Come hungry, thirsty and inquisitive to Macy’s Valley Fair in Santa Clara, 2 p.m Jan. 20, when the team from Menlo Grill & Bar joins me for a cooking demo.
Executive Chef Saul Romero, who heads the restaurant at the Stanford Park Hotel in Menlo Park, previously cooked at the tech cafes at Google, eBay, and PayPal. He’ll be showing how to jazz up wild King salmon with walnut chimichurri and roasted butternut squash.
The famous Doughnut Wheel at Charlie Palmer Steak Napa. (photo by Paige Green Photo)
Just before Thanksgiving, Chef Charlie Palmer opened the first California location of his American steakhouse concept. Charlie Palmer Steak Napa marks his fifth steakhouse across the country.
Housed inside the new Archer Hotel Napa, the 4,000-square-foot restaurant is headed by Executive Chef Jeffrey Russell.
Enjoy raw bar specialties; pig ear pad thai ($16); a 21-day dry-aged, bone-on tomahawk chop for two ($130); and A5 Wagyu from Japan at $100 for 4 ounces.
The Bottomless Brunch ($38) per person includes unlimited Bloody Marys and Mimosas for two hours, the choice of a main course, and either a charcuterie board for the table or a “doughnut wheel.” The latter is sure to become an Instagram sensation with its cinnamon-sugar, chocolate-glazed, and almond-chocolate doughnuts stacked on a wheel with caramel and raspberry dipping sauces.
Bacchus Management has hired its first executive pastry chef to head all of its restaurants and bakeries.
The new Nutella baby cake at Mayfield Bakery & Cafe, and the Village Bakery & Cafe. (photo by Carolyn Jung)
For the first time, one person will oversee the baking and dessert programs at The Village Pub in Woodside, The Saratoga in San Francisco, Spruce in San Francisco, Mayfield Bakery & Cafe in Palo Alto, The Village Bakery & Cafe in Woodside, and four Pizza Antica outposts in the Bay Area.
Janina O’Leary grew up in Texas, graduated from the French Culinary Institute in New York, and went on to work in such top-tier, fine-dining establishments in Manhattan as Per Se, Del Posto and Restaurant Daniel. She also worked at Bouchon Bakery in New York. When she moved to Austin, she became famous for her doughnut pop-ups, whimsically named Play Dough.
Scallops with bacon vinaigrette at Viognier.
San Mateo’s Viognier restaurant sometimes gets forgotten about.
It’s only when someone brings up the name that you think, “Oh, yeahhhhh, I remember that place…”
After all, when it debuting in 1997, it was a big deal. It made a statement by opening on the second floor of a grocery store, of all things, albeit the uber gourmet Draeger’s. And it made an impression when it lured the illustrious Gary Danko from the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco to open the restaurant.
After Danko left to open his eponymous Michelin one-starred San Francisco establishment, Viognier went through a succession of chefs.
Executive Chef R.J. Subaba in the kitchen.
The latest one comes with impressive credentials, too. Executive Chef R.J. Subaba has cooked at the Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena, Murray Circle at Cavallo Point in Sausalito, Madera at the Rose Wood Sand Hill in Menlo Park, and the Village Pub in Woodside. He’s joined in the kitchen by Executive Pastry Chef Katelyn McCulloch, formerly of the Plumed Horse in Saratoga.
When I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant in December, the restaurant offered only tasting menus. But Subaba says a la carte options will debut soon. A new wood-fired grill also was recently installed.
Chef Donato Scotti at his newest restaurant, Donato & Co.
Chefs Donato Scotti and Gianluca Guglielmi have been fast friends for 18 years.
So much so that when the Vicenza, Italy-born Guglielmi, the former executive chef and vice president at A.G. Ferarri Foods, returned to Italy to open his own restaurant in 2010, Scotti persuaded him into returning to the Bay Area recently.
The lure?
Scotti’s new Berkeley restaurant, Donato & Co., which opened in October that Guglielmi now oversees. It is expected to be the first of several Bay Area concepts to come helmed by the duo.
If Donato & Co. is any indication of what’s to come, the future should be bright for Guglielmi and Scotti, who grew up in a small town near Bergamo, Italy, and now also owns Donato Enoteca in Redwood City and Cru wine bar in Redwood City.
What’s an Italian restaurant without a Vespa, right?
The 20-foot-long bar.
A few weeks ago, I was invited in as a guest of the spacious restaurant, with soaring ceilings, exposed brick columns, a 20-foot-long bar, and a vintage Vespa on display. It has the feel of a beloved neighborhood joint, one you feel right at home in from the get-go.
The method to make these biscuits is easy yet provide very distinctive results.
Hmm, pancakes? Salad dressing? Mashed potatoes?
How about “Cathead Biscuits”? Ones that are fluffy inside and have distinctive craggly crisp, buttery tops?
Yeah, now we’re talking.
After a run of holiday baking, I found myself with leftover buttermilk. I pulled a couple cookbooks from my shelf until I hit upon “Muffins & Biscuits” (Chronicle Books) by Heidi Gibson, co-owner of San Francisco’s The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen.