December 2004 Archives

Somewhat hidden off the beaten path on the second floor of 4 Embarcadero Center, this is the definitely upscale California branch of a highly regarded Hong Kong restaurant chain. The room is gorgeously decorated and elegant with large windows looking out over the Embarcadero and the bay. Although prices are high and service complaints are not unknown, the food here is excellent. This is good choice for showing visiting out-of-towners upscale dim sum. The dinner menu has an extensive selection of classic Cantonese dishes. Recommended.

UPDATE: Sadly, Harbor Village closed after service on August 28th, 2005. Here is my report on my last dim sum lunch there.

Folks who have fast broadband might be interested in the on-line backup service from Data Deposit Box. A 100Mb backup is $1 per month and includes data encryption and password-protected data sharing. This looks like the perfect solution for Road Warriors.

Well, this blog can't be serious all of the time. I just want to know: is this self-parody?

A venerable (opened in 1986) two-floor Cantonese seafood palace located on Jackson Street in Chinatown and open until 1 a.m. In the classic Hong Kong manner, tanks along the back wall are filled with live seafood. Check out the price per pound of your favorite specie, point to your swimming meal of choice and be eating it minutes later. That is fresh seafood. Although the critics and the city's concierge contingent wax poetic about Great Eastern, my experiences here have been mostly unimpressive (including one case of food poisoning). No recommendation

When you are seated in the former ballroom of the Monaco Hotel you can marvel at the 25' ceiling and imagine a chamber orchestra playing on the balcony, Just don't look at things too hard, as the details in the room are a bit jarring. I couldn't quite figure out what all of the rabbits were about; the wood is clearly 1/8" veneered paneling; and the gigantic amber-glass chandeliers look cheap (plastic?) and out of proportion. However, none of this matters, because the food here is good. A new chef took over in the spring of 2002 and made a big improvement. (As of last 2004 he has just left).

Out front by the bar, there is a "Petite Cafe" (get it?) with an abbreviated menu, which is really outstanding when you need a pick me up after the theater or an especially stressful day at Saks Fifth Avenue. And for dinner, walk back to the "Grand Cafe" and partake of some expertly prepared food from the surprisingly modest selection of dishes on the large (11" x 17") menu. (Modest menus are a good thing in my restaurant universe. No place with an affordable staff can really prepare 100 dishes to top-notch quality). I can personally vouch for the quality of the warm wild mushroom tart with black truffle sabayon, as well as the warm asparagus with sauce gribiche and parmesan. For entrees, try the lamb loin with a mint & mustard crust (!), or the duck breast with braised endive, a port reduction and brandied cherries. (Sabayon: aka. zabaglione, a whipped sauce made from egg yolks, wine and sugar. Gribiche: a sauce made from hard boiled eggs, vinegar, oil, cornichons and herbs.) Grand Cafe also features a daily Plat du Jour each of which is solid French Bistro food. (Examples: Monday, Sole Meuniere, Wednesdays, Blanquette de Veau, Friday, Bouillabaisse). Recommended

Driving up Folsom late in the evening, you see the valet stand and wonder why an auto-body repair place would be open at 11 p.m. and why they have valet parking. But then you look closer and see the “Oola Restaurant & Bar” sign atop the two-story high metal door and it becomes clear that you have found the newest SoMa late-night grazing spot.

Inside, you will find a long, narrow, tall space with bare brick walls. A bar with white leather stools commands the left, and watches over the booths against the right wall and in the back. A balcony with more tables sits at the back, above the kitchen. The space was once used as an elevator-repair shop, and the remodel has not entirely erased this industrial heritage. However, the grittiness is offset by a very friendly and accommodating black-clad staff and some terrific comfort-food.

San Francisco closes up surprisingly early for a world-class town, and Oola, which serves until midnight during the week and until 1 a.m on the weekend is a welcome addition to the late night dining scene. The food is way too good to be bar grub. The Caesar Salad was crisp, well-dressed with a lemon-achovy dressing and adorned with some marinated Spanish white anchovies. The “all natural” baby back ribs with cilantro ginger and soy sauce glaze with a red cabbage-apple slaw is outstanding. It is tangy and sweet and crispy at the same time and so tender and expertly-cooked that the meat falls off the bone if you glare at it. Don’t miss these. Recommended

"My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people."

"Now we sit through Shakespeare in order to recognize the quotations."

"Gluttony is not a secret vice"

    -Orson Welles

Some Orson Welles movies you may not have seen:
Othello
Macbeth
The Third Man
The Trial
Chimes at Midnight

Freedom House Press Release

Richard Nixon and Tolstoy must be having a good cry into their beer this December on news from Freedom House that political freedoms in Russia have backslid to where they were in 1989 causing a reclassification from "Partly Free" to "Not Free." Nixon warned of the possibility of a new Russian despotism in a 1992 memo to fifty foriegn policy experts that argued Russia was at a defining moment in its history and needed our help in clawing through the legacy of communism to become a state defined by free markets and free politics. Twelve years later, it looks like Nixon was right.

In 1875 this space was a driveway used as the carriage entrance to the brand new Palace Hotel. After the 1906 earthquake, the space was enclosed with a Victorian glass ceiling and transformed into the Garden Court. It is quite simply the most stunningly beautiful public room in San Francisco, and has seen a few grand events in its time. In true utopian San Francisco fashion, official events in 1919 and 1945 honored the Versailles Treaty and the founding of the United Nations. It is an amazing space with gilded marble columns, crystal chandeliers, mirrored doors, potted palms and the incredible stained glass ceiling. Oh yes, the food. Well, food isn't the point. It isn't bad, but it isn't especially scrumptious and delicious either. A Sunday Brunch Buffet is always packed as is Saturday Afternoon Tea. Lunch and breakfast are also served. If you go to the Brunch (and you should -once- especially if relatives are visiting) make certain to get a reservation, and for God's sake, dress up! Recommended.

The Garden Court Restaurant

Gadget reviews from WIRED magazine (8meg PDF).

Prestopundit quotes professor of management, Richard Nehrbass on the appalling lack of knowledge exhibited by students entering his class. The report is so disturbing that I hesitate to believe it can be true. Roughly one-half of California's $100 billion state budget is spent on education. I don't think state taxpayers are getting an especially good deal for their investment. See the article here: You're a college student in California

Well it looks a bit like a diner, but you won't find anything like this along the roadside in New Jersey (nor will you find a road like the palm tree lined Embarcadero in New Jersey). I had a feeling of deja vu when I saw this place: it reminded me of the Buckhead Diner in Atlanta, and for good reason! Pat Kuleto designed both of them. Neither, however, will remind you of Hopper's Nighthawks painting: they are "Yuppie Diners," comfortable and upscale. They have hash here, but it is "Lobster and Chicken Hash with Sweet Corn and Tomato pan sauce." They have macaroni and cheese, too, but the cheese is Gouda, and the dish includes "Hobbs Ham" and costs (at this writing) $10.75. I had the "Ahi Tuna Carpaccio with Wasabi Cream and Daikon Sprouts" and it was fine. If you eat too much and feel in need of some exercise when you are finished, the steep routes up the north side of Telegraph Hill are only a block or so away. Take a hike up the Filbert stairs and through the fabled gardens of Babylon by the Bay, and see if you can spot any of the mysterious and shy green parrots. Recommended

Living in the city of Saint Francis, our heritage is linked to miracles of long ago. Magically, our present also includes miracles such as the presence of good food in a movie theatre food court. Firewood Cafe has two locations in the City, the original one in the Castro, and an outpost in the Sony/Lowes Metreon. Both of them feature pizza from a wood-fired oven as well as pastas including roasted chicken and mortadella tortellini, and penne pasta in a white wine cream sauce with proscuitto and shiitake mushrooms (my two favorites). The prices are reasonable. I admit that I sometimes visit the Metreon solely to get take out from the Firewood Cafe. Recommended

Enrico's packages up the essence of a European sidewalk cafe and plops it down in North Beach -- adding some good American live jazz for localization. Most people don't go to Enrico's for the food, although it is good enough that you could make that the reason for your trip. A table outside is a great place for Sunday brunch while watching the San Francisco Grand Prix. Or, you can sit inside on a foggy evening and listen to jazz. The menu is Italian, but is also influenced by the Alice Waters revolution. You can get fried calamari, shrimp risotto or homemade lasagna, but you can also get roasted chicken, pan roasted halibut and Niman Ranch lamb sirloin. Recommended

Is this the most self-indulgent, time-wasting, but strangely-compelling blog post ever?

There are 578 election precincts in the County of San Francisco. Kerry won every single precinct. Bush didn't manage to win in even one. In fact, there is only a single precinct in the entire city where Bush got as much as 40% of the votes cast, and there are only six precincts where he got as much as 35% of the vote. San Francisco was a Blue Landslide for Kerry.

I often visit The Chicago Boyz for insightful posts on economics but sometimes when I get there I find unexpected pearls of wisdom from fields far removed from the dismal science. Who know that The Chicago Boyz were food bloggers? Who knew that they have identified and documented New Food Groups?

"You may think a toilet is just a toilet, but we would like to make a toilet a home health measuring center," Mr. Matsui, the Matsushita engineer, said in a lecture here in Nara, near Osaka. "We are going to install in a toilet devices to measure weight, fat, blood pressure, heart beat, urine sugar, albumin and blood in urine."

The results would be sent from the toilet to a doctor by an
Internet-capable cellular phone built into the toilet.
Through long-distance monitoring, doctors could chart a
person's physical well-being.

"We will have this within five years or so," said Harry
Terai, director of home appliances research for Matsushita.

What more can someone say about this, other than where can I buy one? Read about Japanese commode research.

French/Basque bistro in SoMa with remarkably consistent high-quality, delicious food and reasonable prices. It is here that I learned the secret of long life and happiness. Start your meal with poached Foie Gras and a glass of Port or Sauternes; end the meal with Crème Brule into which some Grand Marnier has been poured after cracking the caramelized crust. Punctuate those meal ends with a Basque Seafood Stew featuring a luscious roasted red pepper sauce and a glass of red Burgundy wine. Well, maybe I got the long life part wrong, but this will certainly make you happy! Great staff. Highly recommended.

UPDATE: Fringale has changed ownership as of July, 2005 -- retaining the current staff and concept.

Is Dottie’s famous or infamous? Why the Zagat entry? What is it about this place? Is it the Tenderloin location (Jones between Geary and O'Farrell)? The jalapeno jelly? The very long wait if you get here at the wrong time? The life-size poster of an almost au natural Josephine Baker? Or the CDs of female jazz vocalists that always seem to be playing in the background? This is a place that you are certain that Dashiel Hammet would have eaten at. Dotties has great mystique and atmosphere, but it also has really good food. This is a GREAT breakfast place. The portions are huge. Don't bother with the menu; the specials on the blackboard are where the action is. Don't miss the jalapeno cornbread or the bean cakes, or some of the special pancakes. Good place. Recommended

I used to listen to classical music on the radio. That was a long time ago though, when you could easily find classic music stations almost everywhere around the country on the FM band. When I lived in Los Angeles I used to get my classical fix by listening to KFAC and KPFK. KPFK no longer plays classical music, and KFAC went off the air in 1989. (To be fair, things have actually gotten better in LA since then -- but not as good as they were in the '70s. KUSC now plays classical music, and a new classical station, KMZT has appeared).

This place has such a reputation that your biggest risk in trying to eat here will be that you can't get a table, or that you will be disappointed if the food doesn't live up to the hype. If you can get beyond those two "problems," Delfina is very fine place for a meal. It is a fairly small and casual place on a side street in the Mission. In addition to the tables, there is a very small bar (2 or 3 seats) and 12-seat cafeteria-style bar with stools. The food is Cal-influenced Italian; fresh ingredients and simple preparation are the rule. They always have truffles during the season, and it is amazing what shaved white truffles will do for roast chicken or mashed potatoes. If I lived in the neighborhood, I'd eat here often. Recommended

As if the Eiffel Tower weren't cool enough already, a skating rink has just opened there 188 feet up.

Paris is a really great place for this, as there are hardly any buildings in the city that are that tall - so you really do get a view. If the Rockefeller Center Skating Rink was 200 feet in the air, it wouldn't make much difference. Eiffel Tower Opens Elevated Skating Rink (AP News via Excite)

UPDATE: Via Brian's Culture Blog, here's another interesting picture of the rink in the sky.

I found a bottle of this at Ferry Building Wine Merchants for $18. (Actually, I was tipped off).

2003 Alain Jaume Lirac Clos de Sixte - Lirac, Southern Rhône, Rhône, France (12/11/2004)
Whoa! Open up this bottle, and you are hit by big aromas of very ripe red fruit. I'd suggest you sit down first. The color is very deep and dark red with a touch of purple. It sparkles, but it really is deep and dark. Made from a blend of 45% Grenache, 40% Syrah, and 15% Mouvedre, this is a supercharged wine claiming 15% alcohol on the label, and I believe every percentage point. Has there ever been a French wine like this? It is thick and has tremendous extraction. The palate is rich but integrated with great smooth tannins and just enough acidity to provide some balance to the ripe, ripe fruit. The nose moderated after the bottle had been open a bit, and this isn't an especially complex wine, but it was great fun to drink with roast chicken. If this is any indication of what Rhone wines are like in 2003, hang on to your seat and your checkbook! (90 pts.)

San Francisco is undeniably beautiful and living here is very pleasant, but San Francisco is populated by crazy people. You may think I am speaking of some of the homeless (who are undeniably crazy), but in this case, you would be wrong. The politicians in San Francisco are just as crazy as the homeless.

One of the characteristics of abnormal mental functioning is an inability to mature. Some crazies never grow up. The almost-mayor (he lost to Newsom) and President of the Board of Supervisors Matt Gonzales, fits this description to a T. President Gonzales has turned his office into an art gallery and is displaying the "graffiti art of Barry McGee." Click here to see for yourself: Gonzales Honors Artist.

Perfect, I say. It's Graffiti. It's Profane. It's behaving just like a poorly socialized immature high school student. My favorite part of the Chronicle article cited above is this:

Gonzalez's private office is part of a public building, and anyone can enter to see the artwork, and he invites them to come. However, the Board of Supervisors president wouldn't allow a Chronicle photographer to take a photo of his walls, citing his concern the newspaper would sensationalize the graffiti angle and not give proper respect to the artist.

Well, yes pictures might sensationalize the graffiti angle. They might show how Gonzales views the world. They might cause a few of us to once again ponder how it was possible that the choice for Mayor in the last election was between Newsom and Gonzales.

In San Francisco, Gavin Newsom and Willie Brown are regarded as reactionary conservatives. And that is a fact.

Cavernous space with a newsstand and bookstore where you can get a simple breakfast or sandwiches, salads, tapas, coffees, teas, wine and beer, soda fountain items, or smoothies. Sit on a stool at a table, lounge in an easy chair or couch, or take in the sun on the gigantic flower-filled patio as the slap of halyards on masts from the nearby South Beach Marina serenades you. A more comfortable place would be hard to imagine. The food is only okay but this is a great place to hang out. Recommended

During the siege of Vienna by the Turks in 1683, the Viennese, known for their excellent bakeries, had to ration flour; they made small bread rolls shaped like the crescent moon symbol of the Ottoman empire. Most people think of these familiar pastries - croissants - as typically French.

From an article about Turkey joining the EU from Le Monde diplomatique. However, this article claims that even though the Turkish connection with the croissant is a pretty story, it is not a true one.

If I had been born to old money instead of young love, or had I not procrastinated so much when contemplating an application to Harvard things may have turned out differently, and I might feel more at home in Jardiniere. It’s not that I felt out of place or that someone thought I was out of place -- some day I’ll have to tell you about the time the hostess tried to kick me out of the Concorde lounge in Heathrow -- it’s that Jardiniere is so upscale, so refined, so expensive. When I go to Jardiniere, I take a look at the menu, gulp, and rationalize that I eat there, on average, once every 540 days. Then I look around at my company at the bar and think they must eat here once a week, or at least every time they attend the Opera or the Symphony.

Located at the top of Yerba Buena Gardens, Clouds looks past its landscaped rooftop garden out on the city skyline, This is a place probably not visited much by San Franciscans, as it is off (and above) the beaten path. However, it is worth seeking out if you are in the area (maybe on a trip to SF MOMA), as it is a pleasant enough place, and great for lunch on a sunny day. My $8.95 lunch was "Seared Ahi Tuna with mizuna salad, crispy bean noodles, soy-sesame syrup, green onions, wasabi cream and pickled ginger" which was a good deal. This isn't a destination restaurant, though it may have the best restaurant paito in the city. Keep it in mind if you are near SF MOMA, the Metreon, or Moscone Convention Center. Recommended

UPDATE (Jan 21, 2005): I walked by Clouds on Thursday and see that the space is empty, and apparently has been empty for some time. Clouds is no more. I hope another restaurant will take over this restful and pleasant space.

UPDATE (Jun 2006):The space has been occupied by The Samovar Tea Lounge, this making the first outpost of the original in the Castro.

Fourteenth at Folsom is the approximate locus of two culinary stars. One is Rainbow Grocery where you can find an amazing collection of exotic and exciting foodstuffs (but no meat or fish!). The other is Chez Spencer which, though it is hidden in a small industrial space on a pretty gritty street, is one of the best French Restaurants in the city. The chef works from an open-hearth kitchen in the middle of the space, and live music comes from the piano near the front windows. The food is classic French, with things like roast squab, rack of lamb, foie gras, and butter, butter everywhere. When it isn't raining, you can sit on the entrance patio under some heaters. Be warned, it is expensive for a place somewhat off the beatten path. Recommended

While not everyone is going to have to same reaction to this photo, it gives me Goosebumps. There is some extraordinary footage of Thatcher in a meeting room inside the shipyards in Gdansk talking with members of the strike leadership (from the PBS Special: The Commanding Heights) which, in retrospect, clearly shows the course of history starting to turn. Ideas do matter, and people who believe in ideas can change the world.

Prime Minister Thatcher and President Reagan in 1986

Glen Reynolds of Instapundit has a really interesting article about the 21st century reemergence of public spaces Bringing the Public Back to Public Spaces. The article discusses public-space WiFi Clouds The moneyquote for me is:

"But my guess is that the end result will look more like the 18th century coffeehouses, in which so many of that day conducted their business, than like the office towers where the 20th century's men in the gray flannel suits used to go. This is part of what seems to me to be a larger phenomenon: 19th and 20th century technology seemed to favor aggregation, uniformity, and large size. 21st century technology seems to favor diversity, variety, and small size -- along with a much higher degree of interconnection. From politics to work, I think there are quite a few revolutions along these lines yet to come, and I think they'll go well beyond comfy chairs."

I've always been intrigued by my struggles with a unified theory of human organization. On one hand, the laissez-faire approach to economics has been successful while command-and-control economies have failed. On the other hand, successful corporations in the 20th century have been organized on the military, or command-and-control framework, even though they deal with the freedom and anarchy of the free market. Wouldn't the commercial enterprise of the 21st century be more efficient if it could harness the intelligence and energies of all of its employees more along the lines of the lassize-faire model?

I now think that the emergence of the Internet, WiFi -- and yes -- Blogs and Wikis will provide the tools to enable self-organization of large commercial enterprises. Even in the military, the old command-and-control model is fading, as more information and decision making power is moving down to the battlefield and away from staff headquarters. 21st century technology is pushing both information and decision making power down lower in all manner of organizations. The CEO and his staff will have much different jobs in the future.

Kyle Gann has an interesting post over on ArtsJournal.com where he has tried to load a portable 250 Gigabyte hard disk with "...every piece I've ever used in class or even mentioned to a student." He starts out his discussion by referring to the music classroom of the future where the professor would have instant access to every piece of music ever recorded, sort of like a musical version of Borges' Library of Babel.

I think it is a fine idea. Although the Edison Cylinder was a admirable invention, as was the shellac disk, the long playing record, and the CD, being able to digitize, categorize, and search our musical heritage is a tremendous improvement with far-reaching implications. I remember when William Malloch was music directory at KPFK and the long-time music director of the Mahler Society of California. Every year Malloch and the Gustav Mahler Society would set up a listening room in a volunteers home and put on an "Mahlerthon" where they would play all of Mahler's Symphonys, from the first note of the Titan Symphony to last note of the unfinished (at least by Mahler) Tenth. You no longer need the Mahler Society to do this. You can have your own Mahlerthon and you can have as many different interpretations of each work as you have recordings.

How long will it be before all of the notes are digitized? Will the instructor in the music classroom of the future be able to look up specific chords and show contrasting examples and transitions?

A restaurant in the Marina owned by chef Charles Solomon who has decided he prefers the intimacy of a small neighborhood place to the craziness of a bigger and busier one. The night I was there, he was bartending, waiting tables, busing tables, and -- I suppose -- cooking (though I glimpsed a Hispanic line cook through the kitchen door). A lone waitress was the only other staff there. I waited a lot, was served a glass of oxidized wine, which I didn't drink, and had some sweetbreads, which were nothing special. Solomon has a reputation as a great cook, but as far as I can tell he doesn't have enough critical mass at Chaz to make a real restaurant. Perhaps I was there on an off night. I am going to be nice: No recommendation
UPDATE: Chaz closed in late 2004.

Open only for lunch, Chavo's is at the corner of 4th and Bryant, across the street from the Hotel Utah. The menu offers burritos, tacos, chili and some other standards, plus the occasional special (chicken and beef tamales have been offered this winter and spring). While not outstanding, the food is good and solidly consistent. I often get a burrito here, but recently had a perfectly spiced and delicious chili colorado. The tacos are always moist and yummy. The tables on the patio are the preferred place to eat on a sunny day. Recommended

In the news:

Sunday, December 5, 2004 at 16:50 JST
BANGKOK — Military aircraft on Sunday began airdropping more than 120 million paper birds in the three southernmost Muslim-dominant provinces in a bid to promote peace in the restive region.

Some 100 Thai air force planes are being used to airdrop the origami cranes over 33 districts of the three provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, where violence has surged since early this year, according to Somkuan Sangpatranatra, spokesman for the Southern Border Province Peacekeeping Command." - from Japan Today

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A massive airdrop of paper birds to promote peace failed to halt violence in Thailand's restive south, with a spate of new attacks targeting soldiers and local officials erupting on Monday.

The bombings, shootings and arson attacks came hours after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the airdrop Sunday of nearly 100 million Japanese-style origami cranes over the predominantly Muslim region had achieved an "enormous, positive psychological effect'' toward peace. -- AP Dispatch in the Malaysia Star

At the very least this is an example of unfortunate circumstances creating some very bad press. Even Jimmy Carter realizes that you have to talk to the guys with the guns in order to make any progress.

I wonder if this is an example of the difference between the West and the East, an older clash of cultures, pre-dating the current Western/Muslim one? It may be that I don't understand the Far East, but by the time people start making bombs, burning things down, and murdering people with guns, it seems to me you have passed the point where "a positive psychological effect" produced by millions of oragami birds fluttering down out of the sky from a fleet of military aircraft is going to help much.

And I also wonder where someone would get 120 million oragami birds. ...Or, if they got them, how they would know they have 120 million of them?

While looking for some nutrition data on sushi, I found the Sushi Encyclopedism. Guess what gave me a hint that this wasn't written by someone in Ohio?

The site isn't flashy, but it is FULL of sushi information. There is a sushi glossary in Japanese, English, French and German with over 300 terms. There is a section on sushi etiquitte with advice on which side gets the soy sauce, and whether you should eat your nigiri sushi fish down, fish up, or vertical. There are how-to sections, a discussion of sushi in Ukiyoe, and even a section on sushi comics (the book type not the stand-up type). It is a great site. Check it out.

The Kanji characters above are for "fish" and "delicious," which means "sushi" in Japanese. The more commonly used set of characters to the right spells out "su" and "shi" phonetically.

A real surprise - found this at Wine House SF. This is a really nice and friendly summer wine. It has a super floral nose with apricot and mango aromas and presents a fruity, mouth-filling and luscious palate. It has 13% alcohol, but it is hidden for now behind gobs of fruit. Low acidity makes it easy to drink and suggests that now is better than later. But it is so friendly and fun, that now is hardly soon enough! I like it. 89 pts (Tasted 8/23/0224)

A café located in the heart of tourist territory with a large continental menu; this is the kind of place that stays in business by serving a continual stream of people who eat there once and never return. Food is very mediocre, I hope the tourists either don't know enough to care or don't hold it against San Francisco. Not recommended

Cantonese outpost in SoMa serving reasonably priced dim sum and seafood classics. The room is large with simple decoration. Menu is authentic with little Americanization. Not worth a special trip but it is a good place for South Beach residents and local office workers to get good value Chinese food without having to hoof it over to Chinatown. No recommendation

I have managed to live a surprisingly long time without learning about this 1877 invention, the Fish Highway.

Why don't we see this in more seafood restaurants? Why not Farallon?

Here are links to three blogs focusing on the Ukrainian crises.

Orange Ukraine, SCSU Scholars, and A Step at a Time.

If there had been any dobut before, these examples prove we are in the era of the Blog; you can get much better information and informed opinion from your Computer and a web connection than you can from traditional media. The world is changing at a tremendous rate.