Category Archives: Restaurants

Tradition Reigns at Neto’s Market & Grill

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Neto's "burger,'' a thick sausage patty in a sub.

People have endured a lot to get their Neto’s sausage fix.

My husband, Meat Boy, included.

At its tiny, hidden away, former location at The Alameda and Harrison Street in Santa Clara, the third-generation Neto Sausage Company would sell its grilled Portuguese sausages at lunch-time to a hungry crowd in need of hefty sub sandwiches.

But the sandwiches were only offered on Tuesdays and Fridays. And only weather permitting — since the sausages were grilled outdoors.

Good luck to those who weren’t familiar with the “system,” too. You’d get in one line at the grill to pick your cooked meat, then carry it in an aluminum tray inside the store to get into another line. You would hand your meat to the counter-person, who’d ask you what kind of bread, condiments, and chips you wanted. Next, you’d wander over to the cooler to pick a beverage, then get into yet another line to pay for your lunch and to pick it up. Whew, got all that? This game of musical lines happened in a very narrow, very cramped space, too.

Even with all that, the ever-present line out the door was a testament to just how good the sausages are. Of course, there was never a place to sit once you got your sandwich; the place was just too teeny to have tables and chairs.

Earlier this year, though, Neto’s Market & Grill opened at 1313 Franklin St. in the old VFW building in what could be considered palatial in comparison to the old location. Plenty of tables and chairs here in what’s more than four times the size of the old place. Grilled sausage sandwiches are available every day now. Plus a whole lot more — fried calamari ($10.99), penne and sausage ($10.99), and even cioppino $16.95).

There’s even a sizable deli/market in the front, where you’ll find everything from dried beans, frozen raviolis, quince paste, canned sardines, air-dried beef from Uruguay, and even a frozen coiled-up octopus. A decent selection of cheeses, hot dogs, and of course, sausages of all manner, also are available by the pound to tote home to cook.

Meat Boy and I were there for the sandwiches, though, which we took home to eat.

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Michelin Guide Gears Up to Tackle the South Bay

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Jean-Luc Naret, director of the Michelin Guides. (Photo courtesy of Michelin)

As the new 2010 Michelin Guide San Francisco goes on sale today with its discriminating picks for the top Bay Area restaurants, South Bay chefs would be wise to keep their eyes peeled for those sneaky inspectors coming their way.

With the 2011 guide, Michelin plans to expand its coverage of the South Bay, according to Jean-Luc Naret, director of the guides, whom I spoke with by phone yesterday.

“To be honest, the first year of the guide we went as far as Los Gatos only because of Manresa,” Naret says of the first San Francisco guide that came out four years ago. “We want to expand that coverage. I can’t say how far south we will go yet. It all depends on the restaurants we find.”

This year, Silicon Valley was represented by Chez TJ in Mountain View, Plumed Horse in Saratoga, and the Village Pub in Woodside, each of which garnered a coveted one-star rating. Trevese in Los Gatos, also received one star, but closed a month ago.

In the new 2010 guide, which retails for $17.99, the East Bay received a closer look this time around, with the inclusion of restaurants in Walnut Creek, Emeryville and Lafayette.

All in all, there are 110 more restaurants than last year’s guide.

But some things have stayed the same. The French Laundry in Yountville remains the only three-star restaurant. It is one of only 80 three-star restaurants in the world, Naret says.

Three stars, which mean “exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey,” is the highest rating Michelin awards. Two stars mean “excellent cuisine, worth a detour.” One star is “a very good restaurant in its category.”

This year’s top-rated restaurants are:

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Burgers, Oysters, Wine & More

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Pesto burger. (Photo courtesy of Burger Bar)

San Francisco finally gets its own Burger Bar today.

Chef Hubert Keller of San Francisco’s Fleur de Lys has brought his build-your-own burger concept to Macy’s Union Square in San Francisco. It opens today at 10:30 a.m., joining its sister Burger Bar locales in Las Vegas and St. Louis.

The San Francisco flagship burger joint, on the sixth floor of Macy’s, is open daily for lunch and dinner. Find buffalo, Kobe beef, salmon, and vegetarian burger options. Fresh meat is ground daily in the in-house butcher room.

The restaurant has its own wine cellar, and 24 beers on tap. There’s also a milkshake bar, where diners can customize their shakes any way they like.

Through Oct. 21, enjoy a three-course meal for $35 at participating Silicon Valley restaurants, from Los Gatos to San Carlos. It’s all part of “Silicon Valley Restaurant Week.”

Among those participating are: Nick’s on Main in Los Gatos, Alexander’s Steakhouse in Cupertino, Crimson in Los Gatos, and Quattro in East Palo Alto. For a complete list, as well as the menus offered, click here.

Photo courtesy of Hewitson Winery.

Reserve your seat for an intimate, whimsical dinner Oct. 29 at the Fifth Floor Restaurant in San Francisco, when South Australia’s Hewitson Wines launches the U.S. release of its highly touted 2006 Mad Hatter Shiraz.

For the occasion, Chef Jennie Lorenzo will feature a multi-course dinner served amidst Mad Hatter-decor. Price is $75. To reserve a seat, email madhattertourSF@gmail.com or call (415) 348-1111.

Tonight at 6:30 p.m., Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar in Palo Alto and Walnut Creek will host a walk-around wine tasting with each featuring five or six Napa Valley vintners. Paired hors d’ouevres also will be served. Price is $45.

Sip more wine at the new Affronti, which just opened in downtown Healdsburg.

Chef-Owner Jude Affronti, who ran Mario Batali’s Po for three years in New York City, serves California-Mediterranean small plates along with more than 30 wines by the glass, and inventive wine cocktails. Dishes include red trout escabeche in tangy marinade, and Sonoma smoked duck with white beans and tomato.

Live jazz is featured Thursdays and at Sunday brunch.

Oyster lovers should make a bee-line to Waterbar in San Francisco, noon to 3 p.m. Oct. 17 for “Oyster Fest 2009.”

Enjoy a hot sauce competition, a shucking challenge, and plenty of oysters and wines to sample. The fee is $50, which includes admission and five tickets, each of which can be redeemed for one drink or one small plate of food.

You can eat — and get some exercise — in the ”East Bay Foodie Bike Tour of Emeryville and Berkeley,” 11:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Oct. 17.

Pedal your way on a flat, 4-mile tour that will make stops for culinary refueling at such places as Charles Chocolates in Emeryville, and Vik’s Chaat Corner in Berkeley.

Price is $50. Register by clicking here.

Enjoy an “Organic Harvest Day,” 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 17 at ALBA’s Rural Development Center, 1700 Old Stage Road in Salinas, when you’ll get to pick your own crops.

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A Honey of A Time

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Rich, deep tasting sage honey.

Did you know that there are 300 varieties of honey in the United States?

That, like wine, the flavor of honey is affected by the type of soil the flowers grow in, from which the pollen is plucked? (Different minerals add different nuances, and too much rain dilutes the flavor.)

Did you know that it takes a bee a lifetime to make one drop of honey?

That worker bees live for a mere 45 days?

But that queen bees live for 2 to 3 years? Talk about girl power.

I had a honey of a time learning all about the sticky nectar last week at Perbacco restaurant in San Francisco, where Chef Staffan Terje was kind enough to showcase honey in a special dinner for invited food writers and food bloggers, including my buddies, Single Guy Chef and Foodhoe’s Foraging.

To kick off the night, Bruce Wolk of the National Honey Board walked us through “Honey 101,” with a tasting of more than a half dozen different types of honeys. Yes, they were all super sweet. But the differences, magnified when trying them side by side, was remarkable not only in their hues, but in their flavors.

A tasting of honey.

Blueberry honey — named for the blueberry blossoms that help make that particular honey, not because it actually tastes like blueberries — is found only in New Jersey. Its flavor is a little like maple syrup. Pumpkin honey, which is produced in small quantities only in California and Colorado, was a revelation with its amber color and caramel flavor. Avocado honey tasted musky, sort of like molasses. Tupelo — the only honey that doesn’t crystallize easily and is almost extinct because the shrubs needed to make it are so few in numbers now — has lovely floral and cinnamon notes.

Looking nearly like tar, buckwheat honey, nearly black in color, is one honey that Wolk said, “People either hate or love.”

I can see why. This unusual honey has the aroma of a fermented Asian sauce or perhaps a salted, dried plum. Its taste is like strong molasses or even dark, heavy Guinness.

In general, the darker colored the honey, the stronger the flavor and the higher the mineral content. Buckwheat honey has the most minerals of any honey, and therefore, the highest level of antioxidants, Wolk said.

Honey may be good for us, but most of us use it just because we love its flavor and voluptuous body.

Chef Terje sure does. His dishes that night were inspired by ones in Northern Italy that use honey.

“I’m from Sweden,” he explained. “I was the kid who stuck a spoon in the honey jar. That was my candy.”

Honey-glazed smoke trout with horseradish foam.

Dinner started with a magnificent tower of smoked trout that had been glazed with a little honey, and served with sweet, tender roasted beets and a poof of creamy horseradish foam.

Agnolotti in honey-brown butter sauce.

Agnolotti filled with sheep’s milk ricotta followed, tossed in nutty brown butter sauce laced with chestnut honey. I could have eaten seconds.

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Soulful Chicken and Dumplings

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Dig into a big bowl of heavenly chicken and dumplings with chanterelles.

Chicken and dumplings is like a big ol’ hug.

Like some hugs, this dish can be awkward and unsatisfying. You know the type of hugs I mean — the ones where you’re not quite sure if you should be giving or getting, and the resulting mash-up of bodies just leaves both parties scratching their heads in “What was that?” Yeah, I’ve had some chicken and dumplings like that — with dry chicken and leaden dumplings, where you take a bite and wonder, “What the heck is this? And why am I eating it?”

Then there are hugs that wrap you in a cocoon of warmth and security, that feel so right you never want to let go. New Orleans Chef John Besh’s “Chanterelles, Chicken, and Dumplings” is that kind of perfect hug.

It’s from his new cookbook, “My New Orleans: The Cookbook” (Andrews McMeel).

It’s a modern, slightly spiffed up version of this classic down-home dish that will comfort you even if you need no comforting at all.

Skinless, boneless chicken thighs are brined for an hour to ensure they’re extra juicy, so plan accordingly when making the dish.

Lovely chanterelles add a magical touch to this dish.

The chicken pieces cook on the stove-top in a broth infused with aromatic ginger, garlic, shallots, thyme and sage. A big pinch of crushed red pepper flakes adds a touch of heat that really helps warm your bones on a chilly evening. Golden chanterelle mushrooms and peas (I used frozen at this time of year) add color and depth. A knob of butter adds richness (Hey, it’s a Southern dish, after all).
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