 
After three years in business, Bong Su, the chic, modern-Vietnamese restaurant in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, closed its doors after Saturday night’s dinner service.
Proprietors Anne Le Ziblatt and Tammy Huynh said they made the fateful decision because of concerns that the economic crisis would continue to worsen over the next year, and because of an on-going dispute with their landlord.
Diners at Parcel 104 restaurant in Santa Clara know all about Pastry Chef Carlos Sanchez’s dainty, exquisite desserts that end any dinner there on a sweet, memorable note.
But what you might not know is that the Colombian-born Sanchez also can handle the savory side of a meal.
This past Saturday, he hosted his fourth “Pastry Chef Goes Savory” special dinner there. In the past, he’s limited the guest list to about 35. This time around, though, he opened it up to the entire restaurant. More than 90 eager diners, including yours truly, enjoyed a six-course meal ($65; additional $34 for wine pairings), that was orchestrated from start to finish by the humble, soft-spoken Sanchez.
Why does he choose to step into this atypical role one night a year?
Save a few pennies when you dine out. Here’s where:
Waterbar in San Francisco: An oyster of the day is $1 all day. Happy Hour, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, features a $5 “A Spa in Cabo” specialty drink (José Cuervo Reserva De La Familia Platino Tequila, cucumber).
Quattro Restaurant and Bar in the Four Seasons Hotel Silicon Valley in East Palo Alto: Every Friday except holiday weekends, enjoy free corkage when you bring in your own bottle of wine. Sundays, indulge in a family-style dinner. Price is $25 per person for adults; kids under 18 pay the equivalent of their age. And available nightly, a new five-course $55 pre-fixe seasonal, tasting menu.
Morocco’s in San Jose: Tuesday nights are Ladies’ Nights. Every table that has four female diners will get a free bottle of wine.
Bocadillos Tapas and Wine Bar in San Francisco: To celebrate its fifth anniversary, the restaurant is offering a Happy Hour menu of $2 bite-sized tapas or pintxos. It’s available weekdays, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Items include organic kiwi and marinated beets on chevre; tortilla Espanola with Manchego cheese on toast; lambs tongue on pear chutney; and chicken with spicy pickled vegetables. The restaurant also has restructured its wine list into three price tiers: $25, $35, and $45. Wine flights also are available for $12.
Satisfy your porky appetite at Ad Hoc in Yountville on March 25, when the restaurant will be featuring whole roasted pigs cooked in a caja china.
Sealed inside a big roasting box, each young pig is cooked for hours underneath a big layer coals. The result is fork-tender flesh and skin so crisp it shatters.
The three-course “Wine & Swine” meal, served family-style, includes greens from the French Laundry’s garden, and dessert by French Laundry Pastry Chef Claire Clark. The price of the dinner is $65, including wines. For reservations, call (707) 944-2487.
Put them together and you get, “A Moveable Feast,” a series of seasonal suppers held at a different restaurant each month to celebrate the relationships between local chefs and local farmers.
The event is the brainchild of Dominique Crenn, executive chef of Luce Restaurant in the InterContinental Hotel in San Francisco.
Each multi-course dinner, which will be prepared by two chefs, will be held the first Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m., beginning March 3, and continuing for the next six months.
Each dinner is $80 per person or $100 with wine. A percentage of each ticket sale will benefit CUESA, the Center for Urban Education About Sustainable Agriculture, which operates the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco. Purchase tickets online here.
Here’s the line-up: