Category Archives: Chefs

Stewing Over Time

Stew that is the epitome of spring.

Admittedly, I sometimes stew about how time flies these days, about how in a blink of an eye a third of a year is somehow already gone. What gives?

But then again, why stew when you can eat it instead, right?

Especially when it’s a stew that’s made for the bright arrival of spring.

That’s just what “Green-As-Spring Veal Stew” is. It’s a recipe from “Around My French Table”(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) by everyone’s favorite culinary guru, Dorie Greenspan. The cookbook, of which I received a review copy, is filled with French comfort food for every season.

Cubes of veal simmer in broth with garlic, onion, carrots, celery and thyme until tender. Fish them out, then add a plethora of herbs and greens to the braising liquid. We’re talking bountiful handfuls of arugula, spinach, dill fronds, parsley and tarragon. Blend them all until you get a vibrant green sauce. Although the recipe says you can use a blender, food processor or hand blender, don’t opt for the latter, as the leaves may end up clogging it. Better to let your food processor or blender make easy, efficient work of it all instead.

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SusieCakes Opens First Peninsula Location, Porchetta Time & More

Get ready for cupcakes galore at SusieCakes in Menlo Park. (Photo courtesy of the bakery)

SusieCakes Comes to Menlo Park

SusieCakes, which started in Southern California but has spread to these northern parts, is opening its newest location at 642 Santa Cruz Ave. in downtown Menlo Park.

The bakery, know in particular for its old-fashioned cakes and cupcakes, already has two other Bay Area locations: San Francisco and Marin County.

Join in the grand opening ceremony at the Menlo Park bakery, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. March 24. Dust off your favorite poodle skirt for an old-fashioned sock hop with 50’s tunes. Best costume wins a prize. There will be plenty of cupcakes, cookies and bars to sample, too.

Get a gander at this porchetta at Brassica. (Photo by Sean Knight)

Porchetta Sundays at Brassica in the Napa Valley

After a weekend of wine tasting, there’s nothing better than a big hunk of  juicy, slow-cooked pork to go along with it.

Every Sunday night now at Chef Cindy Pawlcyn’s Brassica in St. Helena, they’re serving up porchetta — a whole loin of pork stuffed with garlic, rosemary, fennel fronds and fennel pollen, then roasted in a Caja China charcoal oven for 3 1/2 hours.

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Cuvee Venus

One smooth, rich Cab.

Chef. Restaurateur. Cooking show host. Culinary radio host. And even winemaker.

Narsai David truly does it all. And always while wearing one of his flashy trademark bow ties.

Born to Assyrian immigrants and raised in the farming community of Turlock, Calif., David learned to cook from his mother. He went on to open the legendary Narsai’s restaurant in Kensington in 1970, along with Narsai’s Market eight years later, which sold all manner of specialty breads and pastries. It’s David you have to thank, too, for introducing the world to chocolate decadence torte, a rich, flourless dessert that so lives up to its name.

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

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

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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