Restaurant Architecture Tours, Bobby Flay Comes to San Jose, New Splashy Sonoma Winery & More

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The interior of Twenty Five Lusk in San Francisco. (Photo by Paul Dyer)

Behind the Scenes Look at San Francisco Restaurant Design

The San Francisco chapter of the American Institute of Architects is presenting a program this month that will have you looking at your favorite eateries in a whole new light.

Part of its “Architecture and the City Festival,” this “Tour, Talk, Taste: Food and Design in the City” series invites you into a couple of San Francisco restaurants, where you’ll have a chance to listen to the design and culinary teams explain their visions for each restaurant. Then, you’ll get to sit down with them over food and drink to learn even more.

Find out what went into creating Local Mission Eatery, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 25, which was built with environmentally conscious materials.

Learn about the creative process for hip Twenty Five Lusk, 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 27.

And find out how designers created a Ligurian Italian restaurant in the Mission at Farina, 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Sept. 30.

Tickets to each event are $40 for AIA members; $50 for general admission. To register and buy tickets, go here.

The interior of Local Mission Eatery, which boasts environmentally friendlyl materials. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

Get Your Beloved Meetinghouse Biscuits

Long-time Bay Area foodies know well the legendary biscuits that Chef Joanna Karlinsky used to turn out when she owned the Meetinghouse restaurant in San Francisco.

That restaurant may be long gone. But you can still get your fix of those impossibly fluffy, tender biscuits a couple of ways. First, Thursday and Friday evenings from 6 p.m. on, she’s doing a pop-up at the Oasis Cafe in San Francisco, where she’ll be selling her wonderful chili and biscuits, both freshly baked and frozen ones to take home for later.

Second, she’s cooking brunch on Sundays, 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., at The Corner in San Francisco. The simple, sit-down brunch will include such offerings as eggs Benedict, chili, Southern sides, and plenty of biscuits.

Finally, you also can buy the frozen biscuits via her Web site. A box of 24 frozen dough squares is $35.

Bobby Flay Book-Signing Event at Santana Row in San Jose

Meet New York celeb Chef Bobby Flay at 6 p.m. Sept. 23 at Sur La Table in San Jose’s Santana Row.

Flay will be signing copies of his new book, “Bobby Flay’s Bar Americain Cookbook: Celebrate America’s Great Flavors” (Clarkson Potter).

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For the Love of Cashews

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A delicious, sweet solution for all those cashews.

Is it just me? Or does every Costco shopper end up buying those huge tubs of cashews because they’re just way too tempting?

Even among my own family members, I can count quite a few who have a weakness for those lovely, whole crescent-shaped nuts crammed generously into those big plastic containers. Indeed, when I visit, I can’t help but notice the tub sitting on a coffee table or kitchen table, ready to be opened at the slightest hunger pang.

I’m definitely guilty of that. But I also wanted to do more with my hoard of cashews than just shovel them into my mouth.

Leave it to Martha Stewart to come to the rescue.

Her “Butterscotch-Cashew Blondies” are tender with a touch of crunch and a wonderful caramel-toffee-vanilla flavor.

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“What Caesar Did For My Salad” and Food Gal Giveaway

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Did you know that shrimp cocktail became popular in the 1920’s as a safe way to enjoy a “cocktail” during Prohibition?

Or that the crescent-moon shape of a croissant has its origins in Turkish legends?

Or that ancient Egyptians considered humble lettuce a potent aphrodisiac?

You’ll find those fun factoids and many more intriguing stories about well-known, beloved ingredients and dishes in the new  book, “What Caesar Did for My Salad: The Curious Stories Behind Our Favorite Foods” (Perigee) by Albert Jack, a writer and historian who splits his time between the United Kingdom and South Africa.

No doubt, this fascinating book will help you trounce your friends at any game of Trivial Pursuit or liven up any dinner party.

Contest: I’m happy to be giving away a free copy of the book, “What Caesar Did for My Salad” to two Food Gal readers. Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST Sept. 17. Winners will be announced on Sept. 19.

How to win?

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Auberge du Soleil Celebrates Three Decades

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Roasted petrale sole served at a special dinner to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Auberge du Soleil's restaurant.

Thirty years ago, when most of the Napa Valley was still mostly farms and Michelin-worthy restaurants were practically non-existent, two men had the foresight to build a French-style, fine-dining restaurant on a magnificent hillside in Rutherford.

Robert Harmon, who had developed condo resorts in Hawaii and Lake Tahoe, teamed with legendary French restaurateur Claude Rouas, who owned L’Etoile in San Francisco, to create the restaurant at Auberge du Soleil. Four years later, the intimate 50-room inn was constructed. Now, the company, Auberge Resorts, operates a total of eight luxurious properties throughout the United States and Mexico.

The restaurant now boasts a Michelin star and quite the stellar list of chefs who have worked there, including the-late Masataka Kobayashi (founder of Masa’s in San Francisco), Albert Tordjman (owner of the quirky Flying Saucer in San Francisco), Richard Reddington (now owner-chef of Redd in Yountville), and Joseph Humphries (most recently, the head chef of Cavallo Point in Sausalito).

Chef Robert Curry, formerly executive chef of the restaurant at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, has headed the kitchen for six years now.

A private dinner on the new deck.

A view of the pool area from the new deck overhead.

Last week, he created a special dinner to celebrate the restaurant’s monumental anniversary. The four-course meal, which featured dishes influenced by each of the past three decades, was a private affair, enjoyed by Robert Harmon, his son Mark (CEO of Auberge Resorts), and a small group of local food writers, including yours truly.

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Chocolate Fest, Tomato Dinner, Grilled Cheese Galore & More

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Enjoy the fun at the sundae-eating contest. (Photo courtesy of the Ghirardelli Square Chocolate Festival)

16th Annual Ghirardelli Square Chocolate Fest

Celebrate all things wonderfully chocolate at the Ghirardelli Square Chocolate Festival in San Francisco, noon to 5 p.m. Sept. 10-11.

Enjoy chef demos, live entertainment, ice cream sundae eating contests, and plenty of chocolate to swoon over.

The event benefits Project Open Hand, a San Francisco-based organization that provides meals for people living with HIV/AIDS, as well as seniors.

Tickets are $20 each, which entitles you to taste 15 samples.

VIP “Sweet Sixteen” Affair tickets also are available for $50 each for a noon-4 p.m. special event on Sept. 10. You’ll forgo the lines to enjoy exclusive sweets, wine and music, along with your standard 15 sample tastes and full access to the rest of the festival.

Live Out the Fantasy of Being a Chef for a Day

You can do just that at Puccini & Pinetti Restaurant in San Francisco.

Under the tutelage of Executive Chef Richard Hodge, you will don chef whites, and get behind the line at this bustling Union Square restaurant. You’ll learn about food safety, shadow various cooks throughout the day, chop herbs, wash veggies and make pasta. Dress requirements include comfortable clothing and closed-toed, slip-resistant shoes. Participants also must be at least 18 years old, germ-free from colds or the flu, and willing to sign a release form.

The “Chef for a Day” experience is $125 for a five-hour shift and includes dinner afterward prepared by Hodge at the chef’s counter. Proceeds benefit the Larkin Street Youth Program, which helps provide services for homeless and at-risk youths.

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