Volta — A Taste of Modern Scandinavian-French Cuisine

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The herring sampler at Volta.

The herring sampler at Volta.

 

Chef Staffan Terje has been cooking up such brilliant Italian food for decades in San Francisco at his Perbacco and Barbacco restaurants, that it’s easy to forget he’s actually Swedish.

Now, the Stockholm-born chef is finally getting a chance to flex and flaunt his Scandinavian heritage with his Chef de Cuisine Keven Wilson, late of Perbacco.

During the holidays, his newest restaurant with business partner Umberto Gibin, opened quietly in downtown San Francisco in the former space of Tom Colicchio’s Wichcraft.

Volta is a brasserie that serves Scandinavian-French food with verve.

Chef Staffan Terje and Proprietor Umberto Gibin.

Chef Staffan Terje and Proprietor Umberto Gibin.

Comfortable and classy, that's the look of this dining room.

Comfortable and classy, that’s the look of this dining room.

A couple weeks ago, I had a chance to dine as a guest of the restaurant, a cavernous space that once was fairly plain and utilitarian, which now is a lot cozier, thanks to half-partitions that section the dining room without enclosing it.

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Florida Expands Into the Caviar Game

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A luxurious little potato crowned with creme fraiche and Black Opal caviar.

A luxurious little potato crowned with creme fraiche and Black Opal caviar.

 

California may can lay claim to being the first producer of farmed caviar way back in 1993 with Sacramento County’s successful Sterling Caviar.

But now, the other side of the country is expanding its reach into the game, most notably Healthy Earth Inc.’s Black Opal caviar from Sarasota, FL.

It, too, is farm-raised, from Siberian black sturgeon fed a vegetarian diet. The company has worked with Sarasota’s Mote Marine Laboratory to grow the sturgeon for both meat and caviar.

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Get Ready to Inhale: Fettuccine With Preserved Lemon and Roasted Garlic

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It only takes a handful of ingredients to make this sensational pasta dish.

It only takes a handful of ingredients to make this sensational pasta dish.

 

How many times do you come home pooped, cranky and starved, only to peer into a half-empty fridge and wonder what in the world you can eat to make you feel a whole lot better fast?

“Fettuccine with Preserved Lemon and Roasted Garlic” will do the trick.

Especially if you keep a handy-dandy jar of home-made preserved lemons in your fridge at all times like me. Which you should.

Particularly if you grow your own little pot of rosemary. Which you ought — because it comes in so handy.

And most readily, if you keep a stash of already roasted garlic in your fridge or freezer. Which you need to promise yourself you’ll do, because you’ll use it for so many things, including the tastiest garlic bread on the fly.

HomemadeKitchen

The pasta recipe is from “The Homemade Kitchen: Recipes For Cooking With Pleasure” (Clarkson Potter), of which I received a review copy.

The cookbook is by Alana Chernila, a Massachusetts food writer and cooking teacher who blogs at EatingFromTheGroundUp.

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Scenes From Chefs’ Holidays 2016 At The Ahwahnee

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The Ahwahnee looking as it should in winter.

The Ahwahnee looking as it should in winter.

 

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA — Last week, I had the great pleasure of returning for the fourth year in a row to help host the incomparable 31st Annual Chefs’ Holidays event at The Ahwahnee in Yosemite.

Besides the stellar chefs, the welcoming staff, and the outstanding food, there was one other unforgettable highlight: snow.

Yes, after four years of drought, and a January a year ago where it was so dry and warm that I hiked in a T-shirt, it was a joy to see Yosemite dusted in powdery, fluffy white, looking every bit its picture-postcard self.

(L to R): Sous Chef Daniel Gomez Sanchez of La Toque, Executive Chef Ken Frank of La Toque, Sarah and Evan Rich of Rich Table, and David Bazirgan of Dirty Habit.

(L to R): Sous Chef Daniel Gomez Sanchez of La Toque, Executive Chef Ken Frank of La Toque, Sarah and Evan Rich of Rich Table, and David Bazirgan of Dirty Habit.

Chefs’ Holidays takes place every January through early February. It is comprised of eight sessions, with each one spotlighting three renowned chefs, each of whom does a cooking demo. There is a wine reception to meet all the chefs. Each session ends with a gala dinner prepared by the headliner chef or all three participating chefs.

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Join The Food Gal and Bushido Izakaya For A Macy’s Cooking Demo

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MacysBushido

At Bushido Izakaya in downtown Mountain View, you’ll find clever cocktails and creative Japanese small plates. Plus something more.

An adherence to sustainable seafood.

That’s more rare than you think when it comes to the offerings at most Japanese restaurants. But Chef Isamu Kanai has made it his mission to do right by the world’s oceans.

Come see the inventive sushi he dreams up, when he joins me for a cooking demo at 2 p.m., Jan. 30 at Macy’s Valley Fair in Santa Clara.

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