• After a long wait, Valencia Street is coming alive with multiple new businesses and restaurants, but Grub is already inspiring snark. [Mission Local]
• Baltic sea divers recently uncovered what is thought to be the world’s oldest drinkable Champagne, dating back to the 1780s, and apparently it still tasted “very sweet” with hints of oak and tobacco. [BBC, NYP]
• Even though they’ve already been open for a bit, Hooker’s Sweet Treats in the Tenderloin through a grand opening party this weekend. [Tenderblog]
• Jon Miller, the ‘Voice of the Giants’ broadcaster, drinks two bottles of kombucha a day. [Edible SF]
• The Pop Tarts brand is opening a store in Times Square. [Eater NY]
• Olive oil prices are up 20 percent from last year, due in part to the Greek debt crisis. [Independent]
• The Gulf oil spill could benefit the Long Island Sound’s oyster industry. [Globe]
• Though legislators in 20 cities and states have proposed soda taxes, none have enacted them. [Time]
• Swiss distillers have called for a Protected Geographic Name for absinthe, which would prevent liquor produced anywhere else from calling itself the same thing. [NYP]
• Moonshine is back on the rise and is getting popular enough that a major maker of copper stills says he can’t keep up with demand. [BBC]
• Though the economy seems to be improving, Americans are still cautious about spending money dining out. [WSJ]
• Thousands of wasps were recently dispatched to fight a plague of mealyworms that threatens to destroy Thailand’s cassava crop. [NYT]
