Oh boy. This Friday, Off the Grid returns to Fort Mason Center. So bring your warm coats and an empty belly. Tomorrow night's sundry of savory and sweet vendors will have something for everyone. Bacon Bacon, Chotto, Hapa SF, Magnolia Brewery, and more.

Below, the entire list (* denotes new vendors):

Alembic
Alicia's Tamales
Azalina's
Bacon Bacon*
Belly Burgers
Bini's Kitchen*
Bok Ssam*
Bombzies BBQ
Californios*
Chairman Bao
Chotto*
Crème Brûlée
Cupkates
Curry Up Now
Side Pony*
Derby *
El Sur*
Fat Face
Fins on the Hoof
Fritas Shack
Hapa SF
Koja
Little Green Cyclo
Magnolia Brewery
Old World Food*
Onigilly
Peter's Kettle
Rocko's Chocolate Tacos*
Sanguchon
Senor Sisig
Stag Dining Group*
Sticks*
Taco Guys
The Whole Beast*

Off the Grid happens at Fort Mason Center on Friday, March 22 from 5:00 - 10:00 p.m.

View San Francisco Dine About Town 2013 - Restaurants in a larger map

The fine folks at Google sent us this map that, from January 15 - 31, you can use to peruse this year's Dine About Town joints. The map shows each restaurants' Zagat reviews and photos on Google+. You can even check out the menus and/r make reservations.

What is Dine About Town, you ask? Well, it started in 2001 as a response to 9/11 when restaurants saw a huge drop in diners, so the program was developed to lure diners to try new restaurants and to eat out during sluggish restaurant periods (lunch, off days, etc.). The program has been continuing for 11 years. Here's how it works:

Restaurants sign up to offer a fixed price 2-or 3-course lunch option for $18.95 and/or a 3-course dinner option for $36.95. Since we’re all about deals, Dine About Town menus will offer a 10-25% discount off regularly priced menu items. During January 15-31 and June 1-15, participating restaurants will offer their Dine About Town menu, sometimes alongside their regular menus, and other time as the only menu. Be sure to request the Dine About Town menu when you dine.

If you want to attend the Dine About Town kickoff party, happening tomorrow night at the Metreon's City Views, details and ticket info can be found here.

One glaring issue with San Francisco is that our sidewalks tend to roll up at 10 pm. More to the point, our city's lack of a late-night dining scene bugs. Sure, there's Sparky's in the Castro. (Shudder.) Or, a taqueria joint in the Mission. (Meh, eye-roll.) But is there more? Indeed. Marcia Gagliardi of Tablehopper today released a new app geared toward finding you a (decent) place to eat during the witching hour. It's called Late-Nights Eats in SF.

In today's issue of Tablehopper, Gagliardi notes, "[T]oday’s a big one for me since I am launching tablehopper’s very first app! Yup, it’s called Tablehopper’s Top Late-Night Eats in SF, and it has almost 100 places that serve food after 11pm!" She goes on to add, "And, hey, we’re not talking about chain restaurants, drive-thrus, or nasty diners—these are all 100 percent unique and pretty dang delicious. (Well, let’s be honest, there are also a bunch of totally grubby places that you’d only go to after midnight.)"

Each location-based restaurant comes with a mini-review, menu suggestions, contact info, directions, and trademark Tablehopper humor ("Burritos Will Save Your Wasted Ass" and "The Desperate Booty Call of Late Night"). We're rabid fans of late-night dining, so we've been poring over the thing all day. (The kitchen at '90s staple Oola stays open until 1am? We had no idea!)

Download it at the iTunes store.

Now that Mayor Gavin Newsom has office hours where almost anyone can sign up to talk with and/or gaze at him for 15 minutes, SFGate's Charlie P. Cunningham (who describes himself as a graduate senior in the Urban Studies and Planning Department at SFSU) made an appointment to chat with Newsom. (Side note: Wait, what? SFGate initially said that "Newsom insisted no staff or media be allowed inside during his 15-minute chats." Which: not so much. SFist now looks forward to meeting with Newsom for 15 glorious minutes.) The two shot the breeze, chatting about Newsom's favorite SF park, something delightfully called the Market Street Calming Initiative, services the city has to offer, and food, glorious food..

When asked to reveal his favorite hot dog topping, pin-thin Newsom replied:

Mayor Newsom: "Now we are having a real conversation, I'm not a ketchup person, I'm a mustard person"

[Cunningham]: Deli mustard or classic yellow?

Mayor Newsom: "I like the old, classic ballpark- your regular old yellow. All that fancy stuff aside, it's cute and good, but it's not really my style."

[Cunningham]: "Have you ever had a Costco hot dog?"

Mayor Newsom:"Don't think I have, is it good?"

[Cunningham]: "It's decent for the price if you are into classic ballpark style"

We're surprised he didn't say, "Hot dogs? You know, sometimes I just forget to eat."

Anyway, Newsom goes on to say that one should never ask what's in a hot dog, because it's pretty gross. And he's right. (However, places like Showdogs and What's Up Dogs use organic, tasty ingredients.) He's also a big fan of gloppy Mission/Valencia burritos, loves our city's stellar food carts, and recently renewed his love affair with Indian food after a recent trip to Bangalore.

For more dirt, read 15 minutes with Gavin Newsom.

Yes, it's the time again when Bay Area chefs, critics, and other artisan slop notables break their silence on what junk food they let pass over their acclaimed, richly-textured palates. Everything from aged (read: stale) Swedish Fish to Tombstone Pizza (mmm) to Rotel cheese dip (quadruple mmm) to Beard Papa cream puffs receive tips of the hat from the gastronomic elite. Many thanks goes out to the fine food folks who participated.

• Thomas Keller (The French Laundry): "My favorite junk food is Reese's peanut butter cups."
• Chris Cosentino (Incanto and Boccalone, executive chef): Swedish Fish - buys them by the bag, "then lets them sit out in the open to 'age.'"
• Matthew Accarrino (SPQR, executive chef): "I got a box of these for xmas and they are so good. Crispy crepe covered in chocolate - what's not to like?"
• Traci Des Jardins (Jardiniere, Manzanita, ACME Chophouse): "Nachos, but really good ones."
• Ryan Farr (4505 Meats): "Not much makes me feel guilty, but I do feel pretty bad when my wife leaves the room and I eat her ice cream."
• Jonathan Kauffman (SF Weekly, food critic): "Tombstone original pepperoni pizza. And I make no apologies for it."
• Thomas McNaughton (Flour + Water, chef): "Jersey Pork Roll - which is basically pork scraps and all that stuff put together in a roll that is then prepped by frying, making a sandwich, etc."
• Frankie Frankeny (Frankeny Images, food photographer): "Rotel cheese dip with REAL Velveeta cheese."
• Jason Berthold (RN47, executive chef): Sour Patch Kids, Good and Plenty, Snickers Bars, and Cheez-Its.

In an effort to expose the fructose- and sodium-laced underbelly of the Bay Area foodie scene, SFist asked famous gastronomic types to reveal their junk food habits of choice.

In order of inbox arrival, here's how they responded.

• Jamie Lauren (Absinthe, executive chef; season 5 ): "Nacho cheese pretzel Combos. I'm obsessed. They're delicious."
• Michael Bauer (SF Chronicle, food critic): "I'd say my guilty pleasure is fried chicken (yes, even Popeye's), potato chips (particularly Kettle), In-N-Out Burger, movie popcorn (I don't care if the butter is fake), and anything pickled (olives, okra, cauliflower, carrots, you name it.)"
• Elizabeth Faulkner (Orson, executive chef): "On the upcoming Top Chef Masters, I mentioned I like Peanut M&Ms. I pretty much love chocolate and have a recent obsession with how to make my own Cheetos or cheese puffs -- only with blue cheese and cayenne!"
• Gary Danko (Gary Danko, executive chef): "Gummy worms."
• Marcia Gagliardi (Tablehopper): "I always look forward to buying cans of Pringles and Tecate to bring to Burning Man. Jerky too. The desert is like my hall pass. And about once a year I’ll hit the McDonalds drive-thru for an Egg McMuffin and hash browns -- I feel terrible about it before and after, but while I’m snarfing it? Uh, no guilt at all. No sir."