Goodbye, Superstarrr

So it's official, according to Eater.com, Kelly Choi will not be back for the third season of "Top Chef Masters." The following image accompanies the article...

Oh c'mon, Eater.com, she isn't that bad. Sure, she could stand to eat a cheeseburger...or five.

This pic is pretty much as close as she allows food to get near her. Still, who else will read the judge's ratings with such an exaggerated aplomb?

"Susur Lee, the judges gave you three and-a-half staaaarrrsss!"

One Restaurant Closing In San Francisco That Will Not Be Publicized

If you look at the Eater SF site, you will see both the temporary and permanent closings of restaurants in San Francisco. Yet there is one joint that you won't read about, except for here and quite frankly, I might be the only human that even knew about it. Do you see this house?




Now you say, "what restaurant?" No, there was a restaurant there, honest. The seating was atrocious and so was the service...reservations were out of the questions also...hell, they were non-existent. Come to think of it, so was the human clientele.

You see, it wasn't a human restaurant, but a fast food joint for crows. If you look at the "square" in the middle of the picture below, where the gray roof meets the cream-colored wall just above the rain gutter...

...there was a piece of metal that ran parallel to the lower gray roof. Some pigeons lived in there and every day, some crows would drop by to see if the pigeons laid eggs. I had tried to take pictures of this on several occasions, but by the time I got my camera out and the shade up, the crows would be gone.

At any rate, they re-roofed that house and closed off the hole, so no more pigeons and no more crows. I'm sure the crows have mixed feelings about this, knowing the ambiance and service sucked, but I believe they found the food was exceptional.

*Sigh*, Anthony, Anthony

Courtesy of Eater SF via the Broward Palm Beach blog Short Order, great quotes of Anthony Bourdain from the Miami Book Fair.

Bourdain to Mario Batali about Gwyenth Paltrow-

“Why would you take a trip through Spain with someone who clearly doesn’t eat?”

Mario replied-

“You weren’t available and she’s much cuter.”

Uh, yeah, Anthony? Gwyenth eats, she just doesn't necessarily "keep the food down." And after the birth of "Pear," er, "Tangelo," er, "Pomelo?" Whatever the kid's name is, she actually looks even healthy at times.

Short Order also says of Tony-

Bourdain also takes a stab at the Food Network’s very skinny Robin Miller, claiming that every time she reaches for the refrigerator door, he’s afraid that her frail wrists will snap….and that his daughter cries whenever she hears Robin’s voice.

Tony on Padma-

When asked about most foodies’ favorite cooking competition, Bravo’s Top Chef (his blog for Season 3 was nominated for a Webby), Bourdain said he was a huge fan of host and fellow chef Tom Colicchio but snubbed co-host and former wife of Salman Rushdie (?!?), Padma Lakshmi. Jabbing at the beauty’s intelligence, he said she wouldn’t be his first choice for Barack Obama’s cabinet…or to host a show.

'kay, do I actually have to explain this?

I value intelligence in women and I've never been with a woman that if she wasn't at least smarter than me by thirty IQ points, she was at least more clever than me.

But when it comes to TV shows, sometimes that just goes out the window. Other than the obvious, I didn't like Padma, yet she grew on me...and I honestly can't argue this out. Just look at the pictures, Tony. She's part of the set, ya dig?

Then Signore Bourdain really steps in it with-

"Spanish ham is far superior to Italian ham."

To wit, I reply, stronzo, che cazzo stai dicendo?!

(sh*th**d, what the f**k are you saying?!)

As usual, he always redeems himself in my eyes-

At the Food & Wine Festival and while a photo was being snapped for the Miami Herald, Bourdain, while standing near a picture of his beloved Rachael Ray, wrote the numbers 666 on his hand and placed it in front of Ray’s forehead.

I Missed Out On The Slow Food Nation

They had a Slow Food Nation gathering at Fort Mason and we missed out. I'm sure The Kid would've loved the Charcuterie Pavilion, but we're on a budget. As I checked out Eater SF to see what we missed, I noticed something about this picture...

...look at that fish in the bottom left corner, do you see it? Now move yourself to the right of your monitor...now move yourself to the left of the monitor. What, you don't see it? The fish's eyes, they follow you around the room. Oooooh, spooky!