Bo-beau kitchen + bar gets everyone’s attention because it’s the latest Cohn venue housed in the redone Thee Bungalow in Ocean Beach.   If you like the French-inspired casual bistro interiors of Philippe Beltran (Vagabond and Bleu Boheme), you’ll find his third variation here where the many rooms are filled with all things old French.  Beltran’s got a whimsical sense of decorating humor:  Sit in the noisy bar and look up at the ceiling where you’ll see a huge canvas painting of a woman in white laying on a bed, legs seductively apart–Buzz hears the piece depicts a French prostitute.  Love the huge mirror on the far wall of the bar.

Two visits gave us hits and misses with the food that left us wondering how much young chef Katherine Humphus (trained in Paris) gets to assert her mark on the menu.  One imagines it can be difficult especially when the Cohn group of restaurants is known for less than stellar food that aims to please a tourist/convention diner.  Of the hits, try the very classic and good onion soup ($7) or the calamari fritti (watch the cherry pepper pieces that are spicy hot and fried with the tender squid that includes tentacles) that come with a zippy tomato/caper dipping sauce that could be the base for caponata ($9.50). Six escargots stay in the shell bathed in butter and garlic, a classic preparation though more garlic would give it a boost of flavor ($10.50)

Not impressed with the bland chicken fricassee with Brussels sprouts that needed more mustard (or Champagne) as the sauce promised ($17).  Flatbreads are more like pizza, thick crusted and baked as a rectangle, cut in fingers–ours touted chorizo and Serrano ham…flavors that got lost with the cheese and marinara sauce ($12).  An appetizer featuring crispy Brussels sprouts, pancetta, Parmesan with a balsamic glaze came with very al dente and not so crispy sprouts ($7).  And some (though not Buzz) like the cute idea for serving–in a brown paper bag– Sadie Rose sliced bread for the table.  Dinner from 4pm, 4996 W. Point Loma Blvd., Ocean Beach, 619-224-2884.

**All three locations of The 3rd Corner (with the very cool redesigned website…) now offer happy hour from 3 to 6pm in the bar only, Tuesday through Saturday.  Note the three venues are closed on Monday.

**That venerable group of local chefs known as CooksConfab will host Camp Confab, a sleep-over at Susie’s Farm in Imperial Beach on September 11 and 12.  Dinner and breakfast the next morning will be prepared by many of the confab chefs.  And you will be able to participate in harvesting, cleaning and preparing the produce from the farm.  Sounds like a hoot with a host of activities that include guest appearances and tastings from such luminaries in their field as Gina Frieze from Venissimo Cheese, MIHO Gastgrotruck, and beers from Lost Abbey and master brewer Tomme Arthur and evening cocktails (after you help harvest) with mixologist Ian Ward of Snake Oil Cocktail Co. Lest you think it’s all veggies, the protein part of the meal is barbacoa of local goat and stick fire roasted local fish.  There’s lots more for the $225 per person. Reservations are limited and so, at 9am September 1, get on the CooksConfab website to register.  100% of the proceeds go to Slow Food Urban San Diego.

**Jeff Rossman, owner/chef of Terra Restaurant, a hidden gem in Hillcrest (on Vermont near the east side of  Trader Joe’s), has finished his cookbook, From Terra’s Table.  Just in time for a holiday gift, the book publishes in November and sells for $32.95 online and at bookstores.  The focus is on Jeff’s passion for local ingredients and the many farms and vendors that supply his restaurant.  You can receive a 20% discount as a foodbuzzsd reader when you buy the book online here and use the code foodbuzzsd20 .

**Gordy’s Bakery sounds yummy and a place Buzz needs to try as she travels the 5 back and forth to LA.  Just east off the freeway at Encinitas Boulevard in the Smart & Final center.  Owner Gordy is born and raised in Encinitas and had a wholesale bakery business years ago.  Sold the business and took a break and worked at the Running Shoes store and trained the track team at San Dieguito Academy.  He has now gone back to his love of baking and has opened a retail bakery in the previous Baskin-Robbins space.

Red Leight isn’t a district but is a cleverly named and bottled Rosé.   The vineyards are in Malibu on 37 acres  and they have been producing since 2006.  Howard Leight created Red Leight which is under the Malibu Rocky Oaks Estate Vineyards label that produces award-winning Cabs along with a Syrah and Merlot.  Buzz was lucky enough to taste the Rosé and Syrah along with San Diego’s top sommeliers, wine directors and distributors–and the wines are notable.  You can purchase online at their website and soon (we hope) will have distribution here.

Just opened, Sessions Public, an odd name for a new contemporary place sandwiched next to the retro Catalina Bar at Voltaire and Catalina.  The tavern style food is good and if the Cat Bar (as the locals refer to it) is too retro, the restaurant’s  long skinny contemporary room features  a full bar to go with the eclectic yet approachable food.  There’s a mystery consulting chef who created the menu that includes an additive bowl of tender crispy chicken oysters ($9), duck confit with an Asian flair of udon noodles ($17),  Nueske bacon tempura lollipops ($8),  short rib sliders ($11) and lobster-scallop cioppino ($20). Happily, most of the menu is $15 and under.  Four of us feasted well though we weren’t impressed with the miniscule serving of Serrano ham and artisan bread ($6).

Buzz wonders if the mysterious consulting chef at Sessions Public  could be Jason Maitland who had been at Arterra for ages…until the axe fell on him and others of the dining management team.  Maitland, is  teaming up with Jerome Astolfi who just left the front of the house at Market Restaurant + Bar in Del Mar to become the general manager at Flavor.  They will open late summer in the old Epazote Steakhouse in Del Mar Plaza.