We gobble the various food sections up each Wednesday. These are our favorite tidbits from today's offerings: SF Chronicle Stanford alum and local food writer Janet Fletcher gives three quickie menus--that’s 90 minutes if you have sharp knives and decent kitchen skills--to entertain during the holidays. We may try out Linda Furiya’s Five-Spice Persimmon Cake for a holiday party we’re attending this Sunday. It sounds sweet with a little spice and will feed sixteen people.Sad pizza news: Nicky’s Pizzeria Rustica is closing. No more square shaped Tuscan style pizza for Russian swillers. (SFist Ced was so there on October 12th of this year.)

Contra Costa ( CoCo ) Times Prime Rib 101 shows the differing cheffie opinions on how to prep and cook one of our fave types of red meat. We agree with the author and favor a garlic/herb rub that seems to guarantee delish results. Wine lovers, time to sign up for a wine club. more ›

We've managed to avoid the north side of town, so far, as we find it over-sampled by other food critics. Yet we wound up a couple times at Nicky's Pizzeria Rustica, on Polk off Broadway. We hadn’t been back on that street corner since the good ol’ days of Johnny Love's, a sleazy meat market where we’re ashamed to admit we managed to entertain ourselves there a few times. It's long ago enough that we can safely admit it. We never meant to go to Johnny Love's, it was the hormones talking. The place has been Rouge since 2000, and for some reason, it looks like the brassy, bridge-and-tunnel vibe has survived. more ›