Monsieur Benjamin 451 Gough St San Francisco, CA 94102 Dining date: 11/29/14 Corey Lee, best known for being ex-chef de cuisine of The French Laundry and for three-star Benu, opened Monsieur Benjamin over the summer. It’s a departure from his fine dining experience towards something more casual – a somewhat modernized French bistro. Given Lee’s pedigree,…
Nopalito 306 Broderick St San Francisco, CA 94117 Dining date: 11/30/14 Nopalito is the sister restaurant to ever-popular Nopa, located just a few blocks away (though there is a second location of Nopalito in the Inner Sunset). Whereas Nopa serves New American cuisine (that pork chop!), Nopalito serves up modernized Mexican fare. Tacos, quesadillas, ceviche…
Alta CA 1420 Market St San Francisco, CA 94102 Dining date: 11/28/14 Alta CA opened late last year, the latest from chef-restaurateur Daniel Patterson (Coi, Plum, Haven). The restaurant is one of the more notable SF openings in the past 12 months and has generally garnered praise for its Californian cuisine. My parents had dined…
Osteria Barberini Via della Purificazione 20 00187 Rome, Italy Dining date: 10/24/14 While researching for restaurants to try in Rome, we came across this place – Osteria Barberini. It had very strong reviews everywhere we looked, including being a top 50 restaurant on TripAdvisor (4.5 stars on over 1700 reviews) and holding 4.5 stars on…
The Walrus and the Carpenter 4743 Ballard Ave NW Seattle, WA 98107 Dining date: 11/6/14 I had one free evening on a quick business trip to Seattle, my first time to the city. Seattle’s got a ton of interesting restaurants and it was a difficult decision narrowing down to one. In the end, we decided…
Da Francesco Piazza del Fico 29 00186 Rome, Italy Dining date: 10/22/14 and 10/24/14 The first…and last…dinner in Rome was here at Da Francesco. While walking around the Piazza Navona area, we found this restaurant on Yelp. Located just east of the piazza, it had positive reviews and pictures with raves of a black truffle…
Barrel & Ashes 11801 Ventura Blvd Studio City, CA 91604 Dining date: 11/22/14 One of the hottest restaurants in LA right now has to be this place, Barrel & Ashes. It’s the latest from prolific restaurateur Bill Chait, teaming up this time with two Thomas Keller vets Tim Hollingsworth (The French Laundry) and Rory Herrmann…
L’Astrance 4 rue Beethoven 75016 Paris, France Dining date: 10/28/14 After lunch at l’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, our last meal in Paris was dinner here at l’Astrance. A Michelin three star and currently #38 on the world’s best restaurant list, it was our toughest reservation too as the popular restaurant has 25 tables and is open only…