Email Author Matthew Stafford

2001 Stories by Matthew Stafford

• Middling Italy

  published December 19, 2001

  There's a restaurant in the town I grew up in that's been serving the same fair-to-middling Italian food for decades. Everyone goes there for... More >>

• A French Revolution

  published December 5, 2001

  When you think of the various ethnic strains that have contributed to San Francisco's multicultural melting pot, you don't think right off the bat... More >>

• Suds and Duds

  published November 21, 2001

  "What a fiasco," I muttered as I peered through the rain-streaked windshield of Shooter's automobile. In the back seat were a Venezuelan and an... More >>

• Hangout

  published November 14, 2001

  Choosing a hangout is one of the most important things to do when you're settling into a new neighborhood. While finding the closest movie theater... More >>

• Let Them Eat Retro-Tropical Shag

  published October 24, 2001

  The discipline of baking is an art as well as a science, as any visitor to Citizen Cake, a particularly artistic patisserie-restaurant, will tell... More >>

• Strike Zone

  published October 10, 2001

  Remember those final years of the 20th century, when the market was as vertical as the rent on a Russian Hill one-bedroom, recession talk was as... More >>

• Ciao, Italia

  published September 26, 2001

  On Sept. 12, 2001, I sat down at the Splendido bar and had a drink. The beverage in question was a negroni, not only because the gin, Campari, and... More >>

• Coming Home

  published September 12, 2001

  Grant Avenue stretches all the way from Market Street and the Financial District to Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf, but it's at its most... More >>

• East Meets Zest

  published September 5, 2001

  When undertaking the task of reviewing a restaurant, the first step is to round up a troupe of fellow food-lovers, food-lovers who will have... More >>

• Walking on Water

  published August 29, 2001

  When Aqua opened its doors 10 years ago, it was the only place in town where one could enjoy the city's esteemed seafood in a sophisticated... More >>

• Basque

  published August 15, 2001

  To several generations of San Francisco diners, "Basque food" meant the hearty multicourse suppers served family-style in boardinghouses all... More >>

• It's Not the Cheese

  published August 8, 2001

  Heading down 19th Avenue on my way to Luzern, a Swiss restaurant in the Sunset, I tried to organize the myriad impressions Switzerland has imposed... More >>

• Discovering Japan

  published August 1, 2001

  The fresh, simple nirvana that is Japanese food comes in a staggering variety of tastes and configurations -- at least if you're at its source on... More >>

• Shaken, Not Stirred

  published July 25, 2001

  I drank my first martini courtesy of John the Jehovah's Witness, serving behind the bar at Da Angelo in Mill Valley. I had ordered a kamikaze and... More >>

• Venticello

  published July 18, 2001

  After a century and a half of culinary colonialism, San Francisco's Italian restaurants have evolved in so many different directions that there... More >>

• The Big 4

  published July 4, 2001

  By its narrowest definition Independence Day celebrates our decolonization from the British Empire, but in a broader, happier sense the Fourth of... More >>

• Brother's

  published June 27, 2001

  One of the best things about living in a broad-minded Pacific Rim city is that you don't have to settle for the usual Cantonese suspects when you... More >>

• Frjtz

  published June 20, 2001

  The first thing I ate on my first trip to Europe was a big platter of Belgian frites. I had just disembarked from a freighter in Antwerp after 12... More >>

• Dinner at the Oasis

  published June 6, 2001

  When you squeeze 1 1/2 million square miles and a comparable assortment of cultures and attitudes into a tidy little label like "the Middle East,"... More >>

• Bella Italia

  published May 30, 2001

  There are all sorts of ways to celebrate a birthday. My friend Eddie decided that the best way to celebrate his own was to navigate the girth of... More >>

• Beginnings and Endings

  published May 23, 2001

  For several years I indulged in a hobby both personally enriching and fiscally exorbitant: the creation of elaborate, sit-down ethnic meals. I had... More >>

• Partly Sunny

  published May 16, 2001

  Once upon a time, in the splendid but prehistorically chilly city of Chicago, three young foodies with potential and aspirations heeded... More >>

• Pinkies Up

  published May 9, 2001

  Ritz-Carlton Lobby Lounge, 600 Stockton (at California), 773-6198. High tea served Monday through Friday 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., Saturday 1 to 4:30... More >>

• The Homespun Hipster

  published April 25, 2001

  It looks like spring has finally sprung in Northern California -- or at least it has in the Duboce Triangle, where an evening stroll to the... More >>

• Filmed on the Body

  published April 18, 2001

  Like life, good film festivals have a rather dull unifying force and lots of fascinating satellite themes. The 44th annual SFIFF is no... More >>