A show of hands, please: Who remembers where all the old local taverns/bars/dives were? Better yet, who actually patronized them? Anyone?

Possibly the most infamous was the Oak Grove, which one night became an ungodly flaming cocktail and is now a grassy lot under an oak tree. But there was also 2-Me’s on Hilltop (run by a man named Twomey) where a ( Read more... )

Until very recently, Femme de Joie’s only visit to 970 Hartnell was about seven years ago when a vintage furniture store was there; she and  Amico del Signore picked out a leather couch which went from “this great oxblood sofa” to “that Godawful purple couch” in just a few short years. The sofa found a new home about the same time Kanya Market ( Read more... )

www.walkscore.com recently rated San Francisco as the second most walkable city in the US, and indeed, a car is largely an expensive impediment for an enterprising tourist. Put on a decent pair of shoes or fill up a Clipper Card, and suddenly The City by the Bay is your oyster instead of a nightmare of one-way streets and shockingly-priced parking ( Read more... )

When Casa Ramos closed in early 2009, La Casa Cuevas immediately opened in the same spot. Childress not being a main artery, and La Casa Cuevas not being part of a chain, the restaurant seems to be somewhat out of sight, out of mind to potential customers who come off I-5 or are staying at a nearby motel. Femme de Joie has visited several times and ( Read more... )

Did you ever see “Eat Drink Man Woman ( Read more... )

It was Amico del Signore who first tried the taco truck on Westside Road, and reported with huge enthusiasm how fabulous the food was ( Read more... )

It was financial necessity of one Yoshiaki Shiraishi that morphed the traditonal sushi bar from a tiny space with few seats into a novelty production that coincidentally involves food. The owner of a sushi restuarant on the outskirts of Osaka in the 1950s, Shiraishi was going broke paying master sushi chefs during times of slow business, as well as ( Read more... )

Back in the 1960s and '70s, an unimpressive cinder block building on South Market Street was a liquor store. Later on it became, variously, Asian markets, Chef Paul Trout's Experience, and now Kanya Garden. Located virtually across the street from Racha Noodle, Kanya Garden had to offer up value and food to distract customers from the already- ( Read more... )

Long-time Reddingites will remember Shakey's Pizza used to occupy the space on Churn Creek Road where Nipa's is now. (By the way, Shakey's is still in business. Just not here.) After it closed, a string of faux pubs and eateries came and went - M. de Joie dimly recalls one called the British Pub. Nipa's seems to have found the long-term success the ( Read more... )

Of necessity, sushi restaurants are usually quite small, little more than a mini-van’s worth of seats. It takes time to turn out sushi and it does not lend itself to sitting around like McWhoppers, so the number of diners allowed in has to be limited. And this is not a food that can be turned over to summer job seekers: sushi chefs in Japan train ( Read more... )