Long Beach Ballet (LBB) successfully delivered its annual “The Nutcracker” extravaganza during five performances last weekend—complete with scores of performers, sumptuous sets, exciting pyrotechnics and, of course, beautiful ballet dancing. 

LBB Artistic Director David Wilcox’s conceptualization, direction and choreography shone brightly in this year’s production. A humble chimney sweep (Ken Datugan) seeking work at the home of young Clara (wonderfully performed by Maeve Callahan) and her family helps set the stage as they greet Christmas Eve party guests. 

In addition to the full orchestra playing Tchaikovsky’s melodic score (excellently conducted by Roger Hickman), one immediately notices the very detailed costumes by an array of designers (Adrian Clarke, Donna Dickens, Ann de Farra, Hilde Byrne and Cheryl Cartwright). The girls’ frocks and ladies’ dresses especially stood out, cut similarly but with uniquely charming patterns and textures, plus lots of bows. 

Floor-to-ceiling sets were similarly enchanting (designed by Elliott Hessayon, Rex Heuschkel and Scott Shaffer), with a wall full of portraits in Clara’s warm family home and an adorned Christmas tree and presents that very magically grew as her perspective changed to that of her beloved nutcracker doll (a robust Benjohn Magcalas) when he came to life to defend her against creepy mice led by a melodramatic mouse king (Craig Rexroad). 

Delzio Design’s pyrotechnics surprised during that fight as the nutcracker and his army fired cannons and muskets with loud booms and glowing sparks. And once the nutcracker transformed into a prince (Steven Morse), he and Clara alighted into the air in a sleigh at the end of the first act before floating angels opened the second act.

Despite all the enthralling staging, it was the music and ballet dancing that sustained the audience’s attention. Long Beach Terrace Theatre acoustics allowed the melodies to reverberate loud and clear while remaining sharp. And LBB’s many young students and their talented teachers graced the stage confidently in their various dances invoking snow and sweets.

A scene from Long Beach Ballet’s “The Nutcracker,” to be performed Dec. 17-19 at the Terrace Theatre. (Photo by Katie Ging)

Megan Wilcox as the Sugarplum Fairy stood out for her poise and precision. Her grand pas de deux with our handsome nutcracker prince Morse (from the San Francisco Ballet) was both technically and aesthetically exquisite. Aurora Gray’s technique as the Dewdrop Fairy also captivated.

Beyond grace, athletically exuberant performances by the three Russian Dance performers (Alfredo Garcia, Hector Garcia and Magcalas) stole the show, as did two jolly jesters (Aaron Augustin and young acrobatic Emily Medillin). 

If you weren’t able to attend LBB’s “The Nutcracker” this year, mark your calendars for December 2022, when LBB will most likely return for its annual performance. In the meantime, a video recording of this year’s performance is available to rent for $25 or purchase for $50 through LBB’s website’s “Gallery” page.  

You can also look forward to LBB’s production of “Don Quixote” this summer, which it describes as “the romantic, mad-cap adventures of history’s favorite knight!” Based on Miguel de Cervantes’s novel Don Quixote de la Mancha, the ballet was originally choreographed in 1869 to the music of Ludwig Minkus by Marius Petipa—who also created “The Nutcracker” ballet.

Like “The Nutcracker,” the ballet “Don Quixote” includes a dreamlike adventure, sword-fighting, fairies and even puppetry. And as with “The Nutcracker,” LBB will likely fill the stage with dozens of engaging and graceful performers, lovely costumes and fun set designs, all animated by a live orchestra.

“Don Quixote” is scheduled to be performed on June 4th and 5th at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center at 6200 E. Atherton St. on the CSULB campus. Tickets will be available for purchase “soon” through LBB’s website, Longbeachballet.com.

The post Lengthy Seashore Ballet delivers winter magic, prepares for summer season romance with “Don Quixote” appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Plan ahead now to prevent frozen pipes in winter. (Dreamstime)

By Paul F. P. Pogue, Angie’s List

In mid-October, you may still enjoy warm weather and light-jacket days. But colder temperatures will arrive faster than you expect. Take precautions now to ensure your pipes and water supply remain in good order throughout the winter.

Plan ahead

If you have leaking pipes or faucets, hire a plumber now to fix the problem. Leaks in moderate weather become much bigger problems once temperatures drop below freezing.

Prepare your pipes with insulation, which provides the first line of defense against freezing. Insulation tubes from a hardware store should provide effective protection. Pay particular attention to pipes in unheated areas, those that have frozen in previous winters and pipes that have been repaired in the past year.

If your outdoor water faucets have a separate shut-off valve, close the valve, open the spigots to drain the lines and leave them open until spring. If your faucets have a back-flow prevention device, be sure to disconnect it so that the water drains from the line.

Fill any exterior cracks or holes with spray foam insulation and caulking. Do the same with openings around outdoor faucets or hose bibs. This blocks cold air from coming in along the pipes, and it saves energy at the same time.

Prepare your vacation home

If you spend your winters in a different home, make sure you prepare the home you leave behind for bad weather. Vacation homes can suffer major damage if a frozen pipe springs a leak; you might not notice the water damage for months.

A burst main water line can wreak havoc when left unattended for months at a time. To prevent this from happening, turn off the water meter yourself using the meter key, or hire a plumber to do so properly. Open all of your faucets and valves to drain the pipes. Then, turn off the water using the shut-off valve inside your house and leave the faucets open.

Water can hide out in plumbing fixtures, so be sure to address those. Disconnect and drain your washing machine hoses and dishwasher drain lines. Drain all spray attachments and shower heads. Turn off the water heater and drain the tank entirely. Finally, flush your toilets and remove excess water from tanks and bowls.

What to do when pipes freeze

Despite your best efforts, you may end up with frozen pipes anyway, so have a plan in mind for that event. First, close the main shutoff valve to prevent any leaks. Then find the source of the freeze. If one or two faucets don’t work, the freeze is between the split from the main line. If none work, it’s near the main water line. To thaw a pipe, Wrap the pipe in a towel doused with hot water, or warm it with a hair dryer on the lowest setting. Never use a flame.

Keep your plumber’s emergency contact info handy in case you run into a problem you can’t handle alone.

Winter is also a good time to review your emergency kit, which should contain (among other things) one gallon of water per person per day in the event of emergency or loss of water supply.

The post Find out how to put together your plumbing for winter appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

In San Francisco, the younger performers will warm hearts with a selection ranging from Rogers & Hammerstein’s “My Favorite Things,” Mark Weston’s “Hanukkah, Season of Joy!,” and the Spanish Traditional “Arre Borriquito.”

Older singers will celebrate wintertime with songs including the Turkish Traditional “Üsküdar,” “The Christmas Song” by Mel Tormé and Robert Wells, and Cynthia Gray’s “Afternoon on a Hill.”

The National Children’s Chorus guides kids to thrive. Each year, under the leadership of Artistic Director Luke McEndarfer and Associate Artistic Director Dr. Pamela Blackstone, over 1,100 young people who carry a love of singing in their hearts find their voice and achieve their best through unparalleled vocal training in eight chapter cities nationwide.

Through the NCC, students connect with each other, growing as artists and as citizens. The young vocalists, ages 5 to 18, engage in a superlative regimen that includes an extensive musicianship curriculum.

The students are celebrating that their album Illumine hit #3 on the Billboard Classical charts. The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and AIR Studios in London last summer, in collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra, and released on Lexicon Classics. The album highlights holiday music from different countries, cultures, and traditions around the world resulting in an exquisite musical collection — a diverse, world-encompassing array of holiday expressions by underrepresented voices in choral music.

The festive December concert appearance marks the start to the group’s 120th anniversary season where the group will launch a new chapter city, exponentially expand its scholarship program, and set off on an eighth international tour.

Tickets start at $35.

Christopher Hewitt, pianist
Michaela Overall, pianist
Ray Capiral-Speers, pianist

PRELUDE LEVEL
Ann Elizabeth Jones, conductor
“My Favorite Things,” Richard Rogers & Oscar Hammerstein II, arr. Roger Emerson
“The Night Wind,” Mark Patterson
“Hanukkah, Season of Joy!,” Mark Weston

MINUET LEVEL
Enya Murray, conductor
“Arre Borriquito” (Spanish Traditional), arr. D. Farrell Smith & Shelley J. Smith
“Somewhere in My Memory,” John Williams & Leslie Bricusse, arr. Audrey Snyders
“Cold Snap,” Mark Hayes

SONATA LEVEL
Peter Meredith, conductor
“Afternoon on a Hill,” Cynthia Gray
“Üsküdar,” (Turkish Traditional), arr. Mark Burrows
“Velvet Shoes,” Randall Thompson
“On With the Snow!,” Douglas E. Wagner

PREMIER ENSEMBLE
Dr. Pamela Blackstone & Julia Morris, conductors
“Salmo 150,” Ernani Aguiar, arr. Donald Patriquin & Alberto Grau
“Winter.” Anthony Giamanco & Walter de la Mare, arr. Andy Beck
“Flight,” Craig Carnelia, arr. Ryan Murphy
“The Christmas Song,” Mel Tormé & Robert Wells, arr. Mark Hayes

Talented young singers from the National Children’s Chorus kick off the holidays with a joyful and moving concert, “a truly ethereal sound” (Gramophone). The San Francisco concert will feature students ages 5-18 offering an extraordinary performance of a brand-new winter collection of songs that inspire gratitude, mindfulness, and self-knowledge.

In San Francisco, the younger performers will warm hearts with a selection ranging from Rogers & Hammerstein’s “My Favorite Things,” Mark Weston’s “Hanukkah, Season of Joy!,” and the Spanish Traditional “Arre Borriquito.”

Older singers will celebrate wintertime with songs including the Turkish Traditional “Üsküdar,” “The Christmas Song” by Mel Tormé and Robert Wells, and Cynthia Gray’s “Afternoon on a Hill.”

The National Children’s Chorus guides kids to thrive. Each year, under the leadership of Artistic Director Luke McEndarfer and Associate Artistic Director Dr. Pamela Blackstone, over 1,100 young people who carry a love of singing in their hearts find their voice and achieve their best through unparalleled vocal training in eight chapter cities nationwide.

Through the NCC, students connect with each other, growing as artists and as citizens. The young vocalists, ages 5 to 18, engage in a superlative regimen that includes an extensive musicianship curriculum.

The students are celebrating that their album Illumine hit #3 on the Billboard Classical charts. The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and AIR Studios in London last summer, in collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra, and released on Lexicon Classics. The album highlights holiday music from different countries, cultures, and traditions around the world resulting in an exquisite musical collection — a diverse, world-encompassing array of holiday expressions by underrepresented voices in choral music.

The festive December concert appearance marks the start to the group’s 120th anniversary season where the group will launch a new chapter city, exponentially expand its scholarship program, and set off on an eighth international tour.

Tickets start at $35.

Christopher Hewitt, pianist
Michaela Overall, pianist
Ray Capiral-Speers, pianist

PRELUDE LEVEL
Ann Elizabeth Jones, conductor
“My Favorite Things,” Richard Rogers & Oscar Hammerstein II, arr. Roger Emerson
“The Night Wind,” Mark Patterson
“Hanukkah, Season of Joy!,” Mark Weston

MINUET LEVEL
Enya Murray, conductor
“Arre Borriquito” (Spanish Traditional), arr. D. Farrell Smith & Shelley J. Smith
“Somewhere in My Memory,” John Williams & Leslie Bricusse, arr. Audrey Snyders
“Cold Snap,” Mark Hayes

SONATA LEVEL
Peter Meredith, conductor
“Afternoon on a Hill,” Cynthia Gray
“Üsküdar,” (Turkish Traditional), arr. Mark Burrows
“Velvet Shoes,” Randall Thompson
“On With the Snow!,” Douglas E. Wagner

PREMIER ENSEMBLE
Dr. Pamela Blackstone & Julia Morris, conductors
“Salmo 150,” Ernani Aguiar, arr. Donald Patriquin & Alberto Grau
“Winter.” Anthony Giamanco & Walter de la Mare, arr. Andy Beck
“Flight,” Craig Carnelia, arr. Ryan Murphy
“The Christmas Song,” Mel Tormé & Robert Wells, arr. Mark Hayes

The post Nationwide Youngsters’s Refrain Winter Showcase in San Francisco at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church – San Francisco in San Francisco – December 5, 2023 appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

MOSHCHUN, Ukraine — In the humble backyard of a destroyed house, a 13-year-old chops firewood to get ready for winter. His mother, Tetiana Yarema, has been preparing for months as she remembers last winter’s Russian strikes on the energy infrastructure that plunged Ukraine into darkness.

Artem Yarema, 13, chops wood in front of his family’s house Oct. 10 in Moshchun, near Kyiv, Ukraine.

Alex Babenko, Associated Press

“Those were dark days. I didn’t want anything. I just wanted to pack my things and go abroad,” said Yarema, 48, who says she ended up staying because of her son’s insistence.

For the Yarema family, like millions of other Ukrainians touched by Russia’s war on Ukraine, winter is an especially challenging time.

The mother and son live in trailers that were set up in their backyard after fighting in the early days of the war destroyed their house in Moshchun, a village about 15 miles northwest of Kyiv.

“I have a feeling that when the cold sets in, they’ll start bombing again,” the woman said, echoing the sentiments of many Ukrainians.

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This time, however, they say they are better prepared.

Sales of generators exploded toward the end of summer. Some, who can afford it, invested in solar panels. Others, like Yarema, have been buying candles, batteries, flashlights and portable lanterns and stocking up on compact gas canisters, making the most of discounted prices.

“It’s a bit challenging … but I already know what to do,” she said.

Last winter was declared the most challenging in the history of Ukraine’s energy system, with over 1,200 missiles and drones fired by Russians at power plants, according to Ukrainian state-owned grid operator, Ukrenergo.

A man passes his destroyed house Oct. 10 in Moshchun, near Kyiv, Ukraine.

Alex Babenko, Associated Press

The strikes impacted almost half of Ukraine’s energy capacity. People were forced to endure hours without electricity and water during the coldest months in what Ukrainian officials described as “energy terror.”

Millions of people across Ukraine had to learn to work, live and cover their basic needs without electricity.

After a lull of six months, Ukraine’s energy system sustained its first attack of the season on Sept. 21, resulting in damage to facilities in the central and western regions, Ukrenergo said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has committed to substantially enhancing air defense systems, which already have demonstrated greater effectiveness than the previous year.

“Everyone must play their part in defensive efforts to ensure that Russian aggression does not halt Ukraine this winter. Just as on the battlefield, in all areas, we must be resilient and strong,” Zelenskyy said in a recent address to the nation.

Yuriy Musienko, 45, works in a burned car garage near his mother’s house Oct. 10 in Moshchun, near Kyiv, Ukraine.

Alex Babenko, Associated Press

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal recently announced that the United States allocated $522 million for energy equipment and the protection of Ukraine’s infrastructure.

“We stand on the threshold of a difficult winter. Thanks to the assistance of our allies, we successfully weathered the last, which was the most challenging winter season in our history,” Shmyhal said.

Major retailer Epicenter said sales of generators increased 80% in August compared to the same time last year, and sales of portable charging stations increased by 25 times.

Yurii Musienko, 45, another resident of Moshchun, also plans to rely heavily on firewood, and has a wood-burning stove in his compact wooden trailer that has been provided to him for two years, and which sits next to his ruined home.

“I’ve already adapted,” he said with a smile. The gates of his home still bear the holes from exploded ammunition that serve as a reminder of when Russian forces tried to seize the Ukrainian capital.

“May no one ever have to endure such conditions,” said his mother, Valentyna Kiriian, who lives in a separate plastic trailer installed in the same courtyard.

She’s dressed in a hat and a coat, with multiple layers of clothing to stay warm. She notes that the cold has already set in, forcing her to sleep fully clothed, much like the previous winter.

Andriy Gorghinskyy, 49, stands in his house with autonomous heating, Oct. 10 in the village of Malyutyanka near Kyiv, Ukrain.

Alex Babenko, Associated Press

During the power outages last winter, the mother and son relied on canned food. Occasionally, Valentyna would visit her neighbor, whose house remained intact and had a gas stove for boiling water.

“It’s difficult for me to talk about. It pains my soul, and my heart weeps,” she said.

Andrii Horchynskyi, 49. who lives in the village of Maliutianka about 15 miles southwest of Kyiv, invested over $30,000 in recent years to ensure his house is self-sufficient, and ramped up those efforts since Russia’s invasion.

Last year, he spent $12,000 to install solar panels to help power his spacious house, where other members of his extended family came to stay for the winter — eight of them surviving comfortably.

“We had a whole ant heap here,” Horchynskyi recalled.

He is convinced the Russians will try to damage Ukraine’s infrastructure for gas, which he thinks will become expensive or even unavailable. So, he has installed a boiler that burns pine pellets. He also stores water in his backyard.

“They will bombard even more this winter than the last,” Horchynskyi said.

Photos: Notable Deaths in 2023

Matthew Perry

Matthew Perry, who starred as Chandler Bing in the hit series “Friends,” died Oct. 28, 2023. He was 54. The Emmy-nominated actor was found dead of an apparent drowning at his Los Angeles home.

Rich Fury/Invision/AP, File

Tina Turner

Tina Turner, the unstoppable singer and stage performer who teamed with husband Ike Turner for a dynamic run of hit records and live shows in the 1960s and ’70s and survived her horrifying marriage to triumph in middle age with the chart-topping “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” died May 24, 2023, at 83. Few stars traveled so far — she was born Anna Mae Bullock in a segregated Tennessee hospital and spent her latter years on a 260,000 square foot estate on Lake Zurich — and overcame so much. Her trademarks included a growling contralto that might smolder or explode, her bold smile and strong cheekbones, her palette of wigs and the muscular, quick-stepping legs she did not shy from showing off. She sold more than 150 million records worldwide, won 12 Grammys, was voted along with Ike into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991 (and on her own in 2021 ) and was honored at the Kennedy Center in 2005. Her life became the basis for a film, a Broadway musical and an HBO documentary in 2021 that she called her public farewell.

AP file, 2009

Jimmy Buffett

Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who popularized beach bum soft rock with the escapist Caribbean-flavored song “Margaritaville” and turned that celebration of loafing into a billion-dollar empire of restaurants, resorts and frozen concoctions, died Sept. 1, 2023. He was 76. “Margaritaville,” released on Feb. 14, 1977, quickly took on a life of its own, becoming a state of mind for those ”wastin’ away,” an excuse for a life of low-key fun and escapism for those “growing older, but not up.” The song is the unhurried portrait of a loafer on his front porch, watching tourists sunbathe while a pot of shrimp is beginning to boil. The singer has a new tattoo, a likely hangover and regrets over a lost love. Somewhere, irritatingly, there is a misplaced salt shaker.

AP file, 2010

Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett, the eminent and timeless stylist whose devotion to classic American songs and knack for creating new standards such as “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” graced a decadeslong career that brought him admirers from Frank Sinatra to Lady Gaga, died July 21, 2023. He was 96, just two weeks short of his birthday. The last of the great saloon singers of the mid-20th century, Bennett often said his lifelong ambition was to create “a hit catalog rather than hit records.” He released more than 70 albums, bringing him 19 competitive Grammys — all but two after he reached his 60s — and enjoyed deep and lasting affection from fans and fellow artists.

AP file, 2006

Jim Brown

Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown, the unstoppable running back who retired at the peak of his brilliant career to become an actor as well as a prominent civil rights advocate during the 1960s, died May 18, 2023. He was 87. One of the greatest players in football history and one of the game’s first superstars, Brown was chosen the NFL’s Most Valuable Player in 1965 and shattered the league’s record books in a short career spanning 1957-65. Brown led the Cleveland Browns to their last NFL title in 1964 before retiring in his prime after the ’65 season to become an actor. He appeared in more than 30 films, including “Any Given Sunday” and “The Dirty Dozen.” When he finished playing, Brown became a prominent leader in the Black power movement during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.

AP file, 1965

Dick Butkus

Dick Butkus, a middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears whose speed and ferocity set the standards for the position in the modern era, died Oct. 5, 2023. He was 80. Butkus was a first-team All-Pro five times and made the Pro Bowl in eight of his nine seasons before a knee injury forced him to retire at 31. He was the quintessential Monster of the Midway and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility. Trading on his image as the toughest guy in the room, Butkus enjoyed a long second career as a sports broadcaster, an actor in movies and TV series, and a sought-after pitchman for products ranging from antifreeze to beer.

AP file, 2019

Bob Barker

Bob Barker, the enduring, dapper game show host who became a household name over a half century of hosting “Truth or Consequences” and “The Price Is Right,” died Aug. 26, 2023. He was 99. Barker retired in June 2007, thanking his studio audience “for inviting me into your home for more than 50 years.” He started that marathon run in 1956 on “Truth or Consequences,” where he remained for 18 years. He began hosting a revived version of “The Price Is Right” on CBS in 1972. It would become TV’s longest-running game show. He was also an animal rights activist.

AP file, 2007

Dianne Feinstein

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a centrist Democrat and champion of liberal causes who was elected to the Senate in 1992 and broke gender barriers throughout her long career in local and national politics, died Sept. 29, 2023. She was 90. Feinstein, the oldest sitting U.S. senator, was a passionate advocate for liberal priorities important to her state — including environmental protection, reproductive rights and gun control — but was also known as a pragmatic lawmaker who reached out to Republicans and sought middle ground.

AP file, 2011

Raquel Welch

Raquel Welch, whose emergence from the sea in a skimpy, furry bikini in the film “One Million Years B.C.” would propel her to international sex symbol status throughout the 1960s and ’70s, died Feb. 15, 2023. She was 82. Welch’s breakthrough came in 1966’s campy prehistoric flick “One Million Years B.C.,” despite having a grand total of three lines. Clad in a brown doeskin bikini, she successfully evaded pterodactyls but not the notice of the public.

AP file, 1982

Suzanne Somers

Suzanne Somers, the effervescent blonde actor known for playing Chrissy Snow on the television show “Three’s Company” and who became an entrepreneur and New York Times best-selling author, died Oct. 15, 2023. She was 76. Somers appeared in many television shows in the 1970s, including “The Rockford Files,” “Magnum Force” and “The Six Million Dollar Man,” but her most famous part came with “Three’s Company,” which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984 — though her participation ended in 1981.

AP file, 2007

Lisa Marie Presley

Lisa Marie Presley, the only child of Elvis Presley and a singer-songwriter dedicated to her father’s legacy, died Jan. 12, 2023. She was 54. Presley shared her father’s brooding charisma — the hooded eyes, the insolent smile, the low, sultry voice — and followed him professionally, releasing her own rock albums in the 2000s.

AP file, 2012

Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte, the civil rights and entertainment giant who began as a groundbreaking actor and singer and became an activist, humanitarian and conscience of the world, died April 25, 2023. He was 96. With his glowing, handsome face and silky-husky voice, Belafonte was one of the first Black performers to gain a wide following on film and to sell a million records as a singer; many still know him for his signature hit “Banana Boat Song (Day-O),” and its call of “Day-O! Daaaaay-O.” But he forged a greater legacy once he scaled back his performing career in the 1960s and lived out his hero Paul Robeson’s decree that artists are “gatekeepers of truth.”

AP file, 2011

Sinéad O’Connor

Sinéad O’Connor, the gifted Irish singer-songwriter who became a superstar in her mid-20s and was known as much for her private struggles and provocative actions as for her fierce and expressive music, died July 26, 2023, at age 56. Recognizable by her shaved head and with a multi-octave mezzo soprano of extraordinary emotional range, O’Connor began her career singing on the streets of Dublin and soon rose to international fame. She was a star from her 1987 debut album, “The Lion and the Cobra,” and became a sensation in 1990 with her cover of Prince’s ballad “Nothing Compares 2 U,” a seething, shattering performance that topped charts from Europe to Australia and was heightened by a promotional video featuring the gray-eyed O’Connor in intense close-up.

AP file, 2014

David Crosby

David Crosby, the brash rock musician who evolved from a baby-faced harmony singer with the Byrds to a mustachioed hippie superstar and an ongoing troubadour in Crosby, Stills, Nash & (sometimes) Young, died Jan. 18, 2023, at age 81. While he only wrote a handful of widely known songs, the witty and ever opinionated Crosby was on the front lines of the cultural revolution of the ’60s and ’70s — whether triumphing with Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young on stage at Woodstock, testifying on behalf of a hirsute generation in his anthem “Almost Cut My Hair” or mourning the assassination of Robert Kennedy in “Long Time Gone.”

AP file, 2017

Steve Harwell

Steve Harwell, the longtime frontman of the Grammy-nominated pop rock band Smash Mouth died Sept. 4, 2023. He was 56. Smash Mouth was known for hits including “All Star” and “Then The Morning Comes.”

AP file, 2008

Lance Reddick

Lance Reddick, a character actor who specialized in intense, icy and possibly sinister authority figures on TV and film, including “The Wire,” “Fringe” and the “John Wick” franchise, died March 17, 2023. He was 60. Reddick was often put in a suit or a crisp uniform during his career, playing tall, taciturn and elegant men of distinction. He was best known for his role as straight-laced Lt. Cedric Daniels on the hit HBO series “The Wire,” where his character was agonizingly trapped in the messy politics of the Baltimore police department.

AP file, 2013

Richard Belzer

Richard Belzer, the longtime stand-up comedian who became one of TV’s most indelible detectives as John Munch in “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “Law & Order: SVU,” died Feb. 19, 2023. He was 78. For more than two decades and across 10 series — even including appearances on “30 Rock” and “Arrested Development” — Belzer played the wise-cracking, acerbic homicide detective prone to conspiracy theories. Belzer first played Munch on a 1993 episode of “Homicide” and last played him in 2016 on “Law & Order: SVU.”

AP file, 2013

Cindy Williams

Cindy Williams, who was among the most recognizable stars in America in the 1970s and 1980s for her role as Shirley opposite Penny Marshall’s Laverne on the beloved sitcom “Laverne & Shirley,” died Jan. 25, 2023. She was 75. Williams played the straitlaced Shirley Feeney to Marshall’s more libertine Laverne DeFazio on the show about a pair of blue-collar roommates who toiled on the assembly line of a Milwaukee brewery in the 1950s and 1960s.

AP file, 2012

Paul Reubens

Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian whose character Pee-wee Herman became a cultural phenomenon through films and TV shows, died July 30, 2023, at age 70. Reubens died after a six-year struggle with cancer that he did not make public, his publicist said in a statement.

AP file, 2009

Jerry Springer

Jerry Springer, the onetime mayor and news anchor whose namesake TV show featured a three-ring circus of dysfunctional families willing to bare all on weekday afternoons including brawls, obscenities and blurred images of nudity, died April 27, 2023, at age 79. At its peak, “The Jerry Springer Show” was a ratings powerhouse and a U.S. cultural pariah, synonymous with lurid drama. Known for chair-throwing and bleep-filled arguments, the daytime talk show was a favorite American guilty pleasure over its 27-year run, at one point topping Oprah Winfrey’s show.

AP file, 2010

Michael Gambon

Veteran actor Michael Gambon, who was known to many for his portrayal of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in six of the eight “Harry Potter” films, died Sept. 28, 2023. He was 82. No matter what role he took on in a career that lasted more than five decades, Gambon was always instantly recognizable by the deep and drawling tones of his voice. He was cast as the much-loved Dumbledore after the death of his predecessor, Richard Harris, in 2002.

AP file, 2011

Burt Young

Burt Young, the Oscar-nominated actor who played Paulie, the rough-hewn, mumbling-and-grumbling best friend, corner-man and brother-in-law to Sylvester Stallone in the “Rocky” franchise, died Oct. 8, 2023, at age 83. Young had roles in acclaimed films and television shows including “Chinatown,” “Once Upon a Time in America” and “The Sopranos.” But he was always best known for playing Paulie Pennino in six “Rocky” movies. The short, paunchy, balding Young was the sort of actor who always seemed to play middle-aged no matter his age.

AP file, 2006

Mark Margolis

Mark Margolis, who had a breakout role as a mobster in “Scarface” but became best known decades later for his indelible, fearsome portrayal of a vindictive former drug kingpin in TV’s “Breaking Bad,” died Aug. 3, 2023. He was 83. Margolis was nominated for an Emmy in 2012 for outstanding guest actor in “Breaking Bad” as Hector “Tio” Salamanca, the murderous elderly don who was unable to speak following a stroke. But this actor did not need dialogue; he communicated via facial expressions and the sometimes menacing use of a barhop bell taped to his wheelchair.

AP file, 2014

Jacklyn Zeman

Jacklyn Zeman, who became one of the most recognizable actors on daytime television during 45 years of playing nurse Bobbie Spencer on ABC’s “General Hospital,” died May 10, 2023. She was 70. Zeman joined “General Hospital” in 1977 as Barbara Jean, who went by Bobbie, and was the feisty younger sister of Anthony Geary’s Luke Spencer.

AP file, 2016

John Beasley

John Beasley, the veteran character actor who played a kindly school bus driver on the TV drama “Everwood” and appeared in dozens of films dating back to the 1980s, died May 30, 2023. He was 79. Beasley played an assistant coach in the 1993 football film “Rudy” and a retired preacher in 1997’s “The Apostle,” co-starring and directed by Robert Duvall.

AP file, 2017

Michael Lerner

Michael Lerner, the Brooklyn-born character actor who played a myriad of imposing figures in his 60 years in the business, including monologuing movie mogul Jack Lipnick in “Barton Fink,” the crooked club owner Bugsy Calhoun in “Harlem Nights” and an angry publishing executive in “Elf” died April 8, 2023. He was 81.

AP file, 2012

Tom Sizemore

Tom Sizemore, the “Saving Private Ryan” actor whose bright 1990s star burned out under the weight of his own domestic violence and drug convictions, died March3, 2023, at age 61. Sizemore became a star with acclaimed appearances in “Natural Born Killers” and the cult-classic crime thriller “Heat.”

AP file, 2013

Charles Kimbrough

Charles Kimbrough, a Tony- and Emmy-nominated actor who played a straight-laced news anchor opposite Candice Bergen on “Murphy Brown,” died Jan. 11, 2023. He was 86. Kimbrough played newsman Jim Dial across the 10 seasons of CBS hit sitcom “Murphy Brown” between 1988 and 1998, earning an Emmy nomination in 1990 for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series. He reprised the role for three episodes in the 2018 reboot.

AP file, 2008

Willis Reed

Willis Reed, who dramatically emerged from the locker room minutes before Game 7 of the 1970 NBA Finals to spark the New York Knicks to their first championship and create one of sports’ most enduring examples of playing through pain, died March 21, 2023. He was 80.

AP file, 1970

Brooks Robinson

Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson, whose deft glovework and folksy manner made him one of the most beloved and accomplished athletes in Baltimore history, died Sept. 26, 2023. He was 86. Coming of age before the free agent era, Robinson spent his entire 23-year career with the Orioles. He almost single-handedly helped Baltimore defeat Cincinnati in the 1970 World Series and homered in Game 1 of the Orioles’ 1966 sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers for their first crown. Robinson participated in 18 All-Star Games, won 16 consecutive Gold Gloves and earned the 1964 AL Most Valuable Player award after batting .318 with 28 home runs and a league-leading 118 RBIs.

AP file, 2007

Tim McCarver

Tim McCarver, the All-Star catcher and Hall of Fame broadcaster who during 60 years in baseball won two World Series titles with the St. Louis Cardinals and had a long run as one of the country’s most recognized, incisive and talkative television commentators, died Feb. 16, 2023. He was 81.

AP file, 2003

Billy Packer

Billy Packer (left), an Emmy award-winning college basketball broadcaster who covered 34 Final Fours for NBC and CBS, died Jan. 26, 2023. He was 82. Packer’s broadcasting career coincided with the growth of college basketball. He worked as analyst or color commentator on every Final Four from 1975 to 2008. He received a Sports Emmy for Outstanding Sports Personality, Studio and Sports Analyst in 1993. 

AP file, 2006

Gordon Lightfoot

Gordon Lightfoot, the folk singer-songwriter known for “If You Could Read My Mind” and “Sundown” and for songs that told tales of Canadian identity, died May 1, 2023. He was 84. One of the most renowned voices to emerge from Toronto’s Yorkville folk club scene in the 1960s, Lightfoot recorded 20 studio albums and penned hundreds of songs, including “Carefree Highway,” “Early Morning Rain” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

AP file, 2012

Jeff Beck

Jeff Beck, a guitar virtuoso who pushed the boundaries of blues, jazz and rock ‘n’ roll, influencing generations of shredders along the way and becoming known as the guitar player’s guitar player, died Jan. 10, 2023. He was 78. Beck was among the rock-guitarist pantheon from the late ’60s that included Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix. Beck won eight Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice — once with the Yardbirds in 1992 and again as a solo artist in 2009.

AP file, 2010

Clarence Avant

Clarence Avant, the judicious manager, entrepreneur, facilitator and adviser who helped launch or guide the careers of Quincy Jones, Bill Withers and many others and came to be known as the “Black Godfather” of music and beyond, died Aug. 13, 2023. He was 92.

AP file, 2019

Bobby Caldwell

Bobby Caldwell, a soulful R&B singer and songwriter who had a major hit in 1978 with “What You Won’t Do for Love” and a voice and musical style adored by generations of his fellow artists, died March 14, 2023. He was 71. The smooth soul jam “What You Won’t Do for Love” went to No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 6 on what was then called the Hot Selling Soul Singles chart. It became a long-term standard and career-defining hit for Caldwell, who also wrote the song.

AP file, 2013

Gary Rossington

Gary Rossington, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s last surviving original member who also helped to found the group, died March 5, 2023, at age 71. According to Rolling Stone, it was during a fateful Little League game, Ronnie Van Zant hit a line drive into the shoulder blades of opposing player Bob Burns and met his future bandmates. Rossington, Burns, Van Zant, and guitarist Allen Collins gathered that afternoon at Burns’ Jacksonville home to jam the Rolling Stone’s “Time Is on My Side.”

AP file, 2017

Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter, an influential jazz innovator whose lyrical, complex jazz compositions and pioneering saxophone playing sounded through more than half a century of American music, died March 2, 2023. He was 89.

AP file, 2013

Angus Cloud

Angus Cloud, the actor who starred as the drug dealer Fezco “Fez” O’Neill on the HBO series “Euphoria,” died July 31, 2023. He was 25. Cloud hadn’t acted before he was cast in “Euphoria.” He was walking down the street in New York when casting scout Eléonore Hendricks noticed him. Cloud was resistant at first, suspecting a scam. Then casting director Jennifer Venditti met with him and series creator Sam Levinson eventually made him a co-star in the series alongside Zendaya for its first two seasons.

AP file, 2019

Michael Chiarello

Michael Chiarello, a chef known for his Italian-inspired Californian restaurants who won an Emmy Award for best host for “Easy Entertaining With Michael Chiarello” and appeared on Bravo’s “Top Chef” and “Top Chef Masters,” died Oct. 6, 2023. He was 61.

AP file, 2013

Alan Arkin

Alan Arkin, the wry character actor who demonstrated his versatility in everything from farcical comedy to chilling drama as he received four Academy Award nominations and won an Oscar in 2007 for “Little Miss Sunshine,” has died. He was 89. A member of Chicago’s famed Second City comedy troupe, Arkin was an immediate success in movies with the Cold War spoof “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming” and peaked late in life with his win as best supporting actor for the surprise 2006 hit “Little Miss Sunshine.”

AP file, 2011

Julian Sands

Actor Julian Sands, who starred in several Oscar-nominated films in the late 1980s and ’90s including “A Room With a View” and “Leaving Las Vegas,” was found dead on a Southern California mountain in June 2023, five months after he disappeared while hiking. He was 65. Sands, who was born, raised and began acting in England, worked constantly in film and television, amassing more than 150 credits in a 40-year career. During a 10-year span from 1985 to 1995, he played major roles in a series of acclaimed films.

AP file, 2019

Cynthia Weil

Cynthia Weil, a Grammy-winning lyricist of notable range and endurance who enjoyed a decades-long partnership with husband Barry Mann and helped write “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” “On Broadway,” “Walking in the Rain” and dozens of other hits, died June 1, 2023, at age 82.

AP file, 2010

Sheldon Harnick

Tony- and Grammy Award-winning lyricist Sheldon Harnick, who with composer Jerry Bock made up the premier musical-theater songwriting duos of the 1950s and 1960s with shows such as “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Fiorello!” and “The Apple Tree,” died June 23, 2023. He was 99.

AP file, 2016

Barrett Strong

Barrett Strong, one of Motown’s founding artists and most gifted songwriters who sang lead on the company’s breakthrough single “Money (That’s What I Want)” and later collaborated with Norman Whitfield on such classics as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “War” and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” died Jan. 29, 2023. He was 81. 

AP file, 2004

The Iron Sheik

The Iron Sheik, a former pro wrestler who relished playing a burly, bombastic villain in 1980s battles with some of the sport’s biggest stars and later became a popular Twitter personality, died June 7, 2023. He was 81. During his pro wrestling career, he donned curled boots and used the “Camel Clutch” as his finishing move during individual and tag team clashes in which he played the role of an anti-American heel for the WWF, which later became the WWE.

AP file, 2009

Treat Williams

Actor Treat Williams, whose nearly 50-year career included starring roles in the TV series “Everwood” and the movie “Hair,” died June 12, 2023, after a motorcycle crash in Vermont. He was 71. He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role as hippie leader George Berger in the 1979 movie version of the hit musical “Hair.”

AP file, 2018

Bill Richardson

Bill Richardson, a two-term Democratic governor of New Mexico and an American ambassador to the United Nations who dedicated his post-political career to working to secure the release of Americans detained by foreign adversaries, died Sept. 2, 2023. He was 75.

AP file, 2021

Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg, the history-making whistleblower who by leaking the Pentagon Papers revealed longtime government doubts and deceit about the Vietnam War and inspired acts of retaliation by President Richard Nixon that helped lead to his resignation, died June 16, 2023. He was 92.

AP file, 1973

Pat Robertson

Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who turned a tiny Virginia station into the global Christian Broadcasting Network, tried a run for president and helped make religion central to Republican Party politics in America through his Christian Coalition, died June 8, 2023. He was 93.

AP file, 2015

Robert Blake

Robert Blake, the Emmy award-winning performer who went from acclaim for his acting to notoriety when he was tried and acquitted in the killing of his wife, died March 9, 2023, at age 89. Blake, star of the 1970s TV show, “Baretta,” never recovered from the long ordeal which began with the shooting death of his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, outside a Studio City restaurant on May 4, 2001. The story of their strange marriage, the child it produced and its violent end was a Hollywood tragedy played out in court. Blake portrayed real-life murderer Perry Smith in the movie of Truman Capote’s true crime best seller “In Cold Blood.”

AP file, 1977

Ted Kaczynski

Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the Harvard-educated mathematician who retreated to a dingy shack in the Montana wilderness and ran a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died June 10, 2023. He was 81. Branded the “Unabomber” by the FBI, Kaczynski died by suicide at the federal prison medical center in Butner, North Carolina.

AP file, 1996

Lloyd Morrisett

Lloyd Morrisett, the co-creator of the beloved children’s education TV series “Sesame Street,” which uses empathy and fuzzy monsters like Abby Cadabby, Elmo and Cookie Monster to charm and teach generations around the world, died Jan. 15, 2023. He was 93. 

AP file, 2019

Chaim Topol

Chaim Topol, a leading Israeli actor who charmed generations of theatergoers and movie-watchers with his portrayal of Tevye, the long-suffering and charismatic milkman in “Fiddler on the Roof,” died March 8, 2023, at age 87. A recipient of two Golden Globe awards and nominee for both an Academy Award and a Tony Award, Topol long has ranked among Israel’s most decorated actors.

AP file, 2015

Len Goodman

Len Goodman, a long-serving judge on “Dancing with the Stars” and “Strictly Come Dancing” who helped revive interest in ballroom dancing on both sides of the Atlantic, died April 22, 2023. He was 78.

AP file, 2007

Burt Bacharach

Burt Bacharach, the singularly gifted and popular composer who delighted millions with the quirky arrangements and unforgettable melodies of “Walk on By,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose” and dozens of other hits, died Feb. 8, 2023. The Grammy, Oscar and Tony-winning composer was 94. Over the past 70 years, only Lennon-McCartney, Carole King and a handful of others rivaled his genius for instantly catchy songs that remained performed, played and hummed long after they were written. He had a run of top 10 hits from the 1950s into the 21st century, and his music was heard everywhere from movie soundtracks and radios to home stereo systems and iPods, whether “Alfie” and “I Say a Little Prayer” or “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” and “This Guy’s in Love with You.”

AP file, 1979

Stella Stevens

Stella Stevens, a prominent leading lady in 1960s and 70s comedies perhaps best known for playing the object of Jerry Lewis’s affection in “The Nutty Professor,” died Feb. 17, 2023. She was 84. She was a prolific actor in television and film up through the 1990s, officially retiring in 2010.

AP file, 1968

Barry Humphries

Tony Award-winning comedian Barry Humphries, internationally renowned for his garish stage persona Dame Edna Everage, a condescending and imperfectly-veiled snob whose evolving character has delighted audiences over seven decades, died April 22, 2023. He was 89.

AP file, 2013

Annie Wersching

Actor Annie Wersching, best known for playing FBI agent Renee Walker in the series “24″ and providing the voice for Tess in the video game “The Last of Us,” died Jan. 29, 2023. She was 45. Her first credit was in “Star Trek: Enterprise,” and she would go on to have recurring roles in the seventh and eighth seasons of “24,” “Bosch,” “The Vampire Diaries,” Marvel’s “Runaways,” “The Rookie” and, most recently, the second season of “Star Trek: Picard” as the Borg Queen. 

AP file, 2010

Dave Hollis

Dave Hollis, who left his post as a Disney executive to help his wife run a successful lifestyle empire, died Feb. 12, 2023. He was 47. Hollis worked for Disney for 17 years and had been head of distribution for the company for seven years when he left in 2018 to join his wife’s venture. The parents of four moved from Los Angeles to the Austin area, collaborated on livestreams, podcasts and organized life-affirming conferences. In their podcast, “Rise Together,” they focused on marriage.

AP file, 2015

Christine King Farris

Christine King Farris, the last living sibling of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., died June 29, 2023. She was 95. For decades after her brother’s assassination in 1968, Farris worked along with his widow, Coretta Scott King, to preserve and promote his legacy. But unlike her high-profile sister-in-law, Farris’ activism — and grief — was often behind the scenes.

AP file, 2015

David Jude Jolicoeur

David Jude Jolicoeur, known widely as Trugoy the Dove and one of the founding members of the Long Island hip-hop trio De La Soul, died Feb. 12, 2023. He was 54. De La Soul’s debut studio album “3 Feet High and Rising,” produced by Prince Paul, was released in 1989 by Tommy Boy Records and praised for being a more light-hearted and positive counterpart to more charged rap offerings. De La Soul signaled the beginning of alternative hip-hop. 

AP file, 2015

Robbie Knievel

Robbie Knievel, an American stunt performer who set records with daredevil motorcycle jumps following the tire tracks of his thrill-seeking father — including at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in 1989 and a Grand Canyon chasm a decade later — died Jan. 13, 2023. He was 60.

AP file, 2000

Gina Lollobrigida

Italian film legend Gina Lollobrigida, who achieved international stardom during the 1950s and was dubbed “the most beautiful woman in the world” after the title of one of her movies, died Jan. 16, 2023. She was 95. Besides “The World’s Most Beautiful Woman” in 1955, career highlights included Golden Globe-winner “Come September,” with Rock Hudson; “Trapeze;” “Beat the Devil,” a 1953 John Huston film starring Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones; and “Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell.”

AP file, 1950s

Lynette Hardaway (“Diamond”)

Lynette Hardaway, an ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump and one half of the conservative political commentary duo Diamond and Silk, died Jan. 9, 2023. She was 51. Hardaway (pictured at left), known by the moniker “Diamond,” carved out a unique role as a Black woman who loudly backed Trump and right-wing policies.

AP file, 2018

Adam Rich

Adam Rich, the child actor with a pageboy mop-top who charmed TV audiences as “America’s little brother” on “Eight is Enough,” died Jan. 7, 2023. He was 54. Rich had a limited acting career after starring at age 8 as Nicholas Bradford, the youngest of eight children, on the ABC hit dramedy that ran from from 1977 to 1981.

AP file, 2002

Bobby Hull

Hall of Fame forward Bobby Hull, who helped the Chicago Blackhawks win the 1961 Stanley Cup Final, has died. Hull was 84. The two-time MVP was one of the most prolific scorers in NHL history, leading the league in goals seven times. Nicknamed “The Golden Jet” for his speed and blond hair, he posted 13 consecutive seasons with 30 goals or more from 1959-72.

AP file, 2019

Charles White

Charles White, the Southern California tailback who won the Heisman Trophy in 1979, died Jan. 11, 2023. He was 64. A two-time All-American and Los Angeles native, White won a national title in 1978 before claiming the Heisman in the following season, when he captained the Trojans and led the nation in yards rushing.

AP file, 1979

Ron Cephas Jones

Ron Cephas Jones, a veteran stage actor who won two Emmy Awards for his role as a long-lost father who finds redemption on the NBC television drama series “This Is Us,” died Aug. 19, 2023, at age 66.

AP file, 2019

Mohamed Al Fayed

Mohamed Al Fayed, the flamboyant Egypt-born businessman whose son was killed in a car crash with Princess Diana, died Aug. 30, 2023. He was 94. Al Fayed, the longtime owner of Harrods department store and the Fulham Football Club, was devastated by the death of son Dodi Fayed in the car crash in Paris with Diana 26 years ago. He spent years mourning the loss and fighting the British establishment he blamed for their deaths.

AP file, 2016

Jerry Richardson

Jerry Richardson, the Carolina Panthers founder and for years one of the NFL’s most influential owners until a scandal forced him to sell the team, died March 1, 2023. He was 86.

AP file, 2013

Sister André

Lucile Randon, a French nun known as Sister André and believed to be the world’s oldest person, died Jan. 17, 2023, at age 118. She was born in the town of Ales, southern France, on Feb. 11, 1904. She was also one of the world’s oldest survivors of COVID-19.

AP file, 2022

Tatjana Patitz

Tatjana Patitz, one of an elite group of famed supermodels who graced magazine covers in the 1980s and ’90s and appeared in George Michael’s “Freedom! ’90” music video, died at age 56.

AP file, 2006

Russell Banks

Russell Banks, an award-winning fiction writer who rooted such novels as “Affliction” and “The Sweet Hereafter” in the wintry, rural communities of his native Northeast and imagined the dreams and downfalls of everyone from modern blue-collar workers to the radical abolitionist John Brown in “Cloudsplitter,” died Jan. 7, 2023. He was 82.

AP file, 2004

Cardinal George Pell

Cardinal George Pell, a onetime financial adviser to Pope Francis who spent 404 days in solitary confinement in his native Australia on child sex abuse charges before his convictions were overturned, died Jan. 10, 2023. He was 81.

AP file, 2018

Ken Block

Ken Block, a motorsports icon known for his stunt driving and for co-founding the action sports apparel brand DC Shoes, died Jan. 2, 2023, in a snowmobiling accident near his home in Utah. Block rose to fame as a rally car driver and in 2005 was awarded Rally America’s Rookie of the Year honors.

AP file, 2013

Walter Cunningham

Walter Cunningham, the last surviving astronaut from the first successful crewed space mission in NASA’s Apollo program, died Jan. 3, 2023. He was 90. Cunningham was one of three astronauts aboard the 1968 Apollo 7 mission, an 11-day spaceflight that beamed live television broadcasts as they orbited Earth, paving the way for the moon landing less than a year later.

AP file, 2014

Anton Walkes

Professional soccer player Anton Walkes died Jan. 18, 2023, from injuries he sustained in a boat crash off the coast of Miami. He was 25. Walkes began his career with English Premier League club Tottenham and also played for Portsmouth before signing with Atlanta United in MLS. He joined Charlotte for the club’s debut MLS season in 2022.

AP file, 2017

Pat Schroeder

Former U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder, a pioneer for women’s and family rights in Congress, died March 13, 2023. She was 82. Schroeder took on the powerful elite with her rapier wit and antics for 24 years, shaking up stodgy government institutions by forcing them to acknowledge that women had a role in government. She was elected to Congress in Colorado in 1972 and won easy reelection 11 times from her safe district in Denver.

AP file, 1999

Seymour Stein

Seymour Stein, the brash, prescient and highly successful founder of Sire Records who helped launched the careers of Madonna, Talking Heads and many others, died April 2, 2023, at age 80. Stein helped found the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation and was himself inducted into the Rock Hall in 2005.

AP file, 2005

Klaus Teuber

Klaus Teuber, creator of the hugely popular Catan board game in which players compete to build settlements on a fictional island, died April 1, 2023. He was 70. The board game, originally called The Settlers of Catan when introduced in 1995 and based on a set of hexagonal tiles, has sold tens of millions of copies and is available in more than 40 languages.

AP file, 1995

Ginnie Newhart

Ginnie Newhart, who was married to comedy legend Bob Newhart for six decades and inspired the classic ending of his “Newhart” series, died April 23, 2023. She was 82.

AP file, 1985

Vida Blue

Vida Blue, a hard-throwing left-hander who became one of baseball’s biggest draws in the early 1970s and helped lead the brash A’s to three straight World Series titles before his career was derailed by drug problems, died May 6, 2023. He was 73.

AP file, 1976

Martin Amis

British novelist Martin Amis, who brought a rock ‘n’ roll sensibility to his stories and lifestyle, died May 20, 2023. He was 73. Amis was a leading voice among a generation of writers that included his good friend, the late Christopher Hitchens, Ian McEwan and Salman Rushdie. Among his best-known works were “Money,” a satire about consumerism in London, “The Information” and “London Fields,” along with his 2000 memoir, “Experience.”

AP file, 2012

Doyle Brunson

Doyle Brunson, one of the most influential poker players of all time and a two-time world champion, died May 14, 2023. He was 89. Brunson, called the Godfather of Poker and also known as “Texas Dolly,” won 10 World Series of Poker tournaments — second only to Phil Hellmuth’s 16. He also captured world championships in 1976 and 1977 and was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1988.

AP file, 2011

Hodding Carter III

Hodding Carter III, a Mississippi journalist and civil rights activist who as U.S. State Department spokesman informed Americans about the Iran hostage crisis and later won awards for his televised documentaries, died May 11, 2023. He was 88.

AP file, 2003

Ray Stevenson

Ray Stevenson, who played the villainous British governor in “RRR,” an Asgardian warrior in the “Thor” films, and a member of the 13th Legion in HBO’s “Rome,” died May 21, 2023. He was 58. He made his film debut in Paul Greengrass’s 1998 film “The Theory of Flight.” In 2004, he appeared in Antoine Fuqua’s “King Arthur” as a knight of the round table and several years later played the lead in the pre-Disney Marvel adaptation “Punisher: War Zone.” Though “Punisher” was not the best-reviewed film, he’d get another taste of Marvel in the first three “Thor” films, in which he played Volstagg. Other prominent film roles included the “Divergent” trilogy, “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” and “The Transporter: Refueled.”

AP file, 2017

Astrud Gilberto

Astrud Gilberto, the Brazilian singer, songwriter and entertainer whose off-hand, English-language cameo on “The Girl from Ipanema” made her a worldwide voice of bossa nova, died June 5, 2023, at age 83.

AP file, 1981

Tori Bowie

U.S. Olympic champion sprinter Tori Bowie died May 2, 2023, from complications of childbirth, according to an autopsy report. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Bowie won silver in the 100 and bronze in the 200. She then ran the anchor leg on a 4×100 team with Tianna Bartoletta, Allyson Felix and English Gardner to take gold.

AP file, 2017

Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi, the boastful billionaire media mogul who was Italy’s longest-serving premier despite scandals over his sex-fueled parties and allegations of corruption, died June 12, 2023. He was 86. A onetime cruise ship crooner, Berlusconi used his television networks and immense wealth to launch his long political career, inspiring both loyalty and loathing.

AP file, 2021

John Goodenough

John Goodenough, who shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work developing the lithium-ion battery that transformed technology with rechargeable power for devices ranging from cellphones, computers, and pacemakers to electric cars, died June 25, 2023, at age 100.

AP file, 2019

Coco Lee

Coco Lee, a Hong Kong-born singer and songwriter who had a highly successful career in Asia, has died by suicide July 5, 2023. She was 48. She was the first Chinese singer to break into the American market, and her English song “Do You Want My Love” charted at #4 on Billboard’s Hot Dance Breakouts chart in December 1999.

If you or someone you know exhibits warning signs of suicide, call 1-800-273-TALK, text 741741 or visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

AP file, 2005

Jane Birkin

Actor and singer Jane Birkin, who made France her home and charmed the country with her English grace, natural style and social activism, died July 16, 2023, at age 76. The London-born star and fashion icon was known for her musical and romantic relationship with French singer Serge Gainsbourg. Their songs notably included the steamy “Je t’aime moi non plus” (“I Love You, Me Neither”). Birkin’s ethereal, British-accented singing voice interlaced with his gruff baritone in the 1969 duet that helped make her famous and was forbidden in Italy after being denounced in the Vatican newspaper.

AP file, 2021

Michael McGrath

Michael McGrath, a Broadway character actor who shined in zany, feel-good musicals and won a Tony Award for “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” died Sept. 14, 2023. He was 65. McGrath was in over a dozen Broadway shows including “Plaza Suite,” “She Loves Me,” “Tootsie” and “Spamalot” as well as on television as the sidekick to Martin Short on “The Martin Short Show.”

AP file, 2012

Fernando Botero

Renowned Colombian painter and sculptor Fernando Botero, whose depictions of people and objects in plump, exaggerated forms became emblems of Colombian art around the world, died Sept. 15, 2023. He was 91.

AP file, 2013

David McCallum

Actor David McCallum, who became a teen heartthrob in the hit series “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” in the 1960s and was the eccentric medical examiner in the popular “NCIS” 40 years later, died Sept. 25, 2023. He was 90. McCallum’s work with “U.N.C.L.E.” brought him two Emmy nominations, and he got a third as an educator struggling with alcoholism in a 1969 Hallmark Hall of Fame drama called “Teacher, Teacher.” McCallum returned to television in 2003 in another series with an agency known by its initials — CBS’ “NCIS.”

AP file, 1975

Tim Wakefield

Tim Wakefield, the knuckleballing workhorse of the Red Sox pitching staff who bounced back after giving up a season-ending home run to the Yankees in the 2003 playoffs to help Boston win its curse-busting World Series title the following year, died Oct. 1, 2023. He was 57.

AP file, 2009

Louise Glück

Nobel laureate Louise Glück, a poet of unblinking candor and perception who wove classical allusions, philosophical reveries, bittersweet memories and humorous asides into indelible portraits of a fallen and heartrending world, died Oct. 13, 2023, at age 80.

AP file, 2016

Piper Laurie

Piper Laurie, the strong-willed, Oscar-nominated actor who performed in acclaimed roles despite at one point abandoning acting altogether in search of a “more meaningful” life, died Oct. 14, 2023. She was 91. Laurie arrived in Hollywood in 1949 as Rosetta Jacobs and was quickly given a string of starring roles with Ronald Reagan, Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis, among others. She went on to receive Academy Award nominations for three distinct films: The 1961 poolroom drama “The Hustler”; the film version of Stephen King’s horror classic “Carrie,” in 1976; and the romantic drama “Children of a Lesser God,” in 1986. She also appeared in several acclaimed roles on television and the stage, including in David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” in the 1990s as the villainous Catherine Martell.

AP file, 2009

Bob Knight

Bob Knight, the brilliant and combustible coach who won three NCAA titles at Indiana and for years was the scowling face of college basketball died Nov. 1, 2023. He was 83.

AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File

Frank Borman

Frank Borman, who commanded Apollo 8’s historic Christmas 1968 flight that circled the moon 10 times and paved the way for the lunar landing seven months later, died Nov. 7, 2023. He was 95. 

AP Photo/File

Maryanne Trump Barry

Maryanne Trump Barry, a retired federal judge and former president Donald Trump’s oldest sister, died Nov. 13, 2023, at age 86 at her home in New York.

AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File

Ken Squier

Ken Squier, a longtime NASCAR announcer, died Nov. 15, 2023, in Waterbury, Vermont, at the age of 88, according to the management of the local WDEV radio, which he owned. 

AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File

George Brown

George Brown, drummer and co-founder of Kool & The Gang, died Nov. 16, 2023 in Los Angeles, after a battle with cancer. He was 74.

In photo: Robert “Kool” Bell, from left, Ronald “Khalis” Bell, Dennis “DT” Thomas and George Brown attend a ceremony honoring Kool & The Gang with a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame on Oct. 8, 2015, in Los Angeles.

Photo by Rich Fury/Invision/AP, file

Willie Hernandez

Three-time All-Star relief pitcher Willie Hernández, who won the 1984 Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards as part of the World Series champion Detroit Tigers, died Nov. 20, 2023. He was 69.

STF, AP Photo, File

Jean Knight

Jean Knight, a New Orleans-born soul singer known for her 1971 hit “Mr. Big Stuff,” died Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2023, at age 80 from natural causes, family representative Mona Giamanco said.

Eliot Kamenitz/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP

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Seasonal business ventures remain one of the hottest small business trends thanks to the numerous business opportunities and the unique benefits these options offer budding entrepreneurs. After all, seasonal businesses such as those that only operate during the winter season allow small business owners to take extended breaks during their lengthy off-seasons or to spend that time strategizing ways to boost sales the next year. Before you can run a successful seasonal business in the cooler months, however, you need some innovative winter business ideas.

Choosing the Best Winter Business Ideas: Our Methodology

The winter season brings unique business opportunities, some of which are seasonal while others may extend beyond the colder months. Here’s how to evaluate the best winter business ideas:

1. Seasonal Relevance and Demand
   • Importance: Crucial
   • Focus on businesses that either solve a winter-specific problem (like snow removal) or cater to winter activities (like holiday-themed products).
2. Start-Up and Operational Costs
   • Importance: High
   • Consider the initial investment and ongoing costs. Some winter businesses may require more equipment or higher operational expenses due to the weather conditions.
3. Profitability and Revenue Potential
   • Importance: High
   • Assess the potential income. Some winter businesses might offer high short-term profits due to seasonal demand.
4. Scalability and Year-Round Potential
   • Importance: Moderate
   • Evaluate if the business can be scaled or adapted for other seasons, which can be important for sustained income.
5. Local Climate and Geographic Relevance
   • Importance: High
   • The success of winter business ideas often depends on the local climate and geography. Choose a business that aligns with the winter conditions in your area.
6. Flexibility and Time Commitment
   • Importance: Moderate
   • Consider the time commitment required. Some winter businesses may be more intense during the season but offer more flexibility during off-season months.
7. Competition and Market Saturation
   • Importance: High
   • Analyze the level of competition. Entering a market with less competition can provide more opportunities for success.
8. Customer Base and Marketing
   • Importance: High
   • Understand your target customer base and how to effectively market to them during the winter season.
9. Regulatory and Insurance Requirements
   • Importance: High
   • Be aware of any special regulations or insurance requirements for winter-specific businesses, especially those involving outdoor activities or equipment.
10. Impact on Lifestyle and Personal Preferences
    • Importance: Moderate
    • Consider how the business fits your lifestyle and personal preferences, especially considering the demands of winter weather.

By considering these factors, entrepreneurs can identify winter business ideas that not only capitalize on the unique aspects of the season but also align with their goals, resources, and the market demand.

Best Winter Businesses to Start

Starting a successful winter business is an achievable goal. Looking for seasonal business ideas that can operate during the winter months? The following 32 winter business ideas should get you started right.

1. Fake Snow Business

If you live in a location where snow is scarce during the winter season, then selling fake snow can be a great business idea. Fake snow can be in high demand during the festive season among organizations, companies and even families who want to experience a winter wonderland.

2. Gift Wrapping Service

Gift wrapping services remain an in-demand business idea during the holiday season. If you’re a skilled gift wrapper, you can sell your services near any busy shopping area, and you’re almost guaranteed to attract plenty of customers.

3. Christmas Tree Farm

While selling Christmas trees during the winter season might not be an option for every entrepreneur, Christmas tree farming can grow into a successful and profitable winter business idea for small business owners who own land where they can grow evergreen products so they can sell Christmas trees.

4. Towing Service

Towing services are businesses that are in need all year long, but the demand grows during the winter season when road conditions often deteriorate. The owner and operator of a tow truck can still turn a profit if they only operate seasonally.

5. Ventless Fireplace Business

Ventless fireplaces continue to grow in popularity since so many properties no longer are equipped for the traditional variety. A ventless fireplace installation business is a solid business idea, provided the entrepreneur gets proper clearances from the fire department.

6. Winter Sports Equipment Rentals

Many consumers enjoy playing occasional winter sports, but they don’t own the proper equipment for seasonal pastimes. In the right market, an entrepreneur could achieve great success by renting this needed winter sports equipment as a business.

7. Sell Gift Baskets

Unique gift baskets remain at the top of many holiday shoppers’ gift lists, so there’s never been a better time to start a seasonal business selling holiday gift baskets. You could create a variety of gift baskets or focus on a specific niche in the market.

8. Sell Winter Garments

Do you have an eye for fashion? You could start a successful seasonal small business by selling winter garments. You could obtain a seasonal lease and start a local boutique, or you could excel in the online selling marketplace.

9. General Errand Service Business

More people seek assistance with running errands during the winter months than when it’s warm outside, making a general errand service business another profitable idea for entrepreneurs seeking a seasonal venture.

10. Ice Cream Shop

Ice cream is a popular treat all year long, but many ice cream shops only operate during the summer. Opening a wintertime ice cream shop is a great way to fill a gap in the market.

11. Winter Weather Baskets

Who says it needs to be a holiday to send a gift basket to a friend or loved one? A small business specializing in the more generic, yet still seasonal winter weather baskets is sure to be a hit in almost any community.

12. Chimney Sweeper

Naturally, homeowners use their fireplaces far more frequently during the colder months, which makes a chimney sweep business another great idea for a successful seasonal company.

13. Hot Beverage Pop-Up

Hot beverages are in demand during the winter season, which makes the colder months the perfect time to start a hot beverage pop-up business. Just establish a small retail space for your hot beverage stand in an area with regular traffic and sell options like coffee, hot chocolate and hot tea.

14. Sell Home-Made Cookies

When it comes to holiday treats, it’s no secret that plenty of people prefer cookies. With just a small capital investment, you can start a cookie business and offer an assortment of sweet treats, including good-quality cookies.

15. Sleigh Ride Service Business

While some winter seasonal businesses appeal to a narrow demographic, others cater to all age groups. A sleigh ride service is a seasonal business that can draw customers young and old as they seek exciting holiday experiences.

16. Home Winterization Service

Are you skilled with the tips and tricks to successfully winterize a home? You can start a winter seasonal business helping homeowners prepare their properties for severe winter weather by insulating, closing any gaps in windows and using other weatherization techniques.

17. Cake Shop

The holiday season is cake time for many families, so a wintertime cake shop can become a profitable seasonal business activity. You can offer a variety of baked goods for your products and specialize in festive cakes like the popular Yule log cake.

18. Sell Firewood

Firewood is in far greater demand during the winter months compared to the rest of the year. Many entrepreneurs who own wooded land have established successful seasonal small businesses by selling firewood.

19. Snow Removal Business

One of the more profitable winter business ideas in areas with consistent winter storms is a snow removal service. There is little overhead to offer snow removal services in nearby residential areas, and the demand is all but guaranteed anytime it snows. By purchasing the proper equipment, you even can expand to a snow plowing business.

20. Party Rental

The party rental business is one of the more popular small business ideas all year long, but it can also be successful during only the winter months. Such a business might specialize in renting winter holiday-themed party supplies, decorations and equipment, including that geared toward Thanksgiving, Hanukah, Christmas and New Year’s.

21. Liquor Delivery

Looking to start a new business during the winter months? Consider a liquor delivery service since the demand for many hard beverages increases during the winter when people also are less likely to savor a cold trip to the store. Be sure, of course, that you are following all local laws and regulations.

22. Christmas Retail Outlet

The various holiday seasons are prime time for retailers around the world, so it’s no wonder why more entrepreneurs are starting Christmas retail outlets and turning them into successful seasonal businesses.

23. Senior Errand Services

If you’re looking for a way to earn extra money during the winter season, consider starting a senior errand service and performing odd jobs for the elderly in your community. Since it’s harder for many seniors to get around when it’s cold outside, a helpful entrepreneur can turn a profit with this seasonal option.

24. Winter Storage

Many consumers use storage facilities for seasonal purposes as they pack away clothing, furniture and equipment they don’t plan to use for several months to save space. These semi-yearly habits make owning a storage building with individual units another great seasonal business option.

25. Pet Sitting

Pet sitting easily can grow into a successful year-round business, but demand for pet sitting services tends to increase during the holiday season. An animal-loving entrepreneur easily could start a small business by safeguarding pets during the winter season.

26. Furnace Repair Service

There will always be a demand for those skilled in repairing appliances, and a furnace repair service is a natural seasonal venture since there will be little demand for the niche during the warmer months. When it’s cold, however, someone who is skilled at repairing heaters can be a hot commodity.

27. Handcrafted Wreaths

With just a small investment, a crafty entrepreneur can create beautiful handcrafted wreaths for the holiday season or for all winter long. Wreaths can be sold locally at flea markets and craft fairs, or they can be sold online and shipped to customers.

28. Quilt & Blanket Company

Quilts and blankets are in high demand during the winter months in many places, and an entrepreneur with quilting skills can meet this huge demand by starting a quilt and blanket company. You can start your own quilt trading store, or you can maximize your profits by selling quilts from an online marketplace like Etsy.

29. Holiday Home Decorating Business

How many members of your community wish they could decorate their homes for the holidays but simply don’t have time in their busy schedules? Decorating homes for the holidays is another profitable winter business idea that requires little overhead.

30. Local 32 Winter Business Ideas

Starting a local cleaning service is a lucrative winter business idea since so many consumers have less time to spend cleaning during the winter months even as they welcome and entertain holiday guests. A seasonal business that meets this increased demand is sure to be a hit.

31. Custom Ornament Sales

The business of Christmas ornaments delivers products to a massive market, but it’s definitely a seasonal venture with most sales occurring in the winter months. Crafty entrepreneurs can choose to create a plethora of options, and they can sell their creations at local stores and craft fairs or through online marketplaces like Etsy or Amazon Handmade.

32. Delivery Business

Just as many people seek assistance running errands during the cold winter months, there is also a local market demand for delivery services. With a reliable vehicle, you can start a successful delivery business initiating services to local neighborhoods.

Check Your Small Business Insurance Coverage

When establishing a successful seasonal small business, it’s vital for entrepreneurs to fully prepare for a winter storm by checking on their small business insurance coverage. Harsh weather conditions create the perfect environment for accidents… and the possibility of a lawsuit. Do you have plenty of liability insurance to cover such instances? Don’t let your seasonal small business become a victim of insurance vulnerabilities.

Exploring the Winter Business Frontier: From Concept to Success

As the winter season approaches, it brings with it a world of unique business opportunities. Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur looking to launch your first venture or an established business owner seeking to diversify, the colder months offer a distinct market waiting to be tapped. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the essential steps to navigate the winter business landscape, from ideation to execution. Let’s embark on a journey to uncover the secrets of building a successful winter business that not only thrives during the chilly season but also lays the foundation for potential year-round success.

Market Research and Idea Selection:

• Identify innovative business ideas that align with the specific needs and trends of the winter season.
• Thoroughly research your market, potential customers, competitors, and gaps in the industry.
• Consider factors such as location, target audience, and the unique demands that arise during winter.

Effective Business Plan:

• Craft a comprehensive business plan outlining your goals, strategies, and operational details.
• Define your business’s value proposition, unique selling points, and how you’ll meet seasonal demands.
• Provide a clear financial projection covering startup costs, expected revenue, and potential expenses.
• Address potential challenges and establish contingency plans for uncertainties.

Securing Finances:

• Determine the financial requirements for your winter business, including initial investments and ongoing expenses.
• Explore various funding options, such as personal savings, loans, grants, or investors.
• A well-structured business plan will play a pivotal role in attracting support from lenders or investors.

Investments in Marketing, Equipment, and Supplies:

• Allocate a portion of your budget to effective marketing strategies that raise awareness and draw customers.
• Invest in high-quality equipment and supplies aligned with your business offerings.
• Ensure sufficient inventory to meet customer demands during the peak winter season.

Transitioning to Year-Round:

• If your seasonal business shows promise, strategize ways to extend operations beyond the winter months.
• Research and plan how to adapt your offerings or introduce complementary services for year-round viability.
• This transition could lead to steady income and sustainable business growth.

Hiring Seasonal Employees:

• Based on your business’s scale, consider hiring seasonal employees to manage increased demand.
• Recruit individuals who can provide excellent customer service, ensure smooth operations, and handle the winter rush.
• Offer proper training to align your seasonal staff with your business values and goals.

Accounting and Tax Preparation:

• Implement accounting software to maintain accurate and efficient financial records.
• Manage income, expenses, and transactions effectively to ensure financial transparency.
• Prepare for tax season by understanding tax regulations, maintaining accurate records, and seeking professional guidance if needed.

Business Compliance:

• Open a business checking account to keep personal and business finances separate.
• Obtain the necessary licenses, permits, or certifications required for your business.
• Adhere to local laws and regulations, especially those related to operating a business in winter.

Remember, the key to success in the winter business realm lies in meticulous planning, adaptability, and a relentless commitment to delivering value to your customers. With a well-crafted strategy and focused execution, your seasonal venture can thrive during the colder months and potentially evolve into a year-round operation.

Conclusion

Embracing the realm of seasonal business ventures opens up a realm of promising possibilities for budding entrepreneurs. This article has illuminated the vibrant landscape of winter business ideas, encapsulating the potential for both innovative concepts and entrepreneurial success. In the ever-evolving realm of business, seasonal ventures stand as a testament to the adaptability and the capacity to capitalize on unique opportunities.

The allure of seasonal businesses lies not only in their profitability but also in the inherent benefits they offer. Entrepreneurs can bask in extended off-season breaks or utilize the downtime to strategically enhance sales for the upcoming year. Winter, with its crisp air and festive vibes, ushers in a plethora of business prospects that cater to various consumer needs and preferences.

Venturing into a successful winter business holds achievable aspirations, with a myriad of options at your disposal. From creating winter wonderlands with fake snow to offering specialized services like gift wrapping, Christmas tree farming, and beyond, the winter season fosters a fertile ground for entrepreneurial growth. Niche opportunities such as ventless fireplace installation, winter sports equipment rentals, and home winterization services allow you to carve your unique niche while catering to specific demands.

Entrepreneurs can also explore the thriving market of hot beverages, cake shops, firewood sales, and even senior errand services, capitalizing on the seasonal shift in consumer preferences. The article’s comprehensive exploration of various winter business concepts ensures that regardless of your expertise or inclination, a viable venture awaits your vision.

As with any business endeavor, proper preparation is paramount. Ensuring adequate small business insurance coverage is imperative, safeguarding your venture from unforeseen challenges. Crafting a robust business plan, delving into market analysis, and securing necessary resources form the foundation of your journey. Whether your winter business idea revolves around a traditional Christmas tree farm or the innovative realm of hot beverage pop-ups, each endeavor encapsulates the spirit of entrepreneurship and the art of fulfilling unique seasonal needs.

In a world where business landscapes evolve swiftly, the seasonal avenue is a testament to innovation and adaptability. Armed with ingenuity and a dash of holiday spirit, the journey into the realm of winter business ventures invites you to manifest your entrepreneurial aspirations and bring warmth to the hearts of customers seeking seasonal delights. As winter whispers its frosty symphony, let your venture resonate with the melody of success, embracing the magic of the season and the promise of prosperous beginnings.

Image: Envato Elements

More in: Develop an Idea

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich (WOOD) – As the temperatures cool down outside, you may want to start a fire in the fireplace or turn on the furnace to stay warm, but is your chimney ready to handle the heat Where You Live?

National Chimney Safety Week 2020 (September 27 – October 3) is designed to educate homeowners on the inherent dangers of fireplaces and provide them with tips to reduce their risk of suffering a chimney fire or carbon monoxide-related health emergency.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (USCPSC), an average of 17,600 chimney fires occurred annually in the United States between 2015 and 2017, and although this represents a significant drop from previous years, the Chimney Safety Institute of America believes there’s still much room for improvement. CSIA’s vision is that every family enjoys a safe, warm home.

The Facts About Chimney Fires:

Your chimney–and the flue that lines it–adds architectural interest to your home, but its’ real function is to carry dangerous flue gases from your fireplace, wood stove or furnace safely out of your home.  As you relax in front of your fireplace or bask in the warmth of your wood stove, the last thing you are likely to be thinking about is the condition of your chimney.  However, if you don’t give some thought to it before you light those winter fires, your enjoyment may be very short-lived.

Why?

Dirty chimneys can cause chimney fires, which damage structures, destroy homes and injure or kill people. ​

Indications of a chimney fire have been described as creating:

• Loud cracking and popping noise
• A lot of dense smoke
• An intense, hot smell

Chimney fires can burn explosively – noisy and dramatic enough to be detected by neighbors or people passing by.  Flames or dense smoke may shoot from the top of the chimney.  Homeowners report being startled by a low rumbling sound that reminds them of a freight train or a low flying airplane.  However, those are only the chimney fires you know about.

Chimney fires are preventable.  When burning wood, only use dry, seasoned wood.

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recommends chimneys be inspected annually and cleaned as-needed.  Having your chimney inspected by a CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep before lighting your first fire of the season, is the number one way to prevent potential damage to your home or even the loss of life that may result from a damaged or blocked chimney.

E.S.C.A.P.E. Fire Safety reminds you with more than 1,800 CSIA Certified Chimney Sweeps located across the United States, it has never been easier to find one near you.  To locate your nearest CSIA Certified Chimney Sweep, visit www.csia.org/search and enter your zip code into the locator search tool.

Article by Firefighter Michael McLeieer, President – E.S.C.A.P.E. Inc.

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Unprotected homelessness is a public health disaster. In King County and Seattle, homeless people are dying every day, it’s getting worse and preventable. Providing adequate housing or shelter for all homeless people is an essential step in turning.

However, after decades of regional dialogue and failed plans, the gap between adequate housing and the thousands of homeless people in King County is still widening. The King County Regional Homelessness Authority estimates we will need 18,000 additional temporary shelters or shelters by 2027.

Meanwhile, the city of Seattle has become obsessed with “removing” tent and vehicle camps, better known as “sweeps” — more than 900 of which took place in 2022 — even when shelters aren’t available.

Seattle’s Services not Sweeps coalition has launched a campaign to ban sweeping during winter and extreme weather conditions, when outdoor survival is most difficult. Similar to the Seattle winter eviction ban that was enacted prior to the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, this policy would extend eviction protections to homeless people.

As the University of Washington School of Public Health, which has taught, researched, and developed policies on homelessness, we fully support a winter sweeping ban. We also advocate a year-round sweeping ban, at least until Seattle has enough dignified and suitable indoor space for all vulnerable people. Until then, a ban in winter and extreme weather conditions is a health-promoting first step.

Searches do little more than shift visible reminders of homelessness from one neighborhood to another and then shift them back again. However, raids also push people deeper into the shadows, farther from the regions they are familiar with, cutting ties with care providers and road workers. Searches risk losing IDs, paperwork, medication, and social connections. Imagine trying to get out of homelessness, facing constant challenges like this one, and on top of that, the constant threat of losing your flimsy tent, bed covers, or car and everything you own.

Even worse: kill sweeps. A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) examined 23 cities, including Seattle, and found that continuous “involuntary displacement” significantly increases hospitalizations and deaths. That’s the last thing Seattle needs. The number of homeless deaths in King County has already doubled that of Washington state. In 2022, they increased even further, and in 2023, so far, they are even higher than in the same period last year.

As public health professionals, we are not the only ones demanding services and accommodation, not cleaning services. The American Public Health Association’s Caucus on Homelessness has spoken out against the forced dismantling of homeless camps without readily available shelters or suitable shelters. The editorial of the JAMA study summarized involuntary displacement as “a worsening of a bad situation”. The lead author of the JAMA study bluntly stated: “Sweeping people is not a solution to #homelessness, it is a form of (costly) state-sponsored violence.”

The King County Board of Health declared in 2018 that homelessness is a public health crisis and poses an imminent threat to the health and survival of vulnerable people. The board urged all King County jurisdictions to quickly provide enough emergency shelters to support all homeless people who are homeless.

In addition, federal jurisprudence has repeatedly required that adequate shelters be in place before removing tents or belongings of those not sheltered. This was confirmed by Ninth Circuit Court judgments against Boise and Grants Pass, and by a December federal court order in San Francisco. Also this week, a King County Superior Court judge ruled that Seattle’s camp clearance policy is unconstitutional in cases where the city uses its overly broad definition of “disability” to mandate the removal and destruction of property without Justify advance notice or accommodation offer – where there is no real disability or imminent danger.

Seattle and King County are nowhere near, and nowhere near, those goals. The Regional Housing Authority’s most recent five-year plan, for example, does not provide a specific timeline to meet current or projected housing needs. Still, Seattle continues its frightening pace of destocking.

You may be wondering: what about all those homeless people who are “denying” housing? hmm First, most Seattle searches are conducted without notice or offers of housing. Second, the City of Seattle’s own statistics confirm that most campers accept offers when it comes to “enhanced” and “non-shared” accommodations, such as tiny house villages or motel accommodations.

Although a mat on the floor of a “shelter” meets the courts’ minimum expectations, it is not enough to help people make the transition from homelessness. Simple “communal” housing offers minimal sanitation and weather protection—usually along with barriers to entry (e.g., exclusion of mates and animal companions), overcrowded sleeping quarters, no privacy, limited possessions, and morning evictions onto the streets. These attitudes are neither healthy nor dignified. Not surprisingly, campers in Seattle often opt out of such accommodations.

To help people stabilize and find proper housing, housing is best when it has 24-hour access and privacy, is open to whole family units and partners, including animal companions, and has connections to case management , health and social services. This is the type of shelter prioritized by both the regional homelessness agency and the health department.

Homelessness stems from unaffordable housing, unlivable minimum wages, disabilities, the impoverishment of medical debt, institutional racism, and other economic system failures. Sustainable solutions require transformative strategies, costly investments and time.

Fortunately, we live in a city with some of the wealthiest people in world history who, if taxed, are able to support solutions. We also have many vacant units that could be made available for residential use.

In the meantime, however, we should at least stop sweeping camps during the coldest and hottest months, when displacement is doing the most damage.

Bill Daniell is a physician, epidemiologist, and associate professor emeritus at the UW School of Public Health. He was a member of the King County Board of Health for seven years.

Amy Hagopian is a professor at the UW School of Public Health, where she taught the school’s homelessness course. She is the elected Chair of the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Public Health.

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What is this?

Saitō is an ordinary handyman who is reincarnated into another world. He forms a dungeon exploring party with Raelza, a beautiful and strong warrior; Morok, a powerful magician who, due to his senility, keeps forgetting spells; and Lafanpan, a cute but miserly fairy. His handyman experience is helpful when they need to open a locked chest or fix their armor.

Handyman Saitō in Another World is based on Kazutomo Ichitomo’s manga and streams on Crunchyroll on Mondays.

How was the first episode?

Caitlin Moore

Rating:

I swear, y’all, I’m gonna go rogue and write a long and detailed article about how these isekai where burned-out adults get pulled into another world and continue to do their jobs to a much more appreciative clientele are a reflection of Marx’s theory of alienation. According to Marx, in capitalist society, workers become alienated from their labor through a variety of forces. Saitō’s client throwing a fit over 30 seconds of work represents alienation because she fails to consider the training and skill required for him to open her door and… hey, where is everyone going? This is interesting stuff and a key element to critically examining a widespread trend in popular anime!

But then again, it’s really only interesting when considered as a larger trend. Most of the “doing my job, but in a fantasy world” leave me snoring in this world, but Handyman Saitō in Another World at the very least kept my attention for most of 20 minutes. The pacing is brisk and then some, moving swiftly through three-minute sketches that rarely connect to each other. The main thrust is that while Saitō rarely found satisfaction in his work in Japan, his party of Dungeons & Dragons-style misfits in the new world appreciate his knowledge base of practical skills that are much rarer there. He does a lot of lockpicking in dungeons and little odd jobs like making a backpack for the party fairy to carry her hoard of gold. There is a simple pleasure to not just the fantasy of living in a world where your skills are acknowledged as valuable, but watching Saitō work with tools to create something. It’s wonderfully tactile.

It is, however, only moderately funny. There aren’t jokes so much as bits and character beats. The party consists of Saitō, an elderly wizard suffering from dementia, a miserly fairy with healing magic, and an awkward lady knight who spends most of her time in full plate. A few gags made me chuckle, but the focus was more on displaying Saitou’s competency and creating a warm fuzzy feeling about his bond with his party. I only laughed out loud a couple times in the whole episode. The color palette is also oddly somber for a comedy, muted and washed out even when the animation is fluid and detailed.

Handyman Saitō in Another World is a second-monitor anime. It’s pleasant and mildly funny and pretty well animated, but it’s not especially engaging and the sketch format means you can kind of zone in and out. Too bad I only have one monitor.

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

Of all the jobs that could easily make the transition between our world and the fantasy world of your choice, one I must vote for to star in an isekai show is a psychologist. But barring that, a handyman is a pretty great one to use. In the case of this show, “handyman” appears to be shorthand for “Jack of all trades;” Saitou can do just about anything, from leatherworking to lock picking to basic armor smithing. While his skill set seems a bit broader than I might have expected, there is no denying that it helps him fit in in this fantasy world he has somehow managed to land in. After all, adventurers have new things fixed and unlocked just as much as anyone else does. The bonus is that the life-or-death situations they might find themselves in make them more grateful than cheap housewives.

The bite-sized storylines within this first episode suggest that it may have worked better as a short; it goes through many mini plots within a short space of time. It doesn’t really drag, but there were moments when I wondered how much longer the episode had to run. This is partly because things seem to be skipping around through time; we have yet to learn exactly how Saitou ended up in the fantasy world, nor how he fell in with his present party of adventurers. We know that somehow he is now going on adventures with a lady tank, a geriatric mage, and the healer fairy with a thirst for gold. He fits in with them great, but the entire episode could be more cohesive.

On the plus side, the episode does a nice job with some little details. The way that the swordswoman is uncomfortable with the scar on her cheek is never overtly stated, but we can piece it together from the way that she does not want to take her helmet off in front of Saitou, and when she does, she keeps her scarred cheek turned away from him or in the shadows. Towards the end of the episode, when Saitou falls down a hole in a cave to several levels below, we immediately get a sense of how badly he is injured by the fact that we can see blood slowly coloring the water from his submerged leg; long before he says that the leg is broken, we have the visual cues to pick up on. There are also a lot of quite funny moments, from the dwarf to Morlock’s tenuous grasp on his present; there are some very entertaining little jabs at fantasy norms. I would have liked this to feel a little more linear, but overall, there’s something very nearly wholesome about the episode, and it makes a good case for more professionals to take up adventuring in another world.

Richard Eisenbeis

Rating:

Handyman Saitō in Another World is a different kind of isekai story—and I mean that in the best possible way. There’s no power fantasy here—no overpowered skill that makes Saitou invincible. The world and its dangers are played entirely straight. He’s just a guy who worked as a locksmith/handyman for a home improvement store—and luckily had his work jumpsuit and tools on him when he arrived in the fantasy world. Speaking of which, it’s funny, but we don’t know how or why Saitou came to the fantasy world in the first place. But here’s what’s even more amusing: that information is in no way needed or even vaguely important to the story being told. While this episode comprises a series of vignettes—some that don’t even feature our titular hero—there is one single theme that connects them all: the human desire to feel needed and appreciated. In our world, Saitou was good at his job—perhaps too good. He was that kind of competent that makes even hard things look easy. Thus even his boss saw him as a dime a dozen. This has given him an inferiority complex. He feels the need to work harder and be more beneficial to his party.

But here’s the thing: his party knows how amazing he is, unlike the random lady who was locked out of her house. They can’t pick a locked door or chest—they have neither the tools nor the talent—but the fact that he can makes him invaluable in their kind of work. They’d be happy with him even if he did nothing but come forward and pick locks when asked. The fact that he wants to do more makes him a treasure more important than the gold in any chest—and by the end, they’re finally able to make him see that.

Of course, the episode isn’t solely about Saitou. Morlock has come out of retirement because he wants to feel useful—even in a party far below his level. To Lafanpan, money is proof that her healing skills are valuable. For the magic warrior dwarf, having a small dog rely on him gives him the meaning he needs to continue his solitary adventuring life. Even the seemingly mismatched pair of the burly mage and the tiny great axe-wielding girl have found affirmation in the fact that they’ve found someone else who knows not to judge a book by its cover.

All in all, this episode is simply fantastic. It manages to hit just the right balance of light comedy—like the origin of the fantasy world’s measurement system—and everyday life tragedy—like the scenes that show that Morlock is suffering from rapidly progressing dementia. It even has a solid theme that is explored subtly yet thoroughly—and in a way that teaches us more about the human condition. Or, to put it another way, if the rest of the episodes in the series are even half as good as this one, this series will be on more than a few best of season lists when the winter season comes to a close.

Nicholas Dupree

Rating:

It took me a while to get a read on this one. This premiere may have a basic-ass isekai premise, but it isn’t a traditional narrative. Instead, it’s a collection of disconnected comedic skits primarily based on the premise of a regular handyman winding up in the world of tabletop fantasy RPGs. That’s a mildly amusing idea and is utilized to mildly amusing comedy in what’s less a show, and more a series of very nerdy Family Circus comic strips.

Granted, that format can be pretty jarring going in. This episode never even explains how Saitou was isekai’d in the first place, nor how he fell in with his quirky party of adventurers. We join them in the middle of a dungeon crawl and then slingshot between random skits, some of which don’t even involve our central cast and seem to only exist for a single visual gag. That makes the episode pretty disjointed – especially when it dips its toes into drama towards the end – but there’s a certain charm to it all too. Gags like the senile wizard selling off his dead companions’ equipment to resurrect them, or the Dwarf magician who acts as both Tank and DPS, are the kind of goofy stories and build ideas you come up with when playing D&D with your friends. It’s nothing extraordinary, and I doubt it’ll resonate with many people. Still, I got some sensible chuckles out of the deal – mainly, to my shame, when they revealed this world’s measuring system is based on a king’s enormous schlong.

The art style is also likely to put people off, and that I can absolutely agree with. Everything looks so washed out and brown, seemingly as a deliberate stylistic choice, but it’s distracting even at the best of times. That’s a shame since some excellent animation cuts work well to punctuate or escalate various jokes throughout the episode. Designs are plain but work well enough, and I appreciate that Raelza wears an actual, practical suit of armor when she’s fighting monsters. It all leads to a distinct look, if not always an appealing one, that’s carried by solid comedic timing.

That said, I can’t kick the feeling this would all work better as shorts rather than a semi-random compilation of semi-related jokes. At full-length, the comedy started to get repetitive and lose steam by the end, and all of these characters needed to be more complex to carry an actual narrative. That doesn’t make this premiere bad, but it also means I’m not hankering for more anytime soon.

James Beckett

Rating:

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: isekai anime can be good! All it needs to do is not suck. And friends, let me tell you, Handyman Saitō in Another World doesn’t suck. It is good! It is, in fact, better than a show about an isekai’d handyman has any right to be. The best parts of Preview Guide are always the premieres that take you completely by surprise with how much you end up liking them, and that’s exactly what Handyman Saitou did for me.

This show checks every box of what the platonic ideal of an isekai comedy anime would be for me, specifically, a person who does not generally enjoy these kinds of shows. Does Handyman Saitou have a likable cast of characters who are more than just cardboard cutout clichés? Despite working within a fairly standard sitcom mold, Handyman Saitou still makes its cast charming and loveable with their funny and sweet interactions. Does Handyman Saitou actually use its fantasy setting in an interesting way? Absolutely! With its specific jokes and creative allusions to familiar video game tropes, it’s proof that a show can still carve out its own identity within the tried-and-true confines of the typical fantasy RPG setting; it just has to, you know, be written well. Does the show look good? Once again, Handyman Saitou delivers, providing some shockingly lush and pleasing animation for a show that honestly didn’t have to try nearly as hard.

Here’s the most critical question, though: Is Handyman Saitou funny? It is a comedy, after all, and all of the production values and heartwarming character writing won’t account for much if the show doesn’t make you laugh. I’m happy to report that Handyman Saitou is probably the funniest thing I’ve seen all week. I’ll leave you to judge whether that is a sign of Handyman Saitou’s quality or an indictment of this season’s slate of comedies; all I know is that when the senile old wizard Morlock dragged his dead party members to the nearest church and sold everything by Raelza’s bikini armor to revive them, I laughed my ass off. I laughed even harder when he excitedly educated Saitou on the phallic origins of their universe’s unit (heheh) of measurement. When the gruff dwarf tank slaughtered his enemies as a solo warrior, only to reveal the cute little puppy that lives in his helmet, I laughed again, and then I said “Awwwwwwww” out loud for a minute or two straight.

I did not expect a show called Handyman Saitou to be one of my favorite premieres of the season, but that’s what makes this time of year so fun (and exhausting). When you’re covering literally dozens of new shows over the span of just a few days, it can be difficult to slog through all of the mediocre pablum that comes your way, but that’s also what makes such pleasant surprises as this one so much more enjoyable to experience.

Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.

The post Handyman Saitō in One other World – The Winter 2023 Anime Preview Information appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

There’s certainly no shortage of excellent food to be found in San Francisco and the Bay Area — but there’s plenty worth skipping, too. Luckily for you, Eater editors dine out several times a week (or more) and we’re happy to share the standout dishes we encounter as we go.

Here’s the best of everything the Eater SF team has eaten recently. Check back weekly for more don’t-miss dishes.

March 31

Combo sandwich on Dutch crunch at Guerra Quality Meats

The Dutch crunch at this local favorite in Parkside is the best I’ve ever had. And if our intel is still correct, that’s likely due to the shared commitment to quality between the family-owned Italian market and their Dutch crunch connect, Costeaux French Bakery, who make the loaves fresh each day and deliver them all the way from Healdsburg. As an East Coaster, this species of bread is still a novelty to me, one we’re hard-pressed to find anywhere outside of the Bay. The sheath of caramelized sugar coating the top of these loaves visually recalls the conchas that line panadería windows back in NYC, but the way crust eviscerates the roof of my mouth upon first bite reminds me of the fresh french bread encasing bánh mì fillings — shatteringly crisp and caving into a pillowy soft interior. I chose to have mortadella, hot coppa, provolone, and the usual suspects slotted into my loaf of Dutch crunch ($11). And if you can resist sinking your teeth in immediately upon leaving the market, I highly recommend carrying your sandwich the short but hilly walk up to Larsen Peak to enjoy al fresco. Guerra Quality Meats, 490 Taravel Street, Parkside, San Francisco

— Nat Belkov, Eater design director

King salmon nigiri with nori butter at Chisai Sushi Club

Lauren Saria

I wasn’t sure what to expect of Chisai Sushi Club, a year-and-a-half-old sushi spot tucked into a small space where the Mission bumps up against Bernal Heights. I knew chef Eric Aplin came into restaurant ownership after working at Ichi, Akikos, and Robin. But a nigiri list that included ingredients like olive oil, blue cheese, and grated sweet onion flummoxed me. I should have had more faith. The 13-course Chisai omakase menu ($90) started with a crab Louie salad and albacore sashimi before rolling into a parade of nigiri. Some trod more familiar territory — think fatty bluefin tuna painted in a soy reduction and vibrant orange sea trout with a dab of yuzu kosho. But my favorite bites resulted from the restaurant’s more nontraditional pairings. I failed to snap a photo of a piece of sweet hirame balanced by grassy olive oil and briny caper and marveled at a beautifully cut piece of akamutsu that dripped in 25-year-aged balsamic and arrived adorned with a tiny mound of sweet onion jam. Of them all, the King salmon nigiri was the runaway hit, starring the prized fish dressed up with a touch of nori butter. Staff delicately torched the whole piece of sushi, before finishing it off with a dash of lemon and big flakes of sea salt. It resulted in an unexpected hit — warm, savory, and well-balanced. For the price point, this has to be one of the more interesting and affordable omakase experiences in town. Chisai Sushi Club, 3369 Mission Street, San Francisco

— Lauren Saria, Eater SF editor

Shrimp cake at Tigon

Dianne de Guzman

Sometimes a meal at a family-owned restaurant is just what one needs to soothe the soul, and soothed was exactly how I felt after a meal at Tigon in El Cerrito. I was looking for an open lunch spot at a very-not-lunch hour of 2:30 p.m. and found myself heading to this Vietnamese restaurant, which is open all day. I was feeling indecisive and happened upon this very large rice plate that in essence doubled as a sample platter of Tigon’s offerings. When a server dropped in front of me, the sheer size of it nearly knocked me out: it included a heaping serving of rice, lemongrass chicken, marinated cuts of beef, four spring rolls, and two pieces of shrimp arranged in a very cute heart shape. What stood out the most on the plate was the shrimp cake, which was made with shrimp paste and water chestnuts, and wrapped in tofu skin. The shrimp had a lovely umami flavor with the water chestnuts giving the cake a satisfying soft crunch. The entire cake was fried, allowing the tofu skin to crisp up beautifully and giving it a crunchy exterior that gave way to the shrimp cake interior. Between this fried seafood bite, the lovely service, and thoughtful touches like the heart-shaped shrimp, it was a nice hug of a lunch that really made the entire experience worthwhile (as well as for some tasty leftovers later). Tigon, 10086 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito

— Dianne de Guzman, Eater SF deputy editor

Bahia Brazil 70 percent bar from Tiny House Chocolate

Let me count the ways that this Santa Cruz-made treat demonstrates the raw strength of the NorCal chocolate bar game. For starters, the Bahia Brazil bar reads like a chocolate bar, which is to say there’s nothing arcane or esoteric about eating this gold-wrapped rectangle. Moreover, it’s a joy to eat: no waxy, overly-sugary aftertaste one may come to regret after eating the almost-always-worth-it-anyways Reese’s Fastbreak. And speaking of the aftertaste, that’s where this chocolate begins to show its craft roots. Yes, there’s a pleasant sugary riff, but there’s also a cayenne and black pepper kick that lingers. I swear I heard the lilting, rising guitar from Santana’s “Samba Pa Ti” as the spice began to hit. This two-ingredient confection is only $11, which is sort of unheard of for a Bay Area well-made indulgence. I wish I wasn’t so long in the tooth, but I actually will go on about this chocolate: the Catongo cocoa beans come from Lajedo do Ouro, a small farm in Brazil where the owners are the first in the region to invest in this albino, much-rarer varietal. The bar is vegan, nut-free, soy-free, and gluten-free. And, in a time when Santa Cruz has been devastated by severe weather events, it just feels good to give money to local chocolatiers. Tiny House Chocolate, Santa Cruz

— Paolo Bicchieri, Eater SF reporter

March 24

Puffed Beef Tendon at Bull Valley Roadhouse

My brother drove us out to Port Costa the other night for what he promised would be a unique meal in a unique setting. Port Costa, a town of roughly 250, is little more than a strip of buildings nestled off the train tracks by the Carquinez Strait. After ducking into the Warehouse for a game of pool and a cold beer, we headed across the street for a meal that can only be described as a string of hits. We opted to kick things off with this curiously named dish that turned out to be exactly what I was hoping it would be: freshly-fried chicharrón-esque chips ($12) coated in clove and anise-heavy “pho spice” that crackled and spit like a hot flame when doused in lime juice. Little gems salad with kumquat followed, as did a litany of center-stage-worthy sides. The only miss of this meal for me — and a partial save by the pile of snappy pickled vegetables served alongside at that — was the hot chicken. I know there’s a hot chicken craze sweeping the nation right now, but if I’m seeing “Nashville hot” on the menu, I’m banking on the level of heat to deliver. Instead, I would’ve rather slurped down a bowl of the pork stew with tomatillos, guajillos, and polenta that mysteriously disappeared around the same time this entrée showed up. Bull Valley Roadhouse, 14 Canyon Lake Drive, Port Costa

– Nat Belkov, Eater design director

Tea leaf salad at Inle Burmese Cuisine

Paolo Bicchieri

Fava beans have no business going as hard as they do. To be sure, the simple legume doesn’t always do work; I can’t speak to that unfortunate version your uncle made you endure in fourth grade. But Inle Burmese Cuisine, the Noe Valley favorite with a second location in the Inner Sunset, swaddles the ingredient in so many delightful spices and vegetables that the bean shows up as not a team player, but as the Larry Bird of the entire dish. There’s a satisfying crunch in every bite of this famous Burmese meal — a top choice for everyone from diplomats to college students in Myanmar — thanks to Inle’s recipe calling for a splendid quantity of peanuts. A tractor-sized slice of lime makes sure there’s plenty of zingy citrus to go around, and a Salt Bae-proportioned dash of sesame seeds layers more rich nuttiness beneath the peanuts. I took mine vegetarian, meaning sans fish sauce in this case, which gave the garlic and jalapeno more chance to shine. While Burma Superstar captures the hearts of many craving tea leaf salads, I have to say the $16 rendition at Inle is a top-tier contender for my favorite in San Francisco. The dish’s primary sauce is an “imported Burmese tea leaf dressing,” code for not-gonna-tell. But that’s alright, as this three-year-old business is keeping longtime fans and newcomers like myself asking for more. Inle Burmese Cuisine, 822 Irving Street, San Francisco

— Paolo Bicchieri, Eater SF reporter

Porchetta sandwich at Fatted Calf

Lauren Saria

The sun was actually shining on a recent weekday, so I took advantage of the break in the rain for an al fresco midday meal at the Ferry Building with a friend. And even though I’m constantly craving the gloriously decadent and simple jamon et truffle buerre sandwich from Fatted Calf’s kiosk, I forced myself to break out of my lunch rut to try something new — specifically, the butcher shop’s porchetta number. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this sandwich sidesteps any preconceived notions you might have had about the Italian specialty. Fatted Calf slices their porchetta into thin sheets, then stacks them with a bushel of fragrant and fresh herbs, plus a handful of pickled vegetables. It’s basically a banh mi by way of Italy making it nothing like soppy, fatty porchetta sandwiches with which you may be familiar. This sandwich smacks of spring, bursting with an abundance of fresh parsley and mint, and borrowing some lift from that stack of acidic little pickled carrots. As a bonus, the sturdy Acme baguette soaks up the extra pickle juices so if you, like me, opt to use your knees as a table for your meal, there’s significantly less chance of making a mess. All in all, an ideal dish to enjoy waterside in the sun. Fatted Calf, 1 Ferry Building, Ste 13, in San Francisco

— Lauren Saria, Eater SF editor

Toro temaki at Tancho

Dianne de Guzman

Given the wide swath of towns and cities that make up the Bay Area, there are always places that wind up being less traveled in my day-to-day. Such is the case with Castro Valley. So when I heard about Tancho, a stellar sushi restaurant offering seasonal omakase and takeout bento boxes from its strip mall location, I had to go. The dinner started with aka ebi, or Argentine red shrimp, in ponzu sauce and with orange uni, caviar, and a tiny bit of gold flake for show. Then the parade of sushi began including a sashimi plate with Antarctic butterfish, Spanish mackerel, and firefly squid, plus hirame, or olive flounder, nigiri. But the best dish came toward the end: a toro hand roll. The tuna was tender, and the hand roll also included bits of takuan, or pickled Japanese daikon radish. Orange ankimo, or monkfish liver, was carefully shaved on top to add a creamy-savory flavor to the toro, plus a sprinkling of hanaho flowers that gave the roll a bright splash of purple while granting a mild shiso flavor. It’s worth noting each hand roll was made one by one for our group, with our server shaving ankimo over each before handing it over and moving on to the next roll — and while that left us watching the process in anticipation, it was done to ensure the nori stayed crisp when eaten. Indeed, the nori retained its perfect snap (we were instructed not to wait for the others), but the move also underscored how much care went into the meal and makes me look forward to my next visit. Tancho, 20861 Redwood Road, Castro Valley

— Dianne de Guzman, Eater SF deputy editor

March 17

Tocilog at Kusina Ni Tess

I finally booked a much-anticipated trip out to San Francisco to visit friends and family and enjoy as much of the bounty that is the Bay Area’s food scene as I possibly could. Hopping off a transcontinental red eye, I wandered around in search of a hearty breakfast, and the homey scents wafting off the steam tables at this tiny Tenderloin joint carried me through the door. I landed on one of Kusina Ni Tess’s signature silogs ($13) — this one with tocino, the staple Filipino breakfast meat made of cured, simmered, and seared pork belly or shoulder that often accompanies fragrant garlic rice and a fried egg. The restaurant’s version hit all the right sweet and sour notes, with a tender yet bark-like texture. I couldn’t resist snagging a side of lumpia ($5) — and thanked myself for doing so as these were served piping hot, their paper-thin skins, shatteringly crisp. Not only was the food outstanding, but the kindness of the proprietor and cook staff also reminded me of the type of hospitality I’ve always loved about San Francisco, setting me in the right mindset to kick off my trip. Kusina Ni Tess, 237 Ellis Street, San Francisco

— Nat Belkov, Eater design director

Paccheri neri and fresh-picked Dungeness crab at Delfina

Lauren Saria

Broadly speaking, restaurants tend to fall into one of two categories. There are those hot new spots with menus ripe with trendy ingredients and buzzy cooking techniques. And there are classics, the places with menus of tried-and-true hits, the restaurants that decline to bend to the whims of today’s latest inclinations. But a few special places manage to fall somewhere in between. They’ve both proven their staying power and strive to feel fresh despite their respectable age. Delfina Restaurant, the nearly 25-year-old Cal-Italian pioneer on 18th Street, embodies this, with its menu that honors its stars (think the bright and perfectly acidic spaghetti pomodoro and tender grilled Monterey Bay calamari) while also offering something new on every occasion. The restaurant’s selection of fresh pasta should be recognized as some of the finest in the city and on a recent visit the standout dish highlighted the kitchen’s pasta-making skill while spotlighting a seasonal delicacy. Thick tubes of paccheri, turned charcoal-colored thanks to onxy squid ink, allowed just the right amount of al dente bite and sported a light coat of white wine and tomato sauce, just a little bit brazen thanks to its delicate chili kick. The pièce de résistance? Coin-sized chunks of sweet Dungeness crab meat, the exactly right size and sweetness to put the whole dish in perfect harmony. Delfina Restaurant, 3621 18th Street, San Francisco

— Lauren Saria, Eater SF editor

Slutty jook from Virgo Supperclub

Paolo Bicchieri

There’s a simple, paper bowl of jook in the Bay Area that contains — in just one cafeteria-style scoop — a mosaic of textures and rich, heart-warming flavors. Lara Ortiz-Luis and Garrett Schlichte run the perky Virgo Supperclub, in all its backyard dinner party splendor, and their $14 slutty jook matches the brash name with outrageously addictive flavor. Koshikari rice, with a ginger chili broth and scallion ginger jam, works as the base for a parade of fried shallots, kimchi, cilantro, and a breeze of yellow and orange flowers. Those crunchy bits on top complement the soupy foundation, making sure the dish isn’t overwhelmingly gruel-y. The ginger does a lot of work but doesn’t beat you over the head, either. I took my jook vegan, leaving a litany of optional $2 add-ons on the side, but I still made sure to include the toasted black sesame and curry miso. Each unctuous bite was better than the last. The accompanying cocktail, a $12 lady grey ginger, is available booze-free and tastes like a fancy toddy in a tuxedo, a wedge of lemon serving as its top hat. I must recommend this porridge as a tonic for the current windy and cold weather. I couldn’t get enough, and if I were a millionaire I would’ve bought the whole pot. Virgo Supperclub, rotating pop-ups through the Bay Area

— Paolo Bicchieri, Eater SF reporter

Dungeness Crab in Purgatory from the Anchovy Bar

Dianne de Guzman

I’m apparently on my annual quest to eat as much crab as I can during Dungeness season, and while I’ve yet to hit up any of the required local spots for the crustacean, I do find myself gravitating toward any and all crab dishes I happen upon during my routine of visiting restaurants each week. That was how I found my latest crab dish, tempting me from the Anchovy Bar menu on a (somehow) dry, almost-spring night this week. There were plenty of reasons why this dish remains on my mind: there were the lumps of sweet Dungeness crab, of course, but when combined with Hodo yuba noodles, fermented chile turnips, and crunchy garlic breadcrumbs, the ingredients sang together making for a lovely, harmonious dish. The use of yuba noodles felt like a smart move and gave the dish a soft texture and taste that paired well with the crab, much more so than a traditional pasta might otherwise impart. As ever, the additional crunch of the breadcrumbs pushed the dish into a delightful territory, giving the noodles and crab a one-two punch of both texture and garlicky goodness. For a secondary treat, as my very smart dining partner told me, always order the chip and dip at Anchovy Bar — this week’s version was a smoked trout roe dip with Kennebec potato chips dosed with Mendocino nori. Both were excellent, all around. The Anchovy Bar, 1740 O’Farrell Street, San Francisco

— Dianne de Guzman, Eater SF deputy editor

March 10

Choriqueso from Tacos El Patron

Paolo Bicchieri

An umami bomb doesn’t need an introduction: a rich and flavorful explosion of that caliber simply combusts, arriving in a flash and reverberating for miles. Such is the first bite of the choriqueso at the Mission District’s Tacos El Patron, a cast iron tray of adorable proportion with an outsize punch of decadent depth. At $9.75 this item is, beyond its supreme flavor profile, a total steal. It’s literally melted cheese and a generous scoop of chorizo combined for your eating pleasure, a riff on queso fundido. The cheese pull alone is jaw-dropping. Four oily and warm tortillas come alongside the tiny trough and are must-haves for the dish; a wise diner orders — at the least — rice and beans as critical accouterments. And yes a savvy shopper goes for a few tacos with nopales on the side, free when one gets two or more tacos. But just spoonfuls of this spiced choriqueso is a treat, the same joy as digging into a jar of crunchy peanut butter at 2 a.m. Some San Franciscans lost track of this Tijuana-style restaurant given its opening date just months before the COVID lockdowns hit the city, but the Pleasant Hill-born business remains a high watermark of Bay Area cheesy triumphs. Quesabirria might not be the trendy food item of the day, but only a fool would see the packed dining area of Tacos El Patron at the end of Van Ness Avenue and look the other way. And the choriqueso is the cream of the ooey-gooey crop. Tacos El Patron, 1500 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco

— Paolo Bicchieri, Eater SF reporter

Prime rib at House of Prime Rib

Dianne de Guzman

Even at the end of a long week, there are still a few classic San Francisco restaurants that will shake me out of my longing for a night at home. So when someone says they have an extra seat at their table for House of Prime Rib, you don’t think about it — you just go. That’s how I found myself driving through the rain with prime rib on my brain. I haven’t been to HoPR since pre-pandemic times, and I was happy to find that all is still well with this Van Ness Avenue institution. It’s a place that knows what it’s doing and offers few choices because they know better than you — and I’m perfectly happy with that. The perfect meal begins with a gin martini, served in its shaker, before ordering an appetite-appropriate (or inappropriate, who am I to say) cut of prime rib. If you’ve ever attempted to make a prime rib on your own at home, you’ll know the time and work that goes into it, which only makes a dinner like this all the more special. Prime rib feels celebratory, it feels fancy, and it really enhances the conviviality of conversation at the table. To have it prepared for you, just how you like it, feels like a warm hug. Dab a little horseradish onto each bite, and the flavors sing together from the sharp spice hit of root vegetable condiment to the savory meat and au jus. Is there a meat heaven? If so, I imagine it would look very similar to House of Prime Rib. House of Prime Rib, 1906 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco

— Dianne de Guzman, Eater SF deputy editor

Grilled Maine scallop at Sons & Daughters

Lauren Saria

These days it’s not all that hard to find a restaurant touting its use of classic cooking techniques — but with a touch of New Nordic influences! — and a commitment to using local ingredients in a sustainable way. But the next time you need to be reminded why exactly it is that so many restaurants put their weight behind this formula, I’d suggest dinner at Nob Hill’s 16-seat Sons & Daughters. Earlier this year owner and chef Teague Moriarty handed over the reins to executive chef Harrison Cheney, who comes to the restaurant and city after cooking at two Michelin-starred Gastrologik in Stockholm. Over three hours and 14 courses Cheney and the team proved again and again that Lacto-fermented broth and sprouted buckwheat and sea salt made from water harvested at the beach less than 10 miles away isn’t just the stuff of the Sussmans memes — it can actually taste really fucking delicious. From a brown butter sauce infused with the skate bones to a vegetable root glaze bolstered with cured wagyu fat, it felt like nearly every dish saw some magical sauce spooned on top, often tableside from one of those tiny copper pots. But of them all, the one I’m still thinking about even days later is the savory, umber consomme that pooled around a perfectly grilled Maine scallop over a thin layer of roasted potato. On a rainy evening sitting next to the restaurant’s crackling fireplace, this dish felt tailor-made for this exact time and place, a deceptively elegant few bites that left me scraping the side of the shallow bowl to savory every last drop. Sons & Daughters, 708 Bush Street in San Francisco

— Lauren Saria, Eater SF editor

March 3

Stir-fried kimchi chobap at BoBop

Paolo Bicchieri

Restaurateur Ina Jungin Lee has an uncanny knack for making quick, surprisingly addictive food. She’s the owner of numerous Korean restaurants in San Francisco including downtown’s Matko and Excelsior’s Korner Store. But it’s not just her — her whole family can crack out everything from soy sauce crab to banchan to-go with speedy excellence. Her latest venture, BoBop on Valencia Street, is no less impressive. The stir-fried kimchi, 100 percent gluten-free and vegan, is a palm-sized medley of aioli, sweet rice, and spicy cabbage. I was asked if I’d like my order heated up or not; thankfully I deferred to the recommendation of my server, who encouraged me to spend the 45 seconds required to warm up the handroll. Biting into this tofu skin-wrapped dish grants the feeling of drinking warm soup on a cold morning. This chobap hit the spot in a rare kind of way. The peppery spice is bracing, yet I still ran through this dish in the same way I’ve dashed through all my favorite snacks: too quick, always wishing for more, staring blankly and wondering who could have eaten my treasure without my noticing, not unlike Patrick Star. For $4.29 (or three for $11.99, five for $17.99, and a party pack of 21 for $72.99) a chobop noob like myself can easily get inducted into Lee’s canon of Korean snack food. Any of those deals make for a worthwhile investment at this Valencia corridor newcomer. BoBop, 736 Valencia Street, San Francisco

— Paolo Bicchieri, Eater SF reporter

Pistachio cardamom sugar croissant from Butter & Crumble

Dianne de Guzman

It seems like this is the Year of the Pistachio, and to be quite honest, I’m very here for it. I’ve long been a fan of pistachio ice cream, for instance, and now as it appears in more and more pastries, I’m buying up every pistachio-flavored thing that I can. I purchased a number of pastries from Butter & Crumble recently — the bakery pop-up with that gorgeous bacon egg & cheese croissant — and while, yes, that BEC is a testament to the fun ways the Butter & Crumble team is experimenting with viennoiserie, my heart was stolen by the pistachio cardamom sugar croissant. The flaky crust was dusted with a just-right amount of superfine sugar and pistachio bits. Meanwhile, the interior featured a nice dose of lovely pistachio cream inside. The pistachio maniac that I am was thrilled by the flavors, along with the texture of the croissant itself. The pastry menu at the weekend Butter & Crumble pop-ups can change, but if you see this croissant on the menu during your visit, I’d advise you to grab one (or more). Butter & Crumble, 3318 Fillmore Street, San Francisco

— Dianne de Guzman, Eater SF deputy editor

Brown butter custard with grilled prawns from Gozu

Lauren Saria

When you eat around San Francisco’s high-end restaurants the way I do — a workplace hazard, you might say — you come across no small amount of premium ingredients including, of course, beautifully marbled strips of wagyu beef. But no matter how many heritage cows you’ve consumed, I can almost assure you that you’ve never truly known beef the way you will after you’ve gathered around the hearth at FiDi’s Gozu. The dramatically austere restaurant defies easy categorization, being not-quite a steakhouse and not-quite a Japanese restaurant, but also, entirely both. Chef Marc Zimmerman and his friendly and efficient team work around a smoky robata grill at the center of a U-shaped counter, feeding guests a parade of plates that may or may not look like they utilize the prized Japanese beef, but nevertheless always do in some form or another. A perfect example: brown butter custard served with grilled prawns. A seafood dish, you would rightfully assume. But one bite of this rich custard, grounded by earthy browned butter and infused with the flavor of savory meat, is enough to reassure you that there is, in fact, wagyu in this dish — though not so much as to overpower the creamy, delicate flavor of the prawns. And that’s the real magic of the Gozu menu. It manages to be a carnivorous celebration of wagyu that’s also beguilingly subtle and technically razor-sharp. Gozu, 201 Spear Street, Ste 120, San Francisco

— Lauren Saria, Eater SF editor

February 24

Wagyu roast beef sandwich from Troubadour

Sandwiches on display at Troubadour

Lauren Saria

Here’s the short version: On the way back from Mendocino County, I made my travel partner take a slight detour through Healdsburg because I couldn’t stand the thought of not eating one of the bakery and bistro’s impeccably built sandwiches on my way home. The daily special was a wagyu roast beef number, stacked high with thinly sliced beef and thick slices of white cheddar cheese. The bread was, naturally, just perfect — slightly sour but fluffy and soft, delicately cradling the precious fillings but never letting a drop of aioli or mustard slip through. And if you’re interested, here’s the longer version: This delicious pit stop only occurred as I made my way back from an incredible trip up to Harbor House Inn, where dinner at the hotel’s two-Michelin-star restaurant showcased the edible splendor of the Mendocino Coast. Coral-colored fingers of uni lay draped over a delicate custard and briny seaweed sauce and a pristine piece of black cod adorned a small mountain of California-grown Calhikari rice. Then there was breakfast, a spread of fresh-baked breads, fruit, and an immensely satisfying mushroom and egg custard. It’d be impossible to pick a single dish from such a stay. Troubadour Bread & Bistro, 381 Healdsburg Avenue, Healdsburg; Harbor House Inn, 5600 South Highway 1, Elk

— Lauren Saria, Eater SF editor

Tofu nachos at Caliente Bistro

Paolo Bicchieri

On an altogether-way-too-windy afternoon, I felt like I was more or less blown into Caliente Bistro Kitchen on Geary Boulevard. This Cuban Mexican restaurant, perhaps some form of chaos cooking but an intersection that feels at home in San Francisco, fulfilled my hunger with the most passionate and graceful vegan nachos I’ve ever had the great fortune to eat. Tofu fajitas, spicy and rich with oil, wove between chips alongside thick globs of ultra-limey guacamole, slices of jalapeno perched on top with black beans Salt Bae-d throughout. The chips were warm and oily, just out of the fryer. With no shade to the other taquerias and Mexican restaurants in San Francisco that have been kind enough to accommodate my animal-free nacho requests, they were all pretty bare bones. For the first time, though, my dining partner was jealous of my dish, rather than merely shaking his head at the not-so-good-looking “vegan nachos” for which I usually settle. Alongside a tall order of horchata, served in the kind of thick glass your grandma keeps stocked at her house, Caliente Bistro’s rendition was one of the finest lunches I’ve encountered in the Richmond District in a long time. Caliente Bistro Kitchen, 4828 Geary Boulevard, San Francisco

— Paolo Bicchieri, Eater SF reporter

Everything bagel at Chicken Dog Bagels

Dianne de Guzman

I’ve been deep diving into bagels this month and while there are plenty more places to try and add to the list, I feel it’s worth getting into my favorite one (at least for right now). After a day of zipping around San Francisco over the weekend going from shop to shop, I had four contenders for a bagel-to-bagel comparison. After sampling everything, my overall favorite turned out to be the Everything bagel from Chicken Dog Bagels. It was everything I wanted in a bagel: a crunchy exterior bite that gives way to a lovely interior, perfect for spreading the chive-scallion schmear over. The everything spice was also perfect, a nicely balanced mix of ingredients that didn’t feel skimped on in the dipping process. Next time, I’ll branch out into an intriguing-sounding shallot-horseradish spread from Chicken Dog with my next bagel purchase, and maybe dip a toe into the sandwiched bagels. I waited in line for my bagels (which can get lengthy), but as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, pre-orders are the way to go if you can help it. Chicken Dog Bagels, 235 Cortland Avenue, San Francisco

— Dianne de Guzman, Eater SF deputy editor

February 17

Eggshuka and milk bread at Mourad

Lauren Saria

There are a number of reasons I return, again and again, to Mourad, the fine-dining Moroccan restaurant in FiDi to celebrate special occasions. There’s the stunning dining room, with its tall ceilings and sparkling orb-like light fixtures. There’s the wine list, on which I always manage to unearth something unexpectedly excellent — typically with help from the restaurant’s wine director Jose Delgado. And, of course, there’s the food, which takes the richly flavored cuisine of North Africa and roots it in the Bay Area through elegant and thoughtful updates. Take, for example, the eggshuka and milk bread starter on the menu now. It wasn’t all that long ago that restaurants of all stripes began putting shakshuka on their menus, serving the fragrant egg-topped tomato stew to crowds of brunch-goers. But here the dish benefits from a touch of restraint: it stars a dense, golden jidori egg yolk floating in an ivory pool of smoked potato sauce. The shakshuka, typically a bright sauce of spiced tomatoes, stands in as a mound of crunchy acidic little bits that give the dish some necessary texture. And to sop it all up, there are fluffy housemade milk bread buns, which arrive splayed out with a trio of butters: preserved lemon, urfa pepper, and pomegranate. All in all, it ends up feeling both novel and familiar but mostly, just delicious. Exactly the way it should be. Mourad, 140 New Montgomery Street in San Francisco.

— Lauren Saria, Eater SF editor

Mushroom and caviar crepe at Birch & Rye

Paolo Bicchieri

Chef Anya El-Wattar goes way beyond “accommodating dietary restrictions” at Birch & Rye, her Noe Valley restaurant that recently landed on the long list for the James Beard Awards this year. In fact, the chef wanted to run a plant-based Russian fine dining restaurant at first, which explains why her vegan tasting menu is such a triumph. This buckwheat crepe, a Black History Month offering from chef de cuisine Stephen Simmons, is another victory in the restaurant’s approach to inclusive, thoughtful preparation. Made typically with house-cured vodka salmon and a private label malossol caviar, the vegan spin features hedgehog mushrooms, pickled mustard seeds, and cashew smetana. The playfulness of this item is worth a nod: Like any pancake or crepe worth its batter, the chewiness and pliability of the naturally gluten-free dish is a rare treat in such a high-caliber restaurant. A bright trill of lemon from the smetana soars through the flavor profile, braced by a rich umami baseline from the mushrooms. It’s a hardy course; there’s an oiliness from the crepe that’s well-met by its own crispy edges. According to El-Wattar, Orthodox Russians eat crepes as a part of ringing in Malsenita, known also as “crepe week.” In a nod to his Black identity, Simmons prepared his version with buckwheat to make the crepe itself black. This particular dish, like so much of the experimentation going on at Birch & Rye, is available for just a brief time. But we can all hope that this clever and nourishing dish makes an appearance come next February, the month to celebrate both Black History Month and Malsenita. Birch & Rye, 1320 Castro Street, San Francisco

— Paolo Bicchieri, Eater SF reporter

Bun thap cam at Super Super

Dianne de Guzman

I’ve been going out to a lot of new-to-me places lately, so where I found myself this week is a longtime favorite of mine. Inside this sweet-looking house on San Pablo Avenue is one of the thankfully-nearby places I visit when I’m looking for something comfortingly familiar. I typically switch between the pho and the bun options, depending on my mood, but I can heartily recommend both. This week, however, I was in the mood for vermicelli noodles so I went for my usual order, the bun thap cam combo, which comes with spring rolls, pork, shrimp, vegetables, and a sprinkling of chopped peanuts and cilantro. The sweet-sour-umami dressing looks impossibly small in its separate cup yet manages to coat every strand of noodle, every lettuce crevice, and every piece of protein. There’s plenty to pick from in this melange, from the tender, grilled pieces of pork to the lightly crisped shrimp, as well as the pieces of spring roll that hold its crunch against the dressing. It’s also a nice way I can work some vegetables into my lunch with the addition of lettuce and carrots, which helps make everything feel at least a little bit healthier. It’s a lunch item I return to again and again, that has yet to disappoint. Super Super, 1428 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley

— Dianne de Guzman, Eater SF deputy editor

February 10

Farfallone with rabbit ‘friccasea’ at SPQR

Lauren Saria

Though this week marked my first visit to Pac-Heights’s SPQR, chef Matt Accarrino has been holding it down in the neighborhood for nearly a decade and a half and continues to put out perfectly al dente pasta and slate of impressive secondi. In a city where it’s tempting to raft down a never-ending river of hot, new restaurants, it’s easy to overlook classics like this Italian dining staple — but the crowd that filled the dining room on Sunday night indicates there are, in fact, a number of savvy diners who never let SPQR slip out of rotation. You’ll understand why as soon as you start your meal with plates like a picture-perfect tendril of charred octopus paired with pistachio and an airy chickpea panisse, or neat little pyramids of pasta wrapped around milk-braised veal that then gets showered in shaved black truffle. For me, the standout was a portion of nutty farfallone bathed in a light sauce with basil and a scattering of freshly grated cheese. My inner child simply reveled in shape — big bowties made of noodles — and the inclusion of hearty buckwheat appealed to my more grown-up palate. The fricassea, meanwhile, balanced rabbit and butter and olives to round out each bite with heady, tangy flavor. I’d return in a heartbeat for another run at this pasta, and, perhaps for dessert: a decadent but not-too-sweet hot chocolate torta sitting atop a layer of Bavarian cream. SPQR, 1911 Fillmore Street, San Francisco

— Lauren Saria, Eater SF editor

Mochi muffin and espresso at Home Coffee

Paolo Bicchieri

The reports of the mochi muffin have been greatly exaggerated, which is to say the flood of one-star reviews on Third Culture Bakery’s muffins came from a specific situation that has been, seemingly, ameliorated. Now, we can get back to the mochi — specifically, the mochi muffin and the Sunset Blend espresso combo at Home on Grant Street. There’s something wonderful about how the lively shot of coffee plays with the richness of the muffin, which is thick, chewy, and treated to a smattering of black sesame seeds on top, a fashionable choice given sesame’s current heyday. After one bite I understood the appeal: I always want more mochi, and the mochi muffin constitutes a veritable feast of the rice dessert. The espresso — a blend of coffees from Guatemala, Ethiopia, and Colombia that lives in between a medium and dark roast — counters the indulgent butteriness of the pastry with its acidity. No, the coffee’s not as juicy as a bourbon rosada varietal. But it’s a mighty well-dialed shot punching well above its weight on a street mostly devoid of primo coffee. Freda Yuan, a three-time United Kingdom coffee-tasting champion, compares a full tasting to a musical progression; I can safely say one of San Francisco’s favorite mochi muffins — paired with one of the city’s most well-tuned espressos — is as beautiful a symphony as they come. Home Coffee, 455 Grant Avenue, San Francisco

— Paolo Bicchieri, Eater SF reporter

California rice from Lazy Bear

Dianne de Guzman

I teased it last week, but honestly, even without the cold weather, I’m still on this rice dish kick and wanted to share my other amazing example: this bowl of rice from Lazy Bear. It’s made with rice grown in California and processed in a way that retains a light nuttiness, chef David Barzelay shared. The rice came topped with kombu and nori, with a lump of Dungeness crab on top. I was told the dish might taste reminiscent of mac and cheese, and digging through to the bottom, and scooping that first mouthful, I heartily agreed. It certainly evoked that mac and cheese familiarity, but with a deeper savoriness from the crab and seaweed. It was just one lovely dish after another at Lazy Bear, culminating in an experience that makes one feel well-cared for. Even after a memorable dessert in the restaurant’s upstairs lounge, where my dining partner and I were given macarons shaped to look like pancakes with butter and syrup and a Manhattan-flavored gummy bear, the treats continued at home. A take-home bag of mini banana bread and cold brew iced coffee — “Breakfast for tomorrow morning,” the card reads — kept the Lazy Bear experience going, it was a lovely addition that made me smile again the next morning. Lazy Bear, 3416 19th Street, San Francisco

— Dianne de Guzman, Eater SF deputy editor

February 3

Duck liver parfait at SingleThread

Paolo Bicchieri

This dish was a seasonal triumph that may, for all I know, be a commonplace miracle for the cooks at the three Michelin-starred SingleThread. To me, the first bite was a water-to-wine moment. The duck liver parfait course begins with an accompanying drink — a nonalcoholic option, in my case — arriving at the table: Gravenstein apple juice brightened with maple syrup, dry ice oozing from beneath a saucer placed atop a woodland stump of sorts. A handsome wooden box arrives next with miso truffle cakes inside, an orange flower indicating the gluten-free version. The duck is joined by a tail of pistachio crumble and chunks of diced pear, all hidden below fresh greens — no doubt brought over that day from the restaurant’s farm about a mile into the country. Marrying a forkful of the cake with the duck parfait allowed for a multi-faceted textural experience, chewy and soft from the cake, creaminess from the duck, firmness from the pear, and just the right amount of leafiness from the veggies. There was a subtle saltiness running through the entire dish, an underlying savory element that worked as a throughline to keep all the disparate pieces working in concert. This was about 10 percent of the meal, and I’ll be thinking about the pomegranate mochis and white chocolate eggs that came out for dessert for years to come. Some may call it heretical to announce one’s favorite meal so early in the new year. If so, call me Judas. SingleThread, 131 North Street, Healdsburg

— Paolo Bicchieri, Eater SF reporter

Saffron risotto at Acre

Dianne de Guzman

Does rice count as comfort food? Without meaning to, I had two stellar dishes starring the humble grain this week, and both just seemed perfect for this cold front that’s been hanging around the Bay Area. One of those stellar dishes is the saffron risotto at the newly opened Acre in Oakland, and honestly, It made me question why kumquats aren’t added to risotto more often. I’m a fan of the small fruit, and deploying it in a savory comfort dish felt like a move that adds a delicate punch of citrus without the tart slap that perhaps a lemon would provide. Tack on the fact that the grains were perfectly cooked and not a gooey mush, plus the addition of nduja, and this was a risotto variation I thoroughly enjoyed. The beautifully remodeled Acre space also gave this dinner a nice atmosphere, and it felt like a comfy scene to tuck into for dinner — but without being too scene-y, if you know what I mean. Now I’m looking forward to trying the cafe section and pizzas on a future trip back to Acre. Acre, 5655 College Avenue, Oakland

— Dianne de Guzman, Eater SF deputy editor

Tomato pie from Outta Sight Pizza

Lauren Saria

I’m ashamed to say it took me until now to make the trip over to Outta Sight Pizza’s permanent home in the Tenderloin but on a cold weeknight I met a friend for a few slices and a glass of wine. I was looking forward to the Orchard, chef and owner Eric Ehler’s super popular pie that’s scatted with mushrooms and drizzled in honey. But of all the slices we taste tested that night, the far and away favorite was a complete surprise: a saucy triangle of humble tomato pie. A thin layer of tangy tomato sauce backed up scant toppings — nearly translucent slivers of piquant garlic, woody olives, salty little capers, chiles, and ruggedly torn basil. When folded in half, each bite balanced a cacophony of flavors, all at once salty, tangy, a touch spicy, and most definitely full of umami punch. I’m no New York-style pizza expert but having eaten more than my share of thin Neopolitan-style pies, I loved the bubbly, barely charred texture of Outta Sight’s crust. It was the kind of effortlessly cool meal that makes you remember why pizza is such a perfect food. Outta Sight Pizza, 422 Larkin Street

— Lauren Saria, Eater SF editor

January 27

Macadamia praline from Kokak Chocolates

Paolo Bicchieri

There is, objectively, a best nut. It’s not the peanut, that low-laying legume of the field, nor California’s much-loved almond, in all of its chalky pasty hubris. It’s the macadamia nut, and that’s a fact the Castro District’s Kokak Chocolates understands. Owner Carol Gancia puts the globular, meaty queen centerstage where she belongs. There are layers to this praline, with a thin snap of wafer cushioned by caramel. A surge of sea salt shakes a would-be somnambulant chewer back to life if the intricate designs on each chocolate weren’t captivating enough. Gancia says she wants her treats to capture “chocolate memories,” which run tropical given her home of the Philippines. Whether it be the best-selling coconut pie or the guava truffle with so much guava it’s like eating the fruit and then chasing it with a shot of chocolate chips, Gancia’s treats are blasts of nostalgia, proving chocolate tastes better when it reminds us of life’s sweet moments. I’m not saying this macadamia praline’s unreal combo of nuttiness and sweetness can unlock time travel. But, I’m not saying it can’t, either. Kokak Chocolates, 3901 18th Street, San Francisco

— Paolo Bicchieri, Eater SF reporter

Roast duck meal at Kaokao Grill

Kimson Doan

Lunar New Year arrived on Sunday, and it only seemed appropriate to celebrate with a roast duck. And while I have a soft spot for those red lacquered ducks that hang from hooks behind a restaurant window, what I picked up from Kaokao Grill in Berkeley was not that. Dare I say, this was an improvement upon those versions, in ways that I’m still trying to pinpoint. The Sichuan five-spiced duck gave the bird a nice base layer of flavor, with lovely undertones of anise and cloves that were present, but not overpowering. Like other dishes at Kaokao, the duck is then smoked, imparting another flavor distinctive to Kaokao’s version, and yielding perfectly tender bits without being over-dry. Add on the meal kit, and it’s a complete dinner with fluffy bao, Kaokao’s house sauce (a zhuzhed up Hoisin sauce, I think), and julienned strands of cucumber and scallions. The roast duck is only available on holidays, such as Christmas and Lunar New Year, which means there could be stretches of time before one can try this again, but I would argue that only makes it all the more special. Kaokao Grill, 2993 College Avenue, Berkeley

— Dianne de Guzman, Eater SF deputy editor

Honey walnut shrimp and pork toast at Piglet & Co

It’d be remarkably easy to walk right past the new Piglet & Co restaurant on Mission without even realizing what you’ve done. The windows of the storefront hide behind graffiti-covered plywood boards, and a simple sign on the blacked-out door promises only that there’s a restaurant “coming soon.” This is to say that stepping inside the dark space with a long bar uplit but subtle blue lighting feels like stumbling into a secret club — even if you knew exactly where you were going. Anyone who’s been following chef Chris Yang and his partner Marcelle Gonzales Yang knows to expect playfully reimagined Taiwanese dishes, and of all the plates I tried during this early visit, the most thrilling was easily one that married the texture of pork katsu with the comforting flavors of honey walnut shrimp. Yang starts with a base of toasted milk bread, adding a layer of crunchy candied walnut relish before crowning the stack with a thick patty of pork and shrimp. The juicy combo comes breaded in panko crumbs and fried to a crisp, before being adorned with a drizzle of caramel-y brunt honey aioli. Brunch service starts next month, and I’m already counting the days until I can get back for more. Piglet & Co, 2170 Mission Street in San Francisco

— Lauren Saria, Eater SF editor

January 21

Cioppino at Anchor Oyster Bar

Paolo Bicchieri

San Francisco is well-known for a few dishes including the seductive Irish coffee at Buena Vista Cafe and the golden Peking duck at Mister Jiu’s. Cioppino, in all of its stewy splendor, is right up there with the best of the best — though which restaurant takes the belt for the best iteration of the dish is anyone’s call. In my opinion, Anchor Oyster Bar might be the Muhammad Ali of the cioppino game. Dungeness crabbing has been delayed what feels like a thousand times this season, but the Castro Street mainstay of more than 40 years brought a catch on the very morning I took my pops to the restaurant. Combined with meaty tomato, sweet shrimp, and mussels, the enormous bowl, which wasn’t even technically the “large” order, testifies to the region’s seafood privileges. There’s a thickness to the dish that feels fitting given the enormous amount of labor that goes into its creation. While loads of other restaurants craft cracker-jack cioppino (there’s a restaurant named after the dish, after all) Anchor’s ambiance and menu add to the luxuriousness of their riff, too. The scallop linguine smelt so strongly of citrus and cream that it was like someone grabbed my nose and smacked it back and forth with a glass of lemonade; Alaskan cod came on a bed of beans and tomato for a rustic roundhouse of indulgence and class; and draining the last dredges of the cioppino, in its oceanic loveliness, made as good a case for best of the best as I’d ever seen. Anchor Oyster Bar, 579 Castro Street, San Francisco

— Paolo Bicchieri, Eater SF reporter

Marin Dungeness hand roll at Yonsei Handrolls

Patricia Chang

The siren’s song of Dungeness crab has been luring me into an indecisive state, trying to figure out from restaurant menus where I’d like to have my first taste of crab this year. It’s a big decision — and one I haven’t quite figured out yet — but at a recent dinner at Yonsei Handrolls it seemed like a no-brainer to tide myself over, crab-wise, with this hand-sized piece of beauty: a Marin Dungeness hand roll with shoyu butter and garlic chives. It was everything a crab-liking person could want: the oceany sweetness, with the velvety addition of butter, and some bite from the chives and seaweed wrapping. I was distracted as soon as the roll landed on the table and, true to how goofy I can be, didn’t take a photo. Thankfully, my dining partner is much more diligent than I am at these things, and probably took a better photo than I ever could. As a secondary mention, the American wagyu roll, with mountain yam and a quail egg, also stood out. It wasn’t the easiest thing to bite into, but the flavors of the wagyu and quail egg together were outstanding and really emphasized that perhaps one doesn’t need to go the “traditional” route — and that chef Kyle Itani has really got a hit on his hands here. Yonsei Handrolls, 1738 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland

— Dianne de Guzman, Eater SF deputy editor

Lunar New Year Pastry Box from Sunday Bakeshop

Lauren Saria

From over-the-top cocktail pop-ups to stunning seasonal pastries, there’s a lot to love about Lunar New Year in San Francisco. So last weekend I started my day by swinging through Neighbor Bakehouse in the Dogpatch to pick up a box of festive pastries from Sunday Bakeshop before heading to Chinatown to meander around the flower market. I practically inhaled a subtly-sweet hojicha financier and risked spilling chantilly all over myself just so I could take one bite of the stunning black sesame toasted rice eclair while still en route. The rest of the pastries made the perfect snacks for a post-market afternoon spent curled up by a fire once the storm rolled in. Each pastry surprised and delighted with familiar flavors including mango, match, cha siew, and coconut packaged up in technically impressive forms. Considering the flaky sweet and savory croissants and gorgeous tarts inside, it’s perhaps a little ironic to say my favorite was a relatively simple cookie. For as long as I can remember White Rabbit candies have been a go-to treat and Sunday Bakeshop’s strawberry White Rabbit cookie, perfectly thin and soft, struck just the right balance between tart freeze-dried strawberries and milky white chocolate. And until next New Year, I’ll be looking forward to my next fix. Sunday Bakeshop, 5931 College Avenue, Oakland. Pick-up is also available at Neighbor Bakehouse, 2343 3rd Street #100 in San Francisco.

— Lauren Saria, Eater SF editor

January 13

Vegetarian spicy hue noodle soup at Sunflower Garden Authentic Vietnamese

Paolo Bicchieri

Sunflower Garden Authentic Vietnamese in the Inner Sunset has been on my list since a Wildseed employee let me know it’s a go-to for plant-based food. has been on my list since an employee of Wildseed let me know it was a go-to for plant-based food. While the restaurant has plenty of options for meat eaters, this vegan spicy hue noodle soup might be the star of the show. Swimming in the enormous bowl of spicy broth, the mighty discs of vegetarian ham, which tasted nothing like ham, more like Tofurkey or fish, do an excellent job of absorbing the oil and spice of the broth and make for succulent and satisfying bites. The other treasures are the wide pillows of deep-fried tofu, thin and chewy like inari skin. The vermicelli noodles are a primo carb base for the tremendous $16 entree, in which the brightness of lemongrass mingles with the subtle umami from mushrooms. With a plentiful fried taro cake for an appetizer, which is not vegan thanks to a bit of egg, I just about passed out working through this bowl of soup. And I’m not really a soup person, certainly not like many in my generation who build entire cottage core-esque identities around various broths and brines. But this emboldening bún bò huế chay has me thinking I’ve been sleeping on scintillating stews for way too long. Sunflower Garden Authentic Vietnamese, 1368 9th Avenue, San Francisco

— Paolo Bicchieri, Eater SF reporter

Hainan chicken rice at Noodles Fresh

Dianne de Guzman

I’m trying to get better at trying restaurants and bars that have long been on my radar but, for whatever reason, I haven’t yet visited. One such place is Noodles Fresh, a Chinese restaurant I’ve passed by for years on drives along San Pablo Avenue in El Cerrito. But finally, for once, hunger intersected with a jaunt nearby and I was able to bring home a couple of dishes. While my Jiangxi noodle salad was quite delicious, with its seafood-flavored chile sauce, my heart belongs to a good Hainan chicken rice plate — especially if all the separate components are done well. To wit, the chicken was delicately poached, retaining a nice texture and not verging into the overdone territory. The rice was a lovely golden hue, imbued with the taste of the chicken broth, but without any slick oiliness. And the ginger dipping sauce was done in my favorite style, which is to say slightly too salty, ideal for bringing some depth to the combination of rice and poached chicken. It’s just a pure comfort dish, even if it’s not one I grew up with, in a soothing combo of rice, chicken, and sauce that makes rainy weather like this feel less dreary. Noodles Fresh, 10042 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito

— Dianne de Guzman, Eater SF deputy editor

Tonkotsu ramen at Kodaiko Ramen & Bar

Lauren Saria

There’s really nothing I crave more than a hot bowl of something brothy when the weather gets grey and moody as it has been lately. And while San Francisco has more excellent ramen spots than I can count on two hands, I recently found myself in downtown Sacramento with the opportunity to visit a new-to-me ramen-ya I’ve been curious about for years. From the same chef-owner behind one of the city’s top sushi spots Kru, Kodaiko Ramen & Bar hides behind a narrow entry off the K Street thoroughfare down a steep set of black stairs. Reach the bottom and you’ll feel like you’ve stumbled into some sort of secret ramen and sake-filled den. A heavy ceramic bowl of tonkotsu ramen starts with a heady base of pork and fish paitan augmented with shoyu tare with a tangle of bouncy ramen noodles resting under a shower of negi (shredded green onions) and an inky black slick garlic oil. A jiggy hunk of pork belly, a pinch of peppery mustard greens, and a custardy half ajitama were all the extra toppings this satiating bowl required. By the time my spoon was scraping the bottom, I was already wishing I had room for more. Kodaiko Ramen & Bar, 718 K Street in Sacramento

— Lauren Saria, Eater SF editor

January 6

Coffee flight from Coffee Movement West

Paolo Bicchieri

I started going to Coffee Movement’s new location on Balboa Street obsessively before 2023 took hold, probably as an unconscious attempt to push the year back like Odie off that kitchen table. A flight of coffee there is an affordable, emboldening way to dive into coffee nerdom for those uninitiated. The shop will prepare any of three coffees in three ways — as drip coffee, espresso, and as a mini latte — or each of their three coffees one way. For those comfortably in the church of caffeine, Coffee Movement’s $5 triumvirate is a chance to expand one’s horizons of what roasters are out there pushing the scene to new places. The Nob Hill-born coffee shop rotates specialty coffee drinks and roasters often, and while I was there I had a Costa Rican offering from Onyx, produced by Las Lejas. Onyx is one of specialty coffee’s favorite godfathers; the first time I ever tried a single-origin, pour-over, fancy schmancy coffee in 2014, it was Onyx. Prepared three ways, I felt I was able to experience the roast in its most dominant expressions. This particular coffee was bright and acidic with tea-like qualities that made it super drinkable. I realize I’m on the millennial side of my zillennial demarcation with my love of simply-made coffee, but whether you’re a morning lark or a night owl, into the loud or the quiet, Coffee Movement’s flight a the gorgeous procession of both light and dark coffee that anyone would be lucky to try. Coffee Movement, 1737 Balboa Street, San Francisco

— Paolo Bicchieri, Eater SF reporter

Shishbarak soup dumpling at Lulu

Dianne de Guzman

Lulu has been one of my local favorites ever since I fell under the spell of its charming mezze brunch and rose brulee cappucino, but it was lovely to see chef Mona Leena Michael branch out into dinner on a recent weeknight. At Laylat Lulu (or “Lulu at Night”) the restaurant served a multi-course dinner showcasing Michael’s talents beyond the usual breakfast/lunch/brunch game. And while I was a fan of a number of the other dishes — sesame fattoush tostada, I’m looking at you — the one that really won me over was the shishbarak soup dumpling. The dumpling was stuffed with wonderfully seasoned lamb and enfolded in a wrapper with a nice amount of chew; meanwhile, the pine nut salsa macha helped give it a nice variation of texture and flavor in each bite. The addition of kishk provided a nice tangy finish to offset the lamb. It was a nicely balanced dish in the middle of the meal, and one I’ll be thinking about for a while. Lulu, 1019 Camelia Street, Berkeley

— Dianne de Guzman, Eater SF deputy editor

Egg and cheese sandwich from Schlok’s

Lauren Saria

I woke up on Monday, January 1 feeling, honestly, not that great — but still infinitely better than I deserved all things considered. In fact, I realized I probably only need two things to push myself back into fully “I’m actually doing alright” territory: coffee, duh, and a big, carb-y breakfast. And thank goodness my partner had the bright idea to place an order from what’s become a go-to breakfast option in the neighborhood, Schlok’s. Normally we’d walk over but on that day, we took advantage of the delivery option, and in less than an hour were basking in the glory of two shiny bagels encrusted with ample everything seasoning and encasing layers of egg, cheese, and sweet pepper butter. I never tire of this simple but well-executed sandwich, just a chewy bagel, an oozy couple of eggs, lots and lots of cheese, and that vaguely tangy sweet pepper spread. In terms of all the things that you could have had for your first bite of the year, I’ve got not a single regret that this was mine.

Schlok’s, 1263 Fell Street in San Francisco

— Lauren Saria, Eater SF editor

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The post Winter 2023: The Finest Dishes Eater San Francisco Editors Ate This Week appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.