Want to try a coffee creation that a “Top Chef” star calls a “true masterpiece that’s the result of my passion for flavors”? Then head to Oakland’s The Caffè by Mr. Espresso, which is featuring not one but two specialty drinks designed by “Top Chef” alums this month into October. Mr. Espresso is an Italian immigrant-founded coffee enterprise that dates from the 1970s and is known for roasting beans with oak wood. The company opened its first coffee shop downtown this spring at 1120 Broadway and, in the spirit of local collaboration, is featuring two Oakland chefs with reality-TV cred and their caffeinated inventions.
At Paste Thai, the food is authentic, upscale and made from scratch. If a chef I respect raves about a restaurant, I tend to take notice. So when Kathi Riley Smith once the executive chef at San Francisco’s Zuni Cafe told me about Paste Thai in Davis, I suggested we go there for lunch. “I don’t think I’ve ever had Thai food made with fresher ingredients,” she said. We were joined by a mutual friend, longtime caterer and cooking instructor Roxanne O’Brien. Kathi let Rox do the ordering “as long a
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Critic Bill Addison details why Botanica should be on your list for dinner reservations, plus our guides to ice cream in L.A. and ways to support victims of the Maui fires.