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 →
Mourad Lahlou’s Mourad is the best upscale modern Moroccan restaurant I’ve been to in the U.S. Mourad’s visionary Cal-Moroccan cuisine, a more upscale sibling to his long-beloved, more casual Aziza, has been a trailblazer in that category since he opened it in San Francisco’s Richmond District in 2001.
Just after I wrote this review, California Michelin stars were announced earlier this week, and I am puzzled as to why Mourad would lose its Michelin star of multiple years, especially given the tighter-than-ever service, drink pairings and dishes I experienced there last week. When not one but three dishes leave a deep impression, that already is well above the average. I’ll explain. Read more →
When Roma native Gianluca Legrottaglie opened Montesacro in SoMa in 2015, it was the first proper Roman pinseria in the nation, complete with pinsaiolis (akin to a pizzaiolo) from Rome. Not familiar with pinsa? It’s an ancient Roman-style pizza, oval-shaped, happily crispy and airy simultaneously and made from a more easily digestible fermented soy, rice and wheat flour blend. Montesacro’s thoughtfully-made recipe remains the best I’ve had anywhere.
… in June 2022, San Francisco gained their second Montesacro in the Marina. Read more →
Reviewed this issue:
— Tattersall Coconut Aquavit
— Fast Penny Spirits Amaricano Amari
— Kopke 50 Year White & Tawny Port
— Tanteo Tequila Navidad
— Humboldt Distillery Organic Apple Brandy
— Glenmorangie: A Tale of the Forest
— The Better Man Distilling Co.’s Apple-Forward Gin
… and more Read more →