This lifted our sad, oil soaked hearts. The Craft Gym will be hosting their 2nd annual Craft-Off competition this Friday. Following the model of Iron Chef, there will be a secret 'ingredient' revealed to teams before the 30-minute DIY battle begins. A random assortment of craft supplies and tools will be available for teams to use in the creation of their creative masterpieces. Prizes will be awarded to the winning team, who will be......

Let's start with "The Next Iron Chef." For the challenge ("Resourcefulness") the chefs were broken into teams by last week's winner Chris Cosentino, of local restaurant Incanto, and the teams then selected secret ingredients for their teammates. The challenge wasn't a team challenge, though, so there was much crying of "sabotage" when the chefs got to their outdoor, charcoal grill-equipped location and saw their ingredients. Chris made a juniper-smoked breast of squab marinated with sherry......

We'd like to take a brief moment to thank this week's advertisers on SFist. NY Times Home Delivery, which has an all access delivery option at 50% off. That comes with Premium Crosswords! Cazadores, because it's got a deer head! Stylized Sculpture, starting next Friday at the Asian Art Museum. Walk for Hope, in San Francisco next weekend. SF Dish, where you can earn a $50 gift card. Look Me in the Eye, by Augusten......

Monday nights are the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra Big Band nights at North Beach mainstay Jazz at Pearl's. They play the classic jazz orchestra works (Ellington, Mingus) and also some hard bop. Two shows (one at 8, one at 10), $15 + 2-drink minimum, 256 Columbus (x Pacific). Other events: --Salsa and swing dance lessons at Julie's Supper Club, with burlesque performers on the hour. 8-11 p.m., $6 after 8 p.m. (half hour lesson), $10 by......

Hey, remember a few weeks ago when we mentioned that Noise Pop was sponsoring a one-day make a music video contest a la Iron Chef? Well, here's the winning video! The video's by the local band Blammos, for the song "Girl Of My Dreams," where the singer walks around the Mission, singing to as many different girls his team could find that were willing to be on film. It's kind of cute! And, as......

It's almost Noise Pop time in San Francisco again! While SFist (and Bagel Radio DJ!) Krissy keeps you covered on the nonstop jingle-jangle clang-clang of the local indie rock scene, don't forget that NoisePop always presents an excellent array of music-related film as well. This year's Noise Pop Film Fest runs from Feb. 28 through March 4, and is featuring movies like: a documentary about 924 Gilman, a Sonic Youth concert video shot by concertgoers,......

SFist interviews Liz Hickok... maker of Jello cityscapes ...

Hey, folks -- what better to whet your appetite for the most food-laden of holidays than an episode of Top Chef, tonight on Bravo. And what better to whet your appetite for tonight's Thanksgiving-themed episode than a reminder of and our take on what happened last week? You may recall a bunch of bitching in our last review -- the short reminder is NOBODY WENT HOME. Well, as some even predicted, this week made up for that (at least in terms of numbers) by sending two of the chef-testants home. Obvious foreshadowing by the show's editors: Josie telling the camera's that she and Marisa are the only ones that trust each other. Hmph. ...

In the past month we managed to catch up on two seasons of "Battlestar Galctica" (yes, we listened to our dear readers and got good and hooked) including the season finale, and now it's all over and we have to wait until OCTOBER for new episodes. Sheesh. Maybe we should have savored those DVDs instead of devoring them like the gluttons we are. Now what? Is "Lost" even on anymore? (OK. It's on this......

Every Head Coach has inclinations about how they like to run their team. For example, our Niners' savior-genius Bill Walsh ran a short passing game informed by strong running. Bill Cowher, Head Coach of the Steelers, prefers heavy ball-control pounding with a dash of trick plays, and a powerful 3-4 defense. The two Head Coaches in The Battle Of The Repurposed are both out of their comfort zone, and that is fascinating....

That's right, after an extended hiatus, we once again bring you your geek of the week. We fully intend for this to be bigger, better and bloggier than ever. Enjoy! We've been meaning to interview friend of SFist Min Jung Kim for a while now. We met her way back in the day, when we were regular noobs. Numerous tech conferences, Korean barbecue feasts, nights of karaoke and episodes of Iron Chef later, we're......

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

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......

Weekly recap of food writing....

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....