We’re always amused and a little embarrassed by Check, Please! on KQED, the show on which three food-loving Bay Area citizens/armchair critics gather around a table to discuss their favorite haunts. Leslie Sbrocco is their smiling, always seemingly wine-drunk host, and they often dig up unsung little restaurants and cafés that don’t otherwise get much attention. In the new episode that aired last night, retired cooking teacher Rhoda Lee recommends the “really authentic” Sichuan Fortune House in Pleasant Hill; courts policy analyst John Larson loves the retro Manor Coffee Shop on West Portal Avenue; and concierge to royalty (!) Maroun Antoine Alsayah just adores old-school French bistro L’Ardoise on Noe. He describes a “jovial” evening in which he and the other three people he was dining with got so friendly with the table next to them they started exchanging plates. Leslie says, “Oh, he’s a food swinger.” God bless the Bay Area.
Check, Please! Bay Area Season 5: episode 10 [KQED]
Earlier: Check Please! Kicks Off New Season at Brown Sugar Kitchen [Grub Street]
