Where’s the best place to take a first date? From the romantically-lit and intimate to the no-pressure fun and casual spots, we’ve rounded up the best places in three counties to dine with someone you’re just getting to know. Read on…

1) La Ciccia, San Francisco (Noe Valley)
Not since A16 has an Italian restaurant, focused on a single region, captured the hearts of so many diners. Cozy and intimate, this Noe Valley eatery is where to go when you want to up the romance ante.

Focusing entirely on his native cuisine from Sardegna, chef Massimiliano Conti sticks to his roots with a rustic, seafood-focused menu and an impressive wine list that showcases the region’s interesting offerings like Cannonau and Vermentino. The octopus stew is a staple for many diners.

2) State Bird Provisions, San Francisco (Lower Fillmore)
If your date is into the Bay Area food scene go to State Bird Provisions, one of the coolest new spots where you are likely to see San Francisco chefs dining. What started off as a way for chefs Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski, formerly of Rubicon, to deep-fry quail (California’s state bird) has developed into one of San Francisco’s most innovative menus. Some dishes are served Dim Sum style, others can be ordered, everything arrives at the whim of the kitchen, and it’s all delicious.

3) The Ferry Building, San Francisco (Embarcadero)
It seems nearly impossible to have a boring date at a marketplace that offers so much. Try Hog Island Oyster Company for a super social happy hour Monday through Thursday, or meet up on a Saturday morning for celebrity-chef-spotting at the farmers’ market. Grab a meat cone or a satisfying sandwich from Boccalone or a loaf of bread from Acme and a wheel of Red Hawk from Cowgirl Creamery to make your own, then head to the dock to watch the boats pass by.

4) Brazen Head, San Francisco (Marina)
One of San Francisco’s best late-night restaurants has flown under the radar since it opened in 1980. Belly up to the bar for a classic gin martini from a charming curmudgeon of a bartender and enjoy it with a plate of oysters and a spot-on French onion gratinee soup. A petite filet, some shrimp scampi, and the flattering dim light of the tiny dining room add up to romance galore. The best part? They serve dinner until 1am.

5) Bar Bocce, Sausalito
The newest addition to Sausalito’s tourist-friendly and locally-beloved food and wine scene is an idyllic spot for a first date. Watch the sun set over the harbor from any of the outdoor couches or tables surrounding the fire pit, or ignore the natural beauty in favor of athletics as you toss a bocce ball forward and a glass of wine back. Though the food is secondary to the setting and the innovative wine-cocktail list, Bar Bocce is absolutely worth a visit for a first date–even if it’s just with a friend.

6) Sorella Caffe, Fairfax
Classically Fairfaxian-casual, Sorella Caffe has a skilled, low-key staff and solid Italian food with flair. Special touches like a live piano player, a round windowed dining room and a fireplace that makes diners feel as though they’re enjoying their gorgonzola ravioli in a toasty, warm yurt. Sorella is a comfortable spot to get to know someone while enjoying a little whimsy– a giant communal wheel of Parmesan cheese arrives as the menus do and diners are presented with a bowlful of gummy bears to dig through while perusing the dessert menu.

7) Picco, Larkspur
Let’s face it–you can’t go wrong taking a date to ANY of Bruce Hill’s restaurants. Bix, Zero Zero, and Pizzeria Picco are all excellent establishments on their own merits, but there’s something about Picco that is so cozy and inviting that it’s hard to imagine any first date that takes place here not being a success. After a dinner of Hill’s made-to-order risotto of the day, paired with one of the restaurant’s signature cocktails, take a stroll through downtown Larkspur to enjoy the fresh Marin air.

8) Underwood, Graton
Sure, it’s a drive from just about anywhere in Sonoma, Marin, or San Francisco Counties–unless you happen to be one of the 1900 people who live in Graton–but the Underwood Bar and Bistro is worth a trek of any distance to eat chef Matthew Greenbaum’s food while sitting quietly amongst the wine country movers-and-shakers who come to their hometown restaurant for a little slice of sophistication. Sharing several small plates of tapas and some innovative cocktails like a French Martini is a great way to break the ice. And hey, if the date goes REALLY well, you can breakfast at Greenbaum’s Willow Wood across the street…the next morning.

9) Scopa, Healdsburg
In a town where antiques and San Francisco Marina-district overflow comprise more of the population during the summertime than native Healdsburgers do, Scopa is a bastion of good, homey food with a hip atmosphere that caters to tourists and locals alike. Scopa is right on the town’s central square, and a stroll around the grassy park and a little window-shopping while you wait for your table sets the tone for a casual yet intimate evening. Don’t miss Nonna’s chicken, a recipe handed down from NorCal local chef Ari Rosen’s grandmother. A perfect mix of local and carefully-selected Italian wines are de rigeur.

10) Diavola, Geyserville
The more casual “little brother” of the former Santi (R.I.P.), Geyserville’s Diavola focuses on turning basic local ingredients into the most delicious pizza, pasta, and housemade salumi and sausages. In addition to a ‘dine-at-the table’ date, Diavola offers a plethora of options for a picnic date. Grab some homemade pickles and pate from the take-out case, and enjoy your meal outdoors with a bottle of local wine at any of the dozens of wineries within a 10-mile radius.

Matt Coelho and Jim Woods have opened Cervecería de MateVeza on the corner of 18th and Church. The little beer shop is as authentically Argentinean as anything I’ve experienced since moving away from Buenos Aires at the end of 2008.

Tucked away behind Dolores Park.

In addition to bottled beers and beers on tap, Cervecería de MateVeza serves empanadas, small savory pastry pockets similar to Italian calzones. The empanadas are made by the Argentine-run company El Porteño, and are muy auténticas. Cervecería de MateVeza serves savory and sweet empanadas that pair well with the beers.

An empanada and draught beers.

Sweet empanadas and alfajores.

The three MateVeza beers on tap are:

1) IPA. Floral, Citrusy, not bitter or hoppy-tasting like a traditional IPA. It’s lighter-bodied than I’d expected and absolutely delicious. Recommended pairing: Fuggazzetta empanada, with aged cheddar cheese, organic onions, and oregano.

2) Morpho Herbal Ale. “This is the most unique thing we do,” explains Woods of the collaboration beer he created with the brewmeister of Mill Valley Beerworks. “In beer, the sweetness of malt is usually balanced by the bitterness of hops, but in this case we decided to use bay leaves and mate for the bitter component,” says Woods. “After the first batch, it was still lacking in something, so we added hibiscus to give it a little tartness, with the ascorbic acid–Vitamin C naturally found in hibiscus flowers.” The hibiscus also gives the brew a pretty, light ruby color. The essence of the bay leaves is one of the dominant flavors, and this beer would be great for the adventurous drinker. Luckily, the “beertenders” will pour a small flight gratis for any customer unsure of what they’d like to order. Recommended pairing: Pollo empanada, with Fulton Valley chicken, chicken chorizo, raisins, and olives.

3) My unabashed favorite of the three beers Cervecería de MateVeza has on tap was the Black Lager. It’s a dark, black beer, with ingredients similar to a porter or a stout, but it’s light bodied because it’s brewed with yeast normally reserved for lagers, making the taste crisp and easily drinkable, and belying the rich, dark color of the beer and its foam. Recommended pairing: Champiñones empanada, which contains fresh, seasonal, local, organic mushrooms by Far West Fungi, shallots, Parmesan cheese, and crème fraîche.

The draught beers also come in bottles.

Woods enjoying a yerba mate.

In addition to a changing selection of the MateVeza beers that are brewed at the Mendocino Brewing Company on tap, there is a carefully curated selection of bottled beers from Europe and the US, which ranges from the hard-to-find like “Rigor Mortis” to more “sessionable” beers, which is brewmaster speak for beers with lighter body and less alcohol that can be drunk with…less moderation. Think Scrimshaw.

“We will typically have three MateVeza beers on tap, two beers brewed in house on our 20-gallon system which will change weekly, and two or three rotating guest beers,” says Woods.

Regarding the brewing process, Woods says, “I provide the recipe, the ingredients, and the packaging materials. We also have a very detailed process for each beer. I go up on most brew days. The system is pretty much automated and Mendocino’s brewers are overseeing the whole process.”

What Woods and Coelho are doing are ultimately trying to raise awareness for their own brand, MateVeza, but “I don’t drink it all day,” says Woods. “I drink it only every other beer,” he laughs. The slim Woods, who says he drinks about 4-5 beers a day on average (and Coelho admits to 2 or 3 beers daily), says “I’ve lost a lot of weight since we started. Hauling all of this beer around and being on our feet all day keeps us fit!”

“I started my morning with Bikram yoga,” says Coelho.

“And we’re like those monks, the ones that substituted beer for their bread. I eat smaller meals now because a lot of my carbs come from beer.”

Inside the cozy space, a “curiosity cabinet,” made of four salvaged windows, houses an extensive selection of mate gourds. Woods says that should a customer care to partake of yerba mate, the service costs $5. The “draft board,” or the list of beers available, is made from a vintage card game, Parker Brother’s “Probe,” which the duo describe as an odd, “Scrabble-like” game from the 1960′s. “I scored five sets on eBay,” says Woods proudly.

On the wall above a custom-made wrought-iron chandelier hang not one, but two giant velvet portraits of Elvis Presley. “When my girlfriend and I started dating three years ago,” says Woods, “we discovered straightaway that we both owned a ‘Velvis’.” Clearly, some pairings: like velvet and Elvis, and yerba mate and beer–were meant to be.

The rules are pretty simple at Cervecería.

Cervecería de MateVeza
Address: Map
3801 18th Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
Phone: (415) 273-9295
Hours: Tue-Sat: 12:00 pm-10:00 pm; Sun: 12:00 pm-6:00 pm
Facebook: Cervecería de MateVeza

The former Martini House in Napa’s St. Helena is gradually being restored to its old glory. Restaurateur Andrew Florsheim, formerly of the Levy Restaurant Group in Chicago, has been a resident of the Napa Valley since 2008 and took over the space from Pat Kuleto.

Martini House’s opening chef de cuisine Kelly McCown returns as Executive Chef and partner after spending two and a half years as Executive Chef at Sacramento’s noted Ella Dining Room and Bar.

We traipsed up to Napa on Friday night for the media preview at Goose & Gander and got a glimpse of what the menu will be like. Though some things about the old Martini House have remained the same–like the awesome downstairs bar, thank goodness–the menu has taken a different and entirely less fussy direction under Chef McCown’s expert tutelage.

Cooks line up meatballs in the Goose & Gander kitchen.

The down-to-earth chef has built solid relationships with local farmers and artisans, thanks to more than two decades of experience in some of California’s most prominent kitchens, and his menu is simple and ingredient-driven. Though the food appears simple, don’t be fooled: fancier items reminiscent of McCown’s five years as Executive Chef at Rubicon, like a sous-vide pork chop or an escargot appetizer, humbly deep-fried in panko bread crumbs and served with melted anchovy butter for dipping, do make the occasional appearance.

McCown sported a walking cast due to a broken foot and hopped crazily up and down the line on Friday as he supervised his crew. He brought dishes to the tables where journalists dined family-style, and spoke about the concepts behind his food. “In Japan, they enjoy softer foods; a gelatin component is important there, ” he said. “I’ve noticed that Americans like crunchy things in everything they eat.”

And the crunchy component was certainly present in each of the dishes we tried. Along with the aforementioned escargot, which was skewered with deep-fried castelvetrano olives, appetizers included a finger-friendly version of hot wings: duck and chicken meats, boneless, with deep-fried pickle chips on the side and a Green Goddess sauce for dipping.

The crispy element manifested as crackly skin on mild Scottish salmon served with freshly shelled spring peas as a main course.

“It’s my interpretation of my Irish mum’s salmon with mushy peas,” said McCown about the perfectly cooked fish, which melted in my mouth as the skin offset the rest of the dish’s soft textures. Another standout entree was a grilled beef coulotte, served with a spicy cilantro salsa verde and panko-breaded onion rings that were fried in duck fat. The richness of the onion rings were nicely complemented by the tender, yet lean beef, and the bright green flavor of cilantro worked surprisingly well to balance what could have easily become a heavy steak dinner.

Scallops with pancetta and fried green tomatoes.

In another entree, scallops were given pub-grub styling–McCown describes his menu as “rustic American pub food.” The large Maine scallops were served over fried green tomatoes with a shaving of thick, curled pancetta. A creamy jalapeno-cilantro sauce finished the dish, and the tanginess and richness of the plate called out for one of the restaurant’s signature cocktails.

A refreshing Collins at the bar.

Ahhhh, the cocktails. The legendary Scott Beattie, of Cyrus fame, has worked his magic once again for a new restaurant opening by designing the bar program at Goose & Gander. Beattie, whose recent consulting projects have included designing the cocktail programs for Hog & Rocks and Healdsburg’s Spoonbar, has created a list that is both innovative and familiar. Beattie is also familiar with the layout of the land, so to speak–he tended bar at the Martini House way back in 2001. Drinks like the “Bali Spice Old Fashioned,” featuring St. George bourbon, orange, cinnamon, clove, and star anise, are so good that you won’t want to put them down to have wine with dinner. Goose & Gander is the first restaurant in St. Helena to serve whiskey drinks with “proper” ice–large, hand-carved globes in the Japanese style that nearly fill the entire glass, ensuring that the quality liquor does not get too watered-down. The “Cucumber Collins,” with Square One cucumber Vodka, lemon, yuzu, huckleberries, and both fresh and pickled cucumbers is also a winner.

The wines, mostly a local selection of smaller names, are nothing to sneeze at–a second-label DuMol Chardonnay stood out, although it was somewhat interestingly paired with meatballs–but they take the backseat to the cocktail program.

The redesigned building is as comfortable and unpretentious as the food. The outdoor garden area is slated to open in late spring, but the downstairs bar is convivial and the upstairs dining room is welcoming and feels more open than the former decor. Red-leather seating booths and reclaimed redwood tables add to the “duck club” vibe, iron fowl knicknackery adorn the restaurant–but not to excess. Interestingly, Goose & Gander is as of now the only place to serve Panevino’s David Katz’s crazy-good salumi offerings.

Morsels like duck prosciutto, lamb chorizo, and Provençal salumi dusted with fennel pollen rocked my socks off. Katz’s salumi will be available soon for retail purchase, but you can only get it at Goose & Gander for right now. Fans of the old Martini House will not be disappointed with the direction the property has taken, and lovers of nouvelle cuisine will find Goose & Gander a worthwhile destination to dine at in its early days.

Diners enjoy a board of David Katz’s salumi.

Goose & Gander, 1245 Spring St. at Oak St., St. Helena, 707-967-8779
Facebook: Goose & Gander
Twitter: @goosegandernapa

“Black trumpets, hedgehogs, chanterelles,” Rabins recalls. “Chris Cosentino was one of the first guys to buy from me. He seemed pretty into it.”

Foraged mushrooms ready for sale.

Rabins, who would “cold call chefs and show up at the back door with a flat of mushrooms,” counted Chez Panisse, Pizzaiolo, and Emmy’s Spaghetti Shack among his regular clients.

But mushroom season is short in California, and Rabins had a knack for foraging.

“I realized that for rest of the year, you can forage too!” he says. Wild greens, acorns, and seaweed made it onto his short list of items to gather in the woods.

“I grew up in Vermont but I wasn’t really a woods guy,” says Rabins. “It’s cool when I go back now to visit my mom, I see so much more than I saw before. There are ramps everywhere!”

“Foraging gives you a real awareness of your surroundings. You notice things you’d never seen before.”

Rabins started a “CSF” (Community Supported Forage) box program, similar to a CSA box you’d get from a farm.

“I wanted to sell at the farmer’s markets but people get freaked out by wild mushrooms,” he said. So then, he started the underground market. The event, which ran for eighteen months, was a space for people who are making food at home to be able to sell it. Morphing from a private house in the Mission, to which 150 people showed up to a 2,500 person private club held at Public Works, the underground market was eventually shut down by the Health Department.

Hungry patrons wait outside the Underground Market in 2010.

Three years ago, Rabins started the Wild Kitchen, a series of wild foraged underground dinners. Each of the eight courses focuses on a couple of wild ingredients that Rabins collects; he cooks with co-chef Thomas Martinez, formerly of Mission Beach Cafe and Bar Tartine.

The focus for Rabins and the rest of the forageSF crew now, is shifting toward an “incubator kitchen,” a concept Rabins is developing based off of the model of Tech Shop. For around $100 monthly, members can use industrial design equipment and receive help with their projects.

“Commercial kitchens aren’t welcoming to non-professionals,” Rabins explains. “We all have these little apartment kitchens, which are not cohesive to cooking large amounts of food.”

Forage Kitchen is intended to be a “hub for food.” The shared-use commercial kitchen will have office space and offer consulting to people who are starting their own food businesses.

“When you’re starting your own food business there is so much bureaucracy and red tape,” says Rabins. “There is so much hassle and you’re generally trying to do it all on your own, so it’s really disheartening.”

Forage Kitchen will be a space for people to work alongside each other. “People talk a lot about the food community in SF, but more realistically it’s a lot of people doing the same stuff on their own in the same city,” Rabins says. A lot of small-business food entrepreneurs, Rabins says, know each other but don’t meet up. Being around others who “are going through the same stuff, and learning the same stuff” will be beneficial to both the small businesspeople and to the larger SF food community as a whole. Beyond Forage Kitchen being for small businesses, though, Rabins sees it as a welcoming space for individuals.

Though Forage Kitchen is still several months away from opening, Rabins is just starting to fundraise now. He hasn’t begun applying for any licenses yet but there is a space the foragers are eyeballing. “Think 10,000 square feet in SOMA, with space for a rooftop garden and a temperature-controlled room to hang meats and cure prosciutto,” Rabins says.

Diners will eventually enjoy the fruits of local labor at the Forage Kitchen.

Another dream is to have a “home brew room,” where novice brewmeisters can produce beer, and a café in front that will sell the wares made on site. When will this utopian place open? “Hopefully within a year,” Rabins says. “It’s amazing how difficult the city makes these things,” he sighs.

Though getting an independent food business off the ground in San Francisco can be filled with trials and tribulations, Rabins has persevered. His methods of success?

“I’ve always kept my business really light,” he explains. “If I was doing something, and it wasn’t working, I could easily change course. I have tried to follow my interests the whole way.”

“I think the most important thing to be successful is to follow your own passion.”

For now, Rabins is getting the word out about the Forage Kitchen through forageSF events like Wild-boar scavenger hunts, “Gypsy Jazz pig roasts,” and Basque family-style feasts. Although this weekend’s Basque feasts are sold out there will be future fundraising events to get the Forage Kitchen project off the ground. To be among the first to know about upcoming events subscribe to the forageSF email list.

Related Links:
forageSF: Health Department Blues

Bay Citizen: ForageSF Founder Accuses Health Department of Harassment (UPDATED)

On a steep hill above Marshall, CA a gorgeous rolling sheep ranch sits on 800 acres of land. Its owner Marcia Barinaga, a third-generation American Basque, bought it with her husband when she decided to “take a break” from her career as a science journalist and retire on the land they had grown to love since purchasing a shore house in Marshall in 1993.

Pregnant ewes resting at Barinaga Ranch. Photo: Liza Shaw

While Barinaga’s original intention was to retire, she is not a woman who sits still easily. The compact, well-spoken cheesemaker with a doctorate in molecular biology was not sure what she wanted to do with the land. But her Basque roots run deep and slowly the idea of making sheep’s milk cheese took hold of her. “When we bought the ranch I had never even touched a sheep and there were no buildings here,” she laughs. But Barinaga is a quick learner and within a few years she had traveled to Basque country to learn shepherding and cheesemaking from her distant relatives; built a milking parlor and a small creamery; and by 2008 began producing two types of distinctly Basque cheeses.

On a recent tour of Barinaga Ranch and creamery, Marcia was asked by a visitor, “What kind of cheese did they have in your father’s Idaho sheep camp?”

She laughed and responded, “Big blocks of orange American cheese. They never thought to make cheese with their sheep’s milk!”

Barinaga’s grandparents arrived from Markina and Angoziar in the Basque country to Mountain Home, Idaho in the early 1900s. Her father grew up on a ranch with 5,000 sheep where the main products were lamb and wool. At that time cheesemaking from a herd of ranch sheep was unheard of in Idaho though it was a common practice in the Basque country.

Barinaga’s father eventually left the ranch to become a mechanical engineer in upstate New York where Marcia was raised. “He was unique because he worked for General Electric and he spoke fluent Basque,” she explained. “My father traveled on business to Bilbao for his entire working life, and business trips to Europe in the 1960s lasted at least a month. He got to know all of his Basque family,” unlike his siblings that still worked on the Idaho ranch and were only able to travel to the Basque country once in their lifetime.

Barinaga shows the label for her Baserri cheese.

Barinaga herself traveled to the Basque country for the first time at age 12, and has since returned five times. “My family there doesn’t speak English, and I don’t speak Basque, so we communicate in Spanish–which they speak well, and I speak poorly,” she says. “There’s a limit to the degree we know each other, but there’s love and a great affection.”

And so it was these shepherding cousins that Barinaga turned to when she decided to try her hand at cheesemaking. Shepherding is synonymous with cheesemaking in the Basque country–it would be unheard of to have sheep there and not make cheese from their milk.

When she contacted a cousin to ask for advice on how to begin her new career path, Barinaga says, “He wrote me this email in Spanish, saying:

‘I am so happy you have chosen the life of the baserri. It is not a wealthy life, but it is a rich life.’”

Baserri, in Basque, means both “farmhouse” and can refer to the ‘farming life.’ Barinaga named her first cheese, a pressed, raw-milk cheese “Baserri.” It’s made in the same manner that Idiazabal, the traditional Basque cheese that has its own DOC (Denomination de Origen, like a wine appellation) is made on both sides of the Pyrenees. On the French side, it’s called Ossau-Iraty. A newer addition to the Barinaga cheese lineup is the “Txiki,” (meaning “small”) a miniature version of the Baserri. Both cheeses have a pleasantly nutty taste, a firm texture, and lend themselves well to being eaten on their own in triangles with an accompaniment of figs or chutney, or to being melted into a decadent sandwich.

Both of Barinaga’s sheep’s milk cheeses.

Barinaga also learned aspects of cheesemaking on the French side of the Pyrenees from Luxi and Arno Oxandabarats who taught renowned Vermont cheesemakers Cindy and David Major the tricks to making their acclaimed Vermont Shepherd Cheese. Also in Vermont, Barinaga did an internship of sorts at Hope Farm Sheep Cheese. “I went for a week to learn how to milk sheep,” she explains, “and I learned so much there. So many of my key ideas came from the wonderful generosity and creativity of Harvey and Barb Levin,” she attributes. Among them, a one-of-a-kind cheese press that Harvey Levin designed for her, slanted at a slight angle to provide optimum pressure on the rounds of curds, so that the whey drains evenly from the forms.

“I’m trying to use my PhD in as many ways as I can before I die,” she says of her scientific approach to making cheese.

The scientifically-designed cheese press.

Barinaga Ranch’s Creamery

The creamery’s interior

Everything is squeaky clean in the creamery.

Barinaga Ranch’s creamery is made of several shipping containers, a cool modern use of space. It’s clear that Barinaga has great love and respect for her animals. All of the sheep featured on the marketing collateral are actually from her flock. She recognizes and has given many of the 86 ewes names and ensures they are humanely slaughtered once their lambing days are over. Locally made sausage is available for purchase when you tour Barinaga Ranch and you can expect to see Barinaga Ranch charceuterie on a few select San Francisco restaurant menus in the coming year.

Freshly-made Barinaga Ranch sausage.

“I’ll never send my ewes off to a slaughterhouse to be made into dog food,” she avers. “They have served me faithfully and they deserve better than that.”

Barinaga Ranch cheeses are made from April through early October when the ewes are in their prime milking season, though Saturday tours of the ranch and the creamery are available year-round. On a tour, which can accommodate up to 15 people, visitors can meet the ewes, view a milking session, and perhaps even pet a lamb. Tours are $20 per person, and include a tasting of both Barinaga Ranch cheeses. Should a visitor choose to purchase a wheel of cheese, the price of the tour will be deducted from the price of the cheese. The cheese is available to the consumer once it has aged at least 60 days. From June through December, the ‘young’ cheese is available, aged 2-3 months. From October through March or April, Barinaga’s ‘extra-aged’ cheese is available, aged 6-9 months.

As for her future plans? Barinaga says, “I would like to rest a little more…but a sheep dairy is certainly not a retirement occupation!”

SF chefs, sommeliers, wine importers, and cheesemongers at a tour of Barinaga Ranch.

Barinaga Ranch
Address: Map
9059 Marshall Petaluma Road, Marshall, CA 94940
Phone: 415-663-8638
Facebook: Barinaga Ranch

Chef Ravi Kapur and his son, Makoa. Photo: LLYC

“In Hawaii, everyone seems to cook. It’s a function of survival. Cooking isn’t intimidating.” Kapur brings the easiness of his native Oahu to his menu, with dishes like tender pulehu beef tongue and smoked tako (octopus) easily shared between friends. Discussing the idea behind the pop-up, Kapur says, “I’m cooking with flavors I grew up with and not having to fit my inspiration into a fine-dining context.”

Though the food intentionally steers away from being ‘fine dining,’ the decade that Kapur spent as chef de cuisine at Boulevard and then executive chef at Prospect is evident in the dishes’ execution: they look simple, but each of them has multiple ingredients that have been lovingly prepared for days before the pop-up: kimchi to accompany the main courses fermenting in the kitchen, three kinds of radishes pickling before being sliced onto appetizers, sugar caramelizing for the short-rib glaze.

Liholiho Yacht Club’s menu is fixed price, with no substitutions, set at $65 per person which includes tax and tip. The price tag might seem hefty, but considering that both the appetizer and the entrée courses include five dishes per person, there are two desserts, and all of the ingredients are high quality, your full belly will thank you after you ‘grind’(Hawaiian slang for ‘eats’).

Sitting down at a cozy table at Citizen’s Band, the first noticeable feature is the relaxed atmosphere. Even the servers have warm Hawaiian smiles and Mauna Loa music plays through the speakers. Tables are filled with groups of friends “talking story.”

“When I was just on Maui, I was talking story, I mean ‘hanging out’ (he quickly corrects himself for my Californian ears) with my Uncle George,” Kapur said. “He was telling me about how when he was younger, and racing Hobie Cats, he and his friends would throw parties to pay for their supplies. They would go down to the beach and throw a party–fire up the grill, ice down the beer, and get a band to play,” reminisces Kapur. “They would charge a modest price–the intention was to make enough money to allow them to do what they loved. They realized they needed a name for their ‘organization’ and he lived on Liholiho street so decided to name it Liholiho Yacht Club. I loved the name and the idea: to throw a party to allow you to keep doing what you love.”

About the future of the pop-up, Kapur says there is “no grand plan, no long term goal,” though he expresses admiration for Citizen’s Band owner Chris Beerman for “taking care of his neighborhood first,” and says one day he hopes to be able to do the same in the neighborhood he’s lived in for 15 years: the Mission.

Ravi Kapur hanging with a table of diners at LLYC.

I’d recommend dining at Liholiho with a few friends. Portions are adjusted for smaller parties, but there’s something so inviting about the platters of Asian-influenced Hawaiian soul food. The Korean-style fried quail with a red Fresno chile barbecue sauce is especially noteworthy. The idea of digging into platefuls of soy-date glazed shortribs, fermented-miso sauced Brussels sprouts, and thin, tenderly-grilled beef tongue is even more appealing when you’re with a few friends, washing it all down with several communal bottles of Sapporo or Asahi beer.

The dishes for each course arrived all together, the five dishes took up most of the room on the table. The appetizer course dishes consisted of: small bites of potatoes in a white-miso vinaigrette, finished with steelhead roe and crispy potato skins; cold roasted sunchokes with large, dried nori flakes on a stripe of seaweed “ranch”; spicy clams in a red Thai curry sauce peppered with crispy strips of pig ears and larger chunks of the ear meat floating in the broth; and pungent house-smoked tako, cut nicely by spicy pickled radishes, sesame oil, and plenty of sesame seeds to give the dish a nice crunch that offsets the soft tako.

Don’t eat a late lunch before dining at Liholiho Yacht Club, you’ll want to save plenty of room for the deep-fried half-quail and the sweetly salty pork ribs. The vegetable sides accompanying the dishes have a fermented tang to them, and everything is self-served over a bed of sticky shiitake rice that’s been steamed in a lotus leaf, Chinese-style.

“The food I’m cooking is very personal and influenced strongly by my childhood,” says Kapur on a Sunday afternoon as he brines pig ears that will eventually get thin-sliced and deep-fried to accompany a steaming bowl of clams during the appetizer course. “There’s a lot of nostalgia on the menu. Eating smoked tako is one of my earliest food memories. Malasadas…they’re everywhere. The ones I looked forward to the most were at the Punahou School carnival… that’s the school Obama went to!”

Liholiho Yacht Club: Malasadas, cinnamon sugar.

Liholiho Yacht Club
Make your reservation here, at Citizen’s Band
1198 Folsom Street (at 8th)
Mondays March 5 and March 12, 5:30-10pm.
Twitter: @Liholihoclub

After some decades of culinary success, the two were ready for a new challenge. Their concept was essentially a marketing vehicle for local organic farms like Straus Family Creamery which was the first organic dairy farm west of the Mississippi. One of them fell in love with the Point Reyes National Park, and the other fell in love with a park ranger. Tomales Bay Foods was founded in 1993.

Tomales Bay Foods

The vision for Tomales Bay Foods was a place where people could come and buy and eat local products grown and made in West Marin. Sue dreamt of a European-style cheese counter, something that didn’t quite exist even in the food-forward Bay Area at that time. Four years later an old hay barn was renovated into the market that we know today, housing the cheesemaking facility, an organic produce stand, a natural-fabric clothing shop, an artisan cheese counter and a deli. Eventually, Sue and Peggy tried their hands at making some simple fresh cheeses–all of which I was lucky enough to taste on a tour with some chef and wine industry friends at Cowgirl Creamery.

Crème fraîche

The first tasting was crème fraîche:
Crème fraîche is made from a simple heavy cream with a little bifidus culture added to make it tangy. The cheese is made exclusively from Straus milk obtained from the original herd, something that is pretty hard to come by these days. The team at Cowgirl lovingly refers to it as their “estate-bottled milk.” What I didn’t know about crème fraîche is that the older it gets, the better it is! Although a film may form on the top of the cheese, it can be removed and thrown out, and the crème fraîche underneath is improved by ageing. The budding novice cheesemaker can purchase their own heavy cream, add a little crème fraîche, and use it as a “mother” to create their own. At Cowgirl, the crème fraîche is the building block for all of their other fresh cheeses. I’d never thought of cheese as a “live food before,” but it’s true: the lacto bifidus in many cheeses creates an ever-changing product that only improves with some age.

Fromage Blanc

Next on the tasting menu was fromage blanc:
The second-to-simplest cheese made at Cowgirl, fromage blanc is made by heating milk, adding the culture (lactus bifidus) to create acids and coagulate the milk, and hanging the resulting cheesecloth overnight to drain out the whey. The resulting cream cheese is a crisp, clear, clean cream cheese without any cloying xanthan gum. It tastes absolutely unlike anything I’ve ever had on a bagel and I know I’ll never be able to eat Philadelphia again.

Manager Michael Zilber discusses clabbered cottage cheese

Then, it was time to try the clabbered cottage cheese:
This cheese is the first one that Sue ever made, and we hear it’s the one she’s still most proud of. Traditionally, cottage cheese is made from the nonfat milk that’s left over from the day’s butter-making. The milk is turned into whey and mixed with fresh cream from the morning’s milking, which is why cottage cheese is traditionally a breakfast cheese. This cheese has great acidity and texture, and we’re told it can be substituted for ricotta in almost any recipe. This cheese won a blue ribbon from the American Cheese Society in 2005, making it ostensibly the best cottage cheese in the USA. “What it comes down to is highlighting the high-quality milk,” says our guide, cheesemonger/manager Michael Zilber, modestly.

AGED CHEESES
After a year of making fresh cheeses, Sue decides to try her hand at making some aged cheeses. At the time, a Dutch dairy scientist was interning at Cowgirl. With his input, the creamery as it is today was designed, and Cowgirl made its first soft aged cheese: basically a creamy Gouda. Many tests-and-repeats later, Cowgirl is probably known best for its famous Mount Tam cheese.

Mount Tam:
We learned that cheese ripens from the outside in, which can be noticed in the three different textures of the triangle of Mount Tam we were given to examine, sniff, and taste. The rind, which is made from candida mold that has broken down the milk and made a seal, is white and fluffy. Just inside the rind there’s a ribbon of ripe cheese, and inside of that, the center of the cheese is a firm, bright white. “To really dork out on soft cheeses,” says our guide, “first taste the center, and taste the ripe part of the cheese second. For the third nibble, taste the two parts together.” All three bites had their own distinct flavors.

Three stages of ripeness in one slice of Mount Tam

Also, says Zilber, “anyone who says they are lactose-intolerant should be able to eat aged, soft cheeses.” Why? “The cultures added to the cheese eat all of the lactose after a few days of aging and turn it into lactic acid.” Hence, the slightly acidic, citrusy tang we taste in a newer cheese. The mold feeds on that acid, sweetening the cheese. “So a cheese’s rind not only seals but sweetens the cheese.”

Red Hawk:
The next cheese we tasted was the Red Hawk, which is made similarly to the Mount Tam. After two weeks of aging, the fluffy candida mold is scrubbed off of the cheese and it’s washed with salt water. (Some cheesemakers will wash the rinds with beer or wine at this stage of cheesemaking.) The saline prevents more white fluffy mold from growing and then nature takes over. B. Linens mold from the air grows on the cheeses giving them their nuttiness and a slight funk. B. Linens mold is a naturally-occurring mold in the air–it’s what makes stinky cheeses like Limberger stinky. Red Hawk represents the terroir of West Marin–it cannot be made in Petaluma, because the air doesn’t have the mold. It is a true American original: the only known washed-rind, triple-cream soft cheese in the world. Pair it with a true Sauternes or a hoppy IPA.

Individual slices of the washed rind, triple-cream Red Hawk

Devil’s Gulch:
This seasonal cheese is soft and aged, with a sweet and spicy pepper rind. Cowgirl’s seasonal cheese is the same cheese year-round, with different herbs to finish the rind. The cheese itself is a washed rind, similar to the Red Hawk but the milk is from a Jersey cow farm. There is no cream added to the cheese because the fat content in Jersey cow milk is higher than that of Holstein cows, which is where the “estate-bottled” Straus milk comes from.

Homegrown dried pepper rind on Devil’s Gulch cheese

Wagon Wheel:
After years of making fresh cheeses and soft aged cheeses, Cowgirl’s cheesemakers wanted an “everyday cheese that they could cook with,” says Zilber. Wagon Wheel is their first hard-aged cheese. The process is the same as with an asiago, says Zilber. He’s right that Wagon Wheel is a great melting cheese: we bought out Tomales Bay Foods’ stock of Barbaclette and spent the rest of the afternoon melting it over the barbecues at the Hog Island Oyster Company for lunch.

Cowgirl’s first hard cheese awaits a melting

Cowgirl’s Wagon Wheel melts on the grill

Cowgirl Creamery
Cowgirl Creamery Tours
Facebook: Cowgirl Creamery
Twitter: @cowgirlcreamery

Stepping through the doors of Bergamot Alley, the newest addition to Healdsburg’s food and wine scene, I’m greeted with a warm hug from the hostess. A long hug. Let me backtrack. I’m from Healdsburg, a fifth-generation rarity who moved to San Francisco almost 10 years ago and only travels back home sporadically. Every time I do, though, I find that another friend, or pair of friends, or group of friends, has opened up or is planning on opening up a cool new spot in my hometown. Bergamot Alley is one of them.

The brainchild of Kevin Wardell, formerly a sommelier at flour + water and A16, and his partner Sarah Johnson, Bergamot Alley looks like it was born of a machine shop and an artistic city-slicker. The lofty space on Healdsburg Avenue was formerly a jumbled antiques mall filled with woodstoves and tractor parts, and the original brick walls have been carefully exposed. The 17-foot ceilings are finished in their original tin from 1896. Because the building is one of Healdsburg’s oldest, Wardell says, it has a certain landmark status that inspired the décor. In the walls: a wooden brick here, a tin patch there, small iron bars jutting out at random angles. The “wallscape” somehow works together, with a collection of air gardens climbing the bricks and vending-machine bouncing balls shoved onto the ends of the iron bars to turn them into functional coat and purse racks. A plaster wall that divides Bergamot Alley from its next-door-neighbor sports decals by Telluride, CO-based artist Nathan Frerichs, the whimsical squid and octopus looking as at home here in the Dry Creek Valley as they would on a T-shirt sold on Haight Street.

Bergamot Alley owners Sarah Johnson and Kevin Wardell. Photo: Kena Frank

Bergamot Alley is intended to be a “bar without a bar,” says Wardell. “There’s no division between the customer and the people who work here,” he says.

“We wanted to have a space that really felt like a community room, where the flow of the people and the energy is uninterrupted by a bar.”

Large, community-style tables that can fit up to 10 people are hand-welded with kick-plates made from WWII-era hot-dog bun baking trays. The chairs are from elementary schools, with taller legs welded to them to elevate the drinker to barstool height. The vibe: all-encompassing and welcoming. Whether you’re a local, a tourist, or a “new local” with a chateau out in the valley and perfectly mucked designer Wellingtons, you’ll feel at home here.

“We wanted to avoid the ‘me versus you’ of the typical bar,” says Wardell.

“That works great for tasting rooms, but we’re inviting a community-based dynamic here.”

In Healdsburg, it’s rare for a wine bar to serve non-local wine; to not serve any Californian wine at all is practically sacrilege. Yet that’s what Bergamot Alley does! But because of Wardell and Johnson’s deep respect for, and involvement in, the local community, their decision to focus on interesting foreign wines is a welcome breath of fresh air through the old-growth Zinfandel vines–not an affront. Aside from an entirely Mediterranean wine list that offers a large selection by the glass, there’s a wide selection of microbrewed beers, the Alley’s concession to keeping the locavores happy. All draft beers are local, and a medical refrigerator full of eclectic American 750’s and Bombers like Allagash Curieux (Portland, ME), Brother Thelonious (Fort Bragg, CA), and Lagunitas’ Cappuccino Stout (Petaluma, CA) is designed to be self-serve.

Customers are encouraged to grab their own beers as servers bring around stacks of glasses, contributing to the general picnicking atmosphere. Completing the picnic vibe will be a snacking menu, due to debut on March 1.

Some of the best chefs in town, all friends of Wardell, will be contributing to Bergamot Alley’s menu. Expect offerings from the owners of Zazu, Scopa, and Diavola on the “jars and tins,” menu, which will feature items easily shared amongst friends at one of the Alley’s long tables or taken to go with a bottle of semi-sparkling Provenza “Turbiano” Rosato Groppello and enjoyed outdoors at one of the many surrounding wineries’ picnic areas.

The menu will include handmade pickles, pates, rillettes, cheeses, local flatbread crackers, and sweets, as well as imported Mediterranean items like olives and boquerones. The grab-and-go (or grab-and-stay!) menu is designed to be paired with the wines, all of which can be purchased by the bottle and taken with you. Bottles are stacked up eight feet tall on repurposed fitting shelves salvaged from a local machine shop. Wardell’s impressive wine list reflects his years of experience as one of San Francisco’s top Italian-wine sommeliers, showcasing wines from all over Italy, France, and “any country that touches the Mediterranean Sea.”

In the “porn room,” (the staff’s affectionate name for the rare & exotic wine room) the rules are not so strict. A repurposed barn door is counterweighted to slide upward on pulleys, leading the oenophile into a naturally-insulated space made from vintage sliding-glass doors. Ninety percent of the wines are sold at a relatively low cost (between $65-$120), a screaming deal for a wine geek who’s looking for an interesting bottle like a 1982 Casetta “Vigna Ausario” Barbaresco with some bottle age on it.

The proprietors’ enthusiasm for community, groovy art, and eclectic wines is expressed in every aspect of Bergamot Alley, from the collaborative efforts put into the funky interior design, the menu offering tastings from their well-known chef friends, and the hugs at the door from a local hostess who seems to know everyone who walks through the door—or will by the time you leave.

Peeking into the “Porn Room.” Photos: Kena Frank

Disclaimer: Ella Lawrence worked with Kevin Wardell at A16 restaurant and considers him a close friend.

Part café, part wine bar, The Social Study, is the latest addition to the spate of new venues opening up in the Lower Fillmore neighborhood, and will be sure to delight coffee and jazz lovers across the city.

Serving locally-roasted Four Barrel espresso and coffee as of January 11, the groovy lounge fills a long-vacant space formerly occupied by a cannabis club on the corner of Geary at Fillmore behind Won Mi Korean BBQ. I stopped by the day after it opened on the advice of a friend who works next door and immediately wished that I could spend all day working in this café rather than in an office downtown. The high, vaulted ceilings have windows that go almost all the way up the walls, letting in plenty of light for such a small storefront.

Stepping through the almost unmarked front door (luckily, a sandwich board points thirsty guests in the right direction), my first impression transported me directly to my grandfather’s library. A long community table that could seat 10-12 people is just inside the tall front windows and the rest of the space features a unique take on bar tables — the entire wall from the front door to the back of the lounge is covered with a quilted blue faux leather, out of which seats and tables fold out down (think 1960s airline jump seats).

Along the top of the wall, behind the register, running along the beams of the exposed brick wall on the other side of the building, and decorating many of the open spaces are books, books, and more books. A varied library that includes titles from all genres is available for leisure reading while hanging out in the café, and free wi-fi will sustain those who can’t bear to leave their laptops at home during coffee time.

In the mornings, The Social Study serves homemade pastries like crumpets, croissants, sticky buns, and one-mouthful-only chocolate croissant bites. The small selection is a testament to the tastiness of the pastries (on a foggy Thursday morning there were only a few pastries left by 10:15am): large, fresh pecans stud the glistening top of a caramelized sticky roll, and the slightly uneven texture of the croissants promises a hand-rolled, fresh-baked taste that doesn’t disappoint. Owner Harmony Fraga, East Bay native and former bar manager of Farmer Brown, plans to bring in a larger selection of pastries soon, but until she finds the perfect combination (great taste, made in San Francisco, preferably in her neighborhood, with fresh, local ingredients) The Social Study is baking their own.

But it’s not all coffee and pastries at The Social Study. Like any good European-influenced café, the place gets livelier as the day wears on. Beer, wine, and house-made sangria replace morning beverages, and the menu gets an upgrade starting in the afternoon. “Study Snacks” like charcuterie and cheese boards go great with a draught Guinness, and roasted fingerling potatoes are a healthy (and local!) alternative to the fast food French fries available a little bit lower down Fillmore street.

“Study Snacks.” Photo: The Social Study

The record covers that adorn the walls are more than just decoration: The Social Study has a serious collection of vinyl. From jazz to R&B to hip-hop and Motown, the record library is as varied as its library counterpart, and the music in the café does a great job of matching the ever-shifting mood of the neighborhood.

The pace picks up even more on Friday nights, when live music takes the place of the vinyl selection and DJ Doc Fu steps behind the turntables. More music is promised, too–there’s been talk of a live house band (called Hot Pocket) playing in the lofted area above the main floor on Saturday nights. Although The Social Study doesn’t have a full liquor license (though Fraga says that’s in the works, along with a regular movie-screening night), I think it’s kind of nice. A beer and wine bar is a mellow addition to what can be a rowdy part of town, and when you want to step out for a cozy bite in a place that feels like an extension of your own living room (and face it, who can afford a place with an actual living room near Fillmore street?), The Social Study is just the place to be.

The Social Study
Address: Map
1795 Geary Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94115
415.292.7417
Open daily, 8am-11pm.