Hello Friends,
In late October, I spent a few days in greater Boston. What a season to visit New England! The days sparkled with bright autumn light (except when it poured rain), vivifying each oak, elm and maple’s dying leaves by turning them bright yellow, orange and scarlet. It was a treat to be in this beautiful part of the world in one of its most colorful seasons. I was lucky enough to spend a few days with family – my two older brothers, specifically. Though crab and lobster are out of season, we managed some incredible meals, seafood and meaty. Through my brother’s connection, I even managed an invite to The Quin House, a restored Victorian manse turned social club. All five floors were thrumming with energy, Bostonians out in full force.
Now that I’m home, Thanksgiving and the winter holidays are coming into focus. As the season turns, so will my food coverage. My annual gift guides – foodie, boozy, sparklers, and cookbooks – are just about ready to roll and there’s a few other goodies to pack into the season. It’s too much for one newsletter a month, so my email cadence will flow twice a month during November and drop three times in December.
My Best Bites of the Year will wait until January. Why? ‘Cuz there is still 2025 eating to be done in December – the year’s richest meals arrive around the Winter Solstice.
To get the season rolling, I’ve got some newsy bits about restaurants and events you should check out. Plus my new podcast series is out in the world!
Here come the holidays!!!
Santé! Cheers! Prost!
What’s Hot: 7 Paintings, Tuesday Trivia, the Art of Tea + A New Standard
Not all together and not all at the same time. These are just a few of the food and food-adjacent events that have caught my attention in November.
Dishes from Sate & Soto Indonesian at Saluhall / Photo credit: Kristen Loken
7 Paintings at The Ameswell (on-going)
I don’t get many opportunities to experience a meal where art melds with technology, music, and storytelling but that’s exactly what happened at 7 Paintings, at The Ameswell Hotel in Mountain View, an interactive meal experience with an animated painting of the Mona Lisa as guide. Launched in September, 7 Paintings is that rare creature – food as art – that you, the diner, create alongside moving image graphics and other modern marvels.
I and my friend, Lotus, ate our way through seven courses (one meaty, one vegetarian) inspired by da Vinci, Banksy, Picasso, Dalí, Pollock, Warhol and Van Gogh. The fun is in the perception shift: We solved codes to open boxes revealing delicious treasure, sprayed sea bass with “perfume,” and lifted steak from a Campbell’s soup can…while it rolled away. My favorite two moments? When the Chef-Narrator “dropped” from the ceiling of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel and “ran” across my plate and when Dali’s clock “melted” over my wrist. I didn’t mind making my own paintings of “Starry Night” with chocolate, either.
It was spirited, delicious fun. And entirely date night and family-friendly.
Nightly seatings are at 6 p.m. and last roughly 2 1/2 hours.
$195 (with gratuity) for the classic menu (vegetarian option available for $179); $85 for the children’s menu.
Dandelion’s 12 Nights of Chocolate (Nov 5 – 16)
Taking place at Dandelion Chocolate’s 16th Street Factory in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood, the elves switch out their confection workshop in favor of chocolate-inspired everything. Yes, there will be dinners with a chocolate as the unifying theme as well as dessert and music pairings, movies, and more.
A few highlights include:
- Three screenings of 1971’s Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, starring Gene Wilder with hot chocolate and special snacks on November 16.
- A guided coffee and chocolate tasting that highlights how coffee and cacao — grown in similar climates and nurtured with care — mirror and contrast one another on November 11.
- A pairing of music & chocolate featuring cellist Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir with Tertulia Chamber Music paired with single-origin chocolate and desserts on November 13.
$50-150, depending on the event.
This series is more than a feast: all net proceeds benefit the SF-Marin Food Bank, a partnership that has already helped provide more than 300,000 meals to families in need.
Dates, Details and Reservations
Tuesday Trivia at Saluhall (Nov 11, 18 and 25)
Trivia company (that is a thing, apparently) Geeks Who Drink invites you and your people to test your knowledge of pop culture, history, and everything in between. The commitment is low level – no ticket needed and it’s free, although RSVPs are encouraged. Meet at Mid-Market’s mega food court, Saluhall Level 2. and choose from Indonesian at Saté and Soto, a burger from Smish Smash, vegan Puerto Rican from Casa Borinquena or a curry wrap at Curry Up Now.
This event is free and open to the public. Food and drink are pay-as-you-go.
Preview of Napa Valley Standard (Nov 12 – 15)
In what is being billed as a preview series of Napa Valley’s newest marquee event, the CIA at Greystone in St. Helena acts as home base for a food and wine festival stacked with epic culinary experiences known as the Napa Valley Standard. Drop by Meadowood for lunch crafted by Executive Chef Alejandro Ayala and renowned Chef Christopher Kostow. Or experience a Provençal-inspired lunch from legendary Chef Roland Passot in collaboration with Executive Chef Robert Curry of Auberge du Soleil, among other events.
All 10 participating chefs and wineries will be cooking for the walk-around tasting at the CIA at Greystone on November 13. Will this be the taste of Napa’s future?
$225-750 per ticket, which includes all food and beverages
Dates, Details and Reservations
The Art of Tea with Kathy Fang (Nov 16)
In celebration of the launch of her cookbook, House of Nanking: Family Recipes from San Francisco’s Favorite Chinese Restaurant, Chef Kathy Fang with St. Regis’ executive chef Joe Tiano is hosting Afternoon Tea in the St. Regis Tea Salon. On offer? A traditional tea service with Fang’s authentic Shanghainese savory bites, like shiitake mushroom and Chinese sausage quiche, BBQ pork hand pie, and shrimp har gao. Don’t worry, there will be sweets, too, such as yuzu lychee tart, black sesame macaron, and almond coconut cake. Fang will be on-hand to chat or sign copies of her book, which are included with the ticket price.
Sunday, November 16, 2 – 4 p.m.
$175 per person which includes a copy of her cookbook.
I Launched my Culinary World Podcast
Where to Read My Work
While I plug away at launching a new website and newsletter (the usual delays are bogging me down), I’ve got a few tidbits for you to chew on:
Are you into NA cocktails? I’ve noticed an uptick in tonic-forward drinks so I wrote about it in “Tonic Escapes Its Gin Straightjacket.”
If you are into cheese and/or into eating local, check out A Taste of Place in the Autumn issue of Edible Marin & Wine Country. I reviewed the cookbook from Toluma Farms and Tomales Farmstead Creamery, calling it “a love letter to the farm and to Marin.” Ah, the taste of the place I call home.
A little further up the road, in Sonoma, Chef Craig Stoll and his team are growing piennolos. Read all about their unique character in Piennolo Tomatoes Take Root at Fryer Creek Farm (and head to Pizzeria Delfina to try Napoli’s iconic tomato in their pies).
I’ve been helping Kevin at The Marin Dish with new restaurant news and October brings a new batch.
I covered new restaurants (and the farms they source from) for Visit Petaluma.
And for Eater SF, I updated my list of where to eat in Sonoma (alongside fellow writer @bicoastalista) and jotted down a few favorites for San Jose, too.
Restaurants On My RADAR
I always enjoy spending time in Sonoma and this time, got to try the Oaxacan-inflected deliciousness at Sonoma Eats. The Tamale Oaxaqueña blew me away. Wrapped and steamed in a banana leaf, the masa achieved a custard-like texture but it was the mole that made the dish a winner – savory not sweet, with a hint of chile and bitterness. Delish.
A little further west in Occidental, I had the good fortune to stop in at Altamont General Store. The chill vibes encourage lingering and my Lavender Latte quickly turned into a plate lunch complete with GF mac n cheese, KFC, and two kinds of pickle.
Sticking with the North Bay, in Mill Valley, Tam Tavern in Manzanita served up the biggest pork schnitzel I’ve ever seen. (The image leads the newsletter.) It was also the first time I’ve ever seen schnitzel served on the bone which just goes to show you how much time I’ve spent eating boneless schnitzel in Europe. My 14 year-old would like you know that the focaccia served with hummus, and the French fries are the best he’s ever had, and my 16 year-old wolfed down a fried chicken sandwich like there’s no tomorrow. Bring teenage boys and they will leave sated.
Across the Big Red Bridge in San Francisco, Nopa Fish at the Ferry Building served up fish & chips and a tuna salad that felt (and tasted) too touristy-bland for my spoiled palate. Across town, I was inspired by an Elote Old Fashioned at Sunset Cantina in the Outer Sunset – such great neighborhood vibes!
In the Marina, the cocktail menu at Super Mensch is killing it with cachaça-infused Borscht and other inspired riffs on traditional Jewish-American fare. (I want to go back to try the Cel-Ray with tequila.) The clubby vibes here are paired with updated deli favorites. (Did I just write that sentence?) A turkey sandwich was layers of fun flavors stacked high enough to act as homage to Katz’s (a drawing of that shop’s edifice is on the wall).
In the FiDi, I snuck into The Bank at Amador for coffee and breakfast. (The rest of the day is reserved for members.) I loved a seasonally-inspired Autumn Daze coffee, fragrant with brown sugar, star anise and clove. Weeks later and I’m still dreaming of it.
And in the East Bay, I stopped in for brunch at Tanzie’s Chiang Mai Thai. If you think Thai food has gotten boring, Tanzie’s will quickly dispell that notion with its five course tasting menu studded with dishes like Nam Prink Pla Tu (pounded mackerel with garlic), Laab Moo (ground pork with rauram and mint), Ap Ong Awe (pork offal custard with curry and makrut), and Tum Ma Muang (sour mango with coconut sugar, fish sauce and chili). Yum. Be sure and make a reservation or prepare to wait outside for a table. (Tanzie’s provides parasols to shield you from the sun – sweet!)
Monthly Cookbook Column
If Choi’s style of cooking as a younger man was willful abandon of the hierarchies that built an earlier generation of restaurant kitchen culture, his style now as a much wealthier and older, more sober and thoughtful man is not much changed. Big hits of flavor using mostly classic European techniques paired with flavors from the Asian-American culinary cannon to build something uniquely Choi and uniquely Californian are at the heart of Choi’s new cookbook, The Choi of Cooking.
Read the entire cookbook review on my website.
Ready Or Not, Here Come the Holidays!
There will be plenty more in your inbox very soon. I can’t wait to share all of my holiday delights with you.
Thanks for reading and be in touch.
Christina