Magical Masa’s

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California caviar with blini perfection.

For more than a quarter century, Masa’s in San Francisco has not only survived, but thrived at the top echelon of fine-dining in the Bay Area.

That’s quite the achievement when you consider that the restaurant has weathered the loss of its founding chef, Masataki Kobayashi, whose slaying still remains unsolved; the departure of successor Chef Julian Serrano to Picasso in Las Vegas; and the loss of Chef Ron Siegel to the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco.

Since 2004, though, the venerable restaurant has been in good hands with Executive Chef Gregory Short, a former sous chef at the French Laundry in Yountville.

In this dire economy, with diners leery of splurging too often — if at all — Masa’s has not been immune from a drop in clientele. But as it has always done, it’s managed to roll with the times.

A new, less expensive three-course prix fixe was added this year for $65 to go along with the regular $95 five-course and $155 nine-course options. And if the recent Tuesday night when I was invited to dine with a group of other food writers is any indication, business is definitely on the upswing. On this weeknight, the dining room was almost full. And the experience was as divine as always.

No matter how much you spend, Masa’s always delivers a special experience from the moment you walk into the striking dining room with its dark brown walls, deep red drum lights, and stark white tables. You can’t help but feel ensconced in stylish, warm elegance.

Spot prawn bisque and grilled spot prawn to whet the appetite.

Short sent out two amuses: A creamy, buttery spot prawn bisque alongside a crisp, smoky grilled spot prawn. Next came a quenelle of California white sturgeon caviar with Marchall Farms creme fraiche and the lightest, tenderest tiny blini ever.

We were allowed to choose five courses from any of the menus. I started with “A Composition of Summer Figs,” which were grilled, marinated, and made into marmalade. A sliver of crisp, dehydrated fennel, and a dollop of creamy, salty Roquefort completed this edible still life.

Figs three ways.

Next, I enjoyed sweet basil agnolotti, enriched with white corn polenta with creamy mascarpone, and tossed with delicate, peeled orbs of toybox tomatoes that made me wish summer was still here.

Plump agnolotti with mascarpone and peeled toybox tomatoes.

Beeler’s Ranch Duroc pork rib-eye was meaty, dense, and rich tasting. Poached Pippin apples lent an aromatic autumn touch.

Heritage pork rib-eye.

Pastry Chef John McKee, former co-owner of La Seine Bakery in San Francisco and former executive pastry chef of Noe Valley Bread and Baking Company in San Francisco, has a most creative touch.

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Zanotto’s Monthly Wine Dinners — A Deal If There Ever Was One

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Chicken with sage, figs, and pancetta -- served at a supermarket.

Imagine a six-course dinner with six wine pairings — for all of $35 per person.

You don’t have to don fancy duds to enjoy it, either. But you do have to make reservations early, as it sells out faster than you can uncork a bottle of Chardonnay.

Zanotto’s Family Market in San Jose’s Rose Garden neighborhood may very well have the best wine tasting deal around.

The family-run supermarket, which has been in business since 1967, offers the wine dinner every last Wednesday of each month. Tickets go on sale three weeks before, and usually sell out within the first week. Indeed, since the store started hosting these dinners 30 months ago, 29 have sold out.

“We just wanted to create a casual learning experience with great food and wine,” says store Manager Fred Zanotto.

Wednesday was always the store’s slowest day, Fred Zanotto explains. So, he decided to start holding wine tastings to try to entice more shoppers into the store. They proved so successful that he decided to add dinner to it, too.

It's almost a sell-out crowd.

Picture a neighborhood block party held inside a grocery store. That’s what this fun, lively dinner is like, where so many folks are regulars, attending each and every one.

Tables are set up inside and out (except for the winter) to hold 237 people (129 in winter). Folks, who have purchased tickets ahead of time at the store or over the phone, start lining up early by the ice cream freezers to get the best pick of seats, which are first-come, first-serve. Reserved seats are only available if you have a party of six or more.

The tables are draped with floral cloths that can be purchased in the store. The food, served family-style, is arrayed on pretty, rustic platters, which also can be purchased at the store. Fred Zanotto’s two sisters-in-law, who normally man the store’s deli, create the food to pair with the wines. Many of the ingredients — you guessed it — can be purchased at the store.

Cutlery and plates are of the plastic variety. And you get only one wine glass. But that just adds to the informal charm of the event.

DeRose Vineyards was featured at the September wine dinner.

The wineries featured each month are from all over the world. But six months of the year are dedicated to spotlighting local wineries.

The wine dinner I attended in September featured DeRose Vineyards of Hollister. The winery has 100 acres of vines, including 40 acres that are dry-farmed. Those vines, which get no water, produce intensely fruity wines, says winemaker Pat DeRose.

The wines poured that evening included the Parrone 2007 Sparkling, DeRose Chardonnay 2006, Continental Cabernet, Cabernet Franc, Nick DeRose Sr. Zinfandel 2006, and the Negrette 2006. The latter, made from 115-year-old vines, is such a rarity these days that even in its native France, there are less than 100 acres grown there today. DeRose grows 10 acres that are dry-farmed. The result is a wine bursting with jammy plum and berry flavors, and gentle tannins.

Zanotto’s also provides recipes to take home from each event. Dinner that night was as follows:

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Beautifull!

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Cookies that have no butter in them.

Don’t blink. That isn’t a typo. It’s the name of a new food company in San Francisco that wants to make it easier for you to eat healthful.

Beautifull! opened its flagship store/cafe in San Francisco’s Laurel Village Shopping Center this spring. More locations are planned, including one in Palo Alto early next year.

The stores make prepared foods that are free of hormones, steroids, additives, preservatives, refined sugars, refined grains, butter and cream. A team of chefs and nutritionists have come up with dishes that can be enjoyed in the store, wrapped up to-go, or delivered to your home or office in whatever amounts that suit your needs.

I know you’re thinking, “That sounds way too healthy to taste any good.” Admit it.

Heck, I thought that, too.

But I ate those words, along with some tasty samples that were delivered to my house recently.

Wonderful whole grains, along with fresh, delicious fruits and veggies are staple ingredients in the offerings.

Tea-smoked salmon ready to be toted home.

The “Tea-Smoked Salmon with Red Quinoa & Edamame Salad” (market price) is a signature dish. The salmon, house-smoked over Asian tea leaves, is moist, tender, and yes, wonderfully smoky tasting. It tops Peruvian red quinoa, buttery edamame, carrots, red peppers, and crunchy hijiki seaweed, tossed in a gingery vinaigrette. It’s a dish redolent of Japanese flavors.

The “Chinese Chicken Salad” ($9.99 as an entree salad) also is a taste of Asia, with nutty sesame oil and tangy rice wine vinegar in the Asian honey mustard dressing. The roasted chicken breast was just a tad dry, but that can happen when it’s pre-sliced ahead of time and refrigerated.

Enchiladas with zesy, spicy salsa verde and creamy feta cheese.

The “Whole Grain & Bean Enchiladas with Salsa Verde” ($7.99 as a prepacked meal) are corn tortillas filled with scrambled free-range eggs, golden quinoa, pinto beans, and yellow pepper, then topped with feta, cilantro, and spicy salsa verde. There was so much flavor going on that I didn’t miss the meat at all in this dish.

Turkey meatballs with Kamut grain.

Kids will love “Kamut Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs” ($6.99 a pound). Parents will love how good it is for the wee ones. Lean turkey meat combines with rolled oats, spinach, Dijon mustard and herbs for big, bountiful meatballs atop spaghetti made of Kamut, a grain high in protein and minerals. It all gets tossed with a simple tomato-basil sauce.

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Discover the Produce Peddler in San Francisco and San Mateo’s Thriving Downtown

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Fresh, organic Yolo County Farms' produce now featured a select neighborhood corner stores in San Francisco. (Photo courtesy of Brian Collentine)

Corner markets aren’t the first places you’d normally seek out produce — unless you need something basic and fast.

Brian Collentine is seeking to change that.

When the economy fizzled, the freelance creative director found he had too much time on his hands. So he came up with the idea to set up displays of fresh, organic produce and flowers inside San Francisco neighborhood bodegas where you’d normally be hard pressed to find a squishy onion amid the six packs and cigarettes.

Instead of jumping in cars to shop at supermarkets miles away, city dwellers in certain parts of the San Francisco now can walk around the corner or a mere block away to buy just-picked potatoes, peaches, and figs from Yolo County farms.

Read more about Collentine’s fresh and delicious endeavor in my story in the October issue of San Francisco Magazine.

While you’re perusing the magazine, also check out my other story on San Mateo’s lively downtown, which has managed to thrive when other downtowns on the Peninsula have suffered untold business closings this past year.

Fancy soap from a 1905-era hardward store in San Mateo.

With its sprawling 70 blocks, downtown San Mateo is an intriguing mix of centuries-old businesses (Wisnom’s hardware store opened its doors in 1905) and new, unique attractions. It’s where both YouTube and Napster got their starts, too.

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Not Your Kid’s Milk Chocolate & Food Gal Contest

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Yes, it's milk chocolate.

Milk chocolate doesn’t get a whole lotta respect.

Dark chocolate aficionados turn up their noses at the stuff, sneering that it’s weak, sweet, and uncouth.

But there’s a new milk chocolate in town that just might change even those snobby taste buds.

Dark chocolate lovers already know Amano Artisan Chocolate, the Utah specialty chocolate maker, for its amazingly complex dark chocolates. The company, founded by a scientist who develops search engines, has now gone the milky way. It has created two different milk chocolate bars, ($6.95 for each 2-ounce bar), which I recently received samples of. So just how do they taste?

I’ll use my patented scale of 1 to 10 lip-smackers, with 1 being the “Bleh, save your money” far end of the spectrum; 5 being the “I’m not sure I’d buy it, but if it was just there, I might nibble some” middle-of-the-road response; and 10 being the “My gawd, I could die now and never be happier, because this is the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth” supreme ranking.

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