This week, I share experiences at two newcomers playing with the boundaries of Asian cuisine. One is a pop-up turned hip, new Mission district restaurant hidden behind a graffitied wall, Bruce Lee films on two TVs above the bar, striking paintings of birds. The other is a fluorescent-lit, Tenderloin spot, half underground, roomy but utilitarian in design. The former just opened early January 2023, the other two days before Christmas 2022. They are dissimilar in most ways but for their surprising interplay of Asian cuisines. Read more →
Tag: Latin America
The Mother of Invention: 6 Bartenders Taking on COVID in Creative Ways
My latest print feature in Gin Magazine, issue 13/March-May 2021 (from the publishers of Whisky Magazine, which I’ve written for here). This issue I cover 6 bartenders/bar managers and global bars who continue to reinvent themselves and bring life to their communities in pandemic & beyond: Read more →
Exploring Pisco in Cocktail Bars Around Lima
My spring travels in Peru with Campo de Encanto Pisco allowed me to richly deepen my pisco knowledge, from hands-on work in pisco production and blending, to witnessing broader uses of pisco in cocktails on Lima menus. I come from a city that has full-on pisco bars, a rarity in the US. Yet despite the range of pisco cocktails in SF,… Read more →
Dining in LIMA, PERU
Peruvian cuisine first captivated me over a decade ago. As with many, ceviche was the starting point, but it was raw, sashimi-esque tiradito, fish doused in bright lime or passion fruit, that hooked me. I drew parallels to Japanese sushi with South American spirit. San Francisco has long had strong Peruvian ties, from being the first place in the US… Read more →
Talking Sustainable Seafood with Peru’s GASTON ACURIO
There’s not enough knowledge around sustainable fish… just ask anyone who knows anything about it. The majority of Americans eat whatever is on a menu with little to regard to where it’s sourced, its health properties (or lack thereof), unaware if the creature they are eating is endangered. I was privileged to attend a recent intimate round-table discussion with Peru’s… Read more →