Clay Kallam

Feb 7, 2025 | diablomag.com | Clay Kallam

Running a restaurant is hard. Starting a restaurant is harder. Living together is hard; working together is hard. Living together and starting a restaurant together? With kids? The word “hard” will no longer suffice. “Difficult” isn’t close. “Impossible” springs to mind, but more than a few Bay Area couples have managed to navigate that complicated process.

Nov 1, 2024 | diablomag.com | Clay Kallam

“Northern California is home to the best caviar in the United States,” says Raymond James Irwin, the founder of the newly opened Fizz Champagne and Bubbles Bar in Walnut Creek. Pause. Caviar? Here? Doesn’t caviar come from the Volga River, and isn’t it Russian through and through? Actually, no. Caviar comes from sturgeon, which can be found all over the world—in China, for example, and in the Sacramento River.

Sep 20, 2024 | diablomag.com | Clay Kallam

Indonesia has always been a mystery. Its history is clouded in folklore, and for centuries it was cut off from the rest of the world while European powers battled over spices so valuable they sparked international wars. Even in the Bay Area, Indonesian cuisine was all but impossible to find—until now. Nusa, which recently opened in the Public Market in Emeryville, imports spices from across the Pacific to ensure that the five “national dishes” the restaurant focuses on are as authentic as possible.

Sep 6, 2024 | diablomag.com | Clay Kallam

“Pressure is a privilege,” says Mary Volmer. “It’s an opportunity.”Volmer would know. A former high school basketball star, she is now an adjunct professor at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga who also works with the school’s athletes on handling pressure. Even at the high school level, the usual stresses of trying to perform well and living up to expectations are ratcheted up for basketball players, making hoopsters the poster children for the best and worst of the pressure on young athletes.

Aug 27, 2024 | diablomag.com | Clay Kallam

There are now 12 Local Kitchens in California, but the Lafayette outpost for the micro food hall was the first—and now it has a new look. The concept is still the same, with the focus on delivery and pickup from seven different vendors, but the recent renovation has spruced up the outdoor seating, added some indoor eat-in options, and streamlined the kitchen.