Krik's Picks

I had two trips to northern California this fall, one in October and one in November. On both trips, I had some business and on both trips, my wife and I spent some additional time on our own. I’ll be posting information on some of the great restaurants we ate at. But this post is about where we stayed, because we stayed at four very different styles of lodging. Here’s the list. Read on for my review of each: Ritz Carlton , Half Moon Bay Inn at Occidental (CA) Vintner’s Inn , Santa Rosa Prescott Hotel , San Francisco I was at the Ritz for a meeting. Half Moon Bay is a small, artsy, and intensely organic agricultural town. A long time ago (1975), when my wife and I lived in San Francisco for a year, we drove down to Half Moon Bay (about 45 minutes) not really knowing what it expect. It was late October, and we discovered that they have a pumpkin festival. Well since then, the Half Moon Bay pumpkin festival has become a BIG deal. The cars are backed up for miles ma...

I’ve written before how much we like Kimpton hotels. When we plan a vacation, we always check to see if the city we’re traveling to has a Kimpton, and if it does, we always check the rates. (They’re usually very affordable.) So that’s what we did when we started planning our short trip to San Diego. San Diego was our destination because I would be attending a dairy conference there. But we decided to go a few days early for some relaxation. The conference was at a resort in Mission Valley . We also looked into La Jolla , but we were there a year ago for a wedding. We usually prefer staying downtown where there’s good choices of restaurants, preferably in walking distance, and options for nightlife. The fact that there was a Kimpton right in the Gaslamp Quarter , and they offered a special rate, clinched it for us. So we made a reservation for three nights at the Solamar . The first pleasant surprise was when we checked in, the desk clerk wished me a happy birthday. I can’t figure...

I spent two nights in the Bahamas last week. Believe it or not, it was a business trip. Why I only spent two nights is a long story. But the consequence was, I don’t have anything to post on Krik’s Picks about Bahamian food. All of the meals I had during my stay were buffets for the large group I was with. The food was good, but certainly not a memorable dining experience. But I can comment on Bahamian beer. They served Sands beer during the receptions and dinners at the meeting I attended. I thought it was pretty good, and it went well with the food on the buffet. I also had a Kalik Gold beer at the airport while waiting for the plane to board. I liked the Kalik better than the Sands. It had more body and was more like an amber, which I tend to prefer. The label on the Kalik was kind of intriguing. (You probably have to click on the photo and enlarge it to see what I’m referring to.) It has a picture of a very colorful Caribbean costume and it says “Junkanoo 2010” on the botto...

It was a busy year, 2007. So, we decided to spend New Year’s Eve in a sunny, warm locale. After checking several possibilities, we decided on Miami , specifically South Beach . We’ve been to South Beach before. In fact, this was our third vacation there in six years. The first time, we stayed at the Avalon . Two years later, we stayed at the Chelsea Hotel . After considering several possibilities, for this trip we decided to stay at the Winterhaven . Since we were going to be there for New Year’s Eve, we didn’t expect a bargain rate. And there were many things that we liked about the hotel. First of all, there’s location. You walk out the front door, cross Ocean Drive , and you’re in Lummus Park and the beach. It’s also only four or five blocks to the shopping on Lincoln Road and Espanola Way . The hotel offers some nice amenities – beach chairs and towels for guests to use on the beach, a daily breakfast in the lobby, newspapers delivered to your room. For a modest ‘res...

I’ve added a new link in the left-hand panel of Krik’s Picks, below the archive. It’s the New York Times Dining & Wine section. It is probably my favorite on-line newspaper food section. I always make a point of reading it every Wednesday. I don’t spend a lot of time with the restaurant reviews because I seldom travel to New York City . On the other hand, I get a lot of recipes from the site, and I have found the recipes that I try to be consistently good and deliver tasty results. They also have articles by and about major chefs and cookbook authors. I’ve got a couple of columnists that I read regularly. One of the other links on Krik’s Picks is The Pour by the Times’ wine columnist, Eric Asimov. Another columnist is The Minimalist by Mark Bittman. So far, I haven’t read an explanation as to why Bittman calls his column The Minimalist. It may be because his recipes generally are simple and quick to prepare. The other thing I love about Bittman’s column is that he usua...

When I started Krik’s Picks, I said it would be mostly about food – restaurants, recipes, general food info. Lately, all I’ve written about is restaurants, and I’ve got a bunch of ideas about other posts that I’d like to write. This post is in conjunction with reviews of several restaurants that my wife and I went to in San Francisco . During our trip in early March, we stayed at the Serrano Hotel . We had such a fantastic experience, that I felt compelled to include it in my blog. The Serrano is part of a small chain of ‘boutique hotels’ called the Kimpton Hotels . I’ve stayed at a couple of them in Washington , DC . When we started planning our trip to San Francisco , I checked the rates at the Kimpton Hotels there. I was pleasantly surprised to see that several fit into our budget. We were tempted by the Sir Francis Drake . We’d previously been to the Starlight Room at the top of the hotel for dancing and cocktails. We’d also eaten at Scala’s Bistro on another visit a couple ...

If you’re driving by Clear Lake around lunch time, skip the fast food joints at the I-35 intersections. Drive into town; it’ll only take you an extra five minutes. You’ll find a local café or a deli where you can get a sandwich and a cup of soup and a slice of homemade pie. I grew up in southern Minnesota , about 40 miles from Clear Lake . When my mom and dad were young, they used to go to dances at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake . Buddy Holly , Ritchie Valens, and “The Big Bopper” died when their plane crashed while trying to take off in a snow storm after playing a show at the Surf. That was early in the morning of February 3, 1959. I was 7 years old.