Category Archives: Restaurants

Foodie Flick, Veggie Grill to Open & More

Posted on by 5 comments

A scene from "Trattoria'' guaranteed to make you hungry. (Photo courtesy of the San Francisco Film Society)

“Trattoria” Flick Opens “Cinema by the Bay”

The San Francisco Film Society’s “Cinema by the Bay” series, Nov. 9-11, opens deliciously with the local premiere of the foodie flick, “Trattoria.”

The feature film by Jason Wolos looks at San Francisco’s competitive restaurant culture as it follows the travails of Chef Sal Sartini and his second wife Cecilia, who have just opened a new Italian restaurant. See what happens when the chef’s estranged son comes to help out at the restaurant.

“Trattoria” is the opening night film, 7 p.m. Nov. 9,  for the festival, which takes place at New People Cinema, 1746 Post St. in San Francisco.

At the end of the movie, the opening night party will take place at 9 p.m. Nov. 9 at Yoshi’s in San Francisco. For those who can’t make it to the first showing, “Trattoria” will repeat at 9:30 p.m. that night.

The chef of "Trattoria.'' (Still from film courtesy of the San Francisco Film Society)

Tickets to the film showing are $13 per person; or $25 per person for admission to the film and party.

Wahoo’s Fish Taco Opens in Sunnyvale

For those of you mourning the closure of Wahoo’s at Santana Row in San Jose, you’ll be glad to know you can get your taco fix on with a new locale up the road at 691 Tasman Dr. in Sunnyvale.

Read more

Piperade Still Going Strong After a Decade

Posted on by 6 comments

Calamari cooked on the plancha at Piperade.

Years ago, when I was set to do an interview with the one and only Anthony Bourdain in San Francisco, his publicist asked me to pick a restaurant for us to talk over lunch.

Can you imagine the pressure of trying to come up with a place to satisfy the exacting taste buds of the finicky “No Reservations” star, who makes no bones about what he likes and doesn’t?

I settled upon Piperade in San Francisco because I had a feeling its soulful Basque food served in unpretentious surroundings would please even the most jaded palate.

I was right.

In one of the most fun interviews I’ve had the pleasure of conducting, I remember Bourdain and I digging into tender beef cheeks as he lobbed barbs and insightful opinions in answer to my questions. The sweetest moment came at the end of the meal, when a server shyly approached the table with a battered copy of Bourdain’s “Kitchen Confidential” for an autograph. She explained that his book was the only thing that kept her sane when she waited tables in New York. Bourdain, chuckling at her knowing remark, signed the book to her, adding his trademark doodle of a chef’s knife.

Piperade may be a decade old now. It may not be flashy. It may not be the “It” place to be these days. But it continues to be relevant, as well as the type of place you know you can drop into for a meal that will always content.

Wine bottle chandelier in the main dining room.

The new private dining room, all set up for a birthday party.

A very rustic-chic room.

Chef-Owner Gerald Hirigoyen hails from Basque country, which straddles both France and Spain. He’s a rarity among chefs, too, in that he’s trained in both cooking and pastry making.

Read more

Orange & Black Attack in Honor of the SF Giants and Halloween

Posted on by 6 comments

Do you think of the SF Giants when you look at this risotto dish? You should! (Photo courtesy of Prospect restaurant)

Prospect’s Ode to the SF Giants

In honor of the San Francisco Giants’ winning streak, Prospect restaurant in San Francisco has created a new dish that sports the team’s trademark colors.

Black risotto with uni and a gently poached egg is a most appropriate dish to celebrate this classy baseball team’s triumphs, don’t you think?

The $16 dish is not on the regular menu. Those in the know just need ask for it.

Chef Pam Mazzola plans to make it available as long as the Giants keep winning or fresh sea urchin is available.

The "Humm Baby'' cupcake from Sift Cupcake + Dessert Bar. (Photo courtesy of Sift)

Sift Cupcake’s Sweet Salute to the Team

Starting today, Sift Cupcake + Dessert Bar in San Francisco, will be baking up the “Humm Baby” in honor of the Giants.

Read more

Magnus Nilsson — The Chef of the Moment

Posted on by 6 comments

Oysters brought to the table on smoldering redwood branches at Coi in San Francisco, similar to the signature dish of scallops on smoky juniper branches at Faviken in Sweden.

The latest culinary rock star appropriately enough sports a mane of long blond hair, a scruffy beard, a too-cool aura and a laid-back cerebral nature.

If Rene Redzepi put Danish cooking on the map when his Noma restaurant in Copenhagen was named San Pelligrino’s “Best Restaurant” in the world for three years running, then Swedish sensation Magnus Nilsson of Fäviken Magasinet has only solidified the fact that Nordic cuisine’s moment has arrived with a wallop.

Nilsson, who previously cooked at three-Michelin starred L’Astrance in Paris and is a trained sommelier, took over Fäviken Magasinet in a remote, rural part of Sweden four years ago. The rather improbable restaurant is located in an isolated 24,000-acre hunting estate. Like Redzepi, Nilsson is all about cooking only with local ingredients. That may be fine in temperate California. It’s a whole ‘nother thing in the wilderness of northwestern Sweden, where the winters are beyond brutal.

Even so, Nilsson, who’s not yet 30 years old, has managed to turn this tiny, isolated 12-seat restaurant into not only one of the Top 50 in the world, but the most talked-about sensation these days in the culinary stratosphere.

Swedish sensation Magnus Nilsson cooks with Daniel Patterson of Coi.

With the launch of his first cookbook, “Fäviken” (Phaidon), he’s been bringing a taste of his innovative cuisine to the United States, including to Coi in San Francisco, where he cooked an extraordinary dinner with Chef-Proprietor Daniel Patterson on Saturday, to which I was fortunate to be invited as a guest.

Read more

Chinese Cheap Eats in Los Angeles

Posted on by 7 comments

Hainan chicken -- comfort on a plate at Savoy Kitchen.

LOS ANGELES and VICINITY — Hainan chicken is pure comfort food to me. It’s nothing fancy. But there’s just something wonderfully satisfying about a plate of tender poached chicken served with rice infused with the resulting savory chicken broth.

So, when Chef Will Pacio of Spice Kit in San Francisco and Palo Alto recommended Savoy Kitchen in Alhambra, famous for its Hainanese chicken rice, I knew I had to check it out.

With its European sounding name and bistro-type outdoor seating flanked by trees lit up with strings of blinking lights, it hardly resembles an Asian restaurant from the outside. Inside, the space is tiny, with just a few tables and some counter seating. It also has a rather head-scratching menu. Yes, there is the Hainan chicken. But there’s also escargot, sausage pasta, and conch pizza. Go figure.

We were there for the Hainan chicken, of course. For $6.95, you get an ample portion of chicken, served traditionally at room temperature, along with a mound of rice that has soaked up all that chicken-y flavor, and three dipping sauces: pounded ginger, chili with garlic and sweet dark soy. For $1 more, you can exchange a portion of the rice for a simple iceberg salad with tomatoes and a creamy Italian-esque dressing instead.

The white meat chicken was juicy, and the rice moist and slightly oily from all that chicken-y goodness. Smear some ginger sauce over it all and experience total contentment.

The place was packed on a Saturday night. There were plenty of folks picking up take-out, too. With chicken this good, who can blame them?

The Din Tai Fung dumpling mascot greets you at the door.

What I wouldn’t give for a Din Tai Fung in the Bay Area. But alas, this dumpling house out of Taiwan only has locations in the United States in Seattle and Los Angeles.

Whenever I’m in Los Angeles, I have to stop into the Din Tai Fung in Arcadia. Actually, there are two in Arcadia, practically right next to one another. There’s almost always a line to get in. But because they’re so efficient (think servers with headphones who roam the dining room while always in communication with the kitchen), the wait is never that long.

Read more

« Older Entries Recent Entries »