Paso Robles

Beer of the Week: Firestone Walker Double DBA

In today's booming craft beer renaissance, there are plenty of breweries whose reputation is staked on brewing one style of beer particularly well. Some brewers make a name for themselves by almost exclusively brewing dry, West Coast IPAs. Others amass a following with a sludgy imperial stout that p ... More >>

Wine of the Week: Balance at the High-Alcohol Edge

Once, on a trip to Napa as a budding wine journalist, I asked a winemaker who had proudly poured me his newest creatio, what the alcohol level was. His snide-scoffing response was effectively that I didn't know what I was asking and was just going with the flow of anti-high-alcohol nay-sayers. Shake ... More >>

Central Coast Creamery: Taste-Testing Paso Robles' (and SFO's) Surprise Cheeses

Most airports continue to ignore the obvious truth that the feet that flow through their halls are connected to hungry people with both cash and palates -- and little interest in airports' plebeian gruel and fast-food fare. Fortunately, SFO has taken the bold step with the new Terminal 2 of actually ... More >>

San Francisco to Pasadena on Public Transit: SF Weekly Inspires Epic Bus Journey

Think of it as a guidebook...​In June, your humble narrator traveled from San Francisco to Los Angeles via public transportation. This journey, as explained in the ensuing cover story, was undertaken for the same reason George Mallory sought to climb Mount Everest: "Because it's there." Mallory's ... More >>

Dove Hunting: The Birds of Peace Are Delicious

Ben NarasinBBQ Dove Breast​When my wife and I began dating, I started carrying a gun. Not immediately, and not consistently; I was initiated into the manly ritual of killing birds over a Christmas break with hunts for pheasant (great fun and great food), and ducks (wetter, colder, and harder for a ... More >>

In Transit: From S.F. to L.A. via Public Transportation

Valentine's Out: Wild Kitchen

Mike K./YelpWild boar ravioli.​Underground Foraged Prix Fixe When: Mon., Feb 14; seatings at 6 and 9 p.m. Where: Somewhere in S.F.; exact location revealed the day of the event Cost: $50 for five courses ($80 with wine or beer pairings); corkage is $15. Organizer Iso Rabins says 10 percent ... More >>

Wines That Go Well With Bay Area Bands

​You can go to a restaurant and ask the server to offer wine pairings to accompany your fancy-pants menu choice. But imagine you're home and have just reached for the latest album from that hip new San Francisco band. You're all ready to crank up those sweet tunes, but what to drink to compliment ... More >>

Tasting Blind: Our Panel of Local Brew Experts Rates India Pale Ales

Brian Yaeger​For this month's blind beer tasting, we're tackling India Pale Ales. Though IPAs originated in 18th century England, the style was shanghaied by American craft brewers who kicked up the hops for walloping bitterness and pungency. For comparison's sake, at last year's Great Americ ... More >>

Our Blind Tasting of Pale Ales Reveals Wide Disparity

Brian YaegerThe lineup.​For this month's blind beer-tasting, we're not going beyond the pale ― we're going right to it. Made with lightly roasted malts, pale ales originated in England as a mellow alternative to dark mild and porter ales. They might have been invented in Burton-on-Trent, Eng ... More >>

For the Fans

Red Square Meals

Urges awakened by a trip to Russia are satisfied locally at the Cinderella Bakery and Café

City of Light

The loveliness of Paris evoked in a Cal-Med restaurant-cum-wine bar

The Only Way From L.A. to S.F.

One definition of heaven: A week, a t-top Camaro, and the Pacific Coast Highway.

Ricochet Romance

Night Crawler