San Francisco’s RN74 Offers Up Takeaway Treats for Bargain Price

To celebrate its third anniversary, RN74 in San Francisco is making batches of takeaway dessert treats for $3 each (regularly $5).

If you need an afternoon pick-me-up, head over to the restaurant, April 22-28,  to indulge in a to-go order of an assortment of French cookies, peanut butter mousse with sea salt and bourbon caramel or vanilla bean panna cotta with rhubarb and red wine.

It’s sure to be a sweet time.

Student-Run Restaurant Opens in Sunnyvale

The Art Institute of California in Sunnyvale just reopened its student-run restaurant, The Bistro, with a new menu and decor.

Interior Design students, who revamped the space as part of a class project, chose neutral hues, bamboo and grasses for an organic, natural look.

Culinary students manage the dining room and oversee the kitchen, turning out seasonal lunches that are mostly organic. Choose from small plates, salads, entrees or sandwiches.

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The Chakreeyarat family ran the tucked-away Thai Bistro in San Jose for many years.

Doing it all, every day, at that small eatery, though, eventually wore on  matriarch Pat Pongsil. She closed shop, and retired.

But it wasn’t long before the 70-year-old was itching to get back in the kitchen.

So, in August of last year, she opened Thai Lemongrass in a strip mall off El Camino Real in Sunnyvale, in what was once an Indian restaurant.

Last month, I was invited to be a guest of the restaurant. The dining room is simple and sparse. But from the moment you walk in, you feel like you’re in Pongsil’s warm home about to enjoy a most satisfying meal.

Thai Lemongrass is a true family affair. Daughter Jenny Chakreeyarat, who used to work at the nearby Ginger Cafe in Sunnyvale, runs the dining room. Her sister, Jennet, helps her Mom cook in the kitchen.

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When I wasn’t sequestered behind closed doors as a judge of the 45th Pillsbury Bake-Off last week, I did manage to get out and about to discover some other fun things in Orlando. Here are other highlights of that trip:

* Poached farm egg, aleppo pepper hollandaise, California asparagus and pork belly at Luma on Park in Winter Park, Fla.

A perfectly poached egg that oozes a bright orange yolk to make a dish of juicy pork belly even richer. It doesn’t get better than that at this sophisticated restaurant with a glam two-story glass wine “jewel box” that displays bottles upon bottles of fine vintages.

* Togarashi spice stir-fried Japanese edamame at Emeril Lagasse’s Tchoup Chop in Orlando.

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Chef Steven Snook spent seven years working for bad-boy celeb Chef Gordon Ramsay in both London and New York.

And yes, he’ll be the first to tell you that he did get yelled at by the famous chef who’s known for his rather colorful outbursts.

“You think you’re doing it right and then you hear it,” Snook says with a knowing chuckle. “I got called ‘f—ing donkey’ many times, especially my first year there.”

After becoming sous chef at the flagship Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, then working at Maze by Gordon Ramsay at the London hotel in New York, Snook was ready for a change of pace.

Married to a former Gordon Ramsay pastry chef, and with a new baby, Snook and his family were ready to trade the hustle-bustle of New York City for a more bucolic existence reminiscent of the English countryside. They found what they were looking for in the Valley of the Moon, otherwise known as Kenwood in Sonoma County.

For the past four months, Snook has been the executive chef of the Restaurant at Kenwood Inn and Spa. The 26-room Mediterranean-style inn is surrounded by vineyards and fruit orchards. Its 22-seat restaurant with a roaring fireplace has the feel of an intimate, out-of-the-way European country-side restaurant. In Snook’s hands, it’s most definitely worth visiting, too.

The one catch is that the restaurant is only open to guests of the inn. But you can become a “guest for the day” if you book an appointment at the inn’s spa.

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The fast-casual, gluten-free Asian Box in Palo Alto’s Town & Country Village may have just opened last month. But already, lines are forming for this fun, new concept headed by Executive Chef Grace Nguyen, formerly of the Slanted Door and Out the Door, both in San Francisco.

On a recent Wednesday night, when I was invited to come in as a guest of the restaurant, to-go orders were flying out the door.

Unless it’s a nice day, you’ll most likely want to get your food to go, since there’s only one communal table inside the small space. And folks waiting for their food tend to linger right around it. Otherwise, there are a few tables outside, but no heaters.

But since all the food comes in handy compostable containers, it’s a breeze to grab and go.

The concept is simple. You choose the base of your box: Jasmine rice, brown rice, Asian vegetable salad or rice noodles. Then, you pick your favorite protein of the five offered, from six-spice chicken ($7.25) to coconut curry tofu ($6.95) to garlic and soy glazed beef ($8.25).

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