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Eat

Meat Me at the Roasthouse

Succulent steaks and sides create an epic dinner.

By Meredith Brody

Published: May 28, 2008

It doesn't take much to realize where the good tables are in a restaurant situated on the water's edge: They're the ones with a view that takes advantage of why the restaurant was built there in...

Eat

Brick & Fish

The third one is charming in a nautical sort of way.

By Meredith Brody

Published: May 21, 2008

If you see a compact, heavily tattooed man skateboarding down Minna, don't assume he's a carefree slacker. Chances are he's chef Mitchell Rosenthal, using the most efficient — not to mention...

Eat

A Trip to Here

If you can't get out of town, try a place off the beaten track.

By Meredith Brody

Published: May 14, 2008

As you walk through the crowded city, past hordes of tourists patiently lined up to board tiny trolleys, drive down a twisty street, or board a boat to visit a rocky, now-deserted island, it might...

Eat

Fish Story

A room with an expensive view, and din with your dinner.

By Meredith Brody

Published: April 30, 2008

The importance of pleasing or dramatic views with your dinner is debatable. One school of thought is that all the attention should be put on the plate. But there's no denying that a lovely...

Feature

Movie Marathon

The S.F. International Film Fest starts this week and keeps going year-round.

By Meredith Brody

Published: April 23, 2008

There are probably as many ways of approaching the 51st San Francisco International Film Festival — which will unspool (as Variety would have it) from April 24 to May 8 — as there...

Eat

Two Blocks of Vietnam

Prowling the jungle of the Tenderloin for hot, sour, salty, and sweet.

By Meredith Brody

Published: April 23, 2008

It's clear that Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn left something out when he said that art and literature are the only spiritual ambassadors between countries. If you attend the Church of Cuisine, my house...

Eat

Chow in Dogpatch

Slow Club's new sister joins a clutch of eateries at Third and 22nd streets.

By Meredith Brody

Published: April 16, 2008

Not so very long ago, even longtime San Franciscans who heard the name "Dogpatch" would probably first think of the mythical hillbilly town in Al Capp's long-running comic strip instead of the...

Eat

Refined on Fillmore

Creating new memories with French soul.

By Meredith Brody

Published: April 2, 2008

Renaming Lower Fillmore the Fillmore Jazz Preservation District is a classic example of shutting the barn doors long after the cows have fled and the farmer has torn down the barn. The nightclubs...

Eat

What Comes Between

Three different ways to fill the space between two pieces of bread.

By Meredith Brody

Published: March 26, 2008

Happy is the city that boasts not only classy high-end restaurants and a variety of ethnic eateries, but also places that devote their full attention to simple dishes they execute with passion....

Eat

Snazzy and Jazzy at Yoshi's

Some interesting and fancy Japanese cooking is paired with a glamorous restaurant and nightclub.

By Meredith Brody

Published: March 19, 2008

Traditionally, you don't go to an entertainment venue for terrific food. Whether it's a jazz club or a medieval jousting tournament, what's on your plate comes a distant second. Food is offered as...

Eat

Chinese Import

The best (and cheapest) Shanghai-style food

By Meredith Brody

Published: March 5, 2008

San Francisco has a deserved reputation for excellent Asian restaurants, but a void was felt when the Shanghai-style restaurant Fountain Court on Clement closed, famed for its exquisite soup...

Eat

You Can Have Paris

The food at Le P'tit Laurent is like the French: indifferent

By Meredith Brody

Published: February 27, 2008

Into each life some rain must fall, and it was already pouring when I walked into Le P'tit Laurent to find a little more gloom. On the other side of the velvet curtain, hung to prevent any chill...

Eat

Local Kitchen & Wine Merchant: Bland Name for Bomb Food

By Meredith Brody

Published: February 20, 2008

Expectations were high for the first meal at Local Kitchen & Wine Merchant. For one thing, I thought I knew what to expect. I'm a big fan of chef Ola Fendert's other S.F. restaurant, Oola, and not...

Eat

Looking for a Good Melt, SF Weekly Bumps Into Fondue Fred

By Meredith Brody

Published: February 6, 2008

When I read "Swiss Bliss," Jeffrey Steingarten's exhaustive piece on fondue in the February issue of Vogue , I figured it was just the famously oppositional epicure getting around to...

Eat

The Pho Chronicles

Upscale setting for the Vietnamese noodle soup that's good for what ails you, but nothing like your mother made

By Meredith Brody

Published: January 30, 2008

Nora Ephron nailed it in her witty "The Chicken Soup Chronicles" in The New York Times a couple of weeks ago: "The other day I felt a cold coming on. So I decided to have chicken soup to ward...

Eat

The Marina's Spanish-inspired Laiola: Intriguing, Irresistible

By Meredith Brody

Published: January 23, 2008

When I wrote about Bar Johnny and the tapas/small-plates trend toward the end of last year, I was tempted to mention in passing that my favorite small-plates place is Terzo, the eclectic...

Eat

South Food & Wine Bar's Australian Food Overthought, Overwrought

Mixed messages from the first outpost of contemporary Aussie cooking in S.F.

By Meredith Brody

Published: January 9, 2008

Working on my piece on the best dishes of 2007 made me pleased (remembering just how much excellent food I consumed over the course of 12 months), chastened (remembering just how much excellent...

Eat

Unforgettable,That's What You Are

The best dishes of 2007 — it was a very good year

By Meredith Brody

Published: January 2, 2008

Here's a romp down memory lane. Or maybe we should call it forget-me-not lane, because as soon as I write about a splendid serving of food, I have to consciously stop obsessing about it, in order...

Eat

The New Grazing

A fancy restaurant morphs into a place where you can order some food with your cocktails

By Meredith Brody

Published: December 26, 2007

A recent piece by ex-San Franciscan Kim Severson in The New York Times , "Is the Entrée Heading for Extinction?," deliberately overstated its case in its first line: "The entrée,...

Books

The Gift of Reading

Still have people to buy for? Consider these books as last-minute stocking stuffers.

By Meredith Brody

Published: December 19, 2007

Shortcomings By Adrian Tomine ($19.95) Bay Area comic artist Adrian Tomine collected a fan base over the past 15 years with his Optic Nerve series, first published in zine form, later...