Luce InterContinental Hotel 888 Howard St San Francisco, CA 94103 One of the chefs I was most highly anticipating at Test Kitchen was Dominique Crenn. Unfortunately, her sole Dec. 5th appearance conflicted with the finale of LudoBites 6.0, which is where I ended up dining. However, I stumbled upon a happy coincidence – BlackboardEats had…
Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge Orange County Performing Arts Center 615 Town Center Dr Costa Mesa, CA 92626 I tend to think of Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge as a sort of “Patina of Orange County.” The Patina Restaurant Group runs the gamut between fast casual and fine dining, and both Leatherby’s and Patina represent the latter. Plus, they…
Wayfare Tavern 558 Sacramento St San Francisco, CA 94111 Wayfare Tavern is Food Network star Tyler Florence’s first restaurant – opened in June. Florence has been on Food Network for a while, and the only restaurant I remember him being associated with is Applebee’s. Honestly, that didn’t inspire too much confidence. I do enjoy the…
Frances 3870 17th St San Francisco, CA 94114 While just under a year old, Frances has already received so much attention and critical acclaim that it can’t be ignored. Bon Appetit, Esquire and Forbes have all named it one of the best new restaurants in America in 2010, while the James Beard foundation named it…
Prospect Infinity Towers 300 Spear St San Francisco, CA 94105 Prospect is the latest restaurant opening by the team behind Boulevard, which has been a fixture in the SF dining scene for over a decade. One of the highly anticipated openings this year in the city, it features a contemporary American menu with an emphasis…
Hatfield’s 6703 Melrose Ave Los Angeles, CA 90038 Hatfield’s was one of the longest tenured restaurants on my mental list of restaurants to go to in 2010. Others with an extended stay on that list were The Dining Room at the Langham, Animal, and Petrossian – all of which I had an opportunity to try…
Moreton Fig Ronald Tutor Campus Center at USC 3607 Trousdale Parkway Los Angeles, CA 90089 When I first heard that Bradley Ogden’s restaurant group, Lark Creek, would be opening up a restaurant on the USC campus, I did a double-take. It seemed a little random that Lark Creek, based in the SF Bay Area, would…
JiRaffe 502 Santa Monica Blvd Santa Monica, CA 90401 I’d been hearing a lot about JiRaffe over the past few years, so it was about time I dropped by to try it out. Helmed by chef Raphael Lunetta, the restaurant has been around for almost 15 years, consistently garnering very positive reviews. DineLA was still…