Category Archives: Chefs

Restaurant Specials and Food From the Heart

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Enjoy stuffed squash for half price, if you eat late and in a big party. (Photo courtesy of John Benson)

If you’re a night owl, gather your nocturnal friends for a dining deal at Zare at Fly Trap restaurant in San Francisco.

Its new “Ten After Ten” promotion lets parties of 10 or more who make a dinner reservation for 10 p.m. or later get 50 percent off the cost of food. It’s good Monday through Saturday. Just mention what special occasion you’re celebrating — birthday, anniversary, bachelorette party or something else — when you book.

Meatballs with harissa at Zare at Fly Trap. (Photo courtesy of the National Honey Board)

If you prefer eating earlier, Chez Papa Resto in San Francisco has introduced a monthly changing themed four-course prix fixe dinner menu (with amuse bouche) nightly for $50. Wine pairing is available for an additional $35.

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A Tale of Two Almond Cookies

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Welcome the start of Lunar New Year today with Chinese almond cookies. Two different kinds, to be exact.

After all, you can never have too much of a good thing — especially when it comes to cookies.

Oh sure, you could take the easy route and buy a tub of almond cookies at the store. But please, make your own. They’re so much better and fresher. Try either of these recipes, and you’ll be glad that you did.

In one corner (right one in photo), we have the recipe for “Chinese Almond Cookies” from “Classic Stars Desserts” (Chronicle Books) by Bay Area Pastry Chef Emily Luchetti. (If you missed my fun Q&A with her, just click here.)

In the other corner (left one in photo), we have another recipe for ”Almond Cookies” from one of my all-time favorite Chinese cookbooks, “Every Grain of Rice (Clarkson Potter) by Ellen Blonder and Annabel Low.

I know what you’re thinking: “But Food Gal, which cookie recipe is better?” (You are thinking that, right?)

The answer is that they’re both wonderful, but it just depends on what you like.

The recipe by Blonder and Low will probably appeal to the almond cookie purist, the one who wants the exact same look and texture as the ones found in the stores or that arrive on the tray with the check at Chinese restaurants. These cookies have pretty crackles on top, and bake up sandy and crumbly from the addition of shortening.

Luchetti’s version is more for the modern almond cookie aficionado. Her almond cookies are crispy on the edges, and sort of cakey in the center. They are made with butter, and get a jolt of fresh almond flavor from sliced almonds incorporated right into the dough.

So which contender will it be?

Go ahead, make both. What better way to say, Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Almond Cookies (From “Every Grain of Rice”)

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Charlie Ayers’ Calafia Cafe Opens

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Inside Calafia Cafe & Market A Go Go. (Photo courtesy of Ben Mayorga)

The long-awaited debut restaurant by the former executive chef of Google has opened for business at Palo Alto’s Town & Country Village.

Calafia Cafe & Market A Go Go is the brainchild of Charlie Ayers, one-time private chef to the Grateful Dead. Although the cafe is open, the market  — with its planned salad bar, rotisserie chicken, and pre-cooked meals to reheat at home — won’t open its doors until February.

The eclectic, global menu of the casual eatery emphasizes fresh, healthy, local, and sustainable. You’ll find everything from brown rice sushi ($9) to Crouching Chicken Pizza (Five-spice chicken, tiger sauce, mushrooms, white sesame seeds, and greens; $9), Chinese Chicken Salad ($7.50), Lacquered Beef Short Ribs ($16), and Vegan Sticky Buns with Maple Syrup ($7).

Carafes of house-filtered still or carbonated water are set on the tables. Lumber from a 1910 Pennsylvania barn was reclaimed for the ceiling. A chandelier of 66 recycled milk bottles graces the front dining area. Other custom table lamps are constructed from a found gas can and dairy can; and counters are made from recycled paper put under immense pressure to create a hard, dense surface.

Pizza -- Charlie Ayers' way. (Photo courtesy of Chris Schmauch)

The cafe and bar are open daily, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Happy Hour, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily, will feature select wines, beers, and appetizers at a discount.

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Take Five with Chris Cosentino, A Chef Who Is Offal Good At What He Does

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The one and only Chris Cosentino.

Chris Cosentino, the spiky-haired, take-no-prisoners chef of San Francisco’s acclaimed Incanto, is a man who enjoys extremes.

Particularly when it comes to sports, and cuts of meat.

A chef who designed stickers and T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan, “I Love Offal,” started his own salumi company last year, Boccalone, with Incanto’s owner Mark Pastore.

At Incanto, Cosentino is not shy about showcasing more unusual meat and seafood offerings, either. Bloater paste bruschetta, anyone? Get past the name to enjoy a luscious, creamy rich spread made from organ meats of a smoked fish. Wicked good.

Then, there’s the restaurant’s “Whole Beast Dinners” (starting at $55 per person, and you’ll need about 20 of your friends to enjoy it). Sit down to your choice of a whole roast suckling pig, lamb or goat carved tableside. Incanto sells two of those carnivore extravaganzas a month.

Braised beef shank (leg of beast).

They’ve proven so popular that the restaurant just started offering a smaller version of that family-style meal: “Leg of Beast.” The four-course meal ($200 for 6-8 people) is centered around a whole leg of beef. Enjoy unctuous marrow bones (God’s butter, as Cosentino calls it); melty beef tendon stewed with cannelloni beans and sage; a platter of chicory tardivo tossed with zinfandel vinaigrette; and the piece de resistance, a whole braised beef shank — a nearly 20-pound leg of beef that’s been cooked at 200 degrees for 6 hours until it is spoonable-tender.

I had the chance to enjoy the debut of this meat madness at Incanto, and to sit down with Cosentino afterwards, just days before the 36-year-old chef would have surgery.

He quipped, “It’s for implants. C-cups.”

Not quite.

For Cosentino, who enjoys telemark skiing, and raced competitively in single-speed mountain-bike 24-hour ultra endurance races, this will be his third shoulder surgery — the first one on the left shoulder for this right-handed chef.

His body produces a large amount of elastin, he explains, a natural protein that gives elasticity to tissues and organs. In the case of his shoulder, though, the elastin has caused the connective tissues to become like overstretched rubber bands, and they need to be repaired.

Cosentino expects to be back in the kitchen shortly after the operation. But he won’t be able to move his left arm much for about six weeks.

Q: Maybe you should take up hiking instead?

A: That would be too boring.

Q: So which came first — your love for cooking or your love for cycling?

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A Tangy-Spicy Shrimp Curry to Welcome 2009

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Coconut shrimp curry

Vittal Shetty, corporate chef for the Bay Area’s Amber India restaurants, loves the simplicity and versatiliy of this coconut shrimp curry dish.

Redolent of tamarind, chilies, garlic, cumin seeds, tomatoes, and coconut milk, it cooks in a flash. Best yet, the curry paste can be made in large batches, then frozen in smaller quantities. That way, you’ll always have some on hand to use with most any seafood.

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