Category Archives: Restaurants

Scenes From SF Chefs 2012

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Chef Mark Dommen (R) and Chef David Bazirgan (L) begin to plate their lamb dish in the first chef's challenge at SF Chefs.

If you spied the huge white tent pitched in the heart of San Francisco’s Union Square this past weekend, you knew it could only mean one thing:

The arrival of SF Chefs, the annual food-wine-cocktail extravaganza that celebrates the Bay Area’s home-grown culinary culture.

Top chefs, vintners, sommeliers and mixologists descended upon downtown to put on a series of special dinners, wine seminars, panel discussions, and culinary battles before setting up inside the tent to dole out gourmet eats and drinks to throngs of attendees.

Chef Joey Altman’s all-chef band, the Soul Peppers, entertained the hungry crowd.

On the opposing team, Chef Omri Aflalo of Bourbon Steak, readies his dishes.

Earlier that afternoon, the first round of the Eater Chef Challenge took place at the Westin St. Francis Hotel, pitting the team of Mark Sullivan of Spruce in San Francisco and Omri Aflalo of Bourbon Steak in San Francisco against the team of Mark Dommen of One Market Restaurant and David Bazirgan of the Fifth Floor in San Francisco. With an hour on the clock, the two teams had to incorporate lamb and Guittard chocolate into two dishes, which were presented to a panel of judges.

The Sullivan-Aflalo lamb dish.

The Dommen-Bazirgan lamb dish.

As the clock ticked down, the Dommen-Bazirgan team plated their lamb dish with mole flavors, along with chocolate ice cream created with liquid nitrogen. On the opposing side, Sullivan and Aflalo put up their lamb dish with a Moroccan influence, along with chocolate mousse with caramel.

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Ice Cream Sandwich Time & Dan Gordon Performs at the San Jose Jazz Fest

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Can't resist this ice cream sammy at Sift Cupcakes. (Photo courtesy of the bakery)

Ice Cream Sandwiches on the Menu

When the weather heats up, there’s nothing as joyful to enjoy as an ice cream sandwich. It can’t help but bring out the kid in each of us.

Try an “Ice Cream Sammy” at Sift Cupcake & Dessert Bar, the only Bay Area bakery to win the Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars.”

With locations in Napa, Santa Rosa and Cotati, the bakery takes organic gelato and sandwiches in between big cookies. Try the “All for the Cookie” ($4), which features cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream stuffed between two chocolate cookies.

Look for a San Francisco location to open later this summer, too.

Mozzeria's loaded ice cream sandwich plate. (Photo courtesy of Mozzeria)

San Francisco’s Mozzeria is getting in on the act, too, with peanut butter ice cream sandwiched between two chocolate cookies ($6). It gets even better, too. The sammy is served on a homemade fruit roll-up — with a side of spicy beer nuts. It’s a meal.

Mozzeria is one of the first deaf-owned restaurants in the country. Its global menu features everything from roast duck pizza with hoisin to Japanese pumpkin ravioli.

Dan Gordon — Beer-Maker and Musician

Sure, we all know that the founder of Gordon Biersch Brewing Company knows how to make great beer.

But how many knew that Dan Gordon also is an accomplished musician?

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Press Club is One Hot Ticket in Town

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Shaved asparagus salad with a raw cow's milk cheese at Press Club.

Forgive me if I tell you that my first thought upon walking down the illuminated steps to the lounge-y Press Club wine bar was:

“If I were hip, young and single, man, oh man, would this be the place to hang out.”

Ahem, well, I may be none of those things. But Press Club in downtown San Francisco sure made me feel that I possessed each and every one of those attributes, if only for a night.

You’ll feel that way, too, in this dimly lit, expansive space that’s cozily divided into separate areas to linger in low-slung couches, at tall communal bar tables with chrome and leather stools or at a smattering of seats at the bars.

Take your pick, but don’t dally, as all those seats will surely be snapped up as the night wears on, as folks gather for after-work drinks, a girls-night-out soiree or just to take a load off after an afternoon of shopping on Union Square.

A communal bar table -- empty, but not for long.

As the night wears on, it will get packed at this popular gathering place.

While Press Club has always served food, it used to be more a place you’d stop in for a glass of wine and a quick nibble before heading elsewhere for dinner.

But that changed this spring when Chef Chris Borges of San Francisco’s Taste Catering came on board.

Under his direction, Press Club has transformed into a place where you would be remiss not to stay for the full shebang.

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Half-Price Cheesecake, Steve Raichlen Visits SF & More

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The new Oreo Dream Extreme Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant

Cheesecake Sale at the Cheesecake Factory

It just wouldn’t be right, would it, if National Cheesecake Day came and went without some scrumptious offering from the Cheesecake Factory?

The company will be offering “Any Slice, Half Price” on all its cheesecakes for dine-in guests on July 30.

Just for the occasion, the Cheesecake Factory also will be debuting its newest specialty: Oreo Dream Extreme Cheesecake. Oh yes, it’s a layer of vanilla cheesecake loaded with Oreo cookies, then layers of fudge cake, along with Oreo cookie mousse. The whole shebang is frosted in milk chocolate icing, then garnished with a large Oreo cookie wafer.

Lark Creek Blue Coming to Santana Row in August

You may have noticed that Yankee Pier at Santana Row in San Jose is no more.

But don’t worry, the space won’t be vacant for long. The Lark Creek Restaurant Group is completely remodeling the spot for its new Lark Creek Blue, which will open in August.

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The Newest in Urban Farming at Ecopia in Campbell

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A bounty of lettuces from Ecopia Farms.

Look closely at that bowl of beautiful, baby salad greens.

If only you could reach out and grab a few leaves to taste, you’d be amazed at their sweetness, pepperiness and all-around intensity of flavor.

What makes these lettuces different is that all were grown indoors under LED lights, using a fraction of the water a conventional outdoor farm would.

Ecopia Farms in Campbell is unlike any other agricultural endeavor — housed indoors in a non-descript, out-of-the-way warehouse in Campbell.

Utilizing the latest technology and know-how, it was founded by a couple of tech giants: a former CEO of Solectron, and a former president of Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space.

With water and land increasingly precious commodities, their goal is to create a way of farming that is not only more efficient and sustainable, but replicable in high-density urban areas.

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