Category Archives: Cities

Restaurants: SPQR, San Francisco

You know a restaurant’s importance in the common vernacular of a city when the initials which make up the restaurant’s name are the medium for learning the abbreviation of one of history’s most important and powerful empires. I remember visiting a friend from San Francisco studying in Rome  a few years ago. With no knowledgeContinue reading “Restaurants: SPQR, San Francisco”

Monday’s Neighborhood: Help Restore Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York

This week’s neighborhood of the week exemplifies the meaning of a neighborhood– where strangers come together to help one another in tines of trouble. Brooklyn is full of many impressive restaurant and bar-rich neighborhoods, many of which have been greatly affected by Hurricane Sandy, along with so many other neighborhoods of New York City andContinue reading “Monday’s Neighborhood: Help Restore Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York”

The 200th Article: Restaurants: Range, San Francisco

In the daunting world that is the restaurant industry, the few restaurants that succeed beyond their first half decade have clicked with some specific formula. The formula might be as a tourist trap where the attraction is an enormous aquarium wall, or it might be about the exciting nature of a completely changing menu dailyContinue reading “The 200th Article: Restaurants: Range, San Francisco”

Plat du Jour: November 2, 2012: The Perfect Sandwich, The Not-So Perfect Restaurant Location, and Menu Terminology

It’s the first weekend of November and APO is very much in the air. This time of year always brings such wonderful produce and comforting treats from autumnal ingredients. The past few weeks I’ve been delighted by the exceptional brussels sprouts dishes on menus (usually with bacon, guanciale, or pancetta involved), the pumpkin beers onContinue reading “Plat du Jour: November 2, 2012: The Perfect Sandwich, The Not-So Perfect Restaurant Location, and Menu Terminology”

Cocktail of the Week: The “Emerald Monk,” Dosa on Fillmore, San Francisco

You’d be forgiven for ignoring the cocktail menu upon arriving at the spectacular, grand second outpost of the modernized Southern Indian inspired restaurant Dosa, on Fillmore between Japantown and Pacific Heights. It has to be at least twice the size of the cozy original on Valencia on the Mission. The lengthy food menu will mesmerizeContinue reading “Cocktail of the Week: The “Emerald Monk,” Dosa on Fillmore, San Francisco”

Urban Wineries? Yes, Just the Grapes Aren’t Urban

When you think of Wine Country, the rolling hills of Sonoma County, the chateaus of the Loire Valley countryside, and the (congested) floor of the Napa Valley come to mind where happy grapes grow for happy wine drinkers. There, visitors sample the eventual product of those aged and stomped grapes in the adjacent tasting rooms.Continue reading “Urban Wineries? Yes, Just the Grapes Aren’t Urban”

Monday’s Neighborhood: Dogpatch, San Francisco

Last week we covered the ballpark district around San Francisco’s AT&T Park, where the baseball crowds, diners enjoying some of the city’s premier restaurants, start-up venture workers who occupy slivers of renovated warehouses with no heat, and computer programmers who fill airy loft office spaces mingle together for one of the country’s most dynamic neighborhoodsContinue reading “Monday’s Neighborhood: Dogpatch, San Francisco”

Plat du Jour October 29: Your 2012 World Champions

Matt Cain might not have thrown another perfect game in last night’s Game 4 of the World Series, but after ten innings, his San Francisco Giants swept the Detroit Tigers to win the World Series for the second time in three seasons. How should we celebrate? Last week the bartenders at Hiro Sone’s outstanding AmeContinue reading “Plat du Jour October 29: Your 2012 World Champions”

The World Series: San Francisco vs Detroit, Dungeness Crab vs Coney Island Hot Dogs

The 2012 World Series is under way (1-0 Giants on a Pablo “Kung Fu Panda” Sandoval home run!) in San Francisco between the Detroit Tigers and the San Francisco Giants. As mayors of the cities participating in such important postseason series usually do, the mayors of San Francisco and Detroit have a friendly wager forContinue reading “The World Series: San Francisco vs Detroit, Dungeness Crab vs Coney Island Hot Dogs”