Category Archives: Chefs

Taste of the Nation, Love Apple Farms Tomato Seedling Sale & More

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Chef Michael Tusk will lead the culinary team for "Taste of the Nation.'' (Photo courtesy of the chef)

Time for “Taste of the Nation”

James Beard Award-winning Chef Michael Tusk of Quince and Cotogna, both in San Francisco, will be the lead chef overseeing the culinary gala, “Taste of the Nation,” March 29 at the Bentley Reserve in San Francisco.

The event benefits Share Our Strength, a national organization dedicated to making sure no child grows up hungry.

Guests will enjoy tastes and sips from 45 of the Bay Area’s best chefs, wineries and mixologists. Among the restaurants participating are A16, Cafe des Amis, Frances and Park Tavern. For a complete list, click here.

Tickets are $95 in advance or $120 at the door. VIP tickets (which include access to the event an hour earlier and free valet parking) are $165 in advance or $190 at the door. For big spenders there’s “executive admission” at $500 in advance or $550 at the door. That top ticket gets you complimentary car service to the event, a champagne toast, access to a private lounge with more food and drink, and admittance to the after-party.

Love Apple Farms Famous Tomato Seedling Sale

Get ready for it — the largest tomato seedling sale in California.

Love Apple Farms of Santa Cruz, which grows produce exclusively for Michelin two-star restaurant, Manresa in Los Gatos, hosts a seedling sale every year that even entices folks from as far away as Los Angeles to drive to and fro in the same day.

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Make Room For Smoked Meat Loaf

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Getting ready to smoke the meatloaf with plenty of hickory.

Sure, you’ve baked many a meat loaf. But have you ever smoked one — over hickory chips no less?

It may spoil you for any other version.

A beguiling smoky, woodsy flavor permeates this very moist “Slow-Smoked Barbecued Meat Loaf” from “Cooking My Way Back Home” (Ten Speed Press) cookbook, of which I received a review copy late last year. The cookbook is by Mitchell Rosenthal, co-owner and executive chef of three San Francisco restaurants: Town Hall, Salt House, and Anchor and Hope. The book features more than 100 hearty, Southern-inspired dishes from those restaurants.

This is one flavorful meatloaf, as the mixture of ground beef, pork and veal is suffused with your favorite barbecue sauce, Dijon mustard, grated Parmesan and a spice mixture that includes cayenne, paprika, cumin, coriander, oregano, celery salt and dry mustard.

Meat loaf that's as good as it gets.

The meat loaf can be cooked either inside a loaf pan or on top of a sheet pan. The latter will expose it to more of that lovely smoke, so that’s the method I chose.

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Restaurant O Has Finally Moved to Santa Clara — Well, Part of It

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Chef Justin Perez in his new kitchen in Santa Clara, a space he's been working on for more than a year.

It’s been a long time in coming, but Chef Justin Perez, who started refurbishing the old Wilson’s Jewel Bakery in Santa Clara way back in the summer of 2010, has finally moved his Restaurant O Catering company into that site.

As of last Thursday, his catering company, which had been operating in Los Gatos, was up and running in the new site with a huge 4,000-square-foot kitchen, cobbled together with equipment he refurbished, scoured at auctions and purchased new with scrounged funds. The restaurant portion of the space is still to come. But the fact that his team is finally in its new facility is a huge achievement, he says.

“It feels amazing,” Perez says. “It’s all just been unreal.”

The catering part of the company is up and running in the new site.

When his longtime cooks saw the finished space for the first time, they had tears in their eyes. It’s easy to understand why when you know the horrific and shocking events that came before.

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Lafitte’s School Fund-Raiser; Burgers, Brownies, Beer & Wine for Leap Year; and More

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See what Chef Russell Jackson creates with ranch dressing. (Photo courtesy of the chef)

Lunch Break for Schools at Lafitte

How many of you are ranch dressing fans? Everyone? I thought as much.

Then, you’ll want to head to Lafitte in San Francisco at lunchtime on March 1 for the fun “Lunch Break for Schools” fund-raiser.

The event, organized by Hidden Valley Salad Dressings and the American Culinary Federation, will raise funds for Chefs Move to Schools initiative, which promotes proper nutrition and healthful eating habits among kids.

Russell Jackson, chef-proprietor of Lafitte, will be creating a slew of dishes and beverages that day, all using Hidden Valley Ranch in some way, including in ice cream and cocktails. I kid you not. Think Hidden Valley Ranch ice cream in cold carrot broth; Hidden Valley Ranch Leopold Navy Strength gin cocktail; cassoulet of duck, sausage and brioche with Hidden Valley Ranch crumbs; and Hidden Valley Ranch rubbed roast pork loin sandwich with spicy Hidden Valley Ranch “Russian dressing.”

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Lights, Camera, Action — and Chef Bradley Ogden

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Chef Bradley Ogden's sliders.

The chef who co-founded Lark Creek Restaurant Group in the Bay Area and made farm-to-table cooking his mantra long before it was fashionable, has returned to the Bay Area after being gone for eight years.

Bradley Ogden, who most recently opened Root 246 restaurant in Solvang, moved to San Jose’s Evergreen district in January to start a new phase in his culinary career. It includes a new multimedia company with partner Chris Kelly, Facebook’s first general consul.

Ogden and his son, Bryan, greet guests on Super Bowl Sunday.

A film crew was on hand to capture the cooking.

In the works is a new cooking show, “Real Food with Chef Bradley Ogden,” which will be shopped around to various TV networks. I got a sneak peek on Super Bowl Sunday, when Ogden invited me and a host of friends to his home for a cooking extravaganza, which was filmed in part for his show.

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