Category Archives: Spirits/Cocktails/Beer

Good Eats & Drinks

Posted on by 8 comments

Chef Chris Cosentino of Incanto. (Photo courtesy of Michael Harlan Turkell)

Nosh on a special three-course menu from the Italian countryside every Sunday and Monday evenings this summer through Aug. 31 at San Francisco’s Incanto.

Executive Chef Chris Cosentino changes the prix fixe “Cocina Povera” weekly, highlighting a specific region each time. Price is $30, or $39 with two wine pairings included.

Chef Alessandro Cartumini of Quattro. (Photo courtesy of Chris Schmauch)

Four of Northern California’s best chefs will be serving up specialties at the 27th annual Vintage Affaire June 27 at a spectacular Atherton private estate.

Enjoy the creations of Alessandro Cartumini of Quattro Restaurant and Bar at the Four Seasons Hotel Silicon Valley in East Palo Alto; Daniel Patino of Michael Mina’s Arcadia in San Jose; Xavier Salomon of the Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay; and Cal Stamenov of Bernardus Lodge in Carmel Valley. More than 25 of California’s best wineries also will be pouring special vintages.

Live and silent auctions will give guests a chance to bid on rare wines, wine dinners, and special vacation packages.

Tickets are $300 per person. The event benefits Palo Alto’s Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired. During the past 26 years, this gala has raised nearly $6 million for the center clinic, counseling, and computer training services.

In this stagnant economy, restaurants and hotels are realizing that more than anything, diners want options and values.

That’s why all Ritz-Carlton Hotels around the world are introducing a new bar menu that invites guests to linger, share, and relax. It’s also an attempt to show that even in these tough times, you don’t have to sell the family jewels to afford a bite to eat and a drink to sip at this chain of luxury hotels.

Southern-style barbecue pork sliders. (Photo courtesy of the Ritz-Carlton)

Look for smoked salmon and arugula egg rolls, calamari in remoulade sauce, comforting crab cakes, barbecue pork sliders, and an array of cool cocktails. Items range from $10 to $20.

For another deal, head to Urban Tavern in San Francisco, June 8-12, when the downtown gastropub will allow diners to “pay what they think it’s worth.”

Yes, you got that right. Diners can enjoy up to a three-course meal at lunch. At the end, they’ll be asked to pay what they think the meal was worth. The server will then ring up that amount, plus tax. Lunch can include food, soft drinks, coffee, and tea, but not alcohol.

The offer is limited to 100 diners per day. Reservations are required.

Read more

Round-Up of Restaurant News

Posted on by 9 comments

Beef short rib sliders. (Photo courtesy of E&O Trading Company)

Dig into beef short rib sliders with pickled root veggies, sriracha aioli and taro strip fries ($15); albacore tuna crudo with seaweed and white soy ($15); and butternut squash dumplings with red curry lemongrass sauce ($9).

You can at E&O Trading Company. The restaurant, which has locations in San Francisco, San Jose and Larkspur, has an exciting, revamped menu, courtesy of new executive chef, the highly regarded Arnold Eric Wong.

Wong made a name for himself at his restaurants, Bacar and Eos, both in San Francisco.

The new menu boasts everything from hoisin and coffee-glazed Duroc pork spare ribs ($15) to crispy fried black striped bass with citrus segments and calamansi glaze $20). Long-time E&O fans can rest easy, too; the signature Indonesian corn fritters ($12) that have been served since Day One remain on the menu. Whew.

Butternut squash dumplings. (Photo courtesy of E&O Trading Company)

April 29 might be a perfect time to try E&O’s new eats because you can help a good cause, too. That night, the restaurant will host a fund-raiser for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Guests can enjoy hors d’oeuvres by Wong, and dance the night away to Chef Joey Altman’s Backburner Blues Band. There also will be a raffle.

All proceeds from the event will be donated to the non-profit. Tickets are $40 per person.

Additionally, through May 28, E&O will donate a portion of proceeds from the sale of its new coconut trifle dessert.

Menlo Park’s Marche will host a four-course “2006 Burgundy Dinner” on April 23 in the private dining room, and again as a chef’s tasting menu option in the main dining room on April 24-25.

Each course will be paired with a different 2006 Burgundy. Price is $195 per person.

Three Degrees Restaurant at the Toll House Hotel in Los Gatos will offer a wine dinner, too, on April 23. This four-course dinner spotlights Burrell School Winemakers. Price is $65 per person.

For the budget-minded — and who isn’t these days? — San Francisco’s Zinnia offers a “Halfsy Hour”  each week, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Read more

Absinthe Again

Posted on by 14 comments

The much-talked-about Le Tourment Verte.

I guess you all like your mystic, mythic spirits with the green glow.

Because when I posted about my first experience tasting absinthe (St. George Spirits’ Absinthe Verte, to be exact), boy, did you guys have a lot to say about it.

Quite a few of you wrote in, touting yet another absinthe — this one with the irresistible name of Le Tourment Verte (“The Green Torment”).  Maybe we should nickname it the “absinthe to the stars.” After all, it’s made the rounds of Oscar parties, the Sundance Film Festival, and Virgin America flights.

With that kind of cache, I had to try it. And what better day to partake of the Green Fairy than on a day made for green — St. Patrick’s Day?

Le Tourment Verte was kind enough to send me two tiny (airline-size) samples to try, packaged in pretty etched bottles. The regular 750ml bottle retails for about $47.

The color really grabs you. Unlike the St. George one with its green tea-like color, Le Tourment Verte is a bold emerald green. It’s only when you pour the contents into a glass, though, that you realize the bottle is tinted dark green. And it’s only on closer inspection when you read the label that you see the spirit contains artificial coloring, too. Hmmm….

Poured straight into a glass.

In a shot glass, this 100-proof spirit is almost the color of Scope mouthwash. My husband took a whiff and even declared that it smelled a little Aqua Velva-ish. Hmmm….

Read more

In Memory of My Beer Buddy

Posted on by 6 comments

 Bill wasn't a fan of bland American lagers. Hopefully, he would approve of this Belgium lager.

When I was still a food writer at the San Jose Mercury News, I remember distinctly when we decided to start running William Brand’s beer columns in our food section.

Bill already had been writing about beer for quite awhile at our sister newspapers, the Contra Costa Times and the Oakland Tribune. I thought we would just reprint those columns in our food section.

But no. Bill was so excited to be included in the Mercury News that he insisted on taking the time to write a separate column just for our publication.

That’s the kind of guy he was.

That guy, so full of knowledge about every brew around, and with a down-home sense of humor that could make you smile even on the dreariest of days, sadly passed away this morning at San Francisco General Hospital, after sustaining massive injuries in a Muni train accident on Feb. 8.

Bill Brand (Photo courtesy of Nick Lammers, Bay Area News Group)

He was 70 years old, an age where he could have easily just ridden off into the retirement sunset on the horse he loved to take out on jaunts on Mt. Diablo.

But no. Bill continued to diligently write his columns for the newspapers, and to write with gusto on his blogs, BeerNewsletter and What’sOnTap.

That’s the kind of guy he was.

Read more

Celebrate Suds — Big-Time

Posted on by One comment

Beers galore. (Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pub)

Brewski lovers will rejoice that “SF Beer Week” rolls around, Feb. 6-15.

The 10-day beer celebration will showcase the San Francisco Bay Area’s long heritage with craft beer. More than 150 events are planned throughout the Bay Area. They include beer festivals, beer dinners, meet-the-brewers evenings, home-brewing demonstrations, music, films, and even a museum exhibition.

“We want the public to know that San Francisco is a hot spot for artisan and craft beers. It is an artisan environment,” said Dave McLean, owner and brewer of Magnolia Gastropub and Brewery, and the Alembic bar. “San Francisco has the top examples of artists – from cheese, to wine, to arts and culture – and beer is a part of that excellence.”

Get ready for Beer Week. (Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pub)

After all, beer is considered the oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage in the world. The Bay Area’s connection dates back to the 19th Century, when it had nearly 50 breweries.

Read more

« Older Entries Recent Entries »