Brien O'Brien

Brien O'Brien

As the Food Editor and Co-Founder of Eating NorCal, Brien O'Brien is one of the most influential foodies in NorCal. After being named the "14th Best Home Cook in America" in 2017 by the FOX television show MasterChef with Gordon Ramsay, he moved to the Napa Valley where he spent a year and a half studying food and wine at the Culinary Institute of America. Now, he resides in the Farm to Fork Capital of America - Sacramento.
Stories

We Went Searching for the Best Olives in Northern California. Here’s What We Found.

Rarely does Northern California come into the conversation of great olive producing regions, but maybe it should!

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Eating

Yaks on the 5 – Delicious Burgers at a Top 100 Restaurant in America

We visited Dunsmuir’s favorite local eater Yaks on the 5 to find out why they were named a “Top 100…

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Sacramento

An Urban Hike to Explore Sacramento’s Spectacular Murals

Improv Alley in Sacramento’s Midtown District It was a beautiful day in Sacramento so I set out to take an…

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Eating

Devouring a Banana Split at Sacramento’s Oldest Ice Cream Parlor

Gunther’s Ice Cream was established in the 1940’s and is still serving up some fantastic ice cream nearly 80 years…

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Eating

Butte County Restaurants Could be the First to Reopen for Dine-In in California

Food at La Hacienda in Chico Following an approval from California Governor Gavin Newsom, Butte County residents could be the…

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Eating

10 Locally-Owned Restaurants in Redding Open for To-Go Orders

With the new stay-in-mandate issued in California, these are very challenging times for the local restaurant industry, and it’s our…

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Eating

Yelp’s ‘Top 100 Places to Eat in 2020’ List Includes 8 Northern California Restaurants

Yelp released its annual list of America’s Top 100 Places to Eat in 2020, which has become a yearly event…

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Eating

Gordon Ramsay’s Brand-New Hell’s Kitchen in Lake Tahoe Opening this Week

Gordon Ramsay’s first restaurant in Northern California is now taking reservations for its opening this week. This will be the…

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Bay Area

Uber Using NorCal Residents to Test Cooking Classes and other “Culinary Experiences”

According to a Forbes article published this week, Uber is now testing food experiences through its Uber Eats app in…

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Eating

7 Eating Challenges in Northern California We Bet You Can’t Complete

There have been a few television shows dedicated entirely to revealing unique eating challenges around the world. They are fun…

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Eating

The 91 NorCal Restaurants Featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri

The Bad Boy of Food, Guy Fieri, is a Northern California local. Living in Santa Rosa with his wife and…

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Eating

3 NorCal Cities Make Top 20 of “2019 Best Foodie Cities in America” List

Map of Northern California’s “2019 Best Food Cities in America” by WalletHub Northern California is once again asserting its dominance…

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Eating

Gordon Ramsay’s Brand-New Hell’s Kitchen in Lake Tahoe Now Taking Reservations

Photo courtesy of Harrah’s Gordon Ramsay’s first restaurant in Northern California is now taking reservations for their opening later this…

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Eating

Eating Roadkill is Now Legal in California

Flickr/Don DeBold On Sunday October 15th Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill No. 395 which allows people to take home…

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Eating

The California Cut: Learn How Tri-Tip Steak is Uniquely Californian

Those of us from Northern California find it weird to think that people outside of California aren’t familiar with Tri-Tip.…

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Eating

Celebrate National Farmers Week with These 10 Markets in Shasta County

Brought to you by Healthy Shasta As the 2019 National Farmers Market Week gets off and running, it got me…

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Sacramento

A Culinary Experience in a Historical Setting at Sacramento’s Hook & Ladder

Photo courtesy of Hook & Ladder Manufacturing Co. In the heart of Sacramento’s Midtown district lies this unique local eatery…

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Eating

The 6 Best ‘Hole-In-The-Wall’ Eateries in Sacramento

Photo courtesy of Bacon & Butter Sacramento is quickly becoming a culinary destination, even changing its longtime slogan of “City…

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Eating

The 8 Best Burgers Joints in Northern California

We've searched far and wide and have chosen our Top 8 Best Burgers spots in NorCal. Here are our results:

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Eating

Eat a Historic Burger and Fries at Redding’s Damburger

https://www.facebook.com/EatingNorCal/videos/327242764799898/ In 1938, 18-year-old Bud Pennington had the idea to sell hamburgers to the thousands of construction workers building Shasta…

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Uncategorized

Enjoy an Exclusive 4-Course Dinner by Chef Brien O’Brien in San Francisco

This elegant four-course dinner "pop-up" will celebrate the mid-way point of the 10th Season of MasterChef on FOX. A menu…

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Eating

Combining Craft Beer with Delicious Food at Mount Shasta Brewing Co.

https://www.facebook.com/EatingNorCal/videos/617212568789006/ The Eating NorCal crew made our much anticipated visit to the Mount Shasta Brewing Co. and it didn’t disappoint!…

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Eating

California the First State to Receive Statewide Michelin Guide

The Michelin Guide for Californa This week the Michelin Guide did something that it has never done before in the…

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Uncategorized

Sacramento’s First Michelin Star awarded to The Kitchen

This week Sacramento received it's first Michelin Star and it's a pretty big deal.

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Eating

Find an Olive Paradise at Northern California’s Olive Pit

For anybody who’s traveled through Northern California along the I-5 corridor has most definitely noticed the signs for the Olive…

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Eating

Two NorCal Towns Make USA Today’s List of America’s ‘Best Small Town Food Scenes’

Northern California is full of amazing culinary experience. With the obvious world-renown NorCal food cities (Sacramento, San Francisco, Chico) typically…

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Eating

The Chico Episode of Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives is Perfectly NorCal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkqEf78xL-U&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0j_qeMsYRwwuhq0A2UWxsE00Pc82PHA-eNoPSMVcg551mAYet7CBlR-tU “I don’t think many people know how great Chico is.” The much anticipated Chico episode of the Food Network’s…

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Eating

Pliny the Younger Release Brought $4 Million to Sonoma County

Beer is big business and one Northern California community is reaping the benefits. Russian River Brewing Company released their Economic…

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Eating

Here’s Where Guy Fieri Went in Chico for the Newest Episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

Residing in Santa Rosa, Guy Fieri is a Northern California local and has been very active supporting the first responders…

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Eating

Foodie Getting Active – How I Dropped 30 Pounds in 60 Days

By Brien O’Brien Let me start off by noting that I am in no way an expert on weight loss.…

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Eating

Finding Cupcake Bliss at Sublime Cake Design

We visited Sublime Cake Design in Redding to find out what an award winning cake tasted like. This local bakery…

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Eating

Redding’s 2nd In-N-Out Location has Locals going “Animal Style”

Flickr/punctuated The Redding Chamber of Commerce announced the opening of a second In-N-Out location in Redding today, with the rumors…

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Eating

Sierra Nevada Makes First-Ever Acquisition: A Gluten-Free Brewery

The Northern California craft beer giant Sierra Nevada has made its first-ever acquisition, stepping its toes into the healthy beer…

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Eating

Roots Opens Downtown Redding Location with Drive-Thru Juice Bar

Photo via Facebook/Roots Juice Bar Juicer rejoice! A drive-thru juice bar is coming to NorCal! Roots Juice Bar, a business…

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Eating

Russian River Releases New Batch of its Rare Pliny the Younger – With a Twist

Thousands of people celebrated the 15th annual release of the Russian River Brewing Company’s Pliny the Younger at their Windsor…

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Eating

Cook Your Own Steak at this Under-the-Radar NorCal Restaurant

What would you do to get a good price on a steak dinner? A steak dinner that comes with a…

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Eating

Active NorCal Presents – Eating NorCal

By Zach O’Brien, Founder of Active NorCal You’ve probably been noticing a lot of new food articles on the website lately. Well, I’m here…

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