Category Archives: Chefs

Get Ready for A Good Time at Horsefeather

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Seared tuna brushed with beet ponzu at the new Horsefeather in Palo Alto.
Seared tuna brushed with beet ponzu at the new Horsefeather in Palo Alto.

It’s been so long since I’ve seen a new restaurant sport a menu with entrees mostly in the twenty-something-dollar range that at first I thought I was looking at a mirage at the new Horsefeather in Palo Alto.

But nope, the newest edition to the Town & Country Village has debuted with a price point that’s relatively comfortable in these economically challenged times.

Opened last month, it’s a sister restaurant to the one in San Francisco’s Nopa neighborhood, and it’s already packing in eager diners, as I found when I dined as a guest of the restaurant last week.

The bar and dining room evokes a mid-century '70s ambience.
The bar and dining room evokes a mid-century ’70s ambience.

Think mid-century modern “That ’70s Show,” as the interior features plenty of warm walnut wood, brass track lighting, and smoked glass dividers.

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Not Your Usual Blondies

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A whole tablespoon of toasted sesame oil really adds an irresistible flavor to these blondies.
A whole tablespoon of toasted sesame oil really adds an irresistible flavor to these blondies.

Brownies and blondies are classics that always satisfy.

But rarely do they offer up a surprise.

“Toasted Sesame Blondies” definitely does, though.

These have all the portability plus chewy texture you love about blondies. But they also sport a splash of toasted sesame oil and a profusion of black and white sesame seeds overtop that give them a whole new personality.

One that tastes as if butterscotch and sesame had a love fest.

This fabulous recipe is from “100 Afternoon Sweets” (Chronicle Books, 2024), of which I received a review copy.

It’s by Sarah Kieffer, a Minneapolis baker and creator of the award-winning The Vanilla Bean Blog.

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Michelin Three-Starred Benu Celebrates 15 Years

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The unforgettable mussel at Benu.
The unforgettable mussel at Benu.

Just before you’re escorted into the kitchen at Benu in San Francisco, you’ll spot a formidable column decorated with autographs from a who’s who in the culinary world: David Kinch, Michelin three-starred chef of now-shuttered Manresa in Los Gato; Chef Sang Yoon of Father’s Office and Helms Bakery, both in Los Angeles; Fuchsia Dunlop, James Beard Award-winning food writer and Chinese cuisine expert; the late-Charles Phan, founder of the Slanted Door restaurant in Napa and San Ramon; the late-Chuck Williams, founder of Williams Sonoma; and so many more.

Because since its opening in 2010, this fine-dining, tasting-menu restaurant has attracted everyone who’s anyone to its minimalist dining room for its elegant fare that blends East and West with incredible finesse.

It was the first San Francisco restaurant to receive three Michelin stars in 2014. It has maintained them ever since, too.

Opened by Chef Corey Lee, former chef de cuisine of Michelin three-starred The French Laundry in Yountville, Benu is also the first restaurant that Thomas Keller ever invested in that wasn’t his own.

The courtyard entrance.
The courtyard entrance.
A view into the kitchen.
A view into the kitchen.
Crocks of house-made soy sauce.
Crocks of house-made soy sauce.

While I’ve dined several times at Lee’s casual Korean restaurant, San Ho Won in San Francisco, which has a Michelin star, it’s been many years since I’d last been to Benu. And since my cousins, who are huge fans of San Ho Won, had never been to Benu, I figured it was high time we all went together.

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A Michelin-Recommended Restaurant’s Second Act: Bijou in Petaluma

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The dreamy and oh-so cheesy petit croque with black truffles at the new Bijou.
The dreamy and oh-so cheesy petit croque with black truffles at the new Bijou.

It’s been an eventful 2025 for Petaluma’s Table Culture Provisions. This spring, the fine-dining, tasting menu-only restaurant garnered a recommendation from the Michelin Guide. And last month, the team behind it opened a sister establishment, Bijou.

Just a half mile a way, Bijou is a casual French bistro with Sonoma sensibilities that’s three times the size of Table Culture Provisions.

The dining room.
The dining room.
The chic bar.
The chic bar.

Opened by Co-Chefs and Co-Owners Stephane Saint Louis and Steven Vargas, along with Saint Louis’ wife Marta, it offers a compact a la carte menu, which I had a chance to try last month.

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Squash Blossom and Maitake Rice Pilaf From A Michelin-Starred Chef

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Squash blossoms, maitakes, zucchini, and cotija cheese make this rice dish so flavorful and beautiful.
Squash blossoms, maitakes, zucchini, and cotija cheese make this rice dish so flavorful and beautiful.

Bay Area nominees at this year’s James Beard Awards for restaurants and chefs disappointingly came away empty-handed.

But one huge bright spot came at the foundation’s media awards, when Chef Rogelio Garcia of Michelin-starred Auro in Calistoga strode across the stage to accept a James Beard Award for his first cookbook, “Convivir: Modern Mexican Cuisine in California’s Wine Country” (Cameron Company, 2024).

Written with Andrea Lawson Gray, a San Francisco cookbook writer and food historian, this gorgeous, coffee table book, of which I received a review copy, is a collection of more than 150 recipes inspired by the Mexican diaspora that has shaped our foodways profoundly, especially in California.

The title references the Spanish word that means “to live together,” a sentiment with even greater weight and poignancy in these fraught times.

The book is a salute to the many Mexican Americans who have come to Wine Country to work the land, pick the grapes, and create the wines and foods that are appreciated the world over.

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