When I order an entree at a restaurant, I always shy away from the steak and order the risotto. My rationale is simple - I can make a steak 85 percent as good at home, but my risotto is never as good as it is in the restaurant. Well, if I'm ordering based on what has the lowest markup on the raw materials, I'm 100 percent wrong. Reports Stacy Finz in the SF Chronicle:

Then there are the items that restaurants practically have to give away to get diners in the door.

"That big rib-eye steak is a loss leader," said Chad Newton, culinary director for Klein's FK Restaurants and Hospitality, a national foodservice group. "You have to put it on the menu. But you can't charge the $40 at which you should price it."

Newton said Dungeness crab is another one of those items likely to be a dining bargain.

"It's always expensive" wholesale, he said. "But in San Francisco you have to have it on the menu during crab season, even if you just break even."

Because seafood and beef prices have soared, most restaurant owners are sucking up the price.

In short, order the beef or the seafood and get a good deal. Save the pasta for something you make at home.

Read the entire article in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Other News:

Blue Prynt: From brew to blue - Hopefully, Blue Prynt is a blueprint for success. Tucked next to the Best Western Sutter House on H and 11th streets, its somewhat oblique location has been star-crossed for previous eateries. Among past incarnations, most recently it was Sofia, previously Nine Dragons and, eons ago, the Bull Market. Blue Prynt—the “Y” is a martini glass—is Jason Lockard’s establishment. Lockard is the former chef at Brew It Up a few blocks away at H and 14th streets. Aside from the novelty of brewing one’s own brew—and an eclectic collection of same on tap—superlatives for Lockard’s previous place of employment falter. Greg Lucas in the Sac News & Review.

Land Ocean restaurant opens in Folsom; we take a first look - Though it's been only 18 months since Mark and Karoline Platt opened their impressive Sienna restaurant (formerly Masque) in El Dorado Hills, just last Monday they welcomed the first customers into Land Ocean, their "new American steakhouse" in Folsom. Allen Pierleoni in the Sac Bee.