Category Archives: Chefs

7 Adams Adds A New Seven

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Dungeness crab amuse-bouche kicks off the new 7-course tasting menu at 7 Adams.
Dungeness crab amuse-bouche kicks off the new 7-course tasting menu at 7 Adams.

“Tasting menu bargain” sure seems like a total oxymoron.

Especially these days when quite a few tasting menus bust the pocketbook at upwards of $500 per person.

So, when I come across one that hovers in the $125-plus range, especially one that delivers a filling and fulfilling time at a Michelin-starred establishment no less, I take notice.

San Anselmo’s Michelin-starred Madcap with its eight courses for $140 or 11 courses for $165 has long fit that bill for me. Of course my all-time bargain bliss is the four-course $52 menu at San Francisco’s Trestle, but that is more of a prix fixe with choices for each course rather than a bona fide tasting menu.

Just look for the "7.''
Just look for the “7.”

Happily, another modest-priced tasting menu, relatively speaking, has popped up on the scene now, this one at Michelin-starred 7 Adams in San Francisco.

Call it “7 at 7,” as it features 7 courses for $127. An optional wine pairing is $77 per person.

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The Nostalgic Taste of No-Churn Yuen Yeung Ice Cream Cake

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Sara Lee Pound Cake goes fancy and sentimental.
Sara Lee Pound Cake goes fancy and sentimental.

As a Chinese American kid growing up in San Francisco, I would peer into our family freezer to spy not only bamboo leaf-wrapped sticky rice dumplings and on-sale bags of shrimp for future stir-frys, but plenty of Swanson Salisbury steak dinners, boxes of Banquet boil-in-bag chicken a la king, and Sara Lee Pound Cake.

The latter of which I much preferred to eat still frozen.

Apparently, I wasn’t alone in that, either.

Not if the cookbook, “Salt Sugar MSG: Recipes From A Cantonese American Home” (Clarkson Potter), of which I received a review copy, is any indication.

That’s because deep within its pages is a recipe for “No-Churn Yuen Yeung Ice Cream Cake” made with — you guessed it — a Sara Lee Pound Cake, but one gussied up with layers of a fluffy whipped cream-and condensed milk flavored with Lipton tea and a dash of coffee.

For me, it is as if old-school Chinatown milk tea and that buttery dense pound cake decided to skip joyously together down memory lane.

The cookbook was written by Calvin Eng, chef and owner of Bonnie’s, a well-regarded Cantonese American restaurant in Williamsburg in New York. who is also a Food & Wine “Best New Chef,” with assistance from Phoebe Melnick, a New York video journalist.

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Johnny & Sanny’s Is the Latest Addition to Downtown Mountain View

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Octopus carpaccio at Johnny & Sanny's.
Octopus carpaccio at Johnny & Sanny’s.

If there was any positive to come out of the pandemic, it was the closure of Mountain View’s Castro Street to traffic. Instead of cars and motorcycles rumbling by, there are now cornhole games, a ping-pong table, and even mini putting green holes set up in what has grown into a veritable pedestrian playground with adults and kids alike.

Restaurants that line both sides seem even livelier now. One of the buzziest is Doppio Zero, with diners filling every sidewalk table. No wonder the founders of this mini Bay Area chain, Gianni “Johnny” Chiloiro and Angelo “Sanny” Sannino were inspired to open another restaurant just a few doors away.

Appropriately named Johnny & Sanny’s after its owners, it opened in May. Chef de Cuisine Santiago Avila Gonzalez and Corporate Chef Antonio Inguscio helm the kitchen of this establishment dedicated to Italian-American cuisine.

The front of the restaurant can be opened up completely to the sidewalk.
The front of the restaurant can be opened up completely to the sidewalk.

A couple weeks ago, I had a chance to check out the new restaurant when I was invited in as a guest.

The whole front of the restaurant opens up onto the sidewalk, making dining here seem even more festive.

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The Choi of Roasted Beets with Chili Crisp, Cilantro, and Lime

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Roasted beets never had it so good, as in this audacious dish.
Roasted beets never had it so good, as in this audacious dish.

The beet goes on.

And on and on in this inspired dish that’s a pure powerhouse of flavors that lingers devilishly on the palate.

“Roasted Beets with Chili Crisp, Cilantro, and Lime” is sweet, spicy, earthy, acidic and full of umami, and sure to make even an avowed beet hater change their tune.

This easy recipe is from the new “The Choi of Cooking” (Clarkson Potter), of which I received a review copy.

With a title like that, it could have been written only by Roy Choi, the South Korea-born chef who made a colossal splash in Los Angeles with his Kogi BBQ that ignited the food truck craze.

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The Enchanting Angele Restaurant & Bar in Napa

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Pate de Campagne at Angele in Napa.
Pate de Campagne at Angele in Napa.

With beautiful mountain ranges and sweeping vineyards galore, the Napa Valley doesn’t have to work hard to enrapture visitors. So, it’s a rare restaurant there that somehow manages to outdo that bucolic setting and transport you elsewhere.

That establishment is Angele Restaurant & Bar in downtown Napa, where dining feels like a blissful getaway to the lovely countryside of France.

Owner Bettina Rouas opened the restaurant on the banks of the Napa River in 2002, naming it for her grandmother.

The welcome sign at the door.
The welcome sign at the door.
The roof over the outdoor patio.
The roof over the outdoor patio.

The comfortable warmth you feel at Angele is no accident, not when Rouas hails from a family renowned for its hospitality. Her father Claude Rouas owned legendary L’Etoile in San Francisco and opened Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford.

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