Category Archives: Restaurants

My Top 10 Eats of 2023

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(Wallpaper by @mydarlin_bk)
(Wallpaper by @mydarlin_bk)

This was the year I returned to mostly indoor dining. That in itself was a triumph after doing nothing but takeout through fraught 2020 and opting for outdoor dining primarily in skittish 2021 and 2022. How wonderful to lean ever closer to “normalcy” again.

This is my annual list of the most memorable bites or dishes I enjoyed in 2023. It pained me to leave off a few places that have since closed (San Francisco’s Afici that will forever spoil me for its clever use of Chinese scallion pancakes instead of the usual blini for caviar service) or tragically were destroyed in the devastating Maui wildfires (Pacifico On the Beach for its imaginative mahi mahi Wellington, and Papa’aina’s dazzling and so intentional tropical fruit plate).

It’s an important reminder to really savor and appreciate the restaurants, bakeries, and other establishments that enrich our lives so much. Without further adieu, here is my Top 10, in no particular order:

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Dining At the New La Connessa

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Hen of the woods mushrooms cover this satisfying pizza at La Connessa.
Hen of the woods mushrooms cover this satisfying pizza at La Connessa.

To say that the Bay Area’s Bacchus Management Group has been on a tear lately would be an understatement. In addition to opening three new establishments in San Francisco this year alone, plans call for for another new restaurant to debut at San Jose’s Santana Row in 2024 and one to open at the historic post office building in Burlingame in 2025.

That’s in addition to its already sizeable stable of Spruce in San Francisco, Michelin-starred the Village Pub in Woodside, Michelin-starred Selby’s in Redwood City, the Village Bakery in Woodside, and Pizza Antica locations in Santana Row and Lafayette.

Last week, I had a chance to check out its new Italian restaurant, La Connessa, when I was invited in as a guest. It’s on the street level of a new building on Potrero Hill. Just steps away are Bacchus’ two other new eateries: the burger place, Louie’s Original; and the sourdough donut shop, Magic Donuts & Coffee (more on that in a moment).

The focal-point bar.
The focal-point bar.
Neon decoration on the wall.
Neon decoration on the wall.

Dimly lighted with sleek, wedding band-like chandeliers and a soaring, illuminated bar, it has that sophisticated, moody aura, and boy, was it bustling on a Saturday night. There’s even a view into the kitchen behind big glass windows.

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Experiencing the New Sushi by Scratch in Healdsburg

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Chef de Cuisine Willer Larreal Perez presides over the 10-seat Sushi by Scratch inside The Matheson.
Chef de Cuisine Willer Larreal Perez presides over the 10-seat Sushi by Scratch inside The Matheson.

Hidden behind a door in what was once a private dining room at The Matheson in downtown Healdsburg sits a restaurant within a restaurant.

It is all of 10 seats, situated around a u-shaped sushi bar, behind which three chefs slice, form, dollop, and blow-torch seafood into precious morsels of nigiri.

We’ve all had sushi that’s been decimated by cream cheese, mayonnaise, and gloppy sweet sauces. Sushi by Scratch is not that, even if the pristine fish does get finished with what at first may seem unlikely adornments. Instead, the effect here is far more finessed.

Opened in December, this is the first location of the reservation-only, omakase restaurant that started in Los Angeles in 2017 and has quickly spread to include outposts around the country, as well as in Montreal. Chef Philip Frankland Lee, who competed on “Top Chef” and his wife, Pastry Chef Margarita Kallas-Lee, founded the restaurant. A favorite of a bevy of celebrities, it held a Michelin star in 2021 and 2022.

I had a chance to try the experience last week, when I was invited in as a guest of Sushi by Scratch.

Bluefin tartare cannoli -- that you'll only receive if you show up 30 minutes before your reservation.
Bluefin tartare cannoli — that you’ll only receive if you show up 30 minutes before your reservation.

Dinner is 17 courses of nigiri at $185 per person. A word to the wise when booking: You will note that the reservation invites you to arrive 30 minutes before your scheduled reservation for a complimentary welcome cocktail. You might be tempted to blow this off if you’re not interested in a cocktail or don’t want to be bothered with arriving early. This would be a major mistake.

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Troubadour Bread’s Exquisite Metamorphosis From Day to Night

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In the daytime, you might get Italian salumi sandwiches. But at night, this stunner is on the menu at Troubadour.
In the daytime, you might get Italian salumi sandwiches. But at night, this stunner is on the menu at Troubadour.

By day, Healdsburg’s Troubadour Bread & Bistro is a sandwich shop, albeit an extraordinary one. But come night, it morphs stunningly into a veritable Michelin-starred dining experience.

Yes, the popular downtown cafe, where you can pick up a pumpkin seed dukkah-dusted chicken salad on heavenly bread baked by sister bakery Quail & Condor, transforms into Le Diner, four nights a week. That’s when it serves a French-California prix fixe worthy of blinding the radar of those discriminating inspectors.

That’s because there’s major talent behind this endeavor in the form of the husband-and-wife team that opened Troubadour and Quail & Condor, Executive Chef Sean McGaughey and Executive Pastry Chef Melissa Yanc McGaughey. They both worked previously at nearby Michelin three-starred SingleThread Farms & Restaurant. He was its chef de cuisine, and she was its hotel baker.

Look for the sign for Troubadour in downtown Healdsburg.
Look for the sign for Troubadour in downtown Healdsburg.

The couple also heads up the kitchen team at Molti Amici, founded by Jonny Barr, a former general manager at SingleThread, whose wife Tiffany Spurgeon, another SingleThread alum, runs front-of-house at Troubadour’s Le Diner.

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Dining At The Newly Crowned Michelin-Starred Chez Noir

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Autumn honeynut squash raviolo at Chez Noir.
Autumn honeynut squash raviolo at Chez Noir.

Carmel-by-the-Sea may be all of 1 square mile, but this tiny seaside town now boasts two Michelin one-starred restaurants.

In fact in July, when Chez Noir became the second restaurant to receive that coveted honor less than a year after opening, the entire crew from long-time star-holder Aubergine walked over, toting a hefty Jerobaum to offer hearty congratulations.

This family-owned, fine-dining jewel of a spot may seat only 36 in a dining room not much larger than some folks’ living rooms, but it’s long been held in high esteem. In fact, when a friend dined there months ago, she spotted none other than Eric Ripert, chef-owner of New York City’s Michelin three-starred Le Bernardin, ensconced in a corner banquet with his family, savoring the fabulous Monterey coastal cuisine.

The accolades are not surprising when you consider that Chez Noir is helmed by Executive Chef-Owner Jonny Black, whose impressive credentials include cooking at Michelin powerhouses Per Se in New York; Quince in San Francisco; and Atelier Crenn in San Francisco, where as Dominique Crenn’s first executive chef, he oversaw all her restaurants. Most recently, he was the executive chef of Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur. His wife, Monique Black, worked in the front of house at Quince, and at Coi in San Francisco.

Chez Noir opened in a Craftsman house.
Chez Noir opened in a Craftsman house.
The compact bar in the tiny restaurant.
The compact bar in the tiny restaurant.

The cozy, romantic, French bistro-styled restaurant is in a former Craftsman house, where the couple and their kids live upstairs. Out front is a 22-seat brick patio, but it is not covered, meaning if it rains, you’re out of luck as outdoor reservations are cancelled and refunded.

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