Category Archives: Enticing Events

Orange & Black Attack in Honor of the SF Giants and Halloween

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Do you think of the SF Giants when you look at this risotto dish? You should! (Photo courtesy of Prospect restaurant)

Prospect’s Ode to the SF Giants

In honor of the San Francisco Giants’ winning streak, Prospect restaurant in San Francisco has created a new dish that sports the team’s trademark colors.

Black risotto with uni and a gently poached egg is a most appropriate dish to celebrate this classy baseball team’s triumphs, don’t you think?

The $16 dish is not on the regular menu. Those in the know just need ask for it.

Chef Pam Mazzola plans to make it available as long as the Giants keep winning or fresh sea urchin is available.

The "Humm Baby'' cupcake from Sift Cupcake + Dessert Bar. (Photo courtesy of Sift)

Sift Cupcake’s Sweet Salute to the Team

Starting today, Sift Cupcake + Dessert Bar in San Francisco, will be baking up the “Humm Baby” in honor of the Giants.

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World Premiere of “SOMM” & More

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One of the featured sommelier candidates from "SOMM.'' (Still courtesy of the filmmakers)

An Insider’s Look at the Rigorous Master Sommelier Exam

Anyone who’s a fan of wine will be drawn to the new documentary, “SOMM,” which will hold its world premiere Nov. 7 at the 2nd annual Napa Valley Film Festival at the Napa Valley Opera House.

The Master Sommelier exam is one of the most grueling around. Fewer than 200 people around the world have passed it. The film by Jason Wise follows four people as they prepare for the examination.

Bay Area folks will recognize some familiar faces in the film, including Chef Michael Mina, Sommelier Rajat Parr, Winemaker Bo Barrett, wine legend Fred Dame and Master Sommelier Reggie Narito.

Another candidate opening a bottle of Beaujolais. (Still courtesy of the filmmakers)

The filmmaker will be on hand at the fest, as well as the featured sommeliers. They also will be guests at the gala at Robert Mondavi Winery on Nov. 8.

Single-day passes are $50 to $60; a festival pass for five days of access, Nov. 7-11, is $250. A $500 Pass Plus gets you five days of screenings, plus access to the gala and wrap parties.

For a taste of what the film is all about, take a peek at the trailer: SOMM

Forget the Popcorn, Enjoy Italian Food Instead at Redd Wood

To tie in with the Napa Valley Film Festival, Redd Wood in Yountville will be featuring its rendition of the famous timpano from the classic film, “Big Night.”

The timpano di macceroni, a huge domed pie of baked pasta, meatballs, sausages and tomato sauce, will be available during the entire run of the festival, Nov. 6-11.

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Magnus Nilsson — The Chef of the Moment

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Oysters brought to the table on smoldering redwood branches at Coi in San Francisco, similar to the signature dish of scallops on smoky juniper branches at Faviken in Sweden.

The latest culinary rock star appropriately enough sports a mane of long blond hair, a scruffy beard, a too-cool aura and a laid-back cerebral nature.

If Rene Redzepi put Danish cooking on the map when his Noma restaurant in Copenhagen was named San Pelligrino’s “Best Restaurant” in the world for three years running, then Swedish sensation Magnus Nilsson of Fäviken Magasinet has only solidified the fact that Nordic cuisine’s moment has arrived with a wallop.

Nilsson, who previously cooked at three-Michelin starred L’Astrance in Paris and is a trained sommelier, took over Fäviken Magasinet in a remote, rural part of Sweden four years ago. The rather improbable restaurant is located in an isolated 24,000-acre hunting estate. Like Redzepi, Nilsson is all about cooking only with local ingredients. That may be fine in temperate California. It’s a whole ‘nother thing in the wilderness of northwestern Sweden, where the winters are beyond brutal.

Even so, Nilsson, who’s not yet 30 years old, has managed to turn this tiny, isolated 12-seat restaurant into not only one of the Top 50 in the world, but the most talked-about sensation these days in the culinary stratosphere.

Swedish sensation Magnus Nilsson cooks with Daniel Patterson of Coi.

With the launch of his first cookbook, “Fäviken” (Phaidon), he’s been bringing a taste of his innovative cuisine to the United States, including to Coi in San Francisco, where he cooked an extraordinary dinner with Chef-Proprietor Daniel Patterson on Saturday, to which I was fortunate to be invited as a guest.

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“Edible Selby” Book Events, Silicon Valley Restaurant Week & More

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Photographer Todd Selby’s Food-Centric New Book

Fab photographer and illustrator, Todd Selby, has turned his lens on the food world.

The result is “Edible Selby” (Abrams), a quirky new book that showcases the kitchens, gardens, homes, restaurants, and workplaces of more than 40 food and drink purveyors, including a sea forager in the Bay Area, a Neapolitan pizza maker in Tokyo and a roof-top farmer in Brooklyn.

Each profile is accompanied by Selby’s illustrations, a hand-written questionnaire and a recipe. If that weren’t enough fun, the book also features his illustrated refrigerator magnets.

Meet Selby at a series of upcoming events in the Bay Area:

* Bar Tartine in San Francisco, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 22. Tartine Bakery’s Chef Chad Robertson will be joined by Chef Danny Bowien of Mission Chinese Food in San Francisco and New York, Chef Russell Moore of Camino in Oakland, New York Chef Ignacio Mattos, and Bar Tartine’s Nick Balla and Cortney Burnes. The chefs will be making sandwiches inspired by the book. Sandwiches are sold individually. Or you can pay $60 to receive a sandwich, book, and Selby tote bag.

* Bar Jules party in San Francisco, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Oct. 23. Price is $45 per person, excluding drinks. To purchase, call (415) 621-5482.

* SFMOMA book signing in San Francisco, 5 p.m. Oct. 25. Selby will be signing his book, as will James and Caitlin Freeman of Blue Bottle Coffee, who will sign their book, “The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee” (Ten Speed Press). At 6 p.m., join the three for a conversation. At 7 p.m., head up to the museum’s rooftop for a reception at the Blue Bottle Coffee Bar. Free with museum admission.

Time for “Silicon Valley Restaurant Week”

Today though Oct. 24, participating restaurants in Silicon Valley will be offering special three-course, prix-fixe dinners.

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New PopChips Tortilla Chips and A Food Gal Giveaway

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New Ranch tortilla chips from PopChips.

If you’re like me, you find it dangerous to have a bag of PopChips anywhere in your house.

That’s because the air-popped potato and sweet potato chips are so crunch-a-licious. Plus, you can convince yourself that they’re actually kind of, sort of healthful because they’re all natural and have half the fat and fewer calories than regular chips. It’s enough to make you inhale the bag, which I admit I have done on occasion.

Well, your will power is about to be tested again because PopChips has introduced its newest product: tortilla chips.

Yes, made the same way with little oil in a proprietary popping process.

The triangular-shaped tortilla chips are made with stone ground masa. They come in four flavors: Nacho Cheese, Ranch, Salsa, and Chili Limon.

The texture is crisp but a little lighter and airier than a regular tortilla chip. They’re also a bit thinner than regular PopChips. The Nacho Cheese is plenty cheesy and the Ranch has the creamy-onion-garlic taste of the dressing. My favorites were the Salsa and Chili Limon because both have a little heat but still allow the corn flavor to shine through more so than the other two flavors.

They are available in four varieties.

A 1-ounce bag has 120 calories, no saturated fat and 135-190mg of sodium, depending on the variety.

Find them at Safeway, BevMo, Target, Costco and Jamba Juice. They’re also available on Amazon.com at $20.50 for 24 (1-ounce) bags.

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win 12 coupons for 12 free (3-ounce or 3.5-ounce) bags of PopChips or PopChips Tortilla Chips. Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST Oct. 20. Winner will be announced Oct. 23.

How to win?

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