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If you've never heard of the non-profit Creativity Explored, get ready to be impressed: for 25 years, the Mission-based arts collective has been providing adults with developmental disabilities a forum to produce and sell their own art work, to integrate with the greater Bay Area arts scene and, most of all, to become as independent as possible. To celebrate the quarter century mark and give props to co-founders Florence Ludins-Katz and Elias Katz, Creativity Explored is throwing a big honking dinner party at Foreign Cinema (2534 Mission at 21st St.) this Thursday, May 15. But what would a party at Foreign Cinema be without some movies? Local silver screen-obsessed, filmmaking drag legend Peaches Christ will preside over the festivities. The lineup includes a screening of clips from Ben Wu's 2007 Academy Award-Nominated documentary "Cross Your Eyes, Keep Them Wide," featuring artists from Creativity Explored, cowboy music by Chris Leone and the Spurs of the Moment (great name by the way), an auction of works by in house artists, and last but not least, a menu of small plates from the Foreign Cinema chefs and lots of wine, beer, and cocktails. $100 per person before May 14; $125 day of. For tickets visit www.creativityexplored.org or call 863-2108.

-- Brian Bernbaum

Holy fermentation Duff Man! The stars must be aligned today: not only is it the kickoff of San Francisco Cocktail Week, it's also the last day of World Cocktail Week, and the beginning of American Craft Beer Week. Now that we've established that alcohol has no lack of boosters, it's time for the party: Monk's Kettle (3141 16th St. at Albion) is celebrating American Craft Beer Week tonight at a Three-Course Beer DInner with a true representative of the American beer drinking community: Samuel Adams Brewer Grant Wood (no, not that Grant Wood). It promises to be a real education in the complexity and variety (and alcohol content) of craft brews. 6:00 p.m.; $50 per person. For reservations call 865-9523.

-- Brian Bernbaum

Around Town:

Following in the footsteps of San Francisco restaurant success stories Town Hall and Salt House comes the latest brainchild of Doug Washington and the Rosenthal Brothers: SOMA fish house Anchor & Hope (83 Minna at Second St.), which has gotten off to a perfect start since opening its doors a few weeks ago. The folks behind the scenes plan to keep it that way, as we found recently when we caught up with Washington and Mitchell Rosenthal.

"After Town Hall, the Eastern seaboard fish house concept took on a life of its own." Washington says. "We just set out right from the start to do it the way we always wanted to. We like that it's so well defined. For instance, our lobster roll is a true lobster roll; it's not some take on it. Nothing about Anchor & Hope is fusion. To be honest, it took some restraint. It's easy to let yourself get carried away, whether it's in the sign or the space or the menu."

Mitchell Rosenthal echoes this back-to-basics take: "When you keep the food really simple, there are basic things that make it great," he says. "That's what we've been focused on. Things like the fish batter for the fish and chips, which is so important; same with the temperature of the Fryolator. We're checking every day for that flaky, fluffy, crispy texture. We're tasting everything every day. When you cook dishes that are iconic, people have really strong opinions about them."

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It pays to get on every tiny local newsletter there is out there. Last night, Magnolia Pub and Brewery's Dave McLean sent out this missive, telling regulars the pub is closed for prettifying purposes -- and will be back open for dinner on the 21st. Full letter after the jump. --Janine Kahn

At long last, after a seemingly endless spring of preparation and planning, we’re closing tonight after dinner for nine days of remodeling. An incredibly talented team of artisans and craftsmen will show up tomorrow morning and dive headfirst into a variety of projects to make Magnolia look and feel better than ever. Some parts of this process have been underway for weeks and are just awaiting final installation, like the new bar and table tops built from wood salvaged from the original Levi Strauss building. Others, like extensive painting and restroom tiling, require a closed and quiet pub to commence. And a few projects will continue on over the next two months. . .

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Restaurant industry types take note: this Tuesday, May 13, the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion is hosting Restaurant Bootcamp, a daylong seminar devoted to helping the industry thrive in a changing economic (recession?) and media environment (blogs? social networks?), with an eye toward navigating the high business costs of running a restaurant, greater sustainability, a little motivation, and hopefully a few gourmet nibbles along the way. There's a seminar devoted to "Top Women Blazing the Restaurant Trail," a tequila seminar and tasting, and what appears to be the headline event, the "Create the Buzz Media Panel" featuring a roster packed full of local food and media luminaries including Anchor & Hope owner Doug Washington, Tablehopper's Marcia Gagliardi, Nish Nadaraja of Yelp and Liz Johannesen of OpenTable. Food media-licious. For registration and info. visit www.restaurantbootcamp.com.

-- Brian Bernbaum

As a huge fan of Korean cuisine in just about all of its myriad forms, I've been excited to check out the fiery, upscale Korean-Japanese hybrid creations dished out of the family-owned kitchen at Namu (439 Balboa at 6th Ave.) in the Inner Richmond, not least of all because I was curious to see how Korean food would play out in the more rarified air of 'fusion' so common these days to Japanese and Chinese cuisine. Can kimchee manage the jump from down-home staple to shi-shi accompaniment?

Follow the jump for the up close and personal ...

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I swore off combinations of booze and cream liquors shortly after my 21st birthday when a well meaning friend bought me my first and last Irish Car-Bomb. The sensation of curdled Irish cream rocketing forth from one's nose with great force is not quickly forgotten. But I've made an exception for The Knockout's root beer float. It's made with Kemper root beer, vanilla vodka, cream liquor and, of course, a cherry on top.

The problem with most novelty drinks is that they'll give you a cavity before they get you drunk, but this root beer float is not too sweet and it will get you hammered. Stop by The Knockout on Wednesday nights and you can have a float with cheap, delicious, not-at-all sketchy sushi prepared by local sushi wizard Tim Archuleta. Sharing root beer float + $4 dollar sushi rolls = Best Cheap Date ever. --Andy Wright

The Citrus Club is hands down my favorite joint in the Upper Haight. Those steaming hot shrimp wanton noodle bowls and tall glasses of Thai iced tea sit in this kid's belly at least once a week - usually closer to lunchtime since the restaurant is always packed come dinner.

Anyway, after months of looking at the amazingly overly-vandalized walls of their restroom (which I snapped on a whim in April), I walked in today and found that the Club's owners gave it a fresh velvety-red start. We'll see how long this lasts. See many more before-and-after photos after the jump. --Janine Kahn

Then:

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San Francisco Cocktail Week returns next week (May 13 - 19) with a whole slew of very cool booze-centric events scattered around some of the city's finest watering holes, and while it's hard to choose a favorite from the roster of events, next Saturday's "Literature, Booze, and History" discussion in The Salon at Hotel Rex (562 Sutter) seems uniquely poised to fulfill Cocktail Week's mission of honoring SF's "vibrant cocktail culture." The illustrious panel includes cocktail historian David Wondrich, author of Imbibe! and Killer Cocktails: An Intoxicating Guide to Sophisticated Drinking, local writer and bartender Jordan Mackay, and San Francisco Magazine's Scott Hocker. As a regular at the Make-Out Room's very own Writers With Drinks reading series, I can say from personal experience that you haven't really heard a writer talk about their work until you've heard him/her do it drunk. Maybe the most exciting part: guests will be treated to a version of the San Francisco classic Pisco Punch as interpreted by the mixologists at the excellent Cantina. It happens May 17 from 5:00 -- 7:00 p.m.; $30 per person. For reservations visit www.sfcocktailweek.com.

-- Brian Bernbaum

I know what you're thinking: Holy crap! Mother's Day is this Sunday! After you finish freaking out about how to thank the woman who brought you into the world (card? flowers? fancy bath soap?), you might want to consider taking her to one of the gazillion area restaurants offering special Mother's Day menus. One word: brunch! As always, OpenTable has lots and lots of ideas to choose from. Check out the a la carte brunch at Portero Hill's Baraka (288 Connecticut) featuring Lobster Tartine, Lamb Skewers, House Cured Salmon Gravlax, and French Toast. And for those of you who really love your mothers (kidding), check out the "luxury" three-course brunch at Campton Place (340 Stockton) for $58 per person or the special wine-paired lunch menu ($65) at Luce (888 Howard in the InterContinental Hotel) in SoMa. In any case, if mommy dearest lives nearby, you have no excuses.

-- Brian Bernbaum

It's that time of year again folks: This Saturday, May 10, marks the 15th Annual KFOG KaBoom! Get ready to wait in long lines, drink tons of beer out of plastic cups, listen to music, and (if you're still cognizant by the time the sun goes down) watch a huge fireworks display synchronized to loud rock 'n' roll. What could possibly be better on a Saturday?

Well, if you prefer your booze in a glass and your munchies a little more upscale (no offense hot dogs, I still love you), then you'll want to check out Waterbar Restaurant's KaBoom party. For $65 a pop, you can chow down on a ton of hors d' oeuvres and partake from a full cash bar while watching the festivities from the chic comfort of Waterbar's digs. Billed as the best spot in town for the fireworks, the party runs from 7 to 10 p.m. and the menu includes oysters on the half shell, prawn cocktail, pizza, gougere sandwiches, artichoke crab crostini (told you it was upscale), risotto fritters, salt cod fritters, gravlax, ceviches, tartare, and mini-meatballs. For tickets visit www.waterbarsf.com.

-- Brian Bernbaum

San Francisco's latest addition to the world of upscale yet laid-back Italian dining comes in the form of Uva Enoteca (568 Haight at Steiner) in the Lower Haight, which, despite being open only a few weeks, is quickly gathering a roster of loyal regulars. "We've been full since we've been open; a lot of neighborhood people are coming back multiple times," says owner Boris Nemchenok, who explains the inspiration for his new restaurant thusly: "[New York City's] Inoteca was part of it. But we all love Italian culture in general; the wine, the food, the way the dining experience is at enotecas in general. For us, it's all about finding that middle ground between a restaurant and a wine bar. People can come in, have a bottle of wine, eat some cheese. It's a really casual environment, but we're still very serious about the food and wine experience. It's something we wanted to bring to San Francisco." Nemchenok's menu favorites include the caponata ($4.50) and the Umbrian salumi from Napa's own Fatted Calf ($8).

Packing more than 100 different dishes, many of them exotic Sichuan specialties, into at least five different menus, Zone 88 (2428 San Bruno at Silver) in the Portola District is quickly gaining citywide attention as a place where even the most finicky Chinese foodhounds can find that special something. SF Weekly's Robert Lauriston headed straight for the infamously spicy Sichuan hot pot ($9.95-$16.95), a cook-it-yourself dish good for large groups. The adventurous gourmand won't want to miss the dry fried pig intestine tossed with chiles, scallions, garlic, and ginger, or the similarly prepared spicy tea-smoked duck ($8.95). Check out Lauriston’s full rundown in the latest issue of SF Weekly, on newsstands today.

Want to read the rest of the 7-Day Dish? Of course you do, so just hop on over and subscribe to the weekly email newsletter

Anyone been to SF's Asian Art Museum recently? Chinese artist Zhan Wang apparently has a fascinating stainless steel rendition of our fair city - made entirely of kitchenware:

Wang's exhibit will be on display until May 25. More photos here.

Hat Tip to David Pescovitz at Boing Boing. --Janine Kahn

The Mission's newest nod to upscale gastro-pubbiness, Monk's Kettle (3141 16th St) has provided a welcomed (to some) dash of sophistication to that crazy stretch of 16th Street between Guerrero and South Van Ness often referred to as the heart of the Mission. They certainly know their beer at Monk's Kettle. Pictured above is my personal favorite of the five or so draft brews I tried: Honey Bunny Blonde Ale out of Iron Springs Brewey. But do the hoity-toity munchies hold up as well as the beer?

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Monday getting you down already? Not to worry. Tomorrow night's Argyle Wine Dinner at Silks Restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel (222 Sansome at Pine) should help you loosen the workweek bolts a little. Hosted by Chris Cullina of Oregon's Argyle Winery with a special five-course menu prepared by Silk's Chef de Cuisine Joel Huff, this promises to be a highly refined, vino-fueled evening of merrymaking. And who couldn't use something like that to help get the week off to a good start? 7:00 p.m.; $150 per person. For reservations call 276-9787.

-- Brian Bernbaum