On a recent September return to Nisei just past its one year mark, I found a restaurant assuredly gaining its voice, as the team is also working seamlessly with humble ease and assuredness. They also now offer a wine or sake pairing, the wine pairing containing a couple sakes in the mix. Chef David Yoshimura calls their style “California Washoku” (essentially meaning ‘harmony of food,’ it’s Japanese home cooking style balancing color and flavor… Read more →
Reviewed this issue:
— Fortaleza Tequila Winter Blend 2022
— Lost Lantern Whiskies (Independent Bottler of American Whiskies)
— Linden Leaf 88 Organic Molecular Gin (Cambridge, U.K.)
— Tattersall Distilling RTDs (Minneapolis, MN)
— Sake High! (Los Angeles)
— Hop Mez Mezcal (Oaxaca, Mexico) Read more →
THIS ISSUE:
— Purity On the Plate & In the Glass: The new Bar Agricole.
— Food with a View: New life at Navio in The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay.
— Fort Point Valencia’s New Chef: Playful take on SF-style seafood & historic dishes.
— A Night in San Jose: 5 standouts in food & cocktails.
— Distiller Magazine St. Louis: Interviews with The Gin Room’s Natasha Bahrami & StilL 630 Distillery’s David Weglarz.
Though I’ve eaten everywhere this month from Adriano Paganini/Back of the House group’s latest, Rad Radish, to the new Arepas Latin Cuisine and Fiddle Fig Cafe in North Beach, these six newcomers (or new menus) stood out in September, covering the gamut, from Brittany-style French crêpes to NY slice pizza. Alongside this month’s full restaurant reviews, I share what’s worth tasting at each, with last month’s standouts here (as always, I’ve vetted, visited and/or ordered from each place reviewed): Read more →
This week I veer from reviewing a San Francisco restaurant South to the Ritz-Carlton’s signature restaurant Navio. With this summer’s promotion of Chilean-born chef Roberto Riveros from executive sous chef to executive chef over all the resort’s culinary operations (restaurants, banquets, in-room dining), alongside Navio chef de cuisine Francisco Simón, Riveros has run or cooked in kitchens from Santiago to Hong Kong, including six years at three Michelin-star Lasarte in Barcelona. Simón cooked Michelin-starred restaurants throughout Spain, including being head chef of Enoteca Paco Pérez in Barcelona, and Navio is his first cooking venture in the states. Together they are changing up the kitchen at Navio. Read more →
In February 2022, I visited and reviewed Fort Point Valencia as it reopened. Reborn from a long pandemic closure, it was a shining example of a local, SF-based brewery with a unique, fresh style and focus… But with the recent departure of chef Eric Ehler and the arrival of new culinary director Cecile Macasero (former chef de cuisine at SF’s Michelin-starred Thai great, Kin Khao, which, thankfully, is about to reopen, and of Renee Erickson’s award-winning Sea Creatures group in Seattle), the food has totally changed to a refreshing — and playful — take on SF-style seafood. Read more →
Those of us who have been in dining, cocktails and spirits a long while know the importance of Bar Agricole since it opened in San Francisco’s SoMa district in 2011. Not only was it nominated every year since 2012 for James Beard Outstanding Bar Program in the nation — finally winning in 2019, but founder and bar vet Thad Vogler (who helped open pioneering bars like Bourbon and Branch) wrote an intriguing and definitive book on farmhouse-distilled and naturally sourced spirits, By the Smoke and the Smell: My Search for the Rare and Sublime on the Spirits Trail… Read more →
Though I don’t get to San Jose as much as I wish I could given my nonstop research around endlessly amazing NorCal plus nationally and globally, when I do, I always find treasures. My recent night on the town offered one hit after another at a standout new restaurant and four excellent bars, some of which also serve great food. Read more →
St. Louis featured:
—My interview with Natasha Bahrami of The Gin Room/Salve Osteria
—My interview with David Weglarz of StilL 630 below Read more →
THIS ISSUE:
— Vietnamese Food Haven (with Cocktails): Bodega SF reviewed.
— PDX Guide: Where to Eat, Drink & Stay in Portland, Oregon, now.
— Hayes Valley’s Buzzy New Neighborhood Hang: Joey Altman’s Hazie’s reviewed.
— Distiller Bottle Column: I review aquavit, mezcal, gin, vodka, rum, aperitivo, Irish spirit, tequila, American whiskeys, RTDs (canned/bottled cocktails).
— Weekend-ing: Japanese food, drink & cultural events at new Sunnyvale Hotel, Tetra.