Category Archives: Seafood

Spring Sips

A gin & tonic made with Uncle Val's Zested Gin.
A gin & tonic made with Uncle Val’s Zested Gin.

Uncle Val’s Zested Gin

I love a cocktail that has the taste and aroma of orange, and Uncle Val’s Zested Gin ($30) has both in spades.

Twist open the bottle and take a whiff to be floored by the fragrance of bright orange citrus with a hint of clove.

I had a chance to try a sample of this small-batch gin that’s made with bergamot, orange, coriander, barley malt, and, of course, juniper. But don’t worry; for those not too keen on the medicinal taste of juniper, this gin keeps it in balance.

Uncle Val’s is a brand by 3 Badge Beverage Corporation. It was founded by August Sebastiani. Yes, of that Sebastiani family.

In fact, the corporation is run out of an old fire station in Sonoma built in the 1880s by his great-grandfather Samuele Sebastiani, a mason and quarry miner, who went on to start making wine. It’s also where Samuele’s son (August’s grandfather) would go on to become a volunteer firefighter. The corporation is named for the three fire service badges that he earned.

Fourth-generation vintner August bought the old fire station in 2014 that had been vacant for nearly a decade. He established Uncle Val’s Gin to pay tribute to the herbal concoctions that his late-Uncle Zio Valerio (aka Uncle Val) distilled from cuttings from his Tuscan garden.

With its rounded orange taste, the gin is ideal in a Negroni. Or a gin & tonic. Or even just over ice with an orange twist.

Although Uncle Val’s gins are available at several Bay Area stores, you might have to hunt harder specifically for the Zested Gin, which is stocked in fewer places. However, it can be found at Village Market in Oakland and Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa. You can also enjoy at the bar at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco and Pearl Hour in Monterey.

Cheers: Each small-batch bottle of gin features a label with one of Uncle Val’s more notable sayings. Mine sported this one: “A closed mouth catches no flies.” Meaning think before you speak — or else pay the price later.

Half Shell Vodka

If you have a tendency toward fumble fingers, you don’t have to worry about mishaps when carrying a bottle of Half Shell Vodka.

Unbreakable and light as can be. That's Half Shell Vodka.
Unbreakable and light as can be. That’s Half Shell Vodka.

That’s because this vodka is billed as the first one packaged in a completely recyclable paperboard bottle. Accidentally drop it, and there will be no damage.

In fact, when I received a sample to try, I almost didn’t believe it was inside the mailing box because it felt so incredibly light.

It sports a screw top and a liner in a bottle that’s made of 94 percent recycled paperboard for a much smaller carbon footprint.

The Santa Rosa Beach, FL company distills its vodka 18 times from U.S.-grown corn, then uses reclaimed oyster shells (from bars and restaurants) and activated coconut carbon (think charcoal made from coconut shells) to filter the spirit. But that doesn’t mean you’ll find any lingering shellfish or coconut taste in this vodka. The system is merely used to enhance smoothness and purity.

Indeed, this vodka has a clean taste with a fluid boozy warmth.

Find it for $24.99 at select Whole Foods in Northern and Southern California.

Cheers: Half Shell Vodka runs a “Sip for Sustainability” nonprofit partnership program that helps raise funds for sustainability and conservation efforts nationwide.

Savor Hard-to-Find Fresh Soba and More At Leichi

House-made soba served chilled with warm duck broth at Leichi.
House-made soba served chilled with warm duck broth at Leichi.

After reading a San Francisco Chronicle food story recently, in which reporter Elena Kadvany lamented that there were only three Japanese restaurants in the Bay Area that offered fresh-made soba, my interest was piqued, especially when chilled fresh noodles would hit the spot like nothing else during our recent, week-long heatwave.

Sobakatsu in San Francisco is the latest place to offer the buckwheat noodles, joining Soba Ichi in Oakland and Leichi in Santa Clara.

With only a few tables plus compact counter seating, it pays to reserve ahead of time at Leichi.
With only a few tables plus compact counter seating, it pays to reserve ahead of time at Leichi.

The latter is where I headed, located in a nondescript strip mall. Leichi is a small, mom-and-pop Japanese restaurant that puts such unexpected care into everything it does, including simple yet well thought out presentations coupled with the motivation to make so many items in-house.

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Chef Carlos Altamirano Opens Eponymous Restaurant in San Francisco

A whole fried diablo "devil fish'' at Altamirano.
A whole fried diablo “devil fish” at Altamirano.

He may already have seven restaurants in San Francisco and the East Bay, but when Chef Carlos Altamirano opened his eighth one two weeks ago, he made this one stand out that much more by anointing it with his own surname.

Altamirano debuted in San Francisco’s Nopa neighborhood to serve contemporary Peruvian fare with California sensibilities. It’s quite the achievement for the Lima-born chef who upon immigrating to San Francisco, talked his way into his first restaurant job as a dishwasher, then quickly rose to line cook.

I had an opportunity to check out the new spot when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant last week.

The entrance to the restaurant.
The entrance to the restaurant.
The large bar area.
The large bar area.

Wood warms up the restaurant with its driftwood sculptural pieces and live-edge host stand, while an angled glass wall the bisects the bar and dining room is meant to evoke an aerial view of Peru’s ancient ruins. Custom restroom doors are laser-cut with designs of Inca masks. There’s a stylish covered outdoor dining patio, too.

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New Safe Catch Trout Fillets

Tender, lightly smoked Safe Catch trout fillets make a great addition to pasta.
Tender, lightly smoked Safe Catch trout fillets make a great addition to pasta.

The name Safe Catch says it all.

The Sausalito canned seafood company purports to be the only brand that tests every catch for mercury. Its newest product, Safe Catch Trout Fillets, is tested to a limit of 0.1ppm, more stringent than the recommendation by the Food and Drug Administration. The product has even been given the nod by the American Pregnancy Association.

I had a chance to try the new products, which come in two varieties: Skinless, Smoked Trout Fillets in Water; and Skinless, Smoked Trout Fillets in Sunflower Oil with Chili. The former contains only trout, water, and salt. The latter has only trout, sunflower oil, salt, and chili.

Two new varieties of trout.
Two new varieties of trout.

The rainbow trout fillets in both are boneless, mild tasting, tender, and flaky.

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Salmon and Corn — The Epitome of Summer

A restaurant-quality salmon and corn dish.
A restaurant-quality salmon and corn dish.

Gaze at that orange glow of succulent salmon with crisp skin, all in a pool of sunshine-y buttery corn sauce with fancy salmon roe dolloped on top.

I didn’t enjoy it at an upscale restaurant.

Nope, I actually made that dish at home.

Not to brag, but this dish easily looks and tastes like one that would be $40 at a restaurant. However, I made it for probably less than half that cost per person.

What’s more, “Pan-Roasted Salmon with Seared Corn Sauce” is a looker of a dish that actually doesn’t require hours of prepping and primping.

The recipe is from “The Hog Island Book of Fish & Seafood” (Abrams Books, 2023), of which I received a review copy.

Written by chef-restaurateur John Ash, it features more than 250 recipes from Hog Island Oyster Co., the premier sustainable bivalve producer in Tomales Bay, as well as from other chefs and restaurants who are passionate about its shellfish.

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