Monthly Archives: October 2013

Pomegranate in What? Hot Sauce, Of Course

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A Menlo Park couple's new hot sauce creation with pomegranate

A Menlo Park couple’s new hot sauce creation with pomegranate.

By day, Menlo Park’s Bobby Marhamat is a branding and mobile marketing expert who guides companies on ways to gain greater exposure and prominence.

In his off hours, he continues his creative tinkering — but in the kitchen, cooking alongside his wife, Shima.

In fact, one of his experiments led to his newest creation this year: Bah Bah Hot Sauce.

Kind of like the chocolate and peanut butter moment with Reese’s, Marhamat wondered what would happen if he added pomegranate, a staple ingredient from his Persian heritage, to hot sauce?

As he discovered, something quite delicious, indeed.

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An Elegant Taste of Sri Lankan Food in San Francisco

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The squab is not to be missed at 1601 Bar & Kitchen.

The squab is not to be missed at 1601 Bar & Kitchen.

1601 Bar & Kitchen resides in a transitional part of San Francisco.

It’s right near a major freeway on-ramp to Highway 101. And as you sit at a table by the window, you might spy a homeless person or two rifling through nearby dumpsters.

But none of that should dissuade you from trying Executive Chef-Owner Brian Fernando’s captivating take on Sri Lankan food.

Fernando is of Sri Lankan heritage, so he knows the warm, earthy, sometimes fiery flavors of this Indian Ocean island well. His French training shows through, too, as the presentations are beautiful, from what I evidenced on a recent visit when I was invited in a guest of the restaurant. Fernandez honed his skills in tapas bars in Spain, followed by a stint at Chez Panisse in Berkeley before going on to Le Papillon in San Jose.

The bright space with soaring ceilings is done up in shabby-chic with weathered bar stools and a large, striking mixed-media art piece of Abraham Lincoln hanging on one wall.

The dining room.

The dining room.

The restaurant offers up small plates to share, with lighter ones listed at the top of the menu and heavier ones at the bottom.

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Join the Food Gal and Farmer Extraordinaire David Winsberg at Macy’s Valley Fair

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Are you a fan of the fabled Spanish Pimiento de Padron peppers?

The Russian Roulette of peppers that are sweet for the most part, but now and then one turns prickly hot and you can’t tell until you bite into it?

Then, you have farmer David Winsberg to thank for the fact that they now star on so many Bay Area menus and can be purchased easily at local farmers markets.

Winsberg’s Happy Quail Farms in East Palo Alto was believed to be the first commercial grower of this special pepper in this country.

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Two Chefs and 12 Courses at Saison, San Francisco’s Most Expensive Restaurant

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Chef Josh Skenes' Sungold tomato stunner at Saison.

Chef Josh Skenes’ Sungold tomato stunner at Saison.

San Francisco’s Saison might just be the ultimate pop-up success story ever.

In 2009, it started humbly enough as a once-a-week pop-up in the rear part of the casual Stable Cafe in the Mission District. It featured the uncanny juxtaposition of Chef Josh Skenes’ high-concept food and Sommelier Mark Bright’s exceptional wines in proper Riedel stemware contrasted with jeans-clad servers attending to guests seated in slat-style garden-variety chairs at bare-bones wooden tables.

Fast forward to 2013, where it’s has not only been transported to a different part of town, but now holds the distinction of being the priciest restaurant in the city. Its tasting menu will set you back $248 per person. If you want wine pairings, that”ll be another $148 per person.

Perhaps you saw Bon Appetit magazine’s September edition, in which it named Saison as one of “America’s Best New Restaurants.” The insightful story broke out why the restaurant costs run so high: The custom build-out of the kitchen and dining room? $2.8 million. Food costs per week? $15,000. The four tanks that hold live seafood? Also $15,000. The meat aging room? $40,000. The wood-burning hearth? $50,000. That hand-made dinner plate you’re eating off of? $300. The Levi’s-designed cook’s uniforms? $500 each. And that cashmere throw provided if you get chilly? You guessed it — $500.

And the place seats only 32.

Sign

Skenes just before the start of service.

Skenes just before the start of service.

Chef Gabriel Kreuther of The Modern in New York City.

Chef Gabriel Kreuther of The Modern in New York City.

This week, Saison added even more luster — if that’s possible — by hosting five renowned chefs, each cooking alongside Skenes on a different night to create a 12-course tasting menu for a spendy $500 per person.

Tuesday, it was Chef Laurent Gras, formerly of L20 in Chicago and the Fifth Floor in San Francisco. Thursday, it was Chef Matthew Lightner of Atera in New York City. Tonight, it’ll be Chef Guenter Seeger, who owned Seeger’s in Atlanta. Saturday will wrap up with Chef John Shields, previously of Town House in Virgina.

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A Cake That Spans Two Seasons

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A little bit of both summer and autumn in one cake.

A little bit of both summer and autumn in one cake.

 

I am in deep denial.

That it’s October.

That somehow more than three-quarters of the year is now gone — whoosh — just like that.

Fortunately, though, I can turn to cake to make that transition from summer to autumn a little easier to swallow. Cake makes everything better, doesn’t it?

Especially one that combines the flavor of summer peaches with fall apples.

This simple cake is from “One Bowl Baking” (Running Press), of which I received a review copy. The new cookbook is by Yvonne Ruperti, a former recipe developer and writer for Cook’s Illustrated magazine. As the name implies, the book is filled with recipes for cakes, cookies, tarts, and biscuits that take only one bowl to whip up.

The original name of this particular cake is: “Super Moist Applesauce Quick Bread.” But I changed it to: “Super Moist Apple-Peach Sauce Cake” with the quick swap out of regular applesauce for Santa Cruz Organic Apple Peach Sauce, of which I also recently received a sample.

A blend of organic apples, peaches and apple juice concentrate, it comes in a six-pack of individual 4-ounce cups for about $4.99. It’s naturally fat-free with no additional sugar added. One container (one serving) has 70 calories.

Santa Cruz Organic Apple Peach Sauce.

Santa Cruz Organic Apple Peach Sauce.

The flavor is a nice change of pace from just standard apple because of the tang and complexity that the peach adds. The consistency is runny, almost slurp-able, actually. In fact, you could almost drizzle a little on a plate with the cake for a ready-made coulis.

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