Category Archives: Chefs

SPQR’s Smoked Linguini with Clams, Cherry Tomatoes and Basil Pesto

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Smoked linguini with clams, pesto and peeled cherry tomatoes -- all from scratch.

SPQR’s Executive Chef Matthew Accarrino made me peel tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes. A whole cup and a half of them.

He also made me smoke durum flour in a stove-top smoker to make my own linguine noodles.

At this rate, you’d think I was a sous chef at his San Francisco restaurant.

But nope, I was just making a recipe from his new cookbook with SPQR Proprietor Shelly Lindgren, “SPQR: Modern Italian Food and Wine” (Ten Speed Press), of which I recently received a review copy.

“Smoked Linguini with Clams, Cherry Tomatoes and Basil Pesto” was a triumph of a dish, even if it did take a couple of hours for my husband and I to make. Nothing is necessarily complicated; it’s just a dish where every component needs careful attention. If you have a few hours on a lazy Sunday evening like we did, it’s a project well worth doing, not only for the experience, but for the taste of it all at the end.

The cookbook is like an Italian travelogue that takes you through the artisanal wines and handcrafted dishes of central and northern Italy that make their way onto the tables at SPQR in San Francisco.

The recipes range from dried biscotti and nut biscotti with sweet wine granita, and bolognese with egg noodles to the more challenging bone marrow sformato with stuffed baby artichokes.

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SPQR — Where the Chef Has His Hands in Just About Everything

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Veal tongue that tastes like your favorite pastrami -- at SPQR.

At San Francisco’s SPQR, Executive Chef Matthew Accarrino is known for his extraordinary, house-made pastas.

But what about the lovely desserts there? Yeah, he makes those, too.

And the whimsical torched marshmallows and molded chocolates with runny caramel centers accented by a plethora of different sea salts that arrive at the end of the meal? Yup, those also are his handiwork.

Not to mention, he and owner Shelly Lindgren just came out with their new “SPQR: Modern Italian Food and Wine” cookbook (Ten Speed Press).

It makes you wonder not only if this Matt-of-all-trades ever sleeps, but how he manages to do all of this in a kitchen that is smaller than a starlet’s walk-in-closet.

Three years ago, when he first took over the helm at this San Francisco restaurant, whose name is an acronym for Senatus Populesque Romanus or “The Senate and People of Rome,” his food was quite good. Now, it’s a revelation, as evidenced by a recent dinner my husband and I splurged on there.

It’s rustic-refined. It’s all bold flavors and great ingredients fashioned with real finesse by this chef who has cooked with the likes of Chefs Charlie Palmer, Todd English, Rick Moonen, Tom Colicchio and Thomas Keller.

At this always-crowded, long, narrow restaurant, menu prices are moderate, with appetizers running $12-$19, pastas $18-$20, and mains about $28. Accarrino volunteered to just cook for my husband and I, fashioning a personalized tasting menu of a multitude of dishes off the regular menu but in smaller portions.

Strawberry-tomato gazpacho with fried bread and dehydrated strawberries.

It began with an amuse of creamy tomato-strawberry gazpacho garnished with dehydrated strawberries that added a crisp-chewy texture.

I can never resist Hawaiian Kona Kampachi, an oil-rich, silky fish served crudo-style — its raw slices accented with creamy avocado, crunchy sea beans and clever “caviar” fashioned from summery cantaloupe juice.

Kona Kampachi crudo with cantaloupe "caviar.''

Seared albacore with the brightness of capers and citrus.

Albacore was served barely cooked, its meaty texture playing off the softness of eggplant. Golden raisins and capers added big bursts of Italian flavor.

Next, the supremely clever and absolutely fabulous veal tongue pastrami with onion jam and caraway. The tongue, sliced thinly, had all the peppery taste of pastrami, but a silkier texture from the veal.

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Take a Seat at The Table — If You Can

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Let's hear it for bone marrow in all its glory!

Chef de Cuisine Anthony Jimenez jokes that he and his crew have finally found the perfect late-night dining spot in San Jose.

The only problem?

They can’t hang out there — because they work there.

The Table, which just opened last month in San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood, is a rarity in the sleepy South Bay — a non-greasy-spoon of a restaurant that serves food sometimes as late as 10:30 p.m. on weekdays. Although the restaurant officially closes at 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Jimenez says he keeps the kitchen going if enough people are still coming in later at night.

Another unusual aspect? They serve bone marrow. The caveman-like offal dish is de rigueur on many a San Francisco menu. But in the South Bay? Not so much.

The roasted bones, split to make it easier to scoop out the unctuous marrow to spread on grilled ciabbatta ($12), sells well, too, Jimenez says.

One of the colorful paintings and murals that adorn the dining room.

The inspirational quote above the kitchen.

The Table is the newest restaurant by Executive Chef-Partner Jim Stump of the Los Gatos Brewing Company in San Jose and Los Gatos. The long-time South Bay chef says he’s always wanted to open an intimate neighborhood establishment that’s all about farm-to-table  because “it’s not just a concept, it’s life.”

Diners seem to be embracing it with open arms, too, as the restaurant has been busy since opening day.

Seats are not easy to come by, especially when there’s only 60 of them at simple, bare wood tables. I was lucky enough to snag one recently when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant.

The walls are adorned with colorful murals of over-sized pears and wine bottles, hand-painted by Stump’s friend, a restaurateur in Denver. There’s also a chalkboard over the open kitchen that sports inspirational quotes.

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Susan Feniger’s Soba Noodle Salad

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Dig your chopsticks into Susan Feniger's light, bright soba salad.

You may know Los Angeles Chef Susan Feniger from her recent appearances on “Top Chef Masters,” first as a competitor and this season as a judge.

But she’ll be the first to tell you that TV is not exactly her cup of tea.

“Some people love it,” she told me in a recent phone interview. “But it’s not one of those things that I love to do. Once I won the first round and didn’t get kicked off at the start, I was happy. But judging is a whole lot easier than competing, that’s for sure.”

Over the years, Feniger and business partner Chef Mary Sue Milliken have won legions of fans for their Latin flair at their Border Grill restaurants. In 2009, though, Feniger struck out on her own to open Susan Feniger’s Street in Los Angeles, just as global street food would become a phenomenon with the likes of food trucks serving up inexpensive, boldly flavored ethnic food to the masses.

Feniger would love to tell you she predicted it all by looking in a crystal ball. But really, she says, she lucked out with the timing when she decided to follow her passion.

“When I took my first trip to India in 1981 and ate on the streets there, it moved me away from the formal kitchen,” she says. “Now, with social media, the world is a much smaller place and much more available. Our eyes have been opened to the rest of the world beyond France or Mexico. There’s this whole world of cuisines out there that is so exciting now.”

That includes Japan, which was her inspiration for “Chilled Soba Noodles with Spicy Orange Sesame and Tofu.”

The recipe is from her new cookbook, “Susan Feniger’s Street Food” (Clarkson Potter), of which I recently received a review copy. The book contains 83 recipes from her Street restaurant that span the globe, from Tunisian chicken kebabs with currants and olives to Thai creamed corn with coconut milk to Trinidad duck and potato curry with plaintain and green beans.

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Two Food Gal Giveaways: Tickets to FallFest and to the Foster Farms Chicken Cook-Off

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A scrumptious look at last year's FallFest. (Photo by Marcie Franich Photography)

San Francisco Magazine’s FallFest Extravaganza

You’ll have to wear loose clothing to try all the food from 40 top restaurants and vino from 40 wineries at San Francisco Magazine’s annual FallFest, noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 13 at Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco.

What’s more, there also will be drink seminars, a cocktail competition, live music and chef demos by such esteemed chefs as Belinda Leong of B. Patisserie and Justin Simoneaux of the Boxing Room.

Among the restaurants that will be serving up noshes are: Brasserie S&P, Pizza Antica, Perbacco and Dosa. Participating wineries include: Bonny Doon, Natural Process Alliance and Chappallet Winery.

Tickets are $95 each. The event will benefit Meals on Wheels, which provides food for home-bound seniors.

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win a pair of free tickets to FallFest (a total value of $190). Entries, limited to those who will be able to be in San Francisco on Oct. 13 for the event, will be accepted through midnight PST Sept. 22. Winner will be announced Sept. 24.

How to win?

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