Category Archives: Chefs

Restaurant Doings Around the Bay Area

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Oakland's new Ozumo (Photo courtesy of Ozumo).

An East Bay outpost of San Francisco’s Ozumo has opened in Oakland at 2251 Broadway. Jeremy Umland,  Japanese professional baseball player turned entrepreneur and Ozumo founder, has created a similar set-up to the San Francisco contemporary Japanese restaurant, with a sushi bar, sake lounge, and robata grill under one roof. Enjoy small plates to be enjoyed individually or family-style.

Executive Chef Jennifer Nguyen, who has worked with famed “Iron Chef” Masaharu Morimoto, oversees it all.

Sip more than 90 different brands of sake, while enjoying yamabuki (uni, shimiji and shiitake mushrooms in a Genmai rice risotto, $12); and slices of hamachi and avocado drizzled with warm ginger-jalapeno ponzu sauce ($18).

Culinary star and Napa Style store-proprietor Michael Chiarello has opened a new restaurant in one of Yountville’s most historic buildings.

Bottega Ristorante, 6526 Washingon St. in the V Marketplace, is all about Chiarallo’s bold, rustic flavors. The 116-seat restaurant, named for the Italian word that means “artist’s workshop,” features Venetian plaster and Murano glass chandeliers.

Take a load off your feet in the glam lounge of the new Bottega Ristorante.

Look for dishes such as veal tortelli in brodo di carne with browned butter and butternut squash ($18), and goat’s milk braised lamb shank with roasted wild mushrooms ($24).

The Stanford Court Hotel in San Francisco debuted its new restaurant earlier this fall, Aurea. Dine in splendor under a Tiffany-style dome atop Nob Hill while enjoying dishes the likes of cioppino with aioli ($25), and stout-braised short rib with mashed potatoes ($26).

Meat lovers will want to check out the new Espetus Churrascaria in downtown San Mateo, a sister restaurant to the original one in San Francisco.

Skewers of meat, 12 to 14 different types, will be brought to your table and sliced onto your plate — until you say stop. Offerings include filet mignon, pork loin with Parmesan, chicken hearts, lamb, housemade sausage, and grilled prawns. Dinner is $49.95; lunch is $23.95 Monday through Friday and $32.95 on weekends.

The price includes a salad- and hot-plate bar that includes rice, beans, sushi, lasagna, and vegetarian dishes.

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And the Winner Is….

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New York Chef Eric Ripert and cookbook author Cindy Mushet complete their task of eating 26 different cookies.

There are far worse ways to spend a Saturday morning than judging dozens of cookies with the likes of Eric Ripert, executive chef of New York’s four-star Le Bernardin; Dominique Crenn, executive chef of Luce in the Intercontinental San Francisco; Cindy Mushet, author of the Sur La Table cookbook, “The Art & Soul of Baking”; and Emily Luchetti, executive pastry chef of Farallon, Waterbar and Epic Roadhouse restaurants, all in San Francisco.

In fact, I can’t think of when I’ve had quite so much fun so early in the day.

The five of us braved sugar shock to help judge the 13th annual “Holiday Cookie Exchange” contest that aired live this past Saturday on “Dining Around with Gene Burns” (KGO Radio AM810).

First place to Swedish Pepparkakor.

The contest received a record number of entries. Burns, himself, spent a grueling 13 hours whittling down the 500 entries to a mere 26 finalists.

Even so, you just try tasting 26 cookies in one sitting. It was a tough job, but we five were up to the challenge.

Pastry Chef Emily Luchetti, and Chef Dominique Crenn can't believe they ate so many cookies.

In the end, we chose these four winners:

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Exceptional Chocolates in Berkeley

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Bright, bold, and beautiful chocolates from Chocolatier Blue.

Artisan chocolatier Christopher Blue has elevated the art of chocolate making to a whole new level at Chocolatier Blue in central Berkeley, which opened earlier this summer.

Blue, who has worked with the likes of Chef Charlie Trotter of Chicago, is the only chocolatier in the United States to use Amedei chocolate from Tuscany that’s made from 100 percent Venezuelan sun-dried cacao beans. He also uses Five Star organic butter, which has the highest fat content of any butter in the world.

His chocolates are organic. What’s more, the fillings are made using such techniques as grilling, roasting, and sous vide. The packaging is all biodegradable, and much of it made from recyclable materials.

Christopher Blue (Photo courtesy of Jessica Steeve)

I’ll use my patented scale of 1 to 10 lip-smackers, with 1 being the “Bleh, save your money” far end of the spectrum; 5 being the “I’m not sure I’d buy it, but if it was just there, I might nibble some” middle-of-the-road response; and 10 being the “My gawd, I could die now and never be happier, because this is the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth” supreme ranking.

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Gingerbread Galore, Cooking Shows, Olive Blessings, and More

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The 2007 gingerbread creation crafted by Pastry Chef Carlos Sanchez of Parcel 104.

If you missed seeing last year’s incredible gingerbread creation by Pastry Chef Carlos Sanchez of Parcel 104 in Santa Clara, you really missed out.

His gingerbread dreamscape of the world was the stuff of sweet dreams (see photo above). But this year, he’s turning over the hard work to students at the Professional Culinary Institute in Campbell. The students are tasked with creating gingerbread houses at the school, then carefully transporting them to Parcel 104, where they will be put on display in the lobby of the Santa Clara Marriott at 5 p.m. tonight.

Let’s hope they survive the move, because 10 houses are expected to be on display. Sanchez, members of the local Chaine des Rotisseurs, and Marriott guests will get to cast votes for the best house based on creativity, festiveness, and attention to detail.

First place will win $250, second place $150, and third place $100. Winners will be announced in a ceremony later in the month at the school.

Tune into KTEH Public Television (channel 54) in San Jose at 7 p.m Dec. 3 to watch “KTEH Cooks with Garlic.” Nine local amateur cooks will be strutting their culinary skills live on TV as they cook with — you guessed it — garlic. The nine were selected from 40 videotapes submitted.

These recipes and others will be included in a future “KTEH Cooks with Garlic Cookbook.” To submit your own recipe for the cookbook, go to www.kteh.org/garlic.

Sonoma olives. (Photo courtesy of the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau)

If you prefer olives to garlic, head to historic Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma in Sonoma at 10 a.m. Dec. 6 for the start of a three-month long Sonoma Valley Olive Festival that kicks off with the blessing of the olives. Admission is free.

That will be followed at 10 a.m. that day by an open house and tasting at the Olive Press in Sonoma. Noon to 3 p.m., author Carol Firenze wil sign copies of her book, “The Passionate Olive — 101 Things to Do with Olive Oil.” Admission is free.

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Google’s Culinary Star Power

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Google's first executive chef. (Photo courtesy of Charlie Ayers)

If you ever had any doubts about the caliber of food those lucky Googlers get to nosh on for free, check out my story in the new December issue of San Francisco Magazine.

Charlie Ayers got the ball rolling in 1999 when he became the first executive chef at the Mountain View headquarters of that search engine giant. The delicious foundation he established helped nurture and lure a host of culinary stars. Now, Ayers is set to open his first restaurant, Calafia Cafe and Market A Go-Go in Palo Alto’s Town & Country Village. Although anticipated to open this month, due to construction delays, it will most likely open in January now.

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