Restaurants

ALICE FEIRING is upset about terroir. Or rather its absence. And her new book, The Battle for Wine and Love, or How I Saved the World From Parkerization (2008, Mariner Press; 288 pages; $13.95 paper), is a sassy riff on Feiring’s dismay with winemaking tricks—especially in California, and especially since the dawn of the numerical ranking system popularized by Robert Parker Jr. in the mid-1980s. » Read More

THE OBSERVANT reader will note that just two weeks ago I wrote about the South Indian restaurant Saravanaa Bhavan, and now here I go again with another Indian restaurant, Spicy Leaves. Generally, I try to put a little more space between restaurants serving the same kind of cuisine, but the food was so good at this new Los Altos restaurant that I didn’t want to wait. » Read More

IN THIS ECONOMY, everyone needs a Plan B, a backup strategy if things really go south. I love my job, but if I should suddenly find myself out of work, I’ve devised a second career for myself: ramen master. » Read More

SINCE 1977, San Jose’s Le Papillon’s has been one of Silicon Valley’s premier fine-dining destinations. The wine list of more than 700 selections is overseen by sommelier Camron Mashayekh. The list showcases classics from California, Bordeaux and Burgundy as well as from the lesser-known regions of Alsace and the Rhone Valley. » Read More

There’s a new vegan restaurant in town, and while it doesn’t satisfy that longing of mine for something significantly different, it is a worthy addition to my personal list of go-to spots. » Read More

Hindu traditions make southern India one of the world's showcases of vegetarian food, and no one would ever call the often fiery cuisine tame or boring. Silicon Valley happens to be tops in the Bay Area for southern Indian food. Southern Indian restaurants offer a compelling example of how millions of people do without meat. In addition to protein-rich dal or lentils, they eat a lot of bread, but not just any bread. » Read More

When Campbell’s Deezi’s Café closed last September, Silicon Valley lost one of its best Persian restaurants. Not only were their koobideh kebabs some of the best I’ve had, but the deezi, a lamb shank stew from which the restaurant takes its name, was not only distinctive and delicious but also unique among the half-dozen or so Persian restaurants I’ve tried in the South Bay, and when the family-run restaurant shut down, it wasn’t available anywhere. Now the restaurant has reopened in a different form in a new location in San Jose. Now called Deezi’s Café Persia, the new space is bright, cheery and more casual. » Read More

Almond croissant. Almond croissant. Almond croissant. Los Gatos’ Fleur de Cocoa is rightly known for its chocolate confections and pastries, but I can’t stop thinking about the little pastry shop’s spectacular almond croissants. They are simply the best I’ve ever had. » Read More

Talk about a great food and wine pairing —Bonny Doon Vineyard and Manresa restaurant have teamed up to open a new cafe in the winery’s new Santa Cruz tasting room. » Read More

Decades before sushi bars proliferated across this land, the oyster bar was the pre-eminent place to consume raw seafood. Traditionally presided over by brusque but efficient men in starched white jackets who pried oysters open with blunt knives and a quick twist of the wrist, the oyster bar remains a great American culinary tradition. We Americans are pretty timid eaters, but we’ve long enjoyed slurping down briny, slimy blobs of live shellfish. » Read More