Category Archives: Restaurants

For a Heartfelt Time

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For the optimist on Valentine's Day. (Photo courtesy of SusieCakes)

For Valentine’s Day, SusieCakes has got you covered, no matter if you’re head over heels in love or not.

For those that are, there’s the “Susie Loves Me” gift box of conversation heart sugar cookies, sweetheart sandwich cookies, a Sugar & Spice cupcake and a Red Hot Red Velvet cupcake.

And for the pessimist...(Photo courtesy of SusieCakes)For those for whom Valentine’s Day is more bah-humbug, there’s the “Susie Loves Me Not” gift box with cookies amusingly decorated with “Love Me Not” written on them, as well as “It’s Not Me, It’s You” conversation heart cookies, a black sweetheart sandwich cookie, cupcakes inscribed with “Serial Dater” and “Breakup Queen,” and a “Broken Heart Brownie.”

Both gift boxes are available Valentine’s Day for $25 each at SusieCakes locations in San Francisco and Marin.

San Francisco’s Baker & Banker Bakery is getting into the mood with special Valentine’s Day treats and special-order cakes.

Among the tempting offerings for Feb. 14 are strawberry champagne cupcakes (champagne-soaked yellow cake with strawberry frosting; $3.50 each); hand-written “Hostess” cupcakes with salted caramel ($3.50 each); conversation heart cakes (Devil’s food cake with Grand Marnier ganache; $50 for 6-inch; $80 for 10-inch); and champagne cake truffles ($5.50 for four).

Adorable conversation heart cakes. (Photo courtesy of Baker & Banker)

For a bottle of wine with a heartfelt message, look no further than 2007 Linda’s Hillside Vineyard Cabarnet Sauvignon from Napa’s Darms Lane Vineyard.

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Meet Alice Medrich in Brisbane and Enjoy Pisco Sours in San Francisco

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Alice Medrich's ginger cookies. (Photo courtesy of Artisan Books)

A Cookie of a Time with Alice Medrich

The Bay Area’s award-winning cookbook author and pastry expert Alice Medrich will be hosting a cooking demo at the Purcell Murray Culinary Showroom and Amphitheater in Brisbane, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 5.

Medrich will be demonstrating delectable cookie recipes from her eighth and newest book, “Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy: Melt in Your Mouth Cookie Recipes” (Artisan). Learn how to make the cookies of your dreams at this fun event.

Admission price is $35 per person. Copies of Medrich’s book also will be available for purchase that day. For reservations, call (415) 330-5557.

Cookbook author and baker extraordinaire Alice Medrich. (Photo courtesy of Artisan Books)

Celebrate Pisco Sour Day at La Mar Restaurant

Who knew there was an actual “Pisco Sour Day”?

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Newbie Restaurateur Opens Inshou in San Mateo

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Yakitori at Inshou in San Mateo.

I don’t really know Ray Wu, but I’m pulling for him.

You see, against the better judgment of his parents, who thought his economics degree from the University of California at Berkeley could be put to better use, he opened a restaurant about 50 days ago — his first.

Now, when he isn’t at his day job as manager of Marina Food market in Cupertino, Wu is at Inshou in San Mateo, where he greets customers and helps out in the kitchen alongside his head chef.

This new Japanese-small plates, neighborhood establishment has been his dream ever since he started working in restaurants as a dishwasher years ago.

Of course, an economics major would probably know this isn’t the best economy in which to open a restaurant. But when you have a dream, it’s hard to deny it.

Wu invited me in as his guest last week to try out his fare.

As with any dream, there were moments of wonderful clarity with the food, but also a few hazy ones, where a stronger focus was needed.

Wu and his team aim to please, welcoming customers warmly in the bright restaurant with its artsy back-lit sculptural white wall.

Tiny, crisp rice balls coat these crunchy shrimp.

We shared an assortment of dishes, starting with the “cracking shrimp” ($8.50), which were lightly battered with tiny rice balls that turned crisp and golden when deep-fried. Alongside was a cold, creamy curry sauce to dip them in.

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New Bar Bites and Lunar New Year Events

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Tender meatballs at Farmstead Restaurant. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

New Bar Hours & Noshes at St. Helena’s Farmstead Restaurant

If you’re famished after all that wine-tasting in the Napa Valley, pull up a stool at Farmstead Restaurant at Long Meadow Ranch in St. Helena, which has added extended bar hours on Friday and Saturday evenings, as well as some new tasty noshes.

Sunday through Thursday, the bar is open until 10 p.m. But on Friday and Saturday nights, you can chill out there until 12 a.m.

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High Prospects at Prospect in San Francisco

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Halibut with satsuma hollandaise and curls of fried parsnips at Prospect.

You know you’re dining at a hot new place in San Francisco when on a chilly Sunday evening, it’s jam-packed with a well-known socialite at one table and a Euro-fashionista in neon pink fur vest and billboard-screaming sequined jeans at another.

Prospect is not just a place to be seen, though. It’s also a place to dine very, very well.

Of course, that’s expected when it’s a spin-off of one of the most popular and well-regarded restaurants in the city, Boulevard.

Executive Chef Ravi Kapur, who worked for eight years under Nancy Oakes at Boulevard, oversees this contemporary space with its soaring windows, bold canvasses on the wall, and large drum lights suspended from the ceiling.

The contemporary dining room.

Prospect, a short hop from the Hotel Vitale, has a more casual vibe than Boulevard, and a menu that’s a little easier on the pocketbook.

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant.

After we were seated, an special amuse bouche greeted us — a tiny salad of maitake mushrooms, both shaved and fried tempura-style, garnished with pine nuts and shavings of black truffle. What a way to start the night.

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