Monthly Archives: June 2012

Posh New Look for Carmel Valley’s Marinus, Williams-Sonoma Chef Demos & More

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Spring risotto at Marinus restaurant. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

Marinus Restaurant at Bernardus Lodge Gets A Modern Redo

Marinus, the signature restaurant at the luxurious Bernardus Lodge in Carmel Valley, debuted a brand new look late last month.

Gone is the Old World-feel. In its place, a new, elegant, coastal California look with an over-sized farm table with a profusion of flowers underneath hand-forged iron chandeliers and French sconces.

Chef Cal Stamenov remains at the helm with a new menu, emphasizing the bounty from the enlarged on-site organic garden that includes more than 250 varieties of fruit-bearing trees, bushes and vines.

The elegant new dining room at Marinus. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant

The menu is divided into the categories of: “Farmed & Forged,” “Seasonal” and “Traditional.” Both a la carte dishes and a five-course prix fixe ($125) are available. Enjoy such dishes as black chanterelle risotto, and Monterey Bay wild King salmon with English peas and celery root puree.

Save room for desserts by Pastry Chef Ben Spungin that includes a “Chocolate Terrarium” of chocolate mousse, hazelnut cake, chocolate streusel and strawberry sorbet.

Gear Up for SF Chefs

The annual San Francisco extravaganza of food, wine and spirits known as SF Chefs doesn’t roll around until July 30-Aug. 5. But tickets are already on sale to the multifaceted event that takes place in and around Union Square.

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Souvenirs from New York

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Pasta with truffle cream -- dinner from my New York souvenirs.

Some people tote home T-shirts or snow globes from vacations.

Me? I’m prone to do that on occasion, but more often than not, my souvenirs involve food.

I love nothing better than scouring supermarkets or specialty food stores to bring back a real taste of the place I’m visiting.

When I walked into New York’s Eataly last month, I knew I’d hit paradise for edible memorabilia.

The multi-restaurant food emporium brims with the flavors of Italy. Bringing back some of the wondrous gelato, cheeses and specialty beef would be out of the question, of course. But dried pasta was definitely do-able. I scoured the plentiful pasta aisles there to find one that would withstand being shoved into my carry-on without getting badly crushed or crumbled. I hit upon the Alta Valle Scrivia Trofiette ($4.80). The sturdy Ligurian durum wheat pasta is a slender, tightly twisted 1 1/2-inch sliver that has a hand-rolled look to it. Traditionally, it’s tossed with pesto sauce.

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Take Five with Chef Justin Simoneaux of the Boxing Room, Who Proves You Can Take the Boy Out of Louisiania, But Not Louisiana Out of the Boy

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Chef Justin Simoneaux stand in front of the specials board at the Boxing Room in San Francisco.

Executive Chef Justin Simoneaux wears his heart on his sleeves.

His tattoo sleeves to be exact.

Take a close look at the artwork on this 27-year-old’s arms and you’ll understand what’s near and dear to this chef of San Francisco’s Boxing Room.

On the right arm of this Southern Louisiana native is a tiny front-page of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. That’s accompanied by all the makings for a crawfish boil (potatoes, crawfish and crab) and the Cajun ”holy trinity” of onion, bell peppers and celery.

On his left arm is the cityscape of New Orleans, the bayou and gravestones of dearly departed ones.

At the Boxing Room, part of the Absinthe Group of restaurants in San Francisco, Simoneaux cooks up the food of his beloved Louisiana: gumbo, deep-fried alligator, Southern fried chicken, and duck and sausage jambalaya. Before that, he honed his skills in Mediterranean cuisine at Coco500 in San Francisco, and the Moss Room at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

Crisp crackers with pimento cheese.

The dining room at the Boxing Room.

Last week, I had a chance to sit down with him to talk about how his roots and his upbringing (his mother was only 18 when she gave birth to him) have influenced his career, which started when he took a job as a dishwasher at age 15 at a restaurant near his high school.

Q: Are you cooking the food of your childhood here?

A: It’s the food I grew up eating, but I’m using my training to better the recipes. Don’t tell my Mom and Grandma I said that.

Q: You learned how to cook from them?

A: In Louisiana, everything centers around food. My Mom and Granny made gumbo and stews. My grandfather boiled crawfish and did a lot of grilling. I’d always be like, ‘Ooh, what is that smell?’ I was intrigued from an early age.

Q: Did you always know you wanted to be a chef?

A: When I worked as a dishwasher, then as a line cook, I just fell in love with the adrenaline and energy. I came out here for culinary school (California Culinary Academy) with the intention of going back to Louisiana afterward. But I’ve been here seven years now and love it. I feel like I have two homes now.

Q: When you go back to Louisiana to visit, is there something you just make a beeline for that you’ve just got to eat first?

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Spring for Alice Medrich’s Saucy Cranberry Maple Pudding Cake

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Cranberry cake to make any day a holiday.

Spring cleaning so often turns up a belt you haven’t seen in ages or a pair of shoes buried in the back of the closet you forgot you even bought.

For me, it also means finding stashes I’d overlooked in the freezer.

Cranberries, for instance.

Every winter holiday season, I always freeze an extra bag or two of fresh cranberries so that I can have their bright sweet-tart goodness around just a little bit longer.

Recently while rifling around the freezer, I came upon just such a bag. Thank goodness, too, because it made it so easy to bake up a pan full of “Saucy Cranberry Maple Pudding Cake.”

This homey dessert is featured in the new “Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts” (Artisan Books) by Bay Area baking expert Alice Medrich. The cookbook, of which I recently received a review copy, is full of fuss-free desserts such as “One-Bowl Vanilla Cake” and “Chocolate Pudding Pie.” I especially love the lists of easy tips, such as “10 Ways to Flavor Whipped Cream” and “Things to Do with Gingerbread.”

Imagine a giant moist, tender cornbread muffin baked atop a cranberry compote. That’s what this cake is like.

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Bay Area BBQ Championship & A Food Gal Give-Away

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Joanne Pang of Bad S BBQ at last year's event. (Photo courtesy of the Bay Area BBQ Championship)

Get ready to have a smoky, meaty good time when the 2nd annual Bay Area BBQ Championship rolls into the Oakland Coliseum on July 7.

Professionals, amateurs and community groups will be competing to determine who has the best barbecued chicken, ribs, brisket and pork, plus the tastiest side dishes and desserts.

What’s more, in-between sampling all that food, you can take in the A’s vs. Mariners game.

All proceeds benefit Alternative Family Services, a local organization that provides services for foster children.

General admission tickets, which include five tasting tickets each and admission to the baseball game, are $33 for adults, $12 for kids. VIP tickets — which include all of that plus VIP tent and stage seating, as well as a “Blues, Brews & BBQ” party, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. July 6 at the Coliseum — are $78 for adults and $41 for kids.

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win two VIP tickets to the Bay Area BBQ Championship on July 7, which includes admission to the baseball game, a total of 10 tasting tickets, and access to the VIP party on July 6. Entries, limited to those who can be in Oakland on July 7, will be accepted through midnight PST June 10. Winner will be announced June 12.

How to win?

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