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Reams of praise for Reem Assil
Food & Wine magazine’s top 10 new restaurants of 2018 list has love for Fruitvale bakery and restaurant Reem’s California (3301 E. 12 Street, Suite 133). They rave about chef/proprietor Reem Assil’s mu’ajinaat, man’oushe flatbread, and sumac chicken at the business, which Assil will soon expand: In a partnership with Daniel Patterson’s Alta group, Assil is opening a full-service restaurant called Dyafa in Jack London Square. All in all, it’s a big year for the chef, who was also a semifinalist for a James Beard award.
Good morning, City Counter
Starting April 16, new-school FiDi luncheonette City Counter is getting in the breakfast game. Breakfast toasties with optional ‘nduja and items like “My Jewish Husband,” (an everything-spice gougère with gravlax, bay leaf cream cheese, and a caper and charred onion relish, named for owner Harper Matheson’s hebrew hubbie) are available at 115 Sansome from Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
City Counter Breakfast Menu by Caleb Pershan on Scribd
Porta Blu opens with Mediterranean panache in Menlo
A new all-day dining option, Porta Blu, is now open at the new Hotel Nia in Menlo Park. Dinners at the restaurant (200 Independence Drive) include a list of tagines with couscous, breakfasts include lemon ricotta pancakes and shakshuka, and a lounge area has cocktails to please hotel guests, locals, and the area’s techie after-work crowd.
Il Casaro hosts two-time world pizza champ
North Beach pizzeria Il Casarao is putting on a pizza show tonight from 5 to 8 p.m. at 348 Columbus, with pizzaiolo Antonio Langone and the owner of Di Stefano cheeses demonstrating how to make burrata and mozzarella. RSVP and tickets are here,
CDP’s new prix fixe
James Syhabout’s bar and lounge accompaniment to Commis, CDP, opened for a la carte items and chic cocktails last fall. Now, it’s sporting a four-course prix fixe dinner option for 14 diners per night from Wednesday to Sunday for $65 centered on Cote de Boeuf.
Au revoir, Palo Alto Cheesecake factory
The 375 University Avenue Cheesecake factory in Palo Alto is collapsing after more than a decade in the business. There’s still time to go before it closes for good, terminating its lease, May 26.
