Bottle Cap Opens in A Legendary Spot in San Francisco

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Comfort food like butterscotch pudding highlights the menu at Bottle Cap.

San Francisco’s Washington Square Bar & Grill was the ultimate power-dining spot. Back in the day, it wasn’t uncommon to see Willie Brown and other movers and shakers holding court there in North Beach over perfect burgers and classic cocktails.

Like all good things, though, the Washbag (as it was affectionately known), sadly came to an end.

Now, Chef Dane Boryta and his wife, Elizabeth Ferro (who met while working together at Bruno’s in San Francisco), are trying to bring glory back to that landmark spot with their restaurant, Bottle Cap.

Opened in July, the restaurant is outfitted with aqua stenciled tables, which give it an air of an ice cream parlor. There’s eclectic art on the walls, including a mosaic of Tina Fey. Old movies are projected on a wall of the back dining room. And live music is featured three times a week.

Old movies are shown here in the back dining room.

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant. It’s a very personal venture, with Ferro making the rounds to greet tables.

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Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries and An Asian Spin

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Pretty in deep red -- cranberries with Brussels sprouts.

I think of fresh cranberries as nature’s own holiday ornaments.

With their striking deep red hue, you can’t help but notice them no matter where they pop up.

Including in this dish of “Asian Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries” from the October 2011 issue of Coastal Living magazine.

The original recipe calls for dried cranberries. But when fresh are abundant at this time of year, why not use those instead, right?

That’s just what I did in this easy dish that’s great served warm or at room temperature.

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Bringing Home the Bacon (Of A Different Sort)

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Smoky and sweet cottage bacon.

It looks a little like pastrami, but has the texture of ham.

It’s Lobel’s of New York’s new Cottage Bacon.

I recently had a chance to taste a sample of this marbled, center-cut pork butt that’s cured and smoked, and has less fat than traditional strip bacon.

It’s like an artisan version of Canadian bacon with a wonderful sweet and smoky flavor that’s far more pronounced than your regular supermarket variety. It’s great for sandwiches or with scrambled eggs. I used mine to top grilled pizza with mozzarella and tomato sauce.

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Alice’s Stick Cookies and A Food Gal Giveaway

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Alice's Stick Cookies are buttery and irresistible.

Whenever you think you’re too old to do something, just remember that the Bay Area’s Alice Larse started her sweet cookie company — at age 69.

She’d been baking these buttery stick cookies for years to the delight of friends and family before finally taking the leap to start her own business.

Alice’s Stick Cookies look like biscotti but taste like buttery shortbread. They won raves from the start, winning the top prize for “Best Cookie” in both 2004 and 2006 at New York’s Fancy Food Show.

Larse just retired from the business (and deservedly so), but new owners are carrying on her tradition with the cookies, which are now sold in 48 states and at such stores as Whole Foods, Andronico’s, and Dean & DeLuca.

The cookies — made with sugar, butter, malted barley flour and no eggs — come in four flavors: Lemon, Cinnamon-Ginger, Orange-Chocolate, and my personal favorite, Vanilla, which tastes delightfully like salted caramel-toffee.

One and a half stick cookies has 130 calories. An eight-ounce box of cookies is $9.95.

Award-winning cookies.

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win four boxes of Alice’s Stick Cookies (one of each flavor). Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be taken through midnight PST Dec. 24. Winner will be announced Dec. 26.

How to win?

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A Crust That’s Flaky In More Ways than One

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A perfect holiday dessert with the perfect -- and crazy -- crust.

We’ve all learned that to make the perfect, flaky crust, you need cold butter, cool hands and a resulting dough that must be chilled before it’s baked.

Now, take those techniques that you’ve labored to master all these years — and throw them out the window.

Because here’s a supremely flaky crust that breaks all those rules.

It’s made with boiling hot butter that’s mixed with flour to form a dough that you press — while still warm — into your pan before baking.

How crazy is that?

It’s almost embarrassingly easy and pretty fool-proof. And it produces a crust that would rival any at a fancy patisserie.

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