San Francisco Bay Area


May 4, 2008

Alex Espiritu: Pastry Chef (SF)

by Erin Gleeson

I recently shot with Alex Espiritu, the very talented pastry chef at The Dining Room, at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco. Here are some of his amazing (and delicious!) creations. If you’re in SF, don’t miss dessert at the Ritz. Ritz Carlton Hotel600 Stockton Street at California StreetSan Francisco, CAT: 415.296.7465 all photos: www.eringleeson.com

April 8, 2008

Elizabeth Falkner’s ORSON (SF)

by Erin Gleeson

Orson, Pastry Chef Elizabeth Falkner’s new restaurant in San Francisco is not to be missed. The restaurant is enormous with both upstairs and downstairs dining, and her desserts exude the same sultry sexy confidence that she does. Industrial concrete, dark table cloths and chocolate colored chairs make you feel just as sleek as your surroundings. […]

March 30, 2008

The Melting Pot

by Erin Gleeson

I was recently in the SF Bay Area and was very excited about a trip to The Melting Pot in Larkspur with my cousin Shannon. As fondue fanatics, we were fiercely let down. We went at 6:30 on a Wednesday with 4 people. We were told they were fully booked and they said we’d have […]

March 17, 2008

California Soul: Joy Luck Place (Cupertino)

by Kayoko Akabori

This post is dedicated to Hua and Wangster. Whenever I go home, I gotta get my dim sum fill. My mom thinks this is so bizarre, cause she knows I always go to dim sum in NY. But it’s just different in the Bay somehow- dare I say better? I don’t know what it is- […]

March 13, 2008

Umamiventure #8: Puerto Alegre

by Kayoko Akabori

We met up for our special SF Umamiventure on a sunny Saturday at Puerto Alegre (PA) in the Mission. This place has been around since 1970 (!). I was excited for a lunch of CalMex delights, but everyone else was unphased. To them, this was just another lunch, afterall. These people in Cali take their […]

March 11, 2008

California Soul: Osha Thai Noodle Cafe (SF)

by Kayoko Akabori

After driving around for about 30 minutes trying to decide what to eat (pho? Thai? Burmese? Tofu House?) Alice and CJ took me to the original Osha in the Tenderloin, which everyone says is the best out of the other 5 Oshas scattered around the city now. I guess all the other ones are fancy, […]

March 10, 2008

California Soul: Swan Oyster Depot (SF)

by Kayoko Akabori

They say the sun comes up every morningAnd if you listen oh so carefully The winds that ride on the high timeWhistle in melody And so the people started to sing And thats how the surf gave birth untold To California soul, California Soul– Ashford & Simpson You know what the surf all along the […]

March 8, 2008

California Soul: Naglee Park Garage (SJ)

by Kayoko Akabori

Christi considers herself quite the rotisserie chicken connoisseur, and she had been raving about her discovery of “the best roasted chicken” for months. Naglee Park Garage is a cute little brick house (lots of house restaurants in SJ) near its namesake park, close to SJ State. I would call this place old-school-garage-knick-knacky-cool. There’s even a […]

March 6, 2008

California Soul: Casa Vicky (SJ)

by Kayoko Akabori

Jamie is always taunting me about these deep fried burritos he gets near his place in downtown San Jose- sounds like the best invention ever, right? (Second to a fried calamari sandwich). So of course he took me to his spot, Casa Vicky, when I got into SJ. It’s literally a little house on the […]

September 30, 2007

How I Survived My 65th birthday: Dinner at Chez Panisse!

by UM Guest

Editor’s note: This post was written in July by the very lovely Jane Stillwater, but got buried in my inbox, and is only now coming to light on UM. She says that they accidentally deleted all their pics, but scroll below for some of Mike and Christi’s feast. Sorry for the delay!!! *** Good grief! […]