“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious… He to whom this ’emotion’ is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder, or stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. His eyes are closed.” – Albert Einstein In the throes of Summer, I am about to depart for my beloved New Orleans, soon to bring… Read more →
Top Tastes: Visionary Chef Creations at Manresa & Atelier Crenn
A strong concentration of the US’s cutting-edge chefs are right here in the Bay Area. Widely acknowledged in food publications and amongst global diners, there’s been an uptick in Bay Area creativity buzz in recent years. Collaborative dinners between local chefs and with chefs from countries beyond uniquely showcase the forward-thinking cooking coming out of our region. I’ve been privileged… Read more →
Bar Talent & Rare Bourbon Barrels on 16th St.
16th Street between Valencia and Guerrero is packed with good food and longtime dive bars. As classic cocktail dens and mixology menus are the norm rather than the exception in this town, it’s easy to forget that some of our great ‘tenders continue to serve the quality drinks we crave without fuss. On this stretch of 16th, there’s two in… Read more →
Pizza Pie: The Latest Pies in Town
San Francisco is a pizza town. We’re obsessed with our pies, particularly the Neapolitan kind. Getting into favorites is a tricky subject as one has to dig through a sea of styles: Neapolitan, NY slice, Chicago deep dish, California creative, and so on, to begin to categorize “bests.” We won’t list all-time favorites now, but scouring joints new and old… Read more →
Talking Portland Distilleries & Winemakers
In my recent travels in Portland I trekked to three distilleries within city limits, two established, one brand new. My top priorities were Clear Creek and House Spirits which have been the best I’ve tasted historically of what is coming out of Oregon. I also visited brand new Bull Run Distillery near Clear Creek, boasting a retro tasting room lined… Read more →
July 1, 2012
“”If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” – Antoine de Saint Exupéry Visiting friends, family and intense deadlines… it must be summer. As I wrap up work on the 2013 Zagat restaurant guide… Read more →
Top Tastes: 5 Top Summer Dishes
FIVE PLAYFUL SUMMER DISHES Here’s five dishes that made a recent impression, from meaty, current-day classics in Oakland, at a bar brunch, and along Market Street, to fresh new joys in Palo Alto and SF – each bringing a little sunshine to the table. 15 ROMOLO – Fried Chicken Bacon Breakfast Biscuit Sandwich Brunch at one of the city’s best… Read more →
Two New Menu-Less Cocktail Bars
Off Menu Joys: New Cocktail Bars Don’t Need Menus When first visiting LA’s Library Bar at the beginning of 2011 (where I’ve returned a few times now), I wished for a closet-sized, farmers market bar such as that with no menu and ultra-talented bartenders. There’s the grandaddy of the speakeasy resurgence, New York’s Milk & Honey, which has been doing… Read more →
Cafe Extraordinaire: Craftsman & Wolves
Media hype has been high for pastry chef/owner William Werner’s new Craftsman & Wolves, a unique Mission bakery/cafe/patisserie for creative baked goods and sweets, changing sandwiches and salads, Sightglass Coffee, Naivetea, crave-inducing Valrhona drinking chocolate and (you’re hearing right) dreamy, sippable caramel made with salted butter and mini-croissant crostini to dunk. At a media preview on 6/13 a few days… Read more →
Portland Explorations in Coffee, Bakeries, Chocolate, Ice Cream, Food Carts & Cheap Eats
Visiting over 50 places in one week, I may have just gotten started in Portland, but I certainly made a dent. So much so that I’ll need to break this into a 4-5 part series. Here’s my restaurant list – now I cover Portland’s famous food carts, ice cream, coffee (all important), chocolate, farmers markets, bakeries and other memorable snacks.… Read more →