Category Archives: Restaurants

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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7 Adams Adds A New Seven

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Dungeness crab amuse-bouche kicks off the new 7-course tasting menu at 7 Adams.
Dungeness crab amuse-bouche kicks off the new 7-course tasting menu at 7 Adams.

“Tasting menu bargain” sure seems like a total oxymoron.

Especially these days when quite a few tasting menus bust the pocketbook at upwards of $500 per person.

So, when I come across one that hovers in the $125-plus range, especially one that delivers a filling and fulfilling time at a Michelin-starred establishment no less, I take notice.

San Anselmo’s Michelin-starred Madcap with its eight courses for $140 or 11 courses for $165 has long fit that bill for me. Of course my all-time bargain bliss is the four-course $52 menu at San Francisco’s Trestle, but that is more of a prix fixe with choices for each course rather than a bona fide tasting menu.

Just look for the "7.''
Just look for the “7.”

Happily, another modest-priced tasting menu, relatively speaking, has popped up on the scene now, this one at Michelin-starred 7 Adams in San Francisco.

Call it “7 at 7,” as it features 7 courses for $127. An optional wine pairing is $77 per person.

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Johnny & Sanny’s Is the Latest Addition to Downtown Mountain View

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Octopus carpaccio at Johnny & Sanny's.
Octopus carpaccio at Johnny & Sanny’s.

If there was any positive to come out of the pandemic, it was the closure of Mountain View’s Castro Street to traffic. Instead of cars and motorcycles rumbling by, there are now cornhole games, a ping-pong table, and even mini putting green holes set up in what has grown into a veritable pedestrian playground with adults and kids alike.

Restaurants that line both sides seem even livelier now. One of the buzziest is Doppio Zero, with diners filling every sidewalk table. No wonder the founders of this mini Bay Area chain, Gianni “Johnny” Chiloiro and Angelo “Sanny” Sannino were inspired to open another restaurant just a few doors away.

Appropriately named Johnny & Sanny’s after its owners, it opened in May. Chef de Cuisine Santiago Avila Gonzalez and Corporate Chef Antonio Inguscio helm the kitchen of this establishment dedicated to Italian-American cuisine.

The front of the restaurant can be opened up completely to the sidewalk.
The front of the restaurant can be opened up completely to the sidewalk.

A couple weeks ago, I had a chance to check out the new restaurant when I was invited in as a guest.

The whole front of the restaurant opens up onto the sidewalk, making dining here seem even more festive.

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The Enchanting Angele Restaurant & Bar in Napa

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Pate de Campagne at Angele in Napa.
Pate de Campagne at Angele in Napa.

With beautiful mountain ranges and sweeping vineyards galore, the Napa Valley doesn’t have to work hard to enrapture visitors. So, it’s a rare restaurant there that somehow manages to outdo that bucolic setting and transport you elsewhere.

That establishment is Angele Restaurant & Bar in downtown Napa, where dining feels like a blissful getaway to the lovely countryside of France.

Owner Bettina Rouas opened the restaurant on the banks of the Napa River in 2002, naming it for her grandmother.

The welcome sign at the door.
The welcome sign at the door.
The roof over the outdoor patio.
The roof over the outdoor patio.

The comfortable warmth you feel at Angele is no accident, not when Rouas hails from a family renowned for its hospitality. Her father Claude Rouas owned legendary L’Etoile in San Francisco and opened Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford.

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