Category Archives: Wine

Burgers, Oysters, Wine & More

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Pesto burger. (Photo courtesy of Burger Bar)

San Francisco finally gets its own Burger Bar today.

Chef Hubert Keller of San Francisco’s Fleur de Lys has brought his build-your-own burger concept to Macy’s Union Square in San Francisco. It opens today at 10:30 a.m., joining its sister Burger Bar locales in Las Vegas and St. Louis.

The San Francisco flagship burger joint, on the sixth floor of Macy’s, is open daily for lunch and dinner. Find buffalo, Kobe beef, salmon, and vegetarian burger options. Fresh meat is ground daily in the in-house butcher room.

The restaurant has its own wine cellar, and 24 beers on tap. There’s also a milkshake bar, where diners can customize their shakes any way they like.

Through Oct. 21, enjoy a three-course meal for $35 at participating Silicon Valley restaurants, from Los Gatos to San Carlos. It’s all part of “Silicon Valley Restaurant Week.”

Among those participating are: Nick’s on Main in Los Gatos, Alexander’s Steakhouse in Cupertino, Crimson in Los Gatos, and Quattro in East Palo Alto. For a complete list, as well as the menus offered, click here.

Photo courtesy of Hewitson Winery.

Reserve your seat for an intimate, whimsical dinner Oct. 29 at the Fifth Floor Restaurant in San Francisco, when South Australia’s Hewitson Wines launches the U.S. release of its highly touted 2006 Mad Hatter Shiraz.

For the occasion, Chef Jennie Lorenzo will feature a multi-course dinner served amidst Mad Hatter-decor. Price is $75. To reserve a seat, email madhattertourSF@gmail.com or call (415) 348-1111.

Tonight at 6:30 p.m., Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar in Palo Alto and Walnut Creek will host a walk-around wine tasting with each featuring five or six Napa Valley vintners. Paired hors d’ouevres also will be served. Price is $45.

Sip more wine at the new Affronti, which just opened in downtown Healdsburg.

Chef-Owner Jude Affronti, who ran Mario Batali’s Po for three years in New York City, serves California-Mediterranean small plates along with more than 30 wines by the glass, and inventive wine cocktails. Dishes include red trout escabeche in tangy marinade, and Sonoma smoked duck with white beans and tomato.

Live jazz is featured Thursdays and at Sunday brunch.

Oyster lovers should make a bee-line to Waterbar in San Francisco, noon to 3 p.m. Oct. 17 for “Oyster Fest 2009.”

Enjoy a hot sauce competition, a shucking challenge, and plenty of oysters and wines to sample. The fee is $50, which includes admission and five tickets, each of which can be redeemed for one drink or one small plate of food.

You can eat — and get some exercise — in the ”East Bay Foodie Bike Tour of Emeryville and Berkeley,” 11:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Oct. 17.

Pedal your way on a flat, 4-mile tour that will make stops for culinary refueling at such places as Charles Chocolates in Emeryville, and Vik’s Chaat Corner in Berkeley.

Price is $50. Register by clicking here.

Enjoy an “Organic Harvest Day,” 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 17 at ALBA’s Rural Development Center, 1700 Old Stage Road in Salinas, when you’ll get to pick your own crops.

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Zanotto’s Monthly Wine Dinners — A Deal If There Ever Was One

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Chicken with sage, figs, and pancetta -- served at a supermarket.

Imagine a six-course dinner with six wine pairings — for all of $35 per person.

You don’t have to don fancy duds to enjoy it, either. But you do have to make reservations early, as it sells out faster than you can uncork a bottle of Chardonnay.

Zanotto’s Family Market in San Jose’s Rose Garden neighborhood may very well have the best wine tasting deal around.

The family-run supermarket, which has been in business since 1967, offers the wine dinner every last Wednesday of each month. Tickets go on sale three weeks before, and usually sell out within the first week. Indeed, since the store started hosting these dinners 30 months ago, 29 have sold out.

“We just wanted to create a casual learning experience with great food and wine,” says store Manager Fred Zanotto.

Wednesday was always the store’s slowest day, Fred Zanotto explains. So, he decided to start holding wine tastings to try to entice more shoppers into the store. They proved so successful that he decided to add dinner to it, too.

It's almost a sell-out crowd.

Picture a neighborhood block party held inside a grocery store. That’s what this fun, lively dinner is like, where so many folks are regulars, attending each and every one.

Tables are set up inside and out (except for the winter) to hold 237 people (129 in winter). Folks, who have purchased tickets ahead of time at the store or over the phone, start lining up early by the ice cream freezers to get the best pick of seats, which are first-come, first-serve. Reserved seats are only available if you have a party of six or more.

The tables are draped with floral cloths that can be purchased in the store. The food, served family-style, is arrayed on pretty, rustic platters, which also can be purchased at the store. Fred Zanotto’s two sisters-in-law, who normally man the store’s deli, create the food to pair with the wines. Many of the ingredients — you guessed it — can be purchased at the store.

Cutlery and plates are of the plastic variety. And you get only one wine glass. But that just adds to the informal charm of the event.

DeRose Vineyards was featured at the September wine dinner.

The wineries featured each month are from all over the world. But six months of the year are dedicated to spotlighting local wineries.

The wine dinner I attended in September featured DeRose Vineyards of Hollister. The winery has 100 acres of vines, including 40 acres that are dry-farmed. Those vines, which get no water, produce intensely fruity wines, says winemaker Pat DeRose.

The wines poured that evening included the Parrone 2007 Sparkling, DeRose Chardonnay 2006, Continental Cabernet, Cabernet Franc, Nick DeRose Sr. Zinfandel 2006, and the Negrette 2006. The latter, made from 115-year-old vines, is such a rarity these days that even in its native France, there are less than 100 acres grown there today. DeRose grows 10 acres that are dry-farmed. The result is a wine bursting with jammy plum and berry flavors, and gentle tannins.

Zanotto’s also provides recipes to take home from each event. Dinner that night was as follows:

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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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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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