April 10, 2007

A tablehopper reader was asking me about ~LOTTA'S BAKERY~ on Polk Street, and we gotta love the Culinary Muse for posting the details not two days later and setting me up with the contact, meow. G. Earl Darny is opening this full-service bakery on April 17 that is going to serve an array of treats, from breakfast pastries to bread, cookies, cakes, pies, and even some candy down the road, all baked and made on-site. The bright and cheerful space will feature striped walls of pale yellow and pink, and lots of wood, just like an old-fashioned candy store. It was formerly the space for Cookies By Design, and before that it was Holcombe’s Bakery back in the day—right across the street from Miller’s East Coast West Delicatessen. There will be a few tables where you can have coffee or tea, but it’s mostly geared for take-home treats. Darny has quite the pastry history, including working at Stars and its Starbake bakery, plus working with Wendy Brucker at the Shattuck Hotel and Jennifer Millar from Sweet Adeline Bakeshop in Berkeley, in addition to projects with Emily Luchetti (including helping to open Farallon and work with her on her cookbook, Four Star Desserts), and was the executive pastry chef at Bay Wolf and contributed to The Bay Wolf Cookbook. He knows his sweet treats. Oh, and about that name, in case you are wondering who Lotta is: it’s actually from Darny’s drag name, Lotta Lust, who seems to come out only on Halloween. Go girl. Open 7am-5pm Tue-Sun. 1720 Polk St. between Washington and Clay, 415-359-9039.

Update on Kuleto’s big waterfront projects: both ~EPIC ROASTHOUSE~ and ~WATERBAR~ are full-tilt, and they are gunning to open in October. Those of you looking for a new gig, they are recruiting for all key management positions: GM, managers, wine directors, bar managers, private dining, sous and pastry chefs. Get it.

Some changes in GM land: ~CHRISTIAN ADAMS~ is now the GM of Ruggero Gadaldi’s Pesce, taking over from when Reza Esmali left in the beginning of the year, and then Gabriel Freiberg was holding it down (Freiberg was mostly at Last Supper Club in the Mission). Adams is hoping to make the wine list all Italian but will otherwise be keeping things status quo (why change a good thing?), with just some small tweaks here and there.

So a big up to ~SEAN O’BRIEN at MYTH~ restaurant—ends up he was voted one of Food & Wine’s Best New Chefs in America. Nope, not much competition there, LOL. The ten winners will be featured in the July issue, and in the meantime, you can see the other winners here. O’Brien will also travel to Colorado in June for the Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen, where he will prepare an exclusive tasting dinner with the other winners. I wanna go!

Just a reminder that SF restaurant owners will be gathering at ~SALT HOUSE~ tomorrow, Wednesday April 10, to talk about next steps with the latest hot industry issues, including mandatory healthcare, enacting a tip credit, potentially closing for a day in protest, and other topics. All restaurant owners are encouraged to come. The meeting begins at 3pm. Salt House, 545 Mission St. at First, 415-543-8900.