My December bottle column covers trends and reviews international spirits and RTDs. This month includes:
— Boulard Grand Solage V.S.O.P. Pays d’Auge Calvados
— Carta de Amor Mezcal (Oaxaca, Mexico)
— Honkaku Spirits’ Shochu (Japan)
— Nikka Yoichi & Miyagikyo Aromatic Yeast 2022 Discovery Series Whiskies (Japan)
— ARC Archipelago Botanical Gin & Barrel Reserve Gin (Phillippines)
— Lili Non-Alcoholic Sparklers (Portola Valley, California)
… and more Read more →
THIS ISSUE:
— December Eats Checklist: 7 standout restaurants & newcomers of the month.
— New Orleans Guide: 18 places to dine now.
— San Francisco’s Delfina: Reborn & as it was meant to be.
— 10-Year-Old Capo’s Makes Deep Dish To Top Chicago’s Best: And kills It with Detroit-style pizza, too.
— Lyon & Swan: New live entertainment supper club with quality food & drink.
— 15 Wines to Celebrate the Holidays: Vino to suit every palate. Read more →
I’ve called Tony Gemignani’s pizzas best anywhere since Tony’s Pizza Napoletana debuted in 2009, alongside Capo’s, which he opened November 2012, just now passing it’s 10th anniversary. Both are in North Beach a few blocks from each other, with Capo’s the Chicago pizza-focused joint, adding on Detroit-style pizzas when they reopened Summer 2020 after a pandemic shut down. Why Capo’s is still the best in Chicago and Detroit-style pizza… Read more →
These newcomers or new menus cover the gamut, from Sebastopol (Sonoma County) treasures in Thai and pizza to SF gems in Creole/Cajun, Japanese and elevated bar food. Alongside this month’s full restaurant reviews of these exceptional spots, these seven are also worth visiting, with last month’s standouts here (as always, I’ve vetted, visited or ordered from each place reviewed): Read more →
Lyon & Swan is a unique North Beach supper club. Hidden downstairs from the new Sonoma-based Eco Terreno Urban Tasting Room on Columbus Avenue, there’s a small wine production facility and aging tank upstairs and wine tasting room and bites on the main floor. L&S is much smaller than the grand supperclubs of the 1940s, but its intimacy is more like sleek jazz bars of the 1950s-60s, albeit way roomier than cramped legends like the NYC’s Village Vanguard. They offer live entertainment, heavy on musicians but also including drag queens, cabaret singers and comedians. Read more →
In 2022 I went to Nola twice a week at a time, to judge in Nola Spirits Competition and Tales of the Cocktail in the blistering, muggy heat of July, and back for a rousing Halloween week.
When it comes to restaurants — and bars (stay tuned for my updated Nola cocktail bar guide in 2023) — there are plenty of new places to love and pandemic survivors that are better than ever. Some restaurants are uneven, but each place here has standout dishes or elements. Journey with me through 18 New Orleans spots that have opened or greatly evolved since pandemic and what stands out (or doesn’t) at each: Read more →
What a difference nearly 25 years makes! Closed since March 2020, Mission District longtimer Delfina just reopened October 26, 2022, completely remodeled, refreshed, and, I’d say, reborn. I know I’ve dubbed some restaurants as “better than ever before,” and in Delfina’s case, it’s truly true. Read more →
From sparkling celebratory wines and Champagnes to crisp wintery whites, bracing reds to non-alcoholic wines, I’ve got 15 bottles to suit a range of palates, meals or occasions as we dive into the holidays and usher in a new year. Read more →
Alongside cocktails at new restaurants, these seven bars are worth visiting now and into the new year…and some currently offer special holiday decor & drinks: Read more →
Thin places — where heaven and earth come closer or the veil between the here and the otherworld is especially thin — is beloved lore for thousands of years. On California’s breathtaking Mendocino Coast, easily some of the most beautiful and mystical coastline in the world, the couple thousand acres of private coast and redwood forest that is home to The Inn at Newport Ranch since owner Will Jackson bought the land in the 1980s is just such a thin place. Read more →