Results tagged “restaurants”

In looking for good autumnal cocktails to feature, we came across this delicious ginger concoction from DOSA on Fillmore, which has been doing great stuff with pairing cocktails to their food. The Ginger Ante cocktail, created by bartender Usman Chaudhary, would be perfect as an opener for Thanksgiving dinner, particularly with some roasted pumpkin seeds to nibble on, or this stuffed snow pea appetizer that Brock likes so much.

As we noted last week in the New School Cocktail Glossary, the bar program over at Camino in Oakland, just like the food, is focused entirely on local, seasonal, sustainable, organic ingredients and spirits -- so that means if there's a point in time when there are no local limes available, all the drinks will be made without limes, and all the drinks are made with local liquors. Camino was opened last year by Chez Panisse alum Russell Moore, and the bar manager Alex Phillips sent us this recipe for a Mezcal concoction that fits perfectly with the fall season. From Alex:

As Monsieur Bauer and many food blogs are reporting today, SF's showing in the new Michelin Guide is a little less stellar than last year. Many foodies would trust the much sought-after Michelin ratings more than, say, Zagat, and this year there are a number of new one-star recipients, and several local joints that lost stars. The new additions in SF proper are: Aziza; Luce at the InterContinental Hotel in San Francisco; and Quince, which regained its star after losing it last year. Also of note, are new one-star winners Commis in Oakland and artful vegetarian haven Ubuntu in Napa. For the fourth year since Michelin began publishing an SF guide, The French Laundry remains the only Bay Area restaurant to earn three stars -- a distinction earned by 5 restaurants in NYC, but only ever earned by 71 restaurants total, worldwide.

It's sure to cause controversy, which Eater SF editor Paolo Lucchesi openly acknowledges, but Eater has just inaugurated The Eater 38, a non-ranked list of the best, most beloved restaurants in the city which they would gladly recommend, with some emphasis given to neighborhood favorites over big destination spots.

Today's "Ask SFist" comes from the writer of this post. It's our second wedding anniversary next week, and we're on a budget. We always dine at home, usually only splurging on sushi, but we'd like to step out of our comfort zone for this special occasion.

We suspect that the only people who rely on the Zagat Guide in the Bay Area are recent New York transplants and elderlies who pick it up in the bookstore in Danville, but we reserve the right to be wrong. Anyhow, the 2010 guide hits the stands today, it's probably more accurate than the SF Weekly Readers Poll, and its democratic readership has again voted Gary Danko into the top spot for food and popularity, beating out older winner The French Laundry and new rising star Cyrus. Saigon Sandwiches and In & Out won for Best Bang for Your Buck. The recently re-opened Sierra Mar at the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur won for Best Decor, but perhaps readers really just meant "best view." And Top Chef Masters runner up Michael Chiarello's Bottega in Napa won Best Newcomer.

Eater reports on a couple of cheeky British waiters who deserve some sort of award. See, on August 30 over in the UK, two-year-old Molly Craig was acting "restless" at Halifax, West Yorkshire eatery Cactus Joe's. Since parents are accustomed to their precious cargo acting like trolls on meth, they tend to ignore it when it happens in public spaces, most flagrantly at restaurants. So, in an effort to passively explain to Molly's parents that their daughter's behavior was inappropriate, they printed the following on the bill: "'Thankyyou littell fucker." Chortle. Anyway, as non-food service industry types, we have to ask, how do you deal with restaurant brats, waiters and waitresses of the Bay Area?

Eye On Blogs brings this poll to our attention. Asylum, a gentlemen's online magazine that features articles like "10 Things You Should Never Say to a Girl With Huge Boobs" and "Look Glourious in Brad Pitt's Crisply Caribbean White Suit," came up with the top four manliest restaurants in the U.S. San Francisco, strangely enough, made the list, snatching the best-in-the-west title with the Mission district's Zeitgeist.

Oh boy. We just got work from Dennis Herrera's office that the SF Department of Health will come down hard on over three hundred San Francisco restaurants today, invalidating their food safety certifications. According to the City Attorney's Office, "the San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH) will be notifying 345 San Francisco restaurants that their certification for food safety managers will no longer be recognized as valid as a result of inappropriate testing and certification procedures." Oops. The City Attorney's Office goes on to say, "Officials from DPH also informed state and county public health authorities throughout California of at least 183 additional restaurants outside of San Francisco whose certifications are similarly affected. Another 78 certifications whose holders list no address have also been identified."

Not that we're pouting... certainly the good folks at Muni Diaries deserve some recognition, and we did take the Weekly's readers poll this year, so we're not sweating it either. But the SFBG Readers Poll actually has a number of respectable winners in the food category (no Pasta P for Best Overall here...) who we'd happily sit beside, like Delfina for Best Italian and Chez Panisse for Best Overall.

This week's recipe is a decidedly summer libation based on the classic Pimm's Cup, and it comes to us from Carlo Splendorini, bar manager at Gitane (6 Claude Lane). The original Pimm's Cup was created in London around 1850, and it's made with Pimm's No. 1 -- a gin-based aperitif infused with berries & spices -- along with fresh berries, mint, and soda. It became a hugely popular drink in southern England during the warmer months, and different recipes came to include a cucumber garnish and substituted ginger ale or tonic for the soda. Carlo created the Castillan Cup in order to highlight the Spanish influences on the menu at Gitane; the Bierzo Roble wine is from Castilla y Leon and is a solid fruity wine made from the Tinto Mencia grape. The cocktail makes for a unique and seasonal addition Gitane's cocktail list.

There are two ways to best judge a restaurant's quality: the soup and the bathroom. Both signify a venue's subtle, yet overall, attention detail. Visiting a new restaurant's bathroom is one of the most titillating moments of a meal for your editor. So, much to our delight, today 's Michael Bauer discusses restaurants' cans, giving top ratings to Gitane on Claude Lane. "The somewhat quirky interior, designed by Mr. Important Design, has a sexy aura that's also encapsulated in the bathroom. It feels like walking into an extension of the dining room, starting at the draped foyer," he gushes. Our favorite has to go to Orson. See, they have seven private bathrooms, all of them complete with low-lighting, black walls, and bowls of coffee grounds. Have a favorite? Let us know in the comments.

I came across a recipe for the Algonquin Cocktail, a classic from the early 1900s, in the book Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails and thought it might be a fun drink to do a spin on. I had been wanting to figure out a recipe using the Zirbenz stone pine schnapps for quite some time and thought that rye would mix well with it. At the time one of my fellow bartenders told me that pineapple was a relative of the pine cone so that was an obvious next step. (After researching this I figured out he was wrong and it is not related, but the flavor still works.) I substituted Drambuie for the dry vermouth (a spiced honey liqueur made from malted whiskey), and after a couple go rounds it was obvious that it needed a little more acid so I added the lemon juice. I named the drink The Vicious Circle, which was what Dorothy Parker used to call the group of writers otherwise known as The Algonquin Round Table.

Although he brought this up over a year ago, SF Chronicle's Michael Bauer needs discuss it again. Because nothing has been done about it. What on earth are we talking about? Perfume stink in restaurants. Bauer hates it; in fact, he even has a strict no perfume policy in the Food & Wine department. As he explains, "To me it's almost worse than secondhand smoke. I've had clouds of stinky floral perfumes engulf me as I try to enjoy my meal. Not only does everything end up tasting like a truckload of gardenias, I leave with a headache." Which: true. (Though, we have to add, it's not nearly as bad as Castro trash who sport tank tops and/or flip flops at eateries, which are acts of hostile selfishness.)

Well, we asked you to vote in EaterSF's poll last week, and after tallying well over 1000 votes, we think we're ready to call it for La Folie.

The SF Weekly Best of 2009 Readers Poll, while clearly accurate in such categories as Best Blog, was perhaps skewed by a campaign to vault Pasta Pomodoro to the lofty position as the people's choice for Best Restaurant. While Pasta P. may make a competent marinara on a good day, and their focaccia can be quite tasty, both we at SFist and our pal at EaterSF have a hard time accepting this result given the multitude of world-class restaurants in our fair city. So, in the spirit of democracy, please vote in EaterSF's poll so that we can get a better idea what our readers think. Sure, it's multiple choice and does not include a host of smaller neighborhood faves, but you're welcome to add your write-in candidate in the comments, either there or here. (We already know that Brock votes for Spruce.) And yes, polls are always dumb and biased, but humor us for a second.

The Decemberists are playing a sold-out show at Fox Theatre in Oakland tonight, which we hear is lovely, and SFist commenter periqueblend (currently Top SFist User #9) posed the question on Twitter regarding where to get some good grub near there. He's gotten some good replies so far, including FLORA, Luka's Taproom, Franklin Square Wine Bar, Picán, and an obligatory drink at Van Kleef. Any readers have any more suggestions? Also, the Fox has a good list of nearby restaurants on their site. We figured this might be helpful for others venturing across the bay to the show.

Uh, oh, we're in trouble. Fly Bar and Restaurant, our all-time favorite place for happy hour (see our staff bio) is opening up right around the corner from us at 1085 Sutter at Larkin, in place of the recently-closed Brick.

Just after Ross Mirkarimi's pro-life hummus breath suggested a citywide ban on foie gras - you know, in addition to the other one set to go in 2012 -- Gavin Newsom also kowtowed to PETA by temporarily banning the hotly debated dish at all Plumjack restaurants. (Pft.) We say "temporarily" since they want to replace the right way too make the deliciously plumped duck/goose liver with some sort of "humane" way. (You're lucky you boast a superb happy hour, Jack Falstaff; otherwise, we'd be picketing outside your doors wearing this.)

From what we hear, Valentine's Day was heartbreaking for many Bay Area restaurants. Take, for example, Hyde Street Seafood House, who charged $70 for a three-course prix-fixe, but resorted to serving Nabisco Triscuits with their lox. Wow. Yeah. Ouch. (Although we must admit that HSSH is a damn fine place to sup on seafood, and we would be tickled to find a plate of oysters resting on a bed of Xplosive Pizza Flavor Blasted Goldfish at our table.) Paolo Lucchesi has more on it over at Eater.

For those with some spare change in their pockets and the urge to stuff themselves silly with delectable eats, check out Taste SF's eighth annual Dine About Town, which started last Thursday and runs through January 31. Dozens of participating restaurants present specially prepared three-course meals for lunch ($21.95) and dinner ($34.95). Look for a forthcoming review from SFist about our scrumptuous Dine About Town dinner at North Beach's É Tutto Qua on Saturday night.

Gone are the days of free love, free LSD, and freedom to eat whatever you want. After last week's historic decision to make San Francisco the first in the country to ban the sale of cigarettes in pharmacies Walgreens and Rite Aid stores, City Hall isn't stopping there. The Board of Supes also wants to bar you from lighting up in city parks, ATM lines, and common areas of apartment buildings; voted for chain restaurants to post nutritional information on menus; have shunned delicious trans-fats (which is semi-ridiculous since high fructose corn syrup is the real enemy, but that's an entirely different post altogether); charge restaurants a fee for selling sugary sodas (which is good since Diet Coke tastes better); and close down city streets in an effort to get you to participate in mass jazzercise.

So far eight businesses in the East Bay have been held up by robbers in the past couple of weeks. Last night at around 9 p.m., two suspects hit Restaurant Furenzu on Adeline Street in Emeryville, according to CBS 5 (via Bay City News). While police can't be sure that last night's heist is related to the other ones that have been hitting East Bay restaurants, it does follow the same pattern: "[o]ne of the suspects revealed a black semi-automatic handgun and demanded money from both employees and customers."

Everyone's had to do the dreaded parent intro dinner at one point or another and The Gate's Michael Bauer put up his list of suggestions of where to go. On Mike's list, we've got Cafe Majestic, Rubicon and Perbacco among others. Personally, we liked the suggestions of commenters more: Cassis, Zuni Cafe (pictured at left) and Rivoli for East Bay'ers.

Sure, these places look like the types of fine dining establishments none of us could afford. Nevertheless we were delighted to read in this morning's New York Times ("Coast to Coast, Restaurants That Count") that San Francisco's Coi and Napa Valley's Ubuntu (a critically-acclaimed restaurant that also doubles as a yoga studio, oh my God) made Frank Bruni's top ten restaurants in the country. Yay us!

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on SFist.

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on SFist.

A website where official restaurant food safety rankings are easily accessible

We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on SFist.

Gavin wants your fat. According to Renewable Energy Access, yesterday our dear Mayor implemented a new program that will collect fats, oil, and grease from the city restaurants free of charge.Why? So that they can be to turn into biofuel to power city-owned vehicles. The program is called SFGreasecycle. Ew. But: awesome. Said fat and oil, when poured down the drain, "solidifies into thick layers inside drainpipes and sewer pipes, constricting water flow the...