Eating Out Archive

  • Date night last night at Marlowe in San Francisco. I like the environment, like a combo of industrial and old wood, and the music (a sucker for the Dirty Dancing soundtrack). “Snacks” may have been the best part: the famous brussels sprout chips were crispy, tasty, a little oily… The peaches with burrata and “smoke” with arugula were rich sweet and just that little bit peppery… Delicious. I could have eaten more burrata but it is fair to say it was snack sized. The roasted bone marrow was nicely presented and tasty but nothing particularly special…our main dish lamb was...

    Date Night @ Marlowe

    Posted on 2010.10.10 | 1 Comment
    Date night last night at Marlowe in San Francisco. I like the environment, like a combo of industrial and old wood, and the music (a sucker for the Dirty Dancing soundtrack). “Snacks” may have been the best part: the famous brussels sprout chips were crispy, tasty, a little oily… The peaches with burrata and “smoke” with arugula were rich sweet and just that little bit peppery… Delicious. I could have eaten more burrata but it is fair to say it was snack sized. The roasted bone marrow was nicely presented and tasty but nothing particularly special…our main dish lamb was...

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  • I am so happy right now. Really. I just ate dinner at Ippuku for the first time, and I am so happy that a true yakitori restaurant has landed right here in my town. Ippuku feels like a little piece of Japan transplanted into Berkeley. Everything from the entryway to the seating (in-floor recessed seating on one side, booths on the other) feels authentic. And pretty much everyone in the front of the house speaks Japanese, so you’re greeted in Japanese, the menu is in both Japanese and English, and the drinks have a real Japanese feel. The concept of...

    Ippuku is a Little Piece of Japan in Berkeley

    Posted on 2010.07.14 | 2 Comments
    I am so happy right now. Really. I just ate dinner at Ippuku for the first time, and I am so happy that a true yakitori restaurant has landed right here in my town. Ippuku feels like a little piece of Japan transplanted into Berkeley. Everything from the entryway to the seating (in-floor recessed seating on one side, booths on the other) feels authentic. And pretty much everyone in the front of the house speaks Japanese, so you’re greeted in Japanese, the menu is in both Japanese and English, and the drinks have a real Japanese feel. The concept of...

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  • Last night the biggest pig event of the year in San Francisco went down at the Fairmont Hotel: Cochon 555, featuring 5 different heirloom breeds of pig cooked up by 5 local area chefs and accompanied by some great wine. Tapped to compete in the San Francisco round (ahead of the national Grand Cochon) were Staffan Terje from Perbacco, Anthony Strong from Pizzeria Delfina, Dennis Lee from Namu, Thomas McNaughton of flower+water, and Morgan Maki of Bi-Rite Market. Oh, and also on hand doing some live butchering were the great Ryan Farr of 4505 Chicharrones fame and Dave the Butcher....

    Cochon 555: This Little Piggy Went to Perbacco…

    Posted on 2010.06.07 | 3 Comments
    Last night the biggest pig event of the year in San Francisco went down at the Fairmont Hotel: Cochon 555, featuring 5 different heirloom breeds of pig cooked up by 5 local area chefs and accompanied by some great wine. Tapped to compete in the San Francisco round (ahead of the national Grand Cochon) were Staffan Terje from Perbacco, Anthony Strong from Pizzeria Delfina, Dennis Lee from Namu, Thomas McNaughton of flower+water, and Morgan Maki of Bi-Rite Market. Oh, and also on hand doing some live butchering were the great Ryan Farr of 4505 Chicharrones fame and Dave the Butcher....

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  • Our evening at L'Arpege was elegant, beautiful and surprising from start to finish. There were some lovely highs and some dishes that missed their lofty marks which were luckily only minor distractions and not able to derail the lovely experience.

    Paris Trip Part IV: Dinner at L’Arpege

    Posted on 2010.05.27 | 1 Comment
    Our evening at L'Arpege was elegant, beautiful and surprising from start to finish. There were some lovely highs and some dishes that missed their lofty marks which were luckily only minor distractions and not able to derail the lovely experience.

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  • Monday night, after spending the day scouring Paris 6 for goodies and the afternoon napping and recovering, we headed to La Table for dinner. Never having eaten at a Joël Robuchon restaurant before, we didn't have much to go on for what to expect other than his appearance on Top Chef this past season (you may recall the episode where poor Kevin had the privilege of sitting with a whole table of people speaking French that later became the "what Kevin hears" segment?). Well that and the fact that I had heard about the small plates at L'Atelier.

    Paris Trip Part III: Dinner at La Table de Joël Robuchon

    Posted on 2010.05.26 | 3 Comments
    Monday night, after spending the day scouring Paris 6 for goodies and the afternoon napping and recovering, we headed to La Table for dinner. Never having eaten at a Joël Robuchon restaurant before, we didn't have much to go on for what to expect other than his appearance on Top Chef this past season (you may recall the episode where poor Kevin had the privilege of sitting with a whole table of people speaking French that later became the "what Kevin hears" segment?). Well that and the fact that I had heard about the small plates at L'Atelier.

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  • Monday dawned wet and drippy, but not enough to stop our plan: an eating tour of the 6th Arrondissement following tips culled from bloggers from David Lebovitz to Dorie Greenspan. Even the concierge’s soggy attitude when he pointed out the way didn’t bring us down. We set out on foot from Montparnasse with maps and shop names in hand. First stop: Gerard Mulot, where we split a baguette, scarfed down an apple turnover and a croissant, and squirreled away a macaron for later. Brushing the crumbs from our clothing we set off from our first success in search of Rue...

    Paris Trip Part II: A Walk in the 6th Arrondissement

    Posted on 2010.05.25 | 3 Comments
    Monday dawned wet and drippy, but not enough to stop our plan: an eating tour of the 6th Arrondissement following tips culled from bloggers from David Lebovitz to Dorie Greenspan. Even the concierge’s soggy attitude when he pointed out the way didn’t bring us down. We set out on foot from Montparnasse with maps and shop names in hand. First stop: Gerard Mulot, where we split a baguette, scarfed down an apple turnover and a croissant, and squirreled away a macaron for later. Brushing the crumbs from our clothing we set off from our first success in search of Rue...

    Continue Reading...

  • I’ve just returned from my vacation — including 3 days in Paris. I’ve got a series of posts that I’ll finish up over the next few days! Jean Georges’ Market On Sunday nights, not much is open in Paris. or at least that’s what I’ve heard. So we found ourselves dining at Market. Apparently it was on the early side for Paris, because our 7 pm reservation was the first table (Actually, we weren’t sure how long it would take to get there and showed up at 6:50 pm. They shooed us away… “we are not open yet”). The atmosphere...

    Paris Trip Part I: Dinner at Jean-Georges’ Market

    Posted on 2010.05.23 | 3 Comments
    I’ve just returned from my vacation — including 3 days in Paris. I’ve got a series of posts that I’ll finish up over the next few days! Jean Georges’ Market On Sunday nights, not much is open in Paris. or at least that’s what I’ve heard. So we found ourselves dining at Market. Apparently it was on the early side for Paris, because our 7 pm reservation was the first table (Actually, we weren’t sure how long it would take to get there and showed up at 6:50 pm. They shooed us away… “we are not open yet”). The atmosphere...

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  • On Tuesday night I met the extremely lovely Foodhoe who invited me to join her at her reservation at incanto’s Fergus Henderson dinner. Henderson is famous for (as is Consentino) using the “whole beast” and as such we had an offal meal. It was delicious, but the company was even better. I’m about to leave town for ten days but I wanted to get this up before I leave, so here are the pictures. Enjoy! The pictures will load in a gallery here. Mouse over the picture to get the buttons for “Next” and “Previous.” Descriptions of the courses are...

    incanto St. John Hotel Dinner

    Posted on 2010.05.13 | 2 Comments
    On Tuesday night I met the extremely lovely Foodhoe who invited me to join her at her reservation at incanto’s Fergus Henderson dinner. Henderson is famous for (as is Consentino) using the “whole beast” and as such we had an offal meal. It was delicious, but the company was even better. I’m about to leave town for ten days but I wanted to get this up before I leave, so here are the pictures. Enjoy! The pictures will load in a gallery here. Mouse over the picture to get the buttons for “Next” and “Previous.” Descriptions of the courses are...

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  • If I were still looking for a place to live, Hayes Valley would be near the top of my list. And then I'd have to hope that being to close to Paulette's macarons, Christopher Elbow's hazelnut patties, La Boulange's tarts, Suppenkuche's wienerschnitzel (I had better stop there and save the rest for a Hayes Valley post) would be made up for by walking to and from my house. Somehow I doubt it. Add to that list now the Fried Chicken Sandwich at the newly-opened Terra Bakery & Cafe at the corner of Hayes and Gough.

    Terra Bakery & Cafe Opens

    Posted on 2010.04.29 | No Comments
    If I were still looking for a place to live, Hayes Valley would be near the top of my list. And then I'd have to hope that being to close to Paulette's macarons, Christopher Elbow's hazelnut patties, La Boulange's tarts, Suppenkuche's wienerschnitzel (I had better stop there and save the rest for a Hayes Valley post) would be made up for by walking to and from my house. Somehow I doubt it. Add to that list now the Fried Chicken Sandwich at the newly-opened Terra Bakery & Cafe at the corner of Hayes and Gough.

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  • Gather Restaurant in Berkeley has been well-received by both “official” critics and local food bloggers. Located across Oxford from UC Berkeley, it’s got the corner spot in the David Brower Center, a recently-completed LEEDS certified building with the mission of housing non-profits with an environmental bent. So Gather’s a great fit – with a focus on fresh, local and sustainable ingredients, and This Week’s Farms featured prominently on a chalkboard. From the beginning it has been Gather’s goal to offer breakfast, lunch and dinner with local sustainable fixin’s at a reasonable price. I’ll leave the dinner review for another time...

    Breakfast and Lunch @ Gather

    Posted on 2010.04.09 | 2 Comments
    Gather Restaurant in Berkeley has been well-received by both “official” critics and local food bloggers. Located across Oxford from UC Berkeley, it’s got the corner spot in the David Brower Center, a recently-completed LEEDS certified building with the mission of housing non-profits with an environmental bent. So Gather’s a great fit – with a focus on fresh, local and sustainable ingredients, and This Week’s Farms featured prominently on a chalkboard. From the beginning it has been Gather’s goal to offer breakfast, lunch and dinner with local sustainable fixin’s at a reasonable price. I’ll leave the dinner review for another time...

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