When Michelin Guide and Rémy Martin Cognac host a weekend with Healdsburg (the popular town in northern Sonoma County) greats, you go. Especially when its with three Michelin, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ SingleThread and luxe hotel Montage Healdsburg… and in your “backyard” just over an hour from home… Following in these steps, a pampering weekend or overnight could involve either or both of these restaurants and a stay at the Montage with highlights and key points on each. Read more →
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 →
I’ve said it since opening in 2017 and I’ll say it again: there’s no equal to Eight Tables in the country. This upscale-modern Chinese restaurant hidden upstairs inside China Live houses merely eight tables so spaced out, it was meant for a post-pandemic world… Read more →
In the back of the cozy Merchant Roots wine shop, chef Ryan Shelton launched his first themed tasting menu in January 2019. I’ve raved about these wildly changing, eight-seat dinners ever since. You could call each playful, whimsical, creative, even intellectual, always blessedly delicious.
Yet still too few of you know about it or have dined there. Certainly, it’s Michelin-worthy. But in a spirited, mischievous, smart way, unlike anywhere else. Read more →
A major new fine dining, 100% live fire cooking restaurant two years in the works just opened from chef Seth Stowaway. Read more →
Published January 7, 2022, in my The Bold Italic column and weekly restaurant reviews: 10 years old this month, I revisit one of the world’s best restaurants (and The World’s 50 Best Restaurants), Atelier Crenn.
Published December 31, 2021, in my The Bold Italic column and weekly restaurant reviews: These five notable newcomers cover the gamut, from fine dining pop-ups to Peninsula food halls housing Michelin-starred chefs:
Published November 19, 2021, in my The Bold Italic column and weekly restaurant reviews, my review of Nisei and its new next door bar, Bar Iris, a modern Japanese-American fine dining play in California Washoku cuisine.
My latest article for The Bold Italic, published August 13, 2021 (my regular Bold Italic articles here), covers six neighborhood restaurants — from fine dining Chinese splurge to vegan sushi destination — worth feasting at and supporting now.
My latest article for The Bold Italic, published August 6, 2021 (my regular Bold Italic articles here), covers seven of the top new Bay Area restaurants worth visiting now. Article here: