Bourbon. Baseball. Bluegrass. The Derby. These all immediately come to mind when thinking of Kentucky. After my return visit this snowy, grey March, I also think of rolling hills in the historic town of Bardstown – home of Stephen Foster, of burgeoning, small distilleries popping up all over the countryside, of bluegrass families singing around the Galt House for the Itchin’… Read more →
“Live in thy fingertips and in thy hair’s rising; hunger be thine… Breathe deep of evening, be with the rivers of tumult, sharpen thy wits to know power and be humble.” – Denise Levertov, Three Meditations (from Poems 1960-1967) Back from three months of amazing, exhausting, back-to-back press trips (Denver, Breckenridge, Peru, Oaxaca, Mexico City, Brussels, Amsterdam, New York), I’ve… Read more →
Coming from one who hits virtually every new opening in San Francisco, and is constantly exploring new and established places globally, I weary of the “same old concept”, even as I am engaged by genuine passion no matter the concept. These two recent previews of restaurants slated to open this summer have me particularly expectant. Both step with a firm… Read more →
FLOUR + CO, Nob Hill (1030 Hyde St. between California and Pine, 415-992-7620) Flour + Co, a cheery little bakery that opened in April, is just what Nob Hill needed. Communal tables and shades of soft baby blue with hints of orange charm in the friendly space thankfully not serving typical baked goods. My first visit was the day they… Read more →
Here are a couple noteworthy products that crossed my desk in recent weeks… MOUNT GAY BLACK BARREL RUM, $29.99 Barbados favorite, Mount Gay Rum, recently released Black Barrel Rum, a rum finished in charred bourbon oak casks. For American whiskey lovers like myself, it makes for a fine marriage of bourbon and rum, balancing caramel-vanilla-sweet notes from sugar cane molasses… Read more →
A drive along Tomales Bay is everything I want in a day trip… fresh air, vistas, farmland, grazing horses and sheep, bay, ocean, forest, and a car loaded with just the right music. Rocker Oysterfeller’s in the tiny blink-and-you’ll-miss-it town of Valley Ford with the warm, comfortable spirit of a roadhouse turned foodie, with fresh, farmland ingredients and the best… Read more →
“Not so long ago, it took much more to thrill me: the exhilaration of a new relationship, a promotion, one of those spa trips, a binge at Saks. Now it’s just the advance guard of tomorrow… and knowing that today was mine all mine.” – Margaret Roach, And I Shall Have Some Peace There Just off the wildest back-to-back press… Read more →
Chef powerhouse Charles Phan’s New Orleans-influenced Southern food and bourbon bar duo opened mid-March with similar menus focused on New Orleans-style bar snacks and menus run by the ever-talented Erik Adkins, who oversees cocktail bars at every Phan restaurant. Both are already destination bars in terms of quality and setting and Hard Water is fast becoming one of the great… Read more →
The Bay Area already boasts some of the best Asian food in the US, in a diverse range of categories. Though I can’t recreate the settings from the months I spent traveling Southeast Asia, I can find some of those flavors… and many more from places I long to visit… authentic and complex here in the Bay Area. What follows… Read more →
Dozens of weekends in Sonoma over the years and each is a pleasure, a respite from incessant work, as I breathe in vine-soaked air, taking in new and old restaurants and wineries. Recent weekends in Healdsburg and Santa Rosa have offered many joys. There have been but a few disappointments, like the bland Asian “fusion” of Chinois in Windsor and… Read more →