Category Archives: Bakeries

The Art of Wagashi at Minamoto Kitchoan

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Cupcakes, cookies, French macarons.

So yesterday.

For unique sweet treats that will truly surprise and tantalize, step inside Minamoto Kitchoan, a Japanese confectionery store that has locations in downtown San Francisco and in San Jose’s Mitsuwa Marketplace plaza.

The stores specialize in wagashi, handmade, intricate sweets made with mochi, azuki red bean paste and fruit. Traditionally, they were designed to be served during Japanese tea ceremonies. With their sweet flavor, they are the ideal accompaniment to a cup of hot, fragrant, astringent green tea.

Minamoto Kitchoan receives a shipment every two months from Japan. The wagashi are shipped frozen in a state-of-the-art process that renders them much colder than in any home freezer, yet doesn’t impair their delicacy.

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Berkeley’s Love at First Bite Cupcakes

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This tucked away little bakery in Berkeley definitely has the perfect name.

After friends on Facebook started up a swoon-inducing discussion about Love at First Bite’s strawberry cupcake, I knew I had to make a trip to the East Bay to try one.

If you didn’t know this bakery existed, you’d be hard pressed to just stumble upon it, as it’s located at the back of a small retail plaza on a largely residential street.

But being that I have a nose for cupcakes, I found it handily with the help of my husband.

Love at First Bite sells 12 to 15 different cupcakes each day, priced from $2.75 to $2.95 each.

Of course, my eyes zeroed in on the “Pretty in Pink” cupcakes — the famous strawberry cupcakes made with real fruit and topped with swirls of pastel pink strawberry buttercream.

It was every bit as good as I had read. This little cake packs a whopper of strawberry flavor. The frosting was super lush, though I wish the sugar had been dialed back just one tiny notch.

Since I was there, I had to try a few more, right?

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Ferry Building Happenings, Glam Foodie Fund-Raisers & More

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In San Francisco:

The offerings at the Saturday farmers market at the San Francisco Ferry Building just got a whole lot sweeter.

The Arlequin booth, manned by Luis Villavelazquez, executive pastry chef of Absinthe restaurant in San Francisco, will now be a regular fixture at that Saturday market, just steps from the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, beginning May 1.

The booth, which already had been up and running at the smaller Thursday farmers market there, will be selling the likes of malted cupcake with banana cream and Oreo frosting; strawberry and tobacco-infused scone with creme fraiche; spiced ramp and provolone biscuits; and milk chocolate macadamia nut cookies.

Find the Arlequin booth next to Blue Bottle Coffee’s exterior stand,  8 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Thursday and Saturday.

If luscious libations are more your thing, you won’t want to miss “Berries, Citrus and Rhubarb,” a fun cocktails class at the Ferry Building, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. May 7.

Master mixologist Scott Beattie will conduct a hands-on class to teach you how to make market-fresh strawberry margaritas, classic mai tais, and gimlets.

Master distiller, Lance Winters of St. George Spirits in Alameda, will talk about micro-distillation.

The Ferry Building’s Il Cane Rosso also will serve up cocktail-friendly noshes. Additionally, participants will get to take home a recipe booklet.

The class will be held under the North Arcade of the Ferry Building. Tickets are $45.

City College of San Francisco invites you to its 12th annual “Wok on the Wild Side,” a benefit for its culinary arts and hospitality studies department, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. April 26.

Participating in the star chef-studded affair are Staffan Terje of Perbacco in San Francisco, Bruce Hill of Picco in Larkspur, Laurence Jossel of Nopa, Jennifer Biesty of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco, and Mauricio Sibrian of John’s Grill in San Francisco.  They will be honoring City College alum, Tom Sweeney, the famous Beefeater doorman who has been welcoming visitors to the Sir Francis Drake Hotel for more than 30 years.

The chefs will be cooking up their specialties and being assisted by the students and faculty of the program.

Tickets are $150. For information, call (415) 239-3152.

You won’t want to miss another gala chefs gathering, 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. April 29, when “Taste of the Nation San Francisco” rolls into town on the Club Level of AT&T Park in San Francisco.

The benefit for Share Our Strength, will feature tastes from more than 40 top San Francisco chefs, including Dominique Crenn of Luce, Mark Sullivan of Spruce, Hoss Zare of Zare at Fly Trap, and Matthew Accarrino of SPQR.

Live music and a silent auction will add to the festivities, which will benefit one of the nation’s largest organizations dedicated to alleviating childhood hunger.

Regular tickets are $85. VIP tickets, which get you into the event an hour earlier, are $140.

Monday, April 26, dine at a Pasta Pomodoro in San Francisco or elsewhere in the Bay Area to do a good deed.

That night, the restaurant chain will donate 25 percent of profits from every “Cena di Familia” meal to local food banks to help families in need. The three-course, family-style meal, which feeds four, comes with choice of salad, pasta and dessert for $35.

Around the Peninsula:

Take a taste of more than 100 wines from all over Italy in one spot. You can at “Enoteca 100 Primavera,” an Italian wine tasting at Donato Enoteca restaurant in Redwood City, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. May 1.

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A Temptress Named Miette

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I can’t resist a wonderful French macaron.

Nor a fabulous cupcake, salted caramels, gingersnap cookies or imported European chocolates.

That’s why I have no will-power whenever I step inside one of San Francisco’s most delightful candy shops, Miette, a short drive from the Holiday Inn Civic Center.

The three-year-old candy shop, sister to the Miette bake shop in San Francisco’s bustling Ferry Building, is filled with all of that, plus everything else a sweet tooth could want.

Done up in girly pastel colors, the shop, whose name means “little crumb” in French, features a small assortment of signature baked goods at the counter, including chocolate vanilla cupcakes ($3.25), chocolate cakes with Italian meringue ($24), and chocolate sables topped with sea salt ($5 for a small bag).

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Good Eats for Valentine’s Day, Super Bowl, Black History Month, the Olympics and More

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Romance is definitely in the air this month. And what could induce more starry eyes than dining with a view of the crashing waves of the Pacific?

The Highlands Inn in Carmel is making it a little easier on the pocketbook, too, with its new “Starlit Dinners” at its Pacific’s Edge restaurant.

Sunday through Thursday through Feb. 28, enjoy a three-course dinner for $45 per person. Executive Chef Mark Ayers changes up the menu frequently to take advantage of locally sourced and seasonal ingredients. Choices may include dishes such as seared scallops, and tender beef seasoned with heady rosemary and served atop creamy mashed potatoes.

For hungry Super Bowl Sunday fans, Urban Tavern in San Francisco will be serving complimentary gumbo, 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Feb. 7.

It’s free with the purchase of a beverage at the bar.

Peter B’s BrewPub in the Portola Hotel & Spa in Monterey invites you in to watch the big game and a chance to win one of four free memberships to its “Mug Club Membership Program.”

What’s that, you ask? It’s a membership that affords you a personal 25-ounce beer stein — hung from the bar at Peter B’s and readily available for your use — and $4 (25-ounce) beers, which are regularly $7 for non-Mug Club members.  In addition, Mug Club members will receive exclusive invites to taste and sample new beers upon their release.

Sprinkles Cupcakes is going bipartisan for the Super Bowl. Feb. 6-7, you can buy a box of 12 cupcakes ($46) decorated with football sugar decorations. Each box contains six Red Velvet and six vanilla cupcakes. Half bear the name of the New Orleans Saints; the other half, the Indianapolis Colts.

Not to be outdone, Kara’s Cupcakes, is offering a special four-pack of cupcakes for Valentine’s Day.

For $13, you get a package of four Sweet S’mores cupcakes decorated with sugar hearts, along with a signature note card with the caption, “I Heart You.” The first 100 customers to purchase the “Sweet Package,” Feb. 13-14, receive a Kara’s  Cupcakes tote. Additionally, Kara’s has just introduced new gluten-free cupcakes.

Not only is Feb. 14 Valentine’s Day, it’s also the start of the Lunar New Year. Catch free lion dance performances, 6:30 p.m. Feb. 13 and 12:30 p.m. Feb. 14, at Ming’s Chinese Cuisine and Bar in Palo Alto.

Moreover, February is Black History Month. 1300 on Fillmore in San Francisco is celebrating with a four-course prix fixe for $65 or $95 with paired wines (all by African-American-owned wineries).

The special menu by Executive Chef David Lawrence, available through Feb. 28, includes dishes such as cassoulet of duck confit with bourbon-braised pork bell, and Dungeness crab citrus salad. The featured wines also will be available at the bar in a wine flight.

The Pub at Ghirardelli Square invites you in to watch the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics on Feb. 12. Dress in Olympic-inspired garb to win a chance at prizes. Gold, Silver and Bronze shots will be on the menu.

Chef Michael Chiarello’s swank Bottega in Yountville has introduced a fun, new dining option — the chef’s table.

The marble table is next to the kitchen. Parties of six to 12 get the entire table, while parties of four get a communal experience. The chef’s table dining option lets guests interact with the chef and wine director to create a five-course dinner. If you’re lucky, Chiarello, himself, will be your maitre ‘d, too.

Prices, courses and ingredients vary nightly. But typically, it’s $70 per person with another $30 per person for wine pairings.

Feb. 12, the Ferry Building in San Francisco hosts the “Food from the Heart Valentine’s Day Event,” 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

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