Mel Canares’ fried chicken sandwich — photographed on the hood of my car.
Cocina Canares, South San Francisco
Mel Canares doesn’t really have a name yet for his fried chicken sandwich joint — at least one that’s printable in a family blog (ahem), as evidenced by his Instagram handle. Cocina Canares, another moniker by which he sometimes refers to it, actually doesn’t even have a real bona fide structure, either.
Instead, Canares, a former corporate chef for Genentech, cooks and serves his fried chicken sandwich out of his backyard in South San Francisco.
He serves one thing, and only one thing — that sandwich.
I know I’m not the only one cheering that “Stanley Tucci’s Searching For Italy” has been picked up for a second season on CNN, even if every episode has sent me binging on carbs to high heaven.
So, it’s no wonder that after last week’s episode, I found my way to Terun in Palo Alto’s California Ave. Brothers Franco and Maico Campilongo, and their friend, chef Kristyan d’Angelo, all of whom hail from Italy, opened the doors in 2012 to serve authentic Southern Italian fare.
This place takes Neopolitan pizza seriously. In fact, it’s one of the few restaurants in California that is a member of the American Delegation of the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana, a non-profit that recognizes restaurants outside of Italy that meet strict standards and traditions of Neapolitan pizza making.
Fava beans and broccoli rabe with cheesy crostini hidden below.
At Terun, the pies are cooked over wood in a blistering Marr Forni Neapolitan oven. There are 13 different pizzas available. Plus, you can add extra ingredients to any of them for an additional cost, if you like.
The new crispy tofu sandwich at Gott’s. (Photo by Briana Marie Photography)
Gott’s Roadside locations has joined forces with Oakland’s Hodo to create a new crispy tofu sandwich for a limited time only.
The $12.99 sando features 24-hour brined Hodo tofu that’s dipped in buttermilk, and dredged twice for an extra crisp coating. It’s fried to order, of course. It gets slide between a butter toasted egg bun with dill pickle slices, green cabbage, cilantro slaw, red onions, and house-made charred jalapeno mayo.
The artisan tofu is organic, non-GMO, and boasts as much protein, ounce for ounce, as chicken, pork, beef or the Impossible Burger.
Enjoy the new tofu sandwich at Gott’s locations in St. Helena, Napa, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Walnut Creek, and Marin through March 25.
Savion’s Sweets Opens in San Francisco
In this challenging time when so many businesses are shuttering, it’s a welcome sight to see a new one open, especially when it involves cupcakes.
Strawberry shortcake cupcakes by Savion’s Sweets. (Photo courtesy of Savion’s Sweets)
Le Cordon Bleu-trained Pastry Chef Athena Harven specializes in cupcakes ($4.25 each), offering up a slew of flavors, including some for an additional charge that are gluten-free, dairy-free, eggless or vegan.
Soba noodle salad, pickled veggies, and seaweed-tofu miso soup — the start of a Manresa Family Meal.
Manresa, Los Gatos
If you’ve been thinking there’s no way I can afford to get takeout at a Michelin three-starred restaurant, think again.
While pre-pandemic, a dinner at Manresa would have dented your bank account, its Manresa Family Meal selections offered at this time are actually quite affordable, especially considering the quality of what you get. That’s what I found when I picked up dinner last week.
Manresa’s takeout is offered Wednesday through Sunday, 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. The family meal not only changes each week, but actually each day of the week, too.
A Japanese rolled egg omelet with nori for the vegetarian option.
When I spied last Saturday’s Japanese-influenced spread, I went for it. For each family meal, there is a vegetarian counterpart option offered, as well. I got one of each, with the soy-braised short ribs with beef jus option ($67) for my husband Meat Boy, of course. While I’m not necessarily a vegetarian, the Jidori hen egg omelette with toasted nori vegetarian substitution ($43) proved irresistible.
Nancy Oakes, chef-owner of Boulevard, will be teaching a virtual cooking class for kids. (Photo courtesy of Boulevard)
Kids’ Cooking Class with Boulevard’s Nancy Oakes and Dana Younkin
Your youngsters can take their cooking skills to the next level in a Zoom class taught by none other than Executive Chef Nancy Oakes and Chef de Cuisine Dana Younkin of San Francisco’s celebrated Boulevard restaurant.
Oakes and Younkin will demonstrate how to make ricotta crespelle manicotti and strawberry shortcake. Ingredient and equipment lists are provided five days before the class.
The $45 class is designed for kids, 6 to 15 years old. The fees help fund Sprouts’ Chef-In-Training Program, a vocational platform that provides restaurant training to underserved women and youths of color.
If your kids can’t make that particular class, don’t fret. Sprouts has put together a whole line-up of celebrated female chefs to teach upcoming virtual classes, including March 20 with Mina Newman of Sen Sakana in New York City; March 27 with Emma Bengtsson of Aquavit in New York; and March 28 with Nite Yun of Nyum Bai in Oakland. The March 3 class with Dominique Crenn of Atelier Crenn in San Francisco is sold out, but there is a wait list. Find the complete schedule here.
Zola’s Fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula
Pick up some tasty takeout from Palo Alto’s Zola on Feb. 25, and 50 percent of sales from a special to-go dinner package will donated to the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula.
