GAYOT's Blog

by Tiffany Maleshefski

Though Grand Café continues to be a stalwart French restaurant that’s been around since 1995, consistency hasn’t really been one of its strong points. Located inside the Hotel Monaco San Francisco, the eatery has seen an impressive roster of venerable chefs lead its kitchen, including Victor Scargle, Mauro Pando, Denis Soriano and Paul Arenstam. Despite their efforts, the restaurant has experienced a steady pattern of highs and lows.

Its newest chef, Alicia Jenish, who worked under Loretta Keller at Bizou and opened LarkCreekSteak, is the latest to throw her toque into the ring, with the stated goal of taking the Grand Café’s menu and “transforming it into something [that] is lighter, healthier, and distinctly San Franciscan.”

Now before anyone gets excited that the Grand Café can be a dieting girl’s best friend, what Jenish means is that she’s using sauces that are less rich and rustic and, therefore, lighter in texture and color.

Continue reading “San Francisco’s Grand Cafe” »

by Tiffany Maleshefski

Michael Mina moved his eponymous restaurant out of the Westin St. Francis more than a year ago and into the building that formerly housed Aqua, the very restaurant where the chef started to develop his culinary cred. The move “home” had a lot of benefits, the biggest one probably being that it gave Mina a chance to tinker with the restaurant’s formerly stuffy atmosphere. Because while the space at the St. Francis was indeed stunning, there was no getting around the fact that one felt like they needed white gloves and tails to set foot in it. No matter how hard the restaurant tried to create a less opulent environment, with fun happy hour specials and a short-lived bar menu, diners weren’t buying it.

But now Mina is deeper into the Financial District, with a hipper, more vibrant and funky space that’s meant to make the restaurant feel less “special occasion” and more “this won’t completely deplete our bank account by eating here.” The introduction of a a prix-fixe lunch menu is one more step to making the restaurant more accessible. At $49 for three courses and $59 for four, the lunch menu is a great way to try out one of the Bay Area’s most decorated restaurants for half the price — but not at half the experience.

Continue reading “Lunch at Michael Mina’s” »

by Sophie Gayot

Today, more and more restaurants are adopting a small plates concept. And actually, I like that. First because, you get to try more dishes, so you experience more tastes and flavors. But also, because, most of the time, small plates means sharing with the people around the table. Isn’t that a great way to enjoy an evening out with your dining partners?

MEZZE restaurant, located in the former space of Sona, is one good example — in case you don’t know, “mezze” means “sharing” in Arabic. Watch my exclusive video interview with chef Micah Wexler, a Los Angeles native who has trained and cooked at Melisse, Patina, L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Las Vegas, Craft in Los Angeles, and even in Spain and Italy. And read our review of the restaurant.

Continue reading “Don’t We Like Sharing?” »

by André Gayot

Installed in a former butcher shop, where not much has changed since the nineteenth century except for a few recently added scars on the wall to render it even more authentic, Bistrot Paul Bert in Paris must be one of the most bistro-ish bistros of the world and possibly one of the most emblematic. The bistrot — with a ’t’ or without — is now a part of our lifestyle and an indispensible component of a gastronomically civilized city. We are well used to its format: the zinc bar, banquettes, white marble top tables, chalkboard menu, waiters clad in black aprons, steak frites and blanquette de veau, and the house red wine.

A similar setting, and may we say philosophy of joie de vivre and conviviality, reigns in New York’s Millesime, Chicago’s Bistrot Zinc, San Francisco’s Chez Papa Bistrot and Los Angeles’ Bouchon. Traveling on the bistro trail around the world is one way to avoid feeling like a stranger far from home.

Continue reading “The Global Bistro” »

by Tiffany Maleshefski

Michael Hung’s transformation of Japantown’s venerable fusion restaurant bushi-tei is for the most part, complete. After about eight months in the kitchen, the 33-year old chef is clearly putting heavy emphasis on the restaurant’s Japanese notes. Not to say he’s abandoning the French and Californian influences that earned the restaurant and its opening chef, Seiji Wakabayashi, so many accolades. There’s still foie gras, brioche, bacon and serrano chiles on the menu. It’s just clear that Hung is doing what it takes to distinguish himself from his amazingly talented and esteemed predecessor.

It’s a smart move since he’s only the second chef to run the restaurant’s kitchen since it opened in 2005. Who wants to just live in Wakabayashi’s shadow, especially when this is your first-ever executive chef role? That leaves too much risk for side-by-side comparisons.

Continue reading “Michael Hung at bushi-tei” »

by Tiffany Apczynski

Presidio Social Club is one of those out-of-the-way restaurants in San Francisco that nobody ever minds going the extra mile or bus route to get there. It’s located in a quaint clapboard building in the city’s Presidio national park that operated as an army barrack long before it was a fine dining establishment. The interior has this 1930s clubby feel to it and its atmosphere exudes post-colonial design.

When it opened four years ago, it did so with a bit of a bang. Folks not only liked the location and vibe, but Ray Tang’s menu of upscale comfort food won diners over immediately. But Tang, who is a co-owner of the restaurant, left the kitchen two years ago, and, well, the menu started to slide.

Continue reading “Presidio Social Club: From Army Barrack to Fine Dining” »

by Tiffany Apczynski

Born in Madrid, Spain, Armando Justo has a culinary background deeply entrenched in European cuisine. So, the fact that the young chef is helming a traditional Japanese izakaya is, well, unexpected. But Justo, who cut his teeth while serving as sous-chef at Ozumo and Yoshi’s in San Francisco, boldly struck out on his own recently with Chotto, a Japanese izakaya located in the city’s Marina neighborhood. The decision so far seems to be a very good one.

What’s most impressive about Justo’s menu is its accessibility. Whether you eat Japanese food three to four times a week or a year, Chotto’s menu will keep experienced palates excited and curious, and less experienced palates open to new dishes and flavor profiles. Meanwhile, its warm, welcoming atmosphere makes it a great neighborhood restaurant to drop in for a drink and simply a few nibbles.

Continue reading “Chotto: Traditional Japanese Izakaya in San Francisco” »

by Tiffany Apczynski

In San Francisco, steakhouses are back! Once at risk of falling into obscurity, and with them, the surf and turf menu entry, modern steakhouses are now all the rage. GAYOT.com 2011 Best Restaurateur in the U.S. Michael Mina is behind the successful Bourbon Steak. Alexander’s Steakhouse offers tasting menus that can go as high as $390. 5A5 offers prime meat with a side order of weekend dance parties. These meat palaces have all breathed new life into this tried-and-true restaurant genre.

Joining its elite colleagues, Seasons, the swank restaurant situated on the fifth floor of the Four Seasons Hotel San Francisco, has gone and revamped its longtime conventional menu to that of the “modern steakhouse.” What this really means is a versatile menu from executive chef Mark Richardson that is fit for steak lovers and everyone else. But, boy, does Richardson do amazing things with steak.

Each cut can be ordered with an impressive selection of sauces. For our little slice of a heavenly Hearst Ranch filet, we chose the green peppercorn and Bourbon sauce — but soon abandoned it in order to savor every bit of our naked steak’s gorgeous crust and utter tenderness.

Continue reading “Seasons Does Steak in San Francisco” »

by Sophie Gayot

In our latest Annual Restaurant Issue, we introduced a new award category: our Top 10 Insider Picks in the U.S. For ten different cities, we recommend one restaurant where readers should go if they only have one night to pick a place for dinner.

For San Francisco, Michael Mina’s RN74 was our choice. People may argue that there are some classic fine dining establishments in SF that should be the destination for that one special night, and some of them are on our Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S. list. But people already know about those places, while I think RN74 is somewhat of a hidden gem.

Continue reading “A Perfect Brasserie-Style Restaurant” »

by Sophie Gayot

Every year we pick the best of the best when it comes to restaurants, and compile them in our Annual Restaurant Issue.

The categories include the Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S., Top 10 New Restaurants in the U.S., Top 10 Steakhouses in the U.S., and Top 40 Cheap Eats in the U.S. But there’s only one category where we pick a single winner, and that’s for the Best Restaurateur of the Year in the U.S.

For 2011, we have chosen chef Michael Mina. Read Mina’s profile to find out why we selected him, and watch my exclusive video interview with him shot during my recent visit to his new flagship restaurant Michael Mina in San Francisco.

Continue reading “GAYOT.com 2011 Best Restaurateur in the U.S.” »

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