These newcomers or new menus cover the gamut, from Greek mezé to dim sum. Alongside this month’s full restaurant reviews, these seven are also worth visiting, with last month’s standouts here (as always, I’ve vetted, visited or ordered from each place reviewed): Read more →
San Francisco’s Tenderloin has long been a key neighborhood for Vietnamese food, its western blocks dubbed Little Saigon. Head out to the entire half of the city that includes the Richmond, Sunset and Parkside districts and you have an array of Vietnamese restaurants, banh mi shops, pho houses and the like. But there’s nothing quite like new Bodega, from its sleek, modern diner decor to cocktails with Vietnamese food… Read more →
Call Pim the Queen of modern Thai food. Named on Esquire’s shortlist of Best New Restaurants in America after opening in 2019, Nari’s chef/owner Pim Techamuanvivit is recently one of five final nominees for Best Chef: California at this year’s upcoming James Beard Awards… Most notably, all five California chef finalists this year are AAPI… two are Thai women. Read more →
Six new restaurants/eateries, plus one pre-pandemic gem and two bar stops, all draw me to the East Bay. Digging in also meant some disappointments, including solid but not destination-worthy cocktails at charming Palmetto, or overwrought cocktails that sound exciting but don’t deliver at The Miranda. But each of these eight has one (or a few) winning aspects: Read more →
These six notable newcomers cover the gamut, from Mexican pizza and Jewish deli pop-ups inside established restaurants, to a food hall nailing cuisine from Africa to the Middle East. Alongside this month’s full restaurant reviews — Good Good Culture Club from Liholiho Yacht Club, Automat from Lazy Bear, Chuck’s Takeaway from Charles Phan, Fort Point Valencia and 6 newcomers cafe & food truck edition — these new restaurants are worth eating at now: Read more →
This review features brand new Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant and modern Filipino cuisine destination, Abacá, from celebrated chef Francis Ang of Pinoy Heritage and drinks by renowned bartender/owner Kevin Diedrich of PCH and Kona’s Street Market.
My weekly restaurant review for The Bold Italic, published September 8, 2021, covers a rarity in a region rife with superb, authentic Asian food in every category: excellent Indonesian food. This superb newcomer takes us to Redwood City:
In the Winter 2020-2021 print issue of Distiller Magazine:
My article on 10 of the world’s best bars and how they are surviving and recreating in pandemic
My dining column at print and online magazine, Bob Cut — column details and my philosophy here — covers both standout newcomers and longtimers we want to keep supporting.
During shelter-in-place pandemic times, the column is in takeout/delivery mode:
As with the past decade plus, here are my top 14 new Bay Area restaurant openings of 2019: Read more →