State Bird Provisions
The ideal culinary couple, chef Stuart Brioza and pastry chef Nicole Krasinski, last cooked for the public at Rubicon, until Francis Ford Coppola sold it in 2008. But their luminous dinners made such an impression, their patrons swept them up for private events. When I ran into Brioza at the farmers market over the years, [...]
Read More →Acquerello
Luxury has lost some luster in San Francisco. Natives now wait in line at itinerant food trucks to eat standing up from cardboard cartons. A mania for street food has swept the City. But the high end restaurant is fighting back. Recently, Acquerello, the distinguished, 21 year old bastion of refined northern Italian food and [...]
Read More →Plow
The baby sitting next to me at Plow had impeccable manners. She delicately ate her chocolate spiced donut hole ($1.75) without spraying crumbs, unlike me. And then she sat patiently until the rest of breakfast arrived, which took awhile since the dining room in this sun-lit, converted architect’s studio on a Potrero Hill corner, was [...]
Read More →Golden Gate Dim Sum Seafood Restaurant
Golden Gate Dim Sum Seafood Restaurant 1829 Clement Street (at 19th Street), San Francisco Contact: 415 666-3883; www.goldengatedimsumsf.com Recommended dishes: pork neck with fermented black beans, red wine oxtail, turnip cake with Chinese sausage, herb chicken feet, claypot with gingko nuts; dessert soup of jasmine tea, soy milk and tofu skin My elegant Shanghai friends, [...]
Read More →Humphry Slocombe
Humphry Slocombe, 2790 Harrison (at 24th Street) San Francisco 415 550-6971 Whenever I go to buy fresh masa at La Palma, I somehow end up at Humphry Slocombe, the iconoclastic ice cream shop known for its wild flavors. I never order them. I go for single flavored ice cream like nutty, toasty, black sesame, the [...]
Read More →La Palma
La Palma Molino y Tortilleria, 2884 24th Street (at Florida) San Francisco 415 647-1500 The difference between hand made tortillas hot off the griddle, and even freshly made packaged ones is like night and day. You don’t realize this until you eat a fresh tortilla–at Nopalito for example, where they taste like fresh corn. When [...]
Read More →Devil’s Teeth Baking Co.
Devil’s Teeth Baking Co., 3876 Noriega, San Francisco 415 683-5533 This new bakery near Ocean beach nourishes hungry surfers with huge cinnamon buns, spread with caramel and drenched in butter; over size rounds of homey sour dough bread with crunchy crust and a soft, even crumb; and big bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches on slabs [...]
Read More →Ozumo
Ramen for lunch at Ozumo, 161 Steuart Street. San Francisco 415 882-1333 When it comes to comfort food, nothing beats a bowl of ramen, thin, hopefully chewy noodles in an addictive salty broth with goodies. Ramen central continues to be San Mateo, with several excellent, dedicated ramen shops–Ramen Dojo and Santa. But the craze has [...]
Read More →Little Vietnamese Cafe
Little Vietnamese Cafe, 309 6th Avenue, SF 415 876-0283 After a food shopping trip on Lower Clement, I like to get a hot–or cold–Vietnamese coffee at Little Vietnamese Cafe whose infusion is less concentrated than traditional Vietnamese coffee. Though still full bodied, it requires less sweetened condensed milk for balance–kind of a Vietnamese coffee light [...]
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After 11 volumes of Unterman on Food, I am suspending printed publication. Thanks to all of you who have supported the newsletter for so many years. We have shared many delicious experiences.
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