The Balm of Pistachio-Cardamom Cake

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A cake for cardamom lovers.
A cake for cardamom lovers.

“Ready for Dessert” has got to be the most rhetorical of questions.

Because when it comes to desserts, I don’t know about you, but I am ready and willing 24-7.

If you’re the same, then you’re sure to appreciate this aptly named cookbook (Ten Speed Press, 2025), of which I received a review copy.

It’s actually a newly revised edition of David Lebovitz’s best-seller that first published in 2010. A professional cook and baker, who worked at Berkeley’s Chez Panisse for 13 years, he’s now grown into a prolific cookbook author and baking authority who makes his home in Paris.

You’ll find nearly 175 recipes sure to tempt your sweet tooth, from “Cherry Gateau Basque,” “Banana Cake with Mocha Frosting and Salted Candied Peanuts,” and “Chocolate Ganache Custard Tart” to “Butterscotch-Pecan Ice Cream,” and “Brown Sugar-Pecan Shortbread.”

With its haunting and unmistakable sweet, minty, citrus-y, and pine-y fragrance, I can never resist anything with cardamom.

And Lebovitz’s “Pistachio-Cardamom Cake” delivers big-time in aroma, taste, and texture.

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The Ease of Sheet-Pan Steak Tacos

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Skirt steak and veggies cook all together on a sheet pan for tacos in a flash.
Skirt steak and veggies cook all together on a sheet pan for tacos in a flash.

Taco Tuesdays never tasted so good.

It’s hard to beat the snappy ease and warm flavors of “Steak Tacos with Poblano Peppers and Corn.”

The recipe is from “Sheet-Pan Meals” (Hardie Grant, 2025), of which I received a review copy. It was written by By Jessica Darakjian, a cook, writer, and research editor based in Claremont, CA.

Who doesn’t love a sheet-pan dinner, right? Darakjian provides 100 of them, arranged by the seasons.

Enjoy everything from “Potato Pizza” in spring and “Persian Herb Quiche” in summer to “Gingerbread Pancake” in fall and “Soy-Glazed Meatballs with Mustard Greens” in winter.

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Family Is First and Foremost at George + Kin

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Fried chicken sandwich on house-made Japanese milk bread at George + Kin.
Fried chicken sandwich on house-made Japanese milk bread at George + Kin.

It’s easy to fall for a place where love of family is paramount in all that it does.

Such is the case at George + Kin, a new Japanese American-inflected diner in Napa.

When I found myself in the Napa Valley a few days after it opened, I knew I had to stop in. At 11:30 a.m. on a Friday, it was already humming with patrons.

Owner Ben Koenig named his restaurant in honor of his great aunt and uncle, Kinuko and George Sato, Japanese American farmers from Pocatello, Idaho, who helped raise his mother, Wendy, after she lost her own mother at a young age.

You order at the counter.
You order at the counter.
The dining room.
The dining room.

Although he partnered with hospitality professional Charles Whittaker and consulting chef Itamar Abramovitch to open the restaurant in the Bel Aire Plaza, Koenig is no stranger to opening businesses. He is already well known in the Napa Valley for his MOTHERS, Heritage Eats (now closed), Best Food Truck Ever, and Napa Valley Lobster Co.

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Fragrant & Fabulous Candy Cap Granola

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I like topping my yogurt with granola made with mushrooms. How about you?
I like topping my yogurt with granola made with mushrooms. How about you?

Ever thought about making granola with mushrooms?

It’s not as wacky as it sounds.

Because when it comes to dried candy cap mushrooms, their beguiling maple syrup-curry flavor is a natural for your favorite mix of oats, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit.

So, when I spotted a recipe for “Candy Cap Granola,” I was all over it.

This fun recipe is from “The Mushroom Hunter’s Kitchen” (The Experiment, 2025).

It was written by the Bay Area’s Chad Hyatt, a chef and expert forager. It is filled with information on varieties of both cultivated and wild mushrooms, with tips on best ways to cook and preserve each one.

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A Tip of the Hat to La Toque

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A portobello mushroom steak with black garlic bernaise on the vegetable tasting menu at La Toque.
A portobello mushroom steak with black garlic bernaise on the vegetable tasting menu at La Toque.

Last week, when I dined at Napa’s fine-dining La Toque, I did something uncharacteristic.

I ordered the vegetarian tasting menu.

Apparently, I’m in good company, too. Because as Chef-Owner Ken Frank explained, the restaurant’s vegetarian menu is especially popular on Sundays, particularly among South Asians, many of whom drive up from Fremont just for it.

I can see why. Dining in an elegant dining room on six opulent vegetable courses amid the splendor of Wine Country is the perfect way to top off the weekend before the workweek intrudes once again.

When Frank originally opened La Toque, he was all of 23. He’s now 70. And has no plans to retire anytime soon because he says he’s still having way too much fun.

A painting of Chef Ken Frank early in his career.
A painting of Chef Ken Frank early in his career.
A more recent oversized photograph of him.
A more recent oversized photograph of him.
And Chef Ken in the kitchen on the evening I dined.
And Chef Ken in the kitchen on the evening I dined.

La Toque first opened in Los Angeles in 1979, before Frank moved to the Napa Valley to open it in Rutherford in 1998. Finally, in 2008, he moved it to its current home in Napa at the Westin Verasa.

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