Results tagged “garydanko”

It's sure to cause controversy, which Eater SF editor Paolo Lucchesi openly acknowledges, but Eater has just inaugurated The Eater 38, a non-ranked list of the best, most beloved restaurants in the city which they would gladly recommend, with some emphasis given to neighborhood favorites over big destination spots.

We suspect that the only people who rely on the Zagat Guide in the Bay Area are recent New York transplants and elderlies who pick it up in the bookstore in Danville, but we reserve the right to be wrong. Anyhow, the 2010 guide hits the stands today, it's probably more accurate than the SF Weekly Readers Poll, and its democratic readership has again voted Gary Danko into the top spot for food and popularity, beating out older winner The French Laundry and new rising star Cyrus. Saigon Sandwiches and In & Out won for Best Bang for Your Buck. The recently re-opened Sierra Mar at the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur won for Best Decor, but perhaps readers really just meant "best view." And Top Chef Masters runner up Michael Chiarello's Bottega in Napa won Best Newcomer.

• Gary Danko tops editors eat? Pft. Very disappointing.) [Eater]
• Living at The Palms? Anyone? Anyone? [Curbed]
• Today's headlines are deadly headlines. (Bonus missed headline: The Challenger, sadly, blew to smithereens twenty-two years ago today.) [The Snitch]

The bay area Michelin Guide 2008 is out, and there’s not much changed from last year: the French Laundry is the only place with 3 stars (the most) in the wider bay area. Aqua and Michael Mina are the only 2 stars in the city. Those Michelin guys are so stingy with stars, Chez Panisse’s Alice Waters still clutches her lonely one. Jean-Luc Naret, the director of the Michelin guide, was handing out press copie this morning at a brunch at Bloomingdale’s. He was ebullient. We asked him about last year belly dancers controversy, and he was like, but they were there, the inspector saw them! It was “a writing error,” he added, “not a rating error.” We do writing errors all the time too! We can totally relate.

Man, we can tell how long we've been doing this by the number of Zagat posts we've amassed!

The new Michelin was stingy with stars for San Francisco: no 3 stars restaurants (the only one in the wider bay area being the French Laundry in Napa), two 2 stars (Aqua and Michael Mina), and a 12 one stars (Fleur de Lys, La Folie, the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton, Rubicon, Bushi-Tei, Quince, Range, Acquerello, Masa's, Gary Danko, Boulevard, Fifth Floor). Alice Waters got only one tiny puny star for her Chez Panisse in Berkeley. Spanked!

If we were to name our column again, we'd go with "the SFist on the table" or Get ur food on or whatever witticism we did not come up with when we settled on Gastronomique. Snacks on a plate? We'd try to convey what we attempt to do: inform and show off our camera phone food pictures and maybe squeeze in a joke here and there. We assume that restaurant owner face the same conundrum, trying to achieve the right balance in how they name their place.

Sunday and yesterday, the James Beard foundation announced their annual awards for 2006 in a posh ceremony. We (a) did not win for our excellent food coverage; and (b) were not invited, which is fine, because we would not have been able to go to New York. Keep not inviting us, as long as you don't give your hardware in our backyard, we don't even care. Losers. Whatever. Even our Gothamist siblings were (a)-and-(b) snubbed, despite holding home court, so at least we have a shoulder to cry on. Or vice-versa.

SFist is the first to admit that we've had a hand in a lot of crappy press releases, but there's something about Godiva's ‘Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner’ Celebrity Charity Auction that really sticks in our craw.