Author Archives: foodgal

Indian Independence Day, New Beard Papa, Chocolate Meets Tofu & More

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South Bay and Peninsula News

Revel in festivities for Indian Independence Day, Aug. 15, when Junnoon restaurant in downtown Palo Alto, features live music and a special menu.

“A Tryst with Junnoon,” starting at 5:30 p.m., salutes India’s 63rd Independence Day with a $40 three-course menu that includes chicken tikka achari, made with saffron, green mustard and garlic. Each dish represents the colors of India’s flag — deep saffron, white and dark green. The prix fixe dishes also can be enjoyed à la carte.

Celebratory cocktails also will be available, including “Soul of a Nation” (peach schnapps, mango puree and Champagne), which represents the colors of Indian summers.

Advanced reservations are recommended and can be made by calling (650) 329-9644.

Sakoon in Mountain View also will be celebrating Indian Independence Day with a brunch buffet on Aug. 15.

In addition to regular favorites, the buffet that day also will offer new items such as Goan fish curry and lamb chettinad (with tomato, onion, garlic, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and black pepper powder).

Price is $17.95 per person and includes a free mimosa.

Another Beard Papa will open its doors in the Bay Area, this one in Milpitas at 1535 Landess Ave. in the Seasons Marketplace.

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Abracadabra — Nectarines!

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My hubby makes fun of me because I often whine, “I hate technology!”

You know the feeling — when your server goes down or your email has the hiccups or some dastardly virus has infiltrated your otherwise peaceful online existence.

At times like that, can you blame me for uttering those blasphemous words? I think not.

But a couple of weeks ago, you might have heard me proclaim instead, “I adore technology!”

You see, it all started when I tweeted that I had bought some fabulously soft, juicy, drippy-licious Suncrest peaches at the Frog Hollow Farm store at the Ferry Building in San Francisco.

Then, what happens, but two days later, I find a huge box on my porch of just-picked nectarines, courtesy of Frog Hollow Farm.

Big Brother at work?

Big nectarines is more like it. Sweet, with just the right amount of tang, too.

Most of them, I just enjoyed out of hand. But I saved a few choice ones for extra special treatment: “Nectarine-Frangipane Galette.”

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Take Five with Spencer on the Go’s Chef Laurent Katgely, on His Upcoming Debut on the Food Network

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In a sign of just how significant and prevalent the revved-up food truck craze has grown, the Food Network debuts a new show Aug. 15 that will pit seven food trucks against one another in all manner of zany food challenges.

Get ready for the “Great Food Truck Race,” which will feature Austin Daily Press (Austin, Texas); Crepes Bonaparte (Fullerton, Calif.); Grill ‘Em All (Los Angeles); Nana Queens (Culver City, Calif.); Nom Nom Truck (Los Angeles); Ragin’ Cajun (Hermosa Beach, Calif.); and the Bay Area’s own, Spencer on the Go (San Francisco).

Which truck will be left standing to win the prize of $50,000? Tune in to see.

Chef Laurent Katgely, 47, of Chez Spencer Restaurant & Bar, started his popular Spencer on the Go truck (at Seventh at Folsom streets) in April 2009 to serve take-away French fare, such as escargot lollipops and braised lamb cheek sandwiches.

A native of the French Alps who started cooking when he was only 14 years old, Katgely apprenticed at the esteemed Alain Chapel in France, before working at Lespinasse in New York, Pastis in Los Angeles, Boulevard in San Francisco, and Foreign Cinema in San Francisco. He opened Chez Spencer with his wife in 2002. The restaurant is named for their 10-year son.

Q: With your classic training and impressive background, did you ever think one day that you’d be driving a taco truck around America on national TV?

A: No! (laughs) It’s kind of funny. But I like doing new things. I’ll try anything.

Q: How did you get involved with the show?

A: I got a call last October, then talked to the Food Network more about it in March. It sounded kind of interesting. I thought it would be great for the restaurant, too. I figured it couldn’t hurt.

Q: Did you feel extra pressure being the only truck from the Bay Area?

A: There is pressure, but I just try to go with the flow. Being in the business 27 years, I think the pressure just disappears. You just go and cook, and see what happens.

I’m pretty competitive. I play soccer. Plus, with work, we’re kind of competitive, but we like to have fun, too. It was a good excuse for me to get out of the restaurant. I had to commit to being away four to six weeks for the show this past spring.

Q: Were the food challenges difficult?

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The Most Anticipated Restaurant of the Year, Benu, Opens Today

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Expectations are through the stratosphere for Benu, which opens today in San Francisco, to unparalleled fanfare.

Discriminating diners have been salivating over every detail that has emerged over the past few months about this new restaurant from Chef Corey Lee, the esteemed former chef de cuisine of the French Laundry in Yountville.

Reservations already have been going fast on OpenTable for Lee’s first restaurant, with tables already nabbed as far out as late September.

But that’s not surprising, given Lee’s stature in the culinary world. The James Beard award-winning chef has built a restaurant, where every detail has been meticulously considered — from the specially designed porcelain plateware to the private wine lockers to the first-of-its-kind Viking cooking suite in the kitchen.

Indeed, Lee’s architect, the award-winning Richard Bloch of New York, calls this the most custom restaurant he’s ever worked on. It’s also the first restaurant that the French Laundry’s Thomas Keller has invested in that’s not one of his own.

Learn just what it took to build this elegant restaurant, housed in the former Hawthorne Lane-cum-Two restaurant space just a hop away from the W Hotel. Read all about it in my story in the September issue of Food Arts magazine.

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The Return of Chef Mike Miller

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Foodies who have been lamenting last summer’s closing of the Michelin one-star restaurant, Trevese in Los Gatos, will rejoice to hear that Chef Mike Miller is cooking again in the South Bay.

Since January, the chef who dazzled with creative, elegant fare at his Trevese and at his previous restaurant, Umunhum in San Jose, has taken over the helm at the Silicon Valley Capital Club in downtown San Jose.

Unfortunately, the 17th-floor restaurant is a private, members-only dining establishment, which means you have to belong to it to get in or have a member invite you.

But recognizing the caliber of chef now on board, the club has big plans to open the restaurant to the general public on select days in the near future. So, stay tuned.

About 80 applicants applied for the head chef job there, and only a few were restaurant chefs, according to chair of the culinary committee, Stu Carson. Miller blew away the competition when he cooked a Dover sole during his tryout that Carson still calls the best fish dish he’s ever eaten.

Miller and I go way back. During my time as a food writer at the San Jose Mercury News, he and I collaborated on two memorable Thanksgiving stories, where we pitted our respective menus against one another. Now, he gets the holiday off, though.

I was invited as a guest last week to try the new menu at the club, where about 40 percent of the menu has been revamped with Miller’s own dishes. He and his sous chef, John Burke, who also came from Trevese,  have big plans to shake things up on the once stodgy menu. Already, Miller is baking his own popovers, adding grass-fed beef to the menu, and instituting a new four-course, prix-fixe tasting menu ($40; or $60 with wine pairings). He’s also contemplating adding house-made charcuterie.

Some of the standouts of the evening were the canapes of foie gras terrine layered imaginatively with sweet cantaloupe; an amuse bouche of salmon tartare with caviar and preserved lemon; and meaty and very crisp pork pot stickers in a sticky, thick orange ponzu glaze ($8).

Among the starters, the Maine lobster cocktail ($12) piled high in a sundae glass with papaya, avocado and crisp tortilla chips was fun eating.

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