One of San Francisco’s top fine dining chefs on season 21 of Top Chef just exited the challenge. | David Moir/Bravo via Getty Image Spoilers ahead. You’ve been warned. The sixth episode of season 21 of Top Chef saw 50 percent of the remaining Bay Area firepower pack up their knives. Rasika Venkatesa, known for her time as chef de cuisine at one-Michelin-starred Mourad in downtown San Francisco, was the judge’s least favorite for the episode and was sent home on Wednesday night. The exit comes as a surprise after Venkatesa won several challenges already, establishing herself as a frontrunner am ..read more

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce at Neon Carnival during Coachella on April 13, 2024. | Photo by Gilbert Flores/WWD via Getty Images The Internet is hard at work sleuthing out where Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce dined with Gigi Hadid and Bradley Cooper in Carmel-by-the-Sea While Taylor Swift’s many fans filled their ears with the first (and second and third) listens of Swift’s newly released — and already record-breaking — album The Tortured Poets Department last weekend, it seems the recording artist spent a quiet couple of days in our Bay Area backyard with some noteworthy friends. Swift and he ..read more

Lulu Lulu is now in a larger space with dazzling new menu items, old favorites, a new look, and longer hours After a successful run in Berkeley, mezze powerhouse Lulu is returning to a new, bigger location as of Saturday, May 4, this time on Albany’s Solano Avenue. It’s a move that’s been a long time coming, says owner and chef Mona Leena Michael. Although Lulu was popular from its debut in 2021, the size of the former Camelia Street space didn’t quite match the big ambitions of the restaurant. Catering jobs were a difficult undertaking alongside service, for instance, leading the Lulu team to ..read more

Garlic festivities are headed to the Central Valley as of August 2024. | Bloomberg After a tumultuous few years, the Gilroy-founded event is relocating to Los Banos’s Merced County Spring Fairgrounds this summer Northern California’s legendary garlic celebration returns once again this summer — though it’ll be in a new home, about 50 miles away from the allium’s ancestral lands of Gilroy. In August 2024, the California Garlic Festival is moving to the Merced County Spring Fairgrounds in Los Banos. ABC 7 reports the popular annual event will run from August 30 to September 1 from 12 p.m. to 10 ..read more

True Laurel and Pacific Cocktail Haven are among the bars named to the North America’s 50 Best Bars list this week. | Michelle Min True Laurel and Pacific Cocktail Haven were named to the 2024 North America’s 50 Best Bars list on Tuesday night Lovers of mighty cocktail prowess in San Francisco have reason to rejoice. The Mission’s True Laurel was named number 30 on the 2024 North America’s 50 Best Bars list and was awarded the Ketel One Sustainable Bar Award 2024 at a ceremony on Tuesday, April 23. Pacific Cocktail Haven, one of FiDi’s top destinations for Asian- and AAPI-inspired drinks, was ..read more

Colombian pop-up Mezclá Eats turns salchipapas into the ultimate bar food. | Octavio Pena Find yucca fries with aji amarillo beer cheese and carne asada banh mi on the Mezclá Eats menu Juan Melendez and Stephanie Nguyen started their pop-up, Mezclá Eats, in 2019 to share their love for Colombian cuisine. Melendez was born in Colombia and has more than twenty years of cooking experience; Nguyen is Vietnamese and has also worked in restaurants for more than two decades. The couple serves Colombian dishes with twists inspired by the Bay Area’s diverse food scene, and the Mezclá Eats menu is alway ..read more

Pim Techamuanvivit and Brandon Jew are the two San Francisco chefs on the Chronicle’s new list of influential people. | San Francisco Chronicle via Gett The San Francisco Influence List gave props to Pim Techamuanvivit and Brandon Jew, naming them as people who “command pronounced influence” in the city Hot on the heels of Time magazine releasing its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world list, which included San Francisco chef Dominique Crenn, the San Francisco Chronicle has published a similar list. The paper’s San Francisco Influence List was released on Monday, April 2 ..read more

There’s pioneering coffee coming out of Sacramento. Opal Coffee Club is one of those innovating roasters. | Matt Chong Opal Coffee Club brings edgy co-ferments, anaerobic processing, and naturally processed coffees to the capital city If you’re a big-time coffee nerd, you need to taste the cutting edge of what’s possible in the cup, and you’re likely well aware of that fact. But some may not realize that the best place to do that might just be Sacramento, where one roaster rides the edge of what coffee in the United States can look like, showcasing what’s possible before coffee even makes it t ..read more

Scallop tostada with jicama, avocado, and caviar from chef Lucho Martinez at Snail Bar. | Lauren Saria Follow the Eater SF team as they share their favorite dishes from around the Bay Area There’s certainly no shortage of excellent food to be found in San Francisco and the Bay Area — but there’s plenty worth skipping, too. Luckily for you, Eater editors dine out several times a week (or more) and we’re happy to share the standout dishes we encounter as we go. Here’s the best of everything the Eater SF team has eaten recently. Check back weekly for more don’t-miss dishes. Mofongo at Casa Borinq ..read more

Wolf by Vanderpump opened at Harvery’s Lake Tahoe amid a flurry of confetti. | Wolf by Vanderpump The party to celebrate Wolf by Vanderpump’s opening featured shirtless models in wolf heads and a fluffy dog Reality TV star and restaurateur Lisa Vanderpump has given Tahoe-goers a glamorous — or gaudy, depending on your taste — new dinner destination to try. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the LA-based restaurant owner opened Wolf by Vanderpump at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe last week and celebrated a somewhat star-studded party featuring shirtless models in wolf heads, confetti, ice sculpture ..read more