As the days grow shorter and the nights grow colder and the local transient population (or Occupy camp) snatches up the paper weeklies for warmth and/or shelter, we continue to bring you the good bits, the bad bits and the funny bits from the paper rags. Presented in digital form so you can read them in your cozy apartment or office cubicle.
SFWeekly
Worth Reading: This week's kind of frightening and definitely not vegan-friendly cover story about Oscar Yedra and the current butchery revival thing going around is worth a read if you need a new foodie scene to latch yourself on to. (Sidenote: with all the web extras accompanying this piece on the Weekly's site, it's almost like the paper doesn't even want you to pick up a paper. Crazy, we know!)
Funny: Food critics Jonathan Kauffman, Michael Bauer and Patricia Unterman tripled-up on their restaurant reviews again this week. (It happened a few months back with Nojo in Hayes Valley, prompting some very unnecessary response posts from the critics.) Anyhow, like the rest of them, Kauffman discovers that the food at Trace doesn't quite jibe with the decor, which (again) appears to resemble the inside of a music video from the early 2000's. Meanwhile, this little Kauffman piece on technology in food (see: The Melt, Umami Burger) is notable for its use of the word "umamitude".
Because Katy St. Clair's Bouncer column is pretty much holding that paper together at this point, here's her take on The Saloon in North Beach where the regulars, "seemed to raise 'giving each other shit' to Olympic levels of competition." Lovely.
Don't Bother: Did you know there are three exhibits showing off Indian art in the city right now? You should go see them rather than reading about them. Because writing about art is like dancing about architecture. Or something.
SF Bay Guardian
Worth Reading: The editorial team offers five suggestions for Ed Lee as he starts his full stint as mayor. Strangely, they call Lee the "recently re-elected mayor" despite the fact that he had never been elected to public office before last week.
Also worth reading: a guest opinion piece suggesting we Occupy 101. Not the freeway, mind you, but the tech heavy hitters like Apple and Google that line Silicon Valley. Although that probably won't ever happen. Everyone loves when Apple and Google abuse their customer base.
Funny: Not in the paper: Caitlin Donohue takes umbrance with Mike Aldax's undercover report from Occupy SF, because — duh, there are homeless people there.
Don't Bother: This week's edition of the always-inexplicable Cheap Eats column is titled "Peeping Tomato" and begins "The wind blew our giraffe over." We're beginning to think this is some sort of ongoing performance art piece.
East Bay Express
Worth Reading: Robert Gammon's report on the business groups and corporate reps who lobbied for the crackdown on Occupy Oakland is a very necessary piece of work that ought to re-focus the group that has been a little too hung up on securing their freedom to camp in parks lately.
Also: It's the Holiday Gift Guide. (Hooray?) Most useful are the local bookseller's book picks, because we kind of miss perusing the Staff Picks sections.
Funny: "Weed Wars is Big on Drama and Bong Rips" Dude! He totally used "bong rips" in a headline.
Don't Bother: Interesting, sure, but probably only useful to the tinfoil cap set: a report of the chemical industry's attempts to block legislation that would ban flame retardant materials that pose health risks. Flammable materials also pose health risks, you know.