Category Archives: Enticing Events

Scenes From the 23rd Annual Star Chefs & Vintners Gala

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For foodies, it was indeed a starry time on Sunday evening at the lavish Star Chefs & Vintners Gala at Fort Mason in San Francisco.

About 1,000 folks turned out to don their finest and to support Meals on Wheels of San Francisco, the city’s oldest and largest provider of home-delivered meals to seniors.

The Bay Area’s top chefs and vintners provided an impressive spread of eats and drinks for this annual event, which raised $1.1 million last year for this worthy organization that serves 16,000 meals to home-bound seniors every week.

Yours truly was invited to be a guest at the gala, which started off with a bang with an expansive walk-around hors d’oeuvre and wine reception, where chefs and vintners manned stations to pass out tastes of their finest.

It was quite crowded in the Festival Pavillion, but well worth the effort to jockey for position for such stellar eats.

I had a chance to sneak back into the kitchen area to see the chefs scurrying about to get the first courses ready for dinner, as an army of servers lined up in formation at the ready to ferry the dishes to the dining room.

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My Ode to New York Times Food Writer Kim Severson

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Before I ever met food writer Kim Severson, I wanted to hate her.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m not normally a hater. Not at all.

But imagine two athletes playing the same position, yet on opposing teams. There’s just a natural rivalry that develops.

That’s what I felt initially for Kim, now a New York Times food journalist, who years ago, was a food writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, when I was the same for the competition, the San Jose Mercury News.

She started her career as a hard news reporter, before switching to food writing. I had done the same. I’d turn up to events, only to find her there, too. I’d finish writing a story, only to find she’d just done a similar one — often far better, too. I’d be nominated for a writing award, only to find out she was up for two of them in the same competition.

That’s why I wanted to hate Kim Severson.

That is, until I actually met her, of course.

Because I ended up liking her immensely from the get-go.

When you compete head-to-head with someone on a pressure-packed field, there’s a tendency to build them up in your mind into something that they’re not. It’s a great motivator that propels you onward to try to beat or surpass them. But then reality sets in, and you realize that what you truly feel for this person is not envy or hatred, but the utmost admiration.

And that’s really what I felt for Kim from the moment I first laid eyes on her byline. The woman can flat-out write. She can turn a phrase like no one else, bringing you to tears one moment, and sending you into convulsions of laughter the next. That’s no more evident than in her new autobiographical book, “Spoon Fed” (Riverhead Books), a brave, revealing look at one of the nation’s most gifted food writers and the iconic female cooks who taught her valuable lessons along the way.

As I turned the pages, it was stunning to realize that Kim, whose talents strike fear in so many other food writers like myself, was herself so full of self-doubt and anxieties about her own abilities. Worse yet, she wrestled with all that while battling alcoholism when living in one of the premier wine capitals of the world — Northern California.

Even if you’ve never been fortunate enough to meet Kim in person, you come away from her book with so much respect for a woman who is ballsy, smart, resilient and generous of spirit.

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San Francisco’s Historic Old Mint Showcases Food Exhibit

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San Francisco’s grand Classical Greek Revival-style Old Mint once held one-third of the nation’s gold reserves.

This month, those hallowed halls, where more than $50 million in coins were once produced annually, will showcase valuables of a different sort — an exhibit and presentations of the Bay Area’s storied food history.

The Old Mint, steps from the InterContinental hotel in downtown San Francisco, is now in the process of being converted into a museum by the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society.

For three weekends this month, the Mint will open its doors to the public, noon to 5 p.m. May 15-16, May 21-22, and May 28-31. Visitors will get to view the exhibit, “From Earth to 5-Star,” which will highlight culinary innovations and regional products such as cheese, bread, chocolate and wine. A second gallery will spotlight insights into the future of Bay Area food by experts such as Chef Charles Phan of the Slanted Door; Bill Niman, former founder of Niman Ranch and now a local goat rancher; and Chef Judy Rogers of Zuni Cafe.

Additionally, a series of panels with culinary experts will explore the history and significance of food in the Bay Area:

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Get Ready for Star Chefs & Vintners Gala in San Francisco

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It’s time to pull out that glittery cocktail dress and bespoke dark suit to mingle with celeb chefs, stuff yourself silly with gourmet food and drink, and help a worthwhile cause.

The 23rd Annual Star Chefs & Vintners Gala is the place to be on May 16, when more than 70 top Northern California chefs will converge on Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion, a short hop from the Fairmont Heritage Place.

Chef Nancy Oakes of the esteemed Boulevard restaurant in San Francisco, returns as gala chef chairperson, to enlist the culinary skills of such chefs as Mourad Lahlou of Aziza in San Francisco, Staffan Terjer of Perbacco in San Francisco, Richard Reddington of Redd in Yountville, and Chris Cosentino of Incanto in San Francisco.

More than 75 leading vintners also will be pouring wines, including J Vineyards and Frog’s Leap Winery.

The evening starts with a walk-around reception, featuring creations at stations manned by more than 30 chefs and vintners. Afterward, enjoy a three-course, sit-down dinner, with each course prepared by one of 27 different chefs.

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Filipino Cuisine Symposium, Dessert Festival, Wine Dinner & More

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In San Francisco:

Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Thai and Malaysian cuisines.

Been to those restaurants, eaten that.

But when it comes to Filipino food, just how much have you experienced of this bold, pungent cuisine with its Chinese, Polynesian, and Spanish influences?

May 15-16, explore “Filipino Flavors: Tradition + Innovation,’‘ a celebration of the foods of the Philippines organized by the Asian Culinary Forum.

The weekend events, featuring chefs, scholars, writers and winemakers, will take place at the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of California in San Francisco, a short stroll from the Holiday Inn Civic Center.

May 15 kicks off with a hands-on cooking class with New York Chef Amy Besa ($85 per person); followed by a seminar on pairing Filipino foods with wines, hosted by Master Sommelier Reggie Narito ($45 per person). Next, a panel of scholars and writers will discuss the social, political and cultural touchstones that have shaped what Filipinos eat around the world ($15 per person; $10 for students). Finally, enjoy an “Adobo Show-Down,” where cooks will do battle with their best version of Filipino adobo for prizes ($20 per person).

May 16 starts off with a chocolate tasting with chocolatier Tonet Tibay (free to all symposium pass holders); and ends with a chefs panel all about the future of Filipino food ($40 general, $30 students).

Register here for tickets to individual events or for an all-symposium pass ($180).

Enjoy an intimate dinner with renowned wine importer, Kermit Lynch, May 6 at Absinthe Brasserie.

Lynch, who has made his Berkeley wine shop a vino lover’s destination for decades, will be pouring selected vintages from two of his benchmark producers, Domaine de Cherisey and Domaine Les Pallières.

Executive Chef Jamie Lauren will prepare a four-course dinner, which will include hamachi crudo with pickled green garlic, curried salt and pappadums; and braised beef cheeks with maple syrup-glazed smoked yams.

Price for the event is $150 per person. For reservations, call (415) 551-1453.

Foreign Cinema restaurant in San Francisco throws open its doors May 6 for a benefit auction for Creativity Explored, a San Francisco art gallery and studio for artists with developmental disabilities.

Original art, as well as an array of luxury items will be auctioned off that night, as Chefs Gayle Pirie and John Clark serve up small plates, cocktails, wine and beer. Guests are encouraged to come decked out in chromatic clothing to play up this year’s theme.

Tickets are $125 in advance or at the door. Or reserve by May 5, and pay $225 total for a pair of tickets. Call (415) 863-2108.

In San Jose:

Enjoy beer — a lot of beer — at brunch, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 15 at Left Bank Brasserie in San Jose’s Santana Row.

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