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 | Classed-Up Urban Soul Food With the latest blast of urban renewal in the Western Addition, homeowners' (and developers') hopes are high for the proliferation of fancy shops, sleek restaurants, and at least one less Shabu Shabu joint in the freshly renamed Fillmore Jazz Preservation District. On the other hand, some people simply want juicy ribs, flaky biscuits and a classy bar with stiff drinks.More |  | Turkish and Latin-Spiced Hot Spot in the Mission What happens when one business partner from the town of Bodrum, Turkey -- Merdol Erkol, a food lover with a background in artificial intelligence -- starts a restaurant with a seasoned restaurateur, Jorge Martinez, from Guadalajara, Mexico? If you’re thinking, a restaurant serving [i]cabeza[/i] kababs, Mexican pilaf, and flan-baklava -- um, no, not exactly. Instead, in Loló, Erkol and Martinez have created a smart, subtle intermingling of Turkish and Mexican cuisine, using only the freshest local ingredients, cooking up family recipes and favorites from Latin America, the Mediterranean and beyond.More |  | Tasty Mod Co-owners and chefs of St. Helena’s Terra Restaurant, Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani expanded their wine country operations in 2006 by creating a distinctly urban destination: Ame Restaurant in the luxurious St. Regis Hotel. As SFMOMA’s nearest neighbor, Ame’s décor is spare and modern with an austere kitchen that opens to a posh sashimi bar. The teak floors and sleek, comfortable furnishings reflect the best in design, backing up the steep price point while providing a setting that is unfussy and inviting.More |  | Surprisingly Heavenly Himalayan Offerings A new Nepalese restaurant within blocks of another well-regarded Nepalese restaurant? One with a boudoir-ish red interior located in the former digs of a forgettable French Bistro? Yes, the stats have the hum of those train rails right before a train wreck. But this is only Metro Kathmandu on paper, and despite all these seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Metro Kathmandu cooks up enticing tastes of Far Eastern cuisine that is well worth a trek.More |  | Model T-Luxe Dining Though actually found on Sacramento near Spruce (“Sacramento” wouldn’t have sounded nearly as herby and inviting), Spruce is the long-awaited newest addition to the Bacchus Management Group of restaurants. And with this association, Spruce culls from Bacchus’ legion of fans -- particularly those who enjoy the burgers at The Village Pub in Woodside. With Niman Ranch meat and a private farm where all their fruits and veggies are grown especially for their restaurants, Bacchus’ Spruce is an immediate hot ticket in its Presidio Heights neighborhood.More |  | Tasty Creole in the Tenderloin Chef Brenda Buenviaje, a native of New Orleans and formerly of Sumi, Café Claude and Delessio’s Market and Bakery, has opened a small, friendly eatery with a menu that boasts crave-worthy items from Creole cooking’s famous lexicon. With a background in painting and art, Buenviaje’s artistic touch can be found within each tasteful breakfast and lunch item served to those Tenderloin locals with a yen for the flavors of the Crescent City.More |  | The Civil War and All its Repercussions It was at Appomattox Court House in rural Virginia in 1865 where General Robert E. Lee surrendered the confederate army to Union commander, General Ulysses S. Grant, formally ending the Civil War. With this surrender, Appomattox itself has come to represent a point in history where two warring factions made peace. And within Philip Glass’ ambitious, though sometimes uneven, opera, Appomattox is put forth as the point in history when the groundwork for future race relations and battles within America were laid.More |  | The Cuisine of the Distrito Federal Mexico City. [i]Cuidad de Mexico[/i]. The Federal District. No matter what you call Mexico’s capital, this is the point where all the flavors of Mexico merge -- Oaxacan moles, [i]mariscos[/i] of Veracruz, and the [i]maiz[/i] of Yucatan. Under the helm of Executive Chef David Rosales, formerly of Albany’s Fonda Solano, Mexico DF succeeds in exposing San Francisco palates to both the classic and more adventurous of Mexican cuisine by exploring a vast range of Mexico City’s greatest dishes.More |  | Italiano Barra di Vino Opened in early 2007, Bar Bambino offers a casual, wine-centric option for Italophiles basking in the recent addition of a slew of high-minded Italian restaurants in San Francisco (SPQR, Farina, Ducca, and Perbacco to name a few). Here, owner Christopher Losa seeks to lure the diner with a visually tantalizing interior. Better yet, Losa has assembled a selection of fine nibblets that touch on the cuisines of Italy -- everything from “salumi” boards to meaty pastas, paninis and piattis.More |  | Musical Theater That Revels in Horror, and Humor There's no doubt, a growing sub-culture has emerged of musical theater fans who want to see complex orchestration, comedic flair, and macabre songs about the business endeavors of a butcher barber and pie maker working in cahoots. For them, “Sweeney Todd” is the pinnacle of all such productions, turning musical expectations of sweet love stories and comedic song and dance into the reality of a tale centered on the barbaric transgressions of the infamous “Demon Barber of Fleet Street” -- Sweeney Todd.More |
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