Category Archives: Travel Adventures

Savoie Has the Savoir Faire Down Pat

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Savoie puts its own spin on a classic caviar service.
Savoie puts its own spin on a classic caviar service.

Tahoe City, CA — In this outdoorsy, unincorporated lakeside town of roughly 3,000 residents, where traffic lights are few, you might be surprised to learn that one restaurant — just one — actually features big-city valet parking. And it’s complimentary, no less.

But at Savoie, it’s a necessity, given that since its opening in July, diners have been clamoring for reservations as far as six weeks in advance. When the doors open on any given night, there’s usually a queue of 40 walk-ins hoping to snag a seat, too. Even before it opened, Food & Wine magazine had already dubbed it one of “the most anticipated openings of the summer.”

In fact, when I was invited in as a guest of this fine-dining restaurant last week, a camera crew from Chef’s Warehouse was in the house, filming a documentary, as part of the restaurant supply company’s inaugural behind-the-scenes series on restaurants.

The attention and accolades are no surprise, not when you realize the French-California restaurant was opened by celebrated veteran Michelin-starred chef Mark Sullivan and his wife, pastry chef Allison Sullivan.

Chef-Owners Mark and Allison Sullivan.
Chef-Owners Mark and Allison Sullivan.

The two met at the Village Pub in Woodside, which Mark opened in 2001 with the Bacchus Management Group, of which he is still a partner. He helped steer the Village Pub, and subsequent restaurants, Spruce in San Francisco, and Selby’s in Atherton, to Michelin-star fame. After leaving the Village Pub, Allison went on to work at Michelin two-starred restaurants in San Francisco: the Fifth Floor, helmed by Laurent Gras; and Masa’s in San Francisco, under the tutelage of Ron Siegel. Later, she apprenticed at Pierre Herme in Paris.

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A Visit to N/Soto in Los Angeles

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Chicken thigh and chicken meatball skewers at N/Soto -- some of the juiciest chicken I've had in a while.
Chicken thigh and chicken meatball skewers at N/Soto — some of the juiciest chicken I’ve had in a while.

Think of Michelin-starred N/Naka as the older sister in a little black dress and diamonds with a chic persona, while N/Soto is the younger, more carefree sister in t-shirt and jeans — albeit perfectly tailor-made ones.

Both celebrated Los Angeles restaurants are owned and operated by married chefs, Niki Nakayama and Carole Iida-Nakayama. This spring, they celebrated both the 15th anniversary of N/Naka, their high-end, Japanese-meets-Californian kaiseki, and the 4th anniversary of N/Soto, their izakaya.

While “naka” in Japanese means “inside” and is a play on Nakayama’s surname, “soto” means “outside” and references the pandemic when for a time restaurants were forced to shutter, closed off from the outside world.

In fact, N/Soto originated during the pandemic as a pop-up offering to-go bentos. It proved so successful that Nakayama and Iida-Nakayama decided to go all in on a second, more casual restaurant.

Dinner at N/Naka is a 3-hour+ affair that will set you back $395 per person — that is if you can snag one of the hard-to-get reservations. In contrast, while N/Soto does offer a weekday $95 tasting menu, its main menu is strictly a la carte, meaning you can spend as little or as much as your appetite desires.

I’ve had the pleasure of dining at N/Naka twice, including earlier this month, and it remains an exquisite experience. On this particular trip to Los Angeles, I was fortunate enough to be invited in as a guest of N/Soto to try it in comparison.

The entrance to the restaurant.
The entrance to the restaurant.

The front of the restaurant is blanketed in a wall of ivy, with its noren or Japanese fabric divider providing the clue to where the entrance is located.

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Staycation Time At West Marin’s Olema House

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The weeknight Blue Plate Special at Due West at the Olema House is a deal. This is Tuesday's special of fried chicken.
The weeknight Blue Plate Special at Due West at the Olema House is a deal. This is Tuesday’s special of fried chicken.

Sometimes you long to jet off to faraway lands.

Other times, you crave a less taxing getaway that’s more easily reachable by car.

For times like that, look no further than the Olema House, a perfect spot to act as home base as you explore the beauty of nearby Point Reyes National Seashore.

That’s exactly what my husband and I did last week when I was invited to be a guest of the inn for two nights.

The boutique inn, located just off Highway 1 in the town of Olema, has a recommendation from the Michelin Guide. It is part of the Mosaic Hotel Collection, which operates half a dozen hotels, including North Block in Yountville and The Madrona in Healdsburg.

The Olema House entrance.
The Olema House entrance.
The Olema House lobby.
The Olema House lobby.
Sitting area in the lobby.
Sitting area in the lobby.

It was originally built 150 years ago as a hotel and saloon on the old stagecoach route. Today, it retains that rustic charm yet with all the modern accoutrements one would desire with a total of 24 rooms and cottages set on four acres beside a creek.

It boasts a market, where one can pick up snacks, breakfast baked goods, and coffee, as well as its own restaurant, Due West. A lot of hotel restaurants in semi-remote areas may fall back on being just good enough. But the food at Due West surprised by exceeding expectations. So much so, that we ate there both nights rather than venturing elsewhere on the second one.

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Toronto Dining, Part II: Michelin-Starred Alo

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Mille-feuille of foie gras and asparagus at Alo.
Mille-feuille of foie gras and asparagus at Alo.

Toronto, ON, Canada — The dining experience at Alo unfolds a little mysteriously, a little mischievously.

It starts when you walk up to the historic brick building that houses not only this fine-dining restaurant, but also Exotix, or what’s billed as Toronto’s first and only body piercing specialty studio. Okay, that’s got to be a first for a location for a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Inside the small foyer is a sharp-dressed hostess behind a stand who will check you in, then press the button to summon the elevator.

You step inside the elevator where it’s nearly pitch-black, not only in terms of the lighting but also its black-covered interior walls. So much so that I couldn’t even make out the floor numbers on the buttons. My husband decided to push the very top one. Good instincts since Alo is on the third floor of this three-story building.

When the elevator doors open, all that darkness gives way to a chic space with a modern, black-topped bar, an open kitchen with chef’s counter seats, and a plush dining room done up in violet and lavender.

Chef-Owner Patrick Kriss, who was as a sous chef at Michelin three-starred Daniel in New York and also worked at Michelin three-starred La Maison Troisgros in France opened Alo opened in 2015.

The inconspicuous sign.
The inconspicuous sign.
The open kitchen.
The open kitchen.

The fine-dining restaurant, which serves contemporary French cuisine with global influences, received a Michelin star in 2022, and has held it ever since. Kriss also has since grown it into an entire group with four other restaurants, a take-out spot, private events venue, and catering company.

The name “Alo” comes from the Latin word alo, which translates to “I feed” or “I nourish.” And it certainly does that.

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Toronto Dining, Part I: Acclaimed Mhel

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Aged managatsuo with sakura-leaf mochi rice at Mhel.
Aged managatsuo with sakura-leaf mochi rice at Mhel.

Toronto, ON, Canada — Mhel may be all of 645 square feet, but its presence looms large.

Not only did it garner a Michelin Bib Gourmand designation, but last week it also landed on the No. 27 spot on the 2026 list of the “50 Best Restaurants North America,” up from No. 44 last year.

Mehl is not fancy, not formal, but cozy, charming, and full of life.

Husband-and-wife team Ji Young-Hoon and Yi Seung-min opened the restaurant in 2023, naming it after the word for “anchovy” in the Jeju dialect, spoken in Dangjin, Korea, where Yi’s mother was born.

Ji is the executive chef of this compact 30-seat restaurant, 12 of which are bar seats situated right in front of him and the open kitchen much like a sushi counter. Yi runs the front of house and is beverage director.

The food is a delightful mix of Japanese and Korean, and the ambiance very much like that of an izakaya, where sharing small plates over sake is definitely the way to go.

The entrance.
The entrance.
A dozen seats are available at the counter that fronts the kitchen.
A dozen seats are available at the counter that fronts the kitchen.

We managed to snag seats at the bar, the best vantage point to wach Ji and his team in action.

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