Chez Panisse

NEWS Sources: San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times, Grist.org

Martha, Martha, Martha!
Alice Waters plans to sell Chez Panisse to Martha Stewart

Fresh-food guru Alice Waters is retiring from the restaurant biz, with plans to sell her famed Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley to none other than ... Martha Stewart. "It's been a good run for me, and I'm excited about the restaurant's future," says Waters, who turns 65 years old this month. "Having the oomph of the Martha Stewart brand behind local and seasonal food will be thrilling." Um, yes. Thrilling. Stewart, whose media company recently acquired the rights to TV chef Emeril Lagasse's franchise, assured through a spokesperson that while "[w]e are considering changing the restaurant's name to Chez Martha ... the dining experience will remain much the same." Waters plans to focus her now free-er time on her Edible Schoolyard project at a Berkeley elementary school.

if only that would help chez panisse