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‘We have to be strong’: How a Redwood City Polynesian restaurant owner is helping Tonga’s recovery

Fusi Taaga, who runs the Polynesian restaurant Tokemoana's in Redwood City, is collecting donations to send to Tonga while facing a blow to her business due to the loss of produce in Tonga that was being imported to the Bay Area for use in her restaurant.

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Zoppe Circus next generation
How the Zoppé family built a Redwood City circus legacy
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Popular Posts

Zoppe Circus next generation
How the Zoppé family built a Redwood City circus legacy
October 14, 2021
The sweet-scented legacy of Ah Sam: 88 years of fame, family and flowers
September 9, 2021
Live it up this Labor Day: 20 local events for the long holiday weekend on the Peninsula
September 2, 2021

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Giveaway! Win $500 in gift cards to @vivacerestaur Giveaway! Win $500 in gift cards to @vivacerestaurant, @lvmarrwc, @italico341 and @leftbankbrasserie during Peninsula Restaurant Week, nine days of dining deals May 19-27 to celebrate local eateries, by sharing your meals with us! -Post a photo of your exclusive Restaurant Week meal from a participating restaurant -Tag @thesixfifty, @peninsulafoodist & @thesfpeninsula -Use #PenRestaurantWeek in your caption -Subscribe to the Peninsula Foodist and The Six Fifty newsletters (link in bio) This giveaway closes on May 27 at 11:59 p.m. For more details and participating restaurants check out the link in our bio. Winners are chosen at random. Happy dining!
Chip and Joanna Gaines and Syd and Shae McGee — Chip and Joanna Gaines and Syd and Shae McGee — partners in business and in life — have won the hearts of millions of reality TV fans by creating home-remodeling empires, not so much on their business acumen or design aesthetic but on their ability to captivate an audience with their friendliness and approachable sense of style. Cliff and Natalie Whearley are building a similar brand in Redwood City. In July 2022, the couple leased the ground floor of a historic building at 925 Main St. that once housed Youngs Auto Parts. It is now the headquarters for Whearley & Co., a one-stop shop for real estate, home staging and shopping. Will the Whearleys reach a similar streaming platform pinnacle? “I don’t know if we have dreams about building our own mega-empire, but I do find both of their stories so inspiring,” Natalie says. Cliff and Natalie met at Carlmont High School in Belmont, and their Peninsula roots run deep. “Our first date was on the same day that Cliff wrote up his first offer in 2007,” Natalie says. Cliff adds, “Since then, we’ve bought, remodeled and sold several homes.” Read the story from @sophiamwrites at the link in bio. Photo courtesy Margaret Austin Photography.
To celebrate #PeninsulaRestaurantWeek we’re givi To celebrate #PeninsulaRestaurantWeek we’re giving away gift cards to local restaurants! One lucky diner will win a $50 gift card to @rosalindbakery. To enter make sure to: -Like this post -Tag a friend in the comments -Reshare on your story Giveaway closes on May 20 at 11:59 p.m. Winner will be chosen at random and sent a DM after they are picked.
Eric Kneeland’s job requires a lot of screen tim Eric Kneeland’s job requires a lot of screen time. It’s not, however, the type that involves hours staring at a computer: Kneeland is the founder of Black Stamp Studios, a Princeton-by-the-Sea art studio and print shop that does things the old-fashioned way, producing custom screen prints and hand-painted signs, and always taking an active part in the community. “I don’t have a website. I’m kind of a caveman, so it’s mostly word of mouth,” the proudly old-school Kneeland said during a meeting at his shop near Pillar Point Harbor, just north of Half Moon Bay. His two-story studio is filled with colorful decor – from vintage signs to brand-new prints – and Kneeland’s friendly enthusiasm for what he does is contagious. Click the link in bio to read @karlajkane’s story. Photos by @itsmagalig.
Starting Friday, you can win $500 in gift cards to Starting Friday, you can win $500 in gift cards to local restaurants during Peninsula Restaurant Week, presented by @thesfpeninsula the Peninsula Foodist and The Six Fifty! Share your favorite dish from a participating restaurant on Instagram, tag @thesixfifty, @peninsulafoodist @thesfpeninsula and use #PenRestaurantWeek in your caption. Lastly, subscribe to the Foodist and The Six Fifty newsletters (link in bio on Instagram) for the chance to win! Visit peninsularestaurantweek.com or click the link in bio for more info.
Cuisinett Bistro & Market is a San Carlos French r Cuisinett Bistro & Market is a San Carlos French restaurant that opened in 2011. Owner and restaurateur Geoffroy Raby opened the eatery as an ode to the neighborhood cafe he grew up with, according to Cuisinett’s website. Since then, it has evolved into a bistro and market offering wine, charcuterie and other goods from France for sale alongside classic French comfort foods like ratatouille, beef Bourguignon, and croque madame and monsieur sandwiches. @k8bradsh recently met Raby to discuss the upcoming Peninsula Restaurant Week and how the French native is bringing a piece of France to the Peninsula through @cuisinett. Click the link in bio to read the story and learn more about Peninsula Restaurant Week May 19-27. Photos courtesy Geoffroy Raby.
You don’t need to be outdoors to enjoy and appre You don’t need to be outdoors to enjoy and appreciate nature on the Peninsula: Local eateries have developed a flair for displaying their green ideals and aesthetics with floral decor. And these days, as the spring wildflower season beckons residents to parks and nature preserves, these eateries are flexing the flower power to create a lush outdoor vibe in indoor settings. Click the link in bio for six restaurants and cafes teeming with green that pride themselves on thriving plant life. Photos by @devoroberts.
Seeking superblooms? While we may not see dazzling Seeking superblooms? While we may not see dazzling desert displays found in Southern California, there are still plenty of wildflower hot spots following winter’s record rainfall. Click the link in bio for your complete guide to finding flowers. Reel by @itsmagalig.
Last chance to enter your best short story to our Last chance to enter your best short story to our 37th annual Palo Alto Weekly Short Story Contest. Finalists will be featured in Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto Online and receive a gift certificate to a local bookstore! Share your story, enter by May 10. Link in bio to enter.
Nearly 90 eateries have signed up for Peninsula Re Nearly 90 eateries have signed up for Peninsula Restaurant Week May 19-27. Get details on special deals and prix-fixe menus from your favorite eateries and newcomers up and down the Peninsula at the link in bio, and tag a restaurant you want to participate in #PeninsulaRestaurantWeek below.
Since 2014, pickleball has taken off on the Penins Since 2014, pickleball has taken off on the Peninsula — and nationally. There are over 4.8 million players in the U.S., and it’s America’s fastest-growing sport, with participation increasing by 40% from 2019-2021 according to USA Pickleball, the national governing body for pickleball in the U.S. It’s even going mainstream: Tom Brady and LeBron James are just a few athletes investing in Major League Pickleball, and ESPN hosted its first Pickleball Slam featuring tennis stars like Andy Roddick in early April. The sport dates back to 1965, when a Washington state congressman and a businessman came back from a golf outing and decided to play badminton, according to USA Pickleball. Unable to find a full set of rackets, they improvised using pingpong paddles and a perforated plastic ball. The name pickleball is “a reference to the thrown-together leftover non-starters in the ‘pickle boat’ of crew races,” according to USA Pickleball. Up and down the Peninsula, there are a number of ways to get started with pickleball. We rounded up some options for those looking to try it. Click the link in bio for the story, and tag a friend you want to play with. Photos by @devoroberts.
An 80th birthday party @mezzalunarestauranthmb att An 80th birthday party @mezzalunarestauranthmb attended by those near and far. An anniversary dinner @ettanrestaurant before the birth of their first child. A memorable date at @izakaya_ginji. For the 100th edition of the @peninsulafoodist newsletter, we asked for your most memorable Peninsula dining experiences. Click the link in bio to read the responses. Photos by @devoroberts and Sammy Dallal.
With the 100th edition of the @peninsulafoodist ne With the 100th edition of the @peninsulafoodist newsletter out April 19, we decided to survey our readers on their all-time favorite bite from a Peninsula eatery. The responses offered an array of dishes covering a wide swath of communities, price points and cuisines. While we’ve featured many of the restaurants readers mentioned in previous coverage, we have written relatively little about these specific dishes before, indicating that there’s always more to explore on the menus of even the most popular local restaurants. Readers offered a wide range of explanations for why they love these dishes — some prefer salty or citrus flavors, while others described their favorites in terms of textures, using words like tender, fluffy, flaky and crispy to characterize these special dishes. Click the link in bio to read about your favorite Peninsula restaurant dishes. Photos by @devoroberts and Michelle Le.
Despite the passage of Proposition 64, the Adult U Despite the passage of Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, cities and counties statewide continue to waffle over the cannabis question; more than half don’t allow any type of cannabis business whatsoever. Those numbers are even higher along the Peninsula, where the large majority of cities prohibit all cannabis retail. In fact, beyond a couple of scattered delivery services, Redwood City is home to one of only two brick-and-mortar dispensaries along the roughly 45-mile stretch between cannabis-friendly Pacifica and San Jose. (MegaBud opened in Daly City last December.) And Embarc, which celebrated its grand opening Feb. 11, was the first storefront to open in Redwood City — more than two years after the City Council voted to allow up to six cannabis businesses citywide. As Redwood City debuts its first dispensaries, other cities like San Bruno and Mountain View continue to duke it out over regulatory details, and others still remain adamantly opposed to the idea. Meanwhile, the questions remain: Why — in ostensibly pro-cannabis communities — isn’t the legal industry thriving? And what does the future of weed look like along the Peninsula? Read @leahbeanz’ story about the state of marijuana in Silicon Valley at the link in bio. Photos by @devoroberts.
The Peninsula is flush with large-scale gardens li The Peninsula is flush with large-scale gardens like Gamble Garden, Filoli and Montalvo, but if we look in our own communities we will most certainly spot fertile ground that is tended to by a municipality or a community- or ecology-based nonprofit. Some of these gardens are sowed with wildflowers, some are natively diverse and some are an apothecary’s dream. These are the gardens hidden in plain sight that are there for you when you need them. Find @sophiamwrites’ roundup of seven secret gardens of the 650 at the link in bio. Photos by Sophia Markoulakis, Veronica Weber and courtesy SFO.
Hillsborough resident Bob Trahan’s career trajec Hillsborough resident Bob Trahan’s career trajectory is an unusual one. He worked as director of engineering at Meta, then attended culinary school, worked at a Michelin-starred restaurant in San Francisco and ran a home bakery. Now he’s the owner of a new plant-based restaurant in Burlingame called Twelvemonth. So what drove the former tech executive to change course not just toward the culinary arts, but the vanguard of plant-based cuisine? Part of it was getting burnt out working in tech and deciding to go to culinary school, but another facet was the joy he found from creating things that improved people’s lives, first through software and then through food, he explains. “(There’s)​​ something special about making something and you give it to someone else, and they’re genuinely grateful when it makes their life better,” he says. “Food is that, it’s just a tighter loop.” Read @k8bradsh’s story on @twelvemonthburlingame at the link in bio. Photos by @devoroberts.
They call him Posty. He’s been a postal worker ( They call him Posty. He’s been a postal worker (hence the name), a cyclist, a wedding guest and a Jedi. He’s been the Virgin Mary. He’s been both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. He’s a large, blue, inflatable dragon. And he’s not alone. Posty is one of around a bevy of creations spreading delight on Redwood City’s Fernside Street and beyond, thanks to local couple Megan Gardner and Taylor Pope. “People are very positive about the dragons,” Gardner says. “We’ve gotten to meet our neighbors. We really enjoy the community that it brings.” Read @karlajkane’s story on how the dragons came to life at the link in bio. Photos by @devoroberts.
A new laboratory is about to open its doors in dow A new laboratory is about to open its doors in downtown Menlo Park. Its two founders have painstakingly assembled a collection of state-of-the-art techno-wizardry: We’re talking microscopes, lasers, and reverse-osmosis filtration systems. Wall-mounted televisions display readouts and measurements from sensors. There are white lab coats, plant specimens and seed samples. You may think this is the product of the latest venture capital-backed Silicon Valley biotech startup, but it’s not. This lab’s mission is to connect people more deeply to America’s favorite beverage — coffee. To be clear, the Coffee Lab, which opens at the end of this month, is definitely not a coffee shop. You won’t be able to walk in during the day and leave with a cup of coffee or a pound of beans (it’s neither permitted nor staffed for that). Instead, its owners want you to focus more on the experience of brewing and tasting coffee, hoping to teach you enough to take your own home coffee practices to the next level. The duo behind the vision to increase coffee literacy in the Bay Area are Matt Baker and his partner Vance Bjorn. The two are a far cry from the stereotypical image of hipster baristas that typify the third-wave coffee movement in the Bay Area and the Pacific Northwest. Both are former techies with roots in Silicon Valley — Baker was a product manager at several tech companies, including eBay, while Bjorn co-founded a biometrics company in Redwood City in the late 1990s. But make no mistake — the two are unabashed coffee nerds. They even own a condo in the Hawaiian coffee region of Ka’u, where they’ve spent time getting to know local farmers. Learn more about the Coffee Lab by reading the story from @zachareats at the link in bio. Photos by @itsmagalig.
Hidden off of Big Basin Way near downtown Saratoga Hidden off of Big Basin Way near downtown Saratoga, Hakone Estate and Gardens feels like a secret oasis in the Santa Cruz Mountain foothills. Catch the gardens during the day and it’s a surprisingly convenient and beautifully maintained respite from the traffic and chaos of Silicon Valley. Visit during their annual seasonal cherry blossom viewing nights, Hanami at Hakone, and it’s an ethereal, almost otherworldly experience. Resplendent blossoms are uplit by a soft pink glow coming from lights at the base of each blooming tree’s trunk, and the air is suffused with an intoxicating blend of the floral aroma of the blossoms and the crisp scent of the surrounding redwood forest. Hakone Estate and Gardens has hosted its hanami night cherry blossom viewings since 2018, with a pause in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Shozo Kagoshima, executive director of the gardens. Hanami, the Japanese tradition of viewing flowers, particularly cherry blossoms, dates back to ancient times and celebrates the arrival of spring and its natural beauty. Click the link in bio to read about Hakone’s history and how you can visit during hanami. Photos by @devoroberts.
Still finalizing your Easter plans? Check out @k8b Still finalizing your Easter plans? Check out @k8bradsh’s roundup of 10 local spots offering Easter brunch at the link in bio. Photo courtesy @fspaloalto.
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