Tired of N.Y. vs. S.F Throwdowns? Hear from a Genteel New Yorker Tomorrow at Omnivore

North Point Press

He sees dead people.

​William Grimes is coming to town, presumably not to educate us tofu-brained San Franciscans about what constitutes real food. Before he started writing about dead people, Grimes was, of course, a legendary reviewer of restaurants for the New York Times. His first book concerned cocktails, their histories and associated lore; his latest tome, Appetite City: A Culinary History of New York (North Point Press, $30), examines the Big Apple's dining culture, from deluxe ice cream parlors to glitzy oyster bars, no-frills chop houses and today's hyper-marketed swirls of lofty concepts and multicultural fusion. If you give a fig, Grimes will be discussing this endeavor -- and perhaps signing a few volumes -- tomorrow at Omnivore Books (3885 Cesar Chavez at Church), 6-7 p.m.