Novi Mitchell

Novi Mitchell — the Oakland native behind Boozie Brunch — has been sending people on Bay Area food adventures since 2016. The premise is brunch, cocktails, and the mom-and-pop spots that do not always get the press. Her Instagram community has grown past 140,000 followers, and she still juggles the page with a full-time career. On Social Foodie, her map runs from Oakland and San Francisco through Napa, Healdsburg, Sonoma, Alameda, Belmont, and San Jose, with the occasional San Diego or Mykonos dispatch.

Wine country and the East Bay get equal time. Her highest-rated picks include Gold Bar Whiskey Distillery in San Francisco, Layla at MacArthur Place in Sonoma, Goodnight's Prime Steak + Spirits in Healdsburg, Peak in Alameda, and Amara in Belmont. Casa Comunitá in Healdsburg earned a hidden-gem note from her, while Saints Smokehouse in Oakland, The GrandView in San Jose, and Napa cocktail rooms like 1331 Cocktails fill out a feed that treats brunch, barbecue, steak, and a well-made drink as the same assignment.

Mitchell talks about connecting restaurants to the culture of the community — and the results have a name among the places she features: the Boozie Effect. Feature a small kitchen well, and the line shows up the next weekend. Black-owned brunch spots, neighborhood barbecue, and Napa hideaways sit on the same map, which is the point. Add her as a fave on Social Foodie to plan the next Bay Area brunch run around someone who has already done the tasting.