Category Archives: Enticing Events

The Most Anticipated Restaurant of the Year, Benu, Opens Today

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Expectations are through the stratosphere for Benu, which opens today in San Francisco, to unparalleled fanfare.

Discriminating diners have been salivating over every detail that has emerged over the past few months about this new restaurant from Chef Corey Lee, the esteemed former chef de cuisine of the French Laundry in Yountville.

Reservations already have been going fast on OpenTable for Lee’s first restaurant, with tables already nabbed as far out as late September.

But that’s not surprising, given Lee’s stature in the culinary world. The James Beard award-winning chef has built a restaurant, where every detail has been meticulously considered — from the specially designed porcelain plateware to the private wine lockers to the first-of-its-kind Viking cooking suite in the kitchen.

Indeed, Lee’s architect, the award-winning Richard Bloch of New York, calls this the most custom restaurant he’s ever worked on. It’s also the first restaurant that the French Laundry’s Thomas Keller has invested in that’s not one of his own.

Learn just what it took to build this elegant restaurant, housed in the former Hawthorne Lane-cum-Two restaurant space just a hop away from the W Hotel. Read all about it in my story in the September issue of Food Arts magazine.

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Rick Bayless, Alice Waters & More Chefs

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Rick Bayless to Visit Palo Alto

Meet Rick Bayless, Chicago chef extraordinaire, Mexican cuisine authority, and winner of the first season of “Top Chef Masters” on Bravo TV, in Palo Alto, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Aug. 16.

Bayless, who recently cooked for the first time for the First Family at the White House, will talk about his culinary philosophy and share a few of his delectable dishes from his new cookbook, “Fiesta at Rick’s” (W.W. Norton & Co.) at a reception at Reposado restaurant in downtown Palo Alto.

Tickets are $95 per person (which includes a copy of his cookbook) or $160 per couple (which includes one copy of the book).

Dinner with Alice Waters in Marin County

Join Alice Waters of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse in a conversation with Davia Nelson, NPR producer of “The Kitchen Sisters” and author of “Hidden Kitchens, Stories, Recipes and More From NPR’s Kitchen Sisters” (Rodale Books), 6 p.m. Aug. 7 at Toby’s Feed Barn, 11250 Highway One, Point Reyes Station.

Together, they’ll talk about how to create a “green kitchen,” which is the title of Waters’ new book, “In the Green Kitchen: Techniques to Learn by Heart” (Clarkson Potter).

A dinner buffet, created by Osteria Stellina, is included, which will feature pasture-raised goat braised in cinnamon and red wine; almond-wood grilled chicken; and berry and honey tarts.

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Take Five with Chef Dominique Crenn, on Her Upcoming “Iron Chef America” Battle

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Last year, Executive Chef Dominique Crenn of Luce in San Francisco, showed her chops by competing in the Food Network’s “The Next Iron Chef Competition.”

Now, the 45-year-old chef who used to square off regularly against the guys in soccer in her homeland of France, shows off her combative skills again, this time in Kitchen Stadium on Aug. 8 on “Iron Chef America” when she takes on Iron Chef Michael Symon.

She plans to feature her “Iron Chef” dishes on a special prix fixe menu at Luce, too, starting Aug. 10. The multi-course dinner will be $65 per person, and be available through Labor Day.

Crenn joins a small cadre of Bay Area chefs who have battled an Iron Chef: Ron Siegel of the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco; David Kinch of Manresa in Los Gatos, Traci Des Jardins of Jardiniere in San Francisco; Mourad Lahlou of Aziza in San Francisco; Charles Phan of the Slanted Door in San Francisco; Chris Cosentino of Incanto in San Francisco; and Nate Appleman (formerly at A16 in San Francisco and now at New York’s Pulino’s). By Crenn’s count, that makes her the eighth competitor from these parts, a most auspicious number for her, too.

Q: What’s up with the number eight?

A: In France, we celebrate the names of people on certain days. So, Aug. 8 is the day to celebrate St. Dominique in France.

Q: Hmm, so does that mean there was a good outcome for you in the battle because of that?

A: (laughs) You can’t read anything into that.

Q: The day you did the battle also marked the anniversary of your father’s death?

A: Yes, it was the 10th anniversary. The battle was for him. That day, I was sad, but focused. I wished he was there. But it also was a day to celebrate the person that he was. You have to celebrate that or else you just end up staying at home and crying your eyes out.

Q: Did you know Symon before doing the show?

A: I met him when I did ‘The Next Iron Chef.’ And I knew about him through friends in the industry. He has an incredible reputation. It was an honor to be in a battle with him.

We were putting makeup on, and sitting next to each other, just cracking up. He’s a wonderful man. But the gloves come off when it’s time to battle. It’s one hour of craziness.

Q: Of course, he has that unmistakable devilish laugh, too. Was that intimidating?

A: I love his laugh. I made a comment about it. You will see.

Q: I know you can’t say what the ‘secret ingredient’ is. But was it at least an ingredient that you liked?

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News in Wine Country, Kids Eat Free & More

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New Happenings in Wine Country

After years of renovation, Rustic, Francis’s Favorites has opened in the soon-to-be-completed Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Geyserville.

The dining room is centered on the parrila, an Argentinian grill. Enjoy Neopolitan pizzas such as the one named after the famed director’s daughter (a stellar director in her own right), Sofia. This pizza comes topped with arugula, prosciutto, and Parmigiano. Other dishes include a whole fish cooked in salt, classic Fiorentino steak for two, short ribs Argentine-style, and “Mrs. Scorcese’s Lemon Chicken” (one guess where that recipe came from).

The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner daily. The winery has a temporary tasting room for now. Eventually, it will include two new tasting rooms, as well as Coppola’s collection of movie memorabilia, including Don Corleone’s desk from “The Godfather” and the original 1948 Tucker car.

Join more than 30 of the Napa Valley’s top chefs and wineries at Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation Grand Tasting at the Silverado Resort in Napa, Aug. 5.

Among the restaurants participating are Peter Pahk, chef of the Silverado Resort, who will be assisted by chefs from La Toque, the Restaurant at Meadowood, and Cole’s Chop House.

Funds raised will go to Share Our Strength’s efforts to eradicate childhood hunger in Napa County and across the nation.

Tickets are $75 per person. One of the sponsors, Pretzel Crisps, is offering a deal on $15 off the ticket price. Just use the code, “PRETZELCRISP,” when purchasing tickets online.

This month, Swanson Vineyards in Rutherford debuted a new, whimsical tasting room, Sip Shoppe.

It joins the winery’s Salon tasting room. The Sip Shoppe, open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, is decorated in striped circus-like fabric and faux stone gargoyles. Enjoy sipping wines in unusual glassware such as glass “Dixie” cups, mini Riedel O’s, and colored cut crystal.

A sense of fun permeates this tasting spot, which was envisioned as a candy store for grown-ups. Wines are available by the glass or by specific tastings, including the “Oakville Irony” ($15, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, a dollop of caviar atop a potato chip, and a New Orleans Snowball).

Look for new gift sets to be sold there, too, such as the “Newlywed Kit” (six bottles of  Swanson Vineyards “Just Married” wine, along with a feather ostrich duster, and a sage bundle).

Kids Eat Free at Chipotle Aug. 2

Parents who purchase a burrito, salad, burrito bowl or tacos at Bay Area Chipotle’s get a free meal for their kids on Aug. 2.

It’s a promotion to show off the new Chipotle kids’ menu, which includes choices such as small cheese quesadilla ($2.95, which includes a bag of chips, and beverage) and a “taco kit” ($3.95), which allows the pint-sized bunch to build their own tacos from three items (and enjoy chips and a beverage).

Just as with the grown-up dishes, the kid-friendly ones also are made with naturally raised meats, organic and local produce, and hormone-free dairy.

Today is National Cheesecake Day…

…And you know what that means? Half-price cheesecake slices for eat-in diners today at Cheesecake Factory locations.

Choose from more than 30 different flavors, including the new Reese’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheesecake, which includes chunks of your favorite candy mixed into cheesecake with layers of fudge cake and caramel. How decadent is that?

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New Starbucks Flavored Coffees & Food Gal Contest for Coffee Lovers

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Over the years, many flavored coffees have left me feeling much like I do about yesterday’s grounds — wondering why they were still around and hadn’t been thrown out or used as compost yet.

You’ve probably experienced the same — coffee flavored like Christmas or your favorite ice cream sundae topping, where you couldn’t taste the coffee at all, and instead were left with this way too strong, rather artificial taste in your mouth.

That’s why I was pleasantly surprised by the new Starbucks Natural Fusions. The three new coffees come in Vanilla, Caramel and Cinnamon flavors.

I hesitantly tried the samples I received, only to find myself smiling at what was in my cup. These flavored ground coffees are made with real-deal ingredients — ground vanilla bean and Indian sarsaparilla root in the Vanilla; cinnamon, orange peel and nutmeg in the Cinnamon; and licorice root, orange peel, cinnamon and nutmeg in the Caramel.

The flavors are subtle, which is nice because you can still taste the robust coffee, which is what we, true coffee lovers, want anyway, right? The Cinnamon has the strongest fragrance, hitting you the moment the hot water meets the grounds. It has a nice added warmth on the back of your throat from the spices. The Vanilla and Caramel are more elusive. They don’t taste like you’ve stirred in vanilla extract or caramel syrup into your coffee cup. It’s more as if you’d just nibbled on a vanilla cookie or sucked on a caramel candy, then taken a sip of coffee afterward.

The Natural Fusions sell for $8.99 per 11-ounce bag at Target stores. But they won’t be widely available at more retailers until September.

Contest: Five lucky Food Gal readers will get a chance to win one bag of each of the three new coffee flavors, along with a nifty French press. Contest is open only to those of you in the continental United States. Deadline to enter is the end of the day on July 31. Winners will be announced Aug. 2.

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