I’m not really surprised when restaurants meet expectations.
But I sure am when they manage to exceed them.
San Francisco’s Michelin two-starred Birdsong achieved that.
What’s more, when I dined there with family last week, Chef-Owner Christopher Bleidorn wasn’t even in the house, a testament to just how strong and capable his team is.
I knew the restaurant, which opened in 2018, had its own dry-aging room for proteins and that it specialized in live-fire cooking. I also knew that Bleidorn came with quite the pedigree, having honed his skills at such Michelin heavyweights as Alinea in Chicago; and Benu, Atelier Crenn, and Saison, all in San Francisco.
What I wasn’t prepared for was how transportive the dining experience was, drawing you in with its elegance yet also a real primalness.
The entrance.Choose chef’s counter seating or tables just a few feet away from the open kitchen.
Let’s face it: the Mission Street restaurant is located in a perpetually seedy part of downtown. But once seated inside the contemporary dining room done up in minimalist Scandinavian esthetics with its focal point a massive open kitchen, you feel a million miles away.
On a recent drive to the Napa Valley, I saw something I don’t remember ever seeing before: empty lands once blanketed in vineyards that had been recently plowed over.
With U.S. wine sales falling every year since the onslaught of the pandemic in 2020, it’s understandable why that may become an increasingly more common sight, unfortunately.
So, when I was invited in as a guest at Sequoia Grove Winery in Rutherford, I was heartened to find so many visitors — on a weekday no less — who were there enjoying tastings and purchasing bottles of wine to tote home.
Yes, they were more middle-aged, not the twenty-somethings that wine producers have been hoping to lure who have been increasingly shunning wine and even other alcoholic beverages.
Yet, this was a happy bunch, lounging at patio tables underneath a canopy outfitted with fans, so that even on an exceptionally warm day, as when I visited, it felt comfortable.
Winemaker Jesse Fox who followed an intriguing path to winemaking. Large format bottles.
Then again, it’s hard not to have a lovely time at this winery, which gets its name from the soaring sequoias on the property that are more than a century old.
A homespun dish of eggs and tomatoes that reminds me of my dad.
When I was a kid, my dad had a Sunday morning ritual of whipping up omelets for the family.
He’d pour beaten eggs into a hot pan and add canned stewed tomatoes, sometimes with a splash of soy sauce or oyster sauce, to make omelet after omelet for everyone.
Except that is, for me.
At the time, I turned up my nose at that combination, preferring my omelet instead filled with cheese. And loads of it.
Little did I realize until much later in life that my idea of an inferior omelet was actually a far superior one.
Tomatoes boast tons of umami. So, do eggs. And any Chinese condiment such as oyster sauce is a major source of that irresistible deep savory fifth taste we all crave, as well.
The cookbook was written by British-Chinese chef Jeremy Pang, founder of London’s School of Wok culinary school, who has appeared regularly on BBC television and radio culinary shows.
Six years ago, when Philip Tessier was hired as executive chef-partner at Press in St. Helena, his mission was to rework the then-15-year-old restaurant that had grown into a high-end steakhouse with a fabulously deep, award-winning wine cellar.
After all, whom better to accomplish that then the first American chef to ascend the podium at the internationally renowned Bocuse d’Or, winning silver, and before that made his mark rising through the ranks at Michelin three-starred Le Bernardin in New York and The French Laundry in Yountville?
That impressive wine cellar is still there, offering the largest collection of Napa Valley wines in the world. But now, so is a Michelin star, which the restaurant received in 2022 and has held ever since.
Last winter, Press took yet another step in its transformation — completely overhauling its kitchen. Most everything now is custom. There is an Argentinian-style grill, as well as a bespoke Bonnet suite from France.
At the entrance.Michelin-starred since 2002.The brand-new kitchen.
With the gleaming new kitchen in place, Press rolled out a new four-course prix-fixe ($150 per person; $275 with wine pairing included; or $450 with reserve pairing included) to go along with its seven-course chef’s tasting menu ($195 per person; $350 with wine pairing included, and $695 with reserve pairing included). The cuisine is now more expansive and contemporary, rooted in new American fare through a Napa Valley lens.
Last week, I dined there in the soaring, white-washed barn-like restaurant with soaring ceilings, and opted for the seven-course menu. Even mid-week, the dining room was filled with elegantly dressed patrons.
