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Restaurants
The new San Jose outlet makes fine coffee one cup at a time
IN THE BEGINNING, America was awash in a sea of coffee, and it was very bad. Cups of burned, bitter and bland coffee ruled the land. The sleepy masses had no choice but to start their day with Folger’s, Yuban and Hills Brothers. No one knew any better. More
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Restaurants
Silicon Veggie figures that chickens have feelings too
LAST NIGHT, I attended a lovely catered dinner party for 12 people. I was, no surprise, the only vegan, and the hosts went out of their way to make sure I was accommodated, from the hors d’oeuvres to the dessert. It was a wonderful meal. More
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Restaurants
Stett Holbrook interviews Seth Sutherlin of Saratoga's the Plumed Horse about vintage choices
THE PLUMED HORSE in Saratoga has long had one of the country’s deepest wine lists. When new owners opened the restaurant after a $9 million remodel in 2007, they committed to adding even more selections to the already prodigious cellar. With a wine list thicker than the phone books for some small towns, it takes an expert to guide you through the sea pricey juice. That’s what Seth Sutherlin does. He’s Plumed Horse’s newly named head sommelier. More
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Restaurants
A new Redwood City restaurant serves authentic Scottish food with a twist
YOU’VE GOT to love a restaurant that has the sense of humor and temerity to serve haggis on a stick. Haggis, in case you don’t know, is a beloved Scottish dish made from, among other things, sheep organs and oatmeal boiled inside the animal’s lungs. Haggis is also a funny word to say that sounds to me like what it is: haggis. More
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Restaurants
A new book investigates what's wrong with winemaking today
ALICE FEIRING is upset about terroir. Or rather its absence. And her new book, <i>The Battle for Wine and Love, or How I Saved the World From Parkerization</i> (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. More
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Restaurants
Los Altos dining spot serves a tasty range of Indian and Sri Lankan dishes
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. More
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Restaurants
A Vintage Love Affair at Wine Affairs
WINE lover Diane Chang-Laurent did what many disaffected tech workers would love to do: ditch the corporate world and go into the wine business. “When we traveled we’d always check out other cities’ wine bars and we wanted one of our own,” she said. When she become pregnant with her first child she quit her job and decided to follow her dream. Together with her husband, Freddy Laurent, Diane opened Wine Affairs on The Alameda in San Jose a year and a half ago. More
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Restaurants
Camron Mashayekh
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. More
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Restaurants
Ramen is king at Japanese restaurant
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. More
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Restaurants
An affordable vegan alternative in downtown San Jose
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. More
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