Get Ready — Tickets to Pigs & Pinot to Go on Sale

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A gathering of chefs from last year's event: (L to R) Roland Passot, Charlie Palmer, Bryan Voltaggio, Kevin Gillespie and Tyler Florence. (Photo courtesy of Charlie Palmer)

Yup, you gotta be fast, as this porky-palooza is so popular that tickets sell out in a snap. This year, there’s even a new lottery system for hotel packages because demand is just that high.

But then again, that’s not surprising, given that Chef Charlie Palmer’s sixth annual “Pigs & Pinot,” March 18-19, will bring together the best Pinots from more than 60 wineries and 10 top chefs to cook up a feast of porky goodness.

Among this year’s participating chefs are: Bryan Voltaggio (“Top Chef” finalist and chef-owner of Volt restaurant); his brother, Michael Voltaggio (who won “Top Chef”); Nancy Oakes of Boulevard restaurant; and Philippe Rispoli of France.

Sommeliers, including William Sherer of Aureole in Las Vegas and Fred Dame of Foster’s Wine Estates, will be lending their vino expertise.

Additionally, just like last year, Palmer is even raising two suckling pigs for the event, which are getting fattened up on trimmings from his Dry Creek Kitchen restaurant, as well as on spent barley and grain from nearby Bear Republic Brewing Company.

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A Cheesy Food Gal Giveaway

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Blue cheese with fortified wine -- a match made in heaven. (Photo courtesy of Chronicle Books)

I just had to laugh the other morning when a local newscaster joked that if he won the Lotto, he’d be spending it all on good cheese.

Just goes to show how much we all love the stuff.

To help you get a better and easier handle on all the wonderful cheeses in the market these days, Chronicle Books has come out with a new iPhone app, “Cheese Plate.”

Win this cool new ap that teaches you all about cheese. It’s based on the book, “Cheese and Wine: A Guide to Selecting, Pairing and Enjoying” by noted Bay Area food writer, Janet Fletcher. Curated by Fletcher, the app includes information and photos on how to put together 25 cheese plates, each consisting of three complimentary cheeses (and alternatives if you can’t easily find your first choice).

You’ll learn how to pronounce cheese names, who makes the particular cheeses, and the best descriptors for each type.

The app is $4.99 at the iTunes store.

One lucky Food Gal reader, though, will win a free app, plus a copy of the book that it’s based on. But wait, there’s more. That winner also will receive another book by Fletcher, The Cheese Course” (Chronicle Books), which is full of information on artisanal cheeses plus wines to pair with them.

How’s that for a deal?

Contest: It’s open only to those in the continental United States. Entry deadline is midnight PST Jan. 15. Winner will be announced on Jan. 17.

How to enter?

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New Cooking Classes at Berkeley’s eVe Restaurant

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Prosciutto and melon soup at eVe restaurant. (Photo by Nick Vasilopoulus)

Who wouldn’t want to learn how to cook from a husband-wife chef team who have worked at the likes of Georges Blanc in France, and Charlie Trotter’s and Everest, both in Chicago?

You can, now that Chefs Christopher and Veronica Laramie of eVe in Berkeley have started offering once-a-month cooking classes at their intimate 28-seat restaurant. Likewise, their classes will be equally personalized in that each is limited to only 10 students.

Chef-Owners Christopher and Veronica Laramie of eVe. (Photo by Nick Vasilopoulus)

You have the choice of meeting at the restaurant at 11 a.m. or meeting the two chefs at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley Farmers Market to help choose produce for that day’s class. Then, you’ll roll up your sleeves to get cooking in this hands-on class that lasts until 2:30 p.m. After all the cooking is done, you’ll sit down with the Laramies to enjoy a cozy lunch featuring the dishes you and your classmates have made.

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Meyer Lemon Biscotti

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Biscotti abundant with walnuts, lemon zest and lemon juice.

When life gives you Meyer lemons, why make lemonade when you can make “Lemon-Walnut Biscotti” instead?

Yeah, that’s what I’m talkin’ about when winter rains give way to a backyard tree full of ripe, juicy, sunshine-y lemons — finally.

Sure, you can make these crisp, crumbly cookies with regular Eureka lemons that have a sharper tang. But make them with the more floral Meyers and you’re really in for a treat. My husband’s colleagues tried some and thought for sure there was rosemary or some other herb in them. But nope, it’s just the complexity of the Meyers coming through loud and clear.

The recipe is from the hefty, new “Bon Appetit Desserts” cookbook (Andrews McMeel) by Barbara Fairchild, former editor-in-chief of that magazine who just stepped down now that the publication has moved its offices from Los Angeles to Manhattan. The 686-page tome, of which I just received a review copy, contains more than 600 recipes to keep you baking to your heart’s content.

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Michael Mina Comes Full Circle

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Rib eye with bone marrow and pommes fondant at Michael Mina.

When San Francisco top toque, Michael Mina, opened his flagship, eponymous restaurant in 2004 in the Westin St. Francis on Union Square, it was in a hushed, luxe space all done up in elegant white and pale blue, with crisp tablecloths, elaborate china and one-of-a-kind serving pieces.

Then, when Michael Mina Restaurant moved late last year to the California Street location once home to Aqua restaurant, where Mina first made a name for himself, along with it came a new incarnation of the restaurant. Out went the tablecloths; in went unadorned dark walnut tables. The gleaming china was replaced by rough-hewn, handmade Japanese plateware. And the tempo of the restaurant went up decidedly with the now-lively bar with pop music audible throughout the dining room.

Just don’t call the ambiance “casual,” jokes Ryan Cole, general manager of the restaurant. Chef Mina, he notes, prefers the term, “relaxed,” to reflect the less fussy attitude that today’s diners want in a fine-dining restaurant.

The redone dining room.

Just before Christmas, I was invited to dine as a guest of the restaurant. Just months before, I’d also had the opportunity to dine as a guest at Mina’s new Bourbon Steak, which took the place of Michael Mina Restaurant in the Westin St. Frances last year. The food at both was top-notch. But interestingly enough, if I had to choose one of the two to return to on my own dime, I’d most likely give the edge to Bourbon Steak. It’s slightly cheaper, with more options, and food that provided a bit more “wow.”

The evening's amuse bouche.

Right after we were seated at Michael Mina, just steps from the Mandarin Oriental San Francisco, a gourmet version of a homespun classic arrived. The amuse that night was a tiny cup of beluga lentil soup with a dainty grilled cheese-prosciutto sandwich.

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