Category Archives: Restaurants

Brussels Sprouts Go Chinese

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A perfect accompaniment to steamed rice.

A lot of people harbor a love-hate relationship with Brussels sprouts.

Me? I’ve had more of a love-avoidance pact with this miniature member of the cabbage family.

Growing up in a Chinese-American household, Brussels sprouts just weren’t to be found on our table. Amid a profusion of bok choy, sugar snap peas, gai lon, long beans, and winter melon, they were one green vegetable never prepared by my parents.

Not that I minded. After all, as I got older, the only descriptions I heard about Brussels sprouts definitely weren’t kind. They were lampooned in magazines for smelling up the house something fierce. And don’t get me started on the disgusted expressions my friends would make whenever this cruciferous veg was mentioned.

So I never ate them. If I saw them on menus, I avoided them, armed with the firm knowledge that they were to be shunned as if they were the Bubonic plague of vegetables.

As I got older, though, and more adventurous with my palate, I actually tried them. And what do you know — they weren’t so nasty at all. In fact, they were pretty darn tasty — firm and crunchy in the center, and covered with tender little leaves.

Brussels sprouts too often get a bum rap.

I enjoyed them with their leaves all separated, and sauteed with bits of salty bacon. I ate them, cut in halves, and roasted in a hot oven until their edges browned and caramelized.

But never had I tasted them in any Asian preparation until I had lunch recently with some friends at Straits restaurant in San Jose’s Santana Row.

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Delicious Fund-Raiser, New Zagat, Michelin Guide News, & More

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Enjoy grilled halibut at Yankee Pier Lafayette on Thursday to help a good cause. (Photo courtesy of Yankee Pier)

Enjoy a seafood lunch or dinner at Yankee Pier in Lafayette on Sept. 24, and benefit a good cause at the same time.

Twenty percent of sales from that entire day will be donated to the Taylor Family Foundation.

The non-profit partnered with the East Bay Regional Park District in 1998 to build Camp Arroyo in Livermore. The camp serves Northern California children suffering from life-threatening and chronic illnesses, as well as kids with developmental disabilities, and at-risk youth.

Yankee Pier's fish & chips. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

Whether you sit down to some grilled halibut, clam chowder, or oysters on the half shell, you’ll be helping to make a difference.

The new Zagat 2010 San Francisco Bay Area Restaurants Guide was released today. Results were based on the opinions of more than 9,700 diners.

San Francisco’s Gary Danko reclaimed the No. 1 spot for food, edging out Cyrus in Healdsburg (which came in second), and the French Laundry in Yountville (which took the title last year, but dropped to third this year).

Gary Danko also came in first for “Most Popular” restaurant, edging out San Francisco’s Boulevard (second place), the French Laundry (third place), San Francisco’s Slanted Door (fourth), and Cryus (fifth).

Given the beyond-dismal state economy, it’s probably no surprise that 52 percent of responders say they’re dining out less. Indeed, 36 percent said they find it easier to score a previously impossible-to-get reservation, and 40 percent feel their patronage is now more appreciated by restaurants.

Even with diners watching their pocketbook, 73 percent still feel that it’s important to eat local, organic, and sustainably-raised foods.

(Image courtesy of Michelin)

You’ll have to wait until Oct. 20 for the new 2010 Michelin Guide San Francisco.

But you can get an early taste of what’s to come by following the local San Francisco Michelin inspectors on Twitter (@MichelinGuideSF). Yes, the usually secretive inspectors actually will be tweeting about their experiences in the weeks leading up to the launch of the guide book.

Diners can get in on the fun two weeks before the release by playing along in a restaurant IQ game. Clues will hint at some of the inspectors’ “Picks for Value’.” Daily winners who guess the restaurnts correctly can win a set of the new guides. Plus, one grand prize winner will garner a Michelin dining experience for two. Just check the FamouslyAnonymous.com site each day, beginning Oct. 5, to find out more details.

A new component has been added to the 18th annual San Jose Mariachi and Mexican Heritage Festival, now going on through Sept. 27. Two cooking classes, Sept. 25-26, will be held to educate the community about healthful, local, and sustainable foods.

The “Food for the Heart & Soul” classes, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each of those two days at the Mayfair Community Center in San Jose, will teach participants how to cook more healthful Mexican food. Registration fee is $75.  To reserve a spot, register here.

Whole Foods has added a new line of kosher chicken and turkey products to its poultry offerings nationwide.

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Gaga for Gaja

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(Image courtesy of Gaja Winery)

No plans for this Sunday night yet?

Head over to Donato Enoteca in Redwood City at 6 p.m. for a just-confirmed dinner event with famed Italian winemaker Gaia Gaja of Gaja Winery.

Located in the small town of  Barbaresco in northwest Italy, the winery has been around since 1859. Known — of course — for its Barbarescos, the winery has been family-run for five generations.

Tomorrow night, single-vineyard Barbarescos and Barolos will be paired with a special Piemontese menu created by Executive Chef Donato Scotti.

The prix fixe will be $45 per person. The restaurant’s regular menu also will be available.

The Gaja wines will be offered by the glass, quarto, mezzo, and bottle, ranging from $25 to $400.

Guests will have the opportunity to purchase a bottle of wine to take home, too.

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Cooking with Chef Guillaume at Marche in Menlo Park

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Look familiar?

No, that’s not him above.

But Chef Guillaume Bienaime does bear more than a passing resemblance to the Alfredo Linguine character from the movie, “Ratatouille,” especially with the glasses drawn on. You have to love a chef with the playfulness to keep a Pez dispenser like this on a shelf in his bustling professional kitchen.

Below is the real Bienaime, executive chef of Marche restaurant in Menlo Park. And believe me, he doesn’t need a cute talking rat named Remi or anyone else to help him do his job. This 27-year-old chef is a talent, and a giving one at that. Last Sunday, on what was supposed to be his day off when the restaurant is normally closed, he decided instead to teach his first cooking class.

Chef Guillaume Bienaime of Marché at the Menlo Park farmers market.

Marche opened its doors that morning to 16 eager students — most of them regular diners at the restaurant — as well as yours truly and the chef’s Mom to partake in what was the first of four seasonal cooking classes planned annually. And believe me, you will not leave hungry from this $105 class.

We met up with the chef at the nearby Menlo Park farmers market to help gather peppers, corn, peaches, squash, and tomatoes for the dishes we would cook back at the restaurant.

Marche gets all its tomatoes from Baia Nicchia Farm in Sunol, which sells at the Sunday farmers market. Owner Fred Hempel, a geneticist, owns 9 1/2 acres where he grows 30 types of tomatoes, half of them varieties he has created, himself. Indeed, Chef Bienaime is working with Hempel to create a signature “Marche” tomato, resulting from cross-breeding a couple varieties together. It will take two years of tinkering before the tomato will be ready to be grown for the restaurant.

Fred Hempel, geneticist turned tomato grower.

Baia Nicchia Farm's tomatoes.

We carried the provisions back to the restaurant, where we divided up into teams of two or three. The chef explained the dishes we could be cooking that day: Roast Pork Loin a` la Provencal, Summer Squash a` la Grecque, Confit Tomatoes, Summer Corn “Polenta,” Piperade Basquaise, Gratin of Swiss Chard, and Plum & Peach Shortcake.

Chef Bienaime, though, had a special plan for my buddy, Carissa, and I. He was going to have us make Escargots Sommiroise, a traditional dish from Saint-Guilhem Desert in the Langueduoc region, which is snail country. Neither Carissa nor I had ever cooked with snails before, so we were eager to give it a go.

Cooking in Marché's kitchen on a Sunday morning.

Plating the just-baked shortcakes.

We all donned aprons and set to work in the restaurant’s gleaming stainless steel kitchen, grabbing knives, chinoises, copper pots, and food processors. And no, we didn’t escape doing dishes. But we didn’t mind, what with the restaurant’s nifty machine at our disposal. You rinsed off the dishes, piled them into a rack, and slid it all into the machine, where everything would emerge spotless in just three minutes. Why can’t we have one of these at home, we all thought!

At Marche, the garlic is almost always grated into dishes, using a Micrcoplane, rather than chopped or sliced with a knife. Bienaime says he likes how the garlic disappears into a dish this way. Skin on bell peppers is always peeled off, too, even if they are not roasted. The chef does this, he says, because he finds that the peppers are more easily digested this way.

Center cut pork pork loin being smeared with a mixture of grainy mustard, anchovies, garlic, rosemary and thyme.

The pork just after it came out of the oven.

Sliced for serving.

All through the kitchen, students worked at shucking corn; peeling tomatoes; blanching herbs; sauteing chanterelles; and slicing open large pork loins to fill with a spread of grainy mustard, anchovy, garlic, rosemary and thyme.

Now and then in the close quarters, someone would call out “Behind you, behind you — hot, hot, hot!” as a simmering pot was ferried from the stove to a counter. There’s major heat generated in a professional kitchen when all the burners and ovens are turned up. So much so, that we all breathed a sigh of relief whenever we had to make a trip to the chilly walk-in to grab an ingredient.

It wasn’t long before the aromas of roasting pork, toasted nuts, and sauteed garlic were making us very, very hungry.

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With Madera, Looks Are Deceiving at First Glance

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King salmon with a salmon sausage at Madera.

Don’t let the ho-hum, earth-tone, low-slung buildings fool you. Nor the location right off the traffic-clogged Sand Hill Road exit off of Interstate 280.

The new Rosewood Sand Hill resort might not look that impressive from the outside. But just step inside.

Its Madera restaurant will catch you off guard with its unexpected sophistication. You’ll practically forget where you are when you step inside the California-elegant dining room with its soaring A-frame wood ceiling, roaring stone fireplace, copper-trimmed open kitchen, and floor-to-ceiling windows that open out onto a terrace with a view of the rolling hills. At sunset, there’s no better seat than one outside. You feel as if you are ensconced at a breathtaking Napa resort.

Rosewood, also the owner of such premier properties as the Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, and the Inn of the Anasazi in Santa Fe, knows how to do warm, comfortable luxuriousness well. And if the recent Saturday night I was invited to dine was any indication, folks on the Peninsula are basking in it, as the restaurant was packed.

The wine service is exceptional. No surprise since the wine program is overseen by Paul Mekis, a veteran of the Plumed Horse in Saratoga, and Aqua in San Francisco. He offers a number of wines by the glass that aren’t usually available that way, including an ’06 Nickel & Nickel Merlot ($25). Varietals are served in the newest line of Riedel stemware, which have unusually thick stems attached to the bowls, giving them a rather bold and modern sensibility, and making them very comfortable to grasp.

Executive Chef Peter Rudolph, formerly of Campton Place in San Francisco and the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, showcases a menu focused on local, seasonal, and sustainable. In fact, the evening my husband and I were invited in, East Palo Alto farmer David Winsberg of Happy Quail Farms had just given a talk to the kitchen staff about his famed peppers, including Japanese shishitos, that he is supplying to Madera.

As we were seated, the hostess deftly positioned a metal hook on the edge of the table to drape my purse, so that it didn’t have to sit on the floor. Soft, airy house-made focaccia was set down on the table, along with a cube of butter with a well in the center of it that held a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

A lovely amuse of crab and radish.

As we perused the a la carte dinner offerings, a creamy-crunchy amuse bouche arrived of crab salad, radish, and turnip puree.

White corn soup with the intense taste of summer.

I started with the glorious white corn soup ($11). A bowl was set down in front of me with rounds of salmon mousse inside. Then, the creamy, sweet soup was poured over it, with the concentrated taste of just-cut-off-the-cob imbued in it.

Crispy veal sweatbreads over a bed of wild mushrooms.

My husband’s veal sweetbreads with lobster mushrooms and white corn ($13) were exceptional, especially because they arrived at the table very hot and crisp, which is not always the case with fried foods at many restaurants.

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