Category Archives: Restaurants

Arka Rises Brightly in Sunnyvale

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A wonderful goat curry at the new Arka restaurant.

You don’t expect to find a glam, contemporary Indian restaurant in a strip mall off El Camino Real in Sunnyvale.

But Arka, named for the sun, has risen in what was once a Spoons coffee shop.

Opened just six weeks ago, Arka serves up the flavors of various regions throughout India, but particularly the south. Step inside and you’re immediately transported to somewhere besides the congested thoroughfare right outside the door. Jewel colors of crimson, gold, eggplant and lime green offer a warm welcome, along with some of the snazziest light fixtures around, including drum lights that hide a cityscape of New York. How cool is that?

Drum lights hang over tables and hide a cityscape of New York.

The spacious rear dining room.

Our feast.

A lunch menu is offered daily. But dinner is where you can really sit back and enjoy. That definitely means indulging in some of the fun bar offerings, including beer flights ($9 each), and a farmers’ market cocktail ($8) blended with seasonal fruit and herbs.

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“Wine and Wishes,” “Martinis & Manicures,” and More

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A host of wineries will be pouring their varietals at the "Wine and Wishes'' gala. (Photo courtesy of the Greater Bay Area Make A Wish Foundation)

“Wine and Wishes” Tasting and Gala Dinner

More than 50 restaurants and wineries will join together Feb. 4 for the 11th annual “Wine and Wishes,” a benefit for the Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The extravaganza, a fund-raiser for the organization that grants wishes for children with life-threatening illnesses, will take place at City View at the Metreon in downtown San Francisco.

The evening kicks off at 5 p.m. with a “Gourmet Food & Wine Tasting,” where attendees can sample a slew of hors d’oeuvres and wines from from 23 restaurants and 26 wineries, including the Slanted Door in San Francisco, Wayfare Tavern in San Francisco and Cakebread Cellars.

At 7:30 p.m., nine local executive chefs — including Roland Passot of La Folie in San Francisco, Gerald Hirigoyen of Piperade in San Francisco and Arnold Eric Wong of E&O Trading Company in San Francisco — will prepare a four-course dinner, pairing each course with select wines.

Gourmet nibbles at the "Wine and Wishes'' tasting event. (Photo courtesy of the Greater Bay Area Make A Wish Foundation)

Tickets for the “Gourmet Tasting” are $150 per person. Tickets for the dinner range from $350 to $1,000 per person, which includes admission to the” Gourmet Tasting.”

Time for “Martinis & Manicures”

Grab an after-work cocktail — and get your nails done. How’s that for the ultimate pampering?

Indulge in that two-fer, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Feb. 7 and March 6, at the Hotel Valencia at Santana Row in San Jose.

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Viognier — Still Full of Vim and Vigor

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Short ribs elegantly presented at Viognier restaurant.

It wasn’t long ago that the notion of a restaurant operating inside a hotel doomed it to second-tier status.

While that no longer holds true, the idea of a fine-dining restaurant inside a grocery store still prompts some disbelief.

But when Viognier opened inside the gourmet market, Draeger’s in San Mateo 15 years ago, it made a convincing case that unlikely scenario could work.

After all, the restaurant was opened by none other than Chef Gary Danko, who later left to open his own eponymous restaurant in San Francisco. He was followed by Chef Scott Giambastiani, who is now an executive chef at Google. Chef Preston Dishman, former chef-partner of the General’s Daughter in Sonoma, took over the restaurant, named for the aromatic grape varietal from the Northern Rhone region of France, in 2008.

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Perbacco’s James Beard Benefit Dinner

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Chefs Staffan Terje (left) and Tony Mantuano (right) teamed up for last Saturday's dinner.

Executive Chef Staffan Terje of San Francisco’s Perbacco and Chef Tony Mantuano of Chicago’s famed Spiaggia have shared a kinship ever since Terje’s elegant Italian establishment opened in 2006.

So much so, that the two chefs have sent their cooks to the other’s restaurant regularly to hone their skills even more.

Saturday night, Mantuano was only too happy to partner with Terje in a special dinner at Perbacco, “Inverno in Piemonte,” a fund-raiser for the James Beard Foundation’s scholarship program for culinary students.The evening started with little bites, including spicy nduja on crostini.

“Staffan is a great friend and a great chef,” Mantuano, a former competitor on “Top Chef Masters,” told the crowd. “And this is one of the places in the world I always look forward to going to.”

Yours truly was honored to be an invited guest at the 60-seat event, where every seat was taken.

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One Quick Bite Part II: Kitchen Door

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Armenian-style flatbread pizza at Kitchen Door.

When Martini House restaurant closed in St. Helena in 2010, I was crushed.

With its warm, polished wood interior and bucolic al fresco patio, it was the perfect place year-round to enjoy everything from an outstanding burger to a top-notch prix fixe dinner.

But I couldn’t have been more thrilled to find that Chef Todd Humphries resurfaced last year at the Oxbow Public Market in Napa with his newest restaurant, Kitchen Door.

The marketplace, reminiscent but smaller than the one at the San Francisco Ferry Building, is a mix of food, wine and tea vendors, most of them situated in a large, indoor walk-around space.

But Kitchen Door is an actual separate restaurant located at the rear of the complex. It’s a lively fast-casual establishment with an open kitchen sporting a wood-fired oven and rotisserie.

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