Category Archives: Restaurants

Of Sake and Crab Cakes

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An array of sakes at Ozumo in Oakland. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

The Sake:

Now, this is one club I’d love to be a member of — Ozumo Restaurant in Oakland’s sake “300club.”

The restaurant invites patrons to purchase one of eight different 300ml bottles selected by Director of Sake Jessica Furui each time when visiting the restaurant. Ozumo will then record each purchase. When a customer has tried all eight club selections, they will receive a complimentary 720ml bottle of Ozumo’s “Seitoku” signature junmai ginjo sake.

Moreover, each time a customer orders a bottle of club sake, they will receive a small card containing information about the sake and brewery, plus a map of Japan showing where the brewery is located.

There is no cost to join the club, no food purchase is required and club selections will be changed every six months.

Kampai to that.

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Sneak Peek: Baume Chocolates

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Look forward to the day you can try these incredible chocolates at Baume.

Chef Bruno Chemel of Palo Alto’s Baume can be a bit of a mad scientist.

With his molecular gastronomy creations that foam, smoke, fizz and bubble savagely at the dining table, you’d think that any chocolates he would make would be equally jaw-dropping wild.

But instead, they are as timelessly elegant and chic as can be.

Chemel doesn’t make chocolates very often. No time. But on his rare days off from his nearly one- year-old restaurant, which just received a coveted one Michelin star, he likes to pull out molds, temper chocolate and stir ganache. Sometimes, he even enlists the help of his 6-year-old son, Antoine, who is a whiz at piping.

For Chemel, chocolate-making is relaxing — which, he jokes, his pastry chef thinks is preposterous.

Chef Bruno Chemel of Baume.

Next year, Chemel hopes to find the time and a way to incorporate his chocolates into the restaurant. Let’s hope so, because recently, the chef allowed me to try some of the bonbons. They are exquisite.

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Cupertino’s Alexander’s Steakhouse Opens A San Francisco Outpost

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The famous hamachi shooters at Alexander's Steakhouse.

When Executive Chef Jeffrey Stout opened a branch of his Alexander’s Steakhouse in San Francisco’s South of Market district about two months ago, he didn’t think the crowds here would differ much from what he gets at his original location in Cupertino.

But how wrong he was.

While the Cupertino restaurant starts to shut down after 9 p.m. because folks in the South Bay are early eaters, the party is just getting started in San Francisco around 8 p.m. and is still going strong three hours later.

The three-story restaurant (formerly Bacar),  a short hop from the InterContinental San Francisco, epitomizes The City’s eclecticism with its exposed brick walls, dramatic wine displays, custom Japanese shoji screens and bustling exhibition kitchen with cooks dressed in trendy black chef’s coats.

Three floors of glam.

Stout, who is half Japanese, and his business partner, JC Chen, continue their unique, upscale, contemporary, Asian-inflected take on a steakhouse here. But unlike the Cupertino location, there is no jaw-dropping display of meat on display in an aging room right when you walk through the doors. Wasn’t room for it in the San Francisco locale, Stout says. Instead, all the meat is butchered at the Cupertino restaurant, then trucked to the San Francisco one twice a week.

As a result, there’s mega meat on the menu: Niman Ranch Prime T-Bone Steak with grilled lemon and a trio of salt; Strip Steak with kimichi butter and shishito pepper pistou; and pricey Japanese A5 Wagyu, the highest grade.

But what I’ve always enjoyed about Alexander’s is that it also offers a variety of Japanese seafood preparations for folks like me who crave that far more than a big hunk of meat.

Recently, I was invited in as a guest to try the new San Francisco outpost.

I couldn’t resist starting with the signature hamachi shots, a classic from the original Alexander’s in Cupertino. They’re $4 each or $22 for half a dozen. These little glasses are filled with a palate-awakening mix of raw hamachi, jalapeno, avocado, ginger, lime juice and truffled ponzu sauce. Don’t even bother ordering just one, because after you down it, you’ll surely want another.

Dishes like this beautiful sashimi reinforce the notion that you're not an your average steakhouse.

Hirame sashimi ($15) brought delicate little rolls of raw fish accented by heirloom tomatoes and yuzu gelee.

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Speedy, Simple Sides Part II: The Green Beans

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A perky, fast holiday salad.

Creamy, cheesy green bean casserole is the stuff of comfort and tradition.

But for a lighter, contemporary California take, try this crisp, tangy “Green Bean Salad with Pickled Shallots.”

It’s from “Heart of the Artichoke” (Artisan), the newest cookbook by David Tanis, long-time chef at Berkeley’s landmark Chez Panisse.

I dunno about you, but at holiday tables so laden with a multitude of rich, buttery dishes, I always welcome having something bright, fresh and assertively zingy as a contrast.

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Speedy, Simple Sides Part I: The Mushrooms

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Spectacular shiitakes that take practically no time to cook.

At this time of year especially, we can’t ever have enough recipes for side dishes that are versatile, effortless and crowd-pleasers.

“Sauteed Shiitake Mushrooms with Sage” fits that bill perfectly.

It takes barely 10 minutes to make and goes well alongside everything from poultry to pork to beef.

And it’s from suave Chef Eric Ripert of New York’s renowned Le Bernardin. It’s from his new cookbook, “Avec Eric” (Wiley), a companion to his similarly named, intelligent PBS cooking show.

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