Category: Top Tastes

Red Sauce Italian Legend South of SF: Original Joe’s Westlake

by  on  in Around the Bay, Top Tastes

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 →

Tiny Fish Heaven… With Vermouth, Wine & Sherry: Anchovy Bar

by  on  in Top Tastes

Opened by Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski of Michelin-starred State Bird Provisions and The Progress in October 2020 on Lower Fillmore Street, The Anchovy Bar was a brave entrant in a brutal year. It was easily among my top few new restaurants of that year — and my top two next to Belinda Leong, Michel Suas and John Paul Carmona’s Routier… Having dined since Anchovy Bar opened, both my late 2022 and my January 2023 visit have been the best yet. Read more →

10-Year-Old Capo’s Makes Deep Dish To Top Chicago’s Best (& Kills It With Detroit-Style Pizza, Too)

by  on  in Top Tastes

I’ve called Tony Gemignani’s pizzas best anywhere since Tony’s Pizza Napoletana debuted in 2009, alongside Capo’s, which he opened November 2012, just now passing it’s 10th anniversary. Both are in North Beach a few blocks from each other, with Capo’s the Chicago pizza-focused joint, adding on Detroit-style pizzas when they reopened Summer 2020 after a pandemic shut down. Why Capo’s is still the best in Chicago and Detroit-style pizza… Read more →

December Eats Checklist: 7 Standouts of the Month

by  on  in The Latest, Top Tastes

These newcomers or new menus cover the gamut, from Sebastopol (Sonoma County) treasures in Thai and pizza to SF gems in Creole/Cajun, Japanese and elevated bar food. Alongside this month’s full restaurant reviews of these exceptional spots, these seven are also worth visiting, with last month’s standouts here (as always, I’ve vetted, visited or ordered from each place reviewed): Read more →

Visionary Cal-Moroccan at Mourad SF

by  on  in Top Tastes

Mourad Lahlou’s Mourad is the best upscale modern Moroccan restaurant I’ve been to in the U.S. Mourad’s visionary Cal-Moroccan cuisine, a more upscale sibling to his long-beloved, more casual Aziza, has been a trailblazer in that category since he opened it in San Francisco’s Richmond District in 2001.

Just after I wrote this review, California Michelin stars were announced earlier this week, and I am puzzled as to why Mourad would lose its Michelin star of multiple years, especially given the tighter-than-ever service, drink pairings and dishes I experienced there last week. When not one but three dishes leave a deep impression, that already is well above the average. I’ll explain. Read more →

Rich Table 10 Years In: Celebrating One of the Best Restaurants in the Nation

by  on  in Best Of, Top Tastes

Since Rich Table opened in July 2012, I knew it was “primed for greatness,” as I headlined my initial SF Bay Guardian review back in my Bay Guardian critic days. Rich Table (RT) went on to place on many best-of lists (including my own), earn a Michelin star for years (ridiculously — and I think errantly — dropped in 2021, hopefully rectified this year), James Beard nominations and a wonderful cookbook. This summer, they just turned 10 years old. Another huge feat in the restaurant world, especially when remains packed every night.

But what are they like 10 years in? Read more →