July 19, 2025, 10:00AM to 2:00PM
Les Dames d'Escoffier Rummage Sale​
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Saturday, July 19, 2025, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Prospect Restaurant, 300 Spear St., San Francisco, CA.​​ Bay Area Culinary Historians is joining Les Dames d'Escoffier for their first ever rummage sale. A portion of the proceeds benefit BACH.
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Find vintage culinaria, kitchen utensils, linens & tableware, quality cookware, cookbooks & more! Shop all the culinary goodness to support Business Development Grants, Scholarships, and Food Journalism Fellowship for women in food, fine beverage, and hospitality. Bring a friend, shop, enjoy tasty treats, and meet the members of Les Dames d'Escoffier.
No tickets nor registration required!
July 27, 2025, 5:30PM PDT
Online: A Conversation with Joyce Goldstein​
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Please join us Sunday, July 27, 2025, at 5:30p.m. PDT, for an online conversation with culinary luminary Joyce Goldstein. Note that this presentation will begin ½ hour later than our usual 5:00p.m. meeting time.​​
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​We are extremely excited to have an opportunity to present a conversation with Joyce Goldstein and a celebration of her extraordinary life and career in the culinary world. Joyce Goldstein will be turning 90 years old in July and is honoring us with the opportunity to interview her live about her experiences as a chef and author, and her unique perspective on the history of modern California cuisine.
Joyce Goldstein is a distinguished chef, author, and culinary educator renowned for her pioneering work in Mediterranean and Jewish cuisines. She gained prominence as the chef-owner of Square One, a groundbreaking San Francisco restaurant operating from 1984 to 1996, celebrated for its innovative approach to Mediterranean flavors. Goldstein's culinary journey includes serving as executive chef at the Café at Chez Panisse and founding the California Street Cooking School, San Francisco's first international cooking school.
An accomplished author, she has penned over 25 books on food, including the award-winning The Mediterranean Kitchen and Inside the California Food Revolution, the latter chronicling the evolution of California cuisine. Her contributions to the culinary arts have been recognized with multiple James Beard Foundation Awards, including Best Chef California in 1994. Beyond her culinary endeavors, Goldstein has served as a consultant to the restaurant industry and taught kitchen design at the University of California.
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Register for the presentation on Eventbrite.
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As always, it is super-helpful if you indicate your interest on the BACH Events page on Facebook in addition to registering on Eventbrite.
August 9, 2025, 6:00PM PDT
In-Person: Dinner at Trader Vic's, Emeryville, CA and a presentation about this and other iconic California dining establishments by George Geary, author of Made in California
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Please join us August 9, 2025 at 6:00p.m. for a 1950's era banquet dinner at Trader Vic's in Emeryville, CA. We have selected dishes from a vintage 1951 Trader Vic's menu, which their chefs will recreate for us based on the original recipes. Pull out your Hawaiian shirts or Tiki dresses as we step back in time for a festive evening!
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Please note that this is not our usual meeting date and time. Cocktails will begin at 6:00p.m. with dinner to be served at 7:00p.m. George Geary's talk will accompany dessert.​​
Dinner:
We have worked with Trader Vic's to select a set of recipes representative of the kind of dinner one might have had there in 1951. The meal will be presented family style, with plates of each dish on each table. We have chosen dishes that include some vegetarian and pescatarian options, but, as was the case in 1951, most items will be intended for omnivores. We apologize that we cannot accommodate other dietary restrictions.
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Seating will not be reserved, so get there early if you wish to share a table with specific people.
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Presentation:
Following dinner, George Geary, author of Made in California, will give us a talk on the history of the "California-born burger joints, diners, fast food & restaurants that changed America", including Trader Vic's.
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George Geary is a former pastry chef for the Walt Disney Company, a Certified Culinary Professional and best-selling cookbook author. He has been a guest chef, lecturer, and world tour guide for Holland America Lines, and is the author of 17 cookbooks and books on historic restaurants.
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Tickets:
Tickets will be limited. The cost is $125 per person plus Eventbrite fees. The price includes tax and tips, but does not include beverages.​​​
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Purchase tickets on Eventbrite.
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As always, it is super-helpful if you indicate your interest on the BACH Events page on Facebook in addition to registering on Eventbrite.​​
September 28, 2025, 2:00PM
In-Person: Sue Conley and Vivien Straus​​ - A History Cheesemaking and Dairying Along the California Cheese Trail with a Guided Cheese Tasting
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Save the date, September 28, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. for an extraordinary opportunity to hear Sue Conley, co-founder of Cowgirl Creamery, and Vivien Straus, creator of the California Cheese Trail map, speaking on the history of cheese in California. Note that this is our usual 4th Sunday meeting date, but at 2:00 p.m. rather than our normal 5:00 p.m.
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The presentation will take place at the historic Embarcadero Ferry Building in San Francisco, and will include a curated cheese tasting.
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Sue Conley grew up in Washington, DC, then earned a BA in Political Science at the University of Tennessee. Subsequently she attended the Restaurant Management program at San Francisco City College. After working in San Francisco restaurants, Sue co-founded Bette’s Oceanview Diner in Berkeley, CA.
After 11 years at Bette’s, Sue began working closely with Straus Family Creamery to market the first certified organic milk in the west. She then started Cowgirl Creamery and Tomales Bay Foods with her long-time friend, Peggy Smith. Through their efforts, a network of dairies and cheesemakers have flourished in coastal Marin and Sonoma. Sue retired in 2019. She participates on the boards of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Sonoma Agriculture and Open Space District, American Cheese Society and the California Artisan Cheese Guild.
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Vivien Straus grew up on a dairy in northern California. Over the years, she witnessed the loss of small farms. In response she founded CheeseTrail.org, a resource which advocates for California cheesemakers. She currently manages Straus Home Ranch, and ran sales and marketing for Straus Family Creamery, and later worked at Cowgirl Creamery. In addition, she's an actor, writing and performing comedic autobiographical shows about her quirky life on and off the farm.
Cheesy details on tickets coming soon.
October 26, 2025 5:00PM PDT
Online: Pat Saperstein - Lunching on the Lot: How the Golden Age Stars Ate at Hollywood Studios
Since the earliest days of Hollywood, movie studios have been feeding their armies of stars and crew working on the lots. From Warner Bros., which served the top names of the Golden Age of Hollywood who were shooting classics like “Casablanca” during World War II, to Disney, Paramount, MGM and Fox, each studio commissary had its own vintage character and unique menu items. These days, the commissaries still exist, and their specialties have evolved to suit today’s tastes. Come along for a starry tour of Hollywood as seen through the studios’ official restaurants, the people who worked there, and the off-lot L.A. staples that still exist, like Tam O’Shanter and the Smoke House.
Pat Saperstein is deputy editor at Variety, where she covers movies, TV, vintage Hollywood and restaurants. She has written about restaurants for the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine and more, and was a co-author on the books Eat: Los Angeles, Drink: Los Angeles and Cannes: 50 Years of Sun, Sex and Celluloid. A native of Los Angeles, she never tires of exploring Southern California and points beyond.​
Stay tuned for tickets! Same bat-time, same bat-channel!
December 6, 2025
In Person: BACH Holiday Dinner
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As in prior years, BACH will have one event for November/December, which will be our annual holiday party. This will be an in-person potluck dinner at a private home, either in Oakland, CA or Moraga, CA on the evening of Saturday, December 6th.
Full details will be posted later in the year.
~~~ 2026 ~~~
We are very excited about our upcoming events for the 2026 season!
​Watch this space for upcoming events and details.
​​We just need to adjust the seasonings and add some frosting.
We will serve no event before its time.
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