Category Archives: Restaurants

The Name Says It All at Z&Y Peking Duck

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Maybe the best Peking duck you'll ever sink your teeth into.
Maybe the best Peking duck you’ll ever sink your teeth into.

Z&Y Peking Duck in San Francisco’s Chinatown serves what might just be the holy grail of ducks.

As a Chinese American who grew up in San Francisco, where Peking duck was the star attraction of many a celebratory banquet dinner, I rarely recall a version that was this outstanding as the one I enjoyed when I dined at the restaurant last week.

We’re talking duck meat that’s not dry or tough in the least, but juicy and tender throughout, and skin that’s incredibly crisp with all of its fat underneath completely rendered out, a rare feat in and of itself.

Chef-Owner Li Jun Han, who formerly was the executive chef at the Chinese Consulate-General in San Francisco, opened Z&Y Peking Duck in 2023. USA Today recently touted it as one of its “10 Best New Restaurants of 2025.” It is the sister restaurant to Han’s Z&Y restaurant, across the street that opened in 2008 and has garnered a Michelin Bib Gourmand distinction.

Ducks hanging in the window are a familiar sight in Chinatown. But these are actually fake ones. You'll have to snag a table to enjoy the real deal.
Ducks hanging in the window are a familiar sight in Chinatown. But these are actually fake ones. You’ll have to snag a table to enjoy the real deal.

At Z&Y Peking Duck, it pays to dine as a party of 4 or more. That’s because that’s the minimum you need to make a reservation. Otherwise, you take your chances as a walk-in, which can be dicey, especially on a Saturday night as when I was there and people were crowded inside the entryway, waiting for tables.

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Get To Know the New Eylan in Menlo Park

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Oysters with a chili-passion fruit essence at Eylan.
Oysters with a chili-passion fruit essence at Eylan.

Cementing their mettle as a culinary dynamic duo, Chef Srijith Gopinathan and business entrepreneur Ayesha Thapar are on their way to creating a mini empire of Bay Area modern Indian restaurants with Copra in San Francisco, Ettan in Palo Alto, Little Blue Door in Los Altos, and now their newest, Eylan in Menlo Park.

Eylan, which means “proclamation” or “public announcement” in Hindi, opened in January in the new retail-business development, The Villa Menlo Park.

As with all their restaurants, the interior is striking, though, a little less showy than some of their other ones, as I found when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant last week.

Located at a new Menlo Park development with convenient parking underground.
Located at a new Menlo Park development with convenient parking underground.
The dining room.
The dining room.

Its look is punctuated with leafy vine-wrapped columns, lush trees, macrame hangings, black and white geometric floor tiles, curve-backed sand-colored chairs, and red-and-green fabric-wrapped chandeliers. Dimly lit at night, the dining room offers a nestled-in quality but can get noisy when it’s full.

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A Visit to the New Stella in Kenwood

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Grilled lamb ribs at the new Stella restaurant in Kenwood.
Grilled lamb ribs at the new Stella restaurant in Kenwood.

If Glen Ellen Star is like your favorite pair of comfy jeans, then Stella is like that new pair from the same cherished brand that’s just a touch more decked out.

The team behind that 13-year-old, Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant in Glen Ellen debuted its sister restaurant in Kenwood this past Saturday. The night before, I was fortunate enough to be invited in as a guest of the restaurant for a sneak peek and taste.

Both restaurants, which lean Italian with California influences, are owned and operated by Chef Ari Weiswasser, his wife Erin, and managing partners Spencer and Ashley Waite. Glen Ellen Star’s former Chef de Cuisine Bryant Minuche, who also cooked at Michelin three-starred New York City restaurants Eleven Madison Park and Le Bernardin, has stepped into that same role at Stella.

Chef Ari Weiswasser at the entrance to Stella.
Chef Ari Weiswasser at the entrance to Stella.

While Glen Ellen star has that cozy vibe that feels as if you’ve just stumbled upon a quaint gourmet hideaway in the woods, Stella presents a much more expansive feel with an open kitchen more than double the size, a large outdoor dining patio, and a main dining room with a fireplace, as well as a bar and chef’s counter.

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Europe Meets South America On the Plate At Morella

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Dungeness crab sorrentinos at Morella in San Francisco.
Dungeness crab sorrentinos at Morella in San Francisco.

There’s been no shortage lately of prominent fusion cuisines — born not of confusion, but of history.

Nikkei cuisine originated when thousands of Japanese immigrants settled in Peru at the end of the 19th century. Indian Chinese food developed when Chinese immigrants for work to Kolkata. And Italian and Spanish influences began to flavor Argentinian cuisine in the 19th and 20th centuries with a wave of immigrants from those countries.

Morella, which opened in the Marina District last November, is one of the city’s first of late to celebrate that melding of Argentinian, Italian, and Spanish flavors.

The bar.
The bar.

It is the newest concept from the Proof Positive group that owns and operates such San Francisco establishments as Thriller Social Club and Wilder.

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Take Five with Chef Douglas Keane of Michelin-Starred Cyrus, On His Revealing New Memoir “Culinary Leverage”

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Chef-Owner Douglas Keane in the kitchen at Cyrus in Geyserville. (Photo by Cynthia Glassell)
Chef-Owner Douglas Keane in the kitchen at Cyrus in Geyserville. (Photo by Cynthia Glassell)

You may know Chef Douglas Keane as a victor of “Top Chef Masters,” and the owner of Michelin-starred Cyrus in Geyserville. You may even know the brutal ups and downs he faced when the original Cyrus closed in Healdsburg in 2012 following a landlord dispute and his ensuing 10-year struggle over five different properties to reopen the restaurant in a new location.

Despite all of that, Keane, his 20-year business partner Nick Peyton, and longtime chef Drew Glassell, managed to bring that vision to fruition to open the new Cyrus in 2022 in a modern glass, steel, and concrete building among vineyards on the grounds of what was once the home of a Sunsweet prune packing plant.

Through that whole ordeal, he was also busy writing a memoir, “Culinary Leverage’‘ (Koehler Books), which debuts Feb. 25.

It is at points illuminating, frank, brave, jarring, and hilarious. And yes, there are even a handful of recipes included at the end. I had a chance to chat with Keane about his reasons for writing the book, and on revealing so much about himself and the restaurant industry.

Q: What made you want to write this book?

A: At first, I just thought I had some interesting stories to tell, that a lot of weird shit had happened to me that I should just put down. But everyone’s story is unique, so that’s not what this became about. I wrote the book to make changes in the industry, to illuminate why I got to the dark, weird places.

Q: There are definitely some very dark and intense moments in this book, especially at the start of it, which will surprise people. Did you think twice about including those?

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