Category Archives: Restaurants

Solbar Debuts Asian Specialties, Plus Restaurant Promotions Around the Bay

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Solbar Lounge's "Lucky Pig'' (slow-roasted pork shoulder with sesame crepes, sweet chili sauce and pickled pineapple). (Photo courtesy of Solbar Lounge)

Solbar Offers Up Asian Noshes For A Limited Time

It used to be that if you got a hankering for Asian food in the Napa Valley, it was slim pickings.

But the offerings just got a little wider with Solbar Lounge now offering an Asian-inspired menu through March 31. The lounge is next to Solbar restaurant in the eco-conscious Solage Calistoga resort.

It’s in contrast to the restaurant, which serves elegant seasonal California cuisine, including lighter dishes for those watching their diets.

The new lounge menu offers an array of Asian-inspired specialties such as a Solbar sushi roll (cucumber, avocado, sweet potato and sticky rice; $8); Niman Ranch pork and ginger gyozas ($13); steamed buns with Chiang Mai pork sausage, saw-tooth herb and Chinese mustard cream ($10); and ramen with roasted pork belly ($16).

Steamed buns with pork sausage. (Photo courtesy of Solbar Lounge)

Restaurant Promotions Around  the Bay

The 12th annual “Dine About Town San Francisco” event kicks off Jan. 15-31, in which participating restaurants will offer a prix-fixe two- or three-course lunch for $18.95 and a three-course dinner for $36.95.

Among the more than 100 restaurants participating will be: Amber Dhara, Chaya Brasserie, Sociale and Waterbar. For a complete list, click here.

To get the excitement going early, the San Francisco Travel Association is hosting a launch party, 6 p.m. Jan. 10, at City View at the Metreon in downtown San Francisco.

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A Rich, Rewarding Experience at Rich Table

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The unforgettable sardine chips at Rich Table in San Francisco.

Sarah Rich is from the South. Her husband Evan Rich is from the East Coast. But after working together at Bouley in New York, they decided their destiny might very well lie in California.

“I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in New York,” Sarah Rich says. “I knew if we didn’t leave then, we’d never leave. So, I convinced him begrudgingly to give San Francisco a shot.”

The move proved beyond fruitful, and Bay Area diners are all the better for it.

Last summer, the couple opened their own restaurant, Rich Table in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley neighborhood, on Sara’s birthday (July 26). Diners have been celebrating ever since then by packing into the 60 seats here.

The open kitchen at Rich Table.

The couple set out to create a restaurant they would want to eat at on their days off — casual, comfortable, yet with food cooked with impeccable ingredients, thoughtfulness and exemplary technique.

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Delicious Times to Look Forward to in 2013

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One of the noshes from last year's Wine & Wishes event. (Photo courtesty of Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area)

Wine & Wishes

Enjoy the offerings from more than 50 Bay Area restaurants and wineries at the 12th annual Wine & Wishes‘ gala, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Feb. 2, on Treasure Island.

All proceeds benefit the Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area organization, which grants wishes to children suffering from life-threatening illnesses.

The evening begins with a walk-around gourmet wine and food tasting, followed by a four-course wine pairing dinner by nine San Francisco star chefs, including Hoss Zare of Zare at Fly Trap, Jeff Baker of Baker & Banker, Suzette Gresham of Acquerello and Roland Passot of La Folie.

Tickets for the tasting are $150 each; tickets for the dinner (which includes admission to the tasting) are $500 each.

Meet yours truly and some of the best chefs in the country in January in Yosemite. (Photo by Carolyn Jung)

Come Meet the Food Gal In Yosemite

Join me Jan. 20-24 in Yosemite, when I host a couple of events at the Ahwahnee’s annual Chefs’ Holiday Series.

If you’ve never attended one of these events, you’re missing out. For the month of January, 25 chefs from around the country will be featured over a series of eight sessions of cooking demos, receptions and gala dinners.

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A Look Back at the Tastiest Bites of 2012

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Which restaurant dishes would I gladly enjoy again and again because they were deliriously delicious and magically memorable?

Oh, so many.

When putting together this list, though, I left off any foie gras dishes (since restaurants are banned from selling them in California now) and any dishes that I deliberately chose not to photograph in order to just enjoy the moment (Le Bernardin in New York).

Here, in no particular order, are the 10 dishes of 2012 that were my most favorite:

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A Delicious Ride at San Francisco’s RN74

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A dramatic uni dish at RN74.

Named for the highway that runs through Burgundy’s fabled Cote d’Or wine region, RN74 still offers up a smooth culinary ride worth taking.

The splashy $4.5 million San Francisco restaurant housed on the ground floor of a gleaming condominium tower, is the brainchild of Rajat Parr, wine director for the Michael Mina Group, of which this restaurant belongs.

Now three years old, the restaurant continues to hum along with Executive Chef Jason Berthold at the helm. Berthold, who was sous chef at the French Laundry in Yountville, helped open Per Se in New York, and makes his own wine under the Courier label, is a perfect match for this wine-centric restaurant, accented by antique metal lanterns, lots of warm wood and even piped-in French dialogue in the restrooms. There’s also a custom-made flip board like the ones you see at train stations that post arrival/departure times. Only this one lists wines with only one bottle remaining in stock at the restaurant. If someone buys it, the board flips to erase the wine selection.

The famous wine list flip-board.

The dining room with its unique light fixtures and ample use of warm woods.

Recently, I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant. The food had even more finesse than when I last visited shortly after it first opened.

If you want to start the meal off on a luxurious note, do order the Fort Bragg sea urchin ($19). It arrives dramatically in its spiky shell. Dig down into the creamy pool inside to find potato mousseline, crab, butternut squash, preserved citrus and vadouvan, a Francophile version of an Indian curry blend. It’s gorgeous to behold, with a sweet, briny and over-the-top richness. It’s also as seductive as it gets.

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