Bonjour Patisserie

If you haven't heard of Bonjour Patisserie, perhaps you know it by its old name, Patisserie Philippe?  Patisserie Philippe got rave reviews back in the day, but the change happened in 2011, and I never experienced the baked goods before the change.  Bonjour Patisserie has the same location, and basically the same menu, but new owner, and, well, no Philippe. Anyway, Bonjour Patisserie is located down on Townsend street, by Zynga, in an area I bike by...

Read More...

Group Dining, Bottega, Napa

Large group dining (as in, 30-50 individuals) is tricky.  No matter what restaurant you pick, it will never measure up to the experience of when you go with only a few others.  It just isn't possible.  I know this. Over the past few years, I've helped organize a number of dining events for my group at work. Last year, for our holiday party, we went to my favorite restaurant in the city (Alexander's, duh), and they did a fine job, but again, it...

Read More...

L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, London

On my recent business trip to Europe, I had exactly 1.5 days to spend in London.  I arrived with Emil on Thursday evening, fairly burnt out from our time in Zurich, and before that, Mallorca.  For dinner, we were planning to just check out the offerings in the executive lounge at our hotel, and if that wasn't sufficient, perhaps venture to a nearby place for fish and chips.  Casual, simple, easy. But the executive lounge failed to impress, and...

Read More...

Noodles & Company

A few months ago, I was walking by the Metreon and saw a new casual dining establishment about to open: Noodles & Company.  Perhaps Noodles & Company is not novel to you, as they apparently exist all over the US (400+ locations), but, it was new to me.  The Metreon location was their first San Francisco branch.  I kept meaning to swing by after they opened to learn more, but, I uh, tend to avoid that area, and totally forgot about it.  But...

Read More...

Cadbury, UK Edition

Last week, I reviewed Mars brand chocolates found in the UK, as a special UK edition of my regular Sunday chocolate reviews, in honor of my recent trip to London.  This week, I'll continue the trend, moving on to Cadbury, which I've reviewed previously featuring some US and Australian selections Cadbury is in fact a British company, so it should be no surprise that the selection offered there is much greater than what we see here in the US (yes, Cadbury...

Read More...