When you hear ‘Drive for Great Food’ you probably think we are doing some kind of food drive to help the homeless. Right?
YES CHEF!
Well, that’s not exactly what I’m talking about here. And I should say Drive or FLY for Great Food, cause I am giving you the heads up for the finalists for the 2018 James Beard Awards that are relatively close to San Diego. Yes. The list showed up in my inbox from Eater today.
And I’m thinking that if you really want to create a quick getaway that might be fun and unique, a destination vacation, you can plan a trip around good food and service.
Eater is great. But they don’t narrow it down for you. So, here ya go!
Best New Restaurant
The Charter Oak, St. Helena CA
Felix Trattoria, Venice CA
JuneBaby, Seattle
Kismet, Los Angeles
A decade ago or two when the kids were young, we used to take the to St. Helena. They have such cute, quaint Inns, with fireplaces and small nooks and crannies in the living room that look onto a vineyard. My favorite place for souvenirs was the ACE Hardware store. I got a beautiful silver hanging oval, covered with carved grapes, to hang pots from. And I just went to FedEx and shipped it home. So cool! If I were you, kids or not, I would plan a trip up to St. Helena. That’s where the Culinary Institute Greystone is. So, you can plan to take a class or just visit and eat what the students cook.
Outstanding Chef
David Kinch, Manresa, Los Gatos CA
Christopher Kostow, The Restaurant at Meadowood | St. Helena CA
Well, I’m glad to see the Meadowood has a good chef. Another great reason to make St. Helena a destination vacation!
Outstanding Restaurant
Canlis, Seattle
Quince, San Francisco
I’ve always heard about Quince. Not a big surprise to see it listed here. San Francisco is another designation vacation. Although below Market is very disappointing and downtown has lots of psychotic bums screaming at you, coming up to your cab window and banging (just my personal experience), if you take a car to a restaurant whether in a good or bad neighborhood, you can do ok.
Here’s another idea: fly into San Francisco and stay at A Loft near the airport.
Most times it’s a trendy cool inexpensive hotel with a pool table in the lobby, which is fun. The only thing to watch out for is when there’s a conference in town, and everything from downtown to the airport gets sold out. Then their prices go from $100 all the way up to $1,000. It’s what the market will bare. And that’s how the industry works…. Then you can Uber into the city for $20, day or night and just hang out and come back to something less busy at night. I recommend Gracias Madre for great plant based food in both San Francisco and Los Angeles. San Francisco is in a lousy neighborhood. I took a crew of 11 people with me. No problem. Door to door car service is your best idea there!
Outstanding Restaurateur
Caroline Styne, The Lucques Group (Lucques; a.o.c.; Tavern and others), Los Angeles
Outstanding Service
Saison, San Francisco
Outstanding Wine Program
a.o.c., Los Angeles
Benu, San Francisco
The Little Nell, Aspen CO
Outstanding Wine, Beer, or Spirits Professional
Cathy Corison (Corison Winery, St. Helena CA)
Miljenko Grgich (Grgich Hills Estate, Rutherford CA)
Steve Matthiasson (Matthiasson Wines, Napa CA)
Lance Winters (St. George Spirits, Alameda CA)
I wonder if when they say Miljenko Grgich they’re talking about Mike Grgich. Many moons ago I attended a wine dinner at Mr. A’s downtown…. and he insisted I sit next to him because he ‘wanted the company of a beautiful woman’. lol He was pretty old but sharp in those days and I found him to be a great dinner partner. As he left he said: “I will see you in my dreams”. lol So flattering. And the wine is excellent!
Rising Star Chef of the Year
Miles Thompson (Michael’s, Santa Monica CA)
Best Chef: West (CA, HI, NV)
Michael Cimarusti (Providence, Los Angeles)
Dominique Crenn (Atelier Crenn, San Francisco)
Jeremy Fox (Rustic Canyon, Santa Monica CA)
Jessica Koslow (Sqirl, Los Angeles)
Travis Lett (Gjelina, Venice CA)
Outside of taking a longer trip up to St. Helena, if you are thinking to Drive for Great Food, a trip to Los Angeles would be nice. You can hit Michael’s and Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica, Providence (one of my personal all time favorite restaurants in LA), Sqirl, Kismet, Lucques, a.o.c., Tavern and others in Los Angeles and Gjelina and Felix Trattoria in Venice.
And again, I’m happy to remind you that close to the next place I am going to recommend of where to stay is: Gracias Madre. It doesn’t matter if you are a plant based eater or not. It’s amazing food.
When I go to Los Angeles I like to stay at Sofitel. I’ve stayed at Sofitel while traveling worldwide and they have the most amazing comfortable beds and hotel to hotel it is equally good. Consistant. The one in Los Angeles claims a Beverly Hills city tag, but it’s not true. It’s not even within walking distance of Beverly Hills on the outer edges of La Cienega North. It is right across from the Beverly Center also with some good dining. But you’ll have to take a drive to experience Beverly Hills. What I also will say is: The last time I stayed at Sofitel I was greeted with a glass of champagne. And their ‘in house’ restaurant is Beverly Hills ‘style’, flavor and will cost you a pretty penny. So they do make every effort to get you into the mood!
Healthy Happy Eating,
