Category Archives: Chefs

A Sunny Shade of Pasta

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A dazzling pasta that's as simple as it gets.

Whenever someone asks me what my favorite cookbooks are, they’re invariably taken aback when I answer.

Among my most adored cookbooks are the ones by Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

Yes, the chic four-star, classically trained Alsatian chef with a fondness for cooking in Prada loafers, who boasts a mega empire of restaurants around the world, including the swank Jean Georges in New York.

Yes, him.

I know you’re thinking precious dishes that take four pages to explain, days to complete, special equipment, and untold trips to many markets for esoteric ingredients.

But his recipes aren’t that at all.

Indeed, I’ve probably cooked more than a dozen recipes from his “Jean-Georges Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef” (Broadway) and his “Simple to Spectacular” (Broadway) books, and been won over by all of them. Surprisingly, from a chef of this caliber, the recipes are not overly complex. In fact, many of them are downright simple and thoroughly straightforward. Often, there also are inspiring flavor taste combinations, too, from this man who was nicknamed “the palate” at a young age for his uncanny ability to discern flavors.

His “Pasta with Saffron Oil” is emblematic of all of that. The recipe from “Simple to Spectacular” is indeed simple and spectacular.

It’s literally just pasta tossed with olive oil that’s been infused with saffron. But how beautifully they go together. The saffron turns the noodles a sunny shade of warm, orange-tinged gold, and lends a distinctive earthy, exotic flair.

I first served this pasta as a side dish, adding slices of piquillo peppers to give it a little more heft.

Pricey, imported tuna in olive oil.

The next time I made it, I not only added the piquillo peppers, but also some Spanish Italian tuna packed in oil to make the dish substantial enough for a main course.

I had picked up a jar of Consorcio Bonito del Norte, considered the “Caviar of Tuna,” at Corti Brothers Market in Sacramento while visiting my in-laws. According to Corti Brothers, this brand was founded in 1950 and is considered the premier tuna in a tin.

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A Secret Garden At Quattro in the Four Seasons Silicon Valley

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Flowering oregano in the secret garden.

It may not exactly possess storybook charm. Indeed, you might walk or drive past it without even knowing it’s there.

But if you look closely on the grounds of the swank Four Seasons Silicon Valley in East Palo Alto, you might just spot the secret garden that’s brimming with Meyer lemon trees, a Kaffir lime tree, lemon balm, lemongrass, lemon thyme, orange mint, pineapple basil, rosemary, and bronze fennel.

The Herb Garden at Quattro, as it has been so dubbed, serves an important purpose: It provides culinary inspiration for the chefs at the hotel’s Quattro restaurant, with its fresh, aromatic bounty just steps outside their door. It saves money, too. The garden now yields enough mint for the restaurant and bar that none ever has to be purchased. And when Executive Chef Alessandro Cartumini needs a few Kaffir lime leaves to roast fish, he just goes outside to pick some, rather than being forced to order a larger quantity than necessary from a supplier.

Cartumini planted the garden a year ago just around the corner from the restaurant, in a 100-square-foot, concrete-walled berm that’s part of the hotel’s landscaping. Like an Italian Johnny Appleseed, he’d like to sprinkle a few more seeds here and there on the hotel grounds, but he laughs that the landscaping crew might not go for that.

Executive Chef Alessandro Cartumini (left) and Sous Chef Edward Higgins (right) inspect the garden's citrus trees.

The fresh herbs are used in many dishes, most noticeably in the chef’s special tasting menu, where every course gets a flourish of them.

“It really gets cooks more in touch and makes them have more respect for the food,” Cartumini says of the on-site garden.

Adds sous chef Edward Higgins, “You can cut what you need five minutes before. It really preserves the flavor that way.”

If you haven’t visited the contemporary Italian restaurant since it opened three and a half years ago, many changes have occurred.

Higgins joined the team late last year. The Boston native, who worked at Craft Restaurant in New York, Insieme restaurant in New York, and Ekki Bar & Grill at the Four Seasons Hotel  Tokyo, has brought an international flair and modern sensibility.

House-made ricotta for the house-made bread.

The food, once a bit rustic, is decidedly more refined now, positioning the restaurant as more a destination dining spot, Cartumini explains. The restaurant also has a new-found emphasis on local and house-made. It shows in the creamy ricotta that’s made daily to serve in place of butter with the freshly baked focaccia brought to the table.  All the pastas are made in-house now, too, with the Ferrari of pasta machines, which set the restaurant back a cool $13,000.

The pricey pasta machine at work.

Filling Lombardian ravioli.

Gnocchetti.

When I asked Piemonte-native, Cartumini, why the pasta machine, with its 1.5-horsepower engine, is so pricey, he deadpanned:

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Enticing Events to Savor

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The fun bar at Aquarius restaurant. (Photo courtesy of Matthew Millman)

How’s this for one cool looking bar?

You’ll find it at the new Aquarius restaurant in the newly renovated Santa Cruz Dream Inn in Santa Cruz.

The modern American bistro is headed up by Chef Philippe Breneman, formerly of the Ventana Inn and Spa at Big Sur, who’s all about sustainable seafood and seasonal, organic produce. Look for California white bass with udon noodles, lychee glaze and miso-truffle broth; and seared Pacific cod with white corn succotash, smoked bacon, and mache.

The 2,900 square-foot restaurant features wraparound windows to take advantage of the views of Monterey Bay. A whimsical canopy of handmade surfboards and teardrop-shaped latticework lamps hang from above to give the restaurant a carefree attitude.

Leave it to Napa Valley’s celeb chef, Michael Chiarello, to know how to throw a shindig.

Aug. 9 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., he will host a “Mid-Summer Zin n’ Ribs Party” on the lawn outside his Bottega restaurant in Yountville.

Meet celeb Chef Michael Chiarello. (Photo courtesy of Phil Harvey)

Chiarello, a finalist on this season’s “Top Chef Masters” on Bravo TV, will sign cookbooks and wine bottles at 11:30 a.m., then host a 1 p.m. cooking demonstration.

The menu includes Chiarello’s signature barbecued honey espresso ribs, and Chiarello Family Vineyard’s Zinfandel.

Tickets are $30 per person for those ages 21 and older; $15 per person for those under age 21. Proceeds benefit Clinic Ole, and the Land Trust of Napa County’s Connolly Ranch.

For more fun with chefs, head to San Francisco’s Union Square, Aug. 6-9, for “SF Chefs. Food. Wine.” The multi-event extravaganza features a bevy of the Bay Area’s best chefs and sommeliers heading up cooking demos, wine seminars, food panels, grand tastings, and special gala dinners.

Tickets range from $40 to $700 for individual events and multi-day passes.

Chef Ross Hanson and his wife of Restaurant James Randall. (Photo courtesy of Laura Ness)

The town of Los Gatos invites you to try its many highly regarded restaurants during “Sizzling Summer Restaurant Week,” Aug. 5-12.

Participating restaurants will feature special three-course prix-fixe menus for $25, $35 or $45. California Cafe, Cin-Cin Wine Bar & Restaurant, Crimson, Forbes Mill Steakhouse, I Gatti, Nick’s On Main, Restaurant James Randall, Tapestry, Three Degrees, Trevese, Viva, and the Wine Cellar are among those who will be participating. Reservations can be made through the restaurants directly or through OpenTable.

If you’re a fan of “Top Chef” and in the Los Angeles-area, you’ll be interested to know that “Top Chef” contestant Stefan Richter, whom fans loved to hate, is expected to open his first restaurant, Stefan’s at LA Farm in Santa Monica, on Aug. 6.

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Take Five With Go Fish Chef Stuart Morris, A “Master Sommelier” of Sake

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Sous Chef Stuart Morris with one of his favorite sakes. (Photo courtesy of Go Fish restaurant)

Place a glass of wine and a glass of sake in front of Stuart Morris, sous chef of Go Fish restaurant in St.Helena, and there’s no question which beverage he’d reach for.

Sake.

Without a doubt.

The Japanese wine that’s brewed from finely milled rice has long captured the imagination of this 36-year-old Boston native who attended Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island, and Le Cordon Bleu in London.

So much so that the former cook at Postrio in San Francisco and La Toque in the Napa Valley, put put himself through the arduous task of earning the title of KikiSakeShi. What “Master Sommelier” is to wine, KikiSakeShi is to sake.

Although the Sake Service Institute in Japan, which administers the rigorous exam, doesn’t keep records by nationality, Morris is believed to be only the sixth American to garner this distinction.

To showcase his talents with sake, Go Fish is now featuring a $55 three-course sake pairing dinner on Tuesday nights. Morris, who has been with Go Fish since the restaurant opened three years ago, designs the dishes and picks the sakes each week. The restaurant boasts an impressive 27 different sakes by the bottle, and eight by the glass, including a few that aren’t normally found at restaurants in the United States.

Recently, I had a chance to chat with him about why he loves sake, and just how incredibly involved the process was to get this rare certification.

Q: So how does one go about getting a KikiSakeShi title?

A: You apply and get sent materials. You have to prep for it. I got four really thick books in Japanese and one very thin book in English.

Q: Oh my. Do you even read Japanese?

A: No. (laughs)

I worked with some of my Japanese friends to help translate the materials. I also went online and got as much information as I could. It took a year for me to go to Tokyo to take the test after I first got all the books.

Sake cups (Photo courtesy of Go Fish restaurant)

Q: When did you take the test?

A: I was in Tokyo at the end of March for 10 days. The test takes place on one day for eight hours. I arrived on a Friday night, and Saturday, I had to actually go to the place to take the test.

I walked down a street and kind of got lost. Since there is usually a police station near the train station, I stopped a policeman to ask for directions. I had the address written on a piece of paper. He started pointing and writing more directions on the paper. I got a few more blocks before I had to ask someone else for more directions, who also wrote more instructions on the paper. All in all, I had to ask 10 people for directions until I got to where I was supposed to be.

Q: Were you the only Caucasian taking the test?

A: There were 15 people taking it, and yes, I was the only non-Japanese person.

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Delicious Doings

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A sushi deal at Yoshi's. (Photo courtesy of Frankie Frankeny)

If you love sushi and love to eat late, Yoshi’s San Francisco and Oakland locales has a deal for you.

Every Friday and Saturday nights from 10 p.m. till closing, you can enjoy 10 chef’s choice pieces of sushi for $10.

The “10 for 10” special from Executive Chef Shotaro ”Sho” Kamio is available in the upstairs Sake Lounge at Yoshi’s San Francisco and in the Lounge at Yoshi’s in Oakland.

Tomato aficionados will want to head to Luce at the InterContinental Hotel in San Francisco for the “Tomato Tasting Menu” that’s available through the end of July.

The three-course prix-fixe meal is $34.95. Pony up an additional $12 for wine pairings.

Dishes served will be: cherry tomato broth with Cherokee tomato tartare; diver scallop with heirloom tomato confit and crispy tomato; and tomato sorbet with strawberry and yogurt.

Corn will be spotlighted in a special menu in August, and melon will star in September.

Regulars at the Gourmet Corner, the fun French food and wine store in San Mateo, will be tempted to pick up even more goodies while shopping. Every Friday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., RoliRoti will be on the premises. The mobile rotisserie serves incredible roasted sustainably-raised meats and veggies. It’s an easy way to pick up the fixings for that evening’s supper.

Paolo’s in downtown San Jose offers a summer prix-fixe menu through Aug. 1.

Price is $28.50 per person if you choose the pasta “secondi,” or $36 per person if you opt for the fish or beef “secondi.” Wine pairing is an additional $18 per person.

Restaurant O Catering will host a four-course wine dinner on July 31 with Black Ridge Vineyards at the historic La Hacienda in Los Gatos.

The Santa Cruz Mountains Winery specializes in Viognier, Pinot Noir, and a San Andreas Red Bordeaux-style blend. Dishes to be served include cherry wood smoked quail stuffed with figs and cambazola cheese with Pinot Noir glace; and grilled filet mignon with pan-seared foie gras and sauteed summer nectarines.

Price is $125 per person. For reservations, call Jennifer Flippen at Restaurant O at (408) 354-3131.

Spruce's Mark Sullivan. (Photo courtesy of Spruce)

Spruce restaurant in San Francisco celebrates its second anniversary on Aug. 2 with a special celebration menu.

Price is $55 per person. Wine pairings are available for an additional $20.

Chef Mark Sullivan has dreamed up a three-course “Two-Way” dinner menu of: Dirty Girl heirloom tomatoes two ways, Grimaud Farms natural Guinea hen two ways, and Hamada Farms two stone fruits crostata.

The Pasta Shop in Berkeley is going hog wild, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on July 25.

Its second annual “Hog Heaven” celebration is a salute to artisan pork. Enjoy cooking demos, samples, and grilled sausage sandwiches for purchase.

Congrats are in order for HALL Wines, which became the first winery in California to earn a Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.

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