Category Archives: Great Finds

Augustine Adds A Touch of Glitz to Santana Row

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The Augustine Burger.
The Augustine Burger.

One of the first restaurants to open in San Jose’s Santana Row in 2003, Pizza Antica is still drawing crowds and going strong.

On the heels of that impressive streak, it’s now been joined by its new sister restaurant Augustine with adjacent Augustine Bakery/Cafe, both of which opened in March.

All are owned by the Bacchus Management Group, which has a host of restaurants in the Bay Area, including Michelin-starred Selby’s in Redwood City and the Village Pub in Woodside.

The expansive, former Sino restaurant spot has been completely made over in tones of deep cobalt with custom light fixtures as luminous as contemporary jewelry, and a glittering marble u-shaped bar that commands attention steps from the entrance. A covered patio offers ample outdoor dining, too. The look is elegant and well-heeled.

The eye-catching bar.
The eye-catching bar.

And is the place ever attracting a crowd.

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The Transportive Experience of Nagai Edomae Sushi

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The signature kohada nigiri at Nagai Edomae Sushi.
The signature kohada nigiri at Nagai Edomae Sushi.

As you approach Nagai Edomae Sushi on Broadway Street in Redwood City, the front door and windows are obscured by shoji screens, offering no glimpse inside.

Although the street teems with other restaurants, you can’t just walk in like any other establishment. Indeed, a small sign by the door indicates: “Private omakase by reservation only.”

Opened last fall, this restaurant with all of 10 seats around a Japanese cypress counter provides a very intimate experience that somehow transports you away from the congestion outside its front door to a state of quietude.

Behind the counter stands Chef-Owner Tomonori Nagai, who grew up in a family of fishermen in the small coastal town of Iwaki, before finding his calling as a sushi chef, in which he worked at Morimoto in Honolulu and Michelin-starred Shinji by Kanesaka in Singapore.

Chef Tomonori Nagai in his element.
Chef Tomonori Nagai in his element.

In 2019, he opened Sushi Nagai on Union Square in San Francisco, which unfortunately ended up closing during the pandemic. That was where I first experienced his food. After being invited two weeks ago as a guest of Nagai Edomae Sushi, I think I prefer his new location more, just because its smaller size makes for an experience that feels more personal and special.

Chef Nagai opened his restaurant with business partner Sunny Noah, who also owns the omakase restaurants, Tancho in Castro Valley, Iki in Palo Alto, and the soon-to-open Ren in Menlo Park.

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The Perfect Number of Cupcakes

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When four cupcakes is all you need.
When four cupcakes is all you need.

We love cupcakes.

We also like to bake them.

But often, we are faced with a cupcake conundrum: recipes that produce 12, 18 or 24, when all we really want are a few of them.

Thank goodness for America’s Test Kitchen.

While other small-batch cookbooks come at you with recipes for modest amounts of cookies, doughnuts or tartlets, its new “Baking for Two” actually has a recipe for “Vanilla Cupcakes” that makes four of them. Yes, perfect for a family of four, a couple who wants to indulge in seconds, or a close-group of besties to share together.

The cookbook has more than 200 recipes for bakers who want to indulge their passion but don’t want to bake themselves into a frenzy.

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Whipped Cream Cake That’s As Good As It Sounds

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Whipped cream cake that tastes as rich and buttery as you imagine.
Whipped cream cake that tastes as rich and buttery as you imagine.

Would you believe that this cake contains no butter and no oil?

Just heavy cream — a lavish amount of it.

“Whipped Cream Cake” is from the newly revised and updated, 35th anniversary edition of “The Cake Bible” (William Morrow, 2024), of which I received a review copy.

It’s a beautiful golden-hued Bundt cake with a tender, moist crumb and a taste so rich that it needs no embellishments.

First published in 1988, it’s by baking expert, Rose Levy Beranbaum, who has been nicknamed the “diva of desserts.”

The revised book is a whopping 684 pages, with 150 pages and 30 percent more recipes than the original.

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Japan Eats, Part IV: Ima in Kyoto

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Kyoto rice with icefish is presented at Ima.
Kyoto rice with icefish is presented at Ima.

Kyoto, JAPAN — In Japanese, Ima means “living room.”

If only my own living room in the Bay Area were filled with the relaxing fragrance of cedar, the warmth of a crackling fire, and such tantalizing aromas as this one.

Tucked away on a quiet street that once housed kimono shops, this newcomer opened barely two months ago in a renovated 110-year-old townhouse.

With a small team of three, it is overseen by Chef Kiichi Imai, who trained at Michelin-starred Hotel de Yoshino in Wakayama, before going to work in several Tokyo restaurants. He later worked on the opening team for Michelin-starred Txispa, a wood-fire restaurant in Spain, before returning to Japan to cook most recently at Noma Kyoto.

The restaurant is inside a 110-year-old former townhouse.
The restaurant is inside a 110-year-old former townhouse.
The restaurant is all about live-fire cooking.
The restaurant is all about live-fire cooking.

One of the restaurant’s investors will surely be familiar to anyone with a sweet tooth in the Bay Area: Charles Chen, founder of Basuku Cheesecakes.

Ima is all of 10 seats at the counter, which affords a clear view of the live-fire grill fed with oak firewood from Miyami forest in Kyoto. From start to finish, the hearth plays a major role in the dishes, blending Japanese and French influences that meld with sure-handed searing and charring.

Even the menu is smudged with artful burn marks.

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