Feast

Tom McAllister
on the perfect
cheesesteak

From the home page



“Anyone, anywhere, can make a passable cheesesteak. What distinguishes the great from the mediocre is context. There’s a reason we’ve adopted the cheesesteak as the official sandwich in Philly, and it’s not because it’s the best we’ve got to offer—not anymore—but because to eat a true Philly cheesesteak is to understand Philadelphia itself.”

                                                                   Read more at The Daily Beast

SF: Paul Reidinger on RN74

”I am not thrilled with the local trend toward naming restaurants after European highways — the names sound too much like car names — but there is no denying the force behind RN74. That force is Michael Mina, and if there is a more lustrous name in the recent annals of San Francisco restauranting, that name has escaped my notice. … It is beautiful and elegant inside but not overwrought, and it is (so far) one-of-a-kind. … 

The food is exemplary: much less intricate and overbearing than at Michael Mina while losing little or nothing in inventiveness and polish. I was especially impressed by the smoked-sturgeon rillettes ($9), which incorporated a responsibly farmed fish into a classic French technique to produce a beguiling result ...”

                                          More in the San Francisco Bay Guardian