Category Archives: Restaurants

A Shout-Out to Two Asian Restaurants on the Peninsula

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A manly meal of crispy pata at Bistro Luneta

If you’ve never experienced the bold, pungent flavors of Filipino food, Bistro Luneta in San Mateo is a great place to get an introduction to this under-appreciated cuisine.

With Spanish, Chinese, and Malaysian influences, the cuisine is a harmony of salty, tangy, sweet, and savory. Husband-and-wife proprietors Jon and Janet Guanzon, along with Executive Chef Emmanuel Santos have given a modern interpretation to the cuisine.

A special of Korean ribs with citrus at Bistro Luneta

Standouts on the menu include Tokwa’t Baboy, an appetizer of grilled pork slivers crowned with crusted, fried tofu that’s lightly crisp on the outside and amazingly custardy on the inside. Even tofu haters won’t be able to stop eating this dish.

Eskalops Adobo bring perfectly seared scallops together with meaty, caramelized portobello, all in a deeply flavored adobo sauce. The Crispy Pata, a staple on Filipino menus, gets the star treatment here. A pork leg is cooked till the meat is fork-tender, then deep-fried until the skin is a crackling shell that you’ll need a sharp knife to break through.

The Guanzons host winery dinners at the restaurant regularly. In the near future, they also hope to invite other Filipino-American chefs from around the Bay Area to come cook on special guest-chef nights.

In Palo Alto, Proprietor-chef John Le Hung of Three Seasons restaurant in downtown, has revamped his nearby former iTapas & Wine Bar, 445 Emerson St.; (650) 325-4400. It has been renamed Bistro D’Asie with a new concept. After one too many confused customers walked through the doors of iTapas expecting Spanish tapas, rather than Asian/International ones, he decided to craft a different menu.

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Get Ready For A Meal of A Lifetime

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Grant Achatz's elegant new cookbook

Think of it as like the Rolling Stones in concert with U2. Or De Niro starring with Pacino. In their prime, of course.

In this culinary version, it’s Grant Achatz, chef of Chicago’s molecular gastronomy mecca, Alinea, teaming with his mentor Thomas Keller of the incomparable French Laundry in Yountville and Per Se in New York, for three very special dinners.

Keller, the only American-born chef to possess seven Michelin stars, and Achatz, who survived a harrowing bout with cancer to win the 2008 “Chef of the Year” award by the James Beard Foundation, will cook together Nov. 11 at Per Se, Dec. 2 at Alinea, and Dec. 9 at the French Laundry.

We’re talking 20 — yes, 20 — courses paired with wines. Each chef will prepare 10 alternating courses that reflect their best creations that honor their 12-year friendship, and to celebrate the publication of each of their new cookbooks.

Thomas Keller's new tome on sous vide cooking

Early on in his career, Achatz sent Keller his resume every day for nearly a month until Keller hired him to work at the French Laundry. Achatz quickly distinguished himself, and rose to sous chef, before leaving for Evanston, IL in 2001 to open Trio. Four years later, he opened the highly innovative Alinea. This will mark the first time Achatz will be cooking with Keller since leaving the French Laundry.

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Domaine Chandon Says Cheers with Cocktails

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Enjoy the last of summer's peaches in a cocktail. Recipe follows.Sure, you know Domaine Chandon in Yountville for its lovely sparkling wines. But did you know you can also sip a hip cocktail there, too?

Indeed, Domain Chandon has become apparently the only winery in the country that serves cocktails in its tasting room. Being a pioneer is nothing new to the winery, which also was the first winery to establish a fine-dining restaurant on its premises. The winery worked with a London mixologist to come up with the $8 cocktails that incorporate its sparkling wines, such as the Chandon Luscious Peach, made with bubbly, fresh peach slices, mint leaves and simple syrup.

Oct. 2 is a great time to visit the winery, too, if you want to dance the night away. That night, the winery will host “Drink Pink: A Bubbly Benefit For Breast Cancer Research.”The winery’s restaurant, Etoile, will serve appetizers and small bites alongside glasses of pink sparkling wine. DJ Dukes will provide music under the stars.

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The Dawn of Celebrity Chefs

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(left to right) Clark Wolf, Jonathan Gold, Zoi Antonitsis, Joey Altman, and Scott Hocker

Restaurant consultant Clark Wolf remembers the pivotal moment when chefs were first transformed into celebrities in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was in the 1980s, when the visage of larger-than-life Chef Jeremiah Tower, of fabled Stars restaurant, graced a billboard advertisement for Dewar’s Scotch.

“That’s what started it in the Bay Area,” Wolf recalled. “Everyone thought, ‘How will Tower ever be taken seriously again?’ ”

He was. And the fame he garnered became the touchstone for stardom that legions of chefs after him coveted mercilessly. Nowadays, chefs are the new rock stars, the new reality TV idols, the ones groupies snap photos of, and seek autographs from. What has this era of celebrity chefs really resulted in? That was the intriguing topic earlier this week at a San Francisco Professional Food Society panel discussion at the new Miss Pearl’s Jam House in Oakland.

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Take Five With Joey Altman, On Life After TV’s “Bay Cafe”

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Joey Altman's first cookbook

For the past nine years, Joey Altman has been a familiar face on TV as the host of KRON’s “Bay Cafe,” where he’s welcomed us into his home and into the kitchens of some of the region’s best restaurants.

Nine months ago, the award-winning show sadly went off the air, the victim of the dismal economy and the unfortunate lack of a major sponsor, Altman says.

Altman fans shouldn’t despair. The 44-year-old, long-time Bay Area chef has been busy for the past year, working as a consulting chef for the new incarnation of Miss Pearl’s Jam House in Oakland, which just opened in late August. Altman was the opening chef for the original Miss Pearl’s Jam House in San Francisco in 1989.

His first cookbook also was published this year: “Without Reservations” (John Wiley & Sons), which is filled with tips and recipes for cooking boldly flavored dishes at home.

I caught up with him recently to talk about life after TV, his disdain for TV dinners, and his favorite TV and music idols.

Q: I remember when “Bay Cafe” first aired. Would it be fair to say that you weren’t nearly as ease on TV as you are now?

A: I was horrid the first 200 shows. They’re unwatchable for me. I was just ‘on’ as opposed to ‘being.’ I’ll go on a show now, and I’ll see other people practice bullet points in front of a mirror. I can’t imagine doing that today. I don’t think about it anymore. I just ‘do.’

Q: Was it sad for you when “Bay Cafe” ended?

A: I was very sad. All of my life has been a series of 90-degree turns. It requires one door to close for another to open. I’m confident I’ll find something. I won’t sit at home and pick lint out of my belly button.

I love the diversity of my career. I’d like to do another cookbook, more consulting on restaurants, and to play with my band (the Back Burner Blues Band, made up of fellow Bay Area chefs), and to a business project that would give me some sort of equity.

Q: Would you like to open another restaurant of your own?

A: God forbid. Not with three young children at home. Knowing what it takes to really make a restaurant work, I don’t want to sacrifice that much in my life right now. As it is, I’m doing 16-hour days at Miss Pearl’s. I’ll be there a couple more months.

Caribbean grilled lamb skewers with long beans. Recipe follows at the end. (Photo by Frankie Frankeny)

Q: Is the new Miss Pearl’s similar to the original one?

A: The sensibilities of both are the same, but it’s really the evolution of the original as if it had continued to grow. The signature dishes are there and the funky drinks. We’re also embracing things that have come on the scene since then — sustainable and local. The cooking there isn’t trendy; there’s not a lot of sous vide or foams happening there. It’s just more sophisticated because the environment is more so than it was before. There are elements of whimsy there. It’s bold flavors that are really dynamic and evocative of island cooking with lots of chilies, ginger, and lime juice.

Q: If you could trade places with anyone on TV, who would it be?

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