COCKTAILS SPOONBAR, Healdsburg – I wrote last issue about Spoonbar in Sonoma County. It’s up to you get out there… and fast… for some of the best cocktails in all of the Bay Area (no surprise) from Mr. Scott Beattie. Ask for the full cocktail menu beyond the one you get when first seated. It’s a glory of new creations,… Read more →
BERKELEY • Gather – Yes, it’s local, sustainable, organic (even the spirits, wine and beer). Though that’s happily typical in the Bay Area, I venture to say that Gather, open only since December, already operates like a hardly “typical”, fully-realized restaurant. In a large, rounded corner room, the bustling, open space is in full view of the kitchen, a muted… Read more →
Top Tastes, rather than a list of all-time favorites (another thing altogether), is highlights of the best things I’ve been eating 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 • has a new chef de cuisine, Sophiane Benaouda, from… Read more →
Top Tastes is my usual run-down of tastes over the past two weeks. Rather than a list of all-time favorites (another thing altogether), it’s highlights since my last newsletter, often from new openings. Many don’t make the cut, being a revisit written about before or simply not as stand-out as dishes mentioned. SAVORY – MEAT • Berkeley’s Brazil Cafe feels… Read more →
CIOCCOLATA DI VINO 1801 Shattuck Avenue, Suite C Berkeley, CA 94709 510-898-1392 www.cioccolatadivino.com Open just a few months now, I’ve been eager to try this dessert-focused spot, ever wishing there were more options for post-dinner imbibements. Berkeley’s Cioccolata di Vino does have a Savory antipasti menu with some pleasing-looking Italian plates, but I’m not going for that… I want the… Read more →
BREAKFAST Since the Meetinghouse closed years ago, I’ve been a sad girl – not only because it was a supreme SF brunch spot, but because Joanna Karlinsky’s biscuits are about the best I’ve ever put in my mouth (and that includes my visits to the South!) Thank you, Joanna, for bringing your buttery biscuits to us at one more location besides the… Read more →
Just in time for Fall, when I continue to dive into my beloved classic country albums (my ultimate hero, Cash, but also Hank Williams, Dolly, George Jones, Loretta, Waylon, etc…), I get nostalgic for hearty BBQ and roots music. There are a number of us in a city as diverse as San Francisco who were born or grew up in places like Oklahoma (my birthplace, before… Read more →
Ethiopian is a comforting, homey cuisine: spicy, filling and best when made fresh by a loving hand. Though there are a number of decent Ethiopian spots in San Francisco, and more broadly, the East Bay, many blend into each other as fairly average (like Lower Haight’s Axum Café, Café Ethiopia in the Mission, or Western Addition’s quirky dive bar, Club Waziema). Here… Read more →