“You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by… but some of them are golden only because we let them slip.” – J.M. Barrie

Baume's eggnog in egg shells ("Around the Bay")

It’s February… a month that will take me to Kentucky, Denver, and Monterey. Meanwhile, I am grateful to be right here at home in San Francisco, savoring its endless treasures.

In Around the Bay, I revisit one of the Bay Area’s best fine dining splurges in Palo Alto.

My early January peek at Central Kitchen and Salumeria, the soon-to-open restaurant & salumeria from Flour+Water crew

Imbiber sips just released Concannon Irish Whiskey over an Old World boxing match and an Irish breakfast in Livermore.

On the Town highlights this year’s Science of Cocktails at the Exploratorium, including bourbon finished in a barrel used to age a Manhattan cocktail.

See Bordeaux through the faces of its winemakers and chateaux, the first in my Wandering Traveler Bordeaux series.

I’d love your feedback on any spots visited from my site. As your personal concierge who tells it to you like a good friend would, I also create personalized itineraries: trips, meals, explorations (under “Services“).

Let me guide you to the perfect spot,

Virginia

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThePerfectSpot

Recent entries in my Bay Guardian column:
Palo Alto high at fine dining destination, Baume
3 New & Notable Cheap Eats Spots
Barrel Aged Beauties, from genever to rye

**Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Virginia Miller**

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“… in a time lacking in truth and certainty and filled with anguish and despair, no woman [or man] should be shame-faced in attempting to give back to the world, through her work, a portion of its lost heart.”
- Louise Bogan

Gift Horse cocktail at The New Easy, Oakland (see "Imbiber")

As you receive this, I’m returning from the snowy regions of Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario, Canada, exploring icewine during harvest season. I’ll return with stories from Inniskillin, Jackson-Triggs, and Niagara Falls.

At home, Top Tastes is giddy with excellent new cheap eats spots: fried chicken with Asian attitude in North Beach, rotisserie in Pac Heights, and Breton crepes that almost fill the Ti Couz void.

In Imbiber, I explore East Bay cocktail bars in general, and two brand new ones from SF bar stars in particular. Imbiber, part two, sips Brian Means’ cocktails on the Fifth Floor menu.

Peruvian treats: ceviche & Inka Kola at Sazon (see "Around the Bay")

Around the Bay weekends in Sonoma at a hotel whose winning features are its restaurant and spa, and at new restaurants from Healdsburg to Santa Rosa.

I’d love your feedback on any spots visited from my site. As your personal concierge who tells it to you like a good friend would, I also create personalized itineraries: trips, meals, explorations (under “Services“).

Let me guide you to the perfect spot,

Virginia

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThePerfectSpot

Follow my “best of” lists on NBC’s The Feast

Recent entries in my Bay Guardian column:
Cocktailing the East Bay – Further Adventures
Easy Honors: 2 Shining New Stars in the East Bay Cocktail Scene
Shining Season: Review of the new AQ restaurant

**Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Virginia Miller**

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“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” – Zora Neale Hurston

A sake finish to a meal at Bushi-Tei (see "Top Tastes")

Happy new year! I trust your holidays were sweet, restorative, and full of good food and memories with those you love. Mine were so, spent in Southern and Central California, now back home and ready for a new year.

Top Tastes meditates on comforting winter dishes in under-the-radar locales, from gourmet egg noodles to creamy chestnut soup.

Imbiber sips two new, barrel aged beauties, from genever to rye whiskey. Around the Bay is lost in the peaceful enchantment of Nick’s Cove in Tomales Bay, an ideal weekend escape and damn good meal.

Comfy, seafaring charm at Nick's Cove (see "Around the Bay")

On the Town highlights (in photos) a memorable Kitchit dinner, hosted in a private home with 3-star Michelin chef Christopher Kostow cooking (P.S. you can host your own Kitchit party).

I’d love your feedback on any spots visited from my site. As your personal concierge who tells it to you like a good friend would, I also create personalized itineraries: trips, meals, explorations (under “Services“).

Let me guide you to the perfect spot,

Virginia

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThePerfectSpot

Follow my “best of” lists on NBC’s The Feast

Recent entries in my Bay Guardian column:
Dishes for a Winter’s Night
Toast with the Most – Holiday wine, bubbly, cider sips

**Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Virginia Miller**

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“Many a man is building for himself in imagination a bungalow when he should be building a palace... Very few people bring to life what is rightfully theirs. They live on the outskirts of their heart’s desire. It always seems too good to be true. To the person spiritually awake nothing is too good to be true.” – Florence Scovel Shinn

Sweet calves at Straus Family Creamery (see "On the Town")

Here we are at year’s end. It has been an action-packed year on multiple levels… certainly in the continuing pleasures of taste.

This issue, Top Tastes recaps multiple visits to the new AQ, easily one of the year’s best openings and a promising “whole package” for food and drink.

In Imbiber, I share some recommended Scotches for sipping or gift giving, from elegant classics to rowdy youngsters.

On the Town visits with two key dairy farms and cheesemakers in Point Reyes and Petaluma… multiple photos of cows included.

One of the best dishes I've had all year: charred avocado & squid at the new AQ (see "Top Tastes")

Imbiber, part two, recommends holiday wine sipping, from value vino, to American cider, to bubbly for New Year’s Eve.

On the Town, part two, recaps a special Fifth Floor meal in photos with guest chef Brandon Jew of Bar Agricole.

I’d love your feedback on any spots visited from my site. As your personal concierge who tells it to you like a good friend would, I also create personalized itineraries: trips, meals, explorations (under “Services“).

Let me guide you to the perfect spot,

Virginia

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThePerfectSpot

Follow my “best of” lists on NBC’s The Feast

Recent entries in my Bay Guardian column:
Cream of the Crop – hanging with cows, curds & whey at two local dairy farms
Scotch Winter Delights
Exploring All That’s New In Hayes Valley

**Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Virginia Miller**

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“An inordinate passion for pleasure is the secret of remaining young.” - Oscar Wilde

Here’s hoping you had a lovely Thanksgiving, as we rush swiftly on into December. I recently wrote about my philosophy behind my SF Guardian column, now also in print weekly. It’s good being back from my travels for a while to settle into this and savor life at home.

The magic of Ram's Gate Winery, Sonoma, at night (see "Around the Bay")

I am giving away two tickets (valued at $125 each) to Epicuria, the kick-off event during ZAP, a major, multi-day Zinfandel wine festival held in SF in January. This event is Thursday, January 26 at The Concourse. It’s a night of tasting, pairing Zins and food, with over 50 wines and food from restaurants like A-16, Fifth Floor, even Swan Oyster Depot and Radio Africa Kitchen, Mustards Grill in Napa, etc… Sign up 5 friends to this twice-monthly newsletter on my home page (or email my contact page to let me know who you’re signing up). I’ll draw a name to win a pair of tickets in January.

Featured Neighborhood visits (and notes early highlights) all the new spots sprouting up in Hayes Valley, from a French grocer with calvados-infused cheese, to a European-style cafe lined with books, opened by two sisters. Imbiber covers four notable cocktail menus, one at a revamped bar with new manager, another an underrated line-up at a Moroccan restaurant, then two releasing new winter menus.

Bruleed vanilla foam torched on cocktails at Harry Denton's Starlight Room (see "Imbiber")

Imbiber, part two, lists five exciting new spirits releases I’d recommend for gift giving or your own pleasure, including a game-changing creme de menthe and creme de cacao. With many recent Wine Country excursions, there’s ever more to share. In Around the Bay, I emphasize a few Napa & Sonoma snapshots, like a family-run coffee shop duo, a new winery with striking views and impeccable food, a winery run by brothers on Spring Mountain evoking a relaxed, non-flashy Napa of days past.

I’d love your feedback on any spots visited from my site. As your personal concierge who tells it to you like a good friend would, I also create personalized itineraries: trips, meals, explorations (under “Services“).

Let me guide you to the perfect spot,

Virginia

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThePerfectSpot

Follow my “best of” lists on NBC’s The Feast

Recent entries in my Bay Guardian column:
Contemplating Appetite – philosophy behind my SFBG column
A Spirited Winter – latest bottles, ideal gifts
Scrumptious Mornings – new breakfast spots and winning dishes

**Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Virginia Miller**

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“I’m advocating the lifelong investigation of pleasure, and this task requires all five of your senses… Sounds selfish, no? No, it’s not. For true generosity does not occur unless you give from your own surplus.” – Regina Thomashauer

Bone Marrow brilliance - one of the best dishes all year at a Haven preview dinner (see "Top Tastes")

Fall rushes on to Thanksgiving and I am happy to stay home for awhile, savoring the tastes and smells of fall that remain my most beloved seasonally.

Top Tastes reviews four recent stand-out dishes or meals, from affordable hole-in-the-walls (feta cheese pie and pastrami), to upscale creativity (Oakland preview dinner, Moroccan creativity).

Imbiber highlights three brand new bars with lush cocktails of the seasonal, amaro kind, playful beauties just right with Chinese food, and elegant Oakland sips in a poetry-lined bar.

Top Tastes, part two, breakfasts through the week at newer spots offering dishes from an Irish breakfast sandwich (loaded with all manner of sausages) to pumpkin pie-filled donuts.

Bug reading at 5-course insect & mezcal dinner in Marin (see "On the Town")

On the Town takes to the oceanside hills of the Marin Headlands for a five course insects and mezcal dinner at Headlands Center for the Arts, highlighting dishes like buttery ant larvae with zucchini and avocado.

I’d love your feedback on any spots visited from my site. As your personal concierge who tells it to you like a good friend would, I also create personalized itineraries: trips, meals, explorations (under “Services“).

Let me guide you to the perfect spot,

Virginia

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThePerfectSpot

Follow my “best of” lists on NBC’s The Feast

Recent entries in my Bay Guardian column:
Insects and mezcal – a five course bug dinner
Confit basteeya and garlicky marrow: four standout meals
Wine Tales: New city-produced wine & wine bars, contemplating Napa’s “Grand Cru” terroir, vino reading

**Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Virginia Miller**

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“How can a nation be great if its bread tastes like Kleenex?” – Julia Child

Gorgeous Irish coastline along Ring of Kerry (see Wandering Traveler)

Freshly back from Scotland, I am in the midst of glorious October weather. San Francisco’s pristine blue skies and waters and its glowing white skyline are illuminated in 70 degree sunny days… the best time of year.

Imbiber considers wine from a few angles: contemplating “grand cru” terroir in Napa with a panel of To Kalon winemakers, a new book on affordable global wines, SF’s newest city-produced wine, and wine bar tastings for November.

Wandering Traveler continues my Irish adventures in County Cork, which has been likened to California in its pursuit of local foods and farm fresh ingredients.

Verve Coffee's latest outpost in Santa Cruz

Dessert is sweet in Top Tastes: Elizabeth Falkner’s newest is an ice cream parlor with liquid nitrogen ice cream (sourdough sundaes, anyone?) and soda fountain treats.

I spend a laid back weekend in Santa Cruz moving from coffee to ice cream to Tyrolean food in Around the Bay.

I’d love your feedback on any spots visited from my site. As your personal concierge who tells it to you like a good friend would, I also create personalized itineraries: trips, meals, explorations (under “Services“).

Let me guide you to the perfect spot,

Virginia

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ThePerfectSpot

Follow my “best of” lists on NBC’s The Feast

Recent entries in my Bay Guardian column:
Sweet Tooth in SF: lime rickeys & sourdough sundaes
Fall Fresh: 3 new places, 3 memorable dishes

**Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Virginia Miller**

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