This past week, Joy over at Confessions of a Restaurant Whore pointed me to a disturbingly addictive new site.

Based on official local inspections, CleanScores will tell you all the gory details about your favorite restaurant. It can tell you their cleanliness rating in current years, past years, and even give details about what Major, Moderate, or Minor violations the restaurant incurred. At this time, CleanScores is only dishing the dirt on San Francisco restaurants (lucky us!), but note that they have plans to cover more infracted ground.

Joy asked this question:

Riddle me this, though: why, oh why, is it a greater violation to have a few dirty utensils than it is to have rats and mice in your kitchen? I could give two shits if my chef is downing a beer while s/he cooks, but allowing roaches to throw a little party in the back room? Not cool, bitches, not cool. That's the health department's fault, though, not the fault of Clean Scores so don't hold it against them.

Seriously.

My burning question for CleanScores has to do with listing previous years/ratings: it appears that these years are clickable, which is great because I would love to see why Kokkari got a 75 in 2003 as opposed to their current 94, yet when I do click on the 2003 report, nothing happens. Is that a bug or a feature?

In the comments at Restaurant Whore, Sam pointed out that the same official information has been available online for awhile now. She's right, but it's a fairly clugey site and, well, with that clean *ding!* mark on the spoon, and the hip design, CleanScores makes health code violations so darn pretty!

BREAKING BEER AND BIKE NEWS

This Saturday, July 21st, is the 2007 New Belgium Brewing Company's San Francisco Tour de Fat. Bring your bike and bring your beer thirst to Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park and enjoy free admission, live music, beer, food, and all manner of bike events at this annual "bike rodeo."

All proceeds from the beer sales go to benefit the San Francisco Bike Coalition and the Bay Area Ridge Trails Council. Now doesn't that make your Fat Tire taste even better?

Labels: cleanscores, fat tire, health codes, new belgium brewing, restaurants, san francisco bike coalition, stephanie v.w. lucianovic, tour de fat

Akaka Falls, Big Island, Hawaii

I don't think I've disguised my deep and abiding love for all things New and Belgium when it comes to beer. I recently fell all over a coriander and bitter orange peel laced summer quaff called Mothership Wit Beer (New Belgium's first organic beer) and I do highly recommend that one as well, but I've got a bead on a fascinating new hot weather beer. Kona Brewing Company -- the self-same outfit that introduced my confused system to the awesomeness of coffee and beer -- has a new summer sipper out.

Wailua Wheat, coolly saronged by a bright, tropical label, is named for Wailua Falls on Maui's famed Hana Highway and brewed with tropical passion fruit. Or, if you're from the islands "lilikoi." Now, I'm not a fruit beer lover. I freely admit that I did the raspberry-blueberry-cherry beer thing in college, and they're probably the reason why the mere idea of fruit beers chokes my throat and offends my tongue. However, this is not what I would call a fruit beer. At least, not in the Boston definition of fruit beers.

The tart passion fruit in Wailua Wheat is neither sweet nor cloying, and its twangy edge matches as well with the crisp and hoppy wheat beer as a wedge of lemon in a cloudy pull of Hefeweizen. It's the heat and throb of the tropics crashing up against the centuries-old tradition of brewing and when the tide ebbs out, you're left with this icy bottle of exotic sunshine.

From the brewers themselves:

Wailua Wheat is an excellent beer to enjoy after a day on the water or at the beach (or even after mowing the lawn or playing softball in your "pau hana" summer league!). It typically pairs well with lighter fare like grilled fish and shrimp, roasted chicken, salads and Asian foods. Perhaps even a dish of vanilla ice cream.

I think I'll leave the vanilla ice cream for my Pipeline Porter, but I'm on board with the grilled shrimp idea. In fact, marinate the shrimp in this beer before grilling and see what happens.

You can find Wailua Wheat at BevMo.

Labels: beer, kona brewing company, mothership wit, new belgium brewing, passion fruit beer, pipeline porter, stephanie v.w. lucianovic, summer drinks, wailua wheat

In the spring, a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.
In the spring, a young woman's fancy lightly turns to thirsts for beer.

Tennyson might not have penned it, but the fact remains. At least for this young woman it does. (Frankly, I prefer "chick" or "girl" or if you want to be really Jerry Lewis about it, "Laayayayayayadeeeeee," because "young lady" sounds like my mom caught me out after curfew.)

The first warm waft we got that the world was turning mud-licious and puddle-lovely -- which came last month right before that blast of cold had us turning the heaters back on. You know, for the cats. -- I had this odd quirking in my mouth. My tongue felt dry and edgy and my throat was clicking in a greed for something cold, bright, topaz. Something fat. Something tire.

Whizzing by our neighborhood BevMo, we picked up a handy case of New Belgium's Fat Tire and chilled it. A few hours later and, for the first time in many months, I lovingly coaxed that smooth, cylinder out of the fridge and held it close and throttled, enjoying its cold weight.

With a crink! and a spliff!, I let loose my amber beauty and slid it into a gently curving glass. Nose to mouth, nose to soul, heart to lips, I breathed it deep. Yeast and sharp and quench and tang.

Cheese. Cheese? We interrupt this Harlequin Romance: She Bore All for Beer to bring you this breaking announcement: Cheese. Seriously, I started to quaff this amazing beer that brings the full, teaming rush of summertime to my mouth and all I could think of was, "I SMELL cheese! What IS this CHEESE?!" The beer didn't pass my parched, cracked, lusting lips. The beer didn't slide down my willing, hungering throat. I sniffed it. I smelled it. I damn near SNORTED it!

Finally, it came to me: Ardrahan! Gubbeen! St. Nectaire! Durrus! One of those cheeses was the soul mate -- the Ilsa to its Rick, the Rhett to its Scarlett, the Pacey to its Joey -- to this beer. My friends, it was clear that I couldn't revel in my spring fancy until I requited this pairing.

After testing each and every one of the pungent cheeses above, it became abundantly clear to me that Fat Tire was a slut. It had no "perfect mate," no desire to be monogamous, no real loyalty. It slopped as well with Ardrahan as it did with Durrus. And Gubbeen. And St. Nectaire. It was a bi-cheesal beer.

The tart, yeast-bosomed cheeses brought out all that was giving and sensitive in this simple beer. None of them were favored above another, but all of them were deeply loved.

The End.

Labels: ardrahan, cheese, durrus, fat tire, gubbeen, new belgium brewing, st. nectaire