The Perfect Spot

10/08/2025

Just a few favorite moments and people from the pre- (Chefs' Feast!) and post-celebrations for all the amazing restaurants on the first ever North America's 50 Best Restaurants' awards (part of The World's 50 Best Restaurants) in Vegas the last week of September.

You could feel the love and support in the room from tears to standing ovations. Honored to be a part of this & celebrate some of the very best in the business... (and get good time with my loves Suzu & Janice, recently in NYC, who I so miss in SF). 😘

Kato Restaurant Atelier Crenn Wynn Las Vegas

10/06/2025

Two of the best dishes at the new Nopa Fish (from the great Nopasf) in San Francisco Ferry Building:

1) Smoked rainbow trout, corn and shellfish chowder, aromatic with fish tails instead of bacon.
2) “Pristine fish over sushi rice,” an ever-changing chirashi box showcasing raw fish fresh that day, like local halibut, over Luna koshihikari organic rice grown in the Sacramento Delta, with pickled ginger and red onions, sous vide egg and assorted market greens, cucumber and avocado.

My full review of Nopa Fish:

https://virginiamiller.substack.com/p/sfs-best-new-seafood-eatery-is-a

10/06/2025

: After dining at six-time James Beard Award-nominated chef Steve McHugh's special Cured at Pearl in the Historic Pearl San Antonio last month, been appreciating McHugh's lovely cookbook, with recipes under methods they perfect at Cured, like fermenting, smoking and curing.

As I survive the recent shock and removal of cancer myself, I'm especially inspired by chef McHugh's turnaround from battling lymphoma and the joy with which he cooks. My mouth is watering looking at recipes like kimchi meatloaf, smoked nuts chocolate tart, chow chow quiche, mezcal lime pecan sticky buns... one of each, please:

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/709644/cured-by-steve-mchugh-with-paula-forbes

Boost the flavor of any meal with Cured, “a master class” (Saveur) on cooking with pickles, jams, preserves, sauces, and more—whether made from scratch or store-bought—featuring...

10/04/2025

Yes, the fish is pristine at brand new Nopa Fish (from the great Nopasf) in San Francisco Ferry Building... but so are the salads, as you can see here. Standout dishes & elements of the new counter service seafood destination:

https://virginiamiller.substack.com/p/sfs-best-new-seafood-eatery-is-a

10/03/2025

At the special North America's 50 Best Restaurants collaboration dinner on 9.23.25 with #1 Restaurant in N. America Atomix NYC chef Junghyun (JP) Park & chef Sarah Thompson of Vegas' special Casa Playa at Wynn Las Vegas...

It was five delicious courses and the dish I could not stop thinking about is chef JP's King crab and nuruk kohlrabi "noodles" topped with caviar. Earthy, fresh, silky goodness.

http://www.theworlds50best.com/.../en/the-list/atomix.html

The World's 50 Best Restaurants Wynn Las Vegas

10/03/2025

On the menu this weekend through Sunday at the one, the only Tony's Pizza Napoletana, a special collaboration pizza with nearby legend House of Nanking... the ideal mashup between SF's neighboring Chinatown and North Beach Italian neighborhood.

Here with chefs Tony Gemignani and Kathy Fang tasting this ridiculously good pie of savory-sweet lap cheong sausage, pickled mustard greens, ricotta, grande mozzarella, chili crisp and sliced scallions.

https://theperfectspotsf.com/2019/06/17/new-life-at-7-san-francisco-restaurants

10/02/2025

Mild SF nights... the bathroom at Shuggie’s Trash Pie + Natural Wine, Mission Dolores Park at night.

10/02/2025

Mattina (and SPQR) chef Matthew Accarrino is a competitive cyclist and a pasta master. Mattina's seasonal joys include caramelle ricotta pasta with three peppers & corn.

But it’s rare canederli, a Trentino-Alto Adige meat-dotted dumpling, that wins my heart. I’m crazy about the beauty, wine and foods of Italy’s Germanic Tyrolean region and this dish exemplifies it. Accarrino takes the dumpling up a few notches with buttermilk and Wisconsin cheddar, laced with scraps of beef, lamb, pork and poultry from the kitchen in a brodo (broth) aromatic with wine:

https://virginiamiller.substack.com/p/where-to-eat-now-7-heartwarming-restaurants

10/01/2025

What a collaboration dinner on 9.23.25. for North America's 50 Best Restaurants week at Wynn Las Vegas! #1 Restaurant in N. America Atomix NYC chef Junghyun (JP) Park with chef Sarah Thompson of Vegas' special Casa Playa at Wynn Las Vegas.

Modern Korean to Mexican, it flowed seamlessly from Hokkaido sea urchin over gim bugak (fried seaweed) marigold rice to osetra caviar and madai (sea bream) tostadas in serrano kosho. Deliciousness.

www.theworlds50best.com/northamerica/en/the-list/atomix.html

The World's 50 Best Restaurants

10/01/2025

Eating eyeballs, brains, butterflies and out of heads under a massive, ever-changing dome...? My unreal experience over a 6-hour meal at Alchemist in Copenhagen:

https://virginiamiller.substack.com/p/copenhagens-gifts-to-the-world

09/30/2025

On the red carpet at the first ever North America's 50 Best Restaurants awards in Vegas last week... with my fellow 50 Best Academy Chairs & other beloved colleagues.

I am so proud of my city of SF and its strong showing, but I am proud of so many, from New Orleans to LA, Canada to the Caribbean. What a special group of people honored and the warm glow of camaraderie & support in the room, down to multiple standing ovations & heartfelt tears.

(Thanks to the amazing SeanPaul at Atomic Style Lounge for doing me right (again) with the 1940s hairstylings!) 🥰

www.eater.com/dining-out/913638/north-america-50-best-restaurants-list-matters

The World's 50 Best Restaurants

09/30/2025

I've raved before about chef David Yoshimura’s painstaking omurice rice-egg dish delicately cut tableside to reveal the tender underside of the omelette, accented with caviar and vegetable demi-glace tableside — here's my video: www.youtube.com/shorts/OWaZ_4q4d7I.

More Japanese-American goodness at Michelin-starred Restaurant Nisei + 4 other inspiring, creative restaurants:

https://virginiamiller.substack.com/p/fine-dinings-latest-wave-in-san-francisco

09/30/2025

The female bartender-heavy K-Bar is a charmer of a little cocktail bar, focused on different martinis and a range of cocktails. It’s heartwarming to see the smart knowledge of the bartenders when you know they’re trained by K-Bar founder Kirsten Holm, a CPH cocktail pioneer when there wasn’t much of a scene here over 15 years ago... where to eat, drink & stay in Copenhagen now:

https://virginiamiller.substack.com/p/copenhagens-gifts-to-the-world