Category Archives: Enticing Events

For Dads Who Love Meat and Cabs

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The Napa Valley’s Signorello Vineyards and Snake River Farms in Idaho has just the gift for you: “The Ultimate Luxury Food and Wine Experience.”

On Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and the winter holiday celebration, you’ll receive a shipment of Kobe beef and cab. Father’s Day, it’s four rib eye steaks and three bottles of Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. Valentine’s Day, it’s four tenderloin fillets and one bottle each of Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, East Hillside Cabernet Sauvignon and Uvaggio. For the winter holidays, it’s a rib eye roast and one bottle each of the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Padrone  (Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon) and Meta.

But wait, there’s more: As a Kobe & Cabernet Club member, you’ll also receive a 15 percent discount on wine purchases throughout the year, a 10 percent discount on all Snake River Farms products throughout the year, invitations to members-only events at the winery, and special club member rates at the Yountville Inn in Yountville.

And the tab? The average cost of each shipment is $390. Big spenders who want more information, should click here.

World’s Most Expensive Father’s Day Gift

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If your Dad is a scotch connoisseur, then this may be the ultimate gift for Father’s Day:

A 5-day trip to Scotland complete with first-class air and helicopter transport; luxurious accomodations, including a stay at a private mansion; meals prepared by one of Scotland’s most acclaimed chefs; a round of golf at the famous St. Andrews Links; a bespoke kilt and family crest consultation; his own private butler during his stay; dinner at Inverrary Castle, home of the Duke of Argyle; a private blending session with Chivas Regal’s master blender; and five days of specialized whiskey tastings.

When Dad and his guest return home, they will receive their custom kilts; and two bottles of Chivas Regal 25-year-old scotch whiskey, one of which will arrive in a special case designed by Viscount David Linley, son of Princess Margaret.

That luxe Father’s Day gift is a mere $117,650.

The trip can be redeemed either Aug. 3-8 or Aug. 31- Sept. 5. Just contact Travelcorp International at (225) 231-4735 until June 16.  For more information, call (888) 332-2907.

Time to Dine About Town

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Enjoy a second helping of “Dine About Town,” now through June 15. The promotion, presented by the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, features a roster of participating restaurants that are offering special three-course prix fixe lunches for $21.95 and dinners for $31.95

Among the San Francisco restaurants in the program are: A16, Ana Mandara, Colibri Mexican Bistro, Le Colonial, One Market Restaurant, Poleng Lounge, and Yoshi’s. For a complete list of restaurants and to make reservations, click here.

To kick off the promotion, The Cellar at Macy’s Union Square will host a party, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. June 4.  With a $10 donation to Meals on Wheels, guests will enjoy tastes from select Dine About Town restaurants, including Cortez, Jack Falstaff, and PlumpJack Cafe. Scott Sasaki, executive chef of Garibaldis, will be doing a cooking demonstration.

Tickets to the Macy’s event can be reserved in advance by clicking here.

Take Five With Parcel 104’s Robert Sapirman

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Robert Sapirman, executive chef of Parcel 104

Imagine cooking without such staples as sugar, chocolate, vanilla beans, cinnamon, coffee, and even pepper. That’s the challenge that Executive Chef Robert Sapirman and his crew at Parcel 104 restaurant in Santa Clara are taking on with the second annual “104-Mile Dinner” on June 7.

 That night, every ingredient used must come from no more than 104 miles from the restaurant (measured from point to point in a straight line). Climate Clean of Portland, Ore. will be working with the restaurant to mitigate and offset the greenhouse gas emissions generated from this $125-per-person dinner.

The seven-course dinner includes Point Reyes oysters, local petrale sole, and pork belly from pigs raised in the Yosemite area. Also on the menu are Cornish game hens that were slaughtered, then air-chilled, as opposed to the conventional method of water chilling. Proponents of this method favor it because they consider it more sanitary (studies so far, though, are inconclusive). In air-chilling, the poultry also absorbs less water, making for a crisper skin when cooked and more intense flavor.

Watercress and beignet dessert by Pastry Chef Carlos Sanchez

Parcel 104’s pastry chef, Carlos Sanchez, will be ending the night with a refreshing dessert of Sausalito Springs watercress topped with strawberry sorbet made with honey, fresh strawberries the staff will pick the day before in Sonoma, and tiny beignets of Bellwether Farms Carmody cheese.

The menu is subject to change, of course, since it’s all based on what’s available locally at the time.

I sat down with Sapirman to find out the most difficult aspects of creating such a dinner.

Q: You came on board as chef last year just as the restaurant was about to do the 104-mile dinner for the first time. I think I detected just a tiny glint of fear and panic in your eyes then. How is it different this time around?

A: Last year, it was all about what could we get our hands on. It was a real race to find things. This year, we have more time, and we’re able to reach out to see that’s really out there.  Last year at the last minute, we were able to find wheat flour in Sonoma, so we were able to make crackers for the beet salad. This year, we’ve already discovered that Full Belly Farm (an hour northwest of Sacramento) — which is right on the edge of our 104-mile limit, and believe me, I measured it — produces flour and wheat berries.

Q: Last year, you guys were in a tizzy because you thought you wouldn’t be able to use salt. But at the last second, you found a source?

A: Yes, we get salt from underneath the Dumbarton Bridge. There are salt flats there. And a producer makes this very coarse pretzel salt from there that we have to grind ourselves until it’s finer.

Q: So there will be salt, but no peppercorns?

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A Mackerel Match Made In Heaven

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Stuart Brioza's mackerel

My husband can attest to the fact that mackerel is not one of my fave fishes. In fact, usually when I get a slice in an assortment of sushi or sashimi, it always ends up on his plate instead.

Stuart Brioza knows it’s a hard-sell, too, even if mackerel (wild-caught king and Spanish) is one of the best seafood choices on the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Guide. Nevertheless, Brioza, the executive chef of Rubicon in San Francisco, made many a convert when he cooked a fabulous honey, soy, and beer broiled mackerel with sesame-lime glaze at the recent “Cooking For Solutions” gala at the aquarium. The usual strong taste of the mackerel was tempered by the marriage of the other sweet, aromatic, and citrusy ingredients. The result was like a less sweet unagi. And it was scrumptious.

Speaking of marriage, Brioza and his longtime girlfriend, Nicole Krasinski, Rubicon’s pastry chef, will finally be tying the knot. The couple, who met 13 years ago in a photography class at De Anza College in Cupertino, will be getting hitched on a friend’s farm in Hilo in September. Krasinski, who’s not fond of cake (say what?), plans on serving their guests exotic citrus tarts instead.

It’s shaping up to be quite a year for Brioza, who grew up in Cupertino and Danville, and Krasinski, who is a Los Gatos native. In the July issue of Food & Wine magazine, the couple will be featured in a story about the peach tree they adopt every year at Mas Masamoto’s renowned peach farm just outside of Fresno. Look for mouth-watering sweet and savory peach recipes.

The happy couple in front of the jellyfish exhibit.

And for those of you who love mackerel — and those of you who don’t quite yet — here’s Brioza’s recipe that’s guaranteed to please.

Honey, Soy and Beer Broiled Mackerel with Sesame-Lime Glaze

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