Category Archives: Chefs

An Indelible Visit to Aubergine, Carmel’s Only Michelin Two-Starred Restaurant

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Presentation of the smoked scallop at Aubergine.
Presentation of the smoked scallop at Aubergine.

It’s a good bet that if you see anyone dressed up in Carmel-by-the-Sea, a charming beach town and major laid-back tourist draw where shorts and sweatshirts are the norm, they are likely headed to dinner at Aubergine.

Located in the Relais & Chateaux luxury hotel, L’Auberge Carmel, it is the only Michelin two-starred restaurant in this tiny town of 3,000. In fact, since retaining its one Michelin star since 2019, it was awarded its second star last year.

A lot has changed since I last dined there a dozen years ago. Most notably, jewel box of a dining room always felt intimate but even more so since four tables have been removed, leaving all of five now situated around the perimeter. There are two seatings available, 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. If you choose the early seating as we did, you’ll catch the last light on a fall evening through the wall of draped windows.

Aubergine at L'Auberge Carmel.
Aubergine at L’Auberge Carmel.
Awarded a second Michelin star in 2024.
Awarded a second Michelin star in 2024.

Executive Chef Justin Cogley remains the constant, a former professional figure skater with “Disney on Ice,” who glides smoothly through the upper echelons of fine dining, having launched his career at none other than Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago.

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Yeobo, Darling Is A Treasure of Taiwanese and Korean Creativity

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A Taiwanese version of Italian lasagna at Yeobo, Darling.
A Taiwanese version of Italian lasagna at Yeobo, Darling.

Husband-and-wife and chefs Michael and Meichich Kim have had a rather Goldilocks’ culinary journey.

Their former Michelin-starred Maum in Palo Alto with its one long communal table that seated a mere 16 diners at once was maybe too exclusive for most.

Their former Bao Bei fast-casual spot at State Street Market in Los Altos was maybe too lowbrow to fully utilize their talent to the fullest.

With Yeobo, Darling, though, which opened in Menlo Park in June, they have created a spot that is just right.

The small bar.
The small bar.
The intimate dining room.
The intimate dining room.

It’s a fitting showcase for their very personal cooking that spotlights Michael’s Korean heritage and Meichich’s Taiwanese lineage. In fact, Yeobo is Korean for “sweetheart,” symbolizing just how intertwined their relationship and personality is with this restaurant.

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San Mateo’s Bonjour Bakehouse Expands With Indoor Seating

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Pastries from Bonjour Bakehouse.
Pastries from Bonjour Bakehouse.

It’s been an eventful past six years for the family-owned Bonjour Bakehouse in a warehouse area of San Mateo.

Bordeaux, France-native Francois Bernaudin was executive pastry chef of La Boulange in San Francisco before founding Bonjour Bakehouse in 2019 at Kitchentown, the food incubator hub in San Mateo. Three years ago, Paris-born Ingrid Sarlandie, a mechanical engineer who worked in executive management in Silicon Valley but had a lifelong passion for baking, joined the business.

For years, the bakery operated a pass-through window there with seating on the sidewalk. But last month, it added indoor seating for 40 with bistro tables and a communal table that afford views of the production kitchen.

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Gourmet Getaway to the Mendocino Region, Part IV: The Boonville Hotel and Offspring Restaurant

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Sun Gold tomato Margherita pizza at Offspring.
Sun Gold tomato Margherita pizza at Offspring.

Offspring is a fitting name for Chef Perry Hoffman’s second restaurant, an inviting pizza and pasta joint in teeny Boonville in the Anderson Valley.

After all, it was the success of the Boonville Hotel and Restaurant across the street, where he’s also chef, that gave birth to it.

Yet it’s also a name that applies profoundly to him, too, as this descendant of veritable culinary royalty knows a thing or two about the creating a lasting legacy.

Chef Perry Hoffman.
Chef Perry Hoffman.

His grandparents were famously, Don and Sally Schmitt, who bought an old stone building in sleepy Yountville in 1978, the French Laundry. They worked hard to turn it into a true destination, a process Hoffman witnessed from the time he was 5 years old when he’d roast peppers and cut baguettes to help out at the restaurant. It was the tender start to his own storied career that culminated in becoming the youngest chef in the United States to receive a Michelin star when he was 25 at the helm of Domaine Chandon’s Etoile restaurant in Yountville in 2009.

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Gourmet Getaway to the Mendocino Region, Part III: Jumbo’s Win Win

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It only opened last year, but this burger shack already got a nod from the New York Times.
It only opened last year, but this burger shack already got a nod from the New York Times.

You simply cannot drive on highway 128 through Philo in the Anderson Valley and miss this place — in more ways than one.

First, with its huge block letter sign painted atop its building, Jumbo’s Win Win definitely sticks out.

Second, this retro, playful, family-run burger stand serves up classic burgers, sandwiches, fries, and soft serve with premium ingredients and top-notch techniques at shockingly affordable prices.

The New York Times even named it one of the best new restaurants of 2025. If you’re in the area, it’s an absolute must-stop.

The fried fish sandwich is sublime.
The fried fish sandwich is sublime.

It was opened last year by Scott Baird, the lauded James Beard-nominated cocktail and beverage consultant who co-founded the innovative Trick Dog bar in San Francisco.

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