Opened October 2021 by Finn Stern and Stella Dennig, as Oakland’s Daytrip approaches one and a half years of age, it has become clear it’s one of the city’s best restaurants now. It was named one of Bon Appetit’s top 10 new restaurants in America in 2022 and is one of the tougher reservations in OAK. Read more →
We step inside Coho, a sustainable seafood eatery inspired by the California coast: Read more →
From recent staycations in the Silicon Valley town of Sunnyvale to the coast in Half Moon Bay, for 21 years I’ve researched and written of hotels, food and drink across the Peninsula. The Bay Area’s “south Bay” is yet another rich and diverse county in our wonderland of NorCal food.
My 10 Time Out dining recommends in Palo Alto still stand — as does a totally different getaway off the 101 freeway in Palo Alto, Four Seasons Silicon Valley. But here are three key newcomers in dining and a boutique hotel worth a local getaway. Read more →
I’ve been dining at Joe’s sister, Original Joe’s Westlake, under prior owners for the last two decades. Bruno Scatena opened Joe’s of Westlake in 1956, which was eventually run by his daughter, Melinda Scatena, who worked there since she was 14 years old, selling it as she ran into health problems. My husband, Dan “The Renaissance Man,” and I adored it in those years and it was perpetually packed as if it were the hottest new restaurant. Read more →
One of the most enchanting lodging options literally a stone’s throw from San Francisco is Cavallo Point, tucked into Fort Baker cove at the base of the hills right off Golden Gate Bridge in Sausalito, gazing out at SF, the Bay and the Bridge. Besides its breathtaking views, it could almost be a part of the city, it’s so close. Yet it’s worlds away. Read more →
Thin places — where heaven and earth come closer or the veil between the here and the otherworld is especially thin — is beloved lore for thousands of years. On California’s breathtaking Mendocino Coast, easily some of the most beautiful and mystical coastline in the world, the couple thousand acres of private coast and redwood forest that is home to The Inn at Newport Ranch since owner Will Jackson bought the land in the 1980s is just such a thin place. Read more →
When Michelin Guide and Rémy Martin Cognac host a weekend with Healdsburg (the popular town in northern Sonoma County) greats, you go. Especially when its with three Michelin, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ SingleThread and luxe hotel Montage Healdsburg… and in your “backyard” just over an hour from home… Following in these steps, a pampering weekend or overnight could involve either or both of these restaurants and a stay at the Montage with highlights and key points on each. Read more →
Glory days with Scotch, whisk(e)y and Highland Park specifically, are still flowing. This past weekend, a sunny, cool October weekend on the Pacific Ocean coast just roughly 50 miles south of San Francisco, I (along with a few other media, photographers and writers) spent an unforgettable couple days with our west coast HP team at Costanoa, an eco-camp and lodge in Pescadero where we “glamped” in nicely outfitted tent cottages. Read more →
This week I veer from reviewing a San Francisco restaurant South to the Ritz-Carlton’s signature restaurant Navio. With this summer’s promotion of Chilean-born chef Roberto Riveros from executive sous chef to executive chef over all the resort’s culinary operations (restaurants, banquets, in-room dining), alongside Navio chef de cuisine Francisco Simón, Riveros has run or cooked in kitchens from Santiago to Hong Kong, including six years at three Michelin-star Lasarte in Barcelona. Simón cooked Michelin-starred restaurants throughout Spain, including being head chef of Enoteca Paco Pérez in Barcelona, and Navio is his first cooking venture in the states. Together they are changing up the kitchen at Navio. Read more →
Though I don’t get to San Jose as much as I wish I could given my nonstop research around endlessly amazing NorCal plus nationally and globally, when I do, I always find treasures. My recent night on the town offered one hit after another at a standout new restaurant and four excellent bars, some of which also serve great food. Read more →