.Food & Drink

“My favorite Azerbaijani restaurant is ____. It’s much easier to fill in that blank when the restaurant in question is Mexican, Vietnamese or French.  Before sitting down to eat at Anar Usubov’s Bistro 4293, I’d read his website’s...

The artists in Anthony Meier’s group show, “Consider the Oyster,” are united, not by their relationship to mollusks, but by a more ephemeral relationship to M.F.K. Fisher’s short book of the same name.  Throughout the work, published in...

Both the use and the mystique of spices goes back centuries. Ancient Egyptians used spices such as coriander, cumin, myrrh, frankincense, cinnamon and ginger in cooking—and also mummification.  The ancient Chinese developed the classic “five-spice blend” of cinnamon,...

In Haruki Murakami’s novels, the melancholic main character will inevitably stave off his ennui by spending time in a smoke-filled, boozy jazz club. The clubs are not only off the beaten path, but they may exist in...

It was four months ago when I was first introduced to the craft cider world. A winemaker friend in Livermore had taken my brother and I on a tour of what had to be 40 acres of...

Embroidery on Paul Einbund’s baseball cap reads “chartreuse” in yellowy-green letters. It serves a dual purpose, announcing his profession as a sommelier and his upcoming travel itinerary. The restaurateur behind The Morris in San Francisco is about...

The cacophony of noise coming from the ready-mix concrete plant across the street from Donkey & Goat’s campus doesn’t necessarily suggest that quality wine is being made anywhere nearby. Isn’t a normal California wine experience supposed to...