womantraveler

San Francisco "Foodings" - for Your Late Summer List

Keeping up with the abundance of San Francisco restaurants, from tried-and-true to start-ups, is a fulltime job, but every few months I'm motivated to share a list of finds for visitors and locals alike. This latest round of suggestions was inspired by the "fooding" trip of my brother/chef Steve Johnson of Rendezvous Central Square in Cambridge, who is a true "food creative" and Bay Area food fan from his frequent forays here, and the views of some other pals who currently make the city and its best restos their home.

Any time of day: Blue Bottle Coffee is the latest rage, and every story is made better by the story behind the story. Imagine a clarinet player who just can't get the morning cup of java right and sets out to solve that riddle - and you yet another successful Bay Area entrepreneur's story. The easiest access point is Blue Bottle in the Ferry Building, but the inside view comes in the alley in now-hip Hayes Valley where Blue Bottle started in a garage at Jessie and Linden streets (just like Apple started down in Silicon Valley). You have to love it at $20-24 a pound, but if like me you are tired of the same-old same old, the pure and succulent flavors, creative verve and colloquial personality makes a Blue Bottle moment a worthy experience (along with the line of fans that comes with it).

Ferry Building: We have a bias for this panoply of organic and specialty food destinations that are original, featuring regional producers, seasonal, distinctive in quality, perhaps a bit chaotic in experience, but what the heck. This is as close to the land as you'll get without renting a car and traipsing out to the North Bay, West Marin and other nearby locations where the real thing is delivered every day by small (or relatively small) producers. If I sound rapturous, then forgive me, because the artisanal quality of Bay Area food producers is beyond belief, and this stop at Market Street and the Embarcadero just under the Bay Bridge offers an excellent sampler to whet your appetite.

Many San Francisco restaurants seem literally carved out of store fronts, including several of these below. They are jam packed every day but don't let that deter you. Check them out in advance and reserve ahead on their websites, Open Table, Urban Spoon Rez or others. Mark these down:

Boulettes Larder: J'adore ce resto! There's something that feels very intimate about this tiny bistro (enlarged by an outdoor seating area) in the Ferry Building, as if you're at the chef's table in a farm in Europe while also in high-energy urban San Francisco. The menu hand picks and combines ingredients in innovative combinations with straightforward style, simplicity and artful confidence.

Bar Jules: Cozy and busy with a handful of daily offerings and a neighborhoody ambiance that welcomes everyone. In Hayes Valley, steps from the Civic Center, opera, ballet, symphony hall and Asian Art Museum.

Flour + Water: Another small space favorite honoring local producers, a James Beard "rising chef" finalist in 2011 and "best new resataurant" finalist in 2010. In the Mission and described by GQ as "sneakily sophisticated."

Contigo: With homage to Spanish and Catalan food, this resto in Noe Valley supports a long list of farmers, ranchers, fishermen and artistans, another example of the rustic blended with the urban kitchen.

Frances: We popped into this hot little spot in the Noe Valley area for appetizers before dinner --and lucked out with a few tastings from the bartender who was checking out a new decanted wine specialty. This is a place where it's said to be tough to get a reservation and we understand why, since it seats only 35 or so guests. Getting there at opening and sitting at the bar was our smart luck. We also had a birds eye view into the kitchen and watched its efficient behaviors. That calamari with grilled Meyer lemon and chermoula spice was to die for while the grilled asparagus promised superb quality across the menu.

Delfina: Back after some years, this icon in the Mission - an Italian-inspired James Beard Award winner - doesn't disappoint. You just have to go there and taste it for yourself! And over off Filmore Street in Pacific Heights, its Pizzeria Delfina (with pizza combos that you'd love to imagine such as "clam pie" and homemade fennel sausage with bell pappers, red onions and more as well as salads and entrees) is smugly popular with residents who quietly treasure their neighborhood gem.

Mohica: I keep returning to this Peruvian resto offering small plates, amazing sushi-grade cebiches (ceviches), paella and a variety of entrees (seafood, beef, poultry and lamb). In the SOMA (South of Market) area not far from the Yerba Buena Gardens and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Mohica is busy but unpretentious, a favorite for downtown-living locals and people who work in the area. It's a bit off the beaten path but not something to miss.

A View of Thomas Keller's "Farm to Table" Napa Valley

There is nothing like a perfect afternoon in Napa Valley, but the bonus was a farm-to-table view of the provisioning for Thomas Keller's restaurants. How remarkable that the individual regarded as the "Number 1 chef in America" would have an acreage of vegetables and herbs across from his French Laundry restaurant (Relais et Chateaux) in Yountville (pictured here) and up the street from Bouchon, his upscale, though less formal, bistro. And it was like a park that we could respectfully walk through.

It's not unusual for chefs to grow their own gardens, as my brother Chef Steve does at Rendezvous Central Square in Cambridge, Mass., a hip and welcoming resto near MIT and Harvard.  (His herbs and vegetables grow in boxes on his urban roof.) But seeing this expanse that invited us in added an unexpected dimension to Keller's serious efforts at integrating the environment with the dining experience, not simply building a culinary experience from products trucked in.

Having the visual background and context -- kale, fava beans, savory and dozens more -- established a grounding context for the elegant Bouchon lunch.

Oddly enough for Napa Valley, we were temporarily transported into a recreated French bistro. Napa chic and busy (where a famous LA chef sat comfortably like any patron at the bar). While most dining spaces favor the California style, Bouchon is intentionally Left Bank Paris.

Reading the French titles on the menu, I opted for the Salade de Betteraves (beets) with poached rhubarb greens and hazelnuts in rhubarb vinaigrette (and thin slices of Tomme Dolce cheese, one of my favorites), while Steve chose Salade de Porc et Asperges Blanc (glazed pork belly with white asparagus, pickled cherries and egg yolk with warm bacon vinaigrette). You could call it an elegant eggs and bacon salad. We could have stopped there with no complaints, but the main courses approached -- roasted leg of lamb in a ragout of fresh chick peas, merguez sausage, garden carrots, green garlic and preserved Meyer lemon) for Steve, and I selected my occasional beef splurge -- Poitrine de Boeuf Grillee (grilled richly laden beef brisket) with braised radishes, fava bean and potato confit and tongue vinaigrette. I am still savoring the incredible flavors -- why would I eat anything else today? As we strolled back to our car, we couldn't resist another view of Keller's ample gardens and the July East Coast skies of this extraordinary California day.

 

 

  

 

Pleasanton, California: Perfectly Named

As a woman business traveler and proactive fan of leisure day trips, I've learned time and again that some of the best adventures are close to home. Pleasanton, California, originating in the Gold Rush and existing comfortably today next to the Livermore Valley wine country east of San Francisco, is one of my recent "finds." History, luxury and quality wines and food within a few blocks -- my fundamentals!

Since I often stay overnight in nearby outlying communities when I have an evening event -- to avoid rush-hour traffic, windy country roads at dusk or late-night driving alone -- I calculate at the front end a pleasant evening in new surroundings to finish off my business or leisure commitment. And, Pleasanton, California, has definitely earned its name in my travel journals.

  But the secret -- absolutely -- is the right hotel or inn. A male friend recommended Pleasanton's Rose Hotel, and it turned out to be the right combo of stylish but casual luxury and welcoming service. To wit -- a spacious and well-appointed room with windows that actually open to fresh air, a jacuzzi tub (superb after an afternoon on the links at a Women on Course event at Poppy Ridge Golf Course in the Livermore Valley,) and Peet's Coffee brewed in my room's own French press. That was the first part of the wake-up experience before I went down to the Victorian lobby/loungefor an ample continental breakfast (which comes with the room). Men and women business travelers, a leisure travel couple from Pennsylvania, and more personalities crossed paths in this quietly confident and charming space.

For dinner, I hiked up and down Main Street to check out the multiple options (40 nearby restaurants), from lively outdoor gardens to indoor white table cloth candlelight -- but chose the originality of The Oasis Grille across the street from the hotel and its Afghan/Middle Eastern specialties and featured wine list. Grilled shish kebab and a Riva Ridge Chardonnay from one of the California originals, Wente Vineyards in Livermore, were perfectly matched!

Napa Valley's CIA Cooking (the Other One)

Wine inspires, but food sustains in the San Francisco Bay Area, so the Culinary Institute of America (the other CIA) in Napa Valley is a must-do for cooking classes. And they're quick and easy -- 1 to 2 hours. This ongoing series of classes the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena makes it easy to actually develop a small skill in the midst of experiencing the marvelous vineyards.

We girlfriends were jaunting through the Valley one spring day and discovered the Spring Table series at Greystone, the former home of the Christian Brothers Winery. Classes are Friday-Monday and a demo is held the first Tuesday of the month. The 1-hour public cooking demonstrations ($15) include the recipe and tasting while the 2-hour hands-on cooking classes (75)consist of a 30-minute lecture, 90-minute cooking and tasting with a glass of wine. Classes in May, for example, include "Terrine of Salmon with Spring Vegetables," "Lamb Carpaccio with Greek Feta Cheese, Black Olives, Lemon Vinaigrette and Mint Oil" and "Sweet Pea Ravioli with Sauteed Pea Tendrils." I'm getting so hungry I don't think I can finish this post!

There are also Wine Enthusiast classes and elegant dinners at The Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant, which you can check out on their website.

Sonoma's Cottage Inn and Spa: Spoil Me

Downtown Sonoma's Cottage Inn and Spa is my home away from home. And even though I can drive up in 30 minutes from San Francisco's North Bay area, guests last week from Hawaii and Boston clearly had caught onto the same idea. (One couple was hanging out in the dreamy upstairs Vineyard View Suite after just getting married following 27 years of dating. Another arrived with a group for a surprise anniversary event.)

Romance and relaxation are the overwhelming themes in this architecturally inspired hideaway only a 5-minute walk off the Sonoma Square. But a solo woman traveler like me can comfortably slip into one of the individualized rooms -- most with jacuzzi tubs and fireplaces --  for a timeout from the rat race of the typical day to day. And, yes, there's free Wi-Fi in my suite and public spaces whenever I want to fire up my laptop and check back into the real world.

The Cottage Inn is different from the quaint or "wine country elegant" inns that dot Sonoma. The carefully chosen painting, photographs and sculpture in the rooms and the spirit forms and Buddhas in courtyards and walkways create a soothing, healing presence. Cloistered Santa Fe-style with adobe walls around two converted houses, the inn declares "cozy retreat" whatever your intention. 

Now that it's Mustard Festival in next-door Napa Valley through March, vineyards across both valleys are brimming with yellow gold flowers. So the Cottage Inn is a perfect anchor for taking in the wine country sights -- and then pulling back to more serenity in the evenings. I arrange for a Zen Garden Spa treatment, then unwind even more beside the open pit gas fire that burns up through a floor of crushed glass in the Romantico Paradiso Room.   

Each room has a unique decor, designed by the late founder, who was an architect. All have similar amenities, including coffee and juice and refrigerators stocked for breakfast. Each morning fresh breads arrive in a basket at the door.The largest North Suite is one of two with full kitchens, and most rooms have open or covered outdoor patios. 

I like the convenience, too. Hiking trails and bike routes start nearby and go in all directions, including over to General Vallejo's 19th century estate and historical museum to the west and a vineyard walk to Sebastiani and Ravenswood to the east. Sonoma Square offers some of the Valley's best dining -- including The Girl and the Fig, Cafe La Haye and El Dorado Kitchen, while the former General's Daughter restaurant in an 1864 Victorian on the Vallejo estate is generating a lot of buzz as Estate, the new venture of Girl and the Fig's Sondra Bernstein. 

Downtown Napa's Revival

Downtown Napa continues its energetic boomlet, creating a classy alternative   to its tony north-county wine country neighbors in Napa Valley. Not that wine-touring and epicurean dining aren't worthy tourist-focused delights anywhere in "the Valley." But those of us who live and work close by like to get away for an evening in downtown Napa for a friendly, yet stylish, "hometown" scene delivered with neighborly personality and first-rate quality.

The 2003 restoration of the 19th century Napa Valley Opera House helped kick off a wave of activity that has transformed this once rundown and neglected river town into a charming riverfront destination just an hour north of San Francisco. When I heard that "The Blue Note 7" jazz tour celebrating 70 years of Blue Note Records would bring some of the world's finest jazz to      the 500-seat opera house theater, I snapped up a seat on a weeknight. Renowned jazz artists like Bill Charlap, Ravi Coltrane, Nicholas Payton and their colleagues gave a stunning performance of their new CD "Mosaic," then hung out with the locals in the lobby afterwards for easy conversation. Keeping the music alive, pianist Charlap and bassist Peter Washington joined 15 late-night jazz enthusiasts at Silo's, the local club that manager Keith Stansberry kept open afterhours for the occasion. (Check out Silo's schedule at 707-251-5833. Exquisitely chosen Napa wines currently complement "Great American Songbook" artists Wesla Whitfield and Mike Greensill Wednesdays-Saturdays. Not to mention the Opera House's ongoing calendar.) 

  A few paces from Silos in the restored 1884 Napa Mill complex, I checked into the Napa River Inn, one of the preserved Historic Hotels of America for spacious luxury in a Victorian style room with a gas fireplace, canopy bed and claw-footed bath tub. Morning brought fresh baked goods in a basket from Sweetie Pies next door, a bakery that choosy clientele know well. Sweetie Pies' pumpkin pie was recently voted #1 on the Rachel Ray Show, and it's easily shipped. As one patron confessed, "you can't walk by without going in."

  We foodies are in pig heaven in places like Napa, where high standards by patrons and friendly competition among skilled chefs keep restaurant quality very high. There's something for everyone, too --from Ubuntu, the vegetarian restaurant and yoga studio that was cited in 2008 by the New York Times as one of the best two new restos in the U.S., to Vietnamese Annalien, the country French riverfront Angele, globally focused Celadon and the playful Kelley's "No Bad Days" Cafe. Mix that with stroller-friendly "The Little Gourmet: A Kid's Restaurant that is Grown-up Friendly" and many more dining spots, and it's easy to contemplate the next trip to downtown Napa.  

If you're going, note these two stellar upcoming events -- the 16th annual Napa Valley Mustard Festival, January 31-March 28, 2009 and the Napa Valley Opera House League's 9th Annual "Dinner Is Served" fundraiser, where you can eat in the best restaurants, on Wednesday February 25, 2009.

Napa Valley Wine Country's Carneros Inn

Splurging for the best room (one of the east vineyard-facing Vineyard View Cottages) at Napa Valley's Carneros Inn was worth the stretch price, especially the outdoor shower and vineyard views.    Now in off-season there are deals worth considering across the property for a peaceful winter get-away. There's lots of good buzz about the place, most of it worthy. Besides the privacy, we especially liked the patio with overhead heaters, the fireplace, French doors and flat screen TV/DVD/CD combo. I'm told by Womantraveler friends that a girlfriends spa visit at the Carneros Inn tops the list in the highly competitive Napa Valley spa scene, including a room for the day for relaxing and changing. On another visit to the Valley, simply stopping for a glass of wine at the outdoor lounge was a delightful treat. Just inside was the highly rated Farm restaurant -- we can't vouch for it directly but the word of mouth is tantalizing. 

Nick's Cove Bay Area Getaway

The Northern California insiders' new retro getaway is Nick's Cove along a curvy stretch of the Marin County coast. It's hot because its impressario is restaurateur Pat Kuleto (Fog City Diner, Boulevard, Postrio and a host of other signature San Francisco dining destinations), supports the credentials of organic farming and sustainable fishing and is sufficiently out of the way for a cache of remoteness. Plenty of people have gotten the word in the past six months, though -- it's already difficult if not impossible to get a reservation on short notice, although they do have a bar and seat walk-ins.

The 45-minute jaunt west of San Rafael, Novato or Petaluma or about an hour north of San Francisco snakes along hairpin turns through vast protected West Marin hills and dairy farms before reaching the town of Marshall on the Tomales Bay. This coastal Highway 1 stretch from Point Reyes Station on the south to Bodega Bay on the north is across from the Point Reyes National Seashore, a coastal wilderness abundant with wildlife. Landside, it's dotted with late-1800s onetime railroad towns and farms of cultivated oyster beds. It's an area full of history, as the story of Nick's illustrates. And far enough from modern civilization, in fact, that even cell phones can't find you here.

Turning a 100-year-old restaurant that was a local favorite and adding 12 pricey bungalows was a bumpy eight-year journey for Kuleto and his longtime partner, Executive Chef Mark Franz. They've preserved the ambiance -- the restaurant is casual roadhouse-style, and the bungalows were built or remodeled from wood-rotting shacks. They are perched along the water's edge, where you can hear the lap of the tide hitting the bungalow pilings and across the road in the groove of a hill. Each cottage is unique. All are decorated in comfortable antiques with luxury appointments -- high-thread count linens, heated bathroom floors, flat screen TVs and Wi-Fi. Winter rates range from $165 to $595 a night, which suggests what the summer season will fetch.

We sampled the inventiveness of Nick's kitchen staff during a wine tasting dinner hosted by Ross Halleck. You can't go to Nick's and not have oysters, which are farmed in the area by Hog Island Oyster Company, Tomales Bay Oyster Co. and others. Halleck Vineyard in the Russian River Valley produces just under 2000 cases of Pinot Noir. That's not far from Nick's, which has become Halleck's local hangout. His Hallberg Vineyards Pinot Noir 2005 was paired with a butternut squash flan, delightfully rich and nutty with white truffle oil. His Three Sons Cuvee Pinot Noir 2006 accompanied the wood grilled Vermont quail stuffed with local chanterelles, pancetta, cannellini bean puree and a balsamic reduction.

This, of course, wasn't the regular Nick's menu, which is harvested daily from the bay out the back door. We'll head back to do that soon. Kuleto, meanwhile, is hard to keep up with -- he opened two new restaurants in San Francisco's Embarcadero waterfront to more fanfare in late January -- Epic Roasthouse and Waterbar.

Clos Pegase Wine and Art

Clos Pegase, a temple to both wine and art, is the Napa Valley winery I recommend friends visiting when they're searching through the hundreds of options. Designed in the post-modern style by architect Michael Graves, the winery also houses the internationally renown art collection of owner Jan Schrem. In addition to the winery, a visitor can take a tour (including self-guided with narrative) of the 24 sculptures in the gardens and porticos as well as the art in interior galleries. One of the most famous in the collection is Henry Moore's "Mother Earth," who faces west and is usually bathed in sunlight.

The winery's name is a tribute to Pegasus, the mythological Greek winged horse who touched the earth with his hooves and unleashed the sacred spring of the muses, the wine that flows from grapes. Bacchanalian pleasure is also suggested here in a humorous way. Touring Clos Pegase mixes the fineries of an art museum, a wine cellar and the expansive and welcoming beauty of a Napa Valley estate.

You notice I've yet to talk about the wines, but they are stunning and carefully produced. Small berries, thicker skins, well-drained soil planted in old vines that are the progenitors of really fine wines. Wines are harvested by hand, not by machine, and crops are not densely planted. Our favorites are the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Merlot offerings. We were fortunate to visit on a slow day and have our own private tour guide, who took us down into the cellars, where art is displayed purposefully as well. From earliest times, people's enjoyment of wine led to them to embrace art and music, and there's a lovely taste of the experience right here.

Napa Valley Wine Train -- All Aboard!

  Of all the great ways to go wine-tasting in Napa Valley, the Napa Valley Wine Train is not only the easiest, but probably the safest. Though casual valley-style, it also turned out to be surprising elegant and a lot of fun. The three-hour trip for lunch or dinner starts in the town of Napa, slowly cruises north along the 1847 railway line to St. Helena and turns around.

Even in the off-season, when the grapes are resting and the air is crisp, it's a beautiful time in Napa Valley -- and the Wine Train special events keep it even more interesting. We opted for a weekday, when the crowds aren't so crazy, and the elegant Gourmet Express experience ($89 each) in the 1915-1917 vintage Pullman and Lounge cars, that over the pricier Vista Dome glass-topped 1947 Pullman. It's an elegant old train, with vaulted ceilings, white table cloths, silver flatware, drapes and ceiling fans. I appreciated the orchid on the table and the upholstered chairs. Totally charming, wonderful eating and generous service. What a lovely way to spend part of a day! After our appetizer and main course, we "repaired" to a club-style parlor car for dessert and sight-seeing. There are two seatings, as on a cruise ship, and well-mannered children will enjoy it, too.

There are several ways to do the wine train. Some people preferred to hang out in the less expensive Wine Tasting Lounge Car (which is open to everyone) or eat more casually a la carte. But from whatever your appetite, there are stunning wine country panoramas, and you don't have to thread along the highways with the tourists hopping from winery to winery.

The hokiest part was the obligatory lecture at the depot before taking off -- a little too Vegas-y. But in the 15-minute talk we we learned that there are 140 different types of soil in Napa Valley (making for a multitude of grape-to-wine options) -- and the perfect way to swirl to get the "wine nose" -- and thus the authentic aromas -- to the top of the glass. Even for afficionados, a good tip to launch the excursion.