Here’s What to Expect at Ethel’s Fancy, Palo Alto’s Upcoming Restaurant From a Fine Dining Alum

Don’t pigeonhole chef Scott Nishiyama just because he cooked at Daniel, the French Laundry, and Yoshi’s, and served as executive chef at Mountain View’s Chez TJ (oh, and in case you were wondering, he graduated from MIT, too). According to Palo Alto Online, Nishiyama’s Ethel’s Fancy will open in the next week or so with a more accessible menu and approach to cooking. After three years of vacancy, the former Prolific Oven space will debut as the new restaurant soon.

Nishiyama has had the restaurant in the works since 2017, and he’s known all the while he wanted to cook from his experiences rather than in the classic French style on which he cut his teeth. Simple interactive and shareable dishes, vegetable and seafood-forward, are the stars of the menu. Both the chef’s mother and grandmother were named Ethel, and between a childhood eating in Hawaii and Oregon, he learned to appreciate a number of ways to cook, serve, and eat, he tells the outlet.

Oakland fortune cookie factory is for a new generation of fans

Alicia Wong and her family run Oakland Fortune Factory, but it’s Wong who designed the Chinese porcelain and spring blossom fortune cookies. Mercury News reports the business was struggling six years ago when Wong’s mother took over the decades-old operation, and Wong’s vibrant new renditions are bringing up the bottom line. “A fortune cookie represents who I am,” Wong told the Mercury. “I’m a Chinese American. I’m not entirely Chinese, and I’m not entirely American. I’m both, and that’s what a fortune cookie is.”

60-year-old Sacramento restaurant closes suddenly

Taylor’s Kitchen, a favorite of Sacramento’s Land Park neighborhood, shut down permanently as of July 28, the Sacramento Bee reports. The business said on Instagram that staffing issues caused the ownership to reconsider the business model; the restaurant’s retail extension, Taylor’s Market, will remain open.

Sprawling Brazilian steakhouse to open near Sausalito

A new Brazilian steakhouse called Show de Carnes, in all its 6,500 square feet of carnivorous glory is coming to 196 Donahue Street at the Marin Gateway Shopping Center. The San Francisco Business Times reports the restaurant looks to open this fall and will be the only churrascaria in the area, the next nearest being Fogo de Chão on Third Street in San Francisco.

Third annual mindful food festival in San Rafael

Miyoko Schinner, of Miyoko’s Creamery, is bringing thousands of plant-based and slow-eating advocates and fans to the North Bay on August 6 and 7 at the Dominican University of California. The Marin Independent Journal writes actor Kate Mara-produced movie “The Smell of Money” will make its West Coast premiere on the first night.