My last jaunt to LA yielded a few spots I thought you should know about: OLD PLACE, Agoura Hills – Take to the winding roads of Agoura Hills where happening upon Old Place feels like a mirage in the wild West. The smell of BBQ lures you in, while a rustic wood porch makes you want to pull out a… Read more →
Chotto delivers a needed izakaya-style restaurant to the Marina. Based on merely one visit in its initial opening weeks (and therefore limited), I find a welcoming space. The staff care and are informed about Japanese food. In a brief chat with the chef, he talks with gusto of traveling through Japan researching menu ideas. While no particular dish was an… Read more →
“I have learned to speak of these things, which once I brooded on in silence, these wishes to live and to die in gratefulness, if in no other virtue.” – Galway Kinnell, “These Are Things I Tell No One” As I reflect on this incredible, full year, I anticipate a fresh one with untold experiences awaiting. Here’s my first… Read more →
Top Tastes, rather than a list of all-time favorites (another thing altogether), are among the best eats since my last newsletter, often from new openings. Many don’t make the cut, being a revisit previously written about or simply not as stand-out as dishes mentioned. MID-RANGE RESTAURANTS BEAST & the HARE, Mission – At 22nd and Guerrero, a corner I’ve always… Read more →
On the cocktail tip, here are a few recent stand-outs: The Alembic, Upper Haight – Leave it to Louie (Danny, that is) for another beauty: Vasco da Gama is one of his creations last year. A smoky-spiced concoction, it’s lush with Buffalo Trace bourbon, smoky with Caol Ila 12yr scotch (they were out last week so he used Bowmore 15yr… Read more →
NY’s BROMBER BROTHERS deliver their comforting welcome at the Stanford Court Renaissance Two of the nicest chefs you’ll ever meet, Bruce and Eric Bromberg (brothers), spread the warmth of their NY Blue Ribbon Restaurants globally. I have happy memories of late nights at the original Blue Ribbon Sushi on Sullivan Street long before Blue Ribbon grew to multiple restaurants around… Read more →
“I’ll admit that I’d rather say country ham than almost anything if the person I was saying it to happened to be a waitress.” – Calvin Trillin Winter and the holidays are fast upon us… I wish you sweet memories with family and friends. I have begun writing “best of” lists for NBC’s new food site, The Feast, just launched… Read more →
Top Tastes, rather than a list of all-time favorites (another thing altogether), are among the best eats since my last newsletter, often from new openings. Many don’t make the cut, being a revisit previously written about or simply not as stand-out as dishes mentioned. MID-RANGE RESTAURANTS GRUB, Mission – The new Grub surprised me. I expected a hip Mission eatery… Read more →
Cheesy puns aside, Ma’velous is truly that. Kudos to Phillip Ma and his new coffee/wine bar which I’d be ecstatic to have in my own neighborhood. This coffee haven on Market Street (near Civic Center) is worth heading out of your way for. No, there is nothing else like it, even in a city of fabulous coffee. The space is… Read more →
Indy Spirits Expo This year’s Indy Spirits Expo on November 17th was much improved since last year’s inaugural year, though crammed into the cool, brick-walled nightclub space of The Mighty. This event offers one of the better opportunities I’ve seen to sample everything from cachaca and pisco, to absinthe and eaux de vie, all in one room, among the best… Read more →