Category Archives: Chefs

Holiday Green Beans with An Asian Twist

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Green beans with brown butter, Asian fish sauce, crushed peanuts and celery leaves.

When guests sit down to the holiday spread, they may squeal with delight over the sight of crisp potato cakes, warm homemade rolls and creamy, cheesy cauliflower gratin.

But secretly, they’re glad you put out some green beans, too.

Because for all the over-the-top indulgences we can’t get enough of at this time of year, we also crave just a little respite with something fresh, crisp and green.

“Green Beans in Brown Butter and Ginger Fish Sauce” fits that bill.

The recipe comes from the Wall Street Journal and it was created by Chef Edward Lee of 610 Magnolia in Louisville, KY. You may remember him as a competitor in last season’s “Top Chef” competition.

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Eating My Way Through Montreal in the Fall, Part II

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A magnificent steelhead trout with caviar, yogurt and dill "sponge'' cake at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Montreal.

MONTREAL, CANADA — One of the best meals I had in this city wasn’t where I thought it would be. It wasn’t in some storied white-tablecloth establishment that had been around for generations. Nor was it in some hip, counter-culture cafe headed by the latest bad boy-chef.

No, it was inside a museum, of all places.

The Musee D’Art Contemporain de Montreal boasts an impressive collection of modern Quebec art. It also has a restaurant worth seeking out, thanks to its young, self-taught chef, Antonin Mousseau-Rivard.

That Mousseau-Rivard is a chef at a museum is only apropos. After all, his grandfather, Jean-Paul Mousseau, was a famed artist whose works are part of the museum’s permanent exhibit, “A Matter of Abstraction.”

What the younger Mousseau-Rivard puts on the plate is equally a work of art — not only in looks, but in flavor and imagination.

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Ecopia Farms Introduces Salad Kits

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The very gourmet tasting "Winter Salad'' kit from Ecopia Farms.

Find yourself in a salad rut this holiday season, where you’re noshing the same ol’ citrus-, persimmon- or apple-topped one over and over again?

Ecopia Farms wants to help break that ho-hum cycle.

The innovative Campbell organic farm, founded by a former CEO of Solectron and a former president of Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space, grows gourmet micro-lettuces indoors under LED lights that now grace the plates of some of the Bay Area’s best restaurants. Now, it’s just introduced two salad kits for consumers.

Each kit comes complete with the farm’s artisan lettuce mix and micro-herbs. The “Holiday Salad” includes Point Reyes blue cheese, candied walnuts, brandied pears, a spiced apple cider vinaigrette, and Maldon salt. The “Winter Salad” includes pickled butternut squash, quinoa with currants, candied pumpkin seeds, Maldon salt and a tangy lemon vinaigrette.

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Take a Taste of Lark Creek Blue at Santana Row

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Flatiron steak at Lark Creek Blue in Santana Row.

Gone is the nautical theme, along with the fishing nets, boat wheel and seafood-centric menu.

Yankee Pier at Santana Row in San Jose was put out to sea this summer, then underwent a renovation and was re-christened Lark Creek Blue.

The vibe is now less kitschy and more sophisticated with dark wood tables, leather chairs, blue-hued walls, and striking drum lights in the dining room.

You’ll still find plenty of seafood on the menu, all of it adhering to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s “Seafood Watch” guide. But so much more, too, including Angus beef carpaccio with nori flakes ($11.50) , a 12-ounce Marin Sun Farms grass-fed ribeye ($39) and Bellwether Farm ricotto ravioli with confit tomatoes and black olives ($16.50). Each evening, a special “classic” dish is offered, too, from Southern fried chicken ($19.50)  on Mondays to Prime rib with Yorkshire pudding ($36) on Saturdays to an old-school crawfish boil ($23.50) on Sundays.

The warm-hued dining room with an open kitchen.

Recently, I was invited as a guest of the restaurant to try Chef Paul Bruno’s food. Bruno was formerly sous chef or executive sous chef at Mon Ami Gabi, Seablue and Michael Mina, all in Las Vegas.

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Gift Ideas, Including Ones From the French Laundry

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All you need to make Bouchon Bistro's Chocolate Tart in one amazing gift box. (Photo courtesy of the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group)

Thomas Keller Gift Selections

If you have a spendy budget and a discriminating foodie friend to shop for this holiday season, look no further than Chef Thomas Keller’s new holiday offerings.

First up, the “Bochon Bistro Chocolate Tart & Wine Port Gift Set” ($250), which provides everything you need to recreate the bakery’s famous chocolate tart, including a limited edition bottle of Meyer Family Port Wine.

Next, the “French Laundry Sparkling Wine & Caviar Gift Set” ($1,000), which includes a 2-ounce serving of Sterling White Sturgeon Caviar, a 375ml bottle of Schramsberg Blanc de Blanc Chardonnay-based Brut sparkling wine, and a buckwheat blini mix prepared by The French Laundry kitchen, as well as two mother of pearl caviar spoons for serving.

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