Category Archives: Pizza

Japan Eats, Part I: Savoy Pizza

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Seared sushi-grade tuna atop one fantastic pizza at Savoy in Tokyo.
Seared sushi-grade tuna atop one fantastic pizza at Savoy in Tokyo.

Tokyo, JAPAN — I just spent two weeks in Japan, my first time there, in what can only be described as an eating adventure of a lifetime.

Scan my Instagram or Facebook pages, and you’ll get a taste through photos and words of all the fine tempura, sushi, tonkatsu, ramen, pastries, and other specialties I thoroughly enjoyed at a pittance, given the very favorable exchange rate of the U.S. dollar to the Japanese yen. Today and Friday, I’ll spotlight two very different restaurants worthy of particular mention.

Though I did online research, and solicited recommendations from friends and chefs who travel to Japan regularly, I don’t think it’s possible to go wrong eating pretty much anywhere in Japan, even if all you do is wing it when you’re there.

Head here when you want to try pizza in Japan.
Head here when you want to try pizza in Japan.

Even eating tiramisu or flan or crustless egg salad sandwiches from a convenience store there is a revelation. Each of those items is less than $2 U.S. at a 7-Eleven or other Japanese convenience store — and the quality just phenomenal.

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Pizza Night, Part I: Grilled Ortolona Pizza with Zucchini, Eggplant, and Olives

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Ortolana pizza? That's just the Italian word for "vegetable.''
Ortolana pizza? That’s just the Italian word for “vegetable.”

If left to his own devices, my husband would happily eat pizza every day. For every meal.

So, it’s no wonder that we’re always up for trying a new pizza recipe.

The latest: “Grilled Ortolona Pizza with Zucchini, Eggplant, and Olives.”

It’s a recipe from “Pizza Night” (Clarkson Potter) of which I received a review copy. Written by Alexandra Stafford, the New York-based creator of the blog, Alexandra’s Kitchen, it has a two-for-one format: Every pizza recipe comes complete with an accompanying salad recipe.

Stafford divides the book by seasons, and includes five different dough recipes: “Neapolitanish,” “Sourdough Neapolitanish,” “Thin-Crust,” “Pan Pizza,” and “Gluten-Free Pizza.”

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Dining At the New Little Original Joe’s

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The Mount Midoriyama of zucchini fries at Little Original Joe's in the Marina neighborhood in San Francisco.
The Mount Midoriyama of zucchini fries at Little Original Joe’s in the Marina neighborhood in San Francisco.

When I was a kid growing up in San Francisco, it was a treat on the rare occasion that my family trekked to Daly City to dine at Westlake Joe’s.

The prices were affordable for a working-class family. The big, cushy booths added an air of specialness. And the food was both different enough from our regular fare yet familiar enough so that my Chinese American parents felt comfortable around the menu.

Those memories flashed back to me last week when I was invited in as a guest at the new Little Original Joe’s in San Francisco’s Marina district.

Located on a prominent corner spot on Chestnut Street, the restaurant is housed inside a1920s Art Deco building with soaring ceilings and tall windows that let in loads of light. The expansiveness does mean that the 100-seat dining room with 12 bar seats gets pretty noisy, which might make it difficult to hear your dining companions but definitely adds to the lively bustle of the place.

A view to the open kitchen.
A view to the open kitchen.
The Art Deco-trimmed bar.
The Art Deco-trimmed bar.

This is Italian-American fare that may not be cutting edge, but it satisfies with pure comfort and nostalgia.

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Liven Up Your Cooking with The Spice Lab

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Grilled bread with cheese, tomatoes and basil that gets a generous sprinkling of The Spice Lab's Pizza Dust Seasoning.
Grilled bread with cheese, tomatoes and basil that gets a generous sprinkling of The Spice Lab’s Pizza Dust Seasoning.

How to make a simple slice of grilled bread taste like actual pizza?

Just shake on a generous amount of The Spice Lab’s Pizza Dust Seasoning.

Close your eyes, take a bite, and you’ll taste the sweetness of tomato, the pungency of garlic, a kiss of anise from fennel, a hit of warm spice from Aleppo pepper, and a subtle bread-y note from yeast flakes. In short, a close approximation to your favorite sausage pizza.

Based in Pompano Beach, FL, The Spice Lab is a family-owned business that turns out award-winning sea salts and unique seasoning blends that are all natural and kosher certified, with a good many of them gluten-free. The company, housed in a sweeping 125,000-square-foot facility, also makes custom blends, including the Nom Nom Paleo seasoning powders for best-selling cookbook author Michelle Tam.

The Spice Lab’s chef-in-residence Fiona Kennedy recently reached out to send samples for me to try.

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Dining At the New Che Fico Parco Menlo

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Impeccable seared octopus at Che Fico Parco Menlo.
Impeccable seared octopus at Che Fico Parco Menlo.

For those of us who live on the Peninsula and South Bay, we couldn’t be happier that it’s been a boom time of late for new restaurants opening in this region, including outposts by celebrated San Francisco chefs.

Among the latest is Chef David Nayfeld of San Francisco’s wildly popular Che Fico who opened a sister-restaurant, Che Fico Parco Menlo, in November in Menlo Park.

It debuted at Springline, the splashy new residential-restaurant mixed-use development off El Camino Real.

Last Thursday night, when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant, the place was buzzing. Nearly every table was filled in the well-appointed, covered and heated outdoor patio that sports tufted banquettes and cozy pillows.

Gingham napkins.
Gingham napkins.

Same with the main dining room, where it was standing-room-only at the bar as patrons waited for tables to open up. A retro soundtrack of Earth, Wind & Fire, Al Green, and the Clash played in the background.

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