Category Archives: Chefs

SMIP Ranch Produce Boxes, Giant See’s Lollypop and Julia Child 100th Birthday Dinners

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Carrots from SMIP Ranch. (Photo by Ed Anderson)

Produce Boxes with A Chef Pedigree

Have you lusted after the pristine fruits and veggies on your plate when you’ve dined at the Village Pub in Woodside, Spruce in San Francisco, Mayfield Bakery & Cafe in Palo Alto and Cafe des Amis in San Francisco?

Now, you can purchase the same just-picked produce that those Bacchus Management Group restaurants, which also includes Pizza Antica, use daily. It all comes from SMIP Ranch in the hills above Woodside.

SMIP, an acronym for “sic manebimus in pace, Latin for “thus we will remain in peace,” began its relationship with the restaurants in 2001. The five-acre farm adheres to sustainable practices. In fact, the oil used at the restaurants is recycled and converted into biodiesel that powers the farm equipment and delivery van.

Its bounty has grown so abundant that it can now offer produce boxes to the public each week for $28 each.

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Scenes From SF Chefs 2012

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Chef Mark Dommen (R) and Chef David Bazirgan (L) begin to plate their lamb dish in the first chef's challenge at SF Chefs.

If you spied the huge white tent pitched in the heart of San Francisco’s Union Square this past weekend, you knew it could only mean one thing:

The arrival of SF Chefs, the annual food-wine-cocktail extravaganza that celebrates the Bay Area’s home-grown culinary culture.

Top chefs, vintners, sommeliers and mixologists descended upon downtown to put on a series of special dinners, wine seminars, panel discussions, and culinary battles before setting up inside the tent to dole out gourmet eats and drinks to throngs of attendees.

Chef Joey Altman’s all-chef band, the Soul Peppers, entertained the hungry crowd.

On the opposing team, Chef Omri Aflalo of Bourbon Steak, readies his dishes.

Earlier that afternoon, the first round of the Eater Chef Challenge took place at the Westin St. Francis Hotel, pitting the team of Mark Sullivan of Spruce in San Francisco and Omri Aflalo of Bourbon Steak in San Francisco against the team of Mark Dommen of One Market Restaurant and David Bazirgan of the Fifth Floor in San Francisco. With an hour on the clock, the two teams had to incorporate lamb and Guittard chocolate into two dishes, which were presented to a panel of judges.

The Sullivan-Aflalo lamb dish.

The Dommen-Bazirgan lamb dish.

As the clock ticked down, the Dommen-Bazirgan team plated their lamb dish with mole flavors, along with chocolate ice cream created with liquid nitrogen. On the opposing side, Sullivan and Aflalo put up their lamb dish with a Moroccan influence, along with chocolate mousse with caramel.

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A Visit to Della Fattoria in Petaluma

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A flaky snail and a banana-bran muffin from Della Fattoria.

I owe my latest carb binge to Chef Adam Mali.

When I was dining recently at his restaurant, Brasserie S&P in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in San Francisco, I’d occasionally come up for air from devouring his dishes only to find myself drawn completely and helplessly to the bread.

Smoky, with a hefty dark crust and a chewy interior full of delightful air holes and developed fermented flavor, I couldn’t stop eating slice after slice.

Of course, I had to ask him where it came from.

When he told me it was baked in wood-fired ovens at Della Fattoria in Petaluma, I knew I had to stop in the next time I was in the vicinity.

So, I did earlier this week.

A hearty loaf fragrant with Meyer lemon and rosemary.

Bon Appetit magazine has called it one of the Top 10 bread bakeries in America. One taste and you’ll agree.

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San Francisco Company Debuts New Line of Spice Rubs

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Just Cook's Any Day Chicken Blend.

When Scott Lucas, former software seller, and his wife, Cathy Storfer, an event planner, decided to change careers a couple years ago, they let their palates guide them to their next step.

Inspired by the flavors they encountered on their world travels, the two decided to start a new line of spice rubs with their long-time friend, Daniel Capra, executive chef of Emeryville’s Paula LeDuc Fine Catering.

There are now six Just Cook spice blends: Herbed Coffee Rub, Any Day Chicken Blend, No. 19 Salmon Blend, Ancho Chicken Rub, Close to Curry Blend, and Gimme Steak Blend.

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Press Club is One Hot Ticket in Town

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Shaved asparagus salad with a raw cow's milk cheese at Press Club.

Forgive me if I tell you that my first thought upon walking down the illuminated steps to the lounge-y Press Club wine bar was:

“If I were hip, young and single, man, oh man, would this be the place to hang out.”

Ahem, well, I may be none of those things. But Press Club in downtown San Francisco sure made me feel that I possessed each and every one of those attributes, if only for a night.

You’ll feel that way, too, in this dimly lit, expansive space that’s cozily divided into separate areas to linger in low-slung couches, at tall communal bar tables with chrome and leather stools or at a smattering of seats at the bars.

Take your pick, but don’t dally, as all those seats will surely be snapped up as the night wears on, as folks gather for after-work drinks, a girls-night-out soiree or just to take a load off after an afternoon of shopping on Union Square.

A communal bar table -- empty, but not for long.

As the night wears on, it will get packed at this popular gathering place.

While Press Club has always served food, it used to be more a place you’d stop in for a glass of wine and a quick nibble before heading elsewhere for dinner.

But that changed this spring when Chef Chris Borges of San Francisco’s Taste Catering came on board.

Under his direction, Press Club has transformed into a place where you would be remiss not to stay for the full shebang.

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