Category Archives: Chefs

Tyler Florence Cookbook Winner & New $100 Food Gal Contest Giveaway

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The family rolling pin.

The rolling pin above is as old-school as it gets.

It’s not in vogue like those slender, tapered, elegant French rolling pins coveted by today’s bakers.

The red color on the handles long ago started fading away in spots.

It may be worse for the wear, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

You see, it was my late-Mom’s rolling pin.

I’m not even sure when she acquired it. All I know is that for as long as I can remember, it was stored in a cupboard in our family home, along with all the other baking equipment.

As a kid, I’d rifle through that cupboard till I found it, then roll out dough for peach pies in the summer or fanciful decorated cookies for Christmas in the shapes of stars and snowmen.

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Fabulous Frances

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Decadent chicken liver mousse at Frances restaurant.

It may be only a year old, but Frances restaurant in San Francisco, has garnered just about every accolade around, including being a finalist for “Best New Restaurant” in the nation by the James Beard Foundation.

It’s easy to see why.

Chef Melissa Perello’s compact restaurant on the edge of the Castro district, a short drive from the Holiday Inn Civic Center San Francisco, is like your favorite pair of jeans.

When you step into it, you feel comfortable and relaxed immediately. You want to return to it often because it’s reliable and just fits so well.

The snug, 45-seat restaurant is named for Perello’s beloved grandma. Perello’s mom sewed the pillows with the big buttons that grace the long, wood banquette that her father helped build.

My husband and I finally made it in for dinner one recent Saturday night. Although we paid for our dinner, Perello sent out a lot of extra complimentary dishes, too, that she wanted us to try.

A great way to start the evening is with one of the restaurant’s ever-changing “market shots” ($3 each). Fresh fruit from the farmers market is combined with wine for a unique little cocktail. On the night we were there, the shot was roasted Bartlett pears muddled with vermouth. It was like a spiced pear cobbler in liquid form.

Frances also has one of the most fun house-wine programs. Choose red or white and a carafe will be set down at your table. Etched on the glass are lines measuring every 2 ounces. You pour as much as you want and at the end of the night, your wine tab is tabulated, based on how much you’ve drunk. The price is $1 per ounce, which is pretty hard to beat for wine at a restaurant at this level.

A tangle of smoky, tender calamari.

Grilled calamari with preserved lemon and Sicilian olives ($6.50) was tender, smoky and imbued with bright Mediterranean flavors.

The chicken liver mousse ($10) was as rich and smooth as whipped cream. A Sierra Beauty apple compote alongside provided a sweet, fruity contrast.

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Decadent Bourbon Steak

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Medai snapper (foreground) and Tasmanian sea trout (background) cooked to perfection at Bourbon Steak.

Dining at a Michael Mina restaurant is always an exercise in excess.

In the best of ways, of course.

After all, this is the chef who popularized the idea of trios, where it’s not simply enough to present just one rendition of a dish, but three different ones simultaneously on one plate.

It takes skill, timing and sophistication to do that well.

And that’s just what’s on display at Mina’s new Bourbon Steak in the Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Square. Bourbon Steak takes the place of the former Michael Mina flagship restaurant there, which has moved to the old Aqua restaurant space on California Street.

The once chic white and eggshell blue 102-seat dining room has been transformed with a more masculine atmosphere with dark charcoal floor-to-ceiling columns and hues of deep cognac and sand. The logo of a steer can be found subtly echoed on the Mondrian-like window treatments and water is brought to the tables in whimsical glass milk bottles.

This marks Mina’s fifth Bourbon Steak nationwide. And he has the formula down pat.

Executive Chef Omri Aflalo, who did an externship with Mina while at the Culinary Institute of America, is at the helm of the San Francisco locale.

The broad menu includes some of Mina’s greatest hits, including his addicting lobster corn dogs ($16), black truffle popcorn ($15), and lobster pot pie (market price). Since it is a steak house, you’ll also find the likes of a 28-ounce Porterhouse for $68, an 18-ounce bone-in rib-eye for $42, and a 6-ounce Australian Wagyu strip (market price).

Recently, I was invited to dine as a guest of the restaurant to enjoy a special tasting menu.

Duck fat fries with three dipping sauces.

You know you’re in for something when the first thing that arrives at the table is a trio of duck-fat fries with a sour cherry ketchup, a smoked onion aioli that tasted almost of bacon, and a zingy yuzu sauce. You tell yourself you’re going to eat just a couple, but then you finish every one. Every restaurant should take a lesson in fries from Mina, as these are as perfect as they come.

A tiny and rich bite of foie gras.

The decadence continued with a small rectangle of foie gras terrine with huckleberry glaze that just melted on the tongue.

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Sunny Side Up a la Tyler Florence and Food Gal Giveaway

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This is one of those great breakfast dishes that is really perfect most anytime of day or night.

Need to feed a crowd at brunch? You bet.

Want a simple, yet satisfying lunch? This is it.

Need a late-night nosh after an evening of carousing? This will hit the spot.

“Gallina de Madre” (‘Mother Hen’ Toast) is from the new Tyler Florence cookbook, “Tyler Florence Family Meal” (Rodale).

Marin County resident and chef-owner of Wayfare Tavern in San Francisco, Florence learned how to make this dish on a visit to Barcelona.

It takes ham and eggs to a whole ‘nother level. Imagine biting into a toasted, thick slice of country bread topped with slices of sweet-salty Serrano ham,  a sunny side up egg and a drizzle of thick, creamy Manchego cheese bechamel sauce spiked with horseradish and nutmeg.

If that doesn’t perk you up, I don’t know what will.

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Scenes from “Worlds of Flavor” 2010

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Cold soba noodles in gelee at the 2010 "Worlds of Flavor'' conference on Japan.

Over the weekend, the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena presented its 13th annual “Worlds of Flavor International Conference & Festival.”

It was the first time that the conference — attended regularly by top chefs, restaurateurs, purveyors, food scientists and media — focused entirely on the cuisine of Japan.

For good reason.

A Japanese dancer.

Everywhere you turn these days, you can’t help but notice the influence Japanese cuisine is having around the world — from sushi being sold in most every American supermarket to ingredients such as edamame, yuzu and nori finding their place in professional kitchens around the world.

Assembling curry udon for the crowds.

Okonomiyaki -- savory noodle pancakes -- get grilled.

Turn on the TV to watch the excitement of “Iron Chef”; visit New York to wait in line at Chef David Chang’s wildly popular Momofuku Japanese-style, street food-inspired restaurants; or pick up the latest Michelin Guide, which awarded its highest honor of three stars to an astounding 12 restaurants in the Kansai region of Japan — more than any other area in the world.

The conference, “Japan: Flavors of Culture, From Sushi and Soba to Kaiseki,” was attended by 750 people, including more than 54 presenters from Japan, some of whom were visiting the Napa Valley for the first time.

It was a kick to see Masaharu Morimoto, Hiroyuki Sakai and Yukio Hattori — all of “Iron Chef” fame — wandering around the storied culinary campus. And even more memorable to hear Morimoto belt out an a cappella song in Japanese at the end of his cooking demo.

Morimoto cooking with suckling pig at a demo.

And what cooking demos there were — from watching a chef from Japan painstakingly make soba noodles from scratch on stage to the intricate details that go into making a perfect dashi stock to seeing Chef Doug Keane of Cyrus in Healdsburg prepare a broth made with his favorite matsutake mushrooms, which he confessed to loving even more than prized European truffles.

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