You’ve probably met a few writer types who say they don’t own a TV.Maybe you're even one of them. Well, I fully and shamelessly confess that my husband Kevin and I are bona fide addicts of The Office, and our TIVO never misses an episode of Top Chef. Our friends Dianne and Ben Fong-Torres are fans of the show as well, so when we asked them to suggest a place for our dinner get-together this week, they selected Mission Beach Cafe, where the Executive Chef is one Ryan Scott of Top Chef fame. If you’re in San Francisco, you should stop by, especially if you’re into corn. The food was delicious, the atmosphere intimate and casual, and, best of all, Ryan Scott is so much hunkier in person. D

On another note, Ben recently interviewed me for Backstage with Ben Fong-Torres. We talked about his role in NO ONE YOU KNOW, and about coffee, and about the once-promising Billy Boudreaux, who was a rock-star-on-the-rise with Potrero Sound Station in the seventies until his career was cut short by drug addiction. Ben spun a whole hour of tunes relating to NO ONE YOU KNOW and THE YEAR OF FOG. Think Townes Van Zandt and Cat Stevens with a little Rod Stewart thrown in for good measure. Listen to just the brief interview portions of the podcast here on my redroom page, or listen to the whole show, music and all, here (click on the link to the 7/13/08 show, Hour 2).