Category Archives: Restaurants

Any Time is Right For Dumpling Time

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The giant soup dumpling at Dumpling Time that's become a social media darling.

The giant soup dumpling at Dumpling Time that’s become a social media darling.

 

Since opening in May, Dumpling Time in San Francisco has been the dumpling destination.

Folks start lining up on weekends long before the restaurant opens for dinner at 5:30 p.m., jotting their name down on a clip board to snag one of the 70 seats inside or 20 on the front patio. That’s the scene I witnessed when I dined there as a guest of the restaurant a few weeks ago. Even after I demolished the contents of my last steamer basket and departed, there was still a throng of people queued up patiently at the entrance.

Who doesn’t love dumplings, right? Especially traditional ones given a contemporary flair with delicious fillings, colorful wrappers, and social media pizazz?

That’s what you’ll find at this casual, affordable South of Market Street establishment from the same restaurant group that owns the more rarefied Omakase nearby.

Dumplings made by hand, fresh, day and night.

Dumplings made by hand, fresh, day and night.

My husband and I were seated at the table on the patio directly beside a window that peeks into the restaurant’s dumpling-making room. That’s where the magic happens throughout the day and night, as a small crew meticulously stuffs and folds dumpling after dumpling at lightening speed. Chef Do Leung, who was born in Guandong, China and was most recently at Tai Wu restaurant in Millbrae, oversees the kitchen.

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A Taste of San Jose’s Michelin All-Star Experience

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Portuguese olive oil showcased in four ways in this dazzling cake at Adega.

Portuguese olive oil showcased in four ways in this dazzling cake at Adega.

 

Carlos Carrerira beamed with pride last Wednesday evening as he started to introduce his daughter before the assembled throng of media and San Jose officials gathered at his family’s Adega restaurant for a celebratory dinner.

“This all started when my daughter decided to skip UCLA and go to cooking school instead,” he said with a smile.

This referred to the little restaurant that could, and how. Last year, before it even turned a year old, the Portuguese restaurant in the working-class neighborhood of Little Portugal garnered the first Michelin star ever in San Jose.

When Carreira’s daughter, Pastry Chef Jessica Carreira, who oversees the restaurant with her fiance, Chef David Costa, stepped into the dining room, she was greeted with a standing ovation.

Tears welled in her eyes, as the applause went on and on.

As her father explained, when his daughter got the idea to open a restaurant with his help along with his wife’s, Fernanda, he assumed she would do so in San Francisco or Palo Alto or Los Gatos. But she stuck to her guns. Jessica only wanted to open in the neighborhood she grew up in, and which she still calls home.

The all-star line-up of Portuguese chefs with a Michelin star: (L to R) Alexander Silva of Loco Lisbon, Jessica Carreira of Adega, David Costa of Adega, Pedro Lemos of Pedro Lemos, and George Mendes of Aldea.

The all-star line-up of Portuguese chefs with a Michelin star: (L to R) Alexandre Silva of Loco Lisbon, Jessica Carreira of Adega, David Costa of Adega, Pedro Lemos of Pedro Lemos, and George Mendes of Aldea.

Her instincts and loyalty paid off when Michelin put them on the global map. “It’s been so great,” she says. “We went from a secret foodie destination to a boom of people knowing about us, even in Portugal.”

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Join the Food Gal and Chef David Baron of Salt Wood Kitchen & Oysterette For a Demo

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If you love fresh oysters, you won’t want to miss the 1 p.m. Sept. 23 cooking demo at Macy’s Valley Fair in Santa Clara with yours truly and Chef David Baron of Salt Wood Kitchen & Oysterette.

Baron will demonstrate how to jazz up oysters with toppings of kimchi butter; “Bloody Mary” and green apple; and finger lime-tarragon.

Are you salivating yet? You’ll get the recipe to take home, too.

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Comfort Food Reimagined At Finn Town

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Thanksgiving supper served up fancifully at Finn Town.

Thanksgiving supper served up fancifully at Finn Town.

 

At San Francisco’s Finn Town, every Thursday is Thanksgiving.

Well, Friendsgiving to be exact.

You can’t help but have a soft spot for a restaurant that serves a homey yet restaurant-worthy plate of turkey and all the fixings every Thursday night as a weekly special.

It’s one of the Castro District’s top-selling dishes, too, says Executive Chef Steve Dustin. who came on board in July, after having been culinary director of operations for the Big Night Restaurant Group, which includes The Cavalier, Marlow, and Leo’s Oyster Bar, among others. Celeb Chef Ryan Scott originally opened the restaurant in December 2016, but cut ties with the establishment six months later.

The name “Finn Town” apparently was what the Castro was once dubbed in the 1800s, owing to its then-large population of Finnish seamen.

The restaurant is an ode to San Francisco's irreverent history.

The restaurant is an ode to San Francisco’s irreverent history.

The bathroom walls are covered in old San Francisco newspapers.

The bathroom walls are covered in old San Francisco newspapers.

A recent Thursday night, when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant, definitely proved how popular the New American tavern is. The bar was standing-room only, and the dining room full. It’s a bustling place with a fun, slightly baroque interior, owing to the gilded wall paper and tufted, studded leather chairs in a rainbow of colors.

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Tacolicious School Project Starts Up, Santana Row Welcomes “Top Chef Mexico” Winner, And More

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Visit Tacolicious on a Monday to help local schools. (Photo by Eleanor Palmieri)

Visit Tacolicious on a Monday to help local schools. (Photo by Eleanor Palmieri)

Tacolicious School Project

You probably already know that the Bay Area’s Tacolicious turns out delectable tacos. But what you might not know is that the restaurant company is now in its fifth year of raising funds for local schools.

In fact, its Tacolicious School Project has now raised $852,000 for local public schools, and is closing in on its goal of raising $1 million.

Every Monday from now through May, all Tacolicious restaurants in San Francisco, as well as the Santana Row San Jose location, will donate 15 percent of a month’s proceeds to 36 neighboring public schools.

To see which schools will benefit each month, click here.

What’s more, this year Tacolicious will donate proceeds from its sixth annual Taco Open golf tournament to Parents for Public Schools and the San Francisco Education Fund. The tournament will be held Oct. 19 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.

Tacolicious owners Joe Hargrave and Sara Deseran started the school project in 2012. With kids of their own, they knew all too well how public schools struggle these days for enough funds to operate properly.

So if you’re hankering for tacos, be sure to visit Tacolicious on a Monday, when you’ll satisfy not only your hunger, but put your dollars to work for local schools.

Santana Row’s Chef Table Dinners with A “Top Chef” Winner

Las year’s “Top Chef Mexico” champ Chef Rodolfo Castellanos will headline two chef table dinners at Santana Row this month.

Sept. 13, he will cook a $99 four-course dinner at LB Steak, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Guests for this special Oaxacan-influenced dinner will be seated on the patio to enjoy dishes such as Chilhuacle pepper crusted seared Ahí tuna, and pan-roasted duck breast with flying ant mole manchamanteles.

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