'Check, Please! Bay Area' Returns for 11th Season

Ten new episodes premiere Thursday, April 14, at 7:30pm on KQED 9.

SAN FRANCISCO – March 14, 2016 – KQED’s James Beard and Emmy Award-winning program Check, Please! Bay Area is back. The 11^th season premieres on Thursday, April 14, 2016, at 7:30pm on KQED 9. New guests celebrate their favorite Bay Area restaurants and Leslie Sbrocco (thirstygirl, The Today Show) moderates the conversation adding humor, wit and expertise. The season includes 16 new episodes and four specials that bundle restaurants featured in past seasons around themes and cuisine. The second half of the new season will broadcast in September. The series also airs Sundays at 6:30pm on KQED Public Radio 88.5 FM. Watch online at kqed.org/checkplease.

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.

“It’s an incredible time for the show and me!” says Sbrocco. “Now in our 11^th season, we feel incredibly knowledgeable about the Bay Area’s dining scene. Yet with each episode, we meet another foodie who introduces us to something completely new and delicious.”

“Each year we’re astounded by the number of passionate Bay Area restaurant goers,” Producer Tina Salter adds. “There are a seemingly endless number of fantastic eateries and people who champion them. We feel lucky that those people come to us to share that love.”

Restaurants featured in the first half of the 11th season come from all corners of the Bay Area and include The Hummingbird (Fairfax), SUMIKA (Los Altos), Orexi (San Francisco), To Bang (Santa Clara), Tina’s Place (Pinole), Hopscotch (Oakland), Sessions at The Presidio (San Francisco), Doppio Zero Pizzeria Napoletana (Mountain View), Waterbar (San Francisco), Duende (Oakland) and The Dark Horse Inn (San Francisco). The rest of the season’s restaurants will be announced at a later date.

On Tuesday, April 26, Check, Please! Bay Area’s Taste & Sip will be held at the San Francisco Design Center. Cuisine from more than 50 of the series’ restaurants will be featured in addition to an assortment of wine. Tickets will be made available via City Box Office by March 30.

Check, Please! Bay Area is made possible by the generous support of Integrated Resources Group, Oakland International Airport, European Sleep Works, Sutter CPMC2020, Walmart Global eCommerce and Safe Catch.

ABOUT KQED PUBLIC TELEVISION:
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.