MICHELIN guide Discovery

The MICHELIN guide | Anna Billstrom

Being a San Francisco Bay area native, I like to pride myself on knowing all of the hot spots. Using the MICHELIN guide, though, has opened my eyes to gems near home and in the 'burbs- quick lunches with friends and dinner out with the family after an exhausting weekend day.

Rose Pistola
My mom called unexpectedly telling me she was driving through San Francisco so -- more

Thank you for your interest in MICHELIN. Enter your e-mail address below to get the latest news from Michelin, including special offers, upcoming events, and more. MICHELIN has a strict privacy policy. We won't sell or rent your personally identifiable information under any circumstance. All Fields Required.
E-mail Address
Name
Zip/Postal Code
Country
Yes No	Check here to sign up to receive email updates from MICHELIN.


MICHELIN respects your privacy. The information that you send to us is protected by our privacy policy. View the current privacy policy.

Guest Explorers

We recruited 10 Guest Explorers—people who aren’t food or wine professionals, but make dining choices all the time for different types of occasions. We gave them a 2009 MICHELIN Guide, and sent them out to discover, asking them to report back after using their 2009 MICHELIN guide for two days. Every week until the end of the year, we will feature the discoveries of a different Guest Explorer— from the single gal in New York City to entrepreneurial executives in the Bay Area!

Disclaimer: Guest Explorer do not represent the opinions or views of the MICHELIN guide editorial staff or Michelin North America, Inc. All testimonials are the opinion of the author. The above testimonial is displayed without compensation to the author.

	Julia Vitullo-Martin Julia Vitullo-Martin is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and Director of the Center for Rethinking Development, where her work focuses on urban planning issues. Prior to joining the Manhattan Institute, Vitullo-Martin held several positions working for the city of New York and has taught on the graduate level at both the New School University and Hunter College. Vitullo-Martin has been published in notable publication including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and Fortune, as well as academic journals. She has authored and edited three books, including Breaking Away: The Future of Cities (Century Foundation Press, 1996). She also created and wrote an eating guide to Lower Manhattan for New York State jurors, The Jury is Out to Lunch. Vitullo-Martin holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago. She lives on the West Side of Manhattan with her husband.
	Adrianna Giuliani Adrianna began her Techromance blog for a digital strategies class in her graduate school program at Columbia University. She never thought an assignment would turn into such a strong passion and never ever thought it would wind up getting her in trouble. In addition to sharing her stories on “how technology creates, crumbles and confuses meaning in romantic relationships” she uses material from her friends, often to their sha-grin. From blush-worthy topics like sex messaging to thinking about how “Great Texpectations” can lead to disappointment in dating today, the blog juxtaposes digital availability with emotional unavailability. By day Adrianna is a Creativity Planner in Ketchum PR’s Creative & Strategic Planning Group. In her role, Adrianna collaborates with brands to develop programs that challenge conventional thinking and capitalize on current trends and consumer insights. Additionally she writes for their bi-weekly trend report, the Culturalist™.
	Marie Saeki After years working as a fashion publicist in Paris, Marie Saeki moved to New York following her love for the city. Prior to opening her own public relations agency in 1998, working with young independent designers and established brands, she worked as an editor in a fashion magazine. In 1997 she secretly married Takamichi Saeki in New York and a year later in Tokyo. They currently live in Manhattan, on the Lower East Side.
	Takamichi Saeki When Tokyo native Takamichi Saeki gave up his job as a contemporary art dealer in New York, he was at a loss for what to do. So he took up a pair of scissors at a friend’s salon and learned to cut hair. “I’ve always been interested in form and shape,” says Saeki. After 5 years as a stylist in a Nolita hair salon, he opened Takamichi Hair in 2000 now located on Great Jones Street. As a New Yorker of 20 years and a social life lover, he enjoys discovering new places and has never lost his curiosity for the ever-changing city of New York.
	Jason Klein Jason Klein is President and co-CEO of Special Ops Media, a full-service interactive agency he co-founded in 2002. He is an expert in online marketing, strategy, media planning, creative services and publicity. His passion for the entertainment industry initially spurred Special Ops to lend its expertise to both mainstream and independent cinema – with industry clients including Universal Pictures, Focus Features, Lionsgate Entertainment, First Look Studios, and 20th Century Fox. As Special Ops continued to evolve, Jason began lending his branding expertise to the spirits industry – starting with highly successful campaigns for Reyka Vodka, Hendrick’s Gin, and Glenfiddich. Jason regularly speaks on interactive and digital marketing at international festivals and conferences. Jason was named in Variety’s Indie 50 list as one of the “top movers and shakers” in independent film. Recently, he was named one of OMMA Magazine’s Rising Stars of Digital Media. Jason graduated Magna Cum Laude from Brown University in 2000.
	Hemant Baijal Mr. Baijal is a Founding Member, Portfolio Manager and General Partner of Aravali Partners LLC, which specializes in fixed income relative value strategies. Mr. Baijal was a Founder, Member and Portfolio Manager at Havell Capital Management, LLC, from 1996 to 2006, where he was the principal investment advisor of the UBF. From 1993 to 1996, Mr. Baijal was a Senior Portfolio Manager at Neuberger & Berman (“N&B”) where he managed $700 million in international and $550 million in multi-sector accounts. Prior to joining N&B, Mr. Baijal worked for Banca Di Roma, The First Boston Corporation and Merrill Lynch & Co. Mr. Baijal holds a B.A. (Honors) in Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi, India and an M.B.A. in International Business and Finance from the Columbia Business School. He currently lives in Battery Park City with his wife and toddler.
	Anna Billstrom Anna Billstrom is a CRM consultant, email expert, and blogger. She blogs- at banane.com, SF Metblogs (sf.metblogs.com), a professional blog at Adventures in Email Marketing (banane.com/workblog and MarketingProfs, (marketingprofs.com), as well as online murder mystery series, the most recent: hom.i.c.id.e (banane.com/homicide). She resides in North Beach, in San Francisco, and can be found swimming in Aquatic Park, sipping cortados at Caffe Sapore, or shopping with her sisters on Grant St.
	Kelly Wanser Kelly Wanser is the Chairman and CEO of eCert Inc., established to protect financial, government and other critical email from fraud. Kelly also serves on the Board of ColdSpark, an email software company she founded in 1991, and is the author of several patents in electronic messaging. She is avid traveler, writer and advocate for research on climate management. Kelly has lived in London, Belize City, Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Dallas and Boulder, and currently resides in San Francisco
	Mika Takeuchi Born in Tokyo, by age three Mika Takeuchi was already dining at the world’s finest sushi bars in her favorite designer outfits. Now based in California, she has forged a career out of her passion for food and dining and her love of style and fashion. Mika is founder and editor in chief of FoodFashionista.com (www.foodfashionista.com), a food blog dedicated to sharing all things fabulous and food related. She is also the owner and creator of online boutique, Fashionbliss.com (www.fashionbliss.com). In her Hollywood Hills kitchen you will find Sub-Zero and Viking and in her closet you will find Manolos and Choos. Mika is the ambassador/spokesperson for Luce della Vite wines from Tuscany-a collaboration of the Frescobaldi and Mondavi families. In addition to being a fashion buyer and personal style shopper for high profile clients in the U.S, Asia, and Europe, Mika has worked in restaurants with top chefs, and has dined in many of the world’s top restaurants. Mika and her companies have been recognized and featured in a number of publications such as, The Washington Post, San Francisco Magazine, AOL Stylelist, Daily Candy, Lucky, Florida Today, 7x7 and many more.
	Andrew Kaplan Andrew Kaplan works for a national west coast-based real estate developer. Currently working on a mixed-use project in the old downtown section of Las Vegas, Andrew travel regularly to the area. A foodie and former travel writer, with a penchant for dives serving immigrant comfort food, Andrew enjoys exploring the Las Vegas food scene – on and off “the strip”. Andrew is a fan of Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma but wonders if it’s humanly possible to be a locavore in the state of Nevada. Andrew lives in Los Angeles with his wife who is a film director.
	ROBERT VERDI Robert Verdi. He’s a self-made machine. He’s got his hands in everything. He’s a whirlwind of opinion and pop culture. He’s a Jersey boy-cum jewelry designer-cum television host-cum lifestyle expert-cum rising superstar. Design denizens adore his keen eye for color, homemakers hail his quick fixes for fixer-uppers, and fashion experts cling to the edge of their front row seat during fashion shows anticipating his kiss of couture death or delight. Robert Verdi’s name is synonymous with style. Currently, Robert can be seen as a judge on TVLand’s original series, She’s Got The Look, but his infamous television career started in 2000 when Robert changed the way America sees fashion when he co-created and co-hosted the groundbreaking show Full Frontal Fashion on Metro TV. It was the first show to bring non-stop coverage of Fashion Week into America’s living rooms. In 2002, Robert began co-hosting Surprise by Design, which would become the Discovery Channel’s highest rated daytime show. Then Robert joined E! Entertainment Television as their voice of fashion and was charged with covering the red carpet. He also began hosting Fashion Police, a weekly insider’s look at the world of fashion and style. Robert is one of the most highly recognizable faces in the world of fashion today and has been invited to guest star as himself on UPN’s Eve, ABC’s Hope & Faith, and had a cameo in the motion picture The Devil Wears Prada, where Verdi played himself opposite Meryl Streep. Verdi has also appeared as the in-the-know interior design and fashion expert on network heavy hitters such as The View, Regis & Kelly, The Today Show as well as cable’s CNN Headline News and VH1’s The Fabulous Life. Robert’s talents aren’t limited to television or the big screen, he’s also written columns for the magazines InsideTV and The Daily. Verdi has also used his design virtuosity to help update the digs and the duds of A-listers like Eva Longoria, Hugh Jackman, Terrence Howard, Sandra Bernhard and Mariska Hargitay as well as Bobby Flay and Jolie Fisher.

The MICHELIN guide | Anna Billstrom

Rose Pistola
My mom called unexpectedly telling me she was driving through San Francisco so we decided to meet for lunch. I had just picked up the MICHELIN guide downtown and had decided on Maykadeh, an inspector’s favorite. On our walk to the restaurant we passed Rose Pistola, a bit more decadent for a weekday lunch than my original choice, but we agreed it would be a nice treat for our impromptu mother-daughter outing.

As we entered from the street on a beautiful Northern California afternoon, Rose Pistola welcomed us with amazing smells wafting out from the open kitchen – prepared by the new chef from Liguria, which is where many of the North Beach locals are from. We opted for a table outside for our Monday lunch to enjoy the gorgeous afternoon.

We continued to spoil ourselves with two glasses of Soave Italian white wine and a plate of salted fish- salmon, sardines and swordfish. Recently my mother and I have begun ordering and preparing more small fish dishes because of their health benefits and minimal environmental impact so we were eager to try Pistola’s preparations. The plate rated quite high with us, as we polished off almost the entire thing!

When the waiter arrived to take our entrée order, he saw we had the new [MICHELIN] guide and proceeded to stand table-side thumbing through the pages giving little ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ about each star awarded – which were announced that morning. As someone who can find the local food scene intimidating, I like the MICHELIN guide for its “cheat sheet” aspect. I can order some of the best stuff at the restaurant without doing all of the legwork, or reading 200 Yelp reviews.

We ended our meal by splitting the Bosc Pear and Gorgonzola pizza, which had a nice mellow edge to it – a good alternative to the pricier entrees, which helped keep the price down. With our creative menu ordering lunch was only $52.00 for two people, wine, and two dishes (including hors d’oevres), despite the [MICHELIN] guides $$$ rating. However the MICHELIN guide isn’t wrong, if we hadn’t been forewarned, it could have spiraled into a $200 dinner. The experience was so enjoyable, just the other day I received a message from a New York-based colleague asking for a restaurant recommendation in North Beach and recommended Rose Pistola.

Thea Mediterranean
On Saturday, I headed down to San Jose to babysit my nephew Nils and have dinner with my sister Sally’s family. Before leaving for an afternoon outing with my nephew, I deftly planted the seed with Sally that we might want to look at the MICHELIN guide instead of barbecuing (which we’d planned to do earlier in the week).

After an afternoon arcade adventure with Nils, we met up with Sally, her husband Mark and daughter Meghan, where the two of us began debating our three Michelin-recommended options in the neighborhood: Pizza Antica, Tanglewood & Thea Mediterranean. We decided to go with Thea because it wasn’t pizza (the kids don’t like pizza, believe it or not) and I felt like North African/Middle Eastern.

I love ordering the [MICHELIN] guide’s suggestions, so we got the recommended htipiti- a red pepper and whipped feta cheese appetizer. Meghan, who said she wasn’t hungry, ended up demolishing it. We ordered a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and the kids got chicken skewers. I ordered a chicken with cream sauce- not usually into cream sauce but this one was just right. Mark got the pork chops- and Sally the prawns. I think the prawns were probably the best thing we ordered, though my chicken lasted for two delicious meals.

After dinner the kids dropped off to sleep, so we ordered baklava and French press coffee, which was appreciated. We walked back to our cars, then drove back to my sister’s house, later I managed to haul myself back home, where I polished off the rest of my chicken dinner around 2 am, a very nice late night snack!

R & G Lounge
I’ve always wanted to experience what my Chinese-American childhood friends would tell me about: grandparents leading them down an alley and into the back of a restaurant where they enjoyed eight courses of amazing food from a fleeting Imperial China. When I ask them what restaurant, eager to get some insider tips on eating in Chinatown, I was met with “I can’t remember. Sorry. I was seven, they speak Chinese too fast.” Needless to say I was intrigued when the MICHELIN guide cited R&G Lounge, as restaurant for savvy locals in search of quality Cantonese cuisine.

Waiting for my dining companion, I grabbed a drink near by, giving me time to review [the] MICHELIN [guide]’s R & G menu recommendations, when I noticed the people sitting next to me had the same one, in French. Quelle coincidence! Once my friend showed up we headed to the restaurant. After being seating in the wood-paneled, modern dining room, we quickly ordered drinks – I had the lychee martini mentioned in the [MICHELIN] guide, and avocado and crab spring rolls. They were amazing.

As a main course, I wanted a whole fish. In fact, I’d been fantasizing about getting the same kind of whole fish I’d had in China, but admittedly it was too much for two people, and for the same reason, we vetoed Peking Duck. It’s a Cantonese place, so I really wanted seafood. We ordered scallops and melon, brisket and turnip, and egg pudding in clams. I know that sounds awful, but it definitely was NOT.

To help with his ordering, my friend had pulled out of his wallet a crumpled piece of paper with a list of things to order at R & G. He wouldn’t tell me where it came from, but my guess would be Chowhound, his friend from Beijing or his chef buddy. The ephemeral “scrap of paper” is what’s great about San Francisco, it is mysterious and romantic, and is often seen in San Francisco restaurants. For me, when it comes to picking an important restaurant, I don’t want to depend on a crumpled receipt – a guide like [the] MICHELIN [guide] is better.

Insalata
My friend Maria and I decided we needed to venture out of our neighborhood of North Beach to enjoy some fine dining and wine tasting in Napa. Problem was, it was early November and the rains had started -driving conditions were treacherous, visibility was nil, my little Honda couldn’t handle the spray of SUVs flying passed us. To cut our losses we pulled off the freeway got out the MICHELIN guide and decided to eat wherever was closest and forego wine tasting.

The [MICHELIN] guide saved us by pointing out that Insalata was only two miles away; soon we were inside a warm and inviting restaurant. We immediately ordered a deserved Spanish red wine, lamb kebabs and an outstanding bacon pasta. Two desserts later, fortified with hot coffee and good conversation, we geared up for the battle home. The waitress warned us the weather had further deteriorated. The overpass over Richardson Bay was some of the worst flooded highway driving I’ve ever done. Going over the Golden Gate Bridge, though, my car was blown halfway into another lane... twice. I’m not a fan of driving in poor conditions, and made Maria sing Stevie Wonder with me at the top of our lungs to counteract anxiety – but the meal was worth it.

Anna Billstrom

Anna Billstrom is a CRM consultant, email expert, and blogger. She blogs- at banane.com, SF Metblogs (sf.metblogs.com), a professional blog at Adventures in Email Marketing (banane.com/workblog and MarketingProfs, (marketingprofs.com), as well as online murder mystery series, the most recent: hom.i.c.id.e (banane.com/homicide). She resides in North Beach, in San Francisco, and can be found swimming in Aquatic Park, sipping cortados at Caffe Sapore, or shopping with her sisters on Grant St.