Steins Beer Garden & Restaurant to Debut in Downtown Mountain View

March 28, the doors will open to a world of brewski at Steins Beer Garden & Restaurant at 895 Villa St. in downtown Mountain View.

The 300-seat restaurant, on the site of the former Golden Wok, will serve import and craft beers from around the world, including 30 on tap. Look for such unusual ones as Fruli Strawberry Beer from Brouwerij Huyghe brewery, Chocolate Porter from Hangar One brewery and Hitachino Nest White Ale from Kiuichi brewery.

Chef Colby M. Reade will oversee the menu, which includes house-made charcuterie, along with  breads, pretzels and other baked goods. He’ll be cooking up beer-friendly dishes such as pork belly poutine ($12), mini corn dogs with caraway beer mustard ($8), the Steins burger (house-ground blend of dry aged short rib, brisket and sirloin; $11), fried chicken and waffle sandwich ($12), grilled black sea bass with herbed lentils ($18), and caramel apple crisp with bourbon pecan ice cream ($7).

The restaurant features a main dining room, beer garden, two private rooms and another private beer garden for parties. The keg room is outfitted with reclaimed wood and tempered glass windows.

Steins will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and until 11:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

La Luna Cupcakes Opens This Week in San Francisco

Elvia Buendia started baking cupcakes through La Cocina’s incubator program, which provides affordable commercial kitchen space and technical assistance to low-income entrepreneurs in San Francisco.

She did so well that after three years in the program she’s graduated to opening her own brick-and-mortar store. La Luna Cupcakes opens its doors March 21 in San Francisco’s Crocker Galleria.

Buendia’s sweet and savory cupcakes will be available in flavors such as: Red Velvet; Carrot Cake; Tres Leches; bacon and eggs; and beef with cheese and salsa.

The shop will be open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Recchiuti to Raffle Off Two Hand-Made Chocolate Eggs

San Francisco’s Recchiuti Confections wants to wish you a very wonderful Easter by giving you a chance to win a handmade, hand-decorated semisweet chocolate egg the size of an ostrich egg.

Hollow and 5.5 inches tall, the egg retails normally for $23.

Recchiuti will be raffling off two of those eggs, one at each of its two San Francisco locations: the Ferry Building Marketplace and Recchiuti Little Nib in Dogpatch.

The raffle starts on March 22, and the drawing will take place at each store on March 30 at 2 p.m. The winners can pick up their prize at 2 p.m. March 30.

While there, you can pick up other goodies for the holiday, including an eight-piece “Egg Hunt Box” ($20) of burnt caramel truffles decorated with whimsical Easter images; and a box of 18 pates de fruits ($22) in Morello cherry, passion fruit, blueberry and pear-lime flavors.

Lamb Month at Lark Creek Restaurants

Through March, enjoy special lamb dishes at participating Lark Creek Restaurant Group establishments.

The lamb-a-palooza is in partnership with the American Lamb Board.

Enjoy such dishes as spiced lamb carpaccio with roasted peppers and feta at Lark Creek Blue in San Jose’s Santana Row; braised spring lamb shoulder panini with house-made hummus at Parcel 104 in Santa Clara; and lamb polpette with Pecorino  and spicy tomato sauce at Cupola Pizzeria in San Francisco.

Additionally, for the rest of the month, Chef Mark Dommen’s “Weekly Beast” dinner at One Market in San Francisco will spotlight inventive lamb preparations using all parts of the animal.