The Chatterbox

I heard word that executive chef Michelle Mah is no longer at downtown’s MIDI. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to track her down before my deadline to find out details about her next move. As for Midi, they are currently reviewing plans for the restaurant, so stand by for…

Thank heavens, something tasty is moving into the Ebb & Flow/Craig’s Place corner spot at 18th and Guerrero: a second location of Bill Clarke and Alan Carter’s ~MISSION BEACH CAFE~. The concept will be similar to the original location, but the menus will focus more on vegetables…

After a brief renovation period, ~A16~ reopens tonight, September 28th. And there will be a special guest this evening in honor of Puglia Wine Week: Francesco Domani, friend and general manager of Tormaresca winery, will be at A16 to share his stories of operating the Tormaresca winery in Puglia, which…

On Sunday afternoon, I walked into my kind of meat heaven: Taylor Boetticher’s new FATTED CALF storefront location in Hayes Valley. It’s all there, starting with a fantastic selection of local and heritage meats, plus salumi (finocchiona, mortadella, soppressata, pancetta, and more), hunger-inducing pâtés and terrines and rillettes…

The next time your sweet tooth strikes, you better hope it’s on a weekday from 5pm-7pm, because that’s when you can head on over to MIETTE in Hayes Valley for $1 macarons! Yup, it’s a macaron happy hour. 449 Octavia St. at Linden, 415-626-6221. Photo © 2010 Frankeny…

Now open in the Ferry Building is SIDEKICK, the latest venture from Sue Conley and Peggy Smith of Cowgirl Creamery—they moved into the former (and adjacent) LuLu Petite space in the Ferry Building Marketplace. It’s basically a cheese and dairy bar, offering everything from a variety of mozzarellas…

A few mini-Mission items: according to Uptown Almanac, it looks like there is finally some activity in the long-closed LA RONDALLA: the space is currently gutted, and according to workers on site, the owners hope to open before Christmas. There are no changes on the liquor license, so it looks…

After some delays and final inspections, ~THE SUMMIT~ will finally be opening this Thursday September 30th. To recap a previous tablehopper posting, hours are Sun-Mon 8am-11pm and Tue-Sat 8am-2am; within that timing, pastries are available 8am-5pm, the lunchtime menu is from 10:30am-3pm, dinner is 5:30pm-11pm, and dessert service…

Looks like the HENRY’S HUNAN empire is going to open their sixth spot in the Excelsior: they will be opening their latest location in the former Granada Cafe. There will be 80-90 seats, with a full bar. The target date is the end of November or beginning of December.…