Sailing Goat, the latest – and very cheeky – venture from Arnon Oren of Anaviv’s Table fame, landed at Point San Pablo, on the northernmost tip of Richmond, on April 22. The come-as-you-are, only open on weekends (Friday through Sunday) restaurant serves up a menu of seafood-forward shareables like bacalhau (cod fritters) and calamari, a shrimp salad roll and Brazilian moqueca seafood stew with clams and fish of the day sourced from the boats tied up in front of the joint at Point San Pablo Harbor. There are salads and sweets and even a clam pie (translation: pizza with clams and just enough garlic and cream to make you swoon). It’s one of the few clam pies this East Coast girl has ever seen out West and it’s pulled straight from the outdoor hearth.
Not coincidentally timed for the start of AAPI awareness month, Dokkaebier, an Oakland-based craft brewery named for shape-shifting creatures common in Korean folklore (dokkaebi), celebrated its grand reopening on May 1 after acquiring Federation Brewery and its taproom. Helmed by CEO and Chief Dokkaebi Youbgwon Lee, the brewery was awarded platinum for its Yuza Blonde and Kimchi Sour at the 2022 Brewski Awards and took home beer of the year for its Milk Stout. Federation’s best-known beers, such as In the Weeds IPA and a red rye Utopia Panitia, will still be brewed and a partnership with Hella Coastal, Oakland’s only black-owned brewery, remains in place.
Executive Chef Philip Tessier is known in the culinary world for his back-to-back wins at the global world chef competition, Bocuse d’Or – he took silver as a contestant in 2015, the first podium placement ever by an American team, and gold as a team coach in 2017. He brings that same intensity and passion for the craft of cooking to Press in Napa Valley’s St. Helena. Like his own culinary journey, Tessier recently launched a four-course tasting menu, the better to fully experience the flavors of Napa, my dear. With Tessier as your guide, design your own adventure with choices curated for each course. That may include citrus-cured yellowtail belly as a first, chef’s signature ricotta gnudi with black truffle essence as a second, and a heartier entrée such as a 30-day New York strip steak with parmesan custard. Dessert can (and should) be cheese but there are sweet things, as needs must.
New In Town
I also write the New In Town column for Marin Magazine, which includes restaurants and more. To keep up with what’s going on in Marin, please head over there.
