Holy wow – this year Julia Child would have been 100 years old. Her contribution cannot be taken lightly, so Jennifer James and her able crew at Jennifer James 101 are taking charge and holding a bunch of events guaranteed to put a happy purr in your tummy.

This is the basic lineup: Saturday the 11th will be a special Community Table (normally these are only on Tuesdays!).

On Sunday, August 12: cocktail party   5-7pm   $50pp

Here’s what they are serving:
cured salmon, meatballs, oysters, stuffed eggs, puffy things, peanuts…and more…

And finally, the big party:

august 15    birthday party     6pm   $100pp 
hors d’oeuvres | champagne
wild dungeness crab | bourgogne blanc
roast duck & parsnip boats | bourgogne rouge
los gatos gâteau cake | sauternes
mignardise | coffee

Find all the rest of the details and more importantly, make a reservation, at Jennifer James 101′s website.

La Hacienda in Old Town is (“temporarily”) kaput. Pretty much every time I see temporarily on a close notice, it’s for good. Sorry.

Apparently we don’t grow enough of our own chile here…. that’s a shame. “The New Mexico Chile Association said countries like China are trying to corner some chile markets. Currently, imports account for 82 percent of the U.S. consumption of chile, officials said.”

El Pinto gets vote as best New Mexican restaurant. That is, by New Mexico magazine. Pretty durn cool.

And….. after a much hyped waiting period, the former Bumble Bee’s Baja Grill has been taken over by yet another set of Santa Feans and again as a Mexican joint with tacos and such. It’s owned by Mark Kiffin of The Compound. The Compound. That’s serious cred.  I hope that Zacatecas Tacos & Tequila does ok, in the end. The talent is certainly there, but is the execution?  (And that “Z” looks a little too much like the Getrude Zachary Z…. or is that just me?)

Nothing in the restaurant biz is static. Places close, places open, people quit, people walk in and save the day. It happens so often that it seems almost like a big family that just rotates Thanksgiving dinner each year.  Imagine you work at a copy store, and you knew a lot of other people who worked at other copy stores all over town – doesn’t matter which company. And every year or so, half the copy store employees are working at some other store than where they previously did, almost randomly.  That’s kind of how chefs move around – it’s strange to everyone on the outside, and just the pecking order or the way to get by if you’re one of them.

That’s all a long way of saying that less than six months after Casa Vieja closed, the main gastronomic mind behind the kitchen is now in a new kitchen at Desert Fish just east of Nob Hill. Given that Desert Fish has impressed me mightily, I have to check out what Josh Gerwin is going to do with the place. And of course, I’ll have to find out where or where the previous chef/owner went.  I can barely keep tabs on these folks!

Here’s the short scoop, over at Larry’s website: Josh Gerwin rises again!

The wine and cocktail mistress from Casa Vieja is also branching out – rumor has it that the talented Kate will be emerging into a new venture. When I know, you will, too!

….. but I do.  Let’s round up some of the latest restaurant gossip, shall we?

Firstly, I did not know that former co-founder of Relish was Chef de Cuisine at Artichoke Cafe. Go, Tony Nethery!

Next, Nob Hill is abuzz with openings, closings, and speculation. A new spot should be coming in where Bumble Bee’s was – called Z, and owned by the Street Food Asia folks. And, Andre’s quietly closed. Did anyone even eat there, aside from the one horrible Urbanspoon review?

And mentions do pop up about people that eat here and love it, like this one about Perea’s.