Gen Korean BBQ opens 2 new locations
The fast-growing Gen Korean BBQ chain has opened two new Bay Area locations, giving the popular chain five in the region.
Gen Korean, which offers an all-you-can-eat (after you cook it yourself) concept, has fired up the grills in Concord at 1353 Willow Pass Road and in West San Jose at Westgate Mall, with a street-side restaurant at 1554 Saratoga Ave.
It’s a put-your-name-onthe-list and wait affair, with no reservations taken.
The chain is known for its robotic assistants, which made their Northern California debut in Fremont in September. However, the two new restaurants — which have a smaller footprint — will be staffed by humans only.
Gen Korean shuns buffetstyle dining, instead bringing meats, seafood and vegetables — bulgogi, wagyu beef tongue, shrimp, spicy samgyupsal (pork belly), daechang (ox intestine) and more — to the tables for diners to grill.
Both the Concord (the first in Contra Costa County) and Westgate locations are open 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to midnight Friday, 9 a.m. to midnight Saturday and 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday. The former took over a Sizzler space; the latter was previously home to a Willow Street Pizza.
Next for the Southern California-based company is a San Diego restaurant. Details, menus: www.genkorean.com.
Applebee’s offers new $1 cocktail for February
After finding success with buck-a-cocktail promotions in October and December, Applebee’s restaurants are back with a new concoction for February.
Called the Dollarmama, this riff on a Bahama Mama is designed to offer a “winter getaway in a glass.” It’s made with white rum and a new Applebee’s proprietary mix of pineapple, orange and lime juices with a touch of coconut and cherry.
Customers may buy the drink for a dollar all month long. No other purchase is required.
Applebee’s kicked off the cocktail promotion with a $1 margarita in October and a $1 Long Island iced tea in December.
Chef Jeremiah Tower tapped for Tower Bridge dinner in Sacramento
It’s a perfect match of Towers.
Chef Jeremiah Tower — a culinary legend since his days at Chez Panisse and Stars — will oversee this year’s Tower Bridge dinner, the signature event of Sacramento’s Farmto-Fork Festival, the Sacramento Bee has reported.
“One of the main reasons I’m coming to Sacramento is to see how the food revolution has been expressed and organized,” Tower told the Bee. “They said (Sacramento) is the biggest cornucopia in the U.S., so I’m going to run around with my basket and gather everything I can.”
The city has branded itself as America’s Farm-toFork Capital, with 120 crops grown over 1.5 million acres in the region — and a lively restaurant scene to take advantage of that largesse.
It’s the sixth year for the dinner, which is served on the city’s iconic bridge. Tickets have yet to go on sale for the Sept. 30 dinner, but it’s always an immediate sellout. In the past, teams of the city’s top chefs worked together on the menu and execution; this is the first time an outside chef has been brought in.
“We asked ourselves, how can we elevate this dinner further?” Visit Sacramento CEO Mike Testa was quoted as saying. “Jeremiah Tower was our first choice, and the only one we reached out to. In the (food) community, he has total star power.”
Tickets are expected to go on sale this summer, the Farm-to-Fork website says. For updates, go to www.farmtofork.com.
Send restaurant tips to Linda Zavoral at lzavoral@ bayareanewsgroup.com.