Category Archives: General

Bay Area Barbecue Championship and Quick Food Gal Giveaway

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Barbecue chicken and more await you at the Bay Area BBQ Championship. (Photo courtesy of the event organizers)

If you love barbecue, you are destined for one smoke-a-licious time at the Bay Area Barbecue Championship on July 16 at the Oakland Coliseum.

Starting at 9:30 a.m., 32 teams will square off in four categories: Chicken, Brisket, Pork and Ribs.

Celebrity judges — including Bay Area Chef Joey Altman and everyone’s favorite retired pilot, Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger — will determine the winners. But there also will be a People’s Choice Award for members of the public to cast votes on whose ‘cue they believe clobbers all the rest.

After you’ve had your fill of smoky, charred meat, take a seat inside the Coliseum for the A’s only double-header of the year as they take on the Los Angeles Angels.

General admission tickets are $48 each, which gets you five food/drink coupons for the Barbecue Championship and one plaza outfield seat for the double-header.

VIP tickets are $78 each, which includes the food-drink coupons, plus a field level seat and access to VIP hospitality.

All tickets must be purchased in advance.

The event benefits Alternative Family Services, which provides services for foster children in Northern California.

Contest: I’m happy to be giving away three general admission tickets to the barbecue fest and baseball game (a value of $48 each) to one lucky Food Gal reader. Contest is open only to those who can make it to Oakland on July 16. Since the event is this Saturday, this will be a quick contest. Entries will be accepted only until noon PST July 13. The winner will be announced on July 14.

How to win?

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Flea St. Cafe Marks An Extraordinary 30 Years

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First of the season, wild Coho salmon at Flea St. Cafe.

The first things set before you in the dining room at Menlo Park’s Flea St. Cafe are telling.

The famous housemade, sesame-seed-topped biscuits, served since day one at this now 30-year-old establishment, which are based on a recipe by Chef-Proprietor Jesse Cool’s late-Dad and still stirred up in the same mixing bowl he once used.

The “Taste of the Season,” an amuse bouche that’s as spare and lovely as it gets — just a few simple veggies straight from a local farm, their fresh, bright flavors unadorned by anything else.

The former shows how comfort and family take precedence at this restaurant, where Cool’s two sons worked when they were growing up, and her Mom used to water the plants and arrange the dining room just so.

A meal isn't complete without the famous, housemade biscuits.

The amuse of carrots and potatoes in a "Taste of the Season.''

The latter points at the legacy of Cool, who for decades has championed local, sustainable and organic ingredients long before it became a standard of our cultural lexicon.

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Anzu Gets A Fresh Look, New Campbell Eateries, Half-Off Wines & More

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Anzu's new glam look. (Photo by Matthew Millman)

Restaurant Anzu Gets Glam

The Hotel Nikko’s Restaurant Anzu in San Francisco has debuted a chic new look with its bold citrine, black and white decor.

Jewel-like chandeliers, beaded pendant lighting, a black wall treatment, heavy, damask curtains and oversized white banquettes add an even more luxurious feeling.

You can still enjoy an array of sushi there, but the restaurant also has added a new emphasis on prime meat with  Kurobota double pork chop ($33), local rack of lamb ($34) and Wagyu beef that’s cooked tableside on a sizzling hot Japanese river stone ($34).

Campbell Welcomes Tasty, New Businesses

Downtown Campbell is hopping lately with new foodie places, including an intriguing Austrian-California restaurant, Naschmarkt (pronounced “nash-marked”), which just opened.

Long-time South Bay foodies may fondly remember the now-shuttered Cafe Marcella in Los Gatos. Those owners, Alain and Martine Staebler, have partnered with their son-in-law, Austrian chef, Matthias Froeschl, to open this restaurant that is named for Vienna’s largest open-air market.

Look for classic wiener schnitzel with lingonberry sauce, Hungarian beef goulash, steamed Scottish salmon with baby artichokes, and apple strude — but of course.

Soda pop buffs will get a kick out of Rocket Fizz, which also just opened downtown. Owners Chris Dunn and Lisa Pelgrim sell more than 500 varieties of soda, including more than 50 root beers. They’re all sold in glass bottles, which can be purchased individually, by the pack or by the case.

Don’t miss the candy selection, either, that boasts more than 2,000 kinds from around the world.

Finally, if that wasn’t enough sugar for you already, wander over to the new downtown Frost Cupcake Factory.

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Digging Daikon

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Japanese radish in a thick, creamy sesame-mustard sauce.

The other day, I found myself with an extra daikon lying around the house.

Don’t you just hate it when that happens?

Oh, it’s not like I temporarily lost it in the wash or found it underneath a sofa pillow. It’s just that I had bought a couple of these white, carrot-shaped, 14-inch-long Japanese radishes for a braised dish, and was left with one remaining one that didn’t quite have a purpose yet.

The mild radish, which also comes in Chinese and Korean versions, can be enjoyed raw or cooked. My Japanese-American husband fondly remembers his late-Mom grating it and mixing it with shoyu for an easy dipping sauce. And anyone who’s ever eaten sashimi at at Japanese restaurant will recognize it immediately as the crisp, white strands that so often brace fanned slices of raw fish on a plate.

I was hankering to use it as an easy side dish of some sort when I found just what I was looking for in the cookbook, “At the Japanese Table” (Chronicle Books) by Lesley Downer, a cooking teacher and journalist fluent in Japanese who splits her time between London and Tokyo.

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Love for Love Grown Granola

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Sweet Cranberry Pecan granola. Look at all those lovely chunky clusters of oats.

My favorite summer lunch is one of the simplest: Just a bowl of fresh berries or cut-up peaches, plums and nectarines from the farmers market, topped with Greek yogurt and a handful of crunchy granola.

Oh, I know granola gets knocked at times for its high calories. But like anything, when eaten in moderation, it will nourish, satisfy and still leave you trim enough to squeeze into that skimpy swimming suit.

The makers of Love Grown Foods know all about that. Started by two University of Denver graduates, one a avid cyclist and the other a certified pilates instructor, the company set out to make nutritious, good-tasting “Oat Clusters & Love” perfect for active lifestyles.

The granola-like mixes are sweetened with agave nectar and honey. They are gluten-free, and contain no preservatives or artificial flavors. Each 1/4 cup serving has 120 to 130 calories, depending upon the variety.

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