Category Archives: Enticing Events

Fish Tacos Still Rule

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With all the hub-bub lately about the spicy Korean short rib taco craze, you might think fish tacos have gone passé.

Not so.

In fact, two San Francisco Bay Area spots have rolled out new, inventive versions just in time for summer.

First up, Gott’s Roadside (the restaurant formerly known as Taylor’s Automatic Refresher) is serving up fish tacos — poke-style. Yes, three crispy tacos ($13.99) are filled with Hawaiian-style raw, marinated ahi tuna cubes, avocado, green cabbage, cilantro and spicy mayo.

Gott’s also features a new “B-Side” menu — sly, you-have-to-ask-for-it selections on a special list that you have to specifically request at the counter or follow @gottsroadside on Twitter for updates on that particular menu.

A few of the recent secret menu items have included the “Big Tasty” (buttermilk fried chicken with house-made ranch dressing, aioli, melted Swiss cheese and bacon on a butter-toasted egg bun) and the “Fish Royale Sandwich” (fresh mahi-mahi, tartar sauce, Romaine, and American cheese on a toasted bun).

The “B-Side” items are meant to showcase fresh-picked ingredients from Gott’s new garden in St. Helena, which will be used at all Gott’s locations. Those include heirloom tomatoes, herbs, shallots, squashes, potatoes and peppers.

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Olive Oil-Sherry Pound Cake and A Chance to Win Aussie Olive Oil Samples

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Like wines, olive oils have a myriad of flavors and aromas.

The more robust tasting the olive oil — with an intense bitterness and astringency on the nose and palate — the more antioxidants it has. It also will keep longer — even five years — than milder tasting olive oils, which should be consumed within a few months of pressing.

Use pungent extra virgin olive oils when you want them to be the focal point, such as in salads or as a finishing touch to dishes or just to dunk chunks of crusty bread in. Use mild olive oils in cooking when you don’t want its flavor to dominate.

Those were among the olive oil lessons I learned on my recent trip to Australia with a small group of food journalists. We were guests of Boundary Bend Ltd., which makes Australia’s premier extra virgin olive oils under its Cobram Estate label.

One of the highlights of the trip was getting to taste a variety of just-pressed oils. After choosing our favorite varietal, we were each given a precious little bottle to take home.

While most of my colleagues opted for the more potent tasting oils, I chose the Manzanillo, a more delicate, fruity, and almost creamy tasting oil with the intriguing scent of strawberry jam.

My hosts said it was ideal for baking. And they were correct, as it tasted lovely in the “Olive Oil and Sherry Pound Cake” that I made when I returned home.

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Down Under in the Land of Olives

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VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA — Kangaroos, koalas, award-winning wines, and the breathtaking Sydney Opera House. That’s usually what comes to mind when we think of Australia.

Extra virgin olive oil?

Not so much.

Yet an olive oil revolution is taking place Down Under. In much the same way that Australia turned the wine world upside-down with its outstanding, New World Shiraz wines, it is now doing the same with New World extra virgin olive oils.

Boundary Bend Ltd., Australia’s leading vertically integrated olive company, which controls every production process from growing its own olives to pressing the oil to bottling, has been a pioneer in this new industry Down Under. It is now the largest olive oil producer in Australia, and the top-selling brand there.

This spring, I had a chance to see first-hand how it all came to be, when Boundary Bend flew me and a couple of other journalists to north Victoria state in southern Australia to tour its facilities and expansive groves planted with an astounding 2.5 million olive trees.

It is those trees, bearing 14 different olive varieties, which form the foundation for Boundary Bend’s award-winning Cobram Estate extra virgin olive oils. The brand, launched in 2001, is now exported worldwide. The olive oils can be found on supermarket shelves in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and yes, the United States, where they are sold at Nob Hill, Raley’s, Bel-Air, Lucky, Andronico’s, Winn-Dixie, Fairway Markets and SaveMart (starting at the end of July) for about $6.99 per 375ml bottle.

Boundary Bend hopes to distinguish its Cobram Estate extra virgin olive oils in two ways. First, it touts its freshness. After its olives are harvested, they are pressed in less than six hours. The resulting oil makes it to market only two to 12 months later.

Second, it stresses the strict testing its oils go through. At a time when fraud is reportedly rife in the olive oil industry — as documented in a superb 2007 New Yorker piece detailing how a significant percentage of Italian so-called “extra virgin” olive oil is actually adulterated with cheaper oils such as canola –- Boundary Bend is working with Australian government officials to strengthen standards for extra virgin olive oil made both domestically and imported into its country.

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Special Tomato, New Indian Sweets, Piggy Event & More

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Tomato Time:

Are these gorgeous tomatoes or what?

These lovelies, known as “Taste Tomatoes,” were created especially for Taste Catering of San Francisco. The tomatoes, a cross between the Maglia Rosa and Zucchero varieties, is the brainchild of Baia Nicchia Farm & Nursery in Sunol.

With their sweet flavor and unique look, the tomatoes proved such a hit in hors d’oeuvres and salads with customers that the catering company wanted to make them available to the general public.

Starting July 19, you’ll be able to buy your own “Taste Tomatoes” at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market at Allstar Organics’ booth on Saturdays; Menlo Park Farmers Market at Baia Nicchia’s booth on Sundays; Berkeley’s Tokyo Fish Market, Mondays through Saturdays; and Baia Nicchia’s farm stand in Sunol on Friday afternoons.

Sweets with Indian Flair:

That’s just what you’ll find at the new Bengali Sweets, which just opened at 783 E. El Camino Real in Sunnyvale.

Open 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, the 50-seat cafe serves up sweets and chaat (snacks) made by chefs Sohan Bhatt and Bajrang Bhamu, both of Sakoon restaurant in Mountain View. This is the newest venture of the Bombay Garden Group, which also owns Sakoon.

The Bengali region of Eastern India is known for milk-based sweets, including “Chenna Jelabi”, a cottage cheese-style milk-based dough piped in coils, deep fried and soaked in a spice-infused sugar syrup.

On the savory side, enjoy entrees such as “Chole Bhatury”, a rich chickpea stew served with fried bread dumplings and curries such as lamb Roganjosh. For more information, call (408) 736-4000.

For Carnivores:

Lamb lovers will want to head to the “American Lamb Jam,” 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. July 18 at Fort Mason Festival Pavilion in San Francisco.

Executive Chef Matthew Accarrino of SPQR in San Francisco hosts this meaty affair that brings together dozens of top San Francisco chefs who will create succulent lamb dishes paired with local wines.

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Cookies, Beers, Wines & Winner of the $100 CSN Certificate

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The Cookies:

If you flew on an airplane during the 1980s, chances are you might remember these crisp, little Biscoff cookies that many airlines served back then.

Now, you can enjoy them with both feet planted on the ground, when Biscoff Coffee Corner and Biscoff Coffee Carts open for business at Pier 39 in San Francisco on June 30.

Europeans have long enjoyed these cookies that taste like a cross between a gingersnap and a graham cracker. Last year, Lotus Bakeries North America in San Francisco started baking them for airlines, retail stores and online orders. Now, it has partnered with the Simco Restaurant Group to open the first North American store to sell the cookies, whose name a derivative of “bis”cuit and “coff”ee.

Indeed, that’s how the cookies are intended to be enjoyed — with a cup of joe. So when you purchase any coffee at the cafe or cart, you’ll get a free cookie.

Take a taste on July 8, when Biscoff Coffee Corner will host a grand opening, featuring a cookie juggler and an official cookie-breaking ceremony. Proceeds from all cookie sales that day will benefit the Marine Mammal Center, which helps maintain the healthy sea lion population at Pier 39. Starting July 9, 1 percent of each day’s cookie sales will be donated to the center.

The First Anniversary:

San Francisco’s Thursday Ferry Plaza Farmers Market celebrates just that on July 1 with pinatas, party hats and prizes, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Drop your card into a 5-gallon salad spinner to win a chance at one of 50 prizes, which include tote bags, T-shirts, roasted almonds from Lagier Ranches, and coffee beans from Blue Bottle.

The first 111 people to visit the farmers market information booth that day get a $1 gift coin that can be used towards your next market purchase.

The Brewski:

As the Fourth of July approaches, there’s nowhere better to get into the festive, patriotic spirit than at the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company in Princeton-by-the-Sea.

Throughout July, the brew pub and restaurant celebrates its 10th anniversary with a series of special events.  In particular, July 2-4, the brewing company will feature live music in the evening and a giveaway.

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