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San Francisco Chronicle
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco croissant contest crowns a surprising new champion
A surprise newcomer, Maison Benoit, claimed top honors at the 2025 Best Croissant San Francisco competition on Sunday, edging out 349 contenders and clinching the Grand Prize in a tightly judged field of buttery, flaky rivals. The annual event, hosted at the Clift Royal Sonesta Hotel and organized by French Morning, Frenchly and French-American Hospitality & Gastronomy Association, drew hundreds of pastry lovers and a waitlist over a thousand names long. Notably absent from the finalists this year was Arsicault, among the bakeries often credited with putting San Francisco on the national croissant map and whose croissant Chronicle critic Cesar Hernandez named No. 1 last year. The 10 finalists considered at the event were chosen through public voting, with fans nominating their favorite bakeries in an open call leading up to the competition. The judging panel included Jean-François Houdré of the Westin St. Francis, Philippe Gardelle of Chapeau, Shaunda O'Day of Noe Valley Bakery, Céline Plano of Aura in Napa, and Pierre Bee of FAHGA. Benoît Vialle, who left a career at Microsoft and later the wine industry to pursue baking, opened Maison Benoit in Danville just last year. 'For me it highlights our relentless focus on producing the best possible quality authentic French products, and croissants in particular, at a price that everyone can enjoy every day at $3.75,' Vialle told the Chronicle on Tuesday. His pastry chef Lucile Espeillac, formerly of Paris' La Tour d'Argent, was equally pleased with the outcome. 'We've worked so hard since we opened that this prize is really a great reward,' she told organizers. Among the 10 finalists were standout bakeries from across the Bay Area, including Backhaus, Maison Nico, Le Carousel Patisserie, the Midwife and the Baker and East Bay Bakery, each showcasing inventive flavors and classic techniques in pursuit of the top prize. The Midwife and the Baker, based in Mountain View, took home the People's Choice Award. 'I am very proud of the products that we have presented today: we utilize pre-fermentation techniques that give depth to the flavor of our croissants,' founder Mac McConnell told Frenchly. In the 'Best Original Creation' category, the win went to Le Carousel Patisserie for a mango and rum-flambéed pineapple flower pastry. 'We wanted to offer a viennoiserie that was both classic and original,' said Jérémie Mullet, founder of the popup bakery. Despite stiff competition and experimental entries, it was Maison Benoit's traditional craftsmanship that captured the top prize. People's Choice Award The Midwife and the Baker Best Original Creation Le Carousel Grand Prix 1st place: Maison Benoit 2nd place: Backhaus
San Francisco Chronicle
27-05-2025
- San Francisco Chronicle
A new Bay Area restaurant brings California flair to Spanish classics
On Monday, Cesar Hernandez and I updated our list of the best restaurants in Marin County, with new additions including a formidable Mexican brunch buffet and a Mill Valley bakery with an advanced degree in lamination. But there's only one new entry that is also a new restaurant, and that's Mijo in Corte Madera. A Cal-Spanish restaurant from the team behind Guesthouse in Kentfield and Petaluma's recently closed Easy Rider, Mjio is located in the Marketplace shopping center, right next to Book Passage. As you walk across the parking lot to Mijo's front door, you'll be hard pressed to forget that you're in a strip mall. On my visit, as I passed an outpost of the spectacularly named bakery chain Nothing Bundt Cakes, I could hear a mic'd fitness instructor pushing class packages through the open door of a pilates studio. But once you're inside Mijo, you're transported to — okay, not literal Spain, but a quite nice restaurant, one where attention has clearly been paid to the decor. There's a colorful mural on the back wall, cozy upholstered booths for two and larger ones for four, a long copper bar, lots of tile. I went with my editor-in-chief and son of Spain Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, who has been known to make a large-format paella for newsroom gatherings. He immediately pointed out details on the menu that, he feared, would cause the ghosts of his forebears to come ahaunting: potatoes in the croquetas, kiwi in the gazpacho, black garlic jus with the stuffed piquillo peppers. I tapped a fingernail on the 'Cali' part of the 'Cali - España' menu header. Even Emilio's ancestors would have to admit that the market salad ($15), Spanish or not, was exceptional. Tender lettuces, crunchy segments of asparagus and snap peas, blood orange supremes and chopped marcona almonds were bathed in a wonderfully bright dressing made with aged sherry vinegar. Jamón croquetas ($16 for five), thickened with potato instead of the traditional béchamel, were nonetheless satisfyingly lucious, as were the patatas bravas ($13), burnished little nuggets of joy. The one disappointment was the Mijo paella ($32 for a small portion, $52 for large). While attractively presented with charred lemons and shellfish standing at attention around the perimeter, it managed to be simultaneously over and undercooked. Those mussels and clams were stringy and desiccated, as were thin strips of chicken, while there was almost none of the crispy socarrat that should form on the bottom of the pan and be viciously fought over. The restaurant is only a few months old, so I think it's entirely possible they'll work out those paella kinks. But the tapas are ready for primetime, the interiors are charming and the service is warm. (Thanks, Daniela, for answering Emilio's many, many questions). Corte Madera residents should be pleased to have a new option in town. Mijo. 55 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera.
San Francisco Chronicle
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
The best places to eat in Napa before and after BottleRock this weekend
Napa's BottleRock Napa Valley is arguably more famous for its food than its musical acts. (It even has a star-studded culinary stage.) Nevertheless, festival food is expensive, often requires waiting in long lines and doesn't always live up to the hype. Luckily, some of Napa's best restaurants are within walking distance of the festival grounds. Here are the top casual food options — recommended by a longtime Napa local — for breakfast, lunch and late night if you're headed to BottleRock, which runs Friday-Sunday, May 23-25. Breakfast San Francisco Chronicle associate restaurant critic Cesar Hernandez crowned Contimo's fluffy, buttery biscuits the Bay Area's best. Try them with the Ham & Jam breakfast sandwich ($8.75) — add Pimento cheese for a surprising twist — or whatever the 'Baller Biscuit' special is on Friday, and pair with coffee or a mimosa. Napa Farmers Market Swing by the Napa Farmers Market on Saturday morning and piece together a robust breakfast spread consisting of Toasted's bagels, breakfast tacos from Ray Ray's, Frenchy Gourmet's insanely creamy yogurt and fresh fruit from a local farm. 1100 West St., Napa. 8 a.m.-noon Saturday. Croccante Find Napa's best hangover brunch in an unexpected location: Detroit-style pizza joint Croccante. Recover from the previous night's festivities with steak and eggs ($26), a massive stack of buttermilk pancakes ($18) and khachapuri ($18), a cheesy, egg-topped Georgian specialty. Rory's Bakehouse 2766 Old Sonoma Rd., Napa. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. Lunch One of downtown Napa's longest-running eateries, Small World serves criminally underrated Mediterranean fare. Get the lamb salad ($18); it should keep you full until dinner. Armistice Brewing This chill Napa brewery offers a two-for-one: Pre-game with a pint or two while you scarf down a filling, juicy burger made by French Laundry alum Christopher Ruiz of Butter's Burgers. If you're feeling especially hangry, opt for the incredibly messy pastrami burger ($17). The brewery will also stay open until 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday for BottleRock. Joella's Deli The fried chicken sandwich ($18) stuffed with a spicy ranch slaw at Joella's Deli food truck — founded by another French Laundry alum — ranks among the best fried chicken sandwiches in the Bay Area, according to the Chronicle's Hernandez. If you're in an empty industrial park, you're in the right place. 2410 Second St., Napa. 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. Rutherford Pizza at Frankie's Deli Napa's first New York City-inspired slice shop opened just in time for BottleRock, and it's the best deal in town. This satellite location of Napa's Rutherford Family Pizza slings $5 slices, including pepperoni, chicken alfredo and Hawaiian, until 3 a.m. (yes, seriously) on Friday and Saturday. 1331 First St., Napa. 4 p.m.-3 a.m. Friday-Saturday. The Fink The Fink has the most extensive and inventive cocktail menu in Napa, but don't sleep on its bar food, like the Japanese-inspired egg sandwich ($15), Korean-style fried chicken ($15) and Maine lobster roll ($26). 530 Main St., Napa. 4 p.m.-12 a.m. Friday-Saturday, 4 p.m.-11 p.m. Sunday. Oxbow Public Market One block from the festival grounds, the Oxbow Public Market is throwing a cover-free, after-party on Saturday featuring a D.J. and food from its vendors, including Hog Island Oyster Co. and Loveski Deli. 61 First. St., Napa. 10 p.m.-12 a.m. Saturday.
San Francisco Chronicle
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
The best deals from Top 100 restaurants
When my colleague Cesar Hernandez and I were assembling our list of the Top 100 restaurants in the Bay Area, we paid attention to price. Yes, some of our favorite establishments are of the money-is-no-object variety, but at a full third of the spots, two people can leave well fed for under $50. I break for an affordable meal, but the thing I love even more than a reasonably priced dinner is a deal. Early bird prix fixes, happy hour BOGOs, lunch specials — all of them offer the allure of value. Here are some of the most undeniable deals deals DEALS offered by Top 100 restaurants. Even under normal circumstances, a slice ($5.50-$8) at either of Outta Sight's two locations won't break the bank. But the happy hour deals? Outrageous. Ten bucks will get you a slice of cheese, a slice of pepperoni and a can of Busch Lite with a dollar left over for the tip jar. The slice, sandwich and drink specials run from 4 to 6 p.m., Monday through Thursday at the Tenderloin location and from 3 to 6 p.m., Monday to Friday in Chinatown. The specific offerings vary by location; at the Chinatown shop, all bottles of wine are half off, while at Larkin Street, select bottles are $25. Weekends? For amateurs. Two of our favorite fine dining restaurants, Madcap in San Anselmo and Mägo in Oakland, offer discounted menus Tuesday through Thursday. At Mägo, weeknights showcase the same eight-course, Colombian-inspired menu that you would find on the weekend, but it's offered at $86 instead of $115. Madcap serves its 11-course tasting menu for $165 every night it's open, but the abbreviated, $140 8-course meal is only available Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. It's plenty special and terrific value from a Michelin-starred restaurant. Lunch and early dinner at Lily Many readers might associate Vietnamese restaurant Lily with the $72 luxury fried rice that started as a joke and became, much to chef Rob Lam's torment, wildly popular. But when I think of Lily, it's the early bird and lunch specials that come to mind. Between 5 and 6 p.m., Lily offers an appetizer and entree for $38. The even better deal is at lunch Friday through Sunday, where $32 nets you an appetizer and an entree, plus a non-alcoholic beverage. We're not talking Diet Coke; there are tropical smoothies, slushies and Vietnamese iced coffee with salty duck egg crema. Portions are generous and the food is, of course, top notch. When I ate at Damansara in November, select snacks — kaya buns, cereal and salted egg fried chicken, the exceptional curry puff — were 25% off with the purchase of three or more small plates. When I reached out to chef-owner Tracy Goh to inquire if that was ongoing, she informed me that the discounts were part of a restaurant week special. However! She's running a different promotion through the end of May. Take 15% off all food, including Goh's hauntingly good Malaysian crab, before 7 p.m. until the end of the month. Damansara. 1781 Church St., San Francisco.
San Francisco Chronicle
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
This Top 100 restaurant is huge in Japan
Each week, critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan shares some of her favorite recent bites, the dishes and snacks and baked goods that didn't find their way into a full review. Want the list a few days earlier? Sign up for her free newsletter, Bite Curious. I've been hearing from friends and readers alike that they're checking off restaurants on the Top 100, and, girl, same. (Either my colleague Cesar Hernandez or I ate at each of the restaurants on the list, but we both didn't go to all of them.) I recently paid a visit to No. 35 Kajiken, one of Cesar's picks. The San Mateo restaurant is an outpost of a popular Japanese chain that specializes in aburasoba, brothless noodles with mix and match toppings like ground meat, raw egg yolk and veggies. I opted for the nikumori aburasoba ($17.95), which features pork two ways — thinly sliced and finely minced — with scallions and an egg yolk. The noodles are endlessly customizable with a long list of add-ons and included condiments, but I followed our server's guidance and stuck to a side order of yogurt sauce ($1.25), a healthy glug of vinegar (essential) and a few twists of a grinder of dried garlic. Fantastic stuff worth waiting in line for, and I can't wait to return and try other combinations. Burrata is often a phoned-in menu item, an easy-to-love dairy bomb that sounds fancy and doesn't require cooking, save for, potentially, a condiment. Fellow Top 100 restaurant Rich Table 's current burrata dish ($23), a riff on saag paneer, is aggressively not that and was, in fact, the highlight of a memorable recent meal. Dark leafy greens, cooked down with fresh fenugreek and other Indian spices, were a revelatory accompaniment to the creamy cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. The dish was served with warm roti, so satisfying to pull apart and swish through the spread. Words I reach for when describing dips might include 'creamy,' 'silky' or even 'gooey,' but Dolores Deluxe 's Okinawa sweet potato dip ($8.49 for a half-pint container) is the first I've tried that is undeniably bouncy. Boysenberry purple in color and terrifically garlicky, it's still dippable — you'll have no trouble dragging a pita chip through it — but in very un-diplike fashion, it pulls away from the sides of the container. Is it flubber? The texture reminds me a little of that jelly blush that all the makeup influencers are swatching on TikTok. Bring it to your next picnic, the color alone makes it a guaranteed showstopper.
