Category Archives: Wine

Bay for the Gulf Fund-Raiser and Food Gal Tickets Giveaway

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It’s been six months since the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and three months since a cap installed plugged the well that had been spewing oil into that fragile ecosphere.

But how many years it will take to get that body of water and its surrounding wetlands back to normal, is anyone’s guess.

To lend a much needed hand, Chef Guillaume Bienaimé of Marché in Menlo Park, organized the “Bay for the Gulf,” an event that will take place 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 24 at the beautiful Rosewood Sand Hill resort in Menlo Park.

Proceeds from the gala event, which will feature more than a dozen chefs, artisans and wineries, will go to the “Save Our Gulf” initiative of the Waterkeeper Alliance, which will help support the seven Gulf Coast Waterkeepers directly impacted by the oil disaster.

Bienaimé was prompted to act after befriending Pietro Paravanno, a local fisherman here who is also the president of the Institute for Fisheries Resources. It also spurred him to visit Louisiana recently to see the area for himself.

“The oil spill forever changed this unique eco-system, and way of life for so many who live in the bayous and surrounding areas. For many families who rely on the waters of the Gulf as their means of survival, it’s crucial that everything that can be done to clean up the area is done,” said Bienaimé. “The Bay for the Gulf gala, with the collaboration of the amazing chefs, wineries and restaurants that are participating, is a way for those of us in the Bay Area to show support for the people working day and night to clean up this mess.”

Among those participating in the event are: Manresa of Los Gatos,  Aziza of San Francisco, Pastry Chef Carl Swanson of Ubuntu in Napa, Andante Dairy, Far Niente, and Ridge Vineyards.

A silent auction will feature such items up for bid as rare wines and extravagant dining experiences.

Tickets are $150 each.

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win two tickets to the gala. Contest is open only to those who can make it to the Menlo Park event on Oct. 24. Deadline to enter is noon PST Oct. 17. Winner will be announced Oct. 18.

How to enter?

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A Visit to Saison 2.0

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Perhaps no restaurant epitomizes today’s necessitated bent toward creative entrepreneurship better than San Francisco’s Saison.

Last summer, much like so many budding tech impresarios of yesteryear,  Chef-Owner Joshua Skenes and sommelier whiz Mark Bright, cloistered themselves away to improvise on what would become a makeshift once-a-week restaurant. Their location wasn’t a garage, but what was once a historic stable that is now the Stable Cafe, which leased its kitchen and rear dining room to the dynamic duo.

From the spacious but far from state-of-the-art kitchen, Skenes turned out elegant, four-star, fine-dining fare served on the best china to jeans-clad diners who sat at bistro-style, slat chairs before cramped, bare wood tables.

It wasn’t long before word spread, important restaurant critics came calling, top food magazines started taking notice, and investors wanted, well, to invest.

The result this summer is version two of Saison — with a lot more waitstaff, a fancy Molteni stove in the kitchen, a large hearth on the redone patio for open-fire cooking, and actual upholstered, cushy banquettes in the dining room the shade of washed denim.

The restaurant has gone from pop-up to permanent. It now serves dinner five nights a week.

It’s a fitting stage for this young chef and young sommelier to show off their talents. Skenes earned rave reviews when he was at Chez TJ in Mountain View, then impressed the likes of Michael Mina so much that the San Francisco mega chef tapped Skenes to open his Stonehill Tavern restaurant in Monarch Beach, CA. Bright also has a Mina connection. At 17, he started working at Mina’s Aqua restaurant in the Bellagio in Las Vegas. On his 21st birthday, he became part of the Bellagio sommelier team, before being asked to become the opening sommelier at Restaurant Michael Mina in San Francisco.

My husband and I had a chance to check out the remodeled space last week, when Skenes invited us in as his guests to celebrate our anniversary, throwing in a few extra dishes for the occasion.

One eight-course menu is offered each night for $98; with an additional $78 for wine pairings. Big spenders can get a real bird’s eye view of the cooking by sitting at the chef’s counter at the back of the kitchen for a personalized 14- to 20-course dinner that runs $300 to $500 per person, depending upon ingredients used.

A dish before it goes out to the dining room.

We sat in the dining room, where Bright was eager to have us try a surprise — his own wine, the first he’s ever made.

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A Welcome (and Delicious) Red Wine Stain

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Red wine stains usually send shivers of horror through hosts and hostesses.

Visions of our best white tablecloths or favorite eggshell-hued couch being ruined for life tend to torment us.

But here’s one case where the staining power of your favorite red varietal is welcomed, indeed.

Take a close look at that plate of pasta above. No, it’s not whole-wheat pasta. In fact, those noodles started out as regular beige-colored strands. Take another look. Go on. You might even notice a bit of burgundy-purple tint to the noodles. It’s not your eyes playing funny tricks on you. And it’s not my meager Photoshop abilities at work, either.

Nope. It’s the magic of Zinfandel wine. An entire 750-ml bottle to be exact.

“Zinfandel Spaghettini with Spicy Rapini” is a genius dish from the new cookbook, “Michael Chiarello’s Bottega” (Chronicle Books). The book, of which I recently received a review copy, is filled with more than 100 recipes for Southern Italian specialties by Chiarello, chef-owner of the wildly popular Bottega restaurant in Yountville.

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Five Fabulous Foodie Events

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Oyster shooters at Chaya in San Francisco. (Photo courtesy of Chaya)

In San Francisco:

Chaya Brasserie San Francisco celebrates its 10th anniversary with a “10-10-10”  promotion that runs Oct. 1-10.

Now’s the time to kick back with Japanese-French creations as you take a load off at this beautiful restaurant with its Bay Bridge views.  Each day, enjoy a different price cut on some of the restaurant’s most popular items in the bar and lounge. For instance, on Day 1 (Oct. 1), enjoy a $14 regularly priced Red Dragon Roll for only $10. On Day 2, sip a Takara Nigori Unfiltered sake for $9 (regularly $15). Day 10 will feature oysters for $1 each (regularly $3 each).

A special $20.10 three-course lunch also will be offered during the promotion. Options will include the likes of herbed Monterey calamari salad; King salmon with grilled fennel, white corn, and Swiss chard; and blueberry custard torte.

The restaurant also will be launching a new menu, which will include new items such as a selection of crudo; a starter of sauteed foie gras with pear compote ($18); and entrees such as an artichoke and pearl barley ragout with spinach, edamame, tomato, wild mushrooms and Parmigiano-Reggiano ($20).

Tonight, 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., SF Weekly hosts its third annual DISH event on the fourth floor of the San Francisco Metreon.

Sample gourmet eats from more than 30 of the city’s celebrated eateries, including the Hard Knox Cafe, New Delhi and Pica Pica Maize Kitchen.

Proceeds will benefit StreetSmart4Kids, a non-profit that works in partnership with San Francisco restaurants to help homeless children.

Tickets are $50 at the door.

The event tonight kicks off a six-week “Dine Out & Donate” program, Oct. 1 through Nov. 15, with more than 50 San Francisco restaurants participating. When dining  at one of those restaurants during that time, you’ll be asked to leave $3 or more per table in a StreetSmart4Kids envelope.  The funds will go to local youth programs supported by StreetSmart4Kids. Among the restaurants participating are Acquerello, Fleur de Lys, Betelnut, and Piperade.

Oct. 9, noon to 4 p.m., San Francisco magazine hosts its annual FallFest, a celebration of the best in Bay Area food and wine at Justin Herman Plaza.

The theme is “Eat Local,” with participants asked to use ingredients grown or produced within three hours of their final destination. The plaza will be transformed into an open-air marketplace with chef demos and panel discussions.

Tickets are $95 in advance or $110 a the door. Food Gal readers, though, get a special $15 savings on advance tickets. Pay only $80 when using the discount code: FOODGAL.

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Wine Cocktails — Not an Oxymoron

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Pretty in Pink -- my own take on a wine cocktail.

Are you so over chocolate martinis and Cosmos?

Then, take a sip of the newest in cocktail creations — ones made with wine.

Scan the bar menu of some of the hottest restaurants in the Bay Area, and you’ll find more and more cocktails incorporating white or red still wines such as Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Gamay.

Far from old-school sangria or the wine coolers of your youth, these new wine cocktails are a mix of seasonal fruit, fresh herbs, and house-made bitters and syrups — all designed to complement the inherent flavors of various varietals.

Take a taste of them at Camino in Oakland, Flora in Oakland, Frances in San Francisco, Bar Tartine in San Francisco and Starbelly in San Francisco, among others.

Read all about how and why mixologists are mixing it up with wine in my story in today’s East Bay Express.

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