New season of Check, Please! features eateries from every corner of the Bay Area

12 new episodes launch Thursday, April 3, at 7:30pm on KQED 9.

Four additional new episodes feature
themed collections of restaurants from past seasons.

KQED foodie favorite Check, Please! Bay Area is back for its ninth season on Thursday, April 3, 2014 at 7:30pm on KQED 9. The 12-episode season features guests and eateries as diverse the Bay Area itself. With each episode of the James Beard and Emmy Award–winning program, three local diners are cast as restaurant critics and share their favorite spots — whether it be a popular food truck on-the-go, a high-end Greek restaurant in the South Bay or a nonprofit eatery that trains inner-city youth in San Francisco. Host Leslie Sbrocco (thirstygirl, The Today Show) leads the conversation adding humor and fun… but the question always remains: Will the three guests agree about their choices?

In every Check, Please! episode, each guest chooses their favorite place to eat and the other two guests visit anonymously — the restaurants are not notified that Check, Please! “reviewers” are dining there. After trying each other’s recommendations, they join host and moderator Leslie Sbrocco to discuss, dispute, and celebrate their dining experiences with lively commentary.

The series airs Thursdays at 7:30pm on KQED 9. The series also airs Sundays at 6:30pm on KQED Public Radio 88.5 FM, with the new episodes beginning on Sunday, April 6. Watch online and learn more about the featured restaurants at kqed.org/checkplease and connect with Check Please! Bay Area on Facebook and Twitter.

“This season will not disappoint,” assures Sbrocco, who shares her wine expertise with fun wine tips in each episode. “We have controversy, characters and loads of fun, as well as plenty of wine. Some of my favorite guests of all the seasons are on this year and the restaurants rock, too.” Check, Please! Bay Area Series Producer Tina Salter adds: “Each season, my respect and admiration deepens for the hardworking, dedicated owners and chefs of the eateries we visit. I walk out at the end of an evening of shooting, but they continue to work to make every diner’s experience a memorable one.”

Restaurants featured in the ninth season come from all corners of the Bay Area and include the food trucks Bacon Bacon and Señor Sisig; San Francisco’s Pläj Restaurant, Contigo, Paradiso, Old Skool Café, Perbacco, Paulie’s Picklings, The Little Chihuahua Mexican Restaurant, Maykadeh Restaurant, Baker Street Bistro, Old Jerusalem Restaurant, M.Y. China, Capo’s, La Mar, Shanghai House, 20 Spot, Cocotte and King of Falafel; East Bay’s Smoke Berkeley, Paradiso, Federicos' Tapas & Wine Bar, Zut! on Fourth, Pican, Masimo’s, Italian Colors Restaurant, Bistro Liaison, Pinole Creek Café, Lanna Thai and Luka's Taproom and Lounge; South Bay’s Evvia Estiatorio, Sakoon Chalet Ticino and La Costanera Restaurant; and North Bay’s Marin Sun Farms Butcher Shop & Restaurant, Murray Circle and Hana Japanese Restaurant.

New this season, Check, Please! Bay Area will release four additional episodes that bundles restaurants featured in past seasons around themes and cuisine. With personal introductions from Sbrocco, each episode will re-introduce old favorites to fans. The air dates and times for the themed episodes will be announced at a later date.

KQED thanks sponsors Integrated Resources Group, Subaru, Jamieson Ranch Vineyards, Oakland International Airport, Soy Vay and CARS.

ABOUT KQED
KQED Public Television, the PBS affiliate that serves Northern California, is one of the country’s most popular public television stations. It brings the values of public media to homes around the Bay Area with Emmy Award–winning programming that inspires, informs and entertains, including Masterpiece Classic: Downton Abbey, Masterpiece Mystery: Sherlock, American Experience, American Masters, Great Performances, POV, Independent Lens, NOVA and Nature. KQED produces local series like Check, Please! Bay Area, KQED NEWSROOM, San Francisco Opera, Truly CA and ImageMakers, as well as popular programs for national broadcast such as Film School Shorts, Essential Pépin and QUEST. KQED also distributes programming to public media stations across the country including The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, Roadtrip Nation and Joanne Weir’s Cooking School. For more information, please visit kqed.org/tv.