The sprawl of Los Angeles puts a quick small-town getaway in the “easier said than done” category. But enter Ojai, California, just 80 miles from Los Angeles and with many of the perks of a California paradise including good food, drinks, and beautiful scenery. Friday Like I do on most …
There’s a bit of fun going on at the Bar at Edinburgh’s classic Balmoral Hotel. You know how Michelin-starred restaurants offer multi-course “tasting menus” to show off the virtuoso skills of the chef? Well the Balmoral has applied that concept to drinks: a seasonal cocktail tasting menu enjoyed over a …
Childhood nostalgia and adult beverages make a great pair. San Francisco’s latest iteration of child’s play and booze is Brewcade, a Market Street bar-arcade curated by Kai Villegas (formerly of Monk’s Kettle). The bar – opened on December 10 by the owners of neighboring cocktail bar Blackbird – has 25 …
New Orleans summons such strong associations. And for anyone who has visited personally, they’re generally overwhelmingly positive. The culture, the music, the dance, the food, the drink: Only in NoLa could such specific examples in each of these categories exist. Thankfully, they also all travel well. Sit down to a …
Tosca Cafe, a North Beach institution with neon signage and an antique jukebox, got a good polish from New York restaurateurs April Bloomfield and Ken Friedman in 2013. A lively crowd packs the red booth-filled dining room for a menu of killer Italian dishes (think antipasti, bucatini with guanciale, and an addictive …
Momotaro, a multi-level mecca of Japanese food and design, offers myriad dining experiences: The first floor, devoted to izakaya—a cocktail, whiskey, and sake bar with elevated bar snacks— was designed to evoke wandering the back alleys full of street vendors during mealtime in Tokyo. Venture to the main level and you …
A few steps from the hubbub of Union Square is The Campton Place, a cocoon just inside the Taj Campton Place Hotel. The bar and bistro is adjacent to the pricier restaurant, but the bistro menu is overseen by the same chef Srijith Gopinathan who earned his Michelin star at this …
Beer Belly bar has been filling guts with LA’s craft beer and crafty food since 2011. Sourcing most of its brews from greater Los Angeles, married owners Jimmy and Yume Han rotate 12 taps daily to include rare sours and barrel-aged specialties at the relaxed bar in LA’s Koreatown. With mosaic …
Since it’s right inside the SF JAZZ building, you might assume you have to be attending a concert to venture in South. But everybody’s welcome at this Hayes Valley cocina for drinks or Mexican fare. Not Mexican as in “The taco truck’s here, you guys hungry?” We’re talking clam ceviche …
Game, an adventurous New American restaurant, opened in San Francisco on Nov. 6. The menu is informed by the name itself: game is sourced locally and the world over. Try the roasted venison with king trumpet mushrooms, pumpkin, and watercress ($36) or the cavatelli with wild boar sugo, fennel, and …
With a legendary reputation as one of San Francisco’s original gastropubs, Magnolia Brewing Company has withstood the test of time. Owner Dave McLean opened his brewery/eatery more than 15 years ago when IPAs and Imperial Stouts were foreign to the casual beer drinker. My, how things have changed. Yet Magnolia …
The straightforward menu at Bar Crudo means you know what you’re getting at this go-to bistro on the “it” stretch of Divisadero Street: oysters, raw fish specials, a bowl of chowder. The beer list is more involved, running to some four-dozen varieties, chosen by Tim Silvera who owns the place …