Category Archives: Chefs

The Aptly Named Aphrodisiac Biscuit

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Resistance is futile.
Resistance is futile.

If Valentine’s Day is all about showering the ones you love with an overload chocolate, then this biscuit is sure to do the trick — and then some.

“Aphrodisiac Biscuit” is aptly named because it not only has chopped chocolate inside a tender interior but glossy melted chocolate spread lavishly all over its top.

This decadent treat is from “The Big Bottom Biscuit: Specialty Biscuits and Spreads from Sonoma’s Big Bottom Market” (Running Press, 2019), of which I received a review copy.

The book is by Michael Volpatt, who opened the Big Bottom Market in Guerneville in 2011, a combo retail store and cafe that serves sandwiches, salads, and of course, biscuits.

It includes more than 50 recipes for biscuits, biscuit dishes and things that go with biscuits. In short, it will expand your horizon on just what biscuits can be.

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Scenes From Chefs’ Holidays in Yosemite 2020

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The Ahwahnee Hotel.
The Ahwahnee Hotel.

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA — It may have been a challenging few months for this glorious national park, what with an outbreak of norovirus and the Ahwahnee Hotel’s loss of one star, dropping it to a AAA three-diamond rating instead. But I’m happy to report that all seemed well when I was there last week as moderator for the last two sessions of the 2020 Chefs’ Holidays event.

This popular winter-time extravaganza, which consists of fun chef demos and grand gala dinners, celebrated its 36th year this January.

There might not have been any snow on the valley floor this time around, but there was plenty of sunshine, as well as more than enough action on the demo stage to keep everyone entertained.

All roads lead to good food here.
All roads lead to good food here.

Husband-and-wife chefs John Stewart and Duskie Estes got things rolling first, recounting the devastating loss of their Zazu restaurant in Sebastopol after last winter’s deluge flooded their place, and how local high school students kayaked in with a generator to help them pump out the water.

John Stewart and Duskie Estes of Zazu Farm & Catering.
John Stewart and Duskie Estes of Zazu Farm & Catering.
Yours truly with chefs Loren Goodwin of the Gastropig, Jason Fox of the Proper Hotel, and John Stewart and Duskie Estes of Zazu.
Yours truly with chefs Loren Goodwin of the Gastropig, Jason Fox of the Proper Hotel, and John Stewart and Duskie Estes of Zazu.

Stewart and Estes may not have a restaurant at the moment. But they continue to do catering, as well as sell products from their farm, including their magnificent Black Pig Meat Co. bacon.

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Love Birds and The Chemistry of Love

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The Love Birds box.
The Love Birds box.

I doubt if anyone ever needs an excuse to indulge in Recchiuti chocolates. But with Valentine’s Day coming up, you indeed have the perfect reason to treat yourself or someone you love to some of the finest artisan chocolate confections around.

For more than two decades, Michael Recchiuti has been making exquisite chocolates by hand with flavoring ingredients sourced seasonally from Bay Area farmers markets.

You can find the confections at the Recchiuti storefront at the Ferry Building in San Francisco and the retail shop, Recchiuti at the Lab, in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood. Or you can shop on its own web store.

In anticipation of Valentine’s Day, I was lucky enough to receive samples to try of two holiday offerings.

The Love Birds Truffle Box ($48) is a collection of 16 pieces, an assortment of the most popular flavors, including Tarragon Grapefruit, Pearl Mint Tea, and Piedmont Hazelnut.

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Pig Out At The Gastropig

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Meet the Baconslut -- at The Gastropig.
Meet the Baconslut — at The Gastropig.

You’ll be forgiven if you leave this rollicking Oakland cafe, oinking.

After all, it just can’t be helped after chowing down happily at The Gastropig.

This sweet little spot is operated by Chef Loren Goodwin, who cut his chops on the line at Chez Panisse in Berkeley.

A sweet spot in Oakland.
A sweet spot in Oakland.

Amusingly enough, Goodwin was raised vegetarian. But after trying his first taste of ham as a kid, he instantly crossed to the “dark side.” Who can blame him?

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Party On At Lazy Bear

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Chef David Barzelay putting the finishing touches on a dish at his Lazy Bear in San Francisco.
Chef David Barzelay putting the finishing touches on a dish at his Lazy Bear in San Francisco.

Chef David Barzelay can get by on little sleep. Sometimes only two to four hours per night.

But that’s a good thing when one is essentially throwing a dinner party five nights a week.

His Michelin two-starred Lazy Bear in San Francisco touts itself as a “modern American dinner party in the Mission District.”

There is definitely an air of that, as I experienced when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant recently. Dinner is $199 to $221, and must be reserved and paid for ahead of time in the form on online tickets. Wine or non-alcoholic pairings are extra.

You feel a little like you’ve been invited to a surreptitious dinner party, especially because the dark-fronted building doesn’t have a typical sign — just a small one painted with a black and red buffalo plaid pattern.

Walk inside and you’re escorted up the stairs to the dimly-lighted, cozy lounge, where your jackets will be whisked away, and you’ll be handed crystal glasses of pear-rum punch from a real punch bowl. Yes, when’s the last time you experienced that?

The upstairs lounge.
The upstairs lounge.
Smokey the Bear -- and a host of other bears -- are prominent throughout.
Smokey the Bear — and a host of other bears — are prominent throughout.
The bar on the first floor right when you walk in.
The bar on the first floor right when you walk in.

Lazy Bear immediately transports you to another time and place with its Boy Scout-hunting lodge meets mid-century modern decor.

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