Category Archives: Enticing Events

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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A Taste of Beringer

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The warm glow of a Christmas tree lights the way inside the ancient Beringer Vineyards wine caves.

I’ve been on many a wine-tasting tour in the Napa Valley.

But recently, I had the pleasure of enjoying a very special one.

Just what made it so memorable? It was the fact that my 22-year-old niece tagged along with me for what was not only her first trip to Napa, but her first time touring a winery.

Noodle Niece, as she so requested to be called because of her fondness for udon, ramen and all things pasta, developed a growing curiosity about wine after spending a college semester studying in France. Since her parents are not vino drinkers, my husband (aka Meat Boy) and I decided it was our duty to introduce her to the delights of the Napa Valley.

What a fun time it was, too. There’s something wondrous about getting to experience the familiar anew again. And there’s something downright delightful about catching a glimpse as someone’s face changes from nonchalance to “Wow!” when they discover tastes they’ve never had before.

The glam Rhine House at Beringer.

With Meat Boy the designated driver, Noodle Niece and I piled into the car on a sunny but chilly afternoon for the drive to Napa to visit Beringer Vineyards. Meat Boy’s good friend, who works for Beringer, had arranged for us to enjoy a private tour and tasting (normally $35 per person).

We thought Noodle Niece would find Beringer especially interesting, because it is the oldest continuously operating winery in the Napa Valley and is designated a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. Indeed, Beringer even continued to operate legally during Prohibition, according to our cordial guide, Michael. Apparently, a lot of doctors and priests were using Beringer wine back then for medicinal and religious purposes. Uh-huh.

Private dining room inside the cave.

Barrels being aged.

One-of-a-kind, hand-carved barrels.

Another Christmas tree decorates the caves.

Established in 1876, Beringer also boasts an extraordinary 1,200 linear feet of aging caves that naturally help keep the wines at 58 to 60 degrees year-round with a humidity level of 75 to 80 percent. The caves were hand-chiseled by Chinese laborers who also built the Trans-Continental Railroad. Look closely, and you’ll see the actual pick marks.

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Sweet Treats at the St. Regis

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Traditional Alsacian holiday cakes at Vitrine. (Photo courtesy of Marc Fiorito)

For Chef Romuald Feger of Vitrine, the restaurant inside the glam St. Regis San Francisco, winter is an especially sweet time of year.

As a child growing up in the Alsace region of France, he fondly remembers his Grandmother Alice lovingly baking more than 20 different kinds of bredele.

These holiday biscuits or small cakes are a staple there. And his prolific Grandmother would turn out upwards of 50 pounds of these treasured baked goods, most of which found their way into the lucky hands of friends and family.
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