SFist Culinary Digest

Dan Leone hits us right in the gut with Giordano Bros. -- we're not familiar with the Pittsburgh all-in-one like they serve at Primanti Brothers. We'd have to defer to Mr. Kavanagh on that one. But the idea of stuffing the french fries into the sandwich appeals to us on so many levels that Giordano Bros. seems an inevitability, especially if they stayed open just a little later. The other Guardian foodie, Paul Reidinger, hits up Repastoria Satyricon and comes away with a "when alluding to Rome, do as the Romans do" opinion.

Meredith Brody comes so close to getting it right at Helmand. Too bad she's blinded by the cheap anti-war exoticism of eating at an Afghani restaurant. Next week (probably): Iraqi cuisine. We're being extra pissy because we work in the neighborhood and remember when they started serving lunch. Jonathan Kauffman shrinks a bit in our eyes, flogging apparent friend Carl Chu not once, in his Cafe Ophelia review (Jonathan, we don't need to hear about Los Angeles' misplaced mysticism, even if it involves good Chinese food), but twice, repeating the theme in Kitchen Sink column. We get it, Jon, you like Carl. Spoon it out, bro.

Flo Braker makes a rare appearance to flog Christmas cookies, which we're sure nobody has any family recipes for. Thanks, Flo! Peppermint and red food coloring in half your sugar cookie dough makes for interesting Candy Cane twists? Really? Wow, we'd never seen that before. On the other hand, The Working Cook, Tara Duggan, sings the praises of braised meats, while Miriam Morgan explains the Tribe's taste for the finer, fryer foods of Channukah.