One of the Bay Area’s Few Culinary Schools to Close

The end of a training ground

The International Culinary Center is closing its West Coast campus in Campbell, with students entering the culinary and wine school in January 2019 being the final graduating class. The Campbell branch of the New York-based school opened in 2010, and its current deans David Kinch (Manresa) and Emily Luchetti (The Cavalier, Marlowe) added prestige — but the Bay Area’s high cost of living has meant that it’s been challenging to grow the student pool. One of the Bay Area’s other top culinary schools, Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in San Francisco, closed in 2017. For those interested in culinary education, SF Cooking School is still going strong.

The holidays are almost here

Winter Walk will return to Union Square for the fifth year in a row, creating a pedestrian holiday-themed plaza along Stockton Street between Geary and O’Farrell Streets from November 23 through December 31. This year, it’ll feature a rotating selection of food trucks with staples like Koja Kitchen and Senor Sisig, holiday cocktails from Rye on the Road, and a beer garden.

No, Verve Coffee isn’t serving pumpkin spice lattes

Verve is rolling out a new holiday drinks menu, but the classic PSLs and peppermint mochas aren’t on it. Instead, the menu includes a whiskey latte (made with a reduction of bourbon and vanilla), butternut squash con panna (spiced squash cream sitting on top of espresso), cafe fernet (nonalcoholic fernet shaken with decaf espresso), and cascara pine (spritzed with aromatic terpenes for a piney scent).

A new brunch option

ALX Gastropub is starting brunch service on Sunday, November 18 with indulgent dishes like duck confit croquettes with blue corn cakes and duck eggs Benedict with foie gras-laced hollandaise. It’ll be available every Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.