Category Archives: Enticing Events

Burgers, Oysters, Wine & More

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Pesto burger. (Photo courtesy of Burger Bar)

San Francisco finally gets its own Burger Bar today.

Chef Hubert Keller of San Francisco’s Fleur de Lys has brought his build-your-own burger concept to Macy’s Union Square in San Francisco. It opens today at 10:30 a.m., joining its sister Burger Bar locales in Las Vegas and St. Louis.

The San Francisco flagship burger joint, on the sixth floor of Macy’s, is open daily for lunch and dinner. Find buffalo, Kobe beef, salmon, and vegetarian burger options. Fresh meat is ground daily in the in-house butcher room.

The restaurant has its own wine cellar, and 24 beers on tap. There’s also a milkshake bar, where diners can customize their shakes any way they like.

Through Oct. 21, enjoy a three-course meal for $35 at participating Silicon Valley restaurants, from Los Gatos to San Carlos. It’s all part of “Silicon Valley Restaurant Week.”

Among those participating are: Nick’s on Main in Los Gatos, Alexander’s Steakhouse in Cupertino, Crimson in Los Gatos, and Quattro in East Palo Alto. For a complete list, as well as the menus offered, click here.

Photo courtesy of Hewitson Winery.

Reserve your seat for an intimate, whimsical dinner Oct. 29 at the Fifth Floor Restaurant in San Francisco, when South Australia’s Hewitson Wines launches the U.S. release of its highly touted 2006 Mad Hatter Shiraz.

For the occasion, Chef Jennie Lorenzo will feature a multi-course dinner served amidst Mad Hatter-decor. Price is $75. To reserve a seat, email madhattertourSF@gmail.com or call (415) 348-1111.

Tonight at 6:30 p.m., Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar in Palo Alto and Walnut Creek will host a walk-around wine tasting with each featuring five or six Napa Valley vintners. Paired hors d’ouevres also will be served. Price is $45.

Sip more wine at the new Affronti, which just opened in downtown Healdsburg.

Chef-Owner Jude Affronti, who ran Mario Batali’s Po for three years in New York City, serves California-Mediterranean small plates along with more than 30 wines by the glass, and inventive wine cocktails. Dishes include red trout escabeche in tangy marinade, and Sonoma smoked duck with white beans and tomato.

Live jazz is featured Thursdays and at Sunday brunch.

Oyster lovers should make a bee-line to Waterbar in San Francisco, noon to 3 p.m. Oct. 17 for “Oyster Fest 2009.”

Enjoy a hot sauce competition, a shucking challenge, and plenty of oysters and wines to sample. The fee is $50, which includes admission and five tickets, each of which can be redeemed for one drink or one small plate of food.

You can eat — and get some exercise — in the ”East Bay Foodie Bike Tour of Emeryville and Berkeley,” 11:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Oct. 17.

Pedal your way on a flat, 4-mile tour that will make stops for culinary refueling at such places as Charles Chocolates in Emeryville, and Vik’s Chaat Corner in Berkeley.

Price is $50. Register by clicking here.

Enjoy an “Organic Harvest Day,” 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 17 at ALBA’s Rural Development Center, 1700 Old Stage Road in Salinas, when you’ll get to pick your own crops.

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A Honey of A Time

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Rich, deep tasting sage honey.

Did you know that there are 300 varieties of honey in the United States?

That, like wine, the flavor of honey is affected by the type of soil the flowers grow in, from which the pollen is plucked? (Different minerals add different nuances, and too much rain dilutes the flavor.)

Did you know that it takes a bee a lifetime to make one drop of honey?

That worker bees live for a mere 45 days?

But that queen bees live for 2 to 3 years? Talk about girl power.

I had a honey of a time learning all about the sticky nectar last week at Perbacco restaurant in San Francisco, where Chef Staffan Terje was kind enough to showcase honey in a special dinner for invited food writers and food bloggers, including my buddies, Single Guy Chef and Foodhoe’s Foraging.

To kick off the night, Bruce Wolk of the National Honey Board walked us through “Honey 101,” with a tasting of more than a half dozen different types of honeys. Yes, they were all super sweet. But the differences, magnified when trying them side by side, was remarkable not only in their hues, but in their flavors.

A tasting of honey.

Blueberry honey — named for the blueberry blossoms that help make that particular honey, not because it actually tastes like blueberries — is found only in New Jersey. Its flavor is a little like maple syrup. Pumpkin honey, which is produced in small quantities only in California and Colorado, was a revelation with its amber color and caramel flavor. Avocado honey tasted musky, sort of like molasses. Tupelo — the only honey that doesn’t crystallize easily and is almost extinct because the shrubs needed to make it are so few in numbers now — has lovely floral and cinnamon notes.

Looking nearly like tar, buckwheat honey, nearly black in color, is one honey that Wolk said, “People either hate or love.”

I can see why. This unusual honey has the aroma of a fermented Asian sauce or perhaps a salted, dried plum. Its taste is like strong molasses or even dark, heavy Guinness.

In general, the darker colored the honey, the stronger the flavor and the higher the mineral content. Buckwheat honey has the most minerals of any honey, and therefore, the highest level of antioxidants, Wolk said.

Honey may be good for us, but most of us use it just because we love its flavor and voluptuous body.

Chef Terje sure does. His dishes that night were inspired by ones in Northern Italy that use honey.

“I’m from Sweden,” he explained. “I was the kid who stuck a spoon in the honey jar. That was my candy.”

Honey-glazed smoke trout with horseradish foam.

Dinner started with a magnificent tower of smoked trout that had been glazed with a little honey, and served with sweet, tender roasted beets and a poof of creamy horseradish foam.

Agnolotti in honey-brown butter sauce.

Agnolotti filled with sheep’s milk ricotta followed, tossed in nutty brown butter sauce laced with chestnut honey. I could have eaten seconds.

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Take Five with New Orleans Chef John Besh, On Life Post-Katrina

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James Beard award-winning Chef John Besh. (Photo courtesy of John Besh)

To know and understand New Orleans Chef John Besh, all you need do is read this most telling description of him that was written two years after Hurricane Katrina laid waste to the cherished city that he has called home most of his life.

In the New York Times then, my friend and colleague, Kim Severson, summed up Besh as the “ex-Marine who rode into the flooded city with a gun, a boat and a bag of beans and fed New Orleans until it could feed itself.”

Four years after Katrina rained untold devastation upon his beloved New Orleans, Besh is still its savior. Wherever he travels, the 41-year-old chef, who exudes an irresistible Southern warmth that makes strangers feel they’ve known him all their life, can’t help but be a cheerleader for New Orleans’ past, present, and future.

When Katrina hit, Besh had just bought out his investor in his flagship Restaurant August in New Orleans. He was up to his toque in debt, and feared he would lose everything.

Like the city itself, though, he persevered, excavating himself from that murky uncertainty to a place of hope and possibility.

Now, he is poised to open his sixth restaurant in Louisiana. He’s also written a new cookbook, “My New Orleans: The Cookbook” (Andrews McMeel). A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to Cafe Reconcile, a New Orleans non-profit dedicated to providing at-risk youth the skills needed to enter the hospitality and restaurant industries.

You can meet Besh this week, when he’ll be in the Bay Area to sign copies of his book. He’ll appear at a free event at Omnivore Books in San Francisco, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 14. He’ll do a cooking demo, noon to 1 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Ferry Building in San Francisco, which will be followed by a dinner event that night at Left Bank restaurant in Larkspur at 6 p.m.

I had a chance to chat with him by phone last week about the past few tumultuous, yet ultimately rejuvenating years.

Q: Your new cookbook is almost a love story about New Orleans. What compelled you to write this book in this way?

A: The last thing I wanted to do was create another chef-y cookbook. In this day and age, we’re so caught up in fancy restaurants. But the most important thing is that everyone comes from somewhere and everyone has a story. And this is my somewhere and my story.

When you understand the story and where the food comes from, you can cook it with more authenticity and soul. If we’re not careful, we will lose the last little places that have their own true cuisine. I felt that especially after Katrina, when Republicans let us down, when politicians all over let us down, and we were just left on our own. It prompted me to think more about the validity of these great traditions. New Orleans is a city of good values. It values people, it values good times, and it values tradition.

Besh's gorgeous and endearing new cookbook.

Q: You evacuated the city, then came back right after Katrina hit?

A: My family evacuated. I have a wife whom every man would dream of having. She’s smart, strong, and takes care of the family, which allowed me to be relatively independent.

They left two days before Katrina hit, and went to North Carolina. I was here, helping to get my father out of town. He’s up in age and paralyzed (after being hit by a drunk driver 32 years ago). After we made sure our employees were taken care of, it was just myself and my partner in Dominica restaurant, who came back into the city a few days later.

Q: Did your Marines training come in handy for what awaited you in New Orleans?

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Zanotto’s Monthly Wine Dinners — A Deal If There Ever Was One

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Chicken with sage, figs, and pancetta -- served at a supermarket.

Imagine a six-course dinner with six wine pairings — for all of $35 per person.

You don’t have to don fancy duds to enjoy it, either. But you do have to make reservations early, as it sells out faster than you can uncork a bottle of Chardonnay.

Zanotto’s Family Market in San Jose’s Rose Garden neighborhood may very well have the best wine tasting deal around.

The family-run supermarket, which has been in business since 1967, offers the wine dinner every last Wednesday of each month. Tickets go on sale three weeks before, and usually sell out within the first week. Indeed, since the store started hosting these dinners 30 months ago, 29 have sold out.

“We just wanted to create a casual learning experience with great food and wine,” says store Manager Fred Zanotto.

Wednesday was always the store’s slowest day, Fred Zanotto explains. So, he decided to start holding wine tastings to try to entice more shoppers into the store. They proved so successful that he decided to add dinner to it, too.

It's almost a sell-out crowd.

Picture a neighborhood block party held inside a grocery store. That’s what this fun, lively dinner is like, where so many folks are regulars, attending each and every one.

Tables are set up inside and out (except for the winter) to hold 237 people (129 in winter). Folks, who have purchased tickets ahead of time at the store or over the phone, start lining up early by the ice cream freezers to get the best pick of seats, which are first-come, first-serve. Reserved seats are only available if you have a party of six or more.

The tables are draped with floral cloths that can be purchased in the store. The food, served family-style, is arrayed on pretty, rustic platters, which also can be purchased at the store. Fred Zanotto’s two sisters-in-law, who normally man the store’s deli, create the food to pair with the wines. Many of the ingredients — you guessed it — can be purchased at the store.

Cutlery and plates are of the plastic variety. And you get only one wine glass. But that just adds to the informal charm of the event.

DeRose Vineyards was featured at the September wine dinner.

The wineries featured each month are from all over the world. But six months of the year are dedicated to spotlighting local wineries.

The wine dinner I attended in September featured DeRose Vineyards of Hollister. The winery has 100 acres of vines, including 40 acres that are dry-farmed. Those vines, which get no water, produce intensely fruity wines, says winemaker Pat DeRose.

The wines poured that evening included the Parrone 2007 Sparkling, DeRose Chardonnay 2006, Continental Cabernet, Cabernet Franc, Nick DeRose Sr. Zinfandel 2006, and the Negrette 2006. The latter, made from 115-year-old vines, is such a rarity these days that even in its native France, there are less than 100 acres grown there today. DeRose grows 10 acres that are dry-farmed. The result is a wine bursting with jammy plum and berry flavors, and gentle tannins.

Zanotto’s also provides recipes to take home from each event. Dinner that night was as follows:

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Mooncake Time, Dining Deals & More

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Fresh mooncakes at Ming's. (Photo courtesy of Ming's Chinese Cuisine & Bar)

Enjoy fresh-baked moon cakes on Oct. 3, Moon Festival Day, when the moon is at its fullest and brightest.

Ming’s Chinese Cuisine & Bar in Palo Alto will celebrate the Lunar fest with free mooncake-making demonstrations, 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. Oct. 3. A lion dance will be performed that same afternoon at the restaurant at noon and 1:15 p.m. Stop in for a taste of specialty Moon Festival dishes, or buy some mooncakes to tote home.

Sip fine wines and nibble on gourmet treats while you shop. You can do just that at “Wine & Dine Around,” 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 10 at San Jose’s Santana Row.

Participating shops and restaurants will host in-store receptions with refreshments and shopping discounts available only to ticket holders. Among those participating will be Taryn Rose, Cole Haan, Ted Baker, Footcandy, and The Blues Jean Bar.

Tickets are $25, and available at the concierge office. Price of admission includes a commemorative wine glass, and a chance to win two tickets to see David Foster at HP Pavilion in San Jose. A portion of the proceeds benefits Hospice of the Valley, the oldest non-profit hospice in Santa Clara County.

The South Bay’s own Saratoga Chocolates has opened a second store in addition to the original one in Saratoga, of course.

The new San Francisco shop, 3489 – 16th St., took over the old Joseph Schmidt space. Look for bonbons such as Marzipan le Orange, Mojito, and Grapefruit Honey.

In downtown San Mateo, 231 Ellsworth restaurant has added a new four-course tasting menu that’s available nightly.

The prix fixe is $64 per person; with wine pairings, it’s $99 per person.

Key lime pie. (Photo courtesy of Marie Callender's)

Craving pie? Head to Marie Callender’s for its pie sale going on now through Oct. 31. Whole pies are only $6.99, a savings of up to 55 percent. How tempting is that?

Choose from more than 30 varieties, including apple, banana cream, and lemon meringue. Cheesecakes and fruit pies are excluded from the sale.

If oysters are more your style, sign up for a tour and tasting at Hog Island Oyster Company’s farm in Marshall, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 6., when it will host a special event with Stubbs Vineyard.

Learn the history of oyster growing in Tomales Bay, and the perfect way to shuck an oyster. You’ll get to taste plenty of sweet bivalves and Chardonnay, too.

Tickets are $40 for members of Marin Organic; $45 for non-members. To reserve a spot, call (415) 663-9667.

For more oyster fun, McCormick & Kuleto’s Seafood Restaurant in San Francisco is hosting its 16th annual “Shuck & Swallow Oyster Challenge,” 5 p.m. Oct. 6.

A dozen teams, whose members are Bay Area restaurant employees, will compete in this free event to shuck and eat as many oysters as possible in 10 minutes. The current record is just under 200. Goodness!

Afterward, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., enjoy an oyster and wine pairing. Tickets to that are $30. Net proceeds will benefit the Marine Mammal Center.

More seafood mania gets underway 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Oct. 11 with the ninth annual Crabby “Chefs Seafood Festival” at Spenger’s Fish Grotto in Berkeley.

Enjoy an “Iron Chef”-like cooking competition, and an assortment of food booths selling clam chowder, cracked crab, and crab cakes. There also will be live music. A mobile Pacific Seafood retail store will be selling fresh seafood to prepare at home. A portion of proceeds from prepared food sales will go to the Berkeley Cal Recreational Sports Development Fund’s Camp Scholarship Program.

Dine at Il Cane Rosso in San Francisco’s Ferry Building on Oct. 11 for a good cause.

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