Category Archives: Restaurants

Good Eats in Australia

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VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA — Traveling opens your eyes, as well as your taste buds.

My recent week-long trip to Australia, sponsored by Boundary Bend Ltd., was no exception.

Both in Melbourne and throughout the outlying countryside of the state of Victoria, there were so many wonderful new ingredients and dishes to revel in. Here are some of the highlights:

Prahran Market:

I could have stayed for hours meandering through the stalls at the famous Prahran Market, Australia’s oldest continuously running central marketplace. The covered marketplace, teeming with produce, seafood, fresh pasta, flower, soap and olive oil vendors, originated in 1864 at a smaller locale in Melbourne, and moved to its present location in 1881.

If there weren’t those pesky agriculture and customs laws (for good reason, of course), I would have brought back to the Bay Area armloads of the mesmerizing finger limes (above and below photos). The fragrance alone is intoxicating — beautiful enough to be a perfume that you’d want to dab on all the time. It smells of kaffir lime, with a bright floral, refreshing and very complex nose.

What’s really fascinating, though, is that this lime doesn’t have much juice at all. Instead, give one a squeeze and out will come these little globules that look for all the world like caviar. Damian Pike, a wild mushroom specialist, whose stand was selling these, explained that the fruit can be used in marmalade and all manner of dishes. One taste of the chewy globules that burst with tangy delight and I was dreaming of them atop sashimi.

Pike’s stand also sold fresh pepper berries, which I had never seen before, having only been used to the dried variety that fills my pepper grinder at home.

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Garlic Fest & Unique Corkage Fee Program

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Gilroy Garlic Fest:

It will be a most pungent time at the 32nd Gilroy Garlic Festival, July 23-25, in Christmas Park.

Yes, that’s Mr. Garlic front and center above, with the two goofy Foster Imposter Chickens, who also will be putting in appearances as Foster Farms is the official chicken provider for the fest. The portly birds also will be on hand  to get the word out against salt water-plumped chickens, which contain more sodium and end up being more expensive with the added water weight.

At this year’s festival, enjoy live music, children’s entertainment, and a plethora of food booths selling everything from garlic chicken sandwiches to garlic steak tacos to garlic ice cream with cantaloupe.

July 24 at 10 a.m., eight amateur chefs from around the country will vie for the $1,000 cook-off prize. Locals will no doubt be cheering for the two California contestants: Jamie Miller of Napa, who will be making “Deconstructed Beef Wellington with Garlic-Tarragon Aioli” and Michael G. Labrador of Newhall, who will be whipping up “Garlic Paella with Garlic Aiolli.”

July 25 at noon, four chefs will take to the stage for a $5,000 cook-off. “Top Chef” contestant Fabio Viviani will host the cook-off featuring another “Top Chef” alum and the defending champion from last year, Ryan Scott, who will go up against Jerry Regester of C Restaurant in Monterey; Jesse Llapitan of the Palace Hotel in San Francisco; and another “Top Chef” alum, Mattin Noblia of Iluna Basque in San Francisco.

New this year is a commitment from festival organizers to make the event as green as possible in the next three years by featuring local ingredients and products, as well as sourcing re-usable materials.

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Fish Tacos Still Rule

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With all the hub-bub lately about the spicy Korean short rib taco craze, you might think fish tacos have gone passé.

Not so.

In fact, two San Francisco Bay Area spots have rolled out new, inventive versions just in time for summer.

First up, Gott’s Roadside (the restaurant formerly known as Taylor’s Automatic Refresher) is serving up fish tacos — poke-style. Yes, three crispy tacos ($13.99) are filled with Hawaiian-style raw, marinated ahi tuna cubes, avocado, green cabbage, cilantro and spicy mayo.

Gott’s also features a new “B-Side” menu — sly, you-have-to-ask-for-it selections on a special list that you have to specifically request at the counter or follow @gottsroadside on Twitter for updates on that particular menu.

A few of the recent secret menu items have included the “Big Tasty” (buttermilk fried chicken with house-made ranch dressing, aioli, melted Swiss cheese and bacon on a butter-toasted egg bun) and the “Fish Royale Sandwich” (fresh mahi-mahi, tartar sauce, Romaine, and American cheese on a toasted bun).

The “B-Side” items are meant to showcase fresh-picked ingredients from Gott’s new garden in St. Helena, which will be used at all Gott’s locations. Those include heirloom tomatoes, herbs, shallots, squashes, potatoes and peppers.

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A Visit to Two Australian Wineries

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YARRA VALLEY, AUSTRALIA — Just about an hour’s drive from Melbourne, this picturesque region is the country’s leading cool climate wine region.

On my recent trip to Australia, sponsored by Boundary Bend Ltd., I had a chance to visit two outstanding wineries in this valley, the oldest wine region in the state of Victoria in the southern part of the continent.

With its stunning, contemporary main building with sweeping lines that echo the ridge line it overlooks, Yering Station hardly looks like the the oldest winery in the Yarra Valley. But the first grapes were planted here in 1838.

The family-owned winery is known for its Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Shiraz and sparkling wines. In fact, Yerring Station’s Assistant Winemaker Marc Lunt says that many wine critics consider Australia second only to Burgundy, France for its quality of Chardonnay. The 2009 we tried was wonderfully creamy and tasted vaguely of peaches. It also had a lovely mineral note, giving it nice balance.

Yering Station also makes an interesting blend of Shiraz and Viognier, apparently a quite common marriage in the Yarra Valley because Merlot does not grow well here. The Viognier takes its place instead, softening the power of the Shiraz grape.

A small group of food journalists and I had the pleasure of dining at the winery’s fabulous restaurant with Lunt. The large dining room has a back wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the rolling hills. Even on an overcast day in the fall in the Southern Hemisphere, it was breathtaking.

We shared an assortment of appetizers at lunch. You know a restaurant is good when it can turn out such outstanding dishes when the head chef isn’t even in the house that day.

The prices may seem high by American standards (about $21 each for the appetizers), but you have to take into consideration that the gratuity system is much different Down Under. In Australia, it’s not customary to tip 18 percent or what-have-you as it is in the United States.  Instead, even if you leave a token tip, it’s viewed as more than enough. So the prices reflect that.

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Special Tomato, New Indian Sweets, Piggy Event & More

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Tomato Time:

Are these gorgeous tomatoes or what?

These lovelies, known as “Taste Tomatoes,” were created especially for Taste Catering of San Francisco. The tomatoes, a cross between the Maglia Rosa and Zucchero varieties, is the brainchild of Baia Nicchia Farm & Nursery in Sunol.

With their sweet flavor and unique look, the tomatoes proved such a hit in hors d’oeuvres and salads with customers that the catering company wanted to make them available to the general public.

Starting July 19, you’ll be able to buy your own “Taste Tomatoes” at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market at Allstar Organics’ booth on Saturdays; Menlo Park Farmers Market at Baia Nicchia’s booth on Sundays; Berkeley’s Tokyo Fish Market, Mondays through Saturdays; and Baia Nicchia’s farm stand in Sunol on Friday afternoons.

Sweets with Indian Flair:

That’s just what you’ll find at the new Bengali Sweets, which just opened at 783 E. El Camino Real in Sunnyvale.

Open 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, the 50-seat cafe serves up sweets and chaat (snacks) made by chefs Sohan Bhatt and Bajrang Bhamu, both of Sakoon restaurant in Mountain View. This is the newest venture of the Bombay Garden Group, which also owns Sakoon.

The Bengali region of Eastern India is known for milk-based sweets, including “Chenna Jelabi”, a cottage cheese-style milk-based dough piped in coils, deep fried and soaked in a spice-infused sugar syrup.

On the savory side, enjoy entrees such as “Chole Bhatury”, a rich chickpea stew served with fried bread dumplings and curries such as lamb Roganjosh. For more information, call (408) 736-4000.

For Carnivores:

Lamb lovers will want to head to the “American Lamb Jam,” 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. July 18 at Fort Mason Festival Pavilion in San Francisco.

Executive Chef Matthew Accarrino of SPQR in San Francisco hosts this meaty affair that brings together dozens of top San Francisco chefs who will create succulent lamb dishes paired with local wines.

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