All Season Springs to Life, PIQ a-Booms Into Berkeley

By Jonathan Kauffman Wed., Sep. 15 2010 at 8:45 AM

Categories: Buzz Machine

The past 24 hours in gossip, innuendo, and cold hard facts about the San Francisco restaurant scene.

Paolo L. of Inside Scoop leads today's roundup with the news that the Diamond Heights Yet Wah has become All Season [no -s] Seafood Restaurant (5238 Diamond Heights Blvd., 282-8883, allseasonrestaurant.com). The menu, posted online, is 95 percent Chinese-American standards, but given the fact that the website is bilingual, that the name includes the word "seafood," and that many of the online photos depict dishes not listed on the English menu, one suspects that a second, much better Cantonese seafood menu awaits. Explore and report back to me, please.

Thrillist led the day's e-mail announcements with the news that a cafe named Pane Italiana Qualita, or PIQ (91 Shattuck, 510-540-7700, www.piqberkeley.com) just opened in Berkeley. The owner is Rufo Verga, with backers from Il Fornaio and Mr. Espresso. The pitch: pizzas, panini, and free use of an iPad.

Grub Street gets the tipoff that there's a restaurant named Latin Grill Express coming to 993 North Point. Somebody's been reading the liquor board applications again.

Eater SF notes that Skool has just launched a brunch menu, and points out (rightly) that the patio is one of the nicest in Potrero Hill.

Side note: SFoodie apologizes for the punnage.

Follow us on Twitter: @sfoodie. Follow me at @JonKauffman.