Category Archives: Bakeries

Downtown Bakery — A Must-Stop in Sonoma County

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Dig into the tomato-Asiago focaccia at the Downtown Bakery & Creamery in Healdsburg.

If you ever happen to find yourself in the vicinity of Healdsburg, make a beeline pronto to the Downtown Bakery & Creamery.

You will not regret it.

And your stomach will thank you profusely.

Started in 1987 by three Chez Panisse alums, this bakery makes everything from scratch — breads, ice cream, cookies, and pastries. There’s even a cafe menu if you want to sit for a spell to enjoy breakfast pizza, cheesy scrambled eggs or a Croque Madame that’s a croissant topped with herbed ricotta cheese and ham.

The famous sticky buns.

My husband and I can never resist the sticky buns ($2.25 each). This version is simply sublime — a flaky, buttery croissant-like dough formed into a muffin shape that has a crunchy topping of sugar. You also can buy them frozen to bake up fresh at home.

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Duff Goldman Comes to Santana Row, Michael Mina Anniversary Celebration & More

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Meet Chef Duff Goldman at Santana Row. (Photo courtesy of the Food Network)

Duff Goldman vs. Robert Sapirman

Yes, the “Ace of Cakes‘‘ Food Network star takes on the local chef of Citrus restaurant in the Valencia Hotel in San Jose’s Santana Row. All in good fun, of course.

It’s all part of the Oct. 8-9 “Cadillac Culinary Challenge,” in which celeb Pastry Chef Duff Goldman (who is also trained in savory cooking) will be challenging Chef Robert Sapirman in battles at 11:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. each of those days to see whom will be crowned “Cadillac of Chefs.”

Seating is first come, first serve. And of course, while you’re there, you also can test drive a new Cadillac.

Never Too Early To Start Thinking About Thanksgiving

If there’s one holiday that strikes fear in even seasoned cooks, it’s Thanksgiving.

Tante Marie’s Cooking School in San Francisco wants to help. It’s hosting two one-day workshops to teach you how to host a “No-Stress Thanksgiving Dinner.”

This hands-on class is being offered 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 8 and Nov. 15. Price is $195.

You’ll learn how to make everything from hazelnut gougeres with stilton and red grapes to sourdough stuffing with prosciutto and Parmesan to pumpkin pie with toffee pecan topping. You’ll even make your own pie crust that you can take home to freeze for your holiday pie.

Chef Michael Mina has a lot to celebrate this year. (Photo curtesy of the chef)

Special Michael Mina Dinner

Oct. 9, Michael Mina will celebrate his 20-year career, as well as the first anniversary of his eponymous San Francisco — in grand style.

He will host a special Anniversary Tribute Dinner, 6 p.m. at Michael Mina restaurant, which will feature six courses prepared by famed chefs who have cooked alongside him over the years, including Traci des Jardins of Jardiniere in San Francisco, Melissa Perello of Frances in San Francisco, Joseph Humphrey of the soon-to-open Dixie in San Francisco and Ron Siegel of the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. Also lending a hand with one of the courses is Mina’s mentor, George Morrone.

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Mmm, Brownies

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A stack of Cosmos Brownies (that's the Coconut Bliss on top).

Brownies may be one of the simplest baked goods to make, but it takes a sure hand to make really, really good ones.

Ones that are a little fudgy, a little cakey and full-on chocolatey.

Cosmos Brownie Company of Kentucky makes them just that way.

The brother-sister team of Karl and Karen Schrecke started making their brownies in their Cosmos Cafe in Bowling Green in 2004. This year, they added online sales, too.

These are hefty brownies the size of your palm. They come in six flavors: Mintalicious, Turtle, Coconut Bliss, Double Fudge, Peanut Butter, and Walnut.

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Restaurant Architecture Tours, Bobby Flay Comes to San Jose, New Splashy Sonoma Winery & More

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The interior of Twenty Five Lusk in San Francisco. (Photo by Paul Dyer)

Behind the Scenes Look at San Francisco Restaurant Design

The San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects is presenting a program this month that will have you looking at your favorite eateries in a whole new light.

Part of its “Architecture and the City Festival,” this “Tour, Talk, Taste: Food and Design in the City” series invites you into a couple of San Francisco restaurants, where you’ll have a chance to listen to the design and culinary teams explain their visions for each restaurant. Then, you’ll get to sit down with them over food and drink to learn even more.

Find out what went into creating Local Mission Eatery, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 25, which was built with environmentally conscious materials.

Learn about the creative process for hip Twenty Five Lusk, 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 27.

And find out how designers created a Ligurian Italian restaurant in the Mission at Farina, 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sept. 30.

Tickets to each event are $40 for AIA members; $50 for general admission. To register and buy tickets, go here.

The interior of Local Mission Eatery, which boasts environmentally friendlyl materials. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

Get Your Beloved Meetinghouse Biscuits

Long-time Bay Area foodies know well the legendary biscuits that Chef Joanna Karlinsky used to turn out when she owned the Meetinghouse restaurant in San Francisco.

That restaurant may be long gone. But you can still get your fix of those impossibly fluffy, tender biscuits a couple of ways. First, Thursday and Friday evenings from 6 p.m. on, she’s doing a pop-up at the Oasis Cafe in San Francisco, where she’ll be selling her wonderful chili and biscuits, both freshly baked and frozen ones to take home for later.

Second, she’s cooking brunch on Sundays, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., at The Corner in San Francisco. The simple, sit-down brunch will include such offerings as eggs Benedict, chili, Southern sides, and plenty of biscuits.

Finally, you also can buy the frozen biscuits via her Web site. A box of 24 frozen dough squares is $35.

Bobby Flay Book-Signing Event at Santana Row in San Jose

Meet New York celeb Chef Bobby Flay at 6 p.m. Sept. 23 at Sur La Table in San Jose’s Santana Row.

Flay will be signing copies of his new book, “Bobby Flay’s Bar Americain Cookbook: Celebrate America’s Great Flavors” (Clarkson Potter).

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A Wine-Tasting Staycation in West Sonoma County

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The signature salmon dish at Corks restaurant at Russian River Vineyards.

If the bumper-to-bumper traffic on Highway 29 and the shoulder-to-shoulder squeeze in tasting rooms have left you anything but relaxed in the Napa Valley, there’s an antidote to that.

It’s Wine Country in West Sonoma County in the beautiful Russian River Valley.

Picture the Napa Valley before big-time tourism development took hold. Or even Lake Tahoe back in the day with its natural, picturesque scenery dotted with cabins rather than sprawling, gazillion-dollar resorts. That’s what this region of Sonoma County is like, from what I saw on my first visit there recently. It’s a little like stepping back into time, when wine-tasting still had a small-town feel to it all.

Soaring redwoods will leave you humbled.

I was invited to be a guest of Russian River Vineyards in Forestville, to come taste wines and stay for dinner at the restaurant, Corks. It’s the only restaurant at a winery in the Russian River Valley. So, it’s easy to see why it’s become a popular locale for weddings.

The drive there is breathtaking, as the Gravenstein Highway (116), winds through soaring redwood groves, whose lush canopies provide plenty of shade so that this part of Sonoma County remains fairly comfortable even on days when the rest of the region is sweltering.

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