Memorable Ginger Cafe

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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.

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

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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?

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Feel the Love — When It Comes to Sardines

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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.

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

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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.

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Take Five with Momofuku’s David Chang, On the Flap Over “Fig-Gate”

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Chef David Chang gets ready to take on San Francisco. (Photo courtesy of Gabriele Stabile)

Think what you will of hotter-than-Hades New York chef sensation, David Chang.

He’ll be the first to say he doesn’t give a crap — with a carefully placed f-bomb for emphasis, of course.

But the 32-year-old chef-owner of the phenomenal Momofuku restaurants in Manhattan, who formerly cooked at New York’s esteemed Cafe Boulud, has sure ignited a firestorm in the Bay Area.

Who knew a comment about figs would prompt such a ruckus?

In case you missed it, earlier this month at the New York Wine & Food Festival, Chang was onstage with the irrepressible Anthony Bourdain. Knocking back beers, the two were pontificating on their personal likes and dislikes in the culinary world. That’s when Chang reportedly said, “F*****g every restaurant in San Francisco is just serving figs on a plate. Do something with your food.”

Well, in San Francisco, those were interpreted as some serious fighting words.

The Northern California chapter of the Asia Society abruptly canceled a planned Nov. 8 appearance by Chang at E&O Trading Co. in San Francisco. He was scheduled to appear at the event with a number of other prominent Asian-American Bay Area chefs, one of whom withdrew after Chang made that comment.

Indeed, what was supposed to be a simple stop to promote his first cookbook, “Momofuku” (Clarkson Potter), one of the most anticipated releases of the year, has turned into a rather highly charged situation because of the supposed dissing of San Francisco.

Chang still intends to make other book-signing appearances here. You can meet him Nov. 4, when he’ll be appearing with his co-author, New York Times writer Peter Meehan; as well as Chris Cosentino of Incanto restaurant in San Francisco; and Christopher Kostow of the Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena. The 7 p.m. event at Cafe du Nord organized by 7×7 magazine is free. To reserve a spot, email: events@7×7.com with “Changtastic” in the subject line.

The new cookbook.

Additionally, Chang and Meehan will appear 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 5 at Williams-Sonoma on Union Square in San Francisco; 11 a.m. Nov. 7 at Sur La Table in the San Francisco Ferry Building; 4 p.m. Nov. 7 at Kepler’s in Menlo Park with David Kinch of Los Gatos’ Manresa; and noon Nov. 8 at Omnivore Books in San Francisco with Jeremy Fox of Napa’s Unbuntu.

At Omnivore, they’re already jesting about putting out a plate of fresh figs for the occasion.

You can’t blame Chang for being sick of talking about it all. But he was kind enough to indulge me when I chatted with him by phone yesterday.

Q: Do you regret the fig comment? Or do you think people in the Bay Area just need to lighten up?

A: I don’t regret it. It was said and people took it out of context. People are overly sensitive. I am not trying to piss anyone off. But if they are pissed off, maybe there’s some truth behind it

What I said was a generalization. Not every restaurant is serving figs on a plate. You guys have great produce. It seems like every restaurant tries to follow that road. Anyone that challenges that gets trampled on. It’s great that there is Zuni and Chez Panisse and Oliveto, which take that approach. It seems, though, that many in San Francisco are not that open to expanding beyond that family tree.

But the fact that we’re still talking about this is ridiculous. It’s so silly. It’s so dumb.

Q: Bourdain and others have criticized Alice Waters of Chez Panisse for being overly strident about organics. Does that put you in a delicate position since Alice is fond of you and been a friend to you?

A: She’s the face of the movement. At the end of the day, everyone is after the same goal — a world where everyone eats well. Alice is providing the ideal. You need someone to provide the utopian concept. And she doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.

I can understand both sides of the coin. For me, I know Alice’s intent, and whether people agree or disagree, it’s not for me to judge. I will support her no matter what she needs from me. People can criticize her, but she’s trying, and she’s trying to do something in which the end goal is a good thing.

I can totally understand Tony’s position, too. I can still be a friend to both Tony and Alice. You can have a friend who may not like another one of your friends. Like Tony f*****g hates Alan Richman (award-winning food writer for GQ magazine), but I get along with Richman.

Q: So with all this hoopla, do you feel like you should be coming into town wearing a flak jacket in case you’re pelted with figs?

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