Dig into Tri-Valley Restaurant Week deals

DINING SCENE

10-day culinary celebration runs through March 3

Chefs participating in the special Tri-Valley events include, back row, Francis Hogan of Sabio on Main, Romero Miraflore of LB Steak, Daniel Massie of Wente Vineyards and Rodney Worth of The Peasant and the Pear. In front are Roland Passot of LB Steak and Curtis Pipes of Las Positas Vineyards. The event will held in the region through March 3. COURTESY OF RON ESSEX PHOTOGRAPHY

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By Kate Bradshaw and Linda Zavoral

Staff writers

For 10 days this month, restaurants in Pleasanton, Livermore, Dublin, Danville and San Ramon will take the spotlight at the fourth annual Taste Tri-Valley Restaurant Week celebration.

About 50 restaurants have so far signed up to participate, and more are expected to join in, according to Visit Tri-Valley, the region’s marketing organization.

The festivities will kick off with a reception and four-course dinner at San Ramon’s LB Steak this Thursday, Feb. 22, with wines from Wente Vineyards and culinary creations by Francis Hogan of Sabio on Main, Roland Passot and Romero Miraflore of LB Steak, Daniel Massie of Wente Vineyards and Rodney Worth of The Peasant and the Pear.

Other events include a Livermore Wine Trolley food and wine tour ($100) on Feb. 27 and 29, a five-course “beer vs. wine” meal ($125) with McGrail Vineyards and BottleTaps on Feb. 28, and a wine and cheese pairing event ($65) with Page Mill Winery and The Cheese Parlor. The fest ends March 3 with a “Fizz, Food & Fun” brunch at Livermore’s Las Positas Vineyards featuring a mimosa bar, live music and sparkling wine pairings. Proceeds will benefit Sunflower Hill, a Tri-Valley nonprofit.

Participating restaurants are offering a variety of promotions, like 10% to 25% off discounts, free desserts and more. Prix fixe menus will be offered at restaurants including Bridges, Danville Brewing Co., De La Torre’s Restaurant, LB Steak Bishop Ranch and the Hop Yard Alehouse and Grill. Others are offering special menus, like The Peasant & The Pear, Bamboo Sushi and Blossom & Root Kitchen.A number of wineries are offering a buy one wine tasting, get one free offer, including Nella Terra Cellars, Omega Road Winery, Retzlaff Vineyards, Rosa Fierro Cellars and the Steven Kent Winery.

Specialty’s Cafe & Bakery has second location

Three years after resurrecting their popular Specialty’s Cafe & Bakery in Mountain View, owners Dawn and Craig Saxton have opened a second Peninsula restaurant.

The new cafe is at Sierra Point, a pharma-heavy business park in Brisbane. The location was selected for its proximity to San Francisco, where they’ve been gaining more customers. Otherwise, Craig Saxton said, “it’s a long haul for our delivery vehicles from Mountain View.”

However, “while it’s primarily a kitchen to service our catering demand, it’s open to the public and anyone is welcome.”

That puts Specialty’s crave-worthy Roast Turkey with Cranberry Chutney sandwiches, Italian Three Bean Vegetable soup and Salted Rye Whiskey Dark Chocolate cookies closer to the original chain’s East Bay and North Bay customers.

The Saxtons launched the business in 1987 in San Francisco with Dawn’s recipes, then expanded widely. For years, Specialty’s specialty had been its tech-savvy approach to serving the weekday lunch crowd and delivering boxed lunches for office meetings.

They sold the company in 2017, then bought it out of Chapter 7 bankruptcy after the new ownership group’s pandemic struggles.

The Mountain View location at Ellis Street, just off Highway 101, reopened in 2021. The Saxtons created some new sandwiches, salads and pastries for that menu and brought back some old favorites. (“Same cookies,” they said at the time. “We’re not crazy!”)

The current menu features 16 sandwiches, six breakfast sandwiches, a huge array of scones, muffins, cookies, palmiers and rugelach and catering options like a Fruit, Nut and Brie Platter.

Details >> Open weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 880 Sierra Point Parkway, Brisbane; www.specialtys.com

Walnut Creek gets a new pizzeria and taproom

Three years after buying their first restaurant, Jacquelyn and Michael Baker celebrated the opening of their second restaurant, this one in Walnut Creek.

The Pizzalina pizzeria and taproom just opened in the former Sorrento, a restaurant that operated in Walnut Creek for about 45 years, according to Jacquelyn. The Bakers had hoped to open the location in May 2023, but modernizing the space took longer than expected.

The pizzeria offers housemade pasta, salads and three types of pizza, a New York-style, a thin-crust tavern pizza and Sicilian pan pizza. Among the flavor combinations: a Korean bulgogi-style pizza with barbecued chicken, smoked mozzarella, pickled chilies, sesame seeds and green onions; a zucca with roasted honeynut squash, caramelized onions, smoked scamorza cheese, mozzarella and sage; and the All-in Sicilian with salami, tomato sauce, burrata, prosciutto and arugula.

The drinks menu showcases several Bay Area breweries, including Mare Island Brewing Co., East Brother Beer and Mike Hess Brewing, as well as Italian and California wines.

The Bakers opened their first restaurant in San Anselmo during lockdown, a leap of faith that paid off when the ban on outdoor dining was lifted the same day. Now they’re opening the second just minutes from their Concord home.

Details >> Open 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and until 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday at 2064B Treat Blvd. in Walnut Creek; pizzalina.com/walnut-creek-pizzeria-taproom.

‘Somebody Feed Phil’ star is coming to San Jose

In the coming weeks, hungry traveler Phil Rosenthal will launch the seventh season of his roving documentary series, “Somebody Feed Phil,” release a children’s book and head out on the road on a 25-city tour that will arrive in Northern California in June.

Tickets are on sale for “An Evening with Phil Rosenthal” on June 5 at the California Theatre in San Jose, June 6 at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa and June 7 at the Crest Theatre in Sacramento.

Look for tales from Rosenthal’s culinary adventures to Mumbai, Washington, D.C., Kyoto, Iceland, Dubai, Orlando, Taipei and Scotland, the eight destinations featured in the Netflix season that makes its debut March 1. Rosenthal is the creator of the award-winning sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond,” which ran from 1996 to 2005. Tickets start at $45 in San Jose and $39.50 in Santa Rosa and Sacramento. The VIP Meet and Greet is $159.50.

Details >> www.livenation.com/artist/K8vZ917QpU0/phil-rosenthal-events

Send restaurant news tips to Linda Zavoral at lzavoral@bayareanewsgroup.com, Kate Bradshaw at kbradshaw@bayareanewsgroup.com or John Metcalfe at jmetcalfe@bayareanewsgroup.com.