With its dazzling array of ethnic and cutting-edge cuisine, vibrant wine and beer scene, and year-round abundance of locally sourced foods, the San Francisco Bay Area is one of the world’s great culinary destinations. Throughout the region are countless ways for groups to experience it, whether it’s dining at an organic farm, sampling rare vintages at an urban tasting room or working with local chefs to create memorable dishes of their own.
While San Francisco has long been renowned for its restaurant scene, outstanding culinary opportunities abound everywhere from rural Marin County to urban neighborhoods in the East Bay and South Bay.
“The culinary scene in Oakland is booming,” said Frances Wong, PR & community relations manager for Visit Oakland. “It can be hard for up-and-coming chefs to open a restaurant in San Francisco, so they’re coming over here. And we’re one of the most diverse cities in the country, and our cuisine reflects that.”
East of Oakland in the Diablo Valley, cities like Concord provide plenty of ways for groups to experience fine dining as well as craft brews and wines, according to Elaine Schroth, executive director of Visit Concord.
“Concord has something for everyone—casual comfort food as well as global cuisine, including Peruvian and Guatemalan,” she said. “There are great options for dine-arounds right near our meeting hotels.”
Whether upscale or casual, the Bay Area offers myriad possibilities for events showcasing the talents of local chefs and vintners, according to Zorianna Smith, director of marketing for AlliedPRA Northern California. Among her favorite options is to capitalize on the pop-up restaurant trend to present truly customized experiences.
“You can create your own gourmet restaurant in unique locations like an art gallery, private home or even a remote vista that can be built out into a beautiful dining space with a modern tent,” she said. “These pop-up restaurants can be enhanced by including well-known local chefs to the dinner or even compete in a food challenge where guests vote for their favorite dish.”
Walking Tours
A particularly fun and informative way to delve into the Bay Area’s culinary scene is through a walking tour, according to Smith.
“I particularly love the food tours around San Francisco and the East Bay because groups get to see the real flavor of the neighborhoods and experience something local and off the beaten path,” she said.
A pioneer in the concept is Edible Excursions, which began with walking tours showcasing the San Francisco Ferry Building and its array of artisanal food purveyors. The tours have since expanded into San Francisco’s Mission District and Japantown as well as into neighborhoods in Berkeley and Oakland. Along with scheduled tours, the company offers customized experiences for groups as large as 100. The tours typically include a half-dozen or more stops to visit with local chefs and purveyors while sampling their wares.
Two new offerings from Edible Excursions focus on libations. Temescal Beer and Bites explores the craft beer scene in Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood, while the Craft Cocktail Tour is an extended happy hour through downtown San Francisco that includes a mixology class focusing on bitters.
“San Francisco has always been a popular drinking town due to its long history in libations and current cocktail renaissance,” said Lisa Rogovin, founder and CEO of Edible Excursions. “Bitters have become the next big thing in the cocktail world, and the class is a great takeaway from the tour.”
Local Food Adventures, which focuses on the East Bay, also provides scheduled walking tours and customized group experiences. Among its popular offerings is the Grand Lake Cultural Cuisine Food Tour, which explores Oakland’s culinary scene along with historic sites around scenic Lake Merritt.
PageBreakThe company plans to debut a tour this spring focusing on downtown Walnut Creek, which is quickly becoming one of the Bay Area’s hottest dining scenes.
Versatile Venues
Located across from the Oakland Convention Center, Swan’s Market is a historic landmark that reached the century mark in 2017. A gourmet food court by day featuring such local purveyors as Deep Roots Oakland, The Cook and Her Farmer and Miss Ollie’s, Swan’s Market can be transformed into a large event space during the evening.
“You can buy out the space for an evening event where groups can enjoy the foods from the various vendors,” said Visit Oakland’s Wong.
For groups meeting in the vicinity of San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center, the Press Club is an elegant and flexible venue focusing on local wines and offering spaces accommodating everything from small groups to galas for up to 500 people. Groups can reserve the Tasting Bay for a wine and food pairing event or settle into the cozy Wine Library with 20-foot windows looking out on to Yerba Buena Lane. A full buyout brings access to a private dining room as well as numerous lounges with fireplaces and living room-style furnishings.
The coastal farmlands of Marin County also hold venues for groups to enjoy local foods and wine. Among them is The Farmstead Cheese Company in Point Reyes, a family-owned dairy run by the Giacomini family since 1904. It features a new venue called The Fork, designed for culinary classes, chef’s demonstrations, cheese tastings as well as catered dinners and receptions. Groups can also tour the farm and learn about the cheese-making process.
“Culinary tourism has really taken off here, with so many artisanal cheese makers and organic farmers in the western part of the county,” said Christine Bohlke, sales and marketing director for the Marin CVB. “There are great opportunities for small groups.”
Local Libations
West Berkeley is one of the Bay Area’s main hubs for craft brews and urban wineries, according to Dan Marengo, communications director for Visit Berkeley, which recently published an online guide called Local Libations.
“In particular, the craft beer scene has really taken off in the past year,” he said. “People are raving about the Gilman Brewing Company, which opened about a year ago and has private event space with a cool industrial vibe.”
Another group-friendly spot in West Berkeley is Donkey & Goat, a winery specializing in organic wines made from sustainably farmed grapes.
Accommodating up to 200 people, event spaces include a tasting room, cellar and spacious outdoor patio with a bocce court, fire pits and table seating.
Also in Berkeley, Takara Sake USA offers groups the chance to taste flights of premium sake in a light and airy tasting room with Japanese architectural touches. Guests can also learn about the centuries-old sake-making process at the distiller’s Takara Sake Museum, the only one of its kind in the U.S.
Farther east, groups meeting in Concord can explore the Concord Beer Trail, making stops at such places as The Hop Grenade, which features a spacious taproom and patio; Epidemic Ales, which offers a taproom with Giant Jenga and other games; and E.J. Phair Brewing Company and Alehouse, which has a brewpub serving hearty fare.
Wineries with event space abound in the East Bay’s Tri-Valley region, including the multifaceted Wente Vineyards in Livermore, the scene of a popular summer concert series. Accommodating groups up to 1,000 people or more, Wente offers an event center, fine-dining restaurant, golf course and event lawns. Among the many possibilities are dinners held in the winery’s historic sandstone caves as well as customized teambuilding activities such as wine blending.
Learning Experiences
In San Mateo County, the San Francisco Wine School in South San Francisco is a new option for wine education and teambuilding in a setting with views of the San Bruno Mountains and San Francisco Bay. In the Food Pairing Lab, instructors guide the audience through dozens of food and wine flavor combinations while discussing the fundamentals of pairing wine with food. Among other offerings are private wine-pairing dinners prepared by the school’s resident chef and seminars in wine blending and tasting.
“The San Francisco Wine School is the largest of its kind in the country and was founded by a master sommelier,” said Anne LeClair, president and CEO of the San Mateo Silicon Valley CVB. “It’s a beautiful venue for a private dinner or reception for several hundred people.”
Culinary classes and workshops are signature offerings at several Bay Area resort hotels.
Cavallo Point Lodge in Sausalito, located on a stunning site on the edge of the Golden Gate, has its own Cooking School with a full program of chef’s demonstrations and culinary seminars that can be customized for meeting groups. Culinary classes for groups are also available at the Claremont Club & Spa, A Fairmont Hotel, located in the Berkeley hills and featuring sweeping views of San Francisco Bay. The Claremont also offers private dining spaces at its new Limewood Bar & Restaurant and Meritage, a fine-dining restaurant that has won the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence and other accolades.
