Thoughtful Gourmet Blog

At Alora and other San Francisco restaurant newcomers like Dalida and Movida, Persian flavors are edging in alongside Mexican and dining rooms are becoming less lounge-y.

Steak is my family’s ideal Valentine’s Day meal. It’s the perfect meal for parents of young children or anyone, really. This year, we are spicing it up with gochujang.

Once again an iconic cocktail bar, Starlite returns atop Beacon Grand Hotel in San Francisco’s Union Square.

The subtitle says it all: 100 low-prep, no-mess recipes for your skillet, sheet pan, pressure cooker and more! Even with a broken oven, these recipes were easy enough that I could make most of them work.

In California and beyond, vintners and distillers are staring straight at a tough reality: glass bottles, for wine, spirits and other products, are responsible for more than 30% of a beverage’s carbon footprint. Add in packaging transit and transport for finished goods, and the percentage nudges over 50. In their search for solutions, wine and spirits innovators are embracing new packaging technologies: aluminum, paper and plastic bottles that negate the significant harmful environmental impacts of glass, without sacrificing taste.

I eat out a lot. These are the 13 dishes that made the cut to land on my Best Bites list of 2024.

Pop a cork on a delightful sparkling wine – Champagne, Prosecco, Franciacorta and American sparkling wines all hit my list – before the year runs out.

Farmhouse Inn’s two restaurants – fine dining Farmhouse and casual Farmstead – are a reminder that local is delicious and exceptional.