Michelin San Francisco Critique

French Laundry

Best Buffets in the World


Wakuriya Restaurant Review, San Mateo

Wakuriya San Mateo Exterior Decor

Wakuriya is a Michelin Starred Restaurant in a San Mateo strip mall. They’ve been around for several years and have established themselves as one of the finest Japanese restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. The owner and chef Katsuhiro Yamasaki used to work at Kaygetsu (a now closed Japanese Fine dining restaurant). His wife also helps to run this tiny restaurant. You need to book roughly one month in advance as this restaurant only has 4 tables and a small counter.

Continue Reading

25 Lusk – Twenty Five Lusk Restaurant Review, San Francisco

25 Lusk Twenty Five Lusk San Francisco exterior decor

Twenty Five Lusk – 25 Lusk is a long-awaited and hot restaurant from an All-Star team that opened in the middle of October, 2010. Tucked away in an alley, this place will draw much walk-in traffic! They serve “sophisticated, contemporary, approachable fine dining specializing in neoclassical-influenced cuisine”, which probably means locally inspired California cuisine. Our last visit was in 2012.

Continue Reading

A16 Restaurant Review, San Francisco

A16 San Francisco Exterior Decor

Opened in 2004, A16 has since been present on many top Italian restaurant lists. It is a very popular restaurant in the Marina district, with prime time reservations needing to be booked a week or two in advance. This restaurant is serious about wine and pairing. Our last visit was in the summer of 2012.

Continue Reading

All Spice Restaurant Review, San Mateo

All Spice San Mateo exterior decor

Why did we dine here? – All Spice is one of the highest rated restaurants on Yelp (4.5 stars) within the San Francisco Peninsula. We’ve heard good things about this restaurant. A recent review on Check Please reminded us. Their unlucky but cozy mini Victorian location just off El Camino Real has housed The Dining Room, Dolly Marie, among others. This restaurant focuses on seasonal food along with the traditions of Indian cuisine.

Continue Reading

Redd Wood Restaurant Review, Yountville

Redd Wood Yountville exterior decor

Why did we dine here? – Redd Wood is the sister restaurant to Michelin-starred Redd in foodie heaven, Yountville. We love Redd, so we were just waiting for our next visit to this area for an opportunity to dine here. Redd is one of those top notch places that falls below the radar of many folks. This restaurant is located in the northern part of Yountville, not far from the French Laundry.

Continue Reading

Press Restaurant Review, St. Helena

Press St Helena exterior decor

Why did we dine here? – Press is a Steak House in St. Helena that has received positive press from Michael Bauer. We were nearby and decided to give this beautiful restaurant a visit for dinner. A surprising mainstream change from the California cuisine that we normally have, at a place like Terra..! This restaurant is situated next door to foodie heaven, Dean and DeLuca.
Make sure visit them before coming here for dinner.

Continue Reading

Orenchi Restaurant Review, Santa Clara

Orenchi Santa Clara Exterior Decor

Why did we dine here? – Orenchi is a very popular Japanese Noodle House that has been on our hit list for a while. They are a sister restuarant to Sumika in Los Gatos. The broth that they use is cooked for a minimum of 18 hours. It is made with organic chicken, Canadian black pork, and filtered water. There is a line much of the time. We had to wait approximately 45 minutes for a Saturday night dinner. They close up when they run out of broth, which happened about 8:30pm on this particular evening.

Continue Reading

Soowon Galbi Restaurant Review, Los Angeles

Soowon Galbi LA Exterior decor

Why did we dine here? – Soowon Galbi is a popular Korean restaurant in LA and one of the highest rated on Yelp at 4.5 stars. It is located right in the heart of Korea town, in a nondescript strip mall. LA is renown for some of the best Korean food in the US, so we had to give this restaurant a visit. We had previously dined at Genwa Korean in Los Angeles and wanted to see how this place compared.

Continue Reading

Providence LA Restaurant Review, Los Angeles

Providence LA Exterior Decor

Why did we dine here? – Providence is a seafood restaurant run by chef, Michael Cimarusti. It has been top rated and focuses on seafood in its purest and simplest form. Located in Patina’s formerly digs, this restaurant was our fine dining destination on our recent trip to LA.
The modern decor features an ocean theme with barnacles and fins hugging the walls. 2 Michelin Stars in 2009.

Continue Reading

Gioia Pizzeria Review, Berkeley and San Francisco

Gioia Pizzeria Berkeley Exterior

Gioia is a top rated Pizza place in North Berkeley.  It has been there since 2004. As they put it: “Gioia Pizzeria takes the best of pizza traditions from the old world and the new. Classic flavors and ingredients such as artisanally made sausage, fresh mozzarella cheese and arugula come together in inspired traditional ways, seasoned with the influence of Bay Area kitchens such as Zuni Café, Chez Panisse and Oliveto” Gioia is a small hole in the wall with minimal counter seating. The place specializes in thin crust pizza and is known for local, organic ingredients. It was rated as a top pizza place by Michael Bauer. Our last visit was in late 2011 and we noticed prices had gone up. Their San Francisco location opened in 2012, we dined here in May 2012. It is located right next door to burger heaven, Polkers.

Continue Reading

Genwa Korean BBQ Restaurant Review, Los Angeles

Genwa Korean BBQ LA Exterior Decor

Why did we dine here? – Genwa Korean BBQ is a popular Korean restaurant in LA’s Mid-Wilshire District and one of the highest rated on Yelp at 4.5 stars. It is located in a new housing complex, not far from Koreatown. LA renown for some of the best Korean food in the US, so we had to give this restaurant a visit. They were remodeling next door when we dined in 2012.

Continue Reading

Koi Palace Dublin Restaurant Review

Koi Palace Dublin Restaurant Review

Why did we dine here? – Koi Garden also known as Koi Palace at Dublin is the East Bay outpost for Koi Palace, arguably the best Chinese restaurant in the San Francisco Bay Area. We were in the area and had to give this Chinese restaurant a try. This restaurant is located in an Asian-focused strip mall. They also run Just Koi downstairs, a casual Chinese noodle restaurant.

Continue Reading

Newport Tan Cang Restaurant Review, San Gabriel

Newport Tan Cang San Gabriel exterior decor

Why did we dine here? – Newport Tan Cang is a Vietnamese-Chinese restaurant located in San Gabriel. This restaurant is highly rated on Yelp and is listed on the top Chinese restaurant of the USA list. We were recently in southern California and wanted to try some of the better restaurants and had this place on our short list.

Continue Reading

Bar Tartine Restaurant Review, San Francisco

Bar Tartine San Francisco exterior decor

Why did we dine here? – Bar Tartine has been on our hit list ever since Mr. Bauer extolled the virtues of this restaurant a couple weeks back. We are big fans of the sister location, Tartine Bakery. There haven’t been many new Hungarian, Eastern European restaurants lately, so this was a refreshing change of pace from another California cuisine restaurant. Chef Nicolaus Balla took over in January 2011 and has moved Bar Tartine forward. The restaurant is loud and interior decor rough, but the food is exciting.

Continue Reading

Aziza Restaurant Review, San Francisco

Aziza San Francisco exterior decor

Aziza is a former one Michelin star restaurant in San Francisco’s sleepy Richmond district run by executive chef Mourad Lahlou. They focus on organic, local, and sustainable ingredients. His modern reinventions of traditional Moroccan dishes has garnered him much acclaim.  We first dined here in 2012 and have been to his now closed restaurant Mourad.

Continue Reading

Michael Bauer’s 2012 Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants

Atelier Crenn San Francisco Razer Clam

Michael Bauer’s 2012 Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants has been published. The annual list from the Foodie god, concentrates on fine dining restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. We notice that they’re a lot more restaurants in the North Bay and very few restaurants on the San Francisco Peninsula, very few Ethnic places such as Asian and Indian restaurants. For the most part, we would agree with him. Be sure to read our Foodnut Best Restaurant List

Continue Reading

Atelier Crenn Restaurant Review, San Francisco

Atelier Crenn San Francisco Exterior Decor

Atelier Crenn is a one Michelin star French restaurant from Dominique Crenn (Formerly of Luce) located in San Francisco’s Marina District. (Atelier means workshop in French.) As she puts it, “An expression of taste, scent, and vision.”  Seasonal and sustainable cuisine. We have been debating whether to dine here for a while. Our worries were whether this place was more style or substance. Some of the pictures of the dishes here looked too beautiful to eat!

Continue Reading

Shenzhen Citizen Center Restaurant Review, Shenzhen, China – 深圳市民中心礼堂

Shenzhen Citizen Center Restaurant Shenzhen China Interior Decor

Shenzhen Citizen Center Restaurant is a restaurant located underneath the ultra modern Shenzhen Citizen Center. This restaurant caters to Government officials and may not be open to the public. We were lucky enough to be invited by a friend and dined in a private VIP room. The food here was extra-ordinary when compared to Chinese food back in the San Francisco Bay Area. The service was very good as a waitress was assigned to our private room. Be sure to check out our review of Fu Gow in Shenzhen.

Continue Reading

Shanghai Restaurant Review, Cupertino

Shanghai Restaurant Cupertino exterior decor

Shanghai Restaurant is a Shanghainese Chinese Restaurant in the Cupertino village shopping center, replacing the popular HC Dumpling restaurant. They have the usual Chinese dishes along with a fair amount of Traditional Shanghai dishes not served in most restaurants. Our last visit was December 2012.

Continue Reading

Gialina Pizzeria San Francisco Restaurant Review

Gialina San Francisco Exterior Decor

Gialina Pizzeria is a small pizzeria named after the chef-owner’s grandmother. It is opened in January 2007 and is located in San Francisco’s Glen Park neighborhood right near BART. Chef Sharon Ardiana has help positions at well respected places including Lime, Dine, Garibaldis, Slow Club, and Boulevard. Her next restaurant, Ragazza in the Metro Kathmandu space on Divisadero, is their sister restaurant.

Continue Reading

Buck’s Restaurant Woodside Restaurant Review, Woodside

Bucks Woodside Exterior

Buck’s is a quirky restaurant nestled in the small town of Woodside. The interior is full of off the wall models, toys, posters, and more. Even the front of the seasonal menu has a lecture on different topics. Their website is pretty crazy. Our last visit was in 2014. They have a separate lunch special menu that changes from time to time. They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We came for lunch.

Continue Reading

Nanling Restaurant, Shanghai, China – 南伶酒家

Nanling Restaurant in the French Concession is a restaurant in Shanghai, China serving Huaiyang cuisine, famous for its carving techniques using specialty knives. Nanling also serves Yangzhou specialties, including lots of fresh seafood dishes and the signature dish, roast duck. Interesting Asian art hugs the walls. Our excellent US$50 meal could feed six people or more. After dinner, hit one of the many bars down the block.

Subway: Hengshan Road Station

Continue Reading

La Costanera Restaurant Review, Montara

La Costanera Montara exterior decor

Why did we dine here? – La Costanera received One Michelin Star for 2012, raising the restaurant’s profile and putting it on our hit list. They focus on Peruvian cuisine and are located above the beach in Montara in a nice multi level building that housed The Chart House.

Continue Reading

é by José Andrés Restaurant Review, Las Vegas

e by Jose Andres Las Vegas Interior Decor

Wow, one of the top molecular gastronomy restaurants in the USA… é by José Andrés is a mysterious restaurant in the Cosmopolitan Hotel, Las Vegas that doesn’t even have a phone number. They take reservations by email ([email protected]) 30 days in advance for one of the 8 spots of counter seating. Seating are at 5:30PM and 8:30PM, meals typically last 2 hours. After you make a successful reservation they will send you a Golden Ticket in the mail.

Continue Reading

Manzanita Lake Tahoe Restaurant Review, Lake Tahoe

Manzanita Lake Tahoe Exterior

Manzanita Lake Tahoe is the new restaurant by Traci Des Jardins in the posh Ritz Carlton Highlands at Northstar Lake Tahoe. It opened in Decemeber 2009. Rooms here start at $350 a night. She is best known for Jardinière and Mijita Cocina Mexicana in San Francisco. Manzanita serves French inspired California cuisine with a focus on organic, sustainable, seasonal ingredients. Free valet parking for dinner guests. Our last visit was in early 2012 where we found prices had increased significantly.

Continue Reading

Poggio Restaurant Review, Sausalito

Poggio Restaurant Sausalito Exterior Decor

Poggio is an Italian trattoria Restaurant situated in the Casa Madrona Hotel, right on the main touristy street of Sausalito. They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They focus on Northern Italian cuisine using local ingredients, sustainable products, and property-grown organic herbs and vegetables. The founder Larry Mindel has a long history with restaurants including Ciao, Prego, and Il Fornaio. Peter McNee is the executive chef. Our last visit was at the beginning of 2012.

Continue Reading

Parallel 37 Restaurant Review, San Francisco

Parallel 37 San Francisco exterior decor

Why did we dine here? – Parallel 37 is the new restaurant from Chef Ron Siegel in the Ritz Carlton San Francisco. This restaurant replaces the fine dining establishment known as the “Dining Room”. This new more casual eatery should attract a more mainstream audience.
We were fans of the chef and came for a visit shortly after they opened. Parallel 37 focuses on contemporary American cuisine utilizing the freshest, local ingredients available.
Parallel 37 is a hotel restaurant, so you’ll see families in addition to the regular fine-dining crowd.

Continue Reading

By using our site you agree to our: Privacy Policy, Terms of Use.

Subscribe to the Free Foodnut Newsletter