Elena Kadvany

6 days ago | sfchronicle.com | Elena Kadvany

Pasteis de nata from Holy Nata in San Francisco. The bakery raised its prices due to the increased cost of eggs. Cesar Hernandez/The ChronicleHoly Nata cannot exist without an ingredient that has become staggeringly expensive: eggs. The San Francisco bakery goes through about 120 pounds of egg yolks every week to make its popular Portuguese pastéis de nata, or egg tarts. In the midst of a national shortage, yolks have become increasingly hard to source and costly, co-owner Julia Pfeiffer said.

1 week ago | sfchronicle.com | Elena Kadvany

San Francisco almost lost one of its most spellbinding desserts. Pain perdu, essentially French toast, was a staple on the menu at Top 100 restaurant Verjus until March 2020, when the pandemic closed the wine bar’s doors. Sister Italian restaurant Cotogna temporarily adopted the dessert, appropriately renaming it “pane dulce.” Last year, when owners Michael and Lindsay Tusk decided to revive Verjus from its pandemic slumber, they almost didn’t put pain perdu back on the menu.

1 week ago | sfchronicle.com | Elena Kadvany

The owners of San Francisco standout Mediterranean restaurant Dalida are expanding. Laura and Sayat Ozyilmaz will open a second restaurant at 500 Presidio Ave., the former longtime home of brunch restaurant Ella’s American Kitchen. The news was first reported by Tablehopper. “We are incredibly excited to embrace this iconic San Francisco space, where many old time San Franciscans have built profound and beautiful memories,” Sayat Ozyilmaz wrote in a message to the Chronicle.

1 week ago | sfchronicle.com | Elena Kadvany

San Francisco tea specialist Roy Fong was traveling in China for the spring tea harvest, usually an ebullient time of year, when he learned that President Donald Trump would impose staggering tariffs on Chinese imports, which now amount to a minimum 145% tax on most goods. It’s devastating news for Fong, whose business Imperial Tea Court sells specialty Chinese tea online and at a Ferry Building teahouse. Some of his most popular teas are produced only in China; there are no alternatives, he said.

1 week ago | sfchronicle.com | Elena Kadvany

The chef brought 16 chickens of various breeds that he had brined and cooked in a sous-vide machine, then roasted. Two birds emerged as the clear favorites. They would become the breeds of choice for a new restaurant unlike any other in the Bay Area, devoted entirely to heritage chickens raised at a coastal farm in Pescadero. As their wine business, Somm Cellars, took them to Tokyo, Paris and London, they kept eating mind-blowing chicken.