Category Archives: Pizza

Dining At the New Little Original Joe’s

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The Mount Midoriyama of zucchini fries at Little Original Joe's in the Marina neighborhood in San Francisco.
The Mount Midoriyama of zucchini fries at Little Original Joe’s in the Marina neighborhood in San Francisco.

When I was a kid growing up in San Francisco, it was a treat on the rare occasion that my family trekked to Daly City to dine at Westlake Joe’s.

The prices were affordable for a working-class family. The big, cushy booths added an air of specialness. And the food was both different enough from our regular fare yet familiar enough so that my Chinese American parents felt comfortable around the menu.

Those memories flashed back to me last week when I was invited in as a guest at the new Little Original Joe’s in San Francisco’s Marina district.

Located on a prominent corner spot on Chestnut Street, the restaurant is housed inside a1920s Art Deco building with soaring ceilings and tall windows that let in loads of light. The expansiveness does mean that the 100-seat dining room with 12 bar seats gets pretty noisy, which might make it difficult to hear your dining companions but definitely adds to the lively bustle of the place.

A view to the open kitchen.
A view to the open kitchen.
The Art Deco-trimmed bar.
The Art Deco-trimmed bar.

This is Italian-American fare that may not be cutting edge, but it satisfies with pure comfort and nostalgia.

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Liven Up Your Cooking with The Spice Lab

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Grilled bread with cheese, tomatoes and basil that gets a generous sprinkling of The Spice Lab's Pizza Dust Seasoning.
Grilled bread with cheese, tomatoes and basil that gets a generous sprinkling of The Spice Lab’s Pizza Dust Seasoning.

How to make a simple slice of grilled bread taste like actual pizza?

Just shake on a generous amount of The Spice Lab’s Pizza Dust Seasoning.

Close your eyes, take a bite, and you’ll taste the sweetness of tomato, the pungency of garlic, a kiss of anise from fennel, a hit of warm spice from Aleppo pepper, and a subtle bread-y note from yeast flakes. In short, a close approximation to your favorite sausage pizza.

Based in Pompano Beach, FL, The Spice Lab is a family-owned business that turns out award-winning sea salts and unique seasoning blends that are all natural and kosher certified, with a good many of them gluten-free. The company, housed in a sweeping 125,000-square-foot facility, also makes custom blends, including the Nom Nom Paleo seasoning powders for best-selling cookbook author Michelle Tam.

The Spice Lab’s chef-in-residence Fiona Kennedy recently reached out to send samples for me to try.

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Dining At the New Che Fico Parco Menlo

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Impeccable seared octopus at Che Fico Parco Menlo.
Impeccable seared octopus at Che Fico Parco Menlo.

For those of us who live on the Peninsula and South Bay, we couldn’t be happier that it’s been a boom time of late for new restaurants opening in this region, including outposts by celebrated San Francisco chefs.

Among the latest is Chef David Nayfeld of San Francisco’s wildly popular Che Fico who opened a sister-restaurant, Che Fico Parco Menlo, in November in Menlo Park.

It debuted at Springline, the splashy new residential-restaurant mixed-use development off El Camino Real.

Last Thursday night, when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant, the place was buzzing. Nearly every table was filled in the well-appointed, covered and heated outdoor patio that sports tufted banquettes and cozy pillows.

Gingham napkins.
Gingham napkins.

Same with the main dining room, where it was standing-room-only at the bar as patrons waited for tables to open up. A retro soundtrack of Earth, Wind & Fire, Al Green, and the Clash played in the background.

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My Top 10 Eats of 2023

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(Wallpaper by @mydarlin_bk)
(Wallpaper by @mydarlin_bk)

This was the year I returned to mostly indoor dining. That in itself was a triumph after doing nothing but takeout through fraught 2020 and opting for outdoor dining primarily in skittish 2021 and 2022. How wonderful to lean ever closer to “normalcy” again.

This is my annual list of the most memorable bites or dishes I enjoyed in 2023. It pained me to leave off a few places that have since closed (San Francisco’s Afici that will forever spoil me for its clever use of Chinese scallion pancakes instead of the usual blini for caviar service) or tragically were destroyed in the devastating Maui wildfires (Pacifico On the Beach for its imaginative mahi mahi Wellington, and Papa’aina’s dazzling and so intentional tropical fruit plate).

It’s an important reminder to really savor and appreciate the restaurants, bakeries, and other establishments that enrich our lives so much. Without further adieu, here is my Top 10, in no particular order:

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Dining At the New La Connessa

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Hen of the woods mushrooms cover this satisfying pizza at La Connessa.
Hen of the woods mushrooms cover this satisfying pizza at La Connessa.

To say that the Bay Area’s Bacchus Management Group has been on a tear lately would be an understatement. In addition to opening three new establishments in San Francisco this year alone, plans call for for another new restaurant to debut at San Jose’s Santana Row in 2024 and one to open at the historic post office building in Burlingame in 2025.

That’s in addition to its already sizeable stable of Spruce in San Francisco, Michelin-starred the Village Pub in Woodside, Michelin-starred Selby’s in Redwood City, the Village Bakery in Woodside, and Pizza Antica locations in Santana Row and Lafayette.

Last week, I had a chance to check out its new Italian restaurant, La Connessa, when I was invited in as a guest. It’s on the street level of a new building on Potrero Hill. Just steps away are Bacchus’ two other new eateries: the burger place, Louie’s Original; and the sourdough donut shop, Magic Donuts & Coffee (more on that in a moment).

The focal-point bar.
The focal-point bar.
Neon decoration on the wall.
Neon decoration on the wall.

Dimly lighted with sleek, wedding band-like chandeliers and a soaring, illuminated bar, it has that sophisticated, moody aura, and boy, was it bustling on a Saturday night. There’s even a view into the kitchen behind big glass windows.

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