Consistently, St. George Spirits wears the crown for renegade inventiveness. As I wrote last year, Lance Winters, master distiller, and distillers Dave Smith and Chris Jordan, lead the way in out-of-the-box creativity. Never have I seen the like of their test tube apothecary of experimentation where they’ll try anything, from foie gras and beef jerky, to carrots and Dungeness crab,… Read more →
It’s a unique time in Bay Area winemaking. We see more California winemakers finding harmony between New & Old World-style production, laying off heavier-handed extremes of overly-oaked or high alcohol wines, honing in on our region’s true terroir. While global love for big, bold California wines isn’t going anywhere, it’s ever more apparent that our range is far beyond what… Read more →
CHEFS NIGHT OFF at Radius Chefs Sarah and Evan Rich (who also happen to be husband and wife), come with a fine dining, creative pedigree cooking in kitchens of the caliber of Coi, Quince and Michael Mina. On August 29th, I attended their first Chefs Night Off pop-up dinner at Radius, and they are also hosting pop-up Fried Chicken Dinner… Read more →
For those of you who attended last year’s San Francisco Cocktail Week, you know it was jam-packed with some downright magical events, celebrating our city’s rich cocktail heritage, bar talent and innovation. Monday begins the 5th annual Cocktail Week, bigger than ever, with numerous national and local brands represented, an extensive schedule of seminars, parties, events, and the first ever… Read more →
“The morning smelled like a freshly opened bottle of wine – leaves, earth, the damp woods, berries, grass. There is still more than enough beauty in one morning alone on earth to break a heart wide open… For every person who has ever lived there will come, at last, a spring he will never see… Glory then in the seasons… Read more →
On September 6th, Harry Denton’s legendary Starlight Room will reopen, revamped, with brand new menus and look. Though the space wasn’t quite ready for a sneak peek, I did sample a few of the cocktails that will be on offer from bar manager Joel Teitelbaum’s winning menu. Grouped together by time periods, the menu starts with the 1600’s and punch,… Read more →
Top Tastes is not a list of all-time favorites, rather it’s about the best tastes of the last two weeks (since my last newsletter), often from new openings. RENDEZVOUS TAPAS LOUNGE, Nob Hill (2080 Van Ness Avenue at Pacific, 415-409-0660) Though the new Rendezvous Tapas Lounge is a work-in-progress with a blessedly open but stark space (big booths and lighting… Read more →
JAPANESE WHISKY If you were at SF Chefs last month (here’s my recap of it), you might have been privileged to try Hakushu whisky as I did… multiple times over the weekend. The 12 year Hakushu emits sweet pear and green apple aromas, but surprises with dry smoke. Shockingly evocative of a peaty, Islay Scotch (sans the peat), Hakushu is… Read more →
Tavern at Lark Creek’s new Biergarten, Larkspur Think towering redwoods, smoky aromas of sausages, onions and peppers wafting from a grill, German beers on tap from a cooler, and a darling oompah band of elderly gentleman playing with spunk and skill. Enter the just-launched this week Biergarten at The Tavern at Lark Creek. For a short jaunt from the… Read more →
“If you love life you also love the past, because it is the present as it has survived in memory.” – Marguerite Yourcenar August has been a non-stop flurry of major SF events: SF Chefs, our city’s biggest food & drink week (which I give the photo recap treatment in On the Town), and Outside Lands, a massive music festival… Read more →