Restaurant Doings & Foodie Happenings

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Scottish eggs, crisps, and pasty of the day at Martins West Pub. (Photo courtesy of Martins West Pub)

* A century-old Redwood City Alhambra building, once housing a saloon that apparently Wyatt Earp frequented, has been tranformed into Martins West Pub.

How’s that for apropos?

Executive Chef Michael Dotson, formerly of PlumpJack Cafe in Squaw Valley, turns out honest-to-goodness British gastropub eats, including herb-crusted marrow bones with kumquat and celery salad ($8), fish & chips with peat-smoked fries ($12), and brioche-crusted black cod ($22).

Pastry Chef Kelly Fields, formerly of Restaurant August in New Orleans, offers playful desserts such as Devonshire cream tartlet with strawberries, elderflower and long pepper; and chocolate “rillettes” with Scottish heather ice cream, peanuts, and sugared brioche.

Devonshire cream tart with strawberries. (Photo courtesy of Martins West Pub)

* If you haven’t noticed already, Tanglewood in San Jose’s Santana Row has closed its doors. Left Bank Brasseries, which operated Tanglewood, is expected to open LB Steak in its place in June. It will be Santana Row’s first steakhouse.

Blame the economy, as well as construction on a new mixed-use building right next door, which made crowds stay away, says company CEO Richard Miyashiro.

“Tanglewood started out as a high-end restaurant and could not survive without a transformation,” he says.

When LB Steak opens, look for signature dishes such as braised pork belly with five spices and Coca Cola glaze; and a 20-ounce Porterhouse.

* For 11 days beginning June 3, enjoy the “City Bites” promotion in downtown San Jose. Twenty-six downtown restaurants will feature three-course dinners for $20, $30, or $40.

The event kicks off June 3 when participating restaurants will offer sample bites for free or for a charge of $3.

Among the participating restaurants are 19 Market, A.P. Stump’s, and Paolo’s restaurant.

* Similarly, San Francisco kicks off its eighth annual “Dine About Town” promotion, June 1-15.

Participating restaurants will offer three courses at lunch for $21.95 and at dinner for $34.95. Participating restaurants include Absinthe Brasserie & Bar, B44, Luce, and Poleng Lounge.

Napa Valley Chef Cindy Pawlcyn (Photo courtesy of Steven Rothfeld)

* May 30 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., sip fine varietals at the fifth annual “Ultimate Blind Date” wine tasting event at Flora Springs Winery in St. Helena.

More than 60 of St. Helena’s best wineries will be pouring their finest. For those who want to put their palates on the line, there will be a fun blind-tasting challenge in which you can win a cellar-full of St. Helena wines (valued at more than $2,000). All the participating wineries will pour one wine blind. If you venture any kind of guess at all about the wine, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win the prize.

Napa Valley restaurateur Cindy Pawlcyn, who owns Go Fish, Mustards, and Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen, will offer up food to nosh along with the wines.

She’ll also sign copies of her new cookbook, “Cindy Pawlcyn’s Appetizers” (Ten Speed Press), which will be available for a 50 percent discount at the event.

Tickets are $60. For more information, call (707) 963-6045. A portion of proceeds will be donated to St. Helena’s Work Connection, a non-profit providing assistance and work placement to vineyard and migrant workers.

* It’s cherry time and there’s no better time to celebrate the joys of everyone’s favorite pitted fruit than 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., May 30-31 at C.J. Olson’s fruit stand in Sunnyvale.

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A Four-Star Taco Truck

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Chow down on a seafood chimichanga.

One of my favorite seafood restaurants has no fancy cutlery, no pressed linen tablecloths, and no crystal wine goblets. Heck, it doesn’t even have a front door.

It’s a taco truck that’s permanently anchored in a parking lot in San Jose.

I have my friend Sarah to thank for turning me on to Dia de Pesca, a quirky, lovable eatery that’s been around for about two years, churning out impeccably fresh Mexican seafood dishes.

Plus, who can resist a place whose name translates into “Gone fishing”?

You've come to the right place.

Get in line — as there’s almost always one — to place your order at the taco truck. The wipe-board lists that day’s fresh seafood offerings. Pick your favorite and enjoy it in soft tacos, enchiladas, bouillabaisse, salads, fajitas, or tostadas. There are oysters on the half shell ($6.46 for a half dozen), or done up “Mejicana”- style with chorizo and pico de gallo ($8.50 for six).

The seafood comes from nearby Race Street Seafood retailer/wholesaler. Dia de Pesca goes through so much fresh seafood each day, its owner told me, that the owner of Race Street Seafood came by once to see for himself. He couldn’t believe a taco truck could be selling that much seafood each day. He left duly impressed.

The hardest part is figuring out what to order. You want the entire menu.

Once you’ve placed your order, grab a table in the parking lot, where a server will bring your food out to you. You have to give the Dia de Pesca folks credit; as far as parking lots go, this one has uber ambience. Heavy, tiled benches and patio tables with umbrellas dot the parking lot, along with big, brightly colored planters filled with lush greenery that help shield the busy intersection of N. Bascom Avenue and W. San Carlos Street.

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Superb Salumi

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Can't stop at just one slice.

When chef-cookbook author-cooking host Michael Chiarello opened his flagship NapaStyle store in Yountville last year,  he finally had enough space for a curing room.

Like his other five NapaStyle stores in California, the Yountville one also boasts a tempting array of specialty cookware and gourmet ingredients. But this one also features a wine bar, as well as a cafe that serves sandwiches and salads.

When I visited recently, I was after what came out of the curing room — artisan cured meats.

Hand-crafted salumi seems to be the rage these days among Bay Area chefs. You have Paul Bertolli, former executive chef of Oakland’s Oliveto, turning out his wonderful Fra’Mani salumi. You have Chris Cosentino, chef of San Francisco’s Incanto, selling his brand of Boccalone cured meats.

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Michael Mina’s Swanky New San Francisco Bar/Restaurant

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Kumquat confiture.

Times may be tough, but don’t tell that to Chef-Restaurateur Michael Mina.

Barely open a month, his new RN74 wine bar/restaurant in the new Millennium Tower in San Francisco is packing in the crowds.

On a recent Tuesday night, when I was invited to check out the scene for myself, a lively after-work crowd was enjoying wine and food at the bar. You know a place has got a vibe going when celeb Chef Todd English even drops by that evening to hang out at the bar with an attractive, dark-haired woman.

Chefs Michael Mina and Jason Berthold.

Transportation is a big theme in this new $4.5 million restaurant. First, the restaurant is on the ground floor of a new condominium tower right next to the old Transbay Terminal. Second, the restaurant is named after the highway that runs through Burgundy’s Cote d’Or. Lastly, the interior evokes an old train station reinvented in a hipper, more modern way.

Wine Director Rajat Parr has longed dreamed of opening a wine bar, one that would capture the feeling of magical discovery he encountered the first time traveling through Burgundy. Antique metal lanterns hang from the ceiling near the entrance. Bathrooms have piped in French conversations.

Wine Director Rajat Parr stands before the custom-made wine flip-board.

The centerpiece is a custom-made flip board like the ones you see at train stations that tell the arrival/departure times. Only this one lists wines where only one bottle remains in stock at the restaurant. If someone buys it, the board flips to erase the wine selection. How cool is that?

Executive Chef Jason Berthold is a perfect match for Parr. Berthold, who was sous chef at the French Laundry in Yountville and helped open Per Se in New York, also makes his own wine under the Courier label. Parr, who attended the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park, makes wine under his Parr Selection label.

Clean, pure flavors with sometimes unexpected ingredient combinations characterize Berthold’s culinary style.

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Take Five with Roy Fong — Educator, Importer, and Connoisseur of Fine Teas

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Top quality jasmine tea leaves.

Nobody knows tea quite like Roy Fong.

The 53-year-old entrepreneur opened the first traditional Chinese tea house in San Francisco in 1992. Now, he overseas two Imperial Tea Court locations in the Bay Area — one in Berkeley, and the other in San Francisco’s Ferry Building.

A visit back to his native Hong Kong when he was in his 20s, changed his life. As he wandered around the old tea district there, he knew he had found his destiny. Now, he sells about 300 types and grades of teas, priced at $16 to $480 a pound.

Roy Fong enjoying the fruits of his labor.

His two tea houses also are thought to be the only restaurants in the Bay Area that feature an all-organic, sustainable dim sum menu.

With the exception of a few sauces, everything else on the menu is organic and sustainable. The flour used to make the wrappers and the tea oil used to fry the green onion pancakes are organic. The shrimp is wild. The pork is family-raised and sustainable. Even the tea leaves used to flavor the broth for the won ton soup are organic.

Read more about Fong’s organic dim sum — and other purveyers jumping on that bandwagon — in my story in today’s San Francisco Chronicle Food section.

I had the chance to sit down to lunch with Fong recently at his Berkeley tea house. He poured cups of jasmine tea, the favorite variety of Northern Chinese.

Dumplings made with wild shrimp, organic flour, and organic jasmine tea leaves.

Before pouring water over the rolled-up leaves, he had me take a whiff. The aroma was very floral. It was an indication that the green tea picked in early spring was quite fresh, because jasmine tea takes on a more citrusy fragrance as it ages. Surprise your guests at your next party by pairing jasmine tea with brie cheese. Fong says the two are an exceptional match.

Q: You’ve won quite a loyal following for your organic dim sum, haven’t you?

A: People drive hundreds of miles for it. We have regulars who come from Monterey for lunch all the time.

Q: The wrappers on the shrimp dumplings are so incredibly translucent. How do you do that?

A: You have to control the water temperature, and roll the dough very thin. The water can’t be too warm or too cold.

Q: I’m guessing you won’t tell me the exact temperature?

A: Nope. (laughs)

Noodles being pulled to order.

Q: What’s the most popular dish here?

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