Michelin honors affordable restaurants
This month, Michelin released its 2017 Bib Gourmand list — awards given to restaurants that offer “excellent food at reasonable prices” — and 67 Bay Area restaurants made the grade, including four newcomers.
The first-time honorees are:
• Brown Sugar Kitchen, the West Oakland soul food restaurant owned by Food Network star Tanya Holland, a chef who is now expanding to San Francisco and Uptown Oakland. (2534 Mandela Parkway)
• Pausa, a year-old San Mateo restaurant where owner Steve Ugur and chef Andrea Giuliani focus on rustic Italian pastas, brick-oven pizzas and housecured salumi (223 E. Fourth Ave.)
• Royal Feast, a Millbrae restaurant where chef Zongyi Liu’s cooking goes beyond Szechuan specialties to include an abalonerich menu of “aristocrat cuisine.” (148 El Camino Real)
• Playa in Mill Valley, a trendy Mexican spot by longtime restaurateur Bill Higgins and chef Omar Huerta that puts a contemporary, seasonal spin on classics. (41 Throckmorton Ave.)
Many Bay Area restaurants retained their Bib Gourmands, including The Bywater (Los Gatos); Orchard City Kitchen (Campbell); China Village (Albany); Comal, Corso, Great China, Ippuku and Tacos Sinaloa (all of Berkeley); Thai House (Danville); Vesta (Redwood City); Wonderful
(Millbrae); and Michel Bistro, Millennium and Wood Tavern (all of Oakland). The remaining honorees are located in San Francisco or Wine Country.
Martin Yan closing Yan Can Bistro
Fans of Martin Yan’s and Cory Chen’s fusion menu should head to Santa Clara soon to get their fix of kung pao, curry and pad thai.
The Yan Can Asian Bistro at Rivermark Plaza will close soon. No final date has been set yet, but a Chinese restaurant replacement has been lined up, a manager confirmed.
The renowned Yan of “Yan Can Cook” television and cookbook fame had opened two casual bistros — this one and a Pleasant Hill location — several years ago. Pan-Asian cuisine was the focus. Chen soon became the executive chef at both. The East Bay one closed in 2012.
“Chef Cory has enjoyed serving the community these past eight years and will keep you apprised of his new ventures,” said an email newsletter from the restaurant.
There was no word on whether Yan would look elsewhere in the South Bay or Peninsula for a new restaurant venture. His flagship remains M.Y. China at San Francisco’s Westfield Centre. Hours are 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, until 10 on Friday and Saturday. 3927 Rivermark Plaza, Santa Clara; 408-748-3355; www.yancanrestaurants.com.
Boccalone salumi company closing soon
Get your salami and soppressata while the getting is good.
Boccalone, makers of what they call “Tasty Salted Pig Parts,” is reporting slow sales, so the company will wind down operations in the coming weeks.
“Unfortunately, the numbers have been in decline and have reached the point where they’re not sustaining the business,” said general manager Mark Pastore, who first teamed up with co-founder Chris Cosentino in 2002 at Cosentino’s Incanto in San Francisco. They added house-made artisan salumi to the menu, then later bought the Moniz sausage plant in Oakland and launched Boccalone.
Pastore said they still have batches of salami that will be maturing into early November, so his crew will staff some farmers markets booths, including the Palo Alto one held on Sundays on California Avenue. The Ferry Building shop in San Francisco will remain open until Oct. 29.
Beyond that, Oakland will be your best bet for snagging some of Boccalone’s last custom charcuterie. You can order online at www.boccalone.com. Also, Pastore said the Oakland facility may hold a pop-up sale in November; keep checking the company’s social media for that date.