Welcome to Year in Eater 2021, Eater’s annual tradition of celebrating the past 12 months with help from some of the Bay Area’s top food writers.
The closure of Le Marais Bakery’s flagship in the Marina due to their lousy landlord really pissed me off—they put so much into that space.
It was bittersweet to break the news when star pastry chef Michelle Polzine announced she was winding down 20th Century Cafe this spring.
They’re all kinda equally sad, aren’t they? But I miss grabbing a drink and a view at Cliff House.
As a former resident of Ireland de Vere’s Irish Pub was the best American imitation I’d seen since coming back stateside, with its dark wood bar flown in from the Emerald Isle, great shepherd’s pie and bartenders who knew how to properly pour a Guinness.
Oliveto in Rockridge.
Halu, a tiny, endearing yakitori restaurant covered in Beatles paraphernalia, never reopened after the initial COVID shutdown.
It never gets easy as a food reporter to listen to the stories of all the hard work that goes into opening and running a business to then confront the difficult decision of permanent closure.
The buffet place in Oakland Chinatown called Buffet Fortuna closed at some point during the pandemic.
A lot of life would get in the way, but Homestead helped me fall back in love with the Bay Area through food and I was so looking forward to returning to celebrate in that cozy dining room.