FOOD
From Berkeley to Paris to the home kitchen
When a chef who has run the downstairs kitchen at Chez Panisse off and on for 25 years writes a cookbook, the food cognoscenti are bound to pay attention. When that author is David Tanis, a man as famous for dinner parties in his Paris apartment as he is for his professional credentials, the home cook’s ears should perk up as well. In his first solo book, A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes (Artisan, $35), Tanis offers 24 menus, 6 for each season of the year, with influences that bounce from North Africa to Provence to China to Italy. They all feed 8 to 10 people, but are so straightforward that they can easily be adapted for fewer—or more. If Tanis is embarrassingly fond of trumpeting the joys of peasant food (even peasants don’t want to eat like peasants), it’s difficult to argue with such vibrant dishes as cherry tomato and ricotta crostini, duck hams with lentils, and roasted-pepper salad with capers and olives. So call up your friends, break out the plates, and start cooking.—Scott Hocker

MEDIA
"Dirty words still have the power to bite you in the ass."
—Ellen Sussman, editor of the recently published Dirty Words: A Lit­erary Encyclopedia of Sex. Chain bookstores are hiding the acclaimed compendium in their reference sections or simply won’t carry it; radio shows are squeamish about inviting Bay Area resident Sussman on air; and, to accompany its laudatory review, O, the Oprah Magazine featured the book’s cover with its collection of epithets blurred.



CITY LIFE
Gunning for the status quo
If—or when—the city shuts it down, San Francisco’s gun club (yes, there is one) will go out with a bang.

It’s a chilly summer day at Lake Merced. On a strip of concrete near the shore, a man in a vest and safety glasses nestles a shotgun into the small of his shoulder. He sights a clay disc lofted out over the lake and, a moment later, blows it apart. The air echoes with the dull clap of the gun.

Inside the worn, barrackslike clubhouse nearby, a few of the Pacific Rod and Gun Club’s 350 members drink coffee and discuss the past. Once upon a time, the 80-year-old club was a regular stopover for city pols and entertainment royalty: Ernest Hemingway shot here, as did actors Barbara Stanwyck and Rex Harrison. The stars are long gone, but the club remains a refuge.

“This place keeps me young,” says Walt Biondi, a lanky 90-year-old with a genial, Reagan-esque twinkle in his eyes. The son of a Calabrian teamster, Biondi was born in San Francisco and grew up with guns. As the club’s shooting instructor, he has schooled everyone from cops to former mayor Willie Brown. Biondi recently lost both his wife and his son; the club, he says, “is like my family.”

Biondi is worried about the club’s future worried about the club’s future. In 1999, a task force began paying attention to Lake Merced’s health, which had been declining for decades. The water was borderline toxic, its prized fish population was nearly wiped out, and the once stately boathouse had deteriorated so badly that most of it was condemned. The Public Utilities Commission was tapped to come up with a plan to restore the lake to good health and keep it that way. To that end, everything is up for reevaluation—gun club included.

Though the plan isn’t due until early next year, one item has been consistent throughout years of public meetings: Skeet shooting scored very low across the board for its potential environmental impact, its compatibility with other activities at the lake, and its overall popularity with users. That last conclusion might not be a surprise. After all, this is a city that voted to ban handguns in 2005—and while shotguns used for shooting skeet are vastly different from handguns used for killing people, most San Franciscans probably don’t make a distinction. “A lot of people have a hard time thinking of guns as something used for recreation, not for violence,” says Dee Dee Workman, former executive director of San Francisco Beautiful, a prime mover behind the restoration.

None of this has gone down well at the gun club. Fred Tautenhahn, a bullish ex-Marine in a Semper Fi jacket and black cowboy boots, has argued the club’s case at task-force meetings with martial fervor. He brushes off many of the complaints, such as those about noise. “If we’re gone, it’s not like the shooting will stop,” he says, pointing to the police range next door. “And they sometimes use machine guns.”

Ray Brooks, a 75-year-old club member who holds several national skeet-shooting records, isn’t happy either. But times have changed. “This used to be the countryside, just empty space,” he says, gesturing toward the surrounding hills, now studded with apartment blocks. Brooks appears in one of the oldest photos on the wall, as a seven-year-old sitting in the front row at a national shooting contest the club hosted in 1939.

The club has its defenders, such as a nearby apartment complex and the Chronicle’s editorial board, which has argued for a compromise. Whatever happens, the Pacific Rod and Gun Club won’t bow out quietly. “If we do get evicted, we won’t go with our tails between our legs,” Tautenhahn vows. “I’ve got plenty of ammunition—metaphorically speaking, of course.”—Chris Smith

POLITICS
$100,000
The cost of disarming one nuclear bomb—and, strangely enough, even the little people can help make it happen. Go to the S.F.-based Global Nuclear Disarmament Fund website and use PayPal to do your part—no six-party talks or handling of hazardous materials required. Your donation might even be tax-deductible. gndfund.org



THEATER
A dance legend brings teen angst to life
One of the most electric new musicals to appear on the Great White Way, Spring Awakening, is launching its first post-Broadway tour at the Curran Theatre this month. Based on a controversial late-19th-century play about repressed teenagers at a boarding school, the score is pure rock, and the characters yank microphones out of their pockets, turning their tortured psychology into set pieces from a concert. The show’s creators, Steven Sater and pop musician Duncan Sheik, are fond of touting the ways in which their labor of love is the antimusical. But we hate to break it to them: Characters bursting into song—bred by inner monologue or otherwise—are still characters bursting into song. Perhaps the true genius of Spring Awakening is renowned choreographer Bill T. Jones, brother of Bay Area theater stalwart Rhodessa Jones. When the show’s uniformed students break into a riot, flailing about the stage and decrying the injustices of the world in the anthem “Totally Fucked,” or sliding their hands up, around, and over their bodies, proclaiming their desire to have someone—make that anyone—“Touch Me,” Jones conjures the irrationality and promise of those visceral teenage years.—Scott Hocker
Sept. 4–Oct. 12, Curran Theatre, 445 Geary St., S.F., 415-551-2000, shnsf.com



FASHION
Linkin’ large
This fall, you won’t see any dainty microlink necklaces from years past. In their place are bold chains designed for the strong of heart. A couple of standouts are Henry Beguelin’s Inca necklace (above, outside), carved from a single piece of wood and wrapped in Karung snakeskin; and 49 Square Miles’ Maiden Lane chain (above, inside), which channels Sparta with hammered brass reminiscent of the film 300. Start practicing your fight moves, because these new shackles are fierce. Henry Beguelin: 3091 Sacramento St., S.F., 415-292-7559, henrybeguelin.com; 49 Square Miles available at Carrots: 843 Montgomery St., S.F., 415-834-9040, sfcarrots.com

HOME
Found and recovered
Let’s face it: Flea-market finds and thrift-store treasures don’t just fall out of the sky—and they’re usually more zirconium than diamond. That’s why Found is the ideal store for San Franciscans craving one-of-a-kind pieces. Owners (and interior designers) Caitlin Moran and Tyler Dawson visit countless flea markets, estate sales, and junk stores to find the crème de la tossed-away. The two possess qualities you may not have, like eagle eyes for furniture with potential, multistate scavenging opportunities, and an iPhone full of sources for upholstery, painting, framing, and rewiring. A recent trip to Found uncovered matching armchairs refurbished with elegant upholstery fabric; lamps transformed with new wiring and shades; and artwork that might look tacky stacked at a yard sale, but is designer-perfect dusted off and hung in this showroom. Sure, the hunt for hidden treasure is fun—but so is instant gratification. 1842 Union St., S.F., 415-248-6842

HEALTH
Eco-apothecary
Mix the herb- and nature-based remedies of naturo­pathy with the mass-market sensibilities of a large company, and you get medicine that’s easy to stomach. Husband-and-wife team Patti Cazzato (former executive at Gap and Levi’s) and Daniel Kalish (an alternative-healthcare expert) are putting a fashionable face on eco-lifestyles and natural medicine at Clary Sage Organics, their modern-day apothecary. In their store, you’ll find a remedy for what ails your body and soul, including chemical-free beauty lotions and potions, as well as natural medicines addressing everything from weight gain to fatigue. Not sure what you need? Never fear: The Clary Sage Wellness Advisors are there to help guide you through the color-coded supplements, teas, tinctures, and cleanse programs. The beautifully designed store makes the concept less woo-woo and more luxe, rendering it palatable even for the Pac Heights crowd. 2241 Fillmore St., S.F., 415-673-7300, clarysageorganics.com

SHOPPING
East Coast West
Maiden Lane is famous for its old-school women’s boutiques, alfresco dining, and, most recently, rockin’ menswear. Now we can add an East Coast icon to the list, when the new Tory Burch store opens this month. Rumor has it that ever since the boutique’s polished UPenn namesake brunched on the lane during a family trip, securing a spot on the styl­ish strip has become her idée fixe. At long last, Tory Burch will open the orange-lacquered doors of a 1,500- square-foot store—just in time for Indian summer. Fresh off the podium after receiving its CFDA Accessory Designer of the Year award, the house will offer its entire collection with—if not its I’s dotted—its golden T’s crossed. 50 Maiden Ln., S.F., 415-398-1525, toryburch.com

Contributors: Mary Jo Bowling, Gina Kessler, Mia Lipman, and Robin Wilkey