Pulling into the Joe’s Cable Car parking lot 15 minutes to its 11am opening time, I made it just before a steady stream of cars, news crews, even a firetruck full of fireman, filled the legendary diner for their last Joe’s burger. On its final day of business, March 16 – after 49 years run by the same wonderful, 75-year-old… Read more →
“I worry about the prospect of collective amnesia. While access to information has never been so universal as it is now… the total sum of knowledge of anything beyond the present seems to be dwindling among those people who came of age with the Internet. Anything beyond 1945, if then, is a messy, remote landscape; the centuries melt into each… Read more →
In the midst of the latest, hottest, buzzed about new openings, the greats get forgotten. Whether it’s old school classics like seafood at Tadich Grill, or arguably the best souffles in the US at Cafe Jacqueline, where Jacqueline has dedicated decades to churning out perfect souffles every night, many of our greats keep their steady following yet stay under the… Read more →
Visiting a Grappa Legend & a Hidden Absinthe Bar Article and photos by Virginia Miller This October I spent a magical day in the birthplace of grappa, enchanting Bassano del Grappa, a Northern Italian town (in the Veneto region) on the river Brenta at the base of the Italian Alps. Grappa, a grape-based brandy, is integral to Italian culture and… Read more →
Having been to dozens of countries – some many times over – there is one spot in particular that is the most beautiful place I’ve seen in five continents: The Bernese Oberland in Switzerland, marked by the dramatic Jungfrau mountain range. It’s so beautiful, in fact, that despite being an ocean and a city girl who seeks out places for… Read more →
Two standout new spirits of the year thus far? Here are two unusual US-made spirits that immediately drew me back for a second taste. Bete from Sidetrack Distillery ($32.95/375 ml)In my three trips to Seattle in seven months, a spirit that keeps impressing me with every sip is the uncategorizable Bete from Sidetrack Distillery in Kent, WA. The spirit is… 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 →
“Above all, San Francisco was alive. The painter John David Borthwick said of of it, ‘People lived more there in a week then they would in a year in most other places.’ – Gary Kamiya, 49 Views of San Francisco Returning from an action-packed week of craft American spirits judging in Seattle, this issue uncovers more Bay Area joys, Brazil’s… Read more →
VERBENA, Russian Hill (2323 Polk St. between Union & Green, 415-441-2323) Gather has been my favorite Berkeley restaurant (alongside, what else? Chez Panisse) since it opened in 2010. Though a staunch meat eater, their vegan “charcuterie” wowed me, like the affordable offspring of Scandinavia’s vegetable-heavy creativity or of SF chefs like Coi‘s Daniel Patterson, who have long been pushing the… Read more →
Avuá Cachaça (pronounced ahv-wah kah-SHAH-sah) is spreading the cachaça gospel. Founders Nate Whitehouse, Pete Nevenglosky, and Mark Christou are key voices raising awareness of the complexities and range of Brazil’s beloved sugarcane spirit, best known as the base for the Caipirinha cocktail. Though it surged in popularity a few years back with major brands, the category never quite took deep root… Read more →