Hold on to your hats. Guess what the latest trendy beverage is at the hippest of temples of California cuisine? Tap water. Carol Ness of the San Francisco Chronicle writes,At a small but growing number of sustainably inclined Bay Area restaurants, bottled water has become as much of an outcast as farmed salmon and out-of-season tomatoes. Instead of bottled water, diners now are served free carafes of -- gasp! -- tap water. It's filtered and comes still or sparkling, fizzed up by a soda-fountain-style carbonating machine.Presidents, prime ministers and potentates have dined at Berkeley's temple of gastronomy, Chez Panisse. It happens to be in my neighborhood, so I occasionally catch a glimpse of the likes of Bill Clinton or Prince Charles stopping by to sup on the food there, which, I have to admit, is uniformly excellent. Chez Panisse is both a restaurant and a movement: organic, local, fresh, and preferably small (as in baby vegetables). The key buzzword for the past few years has...(Read Full Post)