Breckenridge is a striking mountain town. More laid back than Aspen or Vail, its Main Street is not so much hip or chichi, but a welcoming center from which to explore the mountain glories surrounding the town. Less than a 2 hour drive from Denver, it’s all too easy to make a quick jaunt. Breathtaking views from my home base… Read more →
“… the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up It is sweet to be… Read more →
NOVELA, SoMa (662 Mission St. between New Montgomery and Annie Streets, 415-896-6500) Enter lounge-like Novela (“novel” in Spanish), a new book themed bar and lounge in SoMa, and you are swept into an elegant-yet-comfortable respite in a space designed by Jacek Ostoya (who designed nearby Harlot). Black and white colors represent ink and paper in dramatic floor tile, gold accents and lighting evoke gold… Read more →
RANGE, Mission (842 Valencia St. between 19th & 20th, 415-282-8283) Range has been one of the Mission’s great restaurants with strong wine list and stellar cocktails since opening in 2005. Maintaining its quality across the board, they have retained staff for years – many since opening – a rarity in the restaurant/bar business. On July 10th, they launch a new concept.… Read more →
Join me at three Marin stops in coffee, beer and food, including one newcomer as of this week, another that opened in 2010 – now coming into its own, and one classic that remains great for a decade. EQUATOR COFFEE at PROOF LAB SURF SHOP, 244 Shoreline Hwy, Mill Valley, 415-209-3733 Equator has long been a favorite Bay Area coffee, with 18… Read more →
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 got… 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 →