Category Archives: Wine

Star Chefs in San Francisco, Open House at Sunset in Menlo Park & More

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In San Francisco:

Get up close and personal with the Bay Area’s “Rising Star Chefs,” 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. June 16, at Ghirardelli Square.

StarChefs.com, the online culinary magazine, will be showcasing its picks for this year’s rising star chefs at this walk-around tasting event, featuring savory dishes, desserts and cocktails created by their top toques.

StarChefs.com chooses only four cities each year in which to pick its rising star chefs. More than 90 Bay Area chefs, sommeliers and mixologists were considered before the list was narrowed to these winners:

Chefs:

Matthew Accarrino, SPQR
John Paul Carmona, Manresa
Maximilian DiMare, Wood Tavern
Louis Maldonado, Aziza
Thomas McNaughton, Flour + Water
Scott Nishiyama, Chez TJ

Pastry Chefs:

Melissa Chou, Aziza
Catherine Schimenti, Michael Mina

Mixologists:

Erick Castro, Rickhouse
Brian MacGregor, Jardinière

Sommelier:

Sarah Valor, Commis

Concept:

Joshua Skenes, Saison

Restaurateur:

Shelley Lindgren, A16 and SPQR

Hotel Chef:

Josh Thomsen,  Claremont Hotel Club & Spa

Tickets are $95 per person. VIP tickets include a pre-reception with champagne and Petrossian caviar. A portion of proceeds will go to La Cocina, a San Francisco organization that assists low-income entrepreneurs in developing food-related businesses.

In Menlo Park:

Sunset magazine welcomes you to its 7-acre campus in Menlo Park, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., June 5-6, for its annual “Celebration Weekend.’‘

Join experts to learn all about food, wine, garden, home and design.

Foodies are sure to rejoice that the magazine has invited some of the most popular food trucks to park on-site to sell their delicious fare. Trucks include Sam’s Chowder House, Liba Falafel Truck, Seoul on Wheels, Gelateria CiCi, Kara’s Cupcakes, and Fruit ‘n’ Exotica.

His truck won’t be there, but Roy Choi, the man who started the whole food-truck craze with his Kogi BBQ in Los Angeles, will be on hand to do a cooking demo. Other chefs hosting demos include Ryan Farr of 4505 Meats in San Francisco, Food Network star Ellie Krieger, and Tom Douglas of Seattle’s Dahlia Lounge. For a complete list of chefs, demo schedules and featured recipes, click here.

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Scenes From the 23rd Annual Star Chefs & Vintners Gala

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For foodies, it was indeed a starry time on Sunday evening at the lavish Star Chefs & Vintners Gala at Fort Mason in San Francisco.

About 1,000 folks turned out to don their finest and to support Meals on Wheels of San Francisco, the city’s oldest and largest provider of home-delivered meals to seniors.

The Bay Area’s top chefs and vintners provided an impressive spread of eats and drinks for this annual event, which raised $1.1 million last year for this worthy organization that serves 16,000 meals to home-bound seniors every week.

Yours truly was invited to be a guest at the gala, which started off with a bang with an expansive walk-around hors d’oeuvre and wine reception, where chefs and vintners manned stations to pass out tastes of their finest.

It was quite crowded in the Festival Pavillion, but well worth the effort to jockey for position for such stellar eats.

I had a chance to sneak back into the kitchen area to see the chefs scurrying about to get the first courses ready for dinner, as an army of servers lined up in formation at the ready to ferry the dishes to the dining room.

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Get Ready for Star Chefs & Vintners Gala in San Francisco

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It’s time to pull out that glittery cocktail dress and bespoke dark suit to mingle with celeb chefs, stuff yourself silly with gourmet food and drink, and help a worthwhile cause.

The 23rd Annual Star Chefs & Vintners Gala is the place to be on May 16, when more than 70 top Northern California chefs will converge on Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion, a short hop from the Fairmont Heritage Place.

Chef Nancy Oakes of the esteemed Boulevard restaurant in San Francisco, returns as gala chef chairperson, to enlist the culinary skills of such chefs as Mourad Lahlou of Aziza in San Francisco, Staffan Terjer of Perbacco in San Francisco, Richard Reddington of Redd in Yountville, and Chris Cosentino of Incanto in San Francisco.

More than 75 leading vintners also will be pouring wines, including J Vineyards and Frog’s Leap Winery.

The evening starts with a walk-around reception, featuring creations at stations manned by more than 30 chefs and vintners. Afterward, enjoy a three-course, sit-down dinner, with each course prepared by one of 27 different chefs.

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Ma(i)sonry in Yountville — Not Your Typical Tasting Room

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Are you so over those crowded winery tasting rooms caught in a time-warp with that tired,  faux Mediterranean look?

Then, step inside a very different kind of tasting room at Ma(i)sonry in Yountville (just a block from the French Laundry), where I was invited to take a tour recently.

The historic, stone building that was once a private home is decorated with giant, glittering bird’s nest-like metal light fixtures, vintage Louis Vuitton suitcases, and modern, hefty acrylic tables by Alexandra von Furstenberg (yes, the former daughter-in-law of fashion designer Diane). Practically everything is for sale in this eclectic gallery and wine tasting collective.

There are two small tasting rooms inside, each outfitted with a table and chairs. Feeling parched on a sunny afternoon, the hubster and I took a seat in the  courtyard, an artsy oasis with a fire pit, carved stone pears and pigeon sculptures. At a massive wood table decorated with a bust of Einstein, we kicked back with a flight of Blackbird Vineyards wines, made by Ma(i)sonry’s owner, financial planner-turned-vintner, Michael Polenske.

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Filipino Cuisine Symposium, Dessert Festival, Wine Dinner & More

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In San Francisco:

Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese, Thai and Malaysian cuisines.

Been to those restaurants, eaten that.

But when it comes to Filipino food, just how much have you experienced of this bold, pungent cuisine with its Chinese, Polynesian, and Spanish influences?

May 15-16, explore “Filipino Flavors: Tradition + Innovation,’‘ a celebration of the foods of the Philippines organized by the Asian Culinary Forum.

The weekend events, featuring chefs, scholars, writers and winemakers, will take place at the International Culinary School at the Art Institute of California in San Francisco, a short stroll from the Holiday Inn Civic Center.

May 15 kicks off with a hands-on cooking class with New York Chef Amy Besa ($85 per person); followed by a seminar on pairing Filipino foods with wines, hosted by Master Sommelier Reggie Narito ($45 per person). Next, a panel of scholars and writers will discuss the social, political and cultural touchstones that have shaped what Filipinos eat around the world ($15 per person; $10 for students). Finally, enjoy an “Adobo Show-Down,” where cooks will do battle with their best version of Filipino adobo for prizes ($20 per person).

May 16 starts off with a chocolate tasting with chocolatier Tonet Tibay (free to all symposium pass holders); and ends with a chefs panel all about the future of Filipino food ($40 general, $30 students).

Register here for tickets to individual events or for an all-symposium pass ($180).

Enjoy an intimate dinner with renowned wine importer, Kermit Lynch, May 6 at Absinthe Brasserie.

Lynch, who has made his Berkeley wine shop a vino lover’s destination for decades, will be pouring selected vintages from two of his benchmark producers, Domaine de Cherisey and Domaine Les Pallières.

Executive Chef Jamie Lauren will prepare a four-course dinner, which will include hamachi crudo with pickled green garlic, curried salt and pappadums; and braised beef cheeks with maple syrup-glazed smoked yams.

Price for the event is $150 per person. For reservations, call (415) 551-1453.

Foreign Cinema restaurant in San Francisco throws open its doors May 6 for a benefit auction for Creativity Explored, a San Francisco art gallery and studio for artists with developmental disabilities.

Original art, as well as an array of luxury items will be auctioned off that night, as Chefs Gayle Pirie and John Clark serve up small plates, cocktails, wine and beer. Guests are encouraged to come decked out in chromatic clothing to play up this year’s theme.

Tickets are $125 in advance or at the door. Or reserve by May 5, and pay $225 total for a pair of tickets. Call (415) 863-2108.

In San Jose:

Enjoy beer — a lot of beer — at brunch, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 15 at Left Bank Brasserie in San Jose’s Santana Row.

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