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First Look: Oakland’s Good Luck Gato revels in the fun of Mexican-Japanese cuisine

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:29 GMT

It’s hard to improve on the izakaya formula – a comfortable neighborhood joint with tasty bar bites, washed down with copious beer or bracing spirits. But chef Matt Meyer has given the genre a brilliant twist with Good Luck Gato, an “izakaya cantina” near downtown Oakland that blends the best of Mexican and Japanese cuisine.It’s eye-opening how well Meyer’s kitchen plays with the East-West flavors. A simple-looking taco is the menu’s blockbuster: It pairs a handmade tortilla with pork-curry sausage, ginger pico de gallo and a fried Jidori egg whose warm yolk collects in a wooden bowl for dipping. There is Mexican street corn boiled in dashi and slathered with uni-butter sauce – then topped with more fresh sea urchin – and a Choco Taco that will shatter your expectations for this bodega-freezer dessert.Left to right: Good Luck Gato owner Kyle Itani, chef/partner Matthew Meyer, beverage director/partner Daniel Paez (Nicola Parisi) Meyer was raised by Mexic...

10 tips to avoid a cooking fire this Thanksgiving

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:29 GMT

As people start their Thanksgiving cooking this year, please keep fire safety in mind, the National Fire Protection Association urges.Thanksgiving Day is the most common day for home cooking fires to break out in the U.S., according to the organization. On Thanksgiving Day in 2021, fire departments across the U.S. reported receiving about triple the number of daily home cooking fires compared to the daily average. (Christmas Day and Christmas Eve are the second- and third-most risky.)It’s easy to get distracted while cooking Thanksgiving dinner, but staying focused on what you’re doing and not leaving those pots unattended are critical matters of safety, says Lorraine Carli, vice president of outreach and advocacy at the National Fire Protection Association.“Thanksgiving is a hectic holiday with multiple dishes cooking and baking at the same time, along with lots of guests, entertaining and other distractions that can make it easy to lose sight of what’s on the sto...

Astronaut Frank Borman dies at 95; Apollo 8 commander helped pave way for 1969 moon landing

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:29 GMT

Associated PressBILLINGS, Mont. — Astronaut Frank Borman, who commanded Apollo 8’s historic Christmas 1968 flight that circled the moon 10 times and paved the way for the lunar landing the next year, has died. He was 95.Borman died Tuesday in Billings, Montana, according to NASA.Borman also led troubled Eastern Airlines in the 1970s and early ’80s after leaving the astronaut corps.But he was best known for his NASA duties. He and his crew, James Lovell and William Anders, were the first Apollo mission to fly to the moon — and to see Earth as a distant sphere in space.“Today we remember one of NASA’s best. Astronaut Frank Borman was a true American hero,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement Thursday. “His lifelong love for aviation and exploration was only surpassed by his love for his wife Susan.”Launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Dec. 21, 1968, the Apollo 8 trio spent three days traveling to the moon, and slipped into lunar orbit on Christmas...

Child sex offender convicted of crimes committed at Salinas church

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:29 GMT

(KRON) -- A convicted sex offender was living at a Salinas church when he preyed on a 14-year-old girl who attended church services, Monterey County prosecutors said. Jaime Tirso Ayala Jr., 47, of Salinas, was convicted by a jury this week of annoying or molesting a child. The judge noted that Ayala abused a position of trust at Family Christian Center, and he was on parole at the time he targeted the girl. Ayala is a registered child sex offender for a 1995 conviction, prosecutors said. He previously served prison time for committing a lewd act on a child younger than 14. "After his release on parole, the defendant began living in a room at the Family Christian Centerchurch in the city of Salinas. It was through this church that the defendant met Jane Doe, age 14,who was a member of the congregation. He began complimenting her appearance and asking for her phone number. Then he began following her around the church and touching her without her consent," the District Attorney's Off...

17-year-old arrested for stolen firearm with extended magazine in South SF

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:29 GMT

(KRON) -- A 17-year-old boy was arrested with a stolen firearm and a 15-round magazine Thursday night, according to the South San Francisco Police Department. South SF PD's Criminal Interdiction Unit conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle near Airport Boulevard and Miller Avenue. DA: Serial shoplifter at Westfield San Francisco mall denied bail The driver, police said, was on probation with search and seizure, and had prior firearm related arrests. There were three other juveniles in the car at the time of the stop.Officers patted down one of the rear passengers -- a 17-year-old boy -- and located the firearm loaded with the 15-round magazine in his front jacket pocket. The firearm, officers determined, was stolen out of Texas.The 17-year-old was arrested and booked at Hillcrest Juvenile Hall.

Victim swept into ocean at Point Reyes dies

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:29 GMT

(KRON) -- A victim died after being swept by waves into the ocean at Point Reyes on Friday. Marin County firefighters said they responded to reports of a person struggling in the water at 9 a.m. Big waves, including sneaker waves, were breaking along Marin County beaches at the time. Six rescue swimmers, four helicopters, and three rescue watercraft were deployed as emergency crews found the victim and pulled the person out of the ocean. The victim was pronounced deceased shortly after, firefighters said. The National Parks Service Point Reyes is investigating circumstances around the incident.

Column: College football keeps its head in the sand and winds up with a silly scandal

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:29 GMT

Those absurd signs they hold up on the sidelines — displaying everything from emojis to superheroes to Bluto from “Animal House” — show just how far college football is behind the times.Which makes the signal-stealing scandal at Michigan seem downright quaint.And so unnecessary.College football, which rakes in billions and billions of dollars like an insatiable Pac-Man (also coming to a sideline sign near you, we presume), should simply follow the NFL’s longstanding method of sending in plays.If the quarterback and a defensive player on each team had an electronic device in their helmets, we wouldn’t be dealing with this nonsense.The coaches would simply send in their calls through good ol’ technology, which actually dates to the mid-1950s when a pair of Ohio inventors came to innovative Cleveland NFL coach Paul Brown with a radio receiver they had developed. Instead, college football wound up with a thoroughly avoidable mess on its money-grubbing hands as Michigan, the ...

Henrik Lundqvist tops goalie-heavy Hockey Hall of Fame class set for induction Monday

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:29 GMT

TORONTO (AP) — Henrik Lundqvist knew the call — if it was indeed coming — would light up his phone in the early evening.The former New York Rangers goalie was home in Sweden. The Hockey Hall of Fame’s selection committee was busy in Toronto paring down its 2023 list.Lundqvist eventually saw a number he didn’t recognize.The only problem? It read “Spain.”“It just didn’t make sense with the caller ID,” Lundqvist recalled thinking back in June.Still, he decided to answer. Hall of Fame chairman Lanny McDonald was on the other end.The 2012 Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL’s top netminder headlines the class set to be inducted Monday night.“Very humbling,” Lundqvist said Friday at the ring ceremony. “A great feeling when you’re walking away from the game.”He will be joined by Mike Vernon, Tom Barrasso, Pierre Turgeon and Caroline Ouellette as part of a goalie-heavy player category. Former NHL coach Ken Hitchcock and the late Pierre Lacroix, who was both an agent and executive, will go in as...

Megan Rapinoe and Ali Krieger wrapping up careers facing each other for NWSL title

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:29 GMT

The National Women’s Soccer League couldn’t have scripted a better championship game matchup. OL Reign’s Megan Rapinoe and Gotham FC’s Ali Krieger will face off in the final professional match for both of the veteran stars on Saturday night in San Diego. The two-time World Cup winners are both retiring after long club careers. An NWSL title has eluded both of them so far. “With Ali, we’ve been through so much together. We’ve played in the biggest games together, played in world championship games together while the president was tweeting at us, so I feel in this moment we’re just happy to be together,” Rapinoe said. “I think we both wish each other so well. We’re so happy and proud of each other.”Rapinoe announced before this summer’s Women’s World Cup that she was stepping away from the game after a career that included two World Cup titles, an Olympic gold medal and an Olympic bronze.At the 2019 World Cup in France, Rapinoe scored six goals, inc...

New Guardians manager Stephen Vogt grateful to land ‘dream’ job, not trying to replace Francona

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:11:29 GMT

CLEVELAND (AP) — Through the ups and downs of Stephen Vogt’s playing career — the minor league demotions, two All-Star selections, injuries and too many moves to remember — he never lost sight of his goal to one day become a manager.For the kid who had a bat tucked into his baby crib and quickly fell for the game, the journey is complete.“I kind of always had the dream,” he said. “So it’s been a pretty fun day today.”A baseball lifer with a gift of gab, charming personality and uncanny ability to connect with people, Vogt was introduced Friday by the Cleveland Guardians, who didn’t need long to zero in on him as their choice in the search to find the successor to Terry Francona, the winningest manager in club history.And the same was true for Vogt, who following his initial meetings on Zoom calls with the team’s front office, sensed Cleveland was his destiny.“I really felt a connection with the Guardians,” he said. “I thought, I want to be there.”It didn̵...