COW HOLLOW—According to a photo newly arrived in the EaterWire Inbox, there's new liquor license activity afoot at 1980 Union Street, better know as the former U Street Lounge above Bar None. The curious part of the photo, though, is that the For Lease signs are still up as well, which combined with the lack of a DBA, makes us wonder if there's a new owner looking for a new tenant as well. Whatever the case may be, something is underway. Anyone with intel is kindly encouraged to share. [EaterWire]
GHIRARDELLI SQUARE—The tourist fave's attempt to transform into a boutique local destination is nothing new. Fancy cupcakes and wine shops have already arrived, with a gourmet market and a Danko on the way. Now, the influx continues anew with the most recent tenant to sign on: Crown and Crumpets. It's a tea salon and slated to open this summer. Plywood to follow. [EaterWire]
UNION SQUARE—As you may know, Cocktail Week kicked off earlier this week at the Starlight Room, and even bartending legends showed up: "As a fitting gesture to launch the week, local bartenders honored Tony Abou-Ganim, the opening bar manager of the Starlight and one of the people who really got the SF cocktail scene rolling. Abou-Ganim is a Vegas bigshot with books and videos and consulting projects all over the country. But his spirit still infuses the mania for creative cocktailing in the SF bar world, which reveres him as a tribal elder." [Buzzed]
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Here's hoping that future yogurt purveyor SoGreen had a great reason for postponing its opening from today to next week, because vigilant froyo fans are out in force: "I went down to the Galleria this morning at 8am (to be one of the first 1,000 customers on grand opening day) which coincides with the hottest day of the year. Things were lining up nicely until I got there – sign on the door reads 'Grand Opening May 22nd.' Talk about a missed opportunity – farmers market today and lots of people out enjoying the nice weather." [Eater Inbox, previously]]]>
In a "hefty" deal worth a cool $1.8 billion, CBS has bought CNet, the parent company of Chowhound, among others. 'Hound master Jim Leff, whose basement enterprise has now grown into an asset of a major media company, isn't yet sure what the move means, but is hopeful that it will be a boon, so long as the pesky wannabe food snobs stay away: "What we don't need, however, is a broader slice of diners participating. A real flood of unsavvy diners could dilute the knowledge level." [Chron, Chowhound]]]>
Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I can tell, the most ridiculous part about Yelp is the so-called "talk threads." As absurd and unhelpful as so many of the user-generated reviews are concerned, ok, at least I get them. In theory. Sort of? But the talking element? Yikes. As if people need more forums to complain about really, really boring shit.
Forbes Traveler has a nice little piece on the rise of offal in American restaurants, and of course, Incanto and Chris Cosentino—sorry, "West Coast innards king Chris Cosentino"—are featured prominently: "But perhaps America’s most adventurous nose-to-tail restaurant is San Francisco’s rustic-Italian Incanto. On offer are lamb’s necks, pig trotters and a five-course nose-to-tail tasting menu perhaps including venison kidneys and chocolate-blood panna cotta. For executive chef Chris Cosentino, it’s not about Fear Factor-style extreme eating. 'It’s about viable cuts of meat that we have thrown into the trashcan for years ... When it comes to food, we’re very wasteful.'" [Forbes]]]>
With the current crop of cheftestants down to seven and tensions rising, yesterday's episode of Top Chef had plenty of bad vibes involving almost all the kids. The opening scenes set the tone, as Spike, Lisa et al. reinforced last week's assertions that Dale is, in fact, "a little bitch." Dale, undeterred, showed off his pot belly in the bathroom and continued to dominate the competition, even pointing out that he's won five of 20 challenges. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Perhaps the only moment in the entire episode when the negativity took a back seat was when guest judge, season two alum and all-around sweater-wearing dreamboat Sam Talbot showed up, leaving the young chefs (especially Antonia) with stars in their eyes. To the recap:
There are few things better than halls of shame, and there are few things more annoying than a bar sans underlying hooks. Hence, the Bar Coat Hook Hall of Shame, where some past inductees (Bourbon & Branch) have since escaped the shame by installing hooks, but whose current members/dishonorees still include Fish & Farm, The Pilsner Inn, The Transfer and Colibri Mexican Bistro, which apparently has 350+ tequilas but not. one. coat hook. [Alcademics]]]>
SOMA—While the SoMa Grand awaits the incoming Charles Phan project in its bigger restaurant space, the second space—most recently abandoned by Estela's Sandwiches before work began—has seen some action lately. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a false alarm, as the space is being transformed into the new sales center. No word on why the restaurant concept was abandoned (or if it has been ditched for good), but based on the Mission/Seventh Street location (and various other factors), we could toss out a few guesses. [EaterWire]
Nothing spurs shills quite like some neighborhood competition, and no collection of restaurants vie so directly for the same diners' cash quite like the Financial District's many lunch destinations. Up first, Cello's, where perfect kebabs surprise unsuspecting 
The Bauer has two stars for Cindy Pawlcyn's Mustards Grill, but the review reads a bit oddly, spending the majority of its time praising Pawlcyn's lifetime achievements while sneaking in a few little criticisms: 
For those of you Top Chef superfans dying to know how season finale will go down, the Bravo people just sent along the schedule of the final three episodes. Now, we already know that the finale was just filmed over the weekend, meaning that as of today, a couple dozen people have the chance to break their million dollar confidentiality agreements by leaking the news to the press. (All loose-lipped production assistants, disgruntled and otherwise, can drop us a line.) Getting back to the two-part finale and reunion, it looks like the only differences this year are a) the Puerto Rico setting, b) the timing of the reunion show (after the finale instead of before), and c) they aren't doing the live show like they did in Season Three. That said, here's the full release:
Proof that the San Francisco restaurant/bar community will no longer take the questionable exploits of Luisa Hanson lying down: one of those crazy Barleycorn Survivors has started a very tongue-in-cheek "fan club" for Ms. Hanson, complete with all types of sarcastic apparel for purchase, from "Community and Tradition" t-shirts to The 
It's another week and another ploy by Starbucks to return to relevancy, as today, the coffee giant rolls out its new "+Energy" products: "The new ingredients can be added to any existing Starbucks handmade beverage by saying "plus energy" at the end of one's order. Baristas have been trained in how to mix in +Energy, which contains B-vitamins, guarana and ginseng ... 'It's a well-thought out and complementary flavor,' [a Starbucks spokeswoman] said, when asked how the boost would taste mixed in with coffee." Oi. [Seattle PI]]]>
NOE VALLEY—Since Pescheria