"bay area dining" news and stories

San Francisco is abundant with excellent dining opportunities from Chez Panisse in Berkeley to Thomas Keller's French Laundry, but even New York, with its own wealth of stellar restaurants, had but four restaurants that were awarded Michelin's top honor of three stars. Thomas Keller's NY restaurant, Per Se, was among them.

The guide is due to be published in October of this year, and the anonymous reviewing group of one American and four European inspectors have already started making their way around the Bay Area.

So I forced one of my friends to snatch a copy of this past Sunday's edition of the San Francisco Chronicle with the knowledge that the Sunday magazine would have the annual Bay Area Top 100 Restaurants. I got it in the mail this morning, and was excited to look through it, but the first thing that caught my eye was the story about a Burrito Eater.

Charles Hodgkins is the Burrito Eater. His website, www.burritoeater.com, is basically a food blog in which he chronicles his quest for the "nine mustache" (out of 10) rated burrito in the Bay Area, ranging from Baja Fresh to holes in the wall. When he started, he thought he would have hit them all by the time he had eaten from 50 or 60 taquerias, but he says that there are over 170 places to get a burrito from a walk-up style stand. His top two favorites are Taqueria San Francisco and Papalote.

I wonder if Charles has ever pondered the idea of coming to Los Angeles.

How late am I to this party? But I forgive myself because I don't live in the Bay Area anymore (It's been 10 years! Sarah, you've got to let go!)

Michael Mina, San Francicso chef and restaurateur has opened a restaurant in southern California, Stonehill Tavern at the St. Regis Resort, Monarch Beach in Dana Point. The restaurant is designed by Tony Chi as a modern American tavern. As such, chef Mina's menus are catered toward southern California coastal living with modern Americna cuisine, with a slight bent toward seafood. Uh, yes, I'll start with the toro sashimi with osetra caviar and sudachi lime; then as my entree, I'd like the suckling pig with root vegetables, wild arugula, and truffle sauce. This time I don't think I'd mind the caviar or the truffles.

Michael Mina owns a restaurant that bears his name in San Francisco, Arcadia in San Jose, and has three restaurants in Las Vegas. Ah, but I will never forget him at Aqua (Yes, it's been that long).

Given that Saveur's website is "stylishly useless," it's almost unfair to post all the wonderful things that are in the April 2006 issue of the magazine I just received. Consider it simply an express-view for you as you ponder whether to pick it up in the check-out line. (And I'll do my best over the next few weeks to post any adventures I have with the recipes).

• A look at the changing fare on college campuses, which are ditching the dining halls and favoring the carts and trucks that serve fast, cheap, and authentic ethnic food like falafel and veggie pakoras at UVM and kimchee and bulgogi accessible to a number of schools in Philadelphia. Of course, I know all about the In-N-Out truck on the UCLA and USC campuses once a year.
• Cookbooks under review are Jewish: The Jewish Kitchen by Clarissa Hyman and Matzoh Ball Gumbo: Culinary Tales of the Jewish South by Marcie Cohen Ferris.
• In the cellar, the wine of the month is madiran, a "dark, spicy, tannic expression of the French southwest."
• In a different kind of cellar, Campbeltown is Scotland's "other" whisky region.
• San Francisco chef James Schenk (of Nuevo Latino restaurant Destino) makes alfajores, South American butter cookies filled with dulce de leche.
• Stop all the debate. The original recipe for Buffalo wings from the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York!
• The feature of the magazine is Tuscan trattorias, with recipes for: arista di maiale (roasted herb-stuffed porkloin), fagioli sgranati (white beans with sage), piselli freschi (fresh peas with Prosciutto), pappa al pomodoro (bread and tomato soup), insalata di trippa (cold tripe salad - I doubt I'll be trying this one, but who knows?), pappardelle all'anatra (broad noodles with duck sauce), and fritto misto di coniglio e verdure (fried rabbit and vegetables - imagine serving that to your kids on Easter!).
• We love hummus, and who knew Saveur could dedicate six whole pages to the simple chickpea puree?
• Le Veau d'Or in Manhattan is "a real French restaurant: the music is terrible but the food is great."
• And finally, a look at the endagered Danish tradition of the smorrebrod (different from Swedish smorgasbord).

So I'm poking around trying to motivate myself to plan a trip up to the Bay area sometime in the next few months, when what to my wandering eyes do appear, an announcement that SF Dine about Town is here!

The San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau and Visa are sponsoring this city-wide, month-long event that is now in its 5th year. There are almost 100 Bay Area restaurants that are participating by offering a three-course prix fixe meal at lunch ($21.95) or dinner ($31.95) or both.  Reservations specifically for SF Dine About Town can even be made via OpenTable.

I think the event is purely a promotional thing for both the Convention Bureau and Visa during a month which is typically slow for restaurants. Works for me, because a few of the restaurants are on my SF To-Dine List (A16!). Although, now I need to find a way up to SF. Unless we can convince Visa to do the same thing in LA!