As a food lover and food writer, I am asked what my favorite foods and restaurants are all the time. For my 2024 gift guide for food lovers, I stayed close to the West Coast, with one notable exception. I could not sample every item on this list (noted below) but have tasted most. While my palate is not the same as yours, I stand behind my picks as delicious and exciting options to gift to anyone on your list.
Dandelion Chocolate Nutcracker Bonbon Collection
Your first clue that this handcrafted chocolate gift is unlike other chocolate gifts is the tree-shaped box. It “unfurls” like the tree in the live staging of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, its tiers concealing mini-layers of beautiful chocolates. Like the cacao, caramel and toasted cashew praline Walz of the Flowers, bonbons inside the tree are all inspired by the ballet’s individual dances. The Sugar Plum Fairy bonbon includes elderberry-infused St. George Botanivore Gin, plum pâte de fruit, and gingerbread chocolate caramel.
11.6 oz (329 g) / $175
Tantos! x Tsar Nicoulai Caviar Classico Snack Pack
The San Francisco Bay Area’s all-American caviar company, which also has a tiny tasting café in the Ferry Building Marketplace, is the only eco-certified sturgeon farm in the United States. Did you know Northern California produces over 80% of the caviar farmed in the country? In this one-and-done gift basket, there’s a one-ounce container of classic caviar, one pearl spoon, and a bag of original flavor Tantos chips. (Tantos! pasta chips are the new creation by Top Chef alumnus, chef Joe Sasto, who is a huge fan of the brand.) They are rounded just enough to hold a scoop of caviar and maybe a sash of creme fraiche or minced onion but you do you.
1 one-ounce tin, 1 package of Tantos and 1 spoon / $81.99
Durant Vineyards Flagship Gift Box
Located in the Dundee Hills of Oregon’s Willamette Valley, Durant grows wine grapes, olive trees, and other crops well-suited to the local soil and climate. The trio of extra virgin olives in this olive oil sampler –Arbequina, Koroneiki, and Tuscan – are packed in an elegant black box with descriptors printed inside. Single Spanish varietal Arbequina is rich and creamy; single Greek varietal Koroneiki tastes lighter and greener with a distinct pepperiness; and Tuscan blends three Italian varietals – Frantoio, Leccino, and Pendolino – for a round, full-palate experience. Tuscan, with a sprinkle of Jacobsen’s sea salt (below, unseasoned), is a yummy combo I’ve drizzled over Greek yogurt.
Jacobsen Salt Co. Salty & Sweet Gift Set
Harvested from the cold waters of Netarts Bay on the Oregon Coast, Jacobsen’s flaky salts taste of the Pacific’s salinity. Here, they are nestled in a gift box with Raw Blackberry and Wildflower honeys, which showcase the sweeter side of the region’s terroir. Trendy Black Garlic adds a subtle sweetness and hints at garlic’s power. I sprinkled Lemon Zest on shortbread cookies and used Rosemary as a finishing salt for bowls of split pea soup. The full set includes:
- Black Garlic Salt
- Black Pepper Salt
- Lemon Zest Salt
- Rosemary Salt
- Raw Blackberry Honey
- Raw Wildflower Honey
$77
Enzo’s Table Clovis Crunch Granola
Based in Central California, the Enzo family leans into its Italian heritage and the amazing local food shed. Perhaps best known for their olive oils, which are widely available, other products, like almond butter, biscotti, and granola deserve more attention. Made with estate-grown California almonds and organic extra virgin olive oil, the rolled oats-based cereal is sweetened only with cinnamon and maple syrup for that just right, cravable morning balance.
Note: I did not sample the granola but did sample the biscotti
14 oz / $14.95
Clif Family Chef’s Salad Essentials
The Clif Family has moved way beyond the energy bars that built the family brand. At their wine country estate in Napa, there’s plenty of wine, of course, but also jams, olive oil and other products grown on their land. I am a huge fan of their Cacao Honey Spread but also loved Chef Magnus’s salad on a recent wine and food pairing visit. It’s easy to make chef’s salad at home with this kit. It includes organic EVOO, organic Meyer Lemon Marmalade, estate honey, and black peppercorns from one of my 2023 foodie gift list picks, Burlap and Barrel. Best of all is the cute mixing bowl and this salad dressing recipe for how to use the kit’s ingredients on your own chef’s salad.
$100
Spirit Almond Variety Gift Box
Combining Japanese flavors with California almonds, an L.A.-based Japanese-American wife-and-husband duo created snackable, portion-sized treats with flair. In Variety Gift Box, six flavors – Black Garlic, Miso, Koji Salt, Seaweed, Mustard, and Japanese Curry – are packed in a minimalist box. Each flavor packs an umami punch from miso, koji, seaweed, or other ingredient. I’m a sucker for black garlic but the hit of the box was Koji Salt. Enhanced with a bit of sugar, salt, seaweed and shiitake, the almond’s true character was elevated without being cloying.
Three 1.12 oz (32 g) sachets each of six flavors / $42
Donizetti Infermentum Gift Box
Longtime friends, chefs Donato Scotti and Gianluca Guglielmi each relocated to the United States where they now run multiple restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. A tiny shop at their Oakland trattoria displays house made pastas and panettoni, jarred caponata, and curated salumi. Packaged in a beautiful red box with poinsettia flourish by Gianluca’s wife, Paola, the Infermentum includes one of the duo’s famous panettone alongside cookies, jam, giardiniera, olives and grissini. It’s a party waiting to happen.
$125
Storied Goods Orange-Cherry Sugar Cubes
These flavor-infused sugar cubes should technically be in my Sparklers Gift Guide as they make a delightful addition to Champagne. I trialed Cinnamon Vanilla in my cold brew coffee and loved it! Like Yes Cocktail Co’s Bitters-Infused Cubes I included in last year’s Boozy Gift Guide, these cubes can do more than zhush up booze. Orange Cherry was delicious with iced tea and I liked it with my green tea, too. I mean, it’s sugar, so put a cube next to your morning espresso, if that’s your jam.
1 oz (28 g) / 10 cubes per package / $16
Hog Island Oyster Co. Tomales Bay Seasoning Trio
I’ve written often about the flavors of Marin, most recently about its seaweed. West Marin’s well-regarded oyster farm recently began utilizing its “seaweed bycatch” in all sorts of marvelous ways. It’s a key component in Spicy Nori Citrus Seasoning, a salt-free blend of Marin-harvested nor seaweed, orange zest, and red Fresno chile. Pair it with Saltworks Mineral Sea Salt to rim a Manhattan glass or sprinkle it on seafood of any kind. With the vinegary backbone of Hog’s signature Hogwash Mignonette, Hogwash Sea Salt completes the trio.
Three 4-ounce jars / $48
Raw Spice Bar Baker’s Dream Box
Cooking with this San Francisco company’s Herbs de Provence elevated my roast chicken recipe in the most fragrant and delicious way. The individual sachets are more practical than romantic. For holiday, I recommend one of the bundles, such as Baker’s Dream. Loaded into the box are sachets for Hawaj Coffee Blend, Everything Bagel Spice, and Lebkuchen Blend. (Hawaj, is a spice blend often found in Yemeni coffee, a hot trend in the Bay Area.) The included recipes for coffee cake and bagels are good motivators and, while I haven’t made lebkuchen in a while, the Lebkuchen Blend would stand in for the spice mix in any gingerbread recipe. Here’s mine.
3 one-ounce sachets / $19.99
Kate’s Toffee The Elf Bundle
Handmade in 2 ½ pound batches in owner Kate Carrier’s Marin kitchen, this toffee is truly one-of-a-kid and a labor of love. Made with local butter and Guittard chocolate, the flavor is rich and creamy and 100% old-fashioned. With three quarter-pound bags, two half-pound bags, and two nibble boxes, the Elf Bundle easily ticks multiple gifts off the list – school teacher, manicurist, white elephant – you name it.
Roughly two pounds across seven packages / $90
