THEN AND NOW: Evolution of St. Michael's Alley

Editor's Note: This is part two of a two-part series on St. Michael's Alley that began on July 6. St.

[Gay Clyburn]

St. Mikes in its current incarnation is one of my favorite Bay area restaurants. The cuisine is quite wonderful. The wait staff are attentive and professional, and the owners have created a warm place that consistently gets ranked in the Daily's "best of" issue as one of the most romantic restaurants in the area, and/or the place to go for Sunday brunch. This is just to say that St. Mike's is still a "happening place" in its own way. And plans are to open the new St. Mike's right around the corner. I've peeked in the windows and it's going to be an amazing place to dine. Things change, and in the case of the current St. Mike's and the new one opening soon, that change turns out to be a gift to Bay area diners.

[JW Marlatt]

What a shame. This lightly researched and vaguely written article does St. Michael’s Alley, your "bobo" readers, and even Palo Alto’s past a sad disservice, beginning with the title. "Then and Now?" Now is 2008, not 1994 when Vernon Gates sold St. Mike’s, as it is informally known. What has happened in the intervening 14 years? What do the current owners have to say about it now? It might still be a "pretty happening place," although quite different than the one described by Tom Wolfe in "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test." For instance, Chelsea Clinton enjoyed the place well enough to have her graduation party there; she even managed to get the President of the United States (known to some as "The Great Bobo") to attend....

I also found the almost-sneering, slightly condescending tone of this piece insulting: to me as a reader, as a local patron of St. Mike's, as a history buff, and as a writer/editor. I’m only glad I cannot be disparaged as a "bobo."