Where to Eat this Spring – April: 7 Places to Eat Now – GOOP Kitchen-TIYA% Christina Mueller

Where to Eat this Spring – April: 7 Places to Eat Now

cute canapes on top of white rocks in a bowl

Where to Eat Now – Spring, Part Two: April

My monthly look at restaurants in the Bay Area and beyond includes Gwyneth Paltrow’s takeout-only concept, GOOP Kitchen, Michelin-recommended TIYA, and fun eating in the Wine Country town of Healdsburg.

San Francisco

The bar at TIYA in The Marina is stunning – I want to perch on a barstool while dressed in a gown dripping with bling and sip smooth cocktails such as a Japantown, for hours. Alas, I was there for the Michelin-recommended cuisine so I dug into the Pescatarian tasting menu. I very much liked the Pyaaz Kachori – it looked like an onion crisp with a dark, almost a chocolatey filling – and savored the delicacy that is a hallmark of the curries from chef-brothers Sujan and Pujan Sarkar. They were a revelation. Should you choose the wine pairing (as I did), you may find the Octopus with the Hexamer Spätlese a most exciting pairing, amplifying the curry’s flavors in the softest way. My dish of the night was the Barramundi Kizhi. Soft/tender yet firm when you pushed down with a fork, the fish’s texture was incredible. A touch of green mango in the Alleppey curry was a highlight.

I also very much like the touch of each table getting a lighted candle to accompany dessert. You could hear the murmur from each table in turn. Everyone felt special. And I think this is what summed up my night at TIYA. I felt looked after. The food is prepared with care and sensitivity to flavor, texture and spice level. It all came together as a comprehensive whole. Well done, Sarkars!

Gigi’s, Chef Tu David Phu’s wine bar-slash-restaurant just off the Panhandle on Divisadero is a tiny nook of a spot. On a rainy evening, I squeezed into a seat behind a tiny table not so much for the wine but for the interesting eats. Punched up with jalapeño and nuoc cham, Scallop Ceviche (canh chua cá) was a master class in Vietnamese flavor, the citrus zing of mandarin pinging off of the warmth of peanut and a tickle of chili oil. Topped with a triangle of fried rice paper, Vietnamese Caesar (xa lát) was more traditional, the anchovy of the Californian original hiding behind fresh herbs and Parmesan. The house signature dish, Wagyu Dog (no translation), was a simple, bun-length frank topped with so many layers of umami, I lost count. (It was egg, pork floss, scallion-ginger sauce, kewpie mayo, unagi sauce, sriracha and furikake.) Delicious fun, but man, only once in a while can my stomach handle it!

Of course I had to try Gwyneth Paltrow’s delivery only concept, goop kitchen, which opened a San Francisco ghost kitchen in late 2025. The woman is known for clean ingredient everything and the menu does not compromise, cooking up salads, wraps, pizza, soups, protein bowls and more without processed sugars, seed oils, gluten, or dairy. It made for worry-free ordering but I had to recruit a friend with a San Francisco address in order to trial the dishes – nope, no delivery to Marin or the East Bay, as of this writing. Thai Crispy Rice Crunch Salad ($16.95 with one included protein) arrived with organic chicken and miso-honey vinaigrette. It was enough for a meal for two women alongside an order of Chef Kim’s Magic Mineral Broth ($8.95) and Superseed Crackers ($2.50). I would order either of these dishes again.

Though the crust recipe is a goop kitchen secret, The Winter Classic Pizza arrived with its crust crispy at first, before giving way to a nice chew. And no oil drips from the pepperoni! I especially liked the Super Secret Pizza Seasoning ($2.50) and wished for more to jazz up the pie. Wrapped in a softened collard green leaf, Teriyaki Salmon Hand Roll ($15.50) was simply flavored, the teriyaki a background note to the vibrant green flavors of the ingredients. A Maple Pecan Oatmeal Cookie ($4.95) did not blow my socks off but a Dark Chocolate & Sea Salt Brownie ($5.95) was a wow – gooey-chewy, it’s texture and deep chocolatey flavor were memorable enough to draw attention to it. I found the food hearty and wholesome with glimmers of excitement. In short: your classic takeout experience, minus the bad carbs.

North Bay/Wine Country

At Bottega, Chef Alex Espinoza manages a fine balance of traditional Chiarello-designed dishes while bringing fresh energy to the Yountville (Napa Valley) establishment. I began a recent meal there with Hamachi and blood orange (fantastic Calabrian chile and yuzu dressing), served on a chilled salt block, followed promptly by a Brussels Sprouts Salad with pecorino (loved the crushed almond dressing). Of course, there was a pasta dish – the Sofia Loren (with house made GF pasta) was zingy with just tomato water and a soft garlic contrast from black garlic. By then, I was so full, I only had a few bites of the Half Chicken with Calabrian Chile and Shisito.

A quick, late-winter dinner at Spoonbar in Healdsburg (Sonoma County) included soul-warming and satisfying Chestnut-Squash Soup made without dairy (hooray!). I chose Smoked Trout Salad for my main course. Beautifully presented, the dish offered waves of textures and flavors – the pop of ikura and gentle sweetness of flowers balanced with sumac-flecked tartness of labneh and fresh horseradish shavings.

Down a few Healdsburg blocks, I stopped into Little Saint to try their new lunch menu. (And may I lament here, for a moment, that I can count on one hand the 100% plant-based restaurants and vegetarian in the North Bay. Blerg!) Little Chicories salad was fresh and bright with citrus, creamy from a touch of ginger-miso ranch dressing. House made seitan and beets come together with the usual fixings in the Little Saint Burger, a classic. I so loved the Opera Cake with almond chiffon and espresso syrup – I wished I could take them home with me.

On the block in-between Spoonbar and Little Saint is Bistro Lagniappe, which bills itself as “French farmhouse” but which I found to be straight outta Chamonix. I can’t remember the last time I saw a Penicillin cocktail on a menu so I started there. I noticed the spiced honey but would’ve liked to notice more of the lemon and ginger. Easy drinking, nice. I very much wanted to try the rösti but, alas – dairy – so I went with the beef tartare. I loved the microplaned horseradish and used up every last bit of it, mixing it into the beef.

To keep the Mitteleuropa meal going, the sauce charcutiere brought together the flavors on a plate of Pork Tenderloin. Love me some quince (and love the person who labored to make it!) but my highlight of the pork dish was the spinach puree. It not only added a textural element that I found compelling, it added a slight bitterness to each bite of a dish that leaned sweet. The food felt fresh and different for wine country.

Interested in more restaurant coverage? Here’s the March restaurants I covered.