For the Year of the Rabbit, Roast a Chicken with Soy and Whiskey

Posted on by 21 comments

A refined version of a Chinatown classic.

Are you pleasant, affectionate, gentle, artistic, sophisticated and cautious, and think you have just so much in common with Francis Ford Coppola, Jet Li and Brad Pitt that it’s uncanny?

Then, you my friend, were born under the Year of the Rabbit, as were those celebs, according to Bay Area writer Rosemary Gong’s educational “Good Luck Life, The Essential Guide to Chinese American Celebrations and Culture” (Harper Paperbacks).

Those of us not lucky enough to be born under that fortuitious sign can still celebrate the start of the Lunar New Year on Feb. 3 in a glam way with this “Roast Chicken with Ginger and Soy-Whiskey Glaze.”

The recipe is from revered Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s “Simple to Spectacular” (Clarkson Potter).

A whole chicken is always a dramatic centerpiece, but even more so on Chinese New Year, because whole poultry is a symbol of health and unity of family.

Read more

New Bar Bites and Lunar New Year Events

Posted on by 9 comments

Tender meatballs at Farmstead Restaurant. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

New Bar Hours & Noshes at St. Helena’s Farmstead Restaurant

If you’re famished after all that wine-tasting in the Napa Valley, pull up a stool at Farmstead Restaurant at Long Meadow Ranch in St. Helena, which has added extended bar hours on Friday and Saturday evenings, as well as some new tasty noshes.

Sunday through Thursday, the bar is open until 10 p.m. But on Friday and Saturday nights, you can chill out there until 12 a.m.

Read more


Saveur’s Best Damn Meyer Lemon Cake

Posted on by 38 comments

Made with lemon juice, lemon zest and lemon extract for a super lemon-y taste.

A title like that practically challenges you to bake the darn thing, doesn’t it?

After all, you either fling yourself into it optimistically, confident that it really will be the best dang lemon cake you’ve ever sunk your teeth into or you grudgingly do it, all curmudgeon-like, waiting for that moment of  smug satisfaction to prove hoity-toity Saveur magazine wrong.

My verdict?

Since I’m not one to scarf up lemon cake after lemon cake on a regular basis, I can’t say if it’s the very best damn Meyer lemon cake I’ve ever had in my life. But I will say it really is pretty darn wonderful.

As it should be since it’s based on a recipe by baking doyenne Maida Heatter.

A simple batter enriched with milk, ground almonds and plenty of butter gets livened up with Meyer lemon zest and concentrated lemon extract. It bakes up in a loaf pan — a light-colored one works best so that the cake doesn’t overbrown. When the cake emerges from the oven, it’s doused with a warm syrup of Meyer lemon juice and sugar.

Once the glaze has soaked in, turn the cake out of the pan. The recipe doesn’t say so, but I would advise using a piece of parchment paper to do this, rather than a plate, as the now-sticky top of the cake can easily adhere to a plate and come ripping off. Once you have the loaf out of the pan, invert it right-side up on a rack to cool completely.

Then, wrap the cake in plastic wrap and wait 24 hours before eating it.

I know, I know, you have to be patient, so that the glaze melds completely with the cake.

Read more

FoodGal’s $100 Gift Card Giveaway and Winner of the Asian Cookbook/App

Posted on by 39 comments

It's worth a $100 gift card.

That smear of yellow makes me happy.

You see, I’m a bonafide condiment gal. Be it mustard, ketchup, pickle relish, chutney, jam or barbecue sauce — I love them all.

I pile ’em on high, so much so that my husband grows rather alarmed at times. But truth be told, I’d often rather have a bun loaded with just condiments than the actual dog or burger inside.

Is that wrong?

I don’t think so. Not when they add such zest and zip to life.

They’re my guilty pleasure — tasty dollops of this, that and the other that I secretly can’t get enough of.

Now, tell me what foodstuff is your guilty habit. Best answer will win a $100 gift card for any CSN online store. Use it toward spicing up your kitchen or adding some modern decor to other rooms in your house.

Read more

High Prospects at Prospect in San Francisco

Posted on by 12 comments

Halibut with satsuma hollandaise and curls of fried parsnips at Prospect.

You know you’re dining at a hot new place in San Francisco when on a chilly Sunday evening, it’s jam-packed with a well-known socialite at one table and a Euro-fashionista in neon pink fur vest and billboard-screaming sequined jeans at another.

Prospect is not just a place to be seen, though. It’s also a place to dine very, very well.

Of course, that’s expected when it’s a spin-off of one of the most popular and well-regarded restaurants in the city, Boulevard.

Executive Chef Ravi Kapur, who worked for eight years under Nancy Oakes at Boulevard, oversees this contemporary space with its soaring windows, bold canvasses on the wall, and large drum lights suspended from the ceiling.

The contemporary dining room.

Prospect, a short hop from the Hotel Vitale, has a more casual vibe than Boulevard, and a menu that’s a little easier on the pocketbook.

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant.

After we were seated, an special amuse bouche greeted us — a tiny salad of maitake mushrooms, both shaved and fried tempura-style, garnished with pine nuts and shavings of black truffle. What a way to start the night.

Read more

« Older Entries Recent Entries »