Chocolate That Benefits Farmers in the Ecuadorian Amazon

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Chocolate that helps farmers in the Amazonian rainforests.

In the world of chocolate bars, Kallari Chocolate Bars are a definite do-gooder.

All profits from the sales of these premium chocolate bars (available at Whole Foods) is returned to the Kallari Association, a cooperative of more than 850 Quichua families in Napo Province in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The association touts itself as the only farmers cooperative in the world that harvests, markets, and receives all profits from its line of organic chocolates. With this revenue, the Quichua families are able to make a viable living without succumbing to the temptation to make quick money from logging their rainforests or from extracting petroleum from their lands.

The chocolate-making venture was established with expertise and start-up funds from Stephen McDonnell, founder and CEO of Applegate Farms in Bridgewater, NJ, which produces natural and organic deli meats and cheeses. Visitors can even tour the cacao farms in Ecuador now to watch the harvest and the fermentation process.

The smoothest melting chocolate imaginable.

The bars do good. But do they also taste good?

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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Preview III: Ad Hoc’s Caramelized Sea Scallops

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Scallops that are so extraordinarily flavorful, one bite will make you a believer in this recipe.

Simple. Elegant. Timeless.

That’s my mantra when it comes to fashion, architecture, art, and often, even cooking.

And that’s exactly what this dish is all about.

If you’ve been following FoodGal over the past couple of weeks, you know I’ve been cooking my way through the small promotional brochure I got in the mail for the upcoming “Ad Hoc at Home” (Artisan) by Thomas Keller. Unlike the other cookbooks by this esteemed chef, this one promises to be much more accessible to the home cook, being that it’s based on dishes cooked at his most casual of restaurants.

What a tease this is. The brochure only includes four recipes as a sneak preview of the actual book, which won’t be published until November. If early results are any indication, this book looks to be a classic that we’ll all be reaching for time and time again.

Ad Hoc’s “Caramelized Sea Scallops” is the third recipe I’ve made, and like the others, it’s a winner, too. (You can find links to the other Ad Hoc recipes at the end of this post.)

A quick brine is the secret to this dish.

Keller starts with enormous scallops — graded U7, meaning seven make up one pound.

At my local seafood store, I couldn’t find U7. So I settled for “U Be As Big As They Get” — about 11 to one pound.

Keller actually brines the scallops before cooking, too. I’ve brined my share of turkeys, chickens, and pig parts. But never scallops.

He explains that he does this to season them all the way through. And what an amazing technique this is.

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Sundays at the Village Pub

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Lobster salad is a decadent way to start a Sunday. (Photo courtesy of the Village Pub)

Brunch is now being served on Sundays at the Village Pub in Woodside.

What a way to wake up, too!

Nosh on lemon ricotta souffle pancakes with blueberry butter ($13); eggs Benedict ($15); house-smoked sturgeon with sturgeon caviar ($17); Maine lobster salad with sweet corn blini and succotash $19); and the most expensive item, grilled New York steak with red-wine poached egg, foie gras and black truffles ($31).

Eggs Benedict. (Photo courtesy of the Village Pub)

Proprietor Mark Sullivan, who is also the chef-partner of sister-restaurant, Spruce in San Francisco, has a lot to be proud of lately. First up, a second location of Spruce will open July 29 at the Dakota Mountain Lodge in Utah.

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Foodie Events

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Ahi tartare at Restaurant Michael Mina. (Photo courtesy of the Mina Group)

Restaurant Michael Mina in San Francisco is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a “birthday tasting menu.”

For $125 per person, guests can enjoy a meal of signature favorites. It starts with a trio of classics (lobster corndogs, ahi tuna tartare, and caviar parfait); then butter poached South African lobster tail; seared day boat scallops; Four Story Hills poularde (a young hen); Brandt Farm beef rib-eye; and finally, a delectable Trio of Dessert Classics (root beer float, strawberry mascarpone, white peach financier).

Paired wines are an additional $55.

The gourmet birthday meal is available through July 11.

Mina’s Clock Bar (across from his eponymous restaurant inside the Westin St. Francis) also celebrates its first year in business with five nights of guest bartenders who will be shaking up special cocktails, starting July 13.

Among the celeb bartenders who will be making appearances will be Scott Beattie (formerly of Cyrus in Healdsburg) on July 13, and Erik Adkins, of Heaven’s Dog in San Francisco, on July 16.

Clock Bar is open daily from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. For reservations or group bookings, contact Matthew Meidinger at (415) 397-9222.

Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar (with Northern California locations in Palo Alto and Walnut Creek) is serving up an Alaskan King crab legs feast for $99 for two people.

Alaskan crab summer special. (Photo courtesy of Fleming's)

The three-course meal includes butter lettuce salad with citrus vinaigrette, warm Yukon Gold potato salad, summer squash, and two berry cobblers with vanilla ice cream. Each guest then gets a choice of either 1 1/2 pounds of crab legs with drawn butter or 3/4 pound of crab legs plus a filet mignon.

This special is being offered through Aug. 31. If you reserve online, you’ll receive a $25 Fleming’s card at the end of the meal, which is valid for the month of September.

Fans of San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza Farmers Market will be glad to know that it’s now also open on Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

This new market day features not only local produce for sale, but sustainable street foods to enjoy for lunch. Among the purveyors are: smoked hot dogs and peanut butter bacon brownies from 4505 Meats; Korean barbecue tacos and kimchee fried rice from Namu; pizza made to order from Pizza Politana; and smoked fish sandwiches from Cap’n Mike’s Holy Smoke.

Over in the East Bay, Pican Restaurant in Oakland is now serving weekday lunch and Sunday brunch.

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March Your Way Over to Marche

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A halibut dish that will blow you away.

Why is it that we end up taking most for granted what’s in our own backyard?

I remember friends in Boston who’d lived there for decades but had never been to the New England Aquarium.

I know long-time residents of the South Bay who have never visited Napa.

Me? I’m a San Francisco native who has never set foot inside Coit Tower.

I think it’s the “cleaning out the garage” syndrome at work. We know it’s there. We know we have to get to it some day. But we figure we have all the time in the world to do it, so ironically, we never do.

That’s what I thought about when I sheepishly stepped foot inside of lovely Marche restaurant in downtown Menlo Park last week. The restaurant is eight years old, but this was my first time there.

I’d always heard good things about this modern French restaurant. It was on my radar to try. Some day, I always thought.

I’m glad some day finally came, when Executive Chef Guillaume Bienaime invited me to dinner as his guest. Born in France and raised in part on the San Francisco Peninsula, Bienaime is all of 27 years old. You’d never know it by what arrives on your plate, though. I don’t know what I was cooking when I was 27 years old, but it definitely didn’t have anywhere near the sophistication and elegance of what Bienaime crafts.

After studying math at Foothill College in Los Altos, he turned his attention to cooking instead, enrolling in Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. During that time, he apprenticed at Marche, the French Laundry in Yountville, and La Mediterane in Paris. After graduation, he returned to Marche as a banquet sous chef, before becoming sous chef in 2006 under then-Executive Chef Howard Bulka. In April, Bienaime stepped into the head chef position.

His love of great produce shows. Indeed, July 17-18, he will spotlight fresh corn with a $65 four-course dinner that features the likes of warm corn flan with lemon basil emulsion.

He enjoys combing local farmers markets. Recently, he also helped students plant summer squash at a local Menlo Park elementary school, where his wife is a teacher.

Summer squash with French feta.

Bienaime has a sure hand with produce, as evidenced by a first course of summer squash with French feta and red-stemmed peppermint, a wonderful way to open up the palate for what’s to come.

When dining at Marche, diners can choose from entrees priced from $25 to $39, a three-course prix fixe (which runs about $39 to $49 per person), or a six-course chef’s tasting menu (from $85 to $95 per person), which I enjoyed the night I was there.

Bigeye tuna makes a big impression.

Slightly smoked rounds of tender bigeye tuna followed, crowned delicately with coriander, ginger, snap peas and baby radishes. Then, the showstopping Brentwood corn soup, with a foamed top that hid slivers of Dungeness crab. With its creamy, concentrated flavor of the freshest kernels, this is a soup that will make you appreciate soup again.

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