tablehopper.com

Worth reading every week. As others have noted, this isn’t your typical «I went, I ate, I opined» food column for those who don’t know their ass from their endive. It’s a free-​thinking gourmand’s delight, chock full of industry info, so you get advance notice of very cool food events: chocolate conventions, private whiskey tastings, foie gras protests (ok, I may have fabricated that memory, but you get the point). Most useful to me, tablehopper covers the inner-​workings of the SF food industry, so you get notice of restaurant openings when they actually open, not when Michael Bauer gives them an arbitrary three stars and you can never get a reservation thereafter.
Definitely for food adventurists who can form their own opinions, but don’t mind a little help keeping track of all the hubbub in our city’s most dynamic creative milieu.

In my job I have to keep up with the latest in Bay Area restaurants. Why? I could be asked at any minute to book at table for 6 at the hottest, coolest place in town, but one that is still quiet, and the food is not too spicy, has valet parking… any number of specific requests.
Subscribing to Marcia Gagliardi’s weekly tablehopper e-​newsletter and website, with late breaking restaurant gossip (new restos, closing, new chefs/​owners, breakups and make ups), a wine column, special events listings and industry job postings helps me stay ahead of the game. With Unilocal I’ve been able to eliminate every other source (Zagat, Chron, random blogs) except
Did I mention that Marcia’s writing style is witty and engaging? And that yes, her newsletter gets delivered to your inbox every Tuesday unless she’s gotten distracted by something like, oh, Burning Man, or overindulging in New Orleans. My kinda gal.