Category Archives: Restaurants

Whet Your Appetite with Burgers, Cheese, Sandwiches, Cocktails, and Wine

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Spruce's gourmet burger (Photo courtesy of Frankie Frankeny)

Sundays were made for burgers and red Burgundy.

Spruce in San Francisco sure thinks so. The glam restaurant is offering a “Burgers and Burgundy” menu every Sunday through November in the lounge or dining room.

Chow down on the classic burger snuggled inside a house-made English muffin with pickled onions, zucchini, and remoulade, while sipping one, two or three rotating selections of Burgundy. The burger is $14; the Burgundies are available at $12, $25, and $50. A flight of all three wines also is available for $40.

Big spenders can add foie gras to their burgers for an extra $13.

Cheese more your thing? Then, you’ll be glad that the postponed sixth annual “Cheese & Wine Dinner” at Parcel 104 in Santa Clara is back on for Nov. 8.

Parcel 104 Executive Chef Robert Sapirman will be joined by chefs Chris Schloss of Cin-Cin Wine Bar in Los Gatos, Mark Dommen of One Market in San Francisco, and Arthur Wall of The Restaurant at Wente Vineyards in Livermore. They will prepare a five-course dinner, each showcasing a different artisan cheese, and paired with an appropriate wine.

Local cheese authority and cookbook author Laura Werlin will be on hand to answer questions about cheese. The night’s appetizers will be made from recipes from her cheese books. The dinner is $145.

Togo\'s turkey-cranberry sandwich (Photo courtesy of Togo\'s)

For those watching their pennies, Togo’s has a deal for you. Wednesdays through Nov. 26, participating Togo’s shops will roll back the price of a different select sandwich every week to the original 1970 price of $1.99. For Northern Californians, you’re in luck, because every Togo’s in Northern California is participating in the promotion.

During “Flashback Wednesdays,” with every $1.99 sandwich purchase, Togo’s will make a donation to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Togo’s, though, has not yet stated how large a donation that will be.

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A Dang Good Burger

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Burger nirvana

If a shrine could be built for a burger, fans of Father’s Office gastropubs in Santa Monica and Culver City would erect one to be sure.

Sang Yoon, a South-Korean-born chef who has worked with the likes of French culinary genius Joel Robuchon, turned his back on fine-dining to create these two casual, fun, hip pubs that serve gourmet bar food and 36 craft beers on tap. Smoked eel with poached egg and horseradish creme fraiche, anyone?

It is his “Office burger,”  though, that has got tongues wagging and teeth chomping for seconds. A $12 burger made of dry-aged strip steak, bleu cheese, arugula, and onions caramelized with a splash of sweet-tangy balsamic. It trounced other chefs’ creations in a “Today Show” cook-off. Esquire and Chowhound fanatics have labeled it the best around. Indeed, foodies have deemed it a “masterpiece” of burger-dom.

But the real question, of course, is what my hubby, aka Meat Boy, would think of it. He had been looking forward to sinking his teeth into one ever since we planned our recent Los Angeles trip.

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A Heart-Attack Meal

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Clam pizza

You’re lucky I’m still alive.

After all, the amount of fat I consumed in one meal recently in Los Angeles is probably enough to send most folks into cardiac arrest. But I am a seasoned professional — used to putting my body on the line when it comes to chowing down on the finer, fattier tasting things in life.

And it doesn’t get much finer than Pizzeria Mozza at N. Highland Avenue and Melrose Avenue. Everytime I make it to Los Angeles, this is a stop I have to make, a stop I dream about all vacation-long.

A restaurant by Nancy Silverton (of La Brea Bakery fame), Mario Batali (who needs no introduction), and Joseph Bastianich  (Lidia’s son), this is a true temple of carbo-load hedonism. It makes what is arguably the best pizza around. It’s the only pizza in which I eat every bit of crust. When it’s this good, why let any go to waste? It’s at once chewy in some parts, crispy in others, and with a deep, bready flavor like a fine artisan loaf.

Since it opened, the restaurant has been a hard ticket. But it does take reservations now. And if you don’t mind eating at the odd hour of 3 p.m.-ish, you usually can walk in on a weekday or weekend to find a free table or a free seat at the bar.

Bone marrow in all its glory, baby.

That’s what my hubby and I did, snagging a table on a Friday afternoon. We started with an appetizer of sinful bone marrow ($12). Roasted in the oven, three dinosaur-like bones come to the table, encasing a wealth of unctuous, rich marrow to be spread on grilled bread. Add a sprinkling of salt, some parsley leaves, and a confit garlic clove for a taste of heaven.

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French Laundry Still the Only Three-Star-Michelin Bay Area Restaurant

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The new Bay Area guide book.

For the third straight year, the French Laundry in Yountville is again the only three-star Michelin restaurant in the Bay Area.

Thomas Keller’s temple of gastronomy was the only restaurant to receive Michelin’s top rating. The new “Michelin Guide: San Francisco, Bay Area, and Wine Country” ($16.95) goes on sale tomorrow with 383 restaurants rated in all.

One star means “a very good restaurant.” Two stars signify “excellent cooking, worth a detour.” And three stars is “exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey.”

Among the new rankings is Coi restaurant in San Francisco, which joins the ranks of two-star establishments; and Murray Circle in Sausalito, Plumed Horse in Saratoga, Trevese in Los Gatos, and the Village Pub in Woodside were awarded one star rankings for the first time.

Christopher Kostow, who garnered two Michelin stars when he was chef at Chez TJ in Mountain View, then jumped ship to become chef of the Restaurant at Meadowood, retained the two stars that had been bequeathed to the posh St. Helena establishment last year under its previous chef. Chez TJ earned a one-star rating.

The other two-star restaurants are: Aqua in San Francisco, Cyrus in Healdsburg, Manresa in Los Gatos, and Michael Mina in San Francisco.

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A Primer on Palo Alto Eateries

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Meeting friends in Palo Alto for dinner, but don’t know where to go? Or behind on all the newest restaurants that have opened in that posh Peninsula city?

Dan Pitt of Palo Alto comes to the rescue. By day, he’s a consultant. But in all other hours, he’s a foodie obsessed with eating his way through his favorite city. Find his list and opinions of Palo Alto restaurants here.

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