Top Tastes is my usual run-down of favorites. 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 • My birthday dinner this year was a GOOD one:… 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 • B Star has done… Read more →
COCKTAILS • Rickhouse had my number from the get-go. How could it not? From owners of my regular stop over the years, Bourbon & Branch (sans password and reservation) and nearby Cask, this FiDi beauty debuted on July 1st to a packed house, with atmospheric, Old World space (ceilings and railings made from old Bourbon barrels, naturally), and gracious staff… Read more →
Eating is highly subjective, and the man who accepts say-so in youth will wind up in bad and overtouted restaurants in middle age, ordering what the maitre d’hotel suggests.”– A.J. Liebling, “Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris”, 1962 I can barely keep up with all the amazing tastes this month. So, narrowing it down… BREAKFAST • Nothing like Chicken &… Read more →
MARZANO 4214 Park Boulevard (at Glenfield) Oakland, CA 94602 510-531-4500 www.marzanorestaurant.com Open since December, I finally made it to Oakland’s idyllic, tree-lined Glenview neighborhood for Marzano, opened by the team behind Garibaldi’s. While I sighed at yet another Rustic Italian menu, a tapped-out field in my book, expectations began to shift from first look at the medieval wood-beam ceiling and… Read more →
The Belgian craze hit hard last year with three Bay Area openings… its not new news. But it’s good news. Here’s my take after they have been open a few months: La Trappe: My personal favorite for atmosphere alone, made perfect by the beer selection. When you walk down a dark wood, winding staircase to the brick walled, candlelit basement, you’re… Read more →
East Bay breakfasts, particularly in Berkeley, are abundantly good, so I have a tough time deciding where to go across the Bay. Oakland has its own breakfast classics – we’ll explore one old and one new (don’t forget my favorite Oakland breakfast, the amazing Bakesale Betty’s bakery, which I highlighted in February). Brown Sugar Kitchen: In the wilds of West Oakland next to warehouses… Read more →
A morning excursion across the Bay Bridge provides many pleasures… here are merely a couple of my favorite non-restaurant food stops in Oaktown: Bakesale Betty 5098 Telegraph Avenue (at 51st Street) Oakland, CA 94609 510-985-1213 www.bakesalebetty.us Hours Monday: 7am-3pm Tuesday-Saturday: 7am-7pm Yes, we San Franciscans have a wealth of bakery options, including near legendary Tartine, which I am thrilled to… Read more →