Aubergine at L’Auberge Carmel, a boutique hotel right in the walkable, intimate town of Carmel, is no stranger to awards. They are one of only 500 Relais & Châteaux privately owned hotel and restaurants in the world, awarded for being a standard setter in the combination of cuisine and charming hotel character. In 2013, Executive Chef Justin Cogley was named… Read more →
ST. FRANCIS WINERY & VINEYARDS, 100 N. Pythian Road, Santa Rosa, CA 95409 Consider it the unsung “steal” of a tasting menu on the idyllic grounds of St. Francis Winery & Vineyards in Santa Rosa. For a mere $50 including wine pairings, Executive Chef David Bush (previously of The Girl & the Fig) creates an imaginative menu roughly every six… Read more →
Suburbs, nature, charming main streets… family-heavy Marin has always had a few culinary gems. But a spare few of them though sandwiched between one of the great food cities of the world and the gustatory pleasures of Napa and Sonoma. Bakeries like Beth’s Community Kitchen in Mill Valley are reminiscent of San Francisco bakeries (what is now standard Bay Area),… Read more →
It gets easier and easier to find an elevated cocktail in Wine Country, besides the superb cocktails at Healdsburg’s Spoonbar and Campo Fina or gratifying refreshers at The Thomas (Fagiani’s) in downtown Napa. Here are a few recent cocktail highlights and one top-notch bitters shop: Bitters Heaven NAPA VALLEY DISTILLERY’s Bitters Shop, Napa Tiny Napa Valley Distillery (the first licensed… Read more →
Late summer and harvest season have brought me to Sonoma and Napa for numerous excursions. Fall is my favorite season and time of year in Wine Country as vineyard leaves transform from green to blazing reds, yellows and oranges. Here are a few fall ideas – unusual tours and quality Mexican food (plus mezcal and tequila, when you need a… Read more →
Sac Town, our California Gold Country capital… known for its politics, surrounded by the boundless produce of inland California which us city dwellers richly benefit from. It’s a town I stop to dine in on the way to or from Tahoe but have only stayed the weekend in a couple times, despite its close proximity to San Francisco. Here’s my… Read more →
Farm-Fresh Dining FARMSHOP, Larkspur (2233 Larkspur Landing Circle, 415-755-6700) A modern day farmshop… the beloved LA restaurant, Farmshop, opened in 2010, and then, to be closer to the farmers from which they meticulously source much of their produce in Northern California, they opened a Larkspur location in May 2013. It’s suburban-chic, set in an open air, upscale shopping mall with outdoor… Read more →
As with any part of the Bay Area, the South Bay offers plenty of culinary riches. It may be Silicon Valley, the ‘burbs, numerous towns rather than a metropolitan city, but exploring Indian food from Mountain View to Santa Clara or international hole-in-the-walls in San Mateo can gleefully feel like eating through another country. Here’s three restaurants where food and… Read more →
Driving north up Highway 1 along the Sonoma Coast to Jenner feels worlds away from San Francisco or even “typical” Wine Country towns. Though I’ve lived in the Bay Area over 12 years, weekending and day-tripping in remote towns all over, I had not driven this stretch of coast further north from Bodega Bay, well south of Mendocino. As with… Read more →
There’s only a few places in the country where one can find fried Neapolitan pizza, a twist on Italy’s perfect pies. There’s Forcella and La Montanara in NYC, and now A16 Rockridge. Even in Naples, there are few restaurants making this style of pizza. The owners of A16, included Wine Director/Sommelier Shelley Lindgren, fell in love with fried pizza in… Read more →