I had passed this cute little beer garden in Berkeley a couple of times while walking the Ohlone Parkway. Having spent my formative years in Santa Maria, CA, you can bet what drew my eye was not the incredibly appealing outdoor set-up with sculpted gardens— —but the signs just visible above the fence line that
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Since I moved to the Bay Area two years ago, I’ve heard countless admonitions that I hadn’t been to St. George Spirits (2601 Monarch St., Alameda Point), one of the first craft distilleries in the US. Even more recently, that’s shifted to countless admonitions to check out Faction Brewing, housed next door, as beer appeals
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A few weekends ago, I hit up my first urban tasting room in Oakland–Jeff Cohn Cellars. I assure you, my guide, Peter of Bung R. Cooper’s wine blog, was not going to let me stop after just one location! We meandered over a few Jack London Square blocks to Urban Legend Cellars (621 4th Street),
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Last weekend, I had the pleasure of checking out Jeff Cohn Cellars’ tasting room in Oakland along with my friend Peter, the man behind Bung R. Cooper’s wine blog. Jeff Cohn, a renowned winemaker, spent a decade learning from and crafting Rosenblum wines before starting his own winery in 2006.  He’s also a genuinely nice
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In a few short weeks, the Chai Bar by David Rio, the flagship storefront location for the highly successful David Rio Chai company, will be open at 1019 Market St., San Francisco. I think this new café/bar/lab/restaurant hybrid will be a lot of fun to visit, based on my experience at its recent launch party.
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Last summer, the husband and I moved away from the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina after spending eight years watching the cities expand and their food scenes skyrocket off the heat-charts. Seriously, the New York Times is obsessed with the place! So I was excited to head back for the weekend in mid-September—my
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Sonoma Valley Portworks Petite Sirah Port 2007 Clarksburg, CA During my trip last spring to Petaluma, I picked up this bottle of port in a surge of jubilation that I had found a winery specializing in dessert wines (613 2nd Street in the Foundry Wharf building). Plenty of wineries offer one or a handful of
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For Christmas, the darling husband bought us Santa Cruz Mountains wine passports, an excellent gift. I wasn’t a wine drinker when I lived in Santa Cruz, so now that I’m in the Bay, I’ve wanted to try what that designation has to offer. Plus, any excuse for a weekend in Santa Cruz is a good
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The Orchard Manhattan Bijou, Hayward $11 The Orchard Manhattan is an original twist on the classic manhattan cocktail, though I’d say it’s closer to an old-fashioned, actually. It’s made with bourbon, apricot and walnut liqueurs, and black walnut and autumn-spiced bitters. I can’t tell you what the autumn spices are, but I can tell you
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The Wildfire Firehouse 37, San Ramon $10 This cocktail’s made with Templeton rye, Giffard vanilla liqueur, and bitters, a pretty straightforward combination. Cocktail shaking provides a lovely top layer of icy foam. The vanilla liqueur takes the edge off the rye whiskey, yet the cocktail avoids being overly sweet, which is a good thing. The
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