New Chefs, New Menus, New Openings February has rushed right past in a blur. And with it, three openings of note. Mourad opened in the last couple days of January so I am including it among February’s top openings: my Zagat feature article on Mourad here. AL’s Place, from a chef whose cooking I’ve long missed, opened early in the… Read more →
Almost daily, I’m tasting a wide range of spirits, wines and beers, whether at restaurants and bars, distilleries, wineries or breweries or as samples crossing my desk. For February, here are just-released spirits standouts — February beer highlights are here and wine here. St. George’s New Vodkas ($24.99) Yes, St. George Spirits sold the Hangar One brand a couple years… Read more →
SF Beer Week has grown dramatically in the few short years since it launched in 2009. I’ve been attending since the beginning (except a couple years when I was out of the country on a press trip) and the growth each year is noticeable. With over 600 events around the Bay Area over one week, it’s overwhelming for anyone, even… Read more →
Almost daily, I’m tasting a wide range of spirits, wines and beers, whether at restaurants and bars, distilleries, wineries or breweries or as samples crossing my desk. In the month of February, here are my top 5 wines tasted — February beer highlights are here and spirits here. 1. 2010 Vigneto Saetti Rosato dell’Emilia The hands-on, family production of 2010 Vigneto… Read more →
This issue:
Imbiber – My Top 10 Cocktails of the Year Thus Far.
Wandering Traveler – Oklahoma City: Back in my birth city of OKC, checking out new eats & drink, from steak & po boys to Hot Browns & German delis.
Imbiber – Coffee Newcomer: A new downtown cafe for coffee geeks — with good food.
Of the wide number of cocktails I taste in a month, here are 10 January-early February standouts from restaurants, bars and events around the Bay Area. 1. Hawker Fare’s Witch Doctor Chef James Syhabout (of Michelin-starred Commis in Oakland) just opened Hawker Fare SF a couple weeks ago. Though I was disappointed in the food at Oakland’s Hawker Fare since… Read more →
While OKC is not a dining destination, each year I find a few more signs of promise, even if many look better on “paper” — their menus — than they are in execution. Here’s the latest, from high to low points, from my recent holiday visit to see my parents and extensive family in OK. Killer Steakhouse: The George Prime… Read more →
My new coffee destination/cafe of the month is on Market Street near the Montgomery BART station, easily accessible to Union Square and Financial District/SoMa crowds alike. Mazarine serves coffee from a couple purveyors to please the coffee geek and quality bites for lunch and breakfast. Here is an article I wrote about the cafe at Zagat on January 21, 2015:… Read more →
This issue:
– Top Tastes – My Top 7 Dishes & New Openings for January: My 2 most notable new restaurant openings of January; out of dozens of dishes, the 7 best dishes of the month.
– Wandering Traveler – The Best of OC: My girlhood stomping grounds of Orange County have generally been a suburban, culinary wasteland but there are more signs of life with each passing year: a few in food, cocktails & coffee.
– Imbiber – Top Spirits, Wine & Beer in January: 3 wine standouts, a spirits standout and a mead (honey wine).
New Chefs, New Menus My Zagat take on new menus from brand new chefs at Gather in Berkeley and Marla Bakery in SF. New Openings of the Month Starting the new year off with a bang, there is a lot of promise at Californios (initial Zagat First Look here), a creative, high end-but-reasonably-priced tasting menu with Mexican influences in an… Read more →