Good Eats for Valentine’s Day, Super Bowl, Black History Month, the Olympics and More

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Romance is definitely in the air this month. And what could induce more starry eyes than dining with a view of the crashing waves of the Pacific?

The Highlands Inn in Carmel is making it a little easier on the pocketbook, too, with its new “Starlit Dinners” at its Pacific’s Edge restaurant.

Sunday through Thursday through Feb. 28, enjoy a three-course dinner for $45 per person. Executive Chef Mark Ayers changes up the menu frequently to take advantage of locally sourced and seasonal ingredients. Choices may include dishes such as seared scallops, and tender beef seasoned with heady rosemary and served atop creamy mashed potatoes.

For hungry Super Bowl Sunday fans, Urban Tavern in San Francisco will be serving complimentary gumbo, 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Feb. 7.

It’s free with the purchase of a beverage at the bar.

Peter B’s BrewPub in the Portola Hotel & Spa in Monterey invites you in to watch the big game and a chance to win one of four free memberships to its “Mug Club Membership Program.”

What’s that, you ask? It’s a membership that affords you a personal 25-ounce beer stein — hung from the bar at Peter B’s and readily available for your use — and $4 (25-ounce) beers, which are regularly $7 for non-Mug Club members.  In addition, Mug Club members will receive exclusive invites to taste and sample new beers upon their release.

Sprinkles Cupcakes is going bipartisan for the Super Bowl. Feb. 6-7, you can buy a box of 12 cupcakes ($46) decorated with football sugar decorations. Each box contains six Red Velvet and six vanilla cupcakes. Half bear the name of the New Orleans Saints; the other half, the Indianapolis Colts.

Not to be outdone, Kara’s Cupcakes, is offering a special four-pack of cupcakes for Valentine’s Day.

For $13, you get a package of four Sweet S’mores cupcakes decorated with sugar hearts, along with a signature note card with the caption, “I Heart You.” The first 100 customers to purchase the “Sweet Package,” Feb. 13-14, receive a Kara’s  Cupcakes tote. Additionally, Kara’s has just introduced new gluten-free cupcakes.

Not only is Feb. 14 Valentine’s Day, it’s also the start of the Lunar New Year. Catch free lion dance performances, 6:30 p.m. Feb. 13 and 12:30 p.m. Feb. 14, at Ming’s Chinese Cuisine and Bar in Palo Alto.

Moreover, February is Black History Month. 1300 on Fillmore in San Francisco is celebrating with a four-course prix fixe for $65 or $95 with paired wines (all by African-American-owned wineries).

The special menu by Executive Chef David Lawrence, available through Feb. 28, includes dishes such as cassoulet of duck confit with bourbon-braised pork bell, and Dungeness crab citrus salad. The featured wines also will be available at the bar in a wine flight.

The Pub at Ghirardelli Square invites you in to watch the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics on Feb. 12. Dress in Olympic-inspired garb to win a chance at prizes. Gold, Silver and Bronze shots will be on the menu.

Chef Michael Chiarello’s swank Bottega in Yountville has introduced a fun, new dining option — the chef’s table.

The marble table is next to the kitchen. Parties of six to 12 get the entire table, while parties of four get a communal experience. The chef’s table dining option lets guests interact with the chef and wine director to create a five-course dinner. If you’re lucky, Chiarello, himself, will be your maitre ‘d, too.

Prices, courses and ingredients vary nightly. But typically, it’s $70 per person with another $30 per person for wine pairings.

Feb. 12, the Ferry Building in San Francisco hosts the “Food from the Heart Valentine’s Day Event,” 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

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The “Weekly Beast” at One Market in San Francisco

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Every Friday and Saturday night at One Market restaurant in San Francisco, a different animal stars in a very special menu.

At the restaurant, near the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, the “Weekly Beast” dinner is a $49 five-course prix fixe that showcases the versatility and deliciousness of a particular farm-raised animal from head to hoof or foot. It’s a chance to understand exactly how different parts of one animal — be it Duroc pig or Muscovy duck — can have such different flavors and textures. For those who aren’t quite ready to make that much of a commitment, the dishes also are available à  la carte.

Recently, Chef Mark Dommen invited me in as his guest to try his “Weekly Beast” dinner featuring goat from Marin Sun Farms in Point Reyes Station. Since I”ve only had goat once or twice before — and always just one dish of it at a time — I was eager to experience the nuances evident in various preparations of the animal all at once.

“Goat is to lamb what veal is to cow,” Dommen says, meaning that it’s almost lamb-lite in terms of flavor and texture.

Before the first goat dish arrived, Dommen sent out a few amuses and extra tastes my way. A shot glass of apple water was like a soft, barely set Jell-O shot. It got even more body with a float of lemon oil was at once refreshing yet ever so decadent.

Another tiny amuse followed, this one a single grilled shrimp with great charred flavor that was dunked inside a citrusy tequila-lime float. Finally, two mini Dungeness crab tacos that were bright and crunchy. I wrapped the two-bite treats in my favorite shiso leaves for an extra minty hit.

Now, it was time to get the goat party started.

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Ad Hoc’s Crispy Braised Chicken Thighs with Olives, Lemon and Fennel

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Fat is flavor.

Big time.

How often have you heard chefs equate fatty goodness with deeply developed, satiating flavor?

Countless, I’m sure.

This simple recipe for “Crispy Chicken Thighs with Olives, Lemon and Fennel” from “Ad Hoc at Home” (Artisan) by Chef Thomas Keller is a prime example of just why they espouse that.

Chicken thighs get seared golden brown in a pan, then removed to a cooling rack. Peer into the pan and you’ll see a small pond of glistening, rendered liquid fat at the bottom.

Don’t be afraid.

Healthful, gym-rat me was tempted to pour out that fat, while good food-loving me was smacking my lips at the lusciousness pooling in the pan. In the end, the latter me won out, especially because Keller makes no mention in the recipe of cleaning out the pan before proceeding with the rest of the directions.

For good reason.

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Godiva’s Cup of Joe and Winners of the Food Gal Contest

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You can nibble a chocolate truffle with your coffee. Or you can sip a cup of Joe that tastes like a heavenly chocolate truffle.

You can now that Godiva Chocolatier has introduced a line of coffees inspired by their chocolate bonbons.

The flavored coffees come ground in these varieties: French Vanilla, Hazelnut Creme, Chocolate Truffle, and Caramel. Available at Safeway, SaveMart, Lucky and Raley’s, a 12-ounce bag is $8.99.

I had a chance to try samples of the Chocolate Truffle and Hazelnut Creme. I’m not always a fan of flavored coffees because some of them taste so artificial or overpowering.

The Godiva ones, though, were quite balanced. You could still taste the roasty, smooth Arabica beans that had just a twinge of that wonderful coffee bitterness even with the added chocolate or hazelnut flavorings. Indeed, the Chocolate Truffle coffee flavor is like a coffee candy that has a little rounded chocolate flavor added, as opposed to a full-on chocolate bonbon with a tiny espresso bean on top. As much of a chocoholic as I am, I think I liked the hazelnut one even more because of its nutty, almost creamy nature.

The steamy aromas are so seductive, too.

And now, for the winners of the “Spread It On” contest:

I say “winners” because I decided not only to award a grand prize of three Laxmi’s Delights flaxseed spreads, but two runners-up awards who will each receive a cookbook from my collection.

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New Vegan Cupcakes, New Pinkberry & Dinner by a “Top Chef” Contestant

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After a year of tinkering, Sprinkles Cupcakes has unveiled its new vegan and gluten-free versions of the Red Velvet cupcake, its best-seller.

Chef Candace Nelson, founder of Sprinkles, makes the vegan ones with all-natural soy milk, tofu-based cream cheese and coconut oil. The gluten-free one is made with gluten-free flour and topped with a thick layer of the usual cream cheese frosting.

Find them now at all Sprinkles locations.

Word is that competitor, Kara’s Cupcakes, also is working on vegan and gluten-free cupcakes. Stay tuned….

“Top Chef” fanatics will want to know that Season 6 contestant, Laurine Wickett, will be cooking dinner at Coffee Bar Cafe in San Francisco this weekend, Jan. 30 and Jan. 31.

Wickett, whom some fans thought was sacrificed to keep popular contestant Jennifer Carroll on the show longer, is the chef-owner of Left Coast Catering in San Francisco. She will be cooking a three-course dinner for $35; or $55 with wine pairings. Dishes include cauliflower soup with smoked  potatoes and truffle oil; and panna cotta with citrus compote.

To reserve a seat, call (415) 551-8100 or email: LWickettatcoffeebar@gmail.com.

Brewski — and lots of it — will be showcased at the second annual “San Francisco Beer Week,” Feb. 5-14.

Learn why the Bay Area has become a hotbed for artisan beer-making. Indeed, California has more than 200 breweries and beer companies, the most of any state. Eight of those breweries are in San Francisco.

A bevy of tastings and galas will be held at various venues throughout the Bay Area. Click here for a complete schedule.

Another Pinkberry fro-yo shop has opened in the Bay Area — this one at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto.

Look for it between Bloomingdale’s and Ralph Lauren.

San Francisco’s Waterbar invites you to try its new “Happy Hour,” 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

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