Some observations from readers and Buzz…feel free to comment.

If you experience issues with your meal or service, please don’t wait til you leave or, as happened at Farm House Cafe, write an anonymous two page scorching letter about the scallop dish they ate.  Had Olivier Bioteau, the chef/owner been aware at the time of the meal, he could have replaced the errant dish and could have dealt with the diner at the moment.  By not expressing (nicely, by the way) the problem when it happens, everyone loses.  And, restaurants and their owners always like to hear good comments also. (Side note:  Farm House Cafe will be closed Labor Day weekend from Sunday dinner to reopen for dinner on Wednesday, September 8).

Shishito peppers seem to be the current darling of local chefs.  The summer pepper is small and thin-skinned, not really hot and usually served in Japanese restaurants as an appetizer (peppers flash fried in a tiny bit of oil and cooked to just barely scorch the skin, then served with sea salt or topped with bonito flakes).  Buzz ate them at Searsucker (called so over cleverly “no shoshiito schoos”)  and heard from a reader about them at Bali Hai.

Trader Joe’s now carries coconut water, a good mix of electrolytes, with no additives that Buzz can attest, tastes good.  It comes from the water of green coconuts and is considered to be quite a healthy drink.  If you’d like to buy fresh green coconuts and coconut trees, check out Florida Coconuts, a company that grows and ships the coconuts nationwide.

The New York Times Op-Ed piece, Math Lessons for Locovores is worth the read and certain to provoke discussion.  If you’ve not encountered an interesting site called Grist, it has a good vitural roundtable discussion addressing this Op-Ed story.

In the world of food, let’s face it, there’s a lot of junk, stuff that kids grow up on because their parents can’t figure out how to cook a simple breakfast, or in this particular case, can’t put bread in a toaster and then top it with any and everything from peanut butter and jelly to a fried egg and bacon.  Instead, they eat Pop-Tarts that are practically a faux food created 40 plus years ago by food giant Kellogg.  These sugary things that many consume for breakfast or snacks now have a brand store.  Yep, a store with everything Pop-Tart(ed).  Should you find yourself in New York’s Times Square, you can indulge a sugar craving at the first Pop-Tarts World store located at  128 West 42nd St.  The New York Times gives you the rest of the story.

Point Loma’s Roseville abruptly closed last week.  Various issues seem to be at the heart of the restaurant’s sudden turn.  We’re hearing that owner George Riffle is trying to work with the landlords but might possibly relocate the restaurant.  So, as with all things in life, it’s a fluid, changing situation.  Stay tuned.

It may be early to think about school, but a group led by Alice Robertson and Caron Golden launched the second annual Food 4 Kids Backpack Program that provides food and backpacks for low income elementary kids at risk for hunger, especially on weekends.   NBC San Diego is their partner and they will donate the equivalent of the 7% cut First Giving takes so food4kids gets all the monies raised.

If you don’t want to donate money, then get to the August 21 Little Italy Mercato and donate neutral black or red backpacks (no logos, please) and kid-friendly non-perishable food. And there’s a raffle to boot on Saturday with swell items.

Or you can eat  at more than 40 restaurants this month and choose the “Dollar a Dish” item that features a specific dish for which the restaurant  will donate $1 every time it is ordered during the month. For a list of the restaurants and their dishes, go to San Diego Foodstuff.

Buzz donated…how about you?