Mike Sutter Eats in the Dark; The Chronicle on Backspace

Mike Sutter with The Statesman starts out intending to write a restaurant-style review of both the Alamo Drafthouse (during an 80s rock sing-along, no less) and Gold Class Cinemas, but instead gets philosophical: "Given the three main senses with which we engage food - taste, smell and sight - food loses a third of its allure when you can't see it. And by the dusty light of royal interiors or the vampire noir of a Meat Loaf video, it's just shadow puppets and finger food." No number score for either. [Statesman]

Over at the Chronicle, Kate Thornberry seems to have had a better time at Shawn Cirkiel's Backspace than Sutter did last week, calling it "about as authentically Italian as you can get without hopping on a plane." Wes Marshall checks in with Zoot's new takeout options: "Zoot is offering folks a chance to get all the quality and care the kitchen normally provides and to take home wholesome, tasty food for about the same price as an anonymous chain place." [Chron]

[Photo: tibbygirl / Flickr]