New DVD, Oakland Cooking Class, Tuscan Dinner, Theater Special & More

Posted on by 4 comments

(image courtesy of Food, Inc.)

In case you missed “Food, Inc.” when it was in theaters, you’ll be glad to know the compelling and enlightening documentary on the U.S. food industry has just been released on DVD and Blu-ray disc.

Bonus features include celeb public service announcements by Kelly Preston, Alyssa Milano and Martin Sheen, as well as “Nightline’s” interview with Chipotle’s CEO.

The DVD is $26.98 and Blu-ray is $34.98.

Head to the Mission District in San Francisco Nov. 11 to dine out for a good cause.

Twenty-six participating restaurants will donate a portion of sales that night to Mission Graduates, a non-profit that helps Mission District youths better prepare for and complete college educations.

In the “Food for Thought” event, participating restaurants will donate anywhere from 25 percent o 100 percent of their sales. Raffle prizes also will be offered at each of the restaurants.

Participating restaurants include Conduit, Farina, Foreign Cinema, the Front Porch, and Goat Hill Pizza (which isn’t technically in the Mission, but wanted to participate anyway). For a complete list, click here.

Do another good deed on Nov. 8 when New Delhi Restaurant and Bar in San Francisco hosts a “Bollywood Dance Party,” 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Pay as much as you like, or a suggested $40 donation. Proceeds will go to the Tenderloin After School Program and the Gandhi Ashram in New Delhi.

Beverages and a buffet are included.

Chef Aaron McCargo, Jr. (Photo courtesy of the Food Network)

Chef Aaron McCargo Jr., star of the Food Network’s “Big Daddy’s House” and winner of last year’s “Next Food Network Star” competition,  will host a healthy holiday cooking class, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 14 at Oakland’s Beebe Memorial Cathedral.

It’s part of the “Power to End Stroke,” an initiative of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. Its purpose is to empower African-Americans to take action and reduce their risk of stroke. Currently, African-Americans have about twice the risk of a first stroke as white Americans. Most strokes are preventable, though, by controlling high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes; staying active; reducing obesity; and not smoking.

A $5 donation is requested to attend the class. Reserve in advance by sending a check or money order to: Florence McCrary, American Heart Association, 426 17th St., Oakland, CA 94612.

Enjoy dinner cooked by two Michelin-starred female chefs at Luce in San Francisco on Nov. 11.

Luce’s Chef Dominique Crenn will be joined that night by Donatella Zampoli from the wine estates of Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi. The six-course Tuscan feast with paired wines will benefit CUESA, Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture.

Dishes for the “Inspirations of Tuscany” dinner include potato gnocchi with bone marrow and lobster; and lamb shank Tuscan-style. Price is $75 per person, with wine pairings an additional $30 per person. Ten dollars per person will be donated to CUESA.

Read more

Memorable Ginger Cafe

Posted on by 19 comments

Lamb with steamed buns -- a dish I would go back for again and again.

For two years — as long as it’s been in existence — I’ve driven past the Ginger Cafe on El Camino Real in Sunnyvale.

Yes, driven right past from the get-go, not stopping at all to collect a mere whiff or a taste.

Yup, me, a bonafide ginger fiend had never stepped foot inside this pan-Pacific Rim eatery.

Go figure.

Fortunately, when owner Tuyen Chung invited me in for dinner last week, I finally atoned for that faux pas.

Good thing, too, because I’d really been missing out.

Chung, who immigrated to the United States as a teen-ager by way of mainland China and Hong Kong, started cooking with his mother at her restaurant more than 25 years ago. In 2004, he opened his first Ginger Cafe in Gilroy. In 2007, he followed suit with the Sunnyvale locale.

The comfortable, well-lighted restaurant, decorated with Asian art work, serves up a mix of Asian street food and classics — often done up with Chung’s inventive, modern takes. For instance, a spectacular platter of lamb sauteed with caramelized onions gets a dusting of grated Parmesan cheese, and is served with pillowy, steamed, clam shell-shaped buns. And boy, does it all work together perfectly.

Crunchy soft-shell crab with irresistible panko bread crumbs.

Fried Fongsa soft-shell crab is fragrant and tinged yellow from cumin. It gets tossed with crispy, chile-tinged Panko crumbs that are dynamite mixed with plain steamed rice. It’s like a traditional Chinese version of salt-and-pepper fried Dungeness crab. But Chung noticed that many Americans don’t like to get their fingers dirty when eating, so he substituted soft-shell crab instead. Eat the shell and all using chopsticks and there’s no mess whatsoever. Genius.

Dumplings filled with shrimp and bok choy.

Shrimp and calamari atop crisp shrimp chips.

Dim sum is served all day. We tried the shrimp-bok choy dumplings, which were delicate, with plump whole shrimp in them.  An appetizer of shrimp and calamari atop fried shrimp crackers is a two-bite treat heady with green onions and fried shallots that would make a great cocktail party snack.

Read more


Take Five with Chef Charles Phan, On His “Iron Chef America” Battle

Posted on by 18 comments

Charles Phan battles on "Iron Chef America'' this Sunday. (Photo courtesy of the Food Network)

With his outrageously popular Slanted Door restaurant, three Out the Door eateries, Heaven’s Dog, and the Academy of Sciences cafe — all of them in San Francisco — it’s hard to believe Chef Charles Phan has time to do much of anything else.

But somehow the 47-year-old chef, who’s ethnically Chinese and a native of Vietnam, found time to go mano-a-mano and burner-to-burner with Cat Cora on “Iron Chef America.”

Filmed in July 2008, that episode finally will air 10 p.m. Nov. 8.

I had a chance to talk with Phan yesterday about his surprising appearance on the show, given his aversion to doing TV.

Q: Ahem. So, I was witness to you saying on a panel in San Francisco earlier this year that you hate being photographed and you hate being on TV. So what gives?

A: Yeah, I do hate it. (laughs) But I kind of have to do it, because it’s my work. The Food Network approached me about doing it. It’s a national show and a chance to show off Vietnamese cooking.

Q: How did it go?

A: It was fine. I didn’t get too stressed out about it. I did the show with my chefs from Slanted Door. Getting the food plated was a challenge. We usually don’t plate individually like that. We normally serve family-style. So we were out of our realm a little bit. But it was OK.

Q: What surprised you most?

Read more

Feel the Love — When It Comes to Sardines

Posted on by 21 comments

Are you a sardine lover or hater?

Sardines suffer from a bad rep for the most part.

So many of us have stinky memories of those tiny, pungent fish lurking inside pull-tab tins that our parents or grand-parents forced upon us.

But I’m here to plead with you to give sardines a chance.

At a time when so many other seafood species are on the verge of extinction, sardines are one of the most sustainable fish around. They’re super cheap, and loaded with good-for-you omega-3s, too.

That’s why a local group, whimsically named the “Sardinistas,” is waging a campaign to get you and me to better appreciate this much-maligned fish. Find out more about this group by reading my story in the November issue of San Francisco magazine.

Bay Area chefs already have courted a love affair with sardines. Find fresh ones grilled on many a menu here, their flesh silky and smoky tasting.

Fresh sardines aren’t always easy to come by at local fish markets, though, because the majority caught in Monterey Bay are exported elsewhere.

But canned ones are easily found at any supermarket.

Not only are there sardines in this dish, but anchovies, too.

And even die-hard sardine haters are sure to love them in “Fish Cakes with Caper-Parsley Sauce.”

The recipe, adapted from one published in Gourmet magazine seven years ago, actually has three types of fish in it. And two of them are despised by a good number of folks. Yes, one is the sardine. The other? Anchovy.

But hear me out before you pass judgment.

Read more

New Tart Fro-Yo — To Stash in Your Own Freezer

Posted on by 19 comments

Tart frozen yogurt to tempt your palate.

I am a Pinkberry and Red Mango fiend.

I find tart frozen yogurt rather addicting. I just wish I didn’t always have to make a special trip for it.

Now, I don’t.

Thanks to new Haagen-Dazs’ Tart Natural Frozen Yogurt (samples of which recently landed on my doorstep), I can have it handy in my own freezer for those times I need a tangy fix. (And yes, that kind of easy accessibility can be both a good thing and a bad thing, if you know what I mean.)

With active yogurt cultures, this new flavor has has all the tart, refreshing, fermented taste of plain yogurt, but in a creamy, smooth, rich-bodied version. Although it doesn’t have the same airy, soft-serve texture as that at fro-yo chains, it’s still plenty satisfying with a flavor reminiscent of creme fraiche ice cream.

Read more

« Older Entries Recent Entries »