Category Archives: Chefs

Passover at Perbacco, St. Paddy’s Day Fun & More

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Chefs Staffan Terje and Joyce Goldstein team up for Passover. (Photo by Gamma Nine Photography)

Chefs Staffan Terje and Joyce Goldstein team up for Passover. (Photo by Gamma Nine Photography)

Sixth Annual Passover Dinner at Perbacco

Staffan Terje, chef-owner of Perbacco in San Francisco, will once again welcome guest Chef Joyce Goldstein, for a special Passover repast on March 27.

The two have teamed up for a half dozen years for this annual celebration.

The four-course dinner will feature recipes from Goldstein’s “Cucina Ebraica” cookbook. Dishes include “Crispy Fried Artichokes — Jewish-style’,” “Passover Soup with Chicken Dumplings and Eggs” and “Sea Bass with Rhubarb Sauce.”

Price is $49 per person. Space is limited. For reservations, call (415) 955-0663.

Comal Puts a Mexican Spin on the Seder

Berkeley’s Comal will celebrate Passover, March 25-26, with a Mexican twist on the Seder with two nights of special family-style dinners.

Dishes will include guacamole and chips (but of course), tequila-cured salmon and beef brisket adobo.

Tickets are $60 per person.

St. Patrick’s Day Fare

To get in the spirit of St. Paddy’s Day, Ame at the St. Regis in San Francisco will be offering beer donuts with chocolate stout  ice cream and chocolate fudge sauce ($12).

Beer donuts with chocolate stout ice cream. (Photo courtesy of Ame)

Beer donuts with chocolate stout ice cream. (Photo courtesy of Ame)

It’s enough to make you forget about corned beef and cabbage, right?

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Chef Matthew Accarrino’s Braised Chicken with Apples and Calvados

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A dish perfect for the home-cook from Chef Matthew Accarrino of SPQR restaurant.

A dish perfect for the home-cook from Chef Matthew Accarrino of SPQR restaurant.

 

Let me just say that one taste of this dish made me feel like I was sitting down to a repast at a charming country inn in the north-west of France.

OK, not that I’ve actually had the pleasure of visiting Brittany.

But it is known for its apples and its Calvados, a spectacular apple brandy.

So, you have to hand it to a dish that can transport you like that.

Leave it to Chef Matthew Accarrino to do so, too. If you’ve ever eaten at SPQR in San Francisco, you know he has a deft hand for creating lusty flavors in rustic-chic dishes.

Of course, most of us don’t have the patience or inclination to make a lot of chef dishes. That’s why we go out to restaurants instead, right?

But “Braised Chicken with Apples and Calvados” is one of those straight-forward, one-pot dishes that anyone can do.

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Donostia Debuts in Los Gatos

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A simple, yet sublime, mushroom brocheta at the new Donostia in Los Gatos.

A simple, yet sublime, mushroom brocheta at the new Donostia in Los Gatos.

 

If you had any doubt that Spanish food remains one of the hottest crazes around even years after El Bulli’s Ferran Adria introduced the world to foams, just take a look at what’s happening in the Bay Area.

In January, Chef Paul Canales, formerly of Oliveto, opened Restaurant Duende & Bodega in Oakland. This spring, look for celebrity chef, Michael Chiarello of Bottega in Yountville, to open the splashy Coqueta on San Francisco’s Embarcadero.

Thankfully, the South Bay has not been left behind in all of this. Donostia (the Basque name for San Sebastian) opened last month at 424 Santa Cruz Ave. in Los Gatos to serve up tapas alongside Spanish wines and beers.

The new restaurant is by the same duo behind Enoteca La Storia, just a couple doors away in the same retail-business center. Owners Joe Cannistraci and Michael Guerra, couldn’t resist when this long, narrow 1,000-square-foot space became available.

The two Italian guys traveled to San Sebastian to familiarize themselves with authentic tapas. That’s where they met Agustin Elbert, a native Argentinian who has spent the past dozen years cooking in Spain, including at a number of well-known tapas places. They lured him to Los Gatos to be their consulting chef.

The long, narrow space features a bar with seating, as well as bar-height tables.

The long, narrow space features a bar with seating, as well as bar-height tables.

Last week, I had a chance to visit Donostia as a guest of the restaurant. With a built-in clientele who often spill over from sister establishment, Enoteca La Storia, Donostia is already packing in regulars even if it’s only been open a couple of weeks.

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Food Photo Exhibit, Tea Fest & More

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"Watermelon Radishes'' by Paulette Tavormina. (Image courtesy of the artist)

“Watermelon Radishes” by Paulette Tavormina. (Image courtesy of the artist)

March Debuts Food Photo Exhibit

Gourmet kitchen and pantry retailer, March, in San Francisco will feature an exhibition by food photographer, Paulette Tavormina.

The New York City artist creates sumptuous food photos that have the air of 17th century Old Master still-life paintings of food and flora. Tavormina styles each photograph with the utmost of detail and makes dramatic use of light.

March will display 16 of her works from March 14 to June 1.

Just think: You can take in an art show, then shop for table linens, cast iron cookware and gourmet jams to create your own tableau at home.

"Pears'' by Paulette Tavormina. (Image courtesy of the artist)

“Pears” by Paulette Tavormina. (Image courtesy of the artist)

San Francisco International Tea Festival

Enjoy the soothing and fascinating world of tea at the San Francisco International Tea Festival, March 10 at the Ferry Building.

The event includes seminars on the history of tea in the United States, tea as medicine and the green teas of Japan. There will be plenty to taste, too.

Exhibitors include the Imperial Tea Court, owned by festival host, Roy Fong; as well as Chado, Sky Tea and Alegio Chocolate.

General admission, which includes a commemorative tote bag and ceramic tasting cup, is $20 each. Seminars are $5 each.

“Taste of the Nation” Coming to San Francisco

A bevy of stellar chefs will be featured in the Taste of the Nation event, March 21, at the Bentley Reserve in San Francisco.

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Richard Blais To Appear at Santana Row’s Sur La Table, Justin’s Restaurant To Finally Open in Santa Clara, and More

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The whimsical cover of Richard Blais' debut cookbook.

Meet Top Chef’s Richard Blais

Richard Blais, winner of  “Top Chef: All-Stars,” will be appearing at Sur La Table in San Jose’s Santana Row on March 3.

The chef, known for his way with liquid nitrogen and other molecular cooking techniques, will headline a Q&A session at Santana Row Park at 11:30 a.m. At noon, he will sign copies of his new book at Sur La Table.

“Try This at Home: Recipes from My Head to Your Plate” (Clarkson Potter) is his first cookbook. It features 125 recipes that highlight his inventive approach to cooking, including adding coffee to butter for pancakes, cooking lamb shanks in root beer and making cheese foam for your favorite burger.

The book signing is a ticketed event and seats are limited. Tickets will be given out upon purchase of “Try This at Home” at Sur La Table.

Justin’s to Open in Santa Clara in March

It’s taken nearly three years, but Chef Justin Perez is finally poised to open his restaurant at the old Wilson’s Jewel Bakery site on Homestead Road in Santa Clara.

Only now, it won’t be called Restaurant O, after his former restaurant in Campbell. It’ll be Justin’s Appetite for Expression. Plagued by permit and construction delays, the new restaurant is expected to open March 5, if all goes according to plan.

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