Category Archives: Enticing Events

Sweet New Bakery, Wine Time & Meal Deals

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Ten cupcakes sold on opening day at SusieCakes will hold a special surprise. (Photo courtesy of SusieCakes)

With shades of “Willy Wonka,” the new SusieCakes bakery opens Jan. 23 in Greenbrae in Marin County with a fun surprise.

The Los Angeles bakery, which welcomes its first Northern California location, will be hiding 10 “golden tickets” in its signature frosting-filled cupcakes on opening day.

Each golden ticket is redeemable for a special reward, such as attendance to a baking or cake decorating class; a 6-inch or 9-inch specialty layer cake; five dozen mini cupcakes; or one dozen cupcakes. Winners will also be entered in a grand prize drawing to receive a 9-inch specialty layer cake monthly for an entire year as part of the “Cake-of-the-Month Club.”

So if you buy a cupcake on Saturday, be sure to bite carefully.

Are you a natural redhead? Then, Sent Sovi of Saratoga has a special offer for you for its first wine dinner of the year.

Jan. 28, the restaurant will host a wine dinner spotlighting Testarossa Winery of Los Gatos, which specializes in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

And did you know that “testarossa” means “redhead” in Italian? Yup, so the restaurant is extending a 20 percent discount off the normal $100 price per person for the dinner to any natural redheads who mention that fact when they make a reservation and are able to prove it when they show up for the dinner.

Get your ‘do in check and prepare to dine on such dishes as dayboat scallops with caramelized scallop jus and sprout petals; and slow-cooked beef ribeye cap with whole grain mustard spaetzle.

Chef Paul Arenstam invites you in for crab and pig. (Photo courtesy of the Americano Restaurant)

Like crab? Like pork, too?

Then, you won’t want to miss the “Crab and Whole Hog Dinner,” Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. at the Americano Restaurant in the Hotel Vitale in San Francisco.

The event, which will be held in the heated patio tent, will feature guest artisan ham purveyor, Massimo Spigaroli, from Italy. The dinner, overseen by Chef Paul Arenstam of the Americano, is an all-you-can-eat buffet of Dungeness crab, pork, side dishes, salads, desserts, and local white wines.

Price is $85.

Through March, the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, will be featuring distinguished California wines in its ENO tasting room. Each Friday, Saturday and Sunday mid-afternoon, a representative from each featured winery will be on hand to answer questions about the wines.

Tasting fees range from $25 to $35 per person, depending upon the vintner. Flights of cheese and chocolates can accompany the tasting for an additional charge.

January spotlights Stage Left Cellars; February showcases Far Niente, Nickel & Nickel, and Dolce wineries; and March focuses on St. Francis Winery & Vineyards.

Throughout the year, Quince in San Francisco will host a series of “In Residence” intimate, informative dinners with guest chefs and vintners from around the world.

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Heavyweights Team for Local Bocuse d’Or Extravaganza

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Chef Daniel Patterson of Coi. (Photo courtesy of the chef)

Think if U2 and Coldplay teamed up for one night — and one night only — for a special benefit concert.

This is the culinary equivalent with celebrated Bay Area rock-star chefs Daniel Patterson of Coi in San Francisco and David Kinch of Manresa joining together for one night, Feb. 8, to cook a sumptuous seven-course feast to benefit the Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation.

At this unique event, which will take place at Coi, Patterson and Kinch will alternate cooking savory courses, and Coi’s Pastry Chef Bill Corbett will do the honors with dessert. Look for such wondrous treats for the eye and palate as Patterson’s “Winter Pastoral” (young carrots roasted on a bed of hay, radish powder, and shaved Pecorino); and Kinch’s “Crispy Chicken and Egg Confit” (with roasted chicken “dashi” and black truffles).

Poultry from Vacaville’s Soul Food Farm will be highlighted in the dinner to celebrate the legacy of American heritage breed poultry.

Chef David Kinch of Manresa. (Photo courtesy of the chef)

Price is $195 per person, with a wine pairing available at an extra charge. For reservations, call (415) 393-9000.

For 20 years, the United States has fielded a team for the Bocuse d’Or, the prestigious Olympics of cooking. But it wasn’t until recently that the country got serious about it, when superstar chefs Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller formed the US foundation to support and train the candidate who would represent this country. Their first candidate was French Laundry Chef de Cuisine Timothy Hollingsworth, who finished sixth out of 24 teams in last year’s competition.

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A Guy Named Carlos, A Lot of Crab, & A Cheesy Time

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A wall sconce at Maria Maria. (Photo courtesy of Robby Skog Photography)

Musician great Carlos Santana opened a fifth locale of his Maria Maria restaurant late last year in Danville.

Serving “Nuevo Mexican” cuisine, it features dishes such as chicken and mole tortilla casserole ($15), grilled skirt steak with nopales salad $(19), and mixed wild mushroom fajitas ($15).

No telling how often you might spot Santana, himself, there. But he did put in an appearance earlier this week to meet and greet media.

Cheesemaker Allison Hooper and friend. (Photo courtesy of Ms. Hooper)

Cheese aficionados will want to head to the Pasta Shop in the 4th Street Market Place in Berkeley, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m, Jan. 15.

Allison Hooper, author of “In a Cheesemaker’s Kitchen,” will be on hand to sign copies of her book, discuss the world of cheese, and offer tastes of her luscious creations.

Hooper, of Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery, will be joined by other artisan cheesemakers at this free event, including those from Bellwether Farms and Cowgirl Creamery, who also will be offering samples of their cheeses.

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Dinner & A Movie — Seafood-Style

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Clam chowder, full of sustainable clams, will be served tomorrow at the Yankee Pier Lafayette event. (Photo courtesy of Yankee Pier)

Head to Yankee Pier in Lafayette tomorrow at 6 p.m. for just that, as well as a lesson in sustainable seafood.

The evening will get started with a screening of the international documentary, “The End of the Line,” which made its debut at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. The film by Rupert Murray is the first major documentary to focus on the crisis facing today’s oceans because of overfishing.

Yankee Pier is joining with other restaurants around the country to host the “Fish ‘n’ Flicks” screening to urge consumers to choose sustainable seafood and to forgo critically endangered species such as bluefin tuna and beluga sturgeon.

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Martinis, Wine, New Restaurants & More

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Go mad for martinis at this Sonoma event.

If you happen to be in Sonoma tomorrow, the hardest decision you might have to make is whether you prefer shaken or stirred.

That’s because top bartenders from 10 Sonoma restaurants and bars will be gathering in force at the Saddles Steakhouse at MacArthur Place Inn & Spa for the always popular Sonoma Valley Olive Season’s  “Martini Madness” event.

You’re invited to taste their creations and to vote for what you think is the best one. Lest you get hungry, appetizers will be available for noshing. And lest you need further inspiration, a live jazz band will entertain.

Tickets are $40 per person ($45 at the door). Dinner package deals are available for $85 per person, which includes all the fun at ”Martini Madness,” plus a three-course dinner.

Glasses of bubbly greet visitors to Saison.

Look for one of San Francisco’s most successful pop-up restaurants, Saison, to spiff up with a new and improved 3.0 version in the first half of 2010.

Who hasn’t fallen for the quirky charm of the teeny 25-seat, highly personal restaurant that turns out fine-dining dishes in a rustic, historic stable in the Mission District? What started out as a makeshift, once-a-week, dinner-only restaurant by Chef Joshua Skenes and Sommelier Mark Bright (both Michael Mina alums) has since expanded to three nights — Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Thursday nights soon will be added to the dinner line-up. The kitchen will get a major redo, including a new gourmet stove. And the plain-Jane, garden-variety slat chairs in the dining room will be replaced by sturdier, more stylish and much more comfy ones. Skenes even has plans to add a wood-fire oven to the garden patio to bake fresh bread for the restaurant.

Celebrate the Lunar New Year in the comfort of your own home — with some stylish and delicious help.

Fork and Spoon Productions of San Francisco is teaming with my good friend, Andrea Nguyen, author of “Asian Dumplings” (Ten Speed Press), to come to your house for a dumpling demonstration and banquet meal that features the likes of baked curried chicken baos, steamed Pacific bass with young ginger, Peking duck with pancakes, and tangerine pot de creme.

You can book the team anytime between Jan. 15-Feb. 28. You need at least 10 guests for this $185 event. The hostess receives a free copy of Nguyen’s cookbook, while guests can purchase their own at a special price. To make a reservation, call (415) 552-7130.

Everybody’s favorite “Dine About Town” promotion runs this year from Jan. 15-31. A bevy of San Francisco restaurants will be offering a two-course lunch for $17.95 and/or a three-course dinner for $34.95.

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