From my many articles a week as Zagat Editor, I summarize and link to just some coverage highlights here – you can follow along on Twitter @ZagatSF, where I post daily, or on my own @ThePerfectSpot via Twitter or Facebook. Essay/Opinion Piece Changing Tastes: You Can Learn to Eat (Even Like) Everything with Commentary from Harold McGee New Bay Area… Read more →
From my 15 articles/posts a week as Zagat Editor, I summarize and link to just some coverage highlights here – you can sign up for Zagat’s weekly newsletter for highlights here and follow along on Twitter @ZagatSF, where I post daily. As I have been for over a decade, I’m on the ground daily looking for early standouts at each… Read more →
Pulling into the Joe’s Cable Car parking lot 15 minutes to its 11am opening time, I made it just before a steady stream of cars, news crews, even a firetruck full of fireman, filled the legendary diner for their last Joe’s burger. On its final day of business, March 16 – after 49 years run by the same wonderful, 75-year-old… Read more →
Suburbs, nature, charming main streets… family-heavy Marin has always had a few culinary gems. But a spare few of them though sandwiched between one of the great food cities of the world and the gustatory pleasures of Napa and Sonoma. Bakeries like Beth’s Community Kitchen in Mill Valley are reminiscent of San Francisco bakeries (what is now standard Bay Area),… Read more →
Burgers come in degrees: layered with expensive accoutrements, whole egg, foie gras, and the like… or simple, without pretense. I crave a burger in all degrees, whether upscale, knife and fork versions, or down and dirty. On the cheap, two burgers incite salivation in memory alone. One is at a brand new SoMa dive that also serves winning tacos, the… Read more →
There are restaurants weaving together the whole package, a melange of atmosphere, service and most importantly, memorable food. Sometimes there’s the overarching solidity of a menu… other times, one walks away dreaming about that one specific item. Here are four such dishes from four locations, worth going out of your way for. MARCELLA’S, Dogpatch (1099 Tennessee St. between 20th &… Read more →
Incredible burgers in a bowling alley, SF’s deaf community gathering over Neopolitan pizzas, brothers serving food from their hometown of Nice in a tiny restaurant, dining around a U-shaped counter off a FiDi alley… each of these restaurants opened within the last 6 months providing a unique communal experience (and most importantly, fine food to go with) that makes one… Read more →
Tavern at Lark Creek’s new Biergarten, Larkspur Think towering redwoods, smoky aromas of sausages, onions and peppers wafting from a grill, German beers on tap from a cooler, and a darling oompah band of elderly gentleman playing with spunk and skill. Enter the just-launched this week Biergarten at The Tavern at Lark Creek. For a short jaunt from the… Read more →
I’ve been a couple times to Michael Mina’s new Bourbon Steak in Union Square… admittedly a national chain, something I approach with caution, if at all. But, then, it’s Michael Mina. Hype, fame and all, I’ve consistently experienced great to superb meals at his flagship restaurant over the years. Bourbon Steak held some warm and fuzzy Mina moments. I almost… 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 BARBACCO – This is one of those special places that reminds me of great… Read more →