Although his gastronomic reputation has, let's fact it, been marred due to his frozen food and canned soup lines, Spago founder and chef Wolfgang Puck still has some pull. So, he penned an open letter to California restaurants still serving foie gras. And the letter, sent by Puck in February, was intended to sooth the frayed nerves of chefs who don't like being told what they can and cannot serve at their spoons. (As you know, foie gras will be banned at the start of July this year.) Vegansaurus' wonderful Laura Beck (by way of SF Weekly) got her hot hands on the letter. Check it: more ›

Looking to draw attention to (cruel yet succulent) foie gras production and consumption, which will (technically) be banned in California come 2012, animal rights group Animal Legal Defense Fund stirred up a bit of media attention today after offering a rather patronizing gift to TV chef Anthony Bourdain. See, they would like to arrange to have Bourdain tested for hepatic lipidosis—which is, it seems, "the same dangerous liver disease that ducks and geese develop as a result of being force fed massive amounts of food prior to being slaughtered for foie gras." more ›

Over the past year, the San Francisco Health Department has tirelessly worked to shutdown the scourge known as hookah lounges. For those not in the know, hookah lounges are a rite of passage for anyone new to the Bay Area. At these cesspools of moral bankruptcy, one can partake in smoking innocuous, flavored tobacco (which violates the indoor smoking ban) while ordering a side of dolmas or hummus and pita triangles. They're as bad as Hitler. more ›

In what could be seen as the continued Starbucks-ification of Valencia Street, brick-and-mortar coffee purveyors Ritual Coffee Roasters recently pulled the work of photographer Varese Layzer. It was considered "too serious" for the cafe's walls. While neither visually offensive nor too harrowing at first glance, the exhibit centered around the death of a the artist's mother. Upon reading the artist's statement after the show went live, Ritual owner Eileen Hassi later stripped the walls of Layzer's art and sent her a gracious (albeit somewhat perplexing) letter of explanation, which was then posted to Layzer's Flickr account. Here's what the letter said: more ›

Oprah bans local TV hopeful, fears the developmentally disabled. more ›

Well this just tears it. EXIT Theater announced today that it will replace the staged reading of Sean Owens’ Center Square, a one-man show based on the life of late comedian, Bye Bye Birdie star (Gah! Now "The Telephone Hour" will be crammed in our head day), and Hollywood Squares star Paul Lynde, after the San Francisco theater received a “cease and desist” letter last month from the licensee of the Lynde rights, Matzoball Entertainment LLC. Lynde, for those of you who don't know, was a homosexual B-list actor who, in 1965, was involved in an accident where his boyfriend fell to his death from the window of their hotel room in San Francisco's Sir Francis Drake Hotel. more ›

We’ll admit, we’ve been aloof to the A’s and this season’s American League West proceedings, what with the Athletics getting ready to juke their hometown for Fremont. But oh baby, do we have a new reason to root for the A’s to engage in some serious divisional ass-whooping. more ›

Remember when most of you lost your minds over whether or not it's OK for hipsters to sport Kaffiyehs. (The conclusion: it's fine to wear them, but they tend to overpower an outfit as an accessory.) more ›

In an effort to tame the trolls, SFGate's site (as well as a few others like ThinkProgress) use software from an outside company that implements a unique "block user" function. This feature blocks all comments made by a user from view by anyone but themselves (upon login). That is to say, whenever the quasi-banned user logs in to the site, they see their comments intact; but to everyone else, the offending comment is simply... more ›