Juhu Beach Club’s Desi Jacks

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Sweet, savory, and spicy -- these aren't your childhood Cracker Jacks by any stretch.

Sweet, savory, and spicy — these aren’t your childhood Cracker Jacks by any stretch.

 

Juhu Beach Club in Oakland may be shuttered now, but its spirit lives on in “The Juhu Beach Club Cookbook”
(Running Press) by Preeti Mistry with East Bay food writer Sarah Henry, of which I received a review copy.

Mistry has vowed that Juhu Beach Club, which she ran with her business partner and wife Ann Nadeau, will rise again in some form, though details are scarce at the moment.

In any event, you can still enjoy her cooking at her very fun Navi in Emeryville with its unique pizzas, toasts and cocktails.

Born in London and raised in suburban Ohio, Mistry, a former “Top Chef” contestant, is an inventive, inspired cook who is adept at remastering comfort food with bold Indian flavors and flair. On her trips to her ancestral country of India, she fell in love with street food. There’s a playfulness in her food that reflects that.

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That’s evident in recipes such as “Shrimp Po’Bhai,” “JBC Fried Chicken & Doswaffle,” “Chai-Spiced Bacon,” and “Bloody Meera.”

Take her “Desi Jacks.” This revved up version of caramel corn is featured at Navi. It’s even free during the daily Happy Hour, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

This is a snack that’s sure to get the party started.

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The Surprise of Sabio on Main

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Deviled eggs with crab and caviar at Sabio on Main.

Deviled eggs with crab and caviar at Sabio on Main.

 

I sheepishly confess that before a couple weeks ago, I had never dined in Pleasanton.

It was a city I merely drove past on the way to somewhere else.

I only felt a little less embarrassed by that after Chef Francis X. Hogan told me that he had been in the same boat. Living in Oakland and fresh off heading the kitchen at San Francisco’s Bluestem Brasserie, he scratched his head when he got approached to open a new restaurant in this city three years ago, which he had associated merely with strip malls and car dealerships.

Chef-Partner Francis X. Hogan.

Chef-Partner Francis X. Hogan.

When he got invited to tour the area, though, he found his eyes opened wide. Surrounded by undulating hills, it boasts a charming, most walk-able downtown full of restaurants, small businesses, and residents who regularly flock to it on weekends.

“I fell in love with the area,” he told me. “It feels like old Sonoma.”

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Hawker Fare’s Flavor-Bomb Grilled Pork Chops

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Thinly sliced pork chops grill up fast and sweet, and get a potent dipping sauce.

Thinly sliced pork chops grill up fast and sweet, and get a potent dipping sauce.

 

Hawker Fare — it is far more than a restaurant and a cookbook.

It is the deeply personal embodiment of Chef-Owner James Syhabout. It is a love letter to his mother, a reckoning with his Laotian heritage, a symbol of respect for an often misunderstood cuisine, and a testament that fortitude, passion and determination can lead to greatness and awakening.

Syhabout may be known best as the only Michelin-starred chef in the East Bay — for his fine-dining Commis restaurant (two stars, thank you very much). But it is the down-home Hawker Fare where his heart lies.

That’s immediately evident in the pages of his first cookbook, “Hawker Fare: Stories & Recipes From a Refugee Chef’s Isan Thai & Lao Roots,” of which I received a review copy. Syhabout wrote the cookbook with assistance from James Beard Award-winning food writer John Birdsall of Oakland.

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It was published by Ecco, Anthony Bourdain’s publishing imprint of HarperCollins.

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Luke’s Local Beefs Up Its Family-Style Catering Delivery Service

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A bountiful smoked chicken wrap, coleslaw, Brussels sprouts and pasta salad from Luke's Local.

A bountiful smoked chicken wrap, coleslaw, Brussels sprouts and pasta salad from Luke’s Local.

 

It’s hard to believe that it’s been eight years since I first met Luke Chappell, when his nascent Luke’s Local was a charming little kiosk inside the San Mateo Hillsdale Caltrain station, selling fresh produce, coffee and meals-to-go.

Today, it’s a much larger San Francisco-based operation, which partners with local farms and food companies to deliver gourmet groceries and freshly prepared provisions to homes and offices around the Bay Area.

The entrepreneurial spirit runs deep in his family. After all, his family founded Tom’s of Maine.

Recently, I was invited to try out gratis his expanded family-style catering delivery service. It’s an option for when you want to feed a crowd, whether for an Oscars viewing party or a business lunch.

What is noticeable first and foremost is how fresh and vibrant the food is. All of it tasted as if it were just made, not sitting around for hours.

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Enoteca La Storia Invigorates San Jose’s Little Italy

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The Beginner's Luck cocktail.

The Beginner’s Luck cocktail.

 

If you’re already a fan of the original Enoteca La Storia in Los Gatos, you’re sure to embrace its big brother that’s more than three times the size that opened last year in San Jose’s Little Italy neighborhood.

Owners Joe Cannistraci, 52 of Sicilian heritage, and Mike Guerra, 53 of Calabrese heritage, are proud Italian-Americans who pay homage to Italian forebearers at each location. Cannistraci’s father owned a grocery in New York; while Guerra’s paternal grandfather and paternal great-grandfather both owned grocery stores in San Jose, and his maternal grandparents ran Hollister’s Villa Pace Italian restaurant.

The inside of this historic building has been fully refurbished. It is old Italy meets contemporary industrial with exposed brick and duct work, along with old black and white photos enlarged to pay respect to Italian families who helped shaped this valley. In fact, an assistant manager singled out one particular photo of the Italian family who used to run a bakery on this spot long ago. One of the babies in that photo, now all grown-up, recently came in and pointed out herself to the owners.

The main dining room.

The main dining room.

A mock-up receipt from the old bakery that used to operate on the site.

A mock-up receipt from the old bakery that used to operate on the site.

An old photo of the Murillo family that operated the bakery.

An old photo of the Murillo family that operated the bakery.

Old wood bread paddles from the bakery also are on display, as is a rendering of a receipt from the bakery, blown up to poster size.

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