Really, Check, Please! Bay Area is such choice TV viewing. Not only do you yearn to punch the guests for their inane commentary ("It's noodle crack!" "Holy mother of comfort food!" "Craft!"), you want to be one of said punchable guests making dippy comments. That, in addition to the wonderful and luminous Leslie Sbrocco, is what makes the KQED restaurant critiquing show so special.

Here's what you need to know about CPBA, which we already told you about in 2012, but you probably need a refresher so here's the condensed version:

- By and large, any guest from San Francisco sucks. Think engineers who describe themselves as "coffee snobs" in their Twitter profiles or, far worse, Tony Bourdain wannabes. They fancy themselves purists (they usually aren't) and have trouble with empathy/registering basic human emotions.
- The lesbian nonprofit worker from Berkeley — who clearly doesn't use conditioner, but that's fine — will make the others guests drive to a Pakistani vegetarian spot in Fremont.
- Sassy mom from Walnut Creek just wants to eat tuna ceviche from a martini glass. She hates trying to find parking in the city and can't stop smiling. She will lose her collective shit over a chocolate-dipped strawberry. She's the best.
- None of the guests in the Season 9 premiere episode fit any of the descriptions above. Whatever.

Did I mention that everyone is also fucked-up on wine? It's fabulous.

Full list of Season 9 restaurants are:

Bacon Bacon
Señor Sisig
Pläj Restaurant
Contigo
Paradiso
Old Skool Café
Perbacco
Paulie’s Picklings
The Little Chihuahua Mexican Restaurant
Maykadeh Restaurant
Baker Street Bistro
Old Jerusalem Restaurant
M.Y. China
Capo’s
La Mar
Shanghai House
20 Spot
Cocotte
King of Falafel
East Bay’s Smoke Berkeley
Paradiso
Federicos’ Tapas & Wine Bar
Zut! on Fourth
Pican
Masimo’s
Italian Colors Restaurant
Bistro Liaison
Pinole Creek Café
Lanna Thai
Luka’s Taproom and Lounge
South Bay’s Evvia Estiatorio
Sakoon Chalet Ticino
La Costanera Restaurant;
North Bay’s Marin Sun Farms Butcher Shop & Restaurant
Murray Circle
Hana Japanese Restaurant

Season 9 of Check, Please! Bay Area started on Thursday. This week's list of restaurants under scrutiny were Bacon Bacon, Pläj Restaurant, and Evvia Estiatorio. You can check out the season premiere below:

Watch it on KQED 9.