Well, we said goodbye to Thanksgiving 2017 and I’m super excited for the holiday season. Whether you celebrate Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, or none of the above, there’s always some fun winter and holiday events that you can partake in around San Ramon. Here are just some of our favorites. [Read more…]
This weekend, September 4 at 12:00 PM until September 5 at 5:00 PM is Livermore’s 35th annual Harvest Wine Celebration. Each Sunday on the Labor Day weekend, the Livermore Valley wineries celebrate the crash season and 35 years this year of the Harvest Wine Celebration. Each individual winery will host its own activities, which will include tastings, arts and crafts, music, and more.
On Monday following the festival, participants can enjoy additional tastings at each of the participating wineries.
In order to participate, you need to be a ticket holder so don’t miss out on this exclusive celebration.
Participants must be 21 years or over to consume the wine but all ages are welcome to participate in activities. Tickets include participating winery tours on Sunday and Monday, wine tasting, commemorative Livermore Valley wine glasses, wine discounts and other goodies along the way. You are not required to have a ticket to visit a winery participating in the harvest but it definitely helps in order to get the most out of the experience. There are no complimentary shuttle buses this year so it’s best to get a designated driver for your tour.
Tickets are $45 each and when you make arrangements you start at a certain winery. Tickets are $55 on the day of participation. Tours get 10% discount on ticket purchases of 10 or more.
To buy tickets, view the map and participating wineries visit lvwine.org
The East Bay Times recently came out with an article talking about some of the best dumpling restaurants throughout the bay area and several are right here in the Tri-Valley area. Everybody knows Din Tai Fung, the best dumpling restaurants in the area where you can watch them make all of the dumplings by hand outside the big glass windows at the front of the restaurant. But they’re not the only dumpling and dim sum restaurants worth checking out. Din Thai Fung recently relented on their “no reservation” policy and are now accepting reservations, especially for large parties. This restaurant has been known to have lines out the door for several hours around some of the peak dining times but now, you can check out some of the other dumpling and dim sum restaurants.
Dim sum, although it means “small bites” has been a relatively chastised as being different from dumplings. Call it what you will, these dumplings are some of the best in the Tri-Valley area.
Right here in San Ramon is Hung’s Kitchen. Located at 500 Bollinger Canyon Way, Hung’s Kitchen has been known to have the delicious juicy pork dumplings, xiao long bao , pan fried noodles and hot and sour soup. If you’ve never have those juicy pork dumplings, there unlike anything else. They mix in the ground pork, spices and other Asian flavors with jellied pork broth and as the dumpling steams the broth melts into a delicious and juicy pork dumpling.
Koi Palace has a couple of locations, one of which is in Dublin. This dim sum restaurant features dinner menus and a separate dim sum menu with soft and tender pork buns, chicken dishes, deep-fried shrimp, Shui Mai, spicy noodles and dozens of other delicious and tempting treats.
And finally, Lee Garden Seafood located at 5588 Springdale Ave. in Pleasanton. Crisp and sweet cream puffs, Shui Mai with shrimp and pork, spicy scallops, crispy fried shrimp balls, crispy shrimp dumplings, stuffed fried tofu and steamed, homemade dumplings all around out their fantastic a dim sum menu.
The next time you’re craving dim sum or simply some fantastic dumplings, check out one of these three local Tri-Valley restaurants to add to your list when the wait at Din Thai Fung is just too ridiculous.