Bay Area Takes All Five Nominations for Best Chef in Pacific Region; Boulevard and A 16's Nate Appleman Among Locals Competing For Top PrizesThe prestigious James Beard Awards, given by the James Beard Foundation and often referred to as the Oscars of the restaurant and food media industries, announced their 2009 nominees.Local restaurants and chefs competing for the top prizes include Boulevard, nominated for the Outstanding Restaurant award (against NY's Babbo and Jean-Georges, Fore Street of
Fellow SFoodie blogger Tamara Palmer and I were headed up to the Culinary Institute of America's Napa Valley campus in St. Helena, aka Greystone, to attend a seminar on Japanese food.But the fertile springtime valley held a number of other temptations, and we were determined to sample as many as time and budget would allow.On the way up, we detoured to Yountville to give Tamara a glimpse of the (surprisingly modest) renowned French Laundry, and, after catching sight of Thomas Keller's Bouchon Ba
There'll be plenty for both foodies and music lovers to enjoy at the Great American Food and Music Fest, a one-day event running from noon to 10 p.m. on June 13 at the Shoreline Ampitheatre in Mountain View.Chef and Food Network star Bobby Flay is the host, and will demonstrate his famed grilling technique. Local-boy-made-good Guy Fieri, the most successful winner of the Food Network's The Next Food Network Star, will also appear onstage.Food booths offering quintessential American delights have
SF institution Jeanty at Jack's closed Friday nightChef Phillippe Jeanty blamed the cost of doing business in San Francisco for Friday's closure of Jeanty at Jack's, one of the city's oldest restaurants. The announcement that the Sacramento Street restaurant would cease operating came late Friday afternoon, surprising many. This morning, Jeanty suggested to SFoodie that the bleak economy - coupled with city-mandated business expenses - combined to kill off the eatery.
"I went back and forth on
It had to happen -- SF Weekly food critic lost her virginity, and to a hunk of foie gras, no less. Brody experiences her gastro rite de passage at überluxe Gary Danko, which opened in 1999 and still has a way with a cheese cart. And in case you think a place not accustomed to skimping on the lobster and caviar has to be Prada-shoe fancy, think again.Jen Siska Brody found casually dressed Texans at the bar, and waiters too well trained to get all sniffy when you pick up the wrong fork. Read the
On last night's premiere of Top Chef Masters, Hubert Keller, executive chef/owner of Fleur de Lys (777 Sutter at Taylor) charmed a gaggle of Girl Scouts and a mess of college students and whipped up the winning meal: Cold Scottish salmon, hardy carrot and petit pea soup with cinnamon croutons, and creamy mac and cheese with prawns, mushrooms, and fresh herbs (recipes are here). His victory scored $10,000 for the Bay Area chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Keller will compete against the w
FTPoed/FlickrThe view from the Brix patio: Watch out for street urchins.Jumping the shark. Sooner or later, everything has to, whether it's the Brady's in Hawaii, Blossom in Paris, or that Kara chick on American Idol.
As for local street food, it may have glimpsed its shark today, with the announcement by Napa Valley's Brix (7377 St. Helena Highway, Yountville): three dinners meant to showcase, in the words of the press release, "Executive Chef Anne Gingrass-Paik's passion for exotic 'st
C. NewtonChad Newton: Wants Gordon to keep yelling.Growing up in Mountain View, Chad Newton got a taste of restaurant glory via family trips to Stars, Jeremiah Tower's watershed Cali brasserie. "I used to always gravitate toward the regular menu, not the kid's menu," Newton said. He graduated from the Restaurant Management program at S.F. State, and in 2001 scored a front of the house job as food runner at Postrio during the reign of Steven and Mitchell Rosenthal (now the forces behind To
