Dinner at Rooh

Tonight's culinary adventure takes us to a relatively new addition to the San Francisco culinary scene: Rooh. At the helm of this contemporary Indian restaurant is Chef Sujan Sarkar, who was awarded Times Chef of the Year in India. Chef Sarkar's goal is to take his guests on a gastronomical journey pairing flavors across India with the bounty available in California.

Rooh is located in the South Beach neighborhood of downtown San Francisco, only a few blocks away from AT&T Park. In fact, something to consider if one wants to visit during baseball season; the area backs up considerably when the San Francisco Giants play home games. The restaurant is located on the ground level of a renovated warehouse building.

Interior of Rooh from my table
2017 Rooh. San Francisco, CA

The renovated warehouse provides a nice space for its proprietors to work with. It's high, open ceilings offer a nice balance to the long and narrow space. Walking through the front door, one enters into a small reception area featuring a small desk as host station. From there, the dining room flanks both sides of the premises, with the left featuring a few tables along the outer wall and large array of two-top tables that can be combined for larger groups.

The right side of the dining room, again along the front all, features several two-tops situated parallel with the outer wall. Along the inner wall, a bar area dominates the space, offering  high-top seating  for those looking for a bit more casual element.

The color palette of the restaurant is fresh and vibrant, yet not to an obnoxious extent. Chairs are of a nice green leather, while the fabric of the bench seats along the walls are a delightful canary yellow. Tables are of a darker wood, with legs of lighter wood. Finally, accents of curtains in reds, along with lighter tans of the ceiling piping, offer nice color accents that really round out the space.

Breakfast at Tartine Bakery

In a day of low-carb diets and protein shake-sporting Instagram photos, the role of the neighborhood bakery has greatly diminished in many parts of the United States. One of the things I remember most about my time abroad in Europe, was walking to the neighborhood bakery in the morning for fresh croissants. Sure, I could stop by a Whole Foods that has a sizable bakery operation, but it just isn't the same. It's the charm of a neighborhood operation, and the heart and soul that the bakery imbues into every kneaded loaf.

Tartine Bakery, located on the corner of 18th and Guerrero in San Francisco's
Mission district, will have a line forming at least thirty minutes before opening

Those in San Francisco's Mission district are fortunate to have their own little slice of bread and croissant heaven in the form of Tartine Bakery. Started by the husband-wife team of baker Chad Robertson, and pastry chef Elisabeth Prueitt, the two got their start at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. After traveling and training in France, the two opened up a bakery in Point Reyes Station. Their rustic wood fire-baked wares garnered them considerable attention, including being mentioned in celebrated chef Alain Ducasse's book 'Harvesting Excellence.' After 6 years in Marin County, the duo relocated their operation to the corner of 18th and Guerrero in San Francisco's mission district, where they remain today.

Dinner at KEIKO à Nob Hill

This edition of Weekend by the Bay takes us to a little Japanese-influenced French restaurant in the heart of San Francisco's posh Nob Hill neighborhood: KEIKO à Nob Hill. Before starting the restaurant with her namesake, Chef Keiko Takahashi earned a Michelin star in 2009 working in the Mill Valley stalwart El Paseo. Now with her own restaurant, and another Michelin Star to her acclaim, Chef Keiko continues to do what put her on the culinary map: create amazing works of Japanese-inspired french cuisine.

Dinner at Commonwealth Restaurant

The original plan for Easter Sunday consisted of meeting up with some fellow Michigan State alumni for brunch. From where I live in the Bay Area, heading into the city isn't the most convenient undertaking: requiring roughly a 40 minutes ride on the BART. Thus, the idea of just heading into the city for a two hour brunch seemed like quite a waste. I started looking for any restaurant openings in that evening to book-end an afternoon, and when I saw that the Commonwealth Restaurant had openings for dinner, I decided to stick around.

Wine tasting at Arista

After finishing a delightful Latin-inspired lunch at Guiso Latin Fusion, I picked up a coffee to go at nearby Flying Goat Coffee, and jumped back into the car to head to my next tasting. Winding down Westside Rd., which runs parallel with the Russian River, I managed to dodge a few cyclists en route to the second winery of the day: Arista.

Arista is located in the north-central part of the Russian River Valley, not too far from the Russian River itself, at the location where the river slowly ends its north-south journey, and begins to head west to empty in the Pacific. Due to the region's proximity with the Pacific Ocean, summers are tempered by the cool fog that blows in through the Pentaluma gap. This creates conditions perfect for cooler climate grapes, such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

The geology of the area also has a big influence on the wine making. Like most parts of the Pacific Rim, the collision of the Pacific and North American plates over the course of history has had a huge impact on the landscape and soil. More specifically to wine, it was eruptions of volcanic vents over top of the existing bedrock, that created the loamy soil prized for wine making. Combine this with a conducive climate, and one has a region growing some of the finest Pinot Noir in the New World.

Tasting room at Arista
2017 Arista Winery. Healdsburgh, CA

Lunch at Guiso Latin Fusion

Finishing the wonderful wine tasting at the Donum Estate, I pressed on with my Easter weekend wine country excursion and headed north to the delightful town of Healdsburgh, California. Located on U.S. Highway 101 just north of Santa Rosa, California, in the heart of the Russian River Valley AVA. Healdsburgh is the perfect wine country town, sporting just enough restaurants and shops to be interesting, yet not nearly as developed as a Napa, California.

Pulling off Highway 101, I made a beeline through the downtown towards lunch at the subject of today's post: Guiso Latin Fusion. The first thing I noticed was that on a Saturday early afternoon, parking was hard to come by in downtown Healdsburgh. I circled the block a couple times, and finally a spot opened up a block from the restaurant.

Wine Tasting at The Donum Estate

With the Easter weekend, I decided to take a break from a Saturday journey to San Francisco, and instead drive up through Sonoma county for some good food and wine tasting. This culminated with dinner at acclaimed restaurant Terrapin Creek Cafe, which you can read about here. To break up the morning and afternoon tasting, I selected Guiso Latin Fusion in downtown Healdsburgh for lunch.

View from the Donum Estate entrance
2017 The Donum Estate. Carneros, CA

The first stop today was at the Donum Estate, located in the Carneros American Viticultural Area (AVA) that straddles both Napa and Sonoma counties. Just north of the San Pablo Bay (i.e. the northern bay in the Bay Area), the cool winds and fog results in a micro-climate much cooler than a few miles north in Napa or Sonoma. This makes it perfect for cooler temperate varietals, such as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.