What? The Shuck: The Six Fifty’s guide to getting your oyster fix on the SF Peninsula

From seafood shacks to high-end hangouts, our list for eating bivalves by the Bay By Charles Russo A double dozen at Sam’s Chowder House in Half Moon Bay. (Photo courtesy of Julie Shenkman) Human beings have been eating oysters since forever. In modern times, these fleshy morsels of the sea have gone from a poor man’s staple to a pricey culinary delicacy, farmed to odd deliciousness and shipped live all over the world for consumption. Here ...

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How Vinyl Solution is feeding Silicon Valley’s record store addiction

Vinyl Solution in San Mateo is one of the Peninsula’s last vintage music holdouts. And yes, they have cassettes. by Jennifer Christgau-Aquino Vinyl Solution stocks all manner of analog doohickeys, like this turntable. Photo by Jody Troxel. On a Tuesday morning, in the middle of a quiet street in San Mateo dotted with nail salons and Asian restaurants, Vinyl Solution Records is buzzing. Twentysomething employees rack records, customers stream in and out picking through ...

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Flavor over funding: How San Mateo’s KitchenTown is remaking the food industry

By Monica Hruby What’s the vibe like when you cram 36 food startups into a warehouse off the 101 in San Mateo? A bit like the floor of the stock exchange: loud, busy, a little messy, but with a wall of ovens to add some literal heat to the shouting and crashing of dishes. This is KitchenTown, the Peninsula’s food industry incubator that in three years has grown to include a cafe ...

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Finding new meaning in the negroni at Peninsula bars

Negroni Week is a real holiday or, if not, at least it raises real money for charitable causes. It started Monday and runs through this Sunday (June 5–11) so you have ample time to join the fun. Luckily, with the SF Peninsula’s craft cocktail scene flaring up, plenty of local bars and restaurants are joining in. While the classic drink has but three ingredients (Campari, gin, vermouth), we found a few that ...

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Meat in heaven: Silicon Valley’s biggest, baddest sandwiches

The Adam Richman from Ike’s Place, properly named after the Man vs. Food host. We admit it. After a certain amount of time in the Bay Area, our carnivorous, carb-heavy ways have receded some. We often opt for the salad bowl over the burrito, the tofu over the kalbi beef. We’ve come to think of avocado as a major food group. But there remains something visceral about a sandwich: meat and bread, ...

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5 easy, kid-friendly hikes in Silicon Valley

Palo Alto Baylands (Photo by @diaryofatravelgeek) Now that Spring Break is just around the corner, every family needs a plan to keep occupied. What better way than to go hiking with your kids to burn off all that energy and take in California’s natural beauty? With shorter distances, more ubiquitous shade, and the all-important accessible bathrooms, these paths will pry the little ones off the couch and introduce them to the great outdoors. Bluff ...

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Marshmallow, bacon, blueberries: Where to eat Silicon Valley’s most exotic doughnuts.

Kookie Monster and Strawberry Fields from Psycho Donuts: @johngula_oblongata No more flying to Portland to get your pink box of Voodoo Doughnuts topped with Cocoa Puffs and bacon. Right here on the Peninsula, we found some doughnut shops that are getting just as wild with their fried creations. Time to get weird. Starting with the most exotic, here’s our top 5 list: 1. The Cereal Killer from Psycho Donuts Cereal killin’ goodness: @yoseeats Psycho Donuts is the ...

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Poke and parenting: the crazy true story behind San Mateo’s Pokeatery

Poke bowl via IG: Pokeatery Pokeatery, located on South B Street in downtown San Mateo, was one of the first poke places to open up on the Peninsula, back in October of 2015. Now, they lead the pack as the trend covers the Bay Area with their California-style poke and Dole Whip floats. Joann Chung, chef and owner of Pokeatery quit her job in finance to take care of her son — and opened a ...

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6 unique places for a date on the Peninsula

Castro Theatre via IG: Timfederle Who says you have to go to San Francisco for a great date? Here are six places on the Peninsula for a fun and special first (or fiftieth) date. For the old soul The Stanford Theatre in downtown Palo Alto has been a blast from the past since 1925. Tickets are under $10 and a huge popcorn is only $3, so load up on snacks and cuddle up to watch some ...

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Three great panoramas anyone in Silicon Valley can get to

The Dish via IG/wonderin_world. What sets the Bay Area apart other than its proximity to huge urban centers, perfect weather, and brilliant residents is its topography.Silicon Valley is named that for a reason — we can get the best views of the entire Bay just by driving or hiking 20 minutes from our quaint suburbia. Here are some spots for the perfect panorama: The Classic:The Dish, Stanford Ok, ok. If you have lived in the Peninsula ...

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