For me, dining out is a special treat, and it’s one that I want to make last. Writing restaurant reviews helps me revisit the experience, enjoy it and extend the value I get for the cost of the meal. Not only do I get the experience of the restaurant meal itself, but the recollection of it as I write it and then, sometimes many years later, as I read it. Even when a meal is less than enjoyable, I feel I get something out of it by being able to write about it.

I started writing restaurant reviews back in the late 1990’s, long before Yelp and Tripadvisor were around. I posted my first reviews to ba.food, a newsgroup (does anyone even remember those?), later I moved to publishing them on my website. In the last couple of decades, however, the chaos and expense of parenthood had me eating out less and writing even less about it, so my restaurant review pages became terribly out of date. I am now – in 2024 – starting anew.

I have separated my reviews into different regions and sub-regions.

CALIFORNIA

San Leandro, San Lorenzo & Ashland – This is where I live, so where I usually eat.

Bay Area – My greater feeding ground.

Napa Valley – where we spent Mike’s birthday in 2024.

Central Coast – from Santa Cruz to Santa Barbara

Los Angeles – most of my reviews are of restaurants in the San Fernando Valley

LOUISIANA

New Orleans – we spent a couple of days here in April 2024, sampling the amazing cuisine.

Cajun country – where we got to experience a lot of other culinary delights.

NEW YORK

New York City – We spent a week in March 2024 eating our way through the city.

TEXAS

A single restaurant review from the Dallas area.