Love Birds and The Chemistry of Love

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The Love Birds box.
The Love Birds box.

I doubt if anyone ever needs an excuse to indulge in Recchiuti chocolates. But with Valentine’s Day coming up, you indeed have the perfect reason to treat yourself or someone you love to some of the finest artisan chocolate confections around.

For more than two decades, Michael Recchiuti has been making exquisite chocolates by hand with flavoring ingredients sourced seasonally from Bay Area farmers markets.

You can find the confections at the Recchiuti storefront at the Ferry Building in San Francisco and the retail shop, Recchiuti at the Lab, in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood. Or you can shop on its own web store.

In anticipation of Valentine’s Day, I was lucky enough to receive samples to try of two holiday offerings.

The Love Birds Truffle Box ($48) is a collection of 16 pieces, an assortment of the most popular flavors, including Tarragon Grapefruit, Pearl Mint Tea, and Piedmont Hazelnut.

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Roasted Savoy Cabbage Wedges, Caesar-Style

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Move over romaine, make your Caesar "salad'' with roasted Savoy cabbage instead.
Move over romaine, make your Caesar “salad” with roasted Savoy cabbage instead.

Cabbage is the Rodney Dangerfield of vegetables.

It doesn’t get nearly the respect it deserves. It seems too plain, too basic, too cheap to be worthy of much attention.

But just consider how integral it is to slaws, salads, soups, corned beef, and so many Russian and Polish staples.

If that doesn’t convince you, surely “Roasted Savoy Cabbage Wedges, Caesar-Style” will.

This incredibly easy dish features all the arresting flavors of Caesar salad — but with roasted cabbage instead.

The recipe is from All About Dinner: Simple Meals, Expert Advice” (W.W. Norton & Company), of which I received a review copy. It’s the fabulous new book by James Beard Award-winning Molly Stevens, a gifted cooking instructor, recipe developer and food writer who lives in Vermont.

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Pig Out At The Gastropig

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Meet the Baconslut -- at The Gastropig.
Meet the Baconslut — at The Gastropig.

You’ll be forgiven if you leave this rollicking Oakland cafe, oinking.

After all, it just can’t be helped after chowing down happily at The Gastropig.

This sweet little spot is operated by Chef Loren Goodwin, who cut his chops on the line at Chez Panisse in Berkeley.

A sweet spot in Oakland.
A sweet spot in Oakland.

Amusingly enough, Goodwin was raised vegetarian. But after trying his first taste of ham as a kid, he instantly crossed to the “dark side.” Who can blame him?

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Sichuan-Style Cucumbers For The Year of The Rat

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Refreshing, loaded with sesame flavor, and a snap to make in about 5 minutes.
Refreshing, loaded with sesame flavor, and a snap to make in about 5 minutes.

Tomorrow ushers in the Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rat. But truth be told, this Chinese dish is so easy and winsome, it’s perfect any day of any season.

The poetically named “Phoenix Tails in Sesame Sauce” grabs from the get-go with a quick, arresting sauce heady with the deliriously deep taste of roasted sesame seeds.

This side dish, appetizer or first-course is from the new “The Food of Sichuan” (W.W. Norton & Company, 2019), of which I received a review copy.

The 495-page treatise is by Fuchsia Dunlop, a true authority on regional Chinese cuisines. The London-based food writer speaks, reads and writes Chinese. Her many cookbooks spotlighting Chinese food are must-reads for anyone who desires a deep-dive into the differences and nuances of each culinary region.

“The Food of Sichuan” is actually a revised and updated edition of her classic cookbook, “Land of Plenty,” which was published in 2001 when Sichuan cuisine was still little experienced in this country.

The new edition of the book contains more than 50 new recipes. Yes, Sichuan dishes are known for their liberal use of chiles and lip-numbing Sichuan peppercorns. But there are plenty of tamer dishes, too.

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Party On At Lazy Bear

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Chef David Barzelay putting the finishing touches on a dish at his Lazy Bear in San Francisco.
Chef David Barzelay putting the finishing touches on a dish at his Lazy Bear in San Francisco.

Chef David Barzelay can get by on little sleep. Sometimes only two to four hours per night.

But that’s a good thing when one is essentially throwing a dinner party five nights a week.

His Michelin two-starred Lazy Bear in San Francisco touts itself as a “modern American dinner party in the Mission District.”

There is definitely an air of that, as I experienced when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant recently. Dinner is $199 to $221, and must be reserved and paid for ahead of time in the form on online tickets. Wine or non-alcoholic pairings are extra.

You feel a little like you’ve been invited to a surreptitious dinner party, especially because the dark-fronted building doesn’t have a typical sign — just a small one painted with a black and red buffalo plaid pattern.

Walk inside and you’re escorted up the stairs to the dimly-lighted, cozy lounge, where your jackets will be whisked away, and you’ll be handed crystal glasses of pear-rum punch from a real punch bowl. Yes, when’s the last time you experienced that?

The upstairs lounge.
The upstairs lounge.
Smokey the Bear -- and a host of other bears -- are prominent throughout.
Smokey the Bear — and a host of other bears — are prominent throughout.
The bar on the first floor right when you walk in.
The bar on the first floor right when you walk in.

Lazy Bear immediately transports you to another time and place with its Boy Scout-hunting lodge meets mid-century modern decor.

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