The Umstead Hotel & Spa, Cary, NC. Photo by Virginia Miller. Though I have been to Charleston over four times the past 16 years, I hadn’t been back to North Carolina in 16 years, when I took my first (of multiple) two week road trip across the Deep South to study my barbecue styles. North Carolina is famed for BBQ and… Read more →
Coho’s Dungeness crab noodles. Photo by Virginia Miller. No one was more surprised than me to find a standout new restaurant, one even worth crossing the bridge for, in sleepy, idyllic Mill Valley. Marin County is infamously talked about amongst many of my industry and food obsessed colleagues as the one subpar food county in all the Bay Area. Despite Marin’s… Read more →
View from our deck at el Prado, Palo Alto. Photo by Virginia Miller. COME SEE OUR NEW HOME — The Bold Italic has a new home online, and this story has moved! Read it here: https://www.thebolditalic.com/staycation-palo-alto-a-spanish-themed-hotel-two-newer-restaurants 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… Read more →
Juniper bakery’s choux. Photo by Virginia Miller. COME SEE OUR NEW HOME — The Bold Italic has a new home online, and this story has moved! Read it here: https://www.thebolditalic.com/two-new-bakeries-already-set-to-stand-among-the-bays-best-juniper-starter-bakery Few U.S. cities have a fraction of the world class bakeries that line San Francisco, a city that has led the baking renaissance of the past 20 plus years via Tartine… Read more →
Sons & Daughters’ kusshi oyster in a daikon shell (Photo Credit: Virginia Miller) COME SEE OUR NEW HOME — The Bold Italic has a new home online, and this story has moved! Read it here: https://www.thebolditalic.com/new-chef-with-stockholm-london-roots-at-reborn-michelin-starred-sons-daughters/ . . . . . . . . . Since first visiting Michelin-starred, intimate fine dining gem Sons and Daughters (S&D) when it opened in… Read more →
Palm Springs’ snowy mountains and palms (Photo Credit: Virginia Miller) COME SEE OUR NEW HOME — The Bold Italic has a new home online, and this story has moved! Read it here: https://www.thebolditalic.com/palm-springs-guide-18-places-to-eat-drink-stay-now Palm Springs midcentury glory is a major draw for a lifelong retro girl like me. At home, I’ve long decorated midcentury in my San Francisco 1890’s Victorians, just… Read more →
Luce‘s octopus “lasagna” (Photo Credit: Virginia Miller) COME SEE OUR NEW HOME — The Bold Italic has a new home online, and this story has moved! Read it here: https://www.thebolditalic.com/30-years-at-one-market-new-fine-dining-chef-at-luce-two-longtimers-with-new-life There are longtimers, then there are longtimers. This week I talk about two. One is a 15-year-old fine dining restaurant at the InterContinental SF hotel with a new Greek chef who… Read more →
Cavana’s rooftop bar facing north east (Photo Credit: Virginia Miller) COME SEE OUR NEW HOME — The Bold Italic has a new home online, and this story has moved! Read it here: https://www.thebolditalic.com/latin-vibes-tunes-cocktails-food-with-stunning-sf-views-at-new-rooftop-bar-cavaña Rooftop bars are proliferating in San Francisco these days, whether the 2017 opening of Charmaine’s at the San Francisco Proper, or 2022’s Rise Over Run at the Line… Read more →
Anchovy Bar anchovy platter from an early visit (Photo Credit: Virginia Miller) 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… Read more →
The Laundromat’s broccoli rabe and Calabrian chile pizza (Photo Credit: Virginia Miller) COME SEE OUR NEW HOME — The Bold Italic has a new home online, and this story has moved! Read it here: https://www.thebolditalic.com/former-laundromat-turned-idyllic-neighborhood-hang-for-detroit-pizza-sips-bagels Opened November 2022 in San Francisco’s Outer Richmond neighborhood, The Laundromat SF is, yes, housed in a former Laundromat. It’s also a block away from one… Read more →