Category Archives: Spirits/Cocktails/Beer

New Goings-On At Curry Up Now

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West Dilli butter chicken biryani -- one of the new regional biryanis at Curry Up Now.
West Dilli butter chicken biryani — one of the new regional biryanis at Curry Up Now.

If it’s been a moment since you’ve dined at Bay Area-grown Curry Up Now, delicious new happenings are afoot.

First, Bikram Das, formerly of Amber India in Santana Row was hired this spring as corporate executive chef.

Curry Up Now's new corporate executive chef, Bikram Das.
Curry Up Now’s new corporate executive chef, Bikram Das.

Second, the San Jose location did away with counter-ordering and instituted full table service indoors and outdoors.

Three, Das has added new dishes to the menu definitely worth checking out.

After dining as a guest at the San Jose location last week, and wiping a brow, I asked him if he had upped the heat on the dishes.

“Oh, yes!,” he replied with a wink.

Indeed, the food is bolder and spicier than previously. The prices remain incredibly reasonable for the portion sizes, too.

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Beat the Heat at Break Even Beermakers

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A friendly goat at Banded Family Ranch, where hops are grown for Break Even Beermakers.
A friendly goat at Banded Family Ranch, where hops are grown for Break Even Beermakers.

Amador City, CA — Like so many Chico State students, Aaron Wittman drank his share of beer. But he started making his own then, too.

Today, that master’s of English graduate, is putting those other skills to work prominently as beermaker-partner of Break Even Beermakers, where he’s making exceptional brews now carried by the likes of Michelin-starred San Francisco restaurants State Bird Provisions and The Progress, as well as their sister establishment, The Anchovy Bar.

Break Even's Summer Bummer.
Break Even’s Summer Bummer.

“Tiny but mighty” is how he describes the brewery. It was founded nearly four years ago by Kevin Carter and Cassie Davis, who also own the Imperial Hotel a few yards away, as well as the nearby 90-acre Banded Family Ranch that plays an important role in the beer making.

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A Visit to California’s Smallest City

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The incredible seared house-made ricotta at the Imperial Hotel restaurant.
The incredible seared house-made ricotta at the Imperial Hotel restaurant.

Amador City, CA — At 0.3 square miles, this Gold Country town is indeed the smallest in the state by size.

It amounts to roughly 6 blocks.

What it lacks in magnitude, though, it more than makes up for in its rich history and present-day charm.

Jose Marie Amador, a wealthy rancher and gold miner, founded this Gold Rush town that’s one hour east of Sacramento. By the time its most famous mine closed in 1943, an estimated $24 million in gold had been mined, according to Visit Amador City.

The downtown is teeny, all of a block and a half, made up nowadays of wine tasting rooms, home-ware shops, cafes, and the Amador Whitney Museum. At its heart is the Imperial Hotel, a historic brick building originally built in 1879.

The historic Imperial Hotel.
The historic Imperial Hotel.

Last fall, Kevin Carter and his partner Cassie Davis took over the hotel, refurbishing it, before reopening it this spring. Two weeks ago, I was invited as their guest to check out the redone property, which includes a 130-seat, on-site restaurant headed by an executive chef who will be familiar to South Bay folks: Max Benson, whose family operated CB Hannegan’s in Los Gatos for 37 years. When Benson’s mom moved to Amador City, he eventually decided to follow suit.

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Taking a Stab at Stickbar at Gozu

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Canapes of Wagyu tartare topped with Wagyu "caviar'' at Gozu.
Canapes of Wagyu tartare topped with Wagyu “caviar” at Gozu.

Nowadays, there are many restaurants where you can enjoy a Wagyu steak. But at Gozu in San Francisco, you can sink your teeth into smoky skewers that spotlight both familiar and unusual specific cuts of the prized Japanese beef.

When Chef-Owner Marc Zimmerman opened his hearth-centered restaurant in 2019, it was thought to be the only restaurant in the United States to directly import from Japan full cuts of top-grade A5 Wagyu. That amounts to a whopping 750 pounds in one shot.

That gives him the ability to use nearly every part of the outrageously marbled beef, often in audacious ways, including burning the bones as charcoal and fermenting lean cuts to make shoyu.

Japanese A5 Wagyu being aged at Gozu.
Japanese A5 Wagyu being aged at Gozu.

You can experience it for yourself with a $125 four-course menu or a $225 tasting menu. Or opt for the a la carte Stickbar menu that allows you to try individual skewers, priced from $14 to $55, depending on the cut.

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“Grill Takeover” Time At Eataly’s Terra

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Lamb tongue with horseradish potato foam at Terra's first "Grill Takeover'' dinner collaboration.
Lamb tongue with horseradish potato foam at Terra’s first “Grill Takeover” dinner collaboration.

Terra restaurant at Silicon Valley’s Eataly is getting taken over — in a fun and delicious way.

The rooftop restaurant inside Eataly at Westfield Valley Fair shopping Center in San Jose just launched a “Grill Takeover” series in which it partners with a local restaurant for a one-night collaborative dinner.

I was fortunate to be invited as a guest to the inaugural one last week with San Mateo’s Pausa restaurant.

The event featured Eataly Silicon Valley’s Chef Antonio Giordano and Pausa’s Chef Andrea Giuliani teamed on a four-course meal that was $125 per person.

Eataly Silicon Valley's Chef Antonio Giordano and Pausa's Chef Andrea Giuliani with Terra's general manager.
Eataly Silicon Valley’s Chef Antonio Giordano and Pausa’s Chef Andrea Giuliani with Terra’s general manager.

The dining room was full for this sold-out event. For those still cautious about dining indoors, you’ll be glad to know that Terra’s dining room is practically outdoors. Floor-to-ceiling glass doors leading to the outside dining terrace are left open. Moreover, the ceiling itself is slatted to allow for plenty of air flow.

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