Chocolate Chip Cookies — But Make ‘Em with Miso-Glazed Walnuts

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Loads of dark chocolate plus miso-glazed walnuts make these cookies extra special.
Loads of dark chocolate plus miso-glazed walnuts make these cookies extra special.

Crisp or chewy. Brown sugar or granulated. Softened butter or browned. Chips or chopped chocolate. Baked immediately or from chilled dough.

Chocolate-chip cookies come in all sizes and manners, and we love each and every one.

Get ready to add another fabulous one to your repertoire — this one with miso.

As in miso-glazed walnuts.

“Miso Walnut Double-Thick Chocolate-Chip Cookies” is from “Sift: The Elements of Great Baking” (Clarkson Potter, 2024), of which I received a review copy.

It was written by Nicola Lamb, a London-based recipe developer and pastry chef, who has trained with superstar chefs Dominique Ansel and Yotam Ottolenghi.

The first 100 or so pages are perfect for bakers who like to nerd out. They’re devoted to the science behind flour, sugar, eggs, and fat — and how they affect different types of dessert recipes.

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Take A Seat At the Sensational Saison Wine Bar

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Caviar Parfait a la Mina at Saison Wine Bar.
Caviar Parfait a la Mina at Saison Wine Bar.

There are wine bars.

And then there is Saison Wine Bar.

Located in the South of Market neighborhood in San Francisco, it boasts not only exceptional wines by the glass, flight or bottle, but French fare that’s far more elegant and refined than you might expect.

But then again, it is from the same restaurant group that operates Michelin two-starred Saison and Michelin-starred Angler, both in San Francisco.

No wonder folks are willing to wait up to 3 hours to get in at times, according to its Wine Director Paul Carayas.

Saison co-founder Mark Bright obviously struck gold when he decided to open the wine bar in 2024, along with the Saison Wine Cellar, a members’-only space two doors down that provides private tastings and climate-controlled wine storage.

A helpful sign points the way.
A helpful sign points the way.
The entrance.
The entrance.

I had a chance to finally visit the wine bar last week with my husband. Even on a Tuesday, it was boisterous, with many patrons filling tables and bar seats for the Happy Hour wine and food specials, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

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The Balm of Pistachio-Cardamom Cake

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A cake for cardamom lovers.
A cake for cardamom lovers.

“Ready for Dessert” has got to be the most rhetorical of questions.

Because when it comes to desserts, I don’t know about you, but I am ready and willing 24-7.

If you’re the same, then you’re sure to appreciate this aptly named cookbook (Ten Speed Press, 2025), of which I received a review copy.

It’s actually a newly revised edition of David Lebovitz’s best-seller that first published in 2010. A professional cook and baker, who worked at Berkeley’s Chez Panisse for 13 years, he’s now grown into a prolific cookbook author and baking authority who makes his home in Paris.

You’ll find nearly 175 recipes sure to tempt your sweet tooth, from “Cherry Gateau Basque,” “Banana Cake with Mocha Frosting and Salted Candied Peanuts,” and “Chocolate Ganache Custard Tart” to “Butterscotch-Pecan Ice Cream,” and “Brown Sugar-Pecan Shortbread.”

With its haunting and unmistakable sweet, minty, citrus-y, and pine-y fragrance, I can never resist anything with cardamom.

And Lebovitz’s “Pistachio-Cardamom Cake” delivers big-time in aroma, taste, and texture.

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The Ease of Sheet-Pan Steak Tacos

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Skirt steak and veggies cook all together on a sheet pan for tacos in a flash.
Skirt steak and veggies cook all together on a sheet pan for tacos in a flash.

Taco Tuesdays never tasted so good.

It’s hard to beat the snappy ease and warm flavors of “Steak Tacos with Poblano Peppers and Corn.”

The recipe is from “Sheet-Pan Meals” (Hardie Grant, 2025), of which I received a review copy. It was written by By Jessica Darakjian, a cook, writer, and research editor based in Claremont, CA.

Who doesn’t love a sheet-pan dinner, right? Darakjian provides 100 of them, arranged by the seasons.

Enjoy everything from “Potato Pizza” in spring and “Persian Herb Quiche” in summer to “Gingerbread Pancake” in fall and “Soy-Glazed Meatballs with Mustard Greens” in winter.

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Family Is First and Foremost at George + Kin

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Fried chicken sandwich on house-made Japanese milk bread at George + Kin.
Fried chicken sandwich on house-made Japanese milk bread at George + Kin.

It’s easy to fall for a place where love of family is paramount in all that it does.

Such is the case at George + Kin, a new Japanese American-inflected diner in Napa.

When I found myself in the Napa Valley a few days after it opened, I knew I had to stop in. At 11:30 a.m. on a Friday, it was already humming with patrons.

Owner Ben Koenig named his restaurant in honor of his great aunt and uncle, Kinuko and George Sato, Japanese American farmers from Pocatello, Idaho, who helped raise his mother, Wendy, after she lost her own mother at a young age.

You order at the counter.
You order at the counter.
The dining room.
The dining room.

Although he partnered with hospitality professional Charles Whittaker and consulting chef Itamar Abramovitch to open the restaurant in the Bel Aire Plaza, Koenig is no stranger to opening businesses. He is already well known in the Napa Valley for his MOTHERS, Heritage Eats (now closed), Best Food Truck Ever, and Napa Valley Lobster Co.

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