Not Diet Food
No, this is definitely not that.
Not when there’s a ton of heavy cream in it.
Sometimes, though, you need to live big, go for the gusto and just enjoy without looking back.
“Fettuccine with Meyer Lemon Cream” is one of those times.
The Incomparable Cecilia Chiang
She has been called the Chinese Julia Child.
As Child is credited with introducing authentic French cuisine to Americans, Cecilia Chiang has done the same for Chinese food in this country.
At a time when Chinese restaurants were all run by men and serving gloppy chop suey, egg foo young and other so-called Cantonese specialties, Chiang — who had never owned a business before — dared to open the elegant Mandarin restaurant in San Francisco in 1961 to cook up the real flavors of her native Shanghai. Ethereal dumplings, spicy Sichuan shrimp, kung pao chicken, tea-smoked duck and minced squab in lettuce cups were novelties in the Bay Area then, but soon after became staples at Chinese restaurants trying to capitalize on Chiang’s runaway success.
The Mandarin closed in 2006, but not before becoming a culinary legend beloved by locals and such glitterati as Child, Alice Waters, Jeremiah Tower, John Lennon and Jackie Onassis.
At 92, Chiang still cuts an elegant figure with remarkable energy. She still travels to China annually with friends like Waters; remains a mentor to young Asian-American chefs such as Corey Lee at San Francisco’s Benu; dines at Betelnut in San Francisco regularly, wheres she was the opening consulting chef; cooks dinner parties at her penthouse abode in San Francisco; and only stopped driving a year and a half ago, when she got a speeding ticket and her license was taken away.
Recently, I had a chance to meet this amazing woman for the first time for a profile story for Food Arts magazine.
When I marveled at her stamina, she replied with a smile, “I never get tired. And I am interested in so many things. I love to cook, garden, and see movies. Just keep yourself busy — that’s the secret. I never take naps. I eat three meals a day, and I always eat well.”
If food is truly the fountain of youth, then you could hardly do better than to whip up a couple dishes from her classic, “The Seventh Daughter” (Ten Speed Press), a cookbook memoir she wrote in 2007. There’s no better time, too, what with Sunday marking the first day of the Lunar New Year.
The slightly spicy “Eggplant in Garlic Sauce” is perfect for what promises to be a fiery “Year of the Dragon.”
Perbacco’s James Beard Benefit Dinner
Executive Chef Staffan Terje of San Francisco’s Perbacco and Chef Tony Mantuano of Chicago’s famed Spiaggia have shared a kinship ever since Terje’s elegant Italian establishment opened in 2006.
So much so, that the two chefs have sent their cooks to the other’s restaurant regularly to hone their skills even more.
Saturday night, Mantuano was only too happy to partner with Terje in a special dinner at Perbacco, “Inverno in Piemonte,” a fund-raiser for the James Beard Foundation’s scholarship program for culinary students.
“Staffan is a great friend and a great chef,” Mantuano, a former competitor on “Top Chef Masters,” told the crowd. “And this is one of the places in the world I always look forward to going to.”
Yours truly was honored to be an invited guest at the 60-seat event, where every seat was taken.
Cookie Mixes From a Mother-Daughter Duo
“Healthier homemade” was Susan Nolte’s mantra when she came up with her line of cookie mixes in Connecticut four years ago.
Made with rolled oats and whole wheat flour, these convenient mixes are now available on this coast at many farmers markets and stores in Southern California, thanks to her daughter, Marissa, who started managing business development for the company.
May Cookie Co., named after Susan Nolte’s great-grandmother, makes three types of cookie mixes: Triple Chocolate Oatmeal, Oatmeal Cranberry and the vegan Chocolate Chocolate Chip.
One Quick Bite Part II: Kitchen Door
When Martini House restaurant closed in St. Helena in 2010, I was crushed.
With its warm, polished wood interior and bucolic al fresco patio, it was the perfect place year-round to enjoy everything from an outstanding burger to a top-notch prix fixe dinner.
But I couldn’t have been more thrilled to find that Chef Todd Humphries resurfaced last year at the Oxbow Public Market in Napa with his newest restaurant, Kitchen Door.
The marketplace, reminiscent but smaller than the one at the San Francisco Ferry Building, is a mix of food, wine and tea vendors, most of them situated in a large, indoor walk-around space.
But Kitchen Door is an actual separate restaurant located at the rear of the complex. It’s a lively fast-casual establishment with an open kitchen sporting a wood-fired oven and rotisserie.