Let’s spend a few graphs on Hans Graf. He is music director at the Houston Symphony, and guest conducting the SF Symphony this week, Thursday till Saturday. Now whatever you may say about Texas, consider that he earlier had the same job at the Iraq National Symphony Orchestra, and all of a sudden, Houston sounds much more, well, inviting (truth be told, it was in pre-Saddam Baghdad in 1975-76, when it was actually a nicer......

Hey, folks, welcome back to another recap of the "slow food movement" of reality TV shows, Bravo's Top Chef. It's deliciously vibrant, diverse, and, most especially cool, local! Again, we're recapping last week's episode in hopes that y'all will check out the new episode tonight -- after all, if it gets decent ratings, it might get another season. Wouldn't it be swell to have a long-running series in our fair seven-by-seven?...

So, anyone else out there watching Top Chef on Bravo? Allow us to introduce you to it -- it's like the Apprentice for foodies, with challenges that actually measure the contestants' abilities in their chosen profession. And, at least thus far, it's every man for himself. And, notably, it takes place right here, in our fair city. The cast of 12 are vying for $100,000 and a feature article in Food & Wine....

You're out with your best buds at a hip brasserie, savoring that contented feeling of good friends and good eats. The conversation's buzzing and the mood's high -- but you also notice, out of the corner of your eye, some desperate-looking folks staring pointedly at the empty plates on your table and the green and white striped receipt curling up on its little plastic tray. You reluctantly divvy up the check, put on your coats, and head out the door. "Does anyone want to get dessert?," someone says. Well, sure we'd love to get dessert! But ... where? Where? Why doesn't this city have any decent places to go in the evenings where you can sit down with your buddies and get a nice slice of cake, a homemade pie with the flaky crust, or even just a fricken' cookie or nut-studded brownie? Sure, there's Just Desserts -- but the cake's always dry (and how much lemon poppyseed can one person consume in a lifetime anyways?). And there's Tart To Tart, but if you're not already at Ninth and Irving, that's pretty much not an option either. Sweet Inspirations? Dry cake, plus never any place to sit. Citizen Cake? Too 'spensive! The coffee places never have good sweets, plus you know, you're not really in the mood for the bad lighting of a coffee place at night, and the bars are just right but, well, beer and sweets are not the world's best combo. We'd just like a place with casual seating, decent prices, evening hours (say, until 11), and relatively moist cake -- that perfect place to cap off that conversation with those friends of yours without hogging a seat at the boiterie. Is that so much to ask, San Francisco? Where do you guys go with your friends for non-intoxicating evening fun? ...

In which SFist eats its way around the Bay area in alphabetical order. Even we can suffer from food fatigue from time to time and begin to tire of trying and writing about too many new restaurants. So when looking for somewhere to review beginning with a C, SFist decided to return to a place we loved on our last visit, hoping to replicate the good experience a second time. San Franciscans hurtling down......

SFist knows that some good movies have been shot in the city. But damned if they ever seem to run them on TV. At least, not on the basic cable we're set up with. Final Analysis, airing Wednesday at 11:30am on AMC, is an example of a bad San Francisco movie. Richard Gere stars as a San Franciso shrink and Uma Thurman is his patient. Uma also has a sister, played by Kim Basinger.......