Category Archives: Restaurants

Fruit Pie Time, French Laundry Luxe Gift Cards & More

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Adorable little cherry pies at Madera restaurant in Palo Alto. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

Fruit Pies Around the Bay Area

There are cake people. And there are pie people.

For pie lovers, you can’t ask for a better time to indulge than summer when fresh fruit ones abound.

At Madera restaurant in the Rosewood Sand Hill resort in Palo Alto, get a taste of warm tart cherry hand-pies with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream ($10).

At San Francisco’s Bluestem Brasserie, enjoy more hand-held pies. Its “Happy Camper Pies” ($9.50) are filled with fruit-herb jam and seasonal fruit. A scoop of vanilla bean ice cream accompanies, as what’s pie without ice cream, right?

Perfect for one -- "Happy Camper Pie'' at Bluestem Brasserie. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

Crisp peach fry pie at Prospect restaurant. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

Prospect in San Francisco get a load of peach fry pie ($9.50) — little pies fried up crisp with a filling of Blossom Bluff peaches, then garnished with raspberries, tayberries and Bavarian buttermilk ice cream.

Traditionalists will revel in the apple pie with brandied cherries and cheddar tuille ($10) at Epic Roasthouse in San Francisco.

French Laundry and Per Se Launch “Experience Cards”

These may very well be the ultimate gift cards.

No longer will Thomas Keller’s French Laundry in Yountville and Per Se in New York issue issue plain ol’ gift certificates made of paper. Nope, now you can purchase “Experience Cards,” made of sleek metal and sent in an elegant bow-wrapped box.

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Bardessono Hotel Unveils Its New Lucy Restaurant

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Soft-shell crab gets an Asian spin at Lucy at Bardessono.

Bardessono hotel sits right in downtown Yountville, which boasts more Michelin stars per capita than anywhere else, thanks to such lofty neighbors as the French Laundry, Bouchon Bistro and Redd.

The three-year-old, eco-friendly resort is one of only a handful of hotels in the world to be LEED platinum certified, the highest standard for environmental design. It’s always been a hotel of great beauty and thoughtful attention to detail. But it’s struggled to have a restaurant truly worthy of its surroundings and on par with the other world-class dining establishments just steps away.

Opening Executive Chef Sean O’Toole did a fantastic job, but he departed in 2010. The restaurant was left rather rudderless — and it showed in the food — until the middle of 2011, when the talented Victor Scargle, formerly of Go Fish in St. Helena and Julia’s Kitchen in Napa, was hired.

To go along with the new chef, the restaurant got a complete overhaul, too. Formerly, you’d have to wind your way through the property to find the restaurant. Now, there’s a new door at the front of the hotel that clearly leads you to Lucy, the restaurant named for the matriarch of the Bardessono family who once owned this swath of former farmland.

I had a chance to dine as a guest under each of the restaurant’s chef changes. A few weeks ago, I was invited back to check out Chef Scargle’s new menu.

The new restaurant is named for the matriarch of the farming family that once owned the sweeping property.

The dining room is now all done up in grays and purples.

The dining room used to be one unencumbered room done up in elegant, golden earth tones and tables made from reclaimed wood. It’s much different now — bathed in deep purples and dark grays with hard-edged metal light fixtures, giving it more of a trendy hotel vibe. Low wood partitions wrap around some of the seating areas to provide a bit more privacy, but can make it difficult for servers to notice when diners need something.

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Village Pub’s New Sunday Suppers, Chef Marcus Samuelsson To Visit the Bay Area & More

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A succulent beef dish at the Village Pub. Photo courtesy of the Village Pub)

Summer Sunday Suppers at the Village Pub

Woodside’s Village Pub will offer special “Sunday Suppers” all through July.

The four-course Sunday dinners are $65 per person and available via Gilt City through Wednesday.

The dinner starts with butter-poached lobster lasagna with sweetbreads and white corn. That’s followed by a changing seasonal market-fresh course, then seared duck breast with Sauternes-poached peaches. The meal concludes with crepes flambe with roasted cherries and creme fraiche ice cream.

Learn about Chef Marcus Samuelsson's incredible culinary journey. (Photo by Kwaku Alston).

Chef Marcus Samuelsson to Visit the Bay Area

Meet Chef Marcus Samuelsson, acclaimed chef of Red Rooster in in Harlem and victor of “Top Chef Masters,” at a series of July events in the Bay Area to celebrate his new memoir, “Yes, Chef” (Random House).

Samuelsson’s path to cooking stardom was far from the norm. Orphaned in Ethiopia at age 3 after his mother died of tuberculosis, Samuelsson and his sister were adopted by a family in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was there in the kitchen alongside his adopted grandmother, Helga, that Samuelsson grew to love cooking.

The book recounts his culinary growth, including his earning a three-star rating from the New York Times while head chef at Aquavit. At the time, he was only 24 years old, the youngest chef to receive that coveted ranking.

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The Lettuce That’s Taking the Bay Area By Storm

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Little Gem salad with spring veggies and Green Goddess dressing at Redd Wood in Yountville. (Photo by Carolyn Jung)

No matter where you dine in the Bay Area, you’d be hard pressed to find a menu that did not have this particular lettuce gracing it.

Whether served cold and crisp in a salad or braised or grilled in a main dish, Little Gem lettuce is the new darling ingredient that chefs and diners just can’t seem to get enough of. Whether at Frances in San Francisco, Redd Wood in Yountville, Camino in Oakland or Mamacita in San Francisco, Little Gem is sure to be there front and center.

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Citrus Restaurant: Beyond Street-Level Dining at Santana Row

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A new look at ahi tartare at Citrus in the Valencia Hotel.

With luxe boutiques and restaurants galore lining the main interior roads, it’s easy to confine your gaze at San Jose’s Santana Row to street level.

But that’s a shame because you would be missing out by not looking up.

Three stories high to be exact.

That’s where you’ll find Citrus Restaurant in the Valencia Hotel.

A bit hidden and an elevator ride up three floors, the dimly lit restaurant with bare dark wood tables that overlook a sunny central courtyard, is worth making the trek.

The dining room up on the third floor of the hotel building.

Executive Chef Robert Sapirman, who  previously headed Parcel 104 in Santa Clara, is slowly but surely personalizing the menu since coming on board a year and a half ago. He’s awaiting the planned top-to-bottom renovation of the hotel, though, before transforming the menu completely into one of eclectic global tapas. That major hotel remodel, which has already been pushed back a couple times, may start later this year. For now, you can get a good feel for what’s to come cuisine-wise, as Sapirman’s menu already boasts many Asian and Spanish influences.

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