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It’s that time of year again. Holiday music is pumping, lights are twinkling and pundits are producing their “Top 10” lists for 2018. Here’s what was hot on the Bay Area’s food and dining scene this year, from mocktails to everything spice.
1 Edible glitter
All the unicorn-and-rainbow fluffery of 2017 paved the way for this disturbingly enjoyable trend of seeing golden, edible sparkles on everything from bagels and pizza to doughnuts. In the Bay Area, the trend manifested in sparkly suds, aka glitter beer, at some of San Francisco’s best breweries, including Black Hammer Brewing and Barebottle Brewing.
2 Goth foods
Activated charcoal showed up early in the year as an antidote to all the aforementioned fluffery. We saw the fine black powder pop up in cocktails, pastries (hello, ChouxSF black and white charcoal puffs), pastas and its own festival, 50 Shades of Charcoal. It felt as good as slipping on a pair of Doc Marten’s.
3 Nonalcoholic spritzers
Booze took a backseat to teas, tonics and housemade syrups as top San Francisco bartenders at Gibson, Commonwealth, Rich Table and beyond created refreshing, alcohol-free drinks worthy of celebratory clinking.
4 Bread
Step aside, carb-free diets. It was the year of house-milled, elevated breads — and their price tags. You coughed up $8 for the Parker House rolls at Joshua Skenes’ Angler because they were just that good, and watched as top bakers, including Hannalee Pervan of Benicia’s One House Bakery, Iliana Berkowitz of San Leandro’s As Kneaded Bakery and Avery Ruzicka of Campbell’s Manresa Bread opened dough shops.
5 Butters, schmears
You can’t have bread without a decent schmear. And, hoo boy, did we have great schmears. From compound butters with seaweed (hello again, Angler) to wickedly good housemade cream cheese, like the hatch chile schmear at Berkeley’s Boichik Bagels, which got rave reviews from Bon Appetit — before it even opened.
6 Serious pasta
Casually elegant Cal-Italian restaurants foodie-fied their neighborhoods, from Nopa’s Che Fico and Old Oakland’s Benchmark Pizzeria to South Berkeley’s Creekwood Restaurant, confirming our love of elevated handmade pasta. We had whole wheat rigatoni, Guittard cocoa-laced garganelle and everything in between.
7 Matcha mania
The premium green tea went gourmet, making its way into creamy soft-serve at Berkeley’s Uji Time and Tartine-collaboration croissants, sparkling drinks and matcha ginger lattes at San Francisco’s stunning Japanese cafe, Stonemill Matcha, in the Mission district.
8 Appetizer boards
The charcuterie board evolved and morphed to include everything — seafood, veggies, chip and dip — holiday entertaining-related. It was the canvas on which everyone from Market Hall caterers to San Francisco cheese mongers could express themselves. There was even a cookbook devoted to building boards.
9 Everything spice blend
What’s better than breadcrumbs and more flavorful than salt and pepper? Everything spice, that crunchy, addictive marriage of white and black sesame seeds, poppy seeds, minced dried garlic, minced dried onion and flaked sea salt. Seemed like we tried it on everything, from chicken schnitzel to the sensational William-Sonoma Everything Parker House rolls.
