I was on vacation, and now I’m not. Everything else, as writer Calvin Trillin once wrote, is just commentary. I thought about posting some pictures from my non-traditional Thanksgiving trip to Kauai, but then thought better of it—not only might they be jealousy inducing, in nearly every single image I’m eating something: a pineapple frosty, onion rings, banana pancakes, eggs with a side of fried rice. Fitting, maybe, but hardly attractive. Hard to pose for a photo when your frosty is giving you brain freeze.

Besides, there’s so much to talk about here—while I was gone, Gary Danko signed the papers on a second Ghiradelli Square restaurant, several restaurants inched closer to opening (Local Kitchen and Wine Merchant, we’re talking to you!) and our December issue, chock-a-block full of charcuterie and other delights, hit the newsstands (find an exclusive behind the scenes slideshow of Sara Deseran making charcuterie right here.)

And just this morning, as I walked down 23rd Street to the train, I saw this: a whole cart-load of local oysters en route to their destination—the bellies of hungry SF diners. OK, so San Francisco’s not so bad. It’s no tropical island, but it’s not bad.


Carlos Lara, General Manager of Marinelli Shellfish Co.,
shepherds the catch to their destination.