California
Michelin honors 13 more California restaurants as ‘new discoveries’
The dining world’s prestigious Michelin Guide on Wednesday dropped another one of its occasional midseason lists of “new discoveries” — restaurants that impressed its inspectors.
“Their discoveries are too good to keep secret,” the announcement said.
Of the 13 discoveries, three are in San Francisco, one is in Oakland and one’s in Healdsburg. The other eight are located in Southern California, with six in Los Angeles, one in Santa Barbara and one in La Jolla.
These establishments are listed as “New” on guide.michelin.com. Michelin highlighted “new discoveries” for the first time in the summer of 2021, and has done so every year since.
Will the praise for these restaurants be elevated to Michelin stars in August, when the 2024 star announcements are held in Half Moon Bay? Or become Bib Gourmand honors, the Michelin awards given to restaurants that offer “excellent food at reasonable prices” to diners? It’s a wait-and-see situation for these chefs.
The summer 2023 star announcements solidified California’s reputation as a culinary mecca, reaffirming all six of the state’s three-star restaurants and all 12 two-star restaurants and praising hundreds of others for impressive cuisine, affordable meals or high sustainability standards.
Here are the Bay Area additions, along with dining notes from the Michelin inspectors:
BURDELL, Oakland: “Chef Geoff Davis named this nostalgic, homey Temescal spot after his grandmother, whose cooking informs his own fresh personal take on soul food. The small menu is a blend of staples like collard greens and fried chicken (though these are tweaked with the addition of berbere and pickle brine, respectively), novelties like an appetizer of chicken liver mousse with cornmeal waffle, and more broadly contemporary, Southern-inflected fare like a halibut crudo with buttermilk and grapefruit, or dry-aged duck with cherry “drippings” and dirty rice. Desserts follow a similar style, like strawberry shortcake with strawberry rhubarb jam and sorghum whipped cream. A particularly thoughtful wine list offers a wealth of options for aficionados, and who doesn’t love fried chicken with champagne?”
AZALINA’S, San Francisco: “Chef Azalina Eusope continues to make her mark as an ambassador for Malaysian cuisine in this cleverly designed space that calls to mind a tropical hideaway ensconced in the rough-and-tumble Tenderloin. The menu is a frequently changing seasonal prix fixe with dishes that offer her own interpretation of flavors she grew up with — think California meets Penang. Quality ingredients and creativity are hallmarks, seen in a dish of ‘economy noodles’ with fermented chili paste, topped with barbecued quail and toasted hazelnuts, or steelhead trout baked in banana leaves. Her pastry training is evident in a complex dessert of pandan custard with water chestnut and coconut granita, served with a take on kuih kasturi, a mung bean fritter filled with jackfruit and sweet red bean.”
HED 11, San Francisco: “Perched in a swanky space at the corner of the Kimpton Hotel Enso, this ambitious Thai project from Chef Piriya “Saint” Boonprasan and owner Naruephon “Billie” Wannajaro gives a hint to its concept right in the name: an 11-course menu that celebrates regional Thai flavors with a contemporary style. The price point doesn’t lend itself to dining on a budget, but despite its variety, the meal won’t over-tax your schedule, with most of the courses arriving together as a sort of miniature banquet for the main. Sweet and savory are blended throughout the menu, whether in bites like a coconut pancake with lime and caviar, a take on khanom jeen sao nam with seared scallop paired with chilled rice noodles, tangy pineapple, and garlic, or even a Thai-style cheesecake with crispy fried onions and passionfruit syrup.”
TIYA, San Francisco: “Brothers Sujan and Pujan Sarkar combine their talents as co-chefs at this boutique space at the edge of Cow Hollow. Their cooking deploys seasonal produce like squash blossoms, artichokes and ramps to lend a Californian edge to an intriguing contemporary take on Indian cuisine. Both a la carte and tasting options give equal billing to vegetarian dishes and feature lively textures, whether it’s tender, keema-style jackfruit with crunchy potato, or an eggless take on a bhurji roll, made with paneer and crispy kataifi. The elegant room adds an additional layer of sophistication, down to a well-appointed bar, which offers unique cocktails named in honor of San Francisco neighborhoods.”
MOLTI AMICI, Healdsburg: “Wine country certainly has no shortage of this sort of casual Italian eatery, with a menu featuring the expected wood-fired pizzas and house-made pastas — but few of them manage to hit their mark quite so dead on as they do here. They may not be reinventing the wheel, but those pizzas are ideally blistered and feature simple but compelling toppings like squash blossom with fontina and balsamic, and the pastas, like a satisfying take on bucatini amatriciana topped with crunchy bread crumbs, offer an ideally al dente chew. On one of Healdsburg’s not-infrequent balmy days, the enclosed patio, complete with bocce court, is indeed an excellent spot to gather with ‘many friends,’ as suggested by the name.”
California
California warns Tesla faces 30-day sale ban for misleading use of
The California DMV on Tuesday said Tesla Motors faces a possible 30-day sale ban over its misleading use of the term “autopilot” in its marketing of electric vehicles.
On Nov. 20, an administrative judge ruled that Tesla Motors’ use of “autopilot ” and “full self-driving capability” was a misleading description of its “advanced driving assistant features,” and that it violated state law, the DMV said.
In their decision, the judge proposed suspending Tesla’s manufacturing and dealer license for 30 days. However, the DMV is giving Tesla 60 days to address its use of the term “autopilot” before temporarily suspending its dealer license.
“Tesla can take simple steps to pause this decision and permanently resolve this issue — steps autonomous vehicle companies and other automakers have been able to achieve in California’s nation-leading and supportive innovation marketplace,” DMV Director Steve Gordon said.
Tesla had already stopped its use of “full self-driving capability” and switched to “full self-driving (supervised)” after the DMV filed accusations against it in November 2023.
The DMV said its decision to file those accusations stretches back to Tesla’s 2021 marketing of its advanced driver assistance system. Besides the two terms, the DMV said it also took issue with the phrase, “The system is designed to be able to conduct short and long-distance trips with no action required by the person in the driver’s seat.”
“Vehicles equipped with those ADAS features could not at the time of those advertisements, and cannot now, operate as autonomous vehicles,” the DMV said.
As for the manufacturing license suspension, the DMV issued a permanent stay on that proposal.
California
Former California doctor sentenced in Matthew Perry’s overdose death
LOS ANGELES — A former California doctor was sentenced to 8 months of home detention and 3 years of supervised release Tuesday after pleading guilty to ketamine distribution in connection with the fatal overdose of “Friends” star Matthew Perry.
Mark Chavez pleaded guilty in 2024 to one count of conspiring to distribute ketamine to Perry, who died at 54. Chavez appeared Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett in Los Angeles. He faced up to 10 years in prison.
He will also be required to complete 300 hours of community service and pay a $100 special assessment to the U.S. government.
“My heart goes out to the Perry family,” Chavez said outside of court after his sentencing.
Zach Brooks, a member of Chavez’s legal team, said Tuesday: “what occurred in this case was a profound departure from the life he had lived up to that point. The consequences have been severe and permanent. Mr. Chavez has lost his career, his livelihood, and professional identity that he has worked for decades to develop.”
“Looking forward, Mr. Chavez understands that accountability does not end with this sentence. He’s committed to using the rest of his life to contribute positively, to support others and to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again,” Brooks said. “While he cannot undo what occurred, he can choose how he lives his life from this moment.”
Chavez was one of five people charged in connection with Perry’s death. The TV star died of an accidental overdose and was found dead in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home in October 2023.
Chavez’s lawyer, Matthew Binninger, has previously said his client was “incredibly remorseful” and “accepting responsibility” for his patient’s overdose.
Chavez was a licensed physician in San Diego who formerly operated a ketamine clinic. Prosecutors said he sold ketamine to another doctor, Salvador Plasencia, who then distributed it to Perry.
“I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia said in a text exchange to Chavez, according to the investigators. “Lets find out.”
Earlier this month, Plasencia was sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison for his involvement in the case.
Chavez wrote “a fraudulent prescription in a patient’s name without her knowledge or consent, and lied to wholesale ketamine distributors to buy additional vials of liquid ketamine that Chavez intended to sell to Plasencia for distribution to Perry,” the indictment in the case said.
In the month before his death, the doctors provided Perry with about 20 vials of ketamine and received some $55,000 in cash, according to federal prosecutors.
Perry was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy to treat depression and anxiety, according to a coroner’s report. However, the levels of ketamine in his body at the time of his death were dangerously high, roughly the same amount used for general anesthesia during surgery. The coroner ruled his death an accident.
Before his death, Perry was open about his lengthy struggles with opioid addiction and alcohol use disorder, which he chronicled in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.”
Katie Wall reported from Los Angeles and Daniella Silva reported from New York.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
California
California’s first mobile 911 dispatch classroom launches in Fresno
FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) — A mobile classroom is giving Central Valley students a hands-on look at what it takes to answer 911 calls.
The classroom on wheels is one of only two in the nation, the first in California, and is part of the Fresno Regional Occupational Program’s dispatch pathway.
“Dispatchers are the steady heartbeat of the emergency response,” Fresno County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michele Cantwell-Copher said during Monday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.
California’s first mobile 911 dispatch classroom launches in Fresno (Photo: FOX26 Photojournalist Byron Solorio)
Inside the trailer, students train at real dispatch consoles designed to mimic a live dispatch center.
The program is a partnership with Fresno City College, creating a pipeline from the classroom to dispatch careers.
The curriculum is backed by California POST, or the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, which sets minimum training and certification standards for law enforcement in the state.
It gives students the opportunity to practice call taking and scenario based decision making in a realistic and interactive setting,
said Michelle D., with POST.
The system uses realistic audio and artificial intelligence to recreate high-pressure simulations.
“If it’s a child that is injured, we can have the child crying in the background, so it really gives them that true, realistic first-hand experience,” said Veronica Cervantes, a Supervising Communications Dispatcher with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.
Dispatch supervisors say programs like this one could help address a growing staffing shortage.
More people need to be in this profession. We are hurting for dispatchers
explains Matt Mendes, a Dispatch Supervisor with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.
Officials say the job offers competitive benefits, including a starting salary of about $53,000, overtime opportunities, and the potential to earn six figures over time.
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