Chefs and Restaurants
A peek through the window at Benu TASTE News Service May 3, 2015 - It's been a banner year for San Francisco, and not just for the World Series Champion Giants. The city has received high praise for its restaurants from a variety of esteemed sources. Travel + Leisure In Travel + Leisure magazine's November survey of America's Favorite Cities, San Francisco came in first for Wine and second for Wine Bars. According to the editors, “A culinary scene to rival New York City's, eye-popping design, and a laid-back, outdoorsy ethos are just three reasons to visit San Francisco right…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
Prince of Porc David Bazirgan TASTE News Service April 16, 2015 — Cochon US Tour has announced the SF winner of the 10-city traveling culinary competition. Chef David Bazirgan of Dirty Habit was crowned the Prince of Porc on Sunday, April 12 at Fairmont San Francisco and advances to Snowmass/Aspen for a double-hit weekend in June, including Grand Cochon and Heritage Fire. Going on its seventh year, Cochon 555 showcases the best bites, chefs and who’s who of the good food movement. The signature event featured an all-star lineup of chefs, judges and sponsors to celebrate family farms, heritage breed…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
By: Esther Tseng Dining in West Hollywood offers even more options than you might realize. We’re not just talking about that coffee house or happy hour that you’ve been meaning to try— your favorite restaurants may offer some off-menu items at that you never even knew about! These insiders-only dishes at five of West Hollywood’s best restaurants reveal the secret side of West Hollywood’s legendary restaurant scene: BOA SteakhouseBOA Steakhouse is famous for its steaks, but it also offers some secret, off-menu protein dishes that showcase the restaurant’s versatility. Seafood lovers shouldn’t miss the charred octopus taco topped with tangy…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
Team USA Coach Gavin Kaysen, Chef Skylar Stover, Chef Philip Tessier, David A. Bernahl II, Thomas Keller, Daniel Bouloud, Jérôme Bocuse and Executive Director Young Yun at the 2015 Bocuse d'Or in Lyon, France. photo: BKB FoundationTASTE News Service March 6, 2015 - Pebble Beach Food & Wine, now in its 8th year, brings some of the world’s most revered culinary talent to the Monterey Peninsula. This year’s edition, held April 9-12, will feature more than 100 celebrity chefs and 250 wineries, who will come together to showcase a weekend of dinners and chef collaborations, tastings and cooking demonstrations. Coastal…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
Sheep graze in the early winter vineyard TASTE News Service October 14, 2014 - Taverna Sofia in Healdsburg, California has won the gold medal in the annual 2014 Sonoma County Harvest Fair Restaurant Competition for Best Entrée, serving Shannon Ranch lamb meatballs with tzatziki sauce. "I think it is great," says Clay Shannon, owner of Shannon Ridge Family of Wines and Shannon Ranch. "Not many ranchers can say that their employees taste so good that they win gold medals!" Shannon Ridge Family of Wines has a unique workforce. This Lake County operation is the largest scale vineyard in the United…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
TASTE News Service August 2, 2014 - San Francisco’s Tartine Bakery was recently named one of the 25 bakeries to should visit before you die. While the popularity of their morning buns and the long lines their country bread creates every morning are well known, Tartine is not the only bakery in town that is a bread winner. Below is a list of some of the best bakeries in San Francisco by neighborhood (including Tartine). Bernal Heights Sandbox Bakery833 Corltand Avenue, http://www.sandboxbakerysf.com/From the former pastry chef of the James Beard Foundation Award winning Slanted Door, Sandbox Bakery was originally…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
Cioppino, a San Francisco tradition TASTE News Service August 1, 2014 - The Simmons family's restaurants in San Francisco (Fog Harbor Fish House, Wipeout Bar & Grill and Pier Market Seafood Restaurant) have announced the completion of a two-year transition resulting in menus that now showcase all sustainable seafood offerings aligned with the Monterey Bay Aquarium's "Seafood Watch" guidelines. Comments Scooter Simmons, “We undertook this transition based on a commitment to best practices, even in the absence of any specific demand from our customers. It was important to our family and everyone in our company to do the right thing…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
Over-the-water dinner setting by Dan Clarke Sacramento has declared itself the leader in a category which has no universal definition, no absolute standards. However, a persuasive case can be made that this city in the most agriculturally productive state in the U.S. deserves the title “America's Farm-to-Fork Capital.” Sacramento is surrounded by farmland. Chefs in Sacramento have ready access to raw ingredients that their brethren in bigger and more glamorous locations could only dream about. In the past Sacramento suffered the reputation of being a cultural and culinary backwater. Local radio personalities called the city “Sacra-Tomato” (and this was not…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
By Sheryll Alexander Celebrity Chef Brian MalarkeyMondrian’s long-running Asia de Cuba food and beverage offerings are no more as celebrity chef Brian Malarkey of BRAVO’s Top Chef and ABC’s The Taste has brought his acclaimed Herringbone restaurant to this landmark Sunset Strip hotel in West Hollywood. Herringbone (part of James Brennan’s Enlightened Hospitality Group) showcases what it calls “ocean-to-table global cuisine.” WeHo’s award-winning designer Thomas Schoos is behind Herringbone’s new look. Guests can expect organic glam throughout the hotel’s famed indoor-outdoor space. Some of the rather eclectic designs include a long bar made from upside down lobster traps, chandeliers made…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
Stefan is flanked by new owners Jan and AndySAN FRANCISCO (December 24, 2013) - The new year will mark a new chapter for San Francisco's oldest German Restaurant. The 120-year old Schroeder's Café will close its doors on January 1 for a three-month renovation reflecting a change in ownership and a culinary refresh. Originally opened in 1893, the Bavarian inspired beer hall has seen many reincarnations and relocations throughout the city, including a move following its destruction in the 1906 earthquake. Current owners Jana and Stefan Filipcik will “pass the stein” to Jan Wiginton and Andy Chun, the owners…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
Carole and Santos MacDonal of Il Cortile November 25, 2013 (Paso Robles, CA) - Il Cortile’s Chef Santos MacDonal is highlighting fall flavors with his new menu, including those of white truffles. The Paso Robles restaurant's new seasonal menu was created to emphasize locally and regionally-sourced ingredients for their homemade pastas, seafood and meats. Gnocchi and risottos are made from scratch daily. These can include Kabocha squash gnocchi (homemade kabocha squash gnocchi on a bead of parmesan fonduta with a brown butter sage sauce), Fettuccine di coniglio (fettuccine with slow roasted rabbit in a white wine herb sauce), Cervo…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
An unusual snowstorm adds wintry charm to the Calaveras County town of Murphys Murphys, California November 25, 2013 – Murphys native Maya Radisch is opening Roquefort, a new restaurant emphasizing organic, local and GMO-free ingredients. While the official grand opening is not happening until January, the new menu will be launched during the winter festival on December 6th. On this date the town shuts down the streets and local residents and visitors walk the town to experience a “taste” of Murphy’s. Every year on the first Friday in December, Murphys celebrates the holiday season with a community Open House…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
Chef Robbie Wilson and wife Emily Perry Wilson join Ali and Charles Banks in toast to new venture. (Kara Block Photography) Los Olivos, CA November 13, 2013 - Los Olivos, the small township at the heart of Santa Barbara Wine Country, recently celebrated the opening of Mattei’s Tavern, a restaurant housed in an historic stagecoach stop originally founded in 1886. Felix Mattei, the property’s first restaurateur and hotelier, provided sustenance to travelers in the early days of the Southland. New owners, Charles Banks and wife, Ali, (Terroir Selections, Mayacamas Vineyards) and Chef Robbie Wilson and wife, Emily Perry Wilson,…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
Charlie Trotter 1959-2013 November 6, 2011 – Charlie Trotter died yesterday at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was rushed after his son Dylan found him unresponsive at his home in Chicago's Lincoln Park. Trotter had other restaurant forays over the years, but the eponymous Charlie Trotter's was the flagship. After 25 years of operation the chef and philanthropist closed his signature location on West Armitage in August of 2012. A that time Trotter, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin in Political Science, announced that he wanted to do some traveling and was considering graduate school. Sources say he…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
Interior at the Los Olivos Cafe October 24, 2013 Los Olivos, Santa Barbara County, California – The Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Café has been named one of the “Top 100 restaurants with the most notable wine lists in the USA” by Opentable.com diners. Owned by Sam and Shawnda Marmorstein, The Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Café was also the winner of the 2012 Wine Spectator “Best of Award of Excellence”— one of only 878 restaurants in the world that received this coveted ‘two wine glass’ award. Of the latest Opentable accolade, Sam Marmorstein said, “We are so proud to…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
Trendy THREE Restaurant & Bar has replaced Astaria October 21, 2013 - Rand McNally has declared San Mateo the Best Small Town for Food in their 2013 Best of the Road competition. The diversity of food establishments combined with the ongoing amount of community support set San Mateo apart from other participating towns and impressed Rand McNally’s panel of judges. Judges commented, “San Mateo won us over with the diversity of its culinary options and with all its online activity, which showed strong community support for the restaurateurs. The town clearly has ‘something for everyone’ and is dedicated to…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
Dr. Peter Wang, owner of Rocky Point Restaurant and founder of The Wang Foundation, stands ankle deep amongst an invasive pest that covers the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean. Ice plant has taken over the ground, covering the land which it has since evicted indigenous vegetation. "Here I make my stand" Wang says in humble defiance. "I took over Rocky Point Restaurant close to a year ago with the goal of polishing this beautiful gem of a property...one of the challenges I face, is my ongoing commitment to the rehabilitation of its surrounding natural landscape". When Wang says, "rehabilitation," he…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
John and Duskie working side-by-side. SEBASTOPOL, August 7, 2013--The Next Iron Chef contestant Duskie Estes and husband, artisan salumist, John Stewart announced the opening of their new restaurant with a new name, zazu kitchen + farm, in the heartland of Sonoma County today. The new restaurant is located just a few miles south of their former location at The Barlow, an old apple cannery in the town of Sebastopol. A sanctuary for “makers,” the former apple processing plant has been revitalized as the first community in the U.S. to connect visitors with not only fine locally made products and the…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
(Greater Palm Springs, CA) - August 6, 2013 – Sixteen restaurants in Greater Palm Springs have been recognized by Wine Spectator's 2013 Restaurant Wine List Awards for their extensive wine lists, selections that are appropriate to their cuisine and appeal to a wide range of wine lovers. Table at Spencer's Restaurant in Palm Springs set for multi-wine dinnerTwo restaurants Spencer's Restaurant and Cuistot received the 2013 Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence. This award gives special recognition to restaurants that clearly exceed the requirements of the Award of Excellence. Only 850 winners were selected across the globe. These lists…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
SYDNEY AUSTRALIA August 5, 2013--Le Cordon Bleu's innovative program of hospitality adventures continues with the release of the Industry scholarship for the 2014 Le Cordon Bleu Master of Gastronomic Tourism program (MGT). In an effort to support professional development opportunities available for food, wine and travel writers, Le Cordon Bleu will award an annual tuition scholarship (valued at AUD$5000) to an outstanding industry professional to undertake two units from the Le Cordon Bleu Master of Gastronomic Tourism program. Run in collaboration with Southern Cross University, this program is an exciting online postgraduate degree for "foodies" and industry professionals looking…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
More...
Chef Uong plates the lamb riblets.Lake County, CA – Shannon Ranch natural grass-fed lamb received the People's Choice Award at the American Lamb Board's 4th Annual San Francisco Lamb Jam, held at the Golden Gate Club. Chef Sophie Uong of Pican Restaurant in Oakland created the winning dish of Smoked Lamb Breast with Collard Greens and Lamb Riblets, featuring Shannon Ranch natural grass-fed lamb. "The lamb from Lake County's Shannon Ranch is simply stellar," said Chef Sophie. "The lamb is consistent in size, flavor and is absolutely delicious."Shannon Ridge Family of Wines currently runs about 1,100 head of breeding ewes…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
Dolores and Jack New York (July 17, 2013) – Les Dames d’Escoffier International (LDEI), an organization of leading professional women in the fields of food, fine beverage and hospitality, will present its prestigious Grande Dame Award to Dolores Cakebread of Cakebread Cellars of Rutherford, California. Previous winners include Julia Child, Alice Waters, Carol Brock and others. The award honors a lifetime of outstanding professional achievement, excellence and charitable/community contributions within the culinary industry, and is bestowed biennially. She will receive the award at a gala dinner during the LDEI annual conference in Austin, Texas on Saturday, October 26, 2013. Dolores…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
(L – R) American Culinary Federation Monterey Bay Chapter President Tene Shake, Roy’s at Pebble Beach Chef de Cuisine Pablo Mellin, American Academy of Chefs Advisor and Cannery Row Company Co-Owner Bert Cutino and American Culinary Federation National President Michael TyRoy’s at Pebble Beach Chef de Cuisine Pablo Mellin was named “Chef of the Year” for 2012 by the American Culinary Federation (ACF) Monterey Bay Chapter on Sunday, June 2, 2013. Chef Mellin was presented the award by ACF Monterey Bay Chapter President Tene Shake during the organization’s 39th Annual President’s Gala Dinner. The ACF Monterey Bay Chapter “Chef of…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under
Home to the nation's largest vegetable producing region, the culinary talent of Monterey County, California is being Chef Tim Wood of The Lodge showcased during California Restaurant Month 2013. Thirty five restaurants featuring the diversity of the destination are offering a ten percent discount or a prix-fixe menu to customers who mention California Restaurant Month from January 1-31, 2013. Food enthusiasts can zip down the Big Sur coastline to have breakfast nestled beneath the redwoods at Big Sur River Inn and then have fresh local sanddabs for lunch while watching sea lions play above the Monterey Bay at Café Fina.…
Published in
Chefs and Restaurants
Tagged under