Frances is run by Melissa Perello, formerly of Charles Nob Hill and Fifth Floor, was winner of several accolades including San Francisco Chronicle’s rising star chef in 2002. Her California Cuisine Castro district restaurant, named after her grandmother, is one presently of the hardest reservations in town. We didn’t have a reservation and went early for bar counter seating before the restaurant opened. (some seats here are pretty tiny) Frances never answered the phone when we called, but they did return our message. They use local, sustainable and organic products when possible. Read the rest of this entry »

Grand Palace Seafood Restaurant is a Cantonese Chinese restaurant in downtown South San Francisco. This restaurant opened in 2005 and is located on a street with a wide variety of different restaurants. They are best known for dim sum lunch and wedding banquets, but we were nearby at dinnertime and decided to give them a try. The restaurant is about 3 blocks from Highway 101′s Grand Avenue exit.

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Wayfare Tavern is a new restaurant from celebrity chef Tyler Florence that opened earlier in the week. It is located in Rubicon’s old Financial District location. He is also opening Rotisserie & Wine in Napa and El Paseo in Mill Valley. Michael Thiemann is the chef de cuisine by way of Merriman’s in Hawaii and the Hapuku Lodge in New Zealand. They focus on local and sustainable ingredients for their American cuisine. Read the rest of this entry »

Ame Restaurant in San Francisco’s St. Regis Hotel serves up seasonal New American cuisine, blending of flavors from southern France, northern Italy and especially Japan. No sushi here though. Hiro Sone and Lissa Doumani are also chefs and co-owners of Terra Restaurant in St. Helena. They received One Michelin Star in 2010 and have been open since 2006. Read the rest of this entry »

Ramen Dojo recently opened in San Mateo at legendary Santa Ramen’s original location, no doubt hoping to capture some of its good karma. In fact it’s owned by the same people. They focus on spicy ramen, specifically Sutamina Ramen (aka Stamina Ramen) that is served in a couple restaurants.

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5A5 Steak Lounge is a contemporary take on a Steakhouse, and is located in San Francisco’s Jackson Square area. They serve , 100% natural beef with no antibiotics or hormones. Executive Chef Allen Chen formerly cooked at Cupertino’s top rated Alexanders Steakhouse, so you see a lot of similarities here.

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Hakka Restaurant is a family run Chinese restaurant in San Francisco’s Outer Richmond District that opened in early 2010. It has garnered some foodie attention on chowhound. While they serve a wide variety of Chinese dishes, they are known for their Chinese specialties. Read the rest of this entry »

Yummy World Chinese Cuisine opened in early May 2010 on El Camino Real, San Mateo. They focus on mid range family oriented Cantonese Chinese cuisine. The restaurant is situated almost next door to long-standing Silver House. Read the rest of this entry »

Myung Dong Tofu Cabin is a Korean restaurant with two locations, San Mateo near Highway 101, and Santa Clara. We went to the San Mateo location which is in a strip mall next to a Marina supermarket. Our 2010 revisit of the restaurant occurred in April 2010.  They had dropped the weekend specials and added half orders. Read the rest of this entry »

Blue Water Cafe and Raw Bar is as they put it “City’s definitive destination for seafood”.  Our goal was to eat local food that defined Vancouver. Executive Chef Frank Pabst is known for his innovative and brilliantly executed West Coast plates, insisting on using seafood from wild and sustainable harvest. At the raw bar, cut master Yoshi Tabo has his own dedicated following for his expert sushi and sashimi. We had eaten at their sister restaurant, Araxi, in Whistler a couple days before our dinner here. Blue Water Cafe is located in the trendy Yale town district, which literally has restaurant after restaurant on each block. Read the rest of this entry »

Kirin Mandarin is a well-respected Chinese restaurant in downtown Vancouver, which is named after a mythical dragon like monster. They have five locations in the greater Vancouver area. This particular location focuses on Northern Chinese cuisine and opened in 1987. Sherman recommended we visit this restaurant. Dim Sum Lunch is covered separately. Read the rest of this entry »

Araxi Restaurant + Bar is a popular restaurant in Whistler’s village. They focus on British Columbia cuisine with lots of seafood. Executive Chef James Walt celebrates carefully sourced local ingredients including the freshest seafood. This restaurant is renowned to be the top spot in Whistler. Araxi has 3 well regarded restaurants in Vancouver. Read the rest of this entry »