be interesting, as the apparently polar opposite chefs (Chang puts pork in everything while Fox runs a Michelin-starred vegetarian restaurant) have crossed over into one another's turf. Chang cooked a vegetarian dinner at the James Beard House in New York in August and Fox is preparing to host a series of special dinners by guest chefs who won't be limited to vegetarian menus. They're set to talk at noon Sunday, with Chang's Momofuku co-author Peter Meehan moderating.
Earlier: Meat to Guest-Star at Ubuntu [Grub Street SF]
Thomas Keller showed up on the Today show this morning to promote Ad Hoc at Home, All-Clad cookware, and, naturally, teach Al Roker and the team how to make his famous fried chicken. Ann Curry is visibly horrified by Keller's direct handling of the scorchingly hot fresh-from-the-oil chicken, and he reassures her by pointing out that after years in the kitchen, he's got "asbestos fingers." Watch the video for that, plus plenty more hijinx.
A new startup called tweservations launched in San Francisco today, getting Twitter into the reservations game at 14 local restaurants. Mobile application? Check. Ridiculous name? Check. Only surprise here is that this didn't happen earlier. [tweservation]
Ryan Sutton may have shown compassion for a 70-year-old lobster, but another critic, A.A. Gill of the London Sunday Times, has gone off in the opposite direction — and possibly off the deep end, say some of his critics. Gill has always been an unconventional reviewer (he was once booted from a Gordon Ramsay restaurant after penning a review in which he called Gordo a wonderful chef but a “second-rate human being”), however, he’s really gone and done it this time, having started a recent review with, “I shot a baboon in Africa, last Wednesday, just after lunch. Shot it dead.”
After San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera challenged Kellogg's to back up claims on boxes of Cocoa Crispies that the cereal "helps support your child's immunity" the company dropped the label from its packages. Boxes already on store shelves won't be pulled, but new ones with unadorned Snap, Crackle, and Pop will gradually replace them. [SF City Attorney]
As the Obamas prepare for their first state dinner on November 24, White House chef Cristeta Comerford faces the challenge of her career. From the sidelines, San Francisco's Rene Verdon, who cooked for the Kennedys, notes that the Obamas have similar palettes and values to the first family of 1961. “Mrs. Kennedy was very concerned about the health of the children,” he told the New YorkTimes. “She wanted them to eat meals of the freshest ingredients, and she wanted them to taste everything.” Verdon grew vegetables in the White House garden and used them in state dinners. "It’s a good thing she is doing, a very important thing," the 85-year-old farmers' market devotee said of the First Lady's garden. Comerford and assistant chef Sam Kass are still working with the Obamas to set the menu for the state dinner, when the White House hosts a delegation from India.
Heavy is the Toque at a State Dinner [New York Times]
Hold the mustard! The recently announced merger between Pennsylvania-based snack food makers Snyder's of Hanover and Utz is not going forward. The companies blame a "protracted revew" by the Federal Trade Commission for ending the deal. [Baltimore Sun]
Gordon Ramsay’s ratings are sinking in the U.K., according to the Daily Mail, but that isn’t stopping him from bringing more of his bluster to the States. According to a casting call we’ve obtained, December 15 will be the airdate of that cooking special Fox bought from him along with “Man Camp,” the show that promises to be a boot camp for men whose “ladies are slightly concerned about how feminine they’re becoming” (no word on when that gem will premiere). The cooking special will allow viewers to cook along at home with Ramsay, and some lucky home cooks will also be featured on air. Want your crack at being one of them? Read on!
• Michael Bauer once again addresses the question of food versus service in determining a restaurant's quality. [SF Gate]
• City hotel workers still in a contract standoff plan more walkouts and pickets like yesterday's at the Grand Hyatt. [SF Examiner]
• Wild mushroom season is just around the corner in California. [Press Democrat]
“The food is sooooo good!!!”
We went there on a monday night (half price wine btw) and it was really amazing!!!
“Best Thai Place in SF!!!!”
This was the first restaurant I went to when first moved to SF and I have been going ever since.
“Great Italian and Awesome Burgers”
Quiet and very friendly atmosphere with a very efficient and friendly staff.
