San Francisco

Today in Day Around the Bay: Guy Fieri in "San Fran," new place in Nervous Dog space, Jason Alexander and being Jewish, Clitoris Mass, and more. [ more › ]

Jason Kessler, who writes The Nitpicker for Bon Appetit, warmed our heart after he was rudely dismissed by the host and manager of a "20-year-old spot" across from the Ferry Building that "had just lost its Michelin star." (We'll let you figure out which restaurant.) And then wrote about it. [ more › ]

After reportedly criticizing Bryce Harper's positioning in the outfield following Tuesday night's extra-inning loss to the San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals closer Rafael Soriano says he isn't upset.

The Town Square got a thumbs up from the budget and finance committee today prompting Todd David to send out this update (emphasis ours): Hello Noe Valley Town Square supporters: I'm thrilled to report that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors' Budget and Finance Committee unanimously (5-0) voted today to recommend to the full Board the legislation authored by Supervisor Wiener to acquire the land that will be the future home of the Noe Valley Town Square. This vote is consistent with the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission's unanimous vote for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to approve $4,242,500 from the Open Space Acquisition Fund for the purchase and remediation of the Noe Valley Ministry parking lot. (The Noe Valley Ministry would receive $3.9 million and the additional $342,500 would be used for remediation of the lot that used to be a gas station.) The last hurdle to clear is the vote by the entire Board on June 4th – a 6-person majority plus mayoral approval would make the acquisition a reality! A huge thank you is in order: We never could have come this far without the steadfast support and legislation of Supervisor Wiener and hundreds of Noe Valley Town Square friends and neighbors who have made financial pledges, written letters of support, and appeared at today’s and the previous Rec and Park hearings. Thank you – it does take a village to create a Town Square! (If you or your friends have not yet donated to the Town Square, now that we’re this close it’s great time to make a pledge! Even with the acquisition, we will still need to raise an additional money to transform the parking lot into our future Town Square.)

Things worked out very well for the Rockies Wednesday afternoon as they beat the Diamondbacks 4-1 behind the strong pitching of the bullpen, and the Nationals beat the Giants 2-1 thanks to two extra base hits by Bryce Harper and a strong outing from Gio Gonzalez. That creates a three-way tie atop the NL West between the Diamondbacks, Giants, and Rockies. San Francisco and Colorado are winning with offense. That’s not a surprise for the Rockies, but Colorado is allowing fewer runs per game than the Giants. We tend to think of the Giants as a pitching oriented team. The Diamondbacks are third in the NL in lowest runs allowed per game, and middle of the pack in runs scored. In terms of runs scored and allowed, the Rockies and Diamondbacks should be tied at 27 wins, and the Giants should be three games back. I suspect San Francisco’s pitching will improve as the season progresses, so being a bit ahead of their Pythagorean projection puts them in good stead for the division race.

The San Francisco 49ers lost in the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history last season, but that loss to the Baltimore Ravens highlighted how far the NFC West powerhouse has come in the last two years. Alex Smith suffered a concussion against the St. Louis Rams on Nov. 11 that altered the entire course of the 49ers' season. While Jim Harbaugh was criticized for his decision to keep Colin Kaepernick at the helm of the offense when Smith returned, it ultimately proved to be the best decision he could have made. In his second season with the team, Kaepernick compiled 2,229 total yards and 15 total touchdowns in 13 regular-season games—and somehow played even better in the playoffs. In three postseason contests, the shifty signal-caller tallied 1,062 total yards and seven more touchdowns, including a 444-total-yard performance against the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional round. With a 28-24 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship game, the 49ers would punch their ticket to New Orleans for a championship showdown with the Ravens. The story of Super Bowl XLVII has been told and retold. The Ravens got out to a tremendous start with a 21-6 lead at the half, but San Francisco battled back in the third quarter to pull within one of the lead. Despite Kaepernick’s best efforts, San Francisco was unable to overtake the eventual champions, dropping a heartbreaking contest 34-31. It wasn’t an easy loss for 49ers fans to swallow, but there’s plenty to be hopeful about this season. San Francisco is well on its way to becoming the preeminent franchise of the National Football League. With a future superstar under center, one of the best offensive lines in the league and a defense unmatched by any unit in the NFC, the 49ers are in no danger of fading away after last year's Super Bowl run. Trent Baalke is one of the most forward-thinking general managers in the NFL, and he’s done a tremendous job in setting up San Francisco with sustainability and elite talent. And he added to that talent this offseason. With the additions of former Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Glenn Dorsey and former Oakland Raiders and Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, an already dangerous defense got even stronger. It remains to be seen if the All-Pro corner can return to form in San Francisco, but Baalke managed to acquire him on a very cap-friendly contract (one year with no guaranteed money, per ESPN). The 49ers did lose hard-hitting safety Dashon Goldson to free agency, but Baalke and Harbaugh had a plan for replacing him. They moved up to the 18th pick in the first round of the draft to acquire LSU safety Eric Reid—a move that encapsulated San Francisco's draft success this year. The duo continued to impress with their draft selections, finding tremendous value throughout the weekend. Among the high-value players selected, Florida State defensive end Tank Carradine, Louisiana Tech wide receiver Quinton Patton and South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore. A shining example of the rich getting richer, the 49ers put together one of the most impressive offseasons of any team in the league, on the heels of an absolutely dominant 2012 season. There’s no reason to believe San Francisco can’t duplicate its success in 2013. We’ll take a closer look at many of those offseason moves and preview several key position battles this offseason, as well as provide an outlook and predictions for the 2013 season.Begin Slideshow

Every year the AIA/LA, or the Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute of Architects, holds its annual Restaurant Design Awards, a competition which honors excellence in design for restaurants, nightclubs, cafes, bars, and lounges. In order to quality, the venue must be located in LA or the designers must have an office in LA. Out now are the 16 finalists for 2013, as determined by judges Margot Dougherty (writer), Warner Ebbink (restaurateur), and George Kelly (architect). Which means that voting is now open to the public until noon on June 17 to decide the People's Choice Award. Winners will be announced on June 22 at Dwell on Design. RESTAURANT BELCAMPO MEAT CO. (Larkspur, CA) designed by BCV Architects ESTADIO (Washington, DC) designed by GrizForm Design Architects EVELEIGH (West Hollywood) designed by Nick Mathers JOULE / THE WHALE WINS (Seattle, WA) designed by Heliotrope Architects NOBU MALIBU (Malibu) designed by Montalba Architects, Inc. & Studio PCH, LLC OUTLIERS EATERY (Portland, ME) designed by Remi Designs SUPERBA SNACK BAR (Venice) designed by Design, Bitches & Reed Architectural Group WATERS - BONNELL'S COASTAL CUISINE (Fort Worth, TX) designed by Preen, Inc. YOJISAN SUSHI (Beverly Hills) designed by Dan Brunn Architecture CAFÉ/BAR BEER BELLY (LA) designed by MAKE Architecture NORTHERN LIGHTS BAR (Iceland) designed by Minarc PLAN CHECK KITCHEN + BAR (LA) designed by Raveled Studio & Terry Heller SWEET CRUSH (LA) designed by 64North LOUNGE/NIGHTCLUB Chambers Eat + Drink (San Francisco) designed by Samonsky + Pometta Architects, LLP & Mr. Important Design Pour Vous (LA) designed by Houston Hospitality SHOREbar (LA) designed by Built a design build company ·All AIA/LA Coverage [~ELA~]

Free agent Randy Moss left the San Francisco 49ers on good terms and is staying in shape. Might the team consider bringing him back in the wake of Michael Crabtree's Achilles tendon surgery?

Harry Dorfman, a prosecutor who has worked at the San Francisco District Attorney's Office for 28 years, is set to be a judge. Governor Jerry Brown appointed him on Tuesday to one of the open se...

Going to an MLB ballpark is, or at least should be, a unique and awe-inspiring experience. Baseball stadiums at their best are architectural art built expertly into the fabric of the city they represent. They have their own feel, their own sounds, their own smells, and they have their own dimensions. But have we mixed up the things about ballparks that should be unique with the things that should be universal? Time, once again, to take off that thinking cap and jump rant-first into this week's ball-park oriented edition of Purple Hazed Ideas. Idea # 1: Universal Field Dimensions Let me begin by saying that I have always loved this unique aspect of baseball; that the playing field is a part of the game and actually changes based on where you play. This goes back to the days where most of us started our love for this game in little leagues that could often have wildly different characteristics. I played on a field that was broken down and often times had no outfield fence in center. It was common to come up from slides into second base with gravel in your knee. When we would travel to the nicer fields in town they would have working scoreboards, clearly painted white chalk baselines and, what do you call it? Grass. They had grass. Obviously the conditions of the field at the major league level are not a concern, but does it really make sense for the best players in the world to be playing such a statistically-driven game in such drastically different environments? Now, sabermetrics have come up with a number of ways to adjust stats to each park, but there are still flaws in these measurements as they are based on averages and not simple reality. They don't factor in how tepid the outfielder was running backwards in Wrigley because he might hit a brick wall covered by nothing but vines. These stats don't help determine how much of a hill either the ball or player had to climb before the play was made in Houston. Park-adjusted stats can help us understand the difference between hitting a home run into right-center at AT&T Park in San Francisco versus hitting one to that same spot in Boston at the famed Fenway park. But each one still goes down as a home run (or not), still counts against the ERA of the pitcher (or not) and still affects the actual outcome of this game being played right now, as opposed to some average that should even out over the course of the season. Showing the number of home runs at the end of a season that a player should have hit doesn't put any of those runs back on the board in any of those games. We all know that there is a huge difference between the new Yankee Stadium and the old Petco Park. They even had to bring in the walls this year at Petco and now almost every time a home run is hit there, whoever is commenting asks the question, "would that have been over the fence last year?" The difference between one home run, or that same fly ball being an out, can be the difference in the game. Shouldn't we just decide how long you should have to hit the ball to have earned the home run and put all the fences in the appropriate place? Sometimes I still love the strangeness and uniqueness of each park, but sometimes I feel stuck with that feeling that all these different park dimensions are doing is lying to us. The Coors Field "effect" has even been used as a primary argument for keeping both Todd Helton and Larry Walker out of the Hall of Fame, though interestingly I've never heard of a Boston player being scrutinized for being allowed to play pepper with a left field wall that is approximately 92 feet away. Are San Diego and Oakland pitchers regularly overrated by the rest of the league because of the park they pitch in? My eye test says yes. But one thing universal field dimensions would accomplish is putting an end to all of the doubt in our minds about how much the park actually affects the numbers of any given player. In a sport where numbers are king, it would be nice if the numbers weren't so o