Tuesday’s at Anthology feature chef Eric Bauer doing his own riff on American classic foods such as mac and cheese with braised pork and  pale ale seafood and chorizo chowder.  The pocketbook friendly “fresh vibe” menu changes every week to complement the house band’s music.

Downtown restaurant watchers will be happy to note that Bice, will open late October.  It is the latest location for the worldwide restaurant group that began 70 plus years ago as a small neighborhood eatery in Milan.  The  Northern Italian menu–well-known in New York, Orlando and Los Angeles (Cafe Med on Sunset)–will feature local ingredients.

Point Loma will soon have a wine bar in the hood, half a block from Roseville, Pomodoro and Old Venice.  Look for the Wine Pub to open in the next couple of months.  Details soon.

October marks the 14th annual Chefs Celebration series of dinners to benefit scholarships for culinary students.  Every Tuesday in October, including one in September (29), you can eat five course meals created by five chefs (each week a different venue and chefs) for just $65 ($35 goes to the scholarship fund). Pamplemousse hosts the September meal with guest chefs Jason Kniebb (Nine-Ten), Jeff Thurston (Prado) and Jim Phillips (Barona).  On October 6, Terra hosts Norma Martinez (El Vitral), Katie Grebow (Cafe Chloe), Danny Bannister (Red Marlin) and Amy DiBiase (Roseville).  Good dinners for a good cause.

Love wine?  If you missed Fifty Seven Degrees downtown–with its wine bar, wine storage and wine sales–fear not.  Roughly November 1, they will reopen on Hancock Street, right off the freeway at Washington Street in what was the Pier 1 Import store.

Look for the new location to have a wine bar, retail sales, increased wine storage (from 120,000 to 600,000 bottles) and cheese shop.  Should you know anyone who’d like to open a restaurant in some adjoining space, it’s available.  The renderings of the interior look exciting and it will certainly be a go-to spot for wine aficionados.  For those who follow wine sales personnel, Bryan Ferris,,  who ran The Wine Bank before it was sold, is a part of the team.

At the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival , November 18 to 22, you can taste wine at one of the events called Wine in Style.  You’ll also be able to eat yourself silly with more than 170 wineries, 70 San Diego restaurants and celebrity chefs cooking up a storm. Money raised during the event goes to American Institute of Food & Wine scholarship fund.

For those of you who have enjoyed the food at California Cuisine under the 25 year ownership of  Dean Kalamaras, there’s a big change coming soon.  Buzz spoke with Kalamaras who confirmed that he sold the Hillcrest restaurant and the last supper was Saturday, August 29.  The new owners, an Italian group with two restaurants in Torino, Italy will reopen in about a month and a half with a new name, Benissimo , and redone interior.

Kalamaras will continue his catering business at the Cypress Room down the street at 3665 Park Boulevard, 619-543-0790.  For those of you who follow chefs, Chris Walsh worked at California Cuisine before moving on to open Cafe W, Confidential and his current Bite watch tripping the rift the movie in divx

, on University, just a few blocks from his former employer.

San Diego’s  food scene brims with people, events, foods and restaurants that support the growing worldwide awareness of how we eat, where our food comes from, and how those decisions impact the environment, jobs and health.  Savvy eaters in San Diego know about:

***Tender Greens in Liberty Station takes urban farming quite seriously and can now boast they get heirloom tomatoes and other seasonal vegetables from retired lawyer Paul Reeb who turned to gardening as a hobby.  He grows produce exclusively for the restaurant  and what’s really unique is that Reeb’s garden is about five blocks from the restaurant so cooks can pick every morning.  How fresh is that?

***Slow Food Urban San Diego and their monthly “metro socials” that expose us to local farmers, local artisanal ingredients, classes and lots more.  Get on board with the organization at two upcoming events.  If you’ve wondered what former Union-Trib restaurant critic Maria Hunt is up to, you can join her at JSix on August 26 for a book signing.   She’s authored The Bubbly Bar–cocktails specifically geared to the use of sparkling wines. Mark  September 7 for their community potluck for the Slow Food national campaign to get better school meals nationally and here in San Diego.

***Support the environment and check out Manivela Delivery, the first bicycle driven food delivery service in San Diego. They specialize in restaurants that do not already deliver and serve the  serve the center of San Diego nearest Balboa Park, but look forward to expanding out in the coming months. For more information: 619-512-FOOD.

***You’ve likely seen Peace Pies booth at many of the farmers markets. Now they’ve opened a  small restaurant just up the street from OB People’s Organic Food Market on Voltaire.  Peace Pies features delectable savory and sweet foods–I love their cinnamon rolls–everything they make is gluten free, raw, vegan and very very good.  Open Tuesday to Saturday for lunch.  619-618-6960, 4230 Voltaire,  San Diego.

***Local farmers sell at many of our 39 weekly farmers markets.  If you can’t get to the market, get a box from one of the eight Community Supported Agriculture farms. The cost of a weekly box of local, fresh, seasonal produce could cost a lot less than a trip to the supermarket.  Buzz has been a  Garden of Eden Organics supporter for two years and loves the seasonal variety (and convenience) of the box of goodies.

***Get smart about our food supply and see the movie Food, Inc.  And then catch Julie and Julia for the delightful story of Julia Child who opened the world of cooking on television in 1963.

If you’re in the market for a restaurant space, Modus in Bankers Hill quietly closed its doors. The space is for lease along with La Vache in HIllcrest.  For information:  858-792-5521.

Also with a “not in service” phone:  Lucky Buck’s in Hillcrest. CORRECTION: Drove by there today, and the new owners as of June 1 have had a devil of a time getting that phone number changed.  They are open and the number is 619-487-9379.

French 101 opens in the old Hard Rock space in La Jolla.

Winesellar & Brasserie’s new chef Matt Smith is slowly updating the menu and we’re hearing regulars are happy for the change.

Want to be the next star on the Food Network?  If so, there is an Open Casting Call in San Diego on Monday, August 17th, 2009 at the W Hotel.   They are looking for people who are full of life, passionate about cooking, and knowledgeable about food to meet in person at the open casting call. You can be a chef, home cook, caterer or culinary enthusiast to answer the call from 12pm-5pm at the W San Diego, 421 W. B Street, San Diego, CA 92101.  Questions:  nfns6sd@yahoo.com

You’re missing out on some great food events if you’ve not heard of Cooks Confab a group of  fourteen local chefs.  All are passionate about cooking and believe in the farm to table concept as well (they give a portion of event proceeds to Slow Food Urban San Diego.  Recently Stingaree’s executive chef Antonio Friscia hosted local craft beers paired with morsels by the chefs. It was a fabulous tasting walkabout. Their next event is Pig, on October 4  with executive chef Paul McCabe at Kitchen 1540.  Reservations at 858-793-6460 and the cost is $90.

San Diego Restaurant Week starts September 13 and runs until the 18^th.  It’s a good time to try new places (you’ll have 180 to choose from) and, depending on the restaurant, tasting menus priced at $20, $30 or $40 (plus tax and tip).

Cooks Confab, is a collection of fourteen chefs in San Diego who  cook together every so often.  Their next event is “Craft Beer:  Grain to Glass, Farm to Table” and promises (as their events always are) to be a knockout at Stingaree.  On August 9, some of the food and drink you can expect for your $90 (a portion of which goes to Slow Food Urban San Diego) includes:  Lightening Brewery, Green Flash Brewing Company, AleSmith Brewing Company to go with food from the confab chefs  (Katie Grebow, Cafe Chloe; Amy DiBiase, Roseville;  Jeff Jackson, A.R. Valentien; Andrew Spurgin, Waters Fine Catering, among others).  For reservations:   619-544-9500 or online at Stingaree.

Over at one of the nicest venues in San Diego, Eno at the Hotel Del begins the week with bubbles.  Every Monday, all sparkling wines will be half price, all night (5pm to 11pm)  including bottles, flights and glasses.  What a great way to start the week and watch the sunset…

Wine tasting and dinners abound so be sure to check out The 3rd Corner, Wine Vault & Bistro, Winesellar & Brasserie, three places known for good wine shops as well.  We’re hearing Cucina Urbana sells wine at the restaurant for a small corkage fee.

And if you want to meet fellow food lovers, get on the email list for Slow Food Urban San Diego so you can go to one of their monthly mixers…meet local chefs and taste local artisan foods.

We’re hearing there’s a soon-to-open modern French restaurant somewhere downtown.  Could it be an outpost for the well-regarded one in Santa Luz ?  Chefs are auditioning and one name that we’ve heard about is  Aaron Martinez  (who was at Addison, then flew to and quickly took flight from Flight).

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UPDATE:  The new name for this place will be PAON which means peacock in French...and due to open sometime in August.  Word travels fast these days and Per Se Restaurant & Wine Bar Carlsbad could have a name problem on their hands.  As noted in a previous post, Thomas Keller got the name first with his well-known eatery Per Se in New York.  Apparently Mr. Keller has voiced displeasure with the Carlsbad wannabe.  We’ll see if there is a name change in the works.

Moving on:  Chef Wade Hageman, has left Blanca in Solana Beach to pursue a location of his own. He hopes to stay in San Diego.  Buzz will keep you posted.

Open for business: Burger Lounge (a Buzz fav) in Little Italy, across the street from Indigo Grill.  It is their fourth location (La Jolla, Coronado and Kensington round out the list).

Cucina Urbana:  Newly named, with a new menu and concept at Fifth and Laurel.  Food pals who recently dined there said atmosphere is fun; food working out the kinks.  Haven’t been, but do wonder why food and service kinks are not worked out before opening to the public, especially with a well-known restaurateur like Tracy Borkum (and others who seem to have the same issue).

Corvette Diner & Gamers Garage finally opened in Liberty Station.  On a recent Monday night, the wait for a table was an hour and a half…gotta love those burgers.  Tiny bar area. Lots of noise and very loud music; lots of  games in a separate area (kids and adults in that area) and an oddly darker dining area that seems a bit more civilized for eating. Oodles of parking and bring your patience while you wait for a table. We didn’t choose to wait.

Had a chance to lunch with out of town friends at Enoteca Style on India Street between Ash and Beech.  Well-priced paninis, and flavorful and inventive salads.  Loved the soba salad with ahi and a Caesar with fresh corn and grilled chicken cut into bite-size pieces.  Interesting wines and happily sold in 3 ounce pours if you so desire.

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