We're a sucker for any cooking show that's procedural and not competitive, so we're kowtowing PR's bidding here. Food expert Aida Mollenkamp is having a Q&A show on the Food Network where she will answer viewers' most pressing questions about the culinary arts. And since the questions will be posed in video form and shown on TV, you can use up your 15 minutes of fame by asking her how to make the a......

We already expounded the rustic virtues of Michael Chiarello's NapaStyle: a place that helps you get that Napa Valley look, feel, and taste. (Speaking of Chiarello, what happened to his show on KQED? Did he make the move over to the Food Network? While he's no Joanne Weir -- who is, really? -- we enjoyed watching him at times.) What's nice about the place is that it won't overwhelm you in the way that......

Okay, so when we first saw this store open on our beloved 4th Street in Berkeley, we were horrified. Judging a book entirely by its cover, we wouldn't even go near the place. Napa Style. Seriously? Like, can't we just drive to Napa and buy stuff? We need it packaged, sorted, and Disneyfied for us? This had to be a tourist trap. We, even when we travel, never ever consider ourselves a tourist. Sniff.......

This week we'd like to congratulate the -ist network's Mother Hen, Gothamist's Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine's Wired Rave Award. If that doesn't sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that's right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us. ...

Dazzle yours senses with SFist tonight's picks... Music by the Eyeful The first of three concerts featuring inventions in visual audio, exploring the moving boundaries between music, film, optics, graphics, loops and reels. Guest curated by Suki O'Kane [www.myspace.com/sukiokane], musician and curator of The Illuminated Corridor, an outdoor cinema project in Oakland. Event starts at 8pm with a $6-$10 sliding scale. Luggage Store Gallery, 1007 Market Street, SF. Celebrity Chef Alert! Join Food Network's Tyler......

It's near the end of March Madness, which means casual sports fans across the North America, and in the Bay Area in particular, start caring about the National Hockey League. Well, maybe "caring" is too strong a word. Noticing? Glancing at the hockey scores and standings when they're done with the stories about minor NFL signings, and baseball spring training notes and box scores? Remembering that the NHL exists? The Stanley Cup playoffs are right around the corner, and they're what most of the non-die hard hockey fans really care about. The NHL regular season is mostly ignored by the sports-viewing public, a situation made worse by the fact that the NHL is no longer on ESPN (or rather, ESPN2 when they didn't have more important things to broadcast, like meaty, red-faced dudes named Magnus pushing Peugeot’s around a beach somewhere), but rather the Food Network. ...

SFist Mary Ladd/Jalapeno Girl contributing. We’ve got our things-to-be-thankful-for list ready. Easy peasy! One item shines a bit brighter than others. That would be hanging out with author/chef/TV personality Tony "Cast Iron Stomach" Bourdain after his City Arts & Lectures sold out ($19 a ticket) conversation with Isabel Duffy on Monday night. Some of the meatiest tidbits/quotes Tony offered while chatting with Ms. Duffy? --He couldn’t get over how sweet, nice, and great the US......

We love those Food Network cookoff challenges! Make a birthday cake for Elvis! Decorate the best gingerbread house! Who can make the tallest ice/pastry sculpture? So we can't wait for Food Network's coverage of the mothership of food contesting -- the biennial $1,000,000 Pillsbury Bake-Off. So Pillsbury picks 100 contestants every two years, to compete in categories like "Wake Up To Breakfast," and "Brand New You" (healthful recipes), and "Dinner Made Simple," among others. The recipes must include at least two designated Pillsbury products, such as Yoplait, El Paso salsa, and Pop-Secret popcorn, among many others. One lucky winner walks away with a million dollars; and other $10,000 prizes will be awarded, including most dairy, and best Latino-influenced. The Bay Area has traditionally done pretty well in the bake-off -- the most famous bake-off winner was the Tunnel of Fudge chocolate bundt cake, made by a San Franciscan, and the first male winner of the contest was from Redwood City (with a macadamia torte). This year, the Bay Area's sending six representatives, including a very pregnant Mountain View cook (making spinach wonton crisps), a 48-year-old San Francisco male painter who's been entering the bakeoff since he was 10 (deviled crab and cheese rolls), and acclaimed food contestor Roxanne Chan from Albany, with a tomato-corn recipe. (Also, a shrimp and rice salad from Windsor, a taco steak pasta from Monterey, and bear claws from San Jose.) The bakeoff takes place from March 19-22 in Orlando, Florida. Go Bay Area cooks! And contestants, you're all just lucky SFist Derrick didn't enter this year -- he'd totally clean your kitchen-timer clocks! ...

Two SF restaurants go oxtail-a-oxtail as we size up their specialty dishes....

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.......

No, not that choad in the middle -- dude on the left, Iron Chef Rokusaburo Michiba! Hell, if we'd known you get to fly all-expenses-paid to Japan to meet Michiba-san (and eat at his restaurant), we would have run for governor. Speaking of Iron Chef, what's up with Iron Chef America? Where's the new episodes? Now that Michael Mina has some time on his hands, we'd love to see him lay a smackdown on......

Recent months have seen the passing of two revolutionary figures in gastronomy, first Frugal Gourment Jeff Smith and this morning the iconic Julia Child. Both hosted staple programs on America's original 'food network,' KQED....