Category Archives: New Products

Luke’s Local: A Taste of Local and Sustainable at a Caltrain Station

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Owner Luke Chappell outside his Luke's Local store at the Caltrain station.

As you race to catch the train home after a day that’s left you running on empty, wouldn’t it be great to pick up a fresh, nourishing, convenient meal for the ride home?

You can if you stop at the San Mateo Hillsdale Caltrain station, where Luke’s Local opened this spring in an old, vacant ticket office.

This is a convenience store that’s all about local and sustainable food products, as well as gourmet-to-go meals, made fresh daily by a former San Francisco restaurant chef. We’re talking Dungeness crab mac ‘n’ cheese, skirt steak with creamed corn, and chicken stuffed with chevre — all precooked and packaged (at $7.99 each) for you to take home to heat up easily.

Or grab a dripped-to-order Blue Bottle coffee, a pastry from San Francisco’s Sandbox Bakery, an organic locally grown apple, a Free-Trade banana, or a chorizo breakfast burrito ($3.49) that you can nuke in the microwave there to nosh on your morning commute. And yes, Caltrain does allow food and beverages on its trains.

The front of the store, just a few steps from the train tracks.

Sure, the Palo Alto Caltrain station boasts a gourmet coffee kiosk. And the San Francisco station has a coffee stand and a Subway sandwich shop. But the Hillsdale station, where 1,300 passengers go through daily, is the only one with meals like this, prepared by Adel Benmahdi, who used to work at Orson in San Francisco.

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Caramels with A Goaty Tang

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Soft, pillowy caramels made with goat milk and goat butter.

Gooey soft, sticky, sweet and with a unique chevre-like finish.

That’s the remarkable taste of Happy Goat Caramels, made in small batches by hand in San Francisco.

The candies are made with Grade A Kosher-certified goat’s milk and goat butter from small, free-range farms. For friends who are lactose-intolerant, these might be the perfect treats as goat’s milk is naturally sweeter but lower in lactose than cow’s milk. Goat’s milk also has more Vitamin A and Vitamin B than cow’s milk.

Happy Goat Caramels made in San Francisco.

I recently had a chance to try samples of the all-natural caramels ($6.99 for a package of 7; and $9.99 for a package of 14), which are available at Sur La Table and select Whole Foods stores.

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Glam Truffle Popcorn and the Winner of the Food Gal $100 Giveaway

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Ahhhhh. I love the smell of black truffle popcorn in the afternoon.

It smells like pure decadence.

You have to admit there is something a little naughty about dressing up lowbrow popcorn with truffle oil, of all things.

Oh, I know, some of you are so over truffle oil. And the purists out there scoff that many of the ones on the market have no actual truffle in them.

But there’s no denying the haunting quality of the heady aroma of the pricey tuber.

Now, you can enjoy the uptown combo of popcorn and black truffle oil in a convenient kit by San Francisco’s 479° Popcorn.

The “Pop It Yourself Kit” ($45) comes complete with a 32-ounce jar of heirloom popcorn: Shaman Blue, Yellow Topaz, Dakota Black and White Diamond; a 16.5-ounce canister of La Tourangelle Black Truffle Oil (grapeseed oil infused with “black truffle aroma”); 2 packets of Gourmet Black Truffle Sea Salt (made with Mediterranean sea salt and shaved italian black truffles); 10 paper popcorn cones; and instructions.

The "Pop It Yourself Kit.''

The company, named for the precise popping temperature best for popcorn, was founded by husband-and-wife, Andy and Jean Arnold. All of their popcorn products are certified organic and purchased from small suppliers.

After I received a sample kit, my hubby has been begging me to make the popcorn every weekend. Dare I confess that sometimes we even enjoy a huge bowl as our lunch?

The quality of the kernels is unparalleled. There’s a real freshness to them that you don’t find in supermarket ones.

Pop some up, then drizzle on some truffle oil and sprinkle on some truffle salt. I defy anyone who makes a batch not to devour it. Once you get a whiff of the truffle oil hitting the hot, fresh popcorn, you just surrender to it.

Contest Winner(s): Now, for something else a little decadent — a $100 CSN gift card giveaway, good at any CSN online store.

As you recall in this latest Food Gal contest, I asked you to tell me about the best food-related gift you’ve ever received. Your answers touched my heart, made me laugh out loud, and were just priceless to read.

It was hard to pick just one winner. So, I didn’t. Besides the grand prize winner who will receive the $100 gift card, I’m adding second- and third-place winners, who will each receive a culinary-related book from my vast collection.

Thank you all for participating. Without further adieu, here are the winners:

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Unusual New Peppers from East Palo Alto’s Happy Quail Farms

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Some like it hot. Or at least tongue-tingling.

That’s what Happy Quail Farms of East Palo Alto is hoping with its two new spicy peppers. Owner David Winsberg is believed to be the only one in the United States selling the Guindilla Verde from Bilbao, Spain and the Shaerma from Bhutan.

The light green, heirloom Guindilla Verde, with its grassy flavor and moderate heat, is perfect in piperade, egg scrambles, stir-fries or simply grilled and served alongside steaks. When it turns red, taking on a sweeter note, it’s typically used in Spanish chorizo, giving the sausages their distinctive, crimson tinge.

The dark green Shaerma is practically a national treasure in Bhutan, gracing almost every meal of the day.  Similar to a New Mexico Hatch chile in spiciness and to a Pimiento de Padron in flavor, this tender pepper is fairly hot, making it ideal for dishes with cheese to tame it a tad.

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Rumba Ice Creams Cause a Delicious Rumble

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Laly Protzel may have spent a decade as an interior architecture designer.

But one taste of her new Rumba Desserts makes you realize this is one woman who knows and loves fine ice creams.

What really sets Protzel’s ice creams apart is that they are made with natural fruits grown exclusively in her native Peru.

I had a chance to try a few samples recently of her preservative-free, egg-free, all natural ice creams, which are made in Sunnyvale and are available at Whole Foods, Draeger’s, Zanotto’s and Sigona’s Market. A pint sells for about $7.99.

The Maracuya (yellow passion fruit)  tastes like a tropical island. It’s a nice blend of sweet-tart.

The Banana Cinnamon tastes like bananas flambé with a nice dose of warm cinnamon.

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