Love the Restaurant and Yoga Studio? Then You’re Sure to Love the New Store

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Love Chef Jeremy Fox's cauliflower dish? Soon, you'll be able to buy the cute little pot. (Photo courtesy of Ubuntu)

Obviously, I can only be talking about Ubuntu in Napa, the vegetable-based restaurant (they don’t like to call it vegetarian) attached to a yoga studio that has become the darling of every critic around.

Chef Jeremy Fox’s creative, masterful way with veggies has left diners utterly swooning, even devoted carnivores.

In June, you can bring a little taste of Ubuntu home when Ubuntu Annex opens next door to the restaurant and studio in the historical Main Street Building.

Chef Jeremy Fox (Photo courtesy of Ubuntu)

Shop for the same Steelite and Le Creuset dishware used in the restaurant, as well as specialty items, including the darling cast-iron cocottes used for serving Fox’s famous “Cauliflower in Cast Iron Pot.”  Also for sale will be a selection of spices, garden seeds, Rancho Gordo beans, Ridgecut Gristmills grits, and Fox’s signature “Lavender Almonds.”

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Thomas Keller to Wed

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Laura Cunningham and Thomas Keller. (Photo by NewYorkSocialDiary.com)

Yes, a knowledgeable source has confirmed that four-star Chef Thomas Keller of the French Laundry in Yountville is indeed engaged to long-time girlfriend, Laura Cunningham.

Cunningham is the former general manager of the French Laundry and former director of operations for all of Keller’s restaurants. It was she who was largely responsible for shaping the flawless, unobtrusive, elegant service the French Laundry is known for. She left the fold in 2006 to start her own consulting business. Around the same time, she and Keller also split, after having been together as a couple for a decade.

They met when Keller bought the French Laundry building in 1994. Cunningham, who grew up in St. Helena and had worked for Chef Jeremiah Tower, came knocking with her resume. Keller said there were no jobs, but took the resume anyway, before he quickly shut the door.

A few days later, he came to his senses and called her back to give her a job.

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Tantilizing Toffee

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Victoria's Toffee

The rewards of blogging are many, not the least of which is the kindness of Food Gal readers, many of whom know me only through cyberspace.

Take SteveK for instance. Steve and I have never met, though we both live in the Bay Area. His older brother happens to be a well-known broadcast journalist who belongs to a media organization of which I’m also a member. But no, I’ve never met his brother, either.

But SteveK, knowing I’m a fiend for chocolate, told me I ought to try this chocolate toffee made by a woman who used to help watch his young daughter at day-care. The woman, Victoria Stillian, used to make the toffee as gifts for friends and families. It was so addicting, they told her, that she ought to sell it. So, five years ago, Victoria and her husband, Ron Stillian, started doing just that.

Victoria’s Toffee of San Mateo is now sold at Draeger’s Markets, Piazza’s Fine Foods in San Mateo, Roberts Market, and GC’s Cafe in Menlo Park, as well as online. A 1-pound box is $24.95.

The chocolate almond toffee squares are strewn with crunchy chopped nuts. The toffee is sweet, but tempered by the slight earthiness of the chocolate. It has a nice texture — not so hard and sticky that it gets glued to your molars for life, but just right, as Goldilocks might say if she nibbled some. Read more

Beauteous Bundts

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Definitely not your average bundt cake.

You know how when you’re a kid, you have all the time in the world, but just don’t know it?

When I was a kid, I loved to bake cakes. Layer cakes. With homemade frosting, all done up with elaborate swirls, sprinkles, and flowers.

Heck, I had the time then.

Now? Forget about it.

Nowadays, if I do bake a cake, it’s apt to be a no-nonsense springform-pan variety or the reliable bundt-style.

So when Nothing Bundt Cakes came calling, offering to send a sample for me to try, my first thought was: “Really? A bakery that makes nothing but bundt cakes? Why on earth?”

After all, bundts are one of the quickest and easiest of cakes to make. Would people really opt to buy these, rather than fancy layer cakes enrobed in pastel fondant or airy meringue buttercream if they were going to the trouble and expense of buying a cake?

Marble bundt cake

When the doorbell rang and the cakes arrived, I understood why they would.

Why, of course, if they got a bundt cake that looked like this: Dressed up with a big, bright yellow sunflower bursting from its center, and thick ripples of ivory cream cheese frosting cascading down it. A precious card and butterfly magnet perched atop it all upped the cute factor even more.

Sure, it looked amazing. But was it merely a bimbo cake — all looks and no substance underneath? One taste would determine that.

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