Warning: Now For Something A Little Different

Posted on by 20 comments


Hopefully, these pics of chapulines don’t scare anyone off.

Because that would be a shame.

Pan-fried grasshoppers seasoned with lime, salt, and red chile might be what gets people buzzing about the new Mezcal restaurant, 25 W. San Fernando in downtown San Jose. But what will keep them coming back are the luscious moles served here with style and graciousness.

The airy restaurant with an industrial chic vibe specializes in Oaxacan cuisine.  It was opened a month ago by Oaxacan native, Adolfo Gomez, who was formerly operations manager at the Silicon Valley Capital Club.

After you are seated, servers bring warm, fresh-fried chips but not salsa to your table. Instead, you get a small sampler of three moles — negro, coloradito and estofado — to satisfy your curious taste buds right off the bat. They’re all wonderful, particulary the inky, rich negro with its flavors of bittersweet chocolate, cinnamon and chiles.

Our server said the grasshopper appetizer is ordered by almost every table. So, naturally, when I went there for lunch today, I had to order them, too. It didn’t hurt that I was dining with three guys, all former colleagues, who were more than game to eat bugs with me.

By the way, I should acknowledge that I am a veteran insect eater.

By choice.

Well, sort of.

Read more

Inaugural Eats

Posted on by 8 comments

The next president.

So you aren’t going to make it to Washington, DC for those glittery presidential inaugural festivities on Jan. 20. That doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate in your own delicious way.

Fork and Spoon Productions of San Francisco is offering the chance to “Celebrate Obama in Pajamas.” Uhh, that would be you in the pj’s, not the president-to-be.

Roll out of bed, and nosh on an eight-course breakfast while you watch the ceremonies on TV. Fork and Spoon will drop off this feast for you plus 11 of your most political friends the night before. Just heat and enjoy the next morning.

Feast on egg casserole with bacon and goat cheese, cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit salad, malasadas (Hawaiian donuts), spinach salad, Hawaiian tropical punch, Bloody Mary mix, and a pound of Kona coffee.

Total price is $804.61 (Barack Obama’s birthday). Orders need to be placed by Jan. 16. To order, call (415) 552-7130.

Nick’s Cove in Marshall is getting in on the act, too, with its Presidential Inauguration Community Dinner, Jan. 20, which actually will be served all day long.

Read more


A Soda to Ring In the Lunar New Year

Posted on by 10 comments

Get ready for Lunar New Year.

Long-life noodles.

Check.

A whole fish.

Check.

Red envelopes filled with lucky money.

Check.

If you’re celebrating Lunar New Year in San Francisco, though, don’t forget to include a bottle of Belfast Sparkling Cider in your Year of the Ox festivities starting Jan. 26.

The non-alcoholic soda, with Irish origins, is the oldest-continually bottled soda made in California. And inexplicably, it’s the city’s Chinese-American community that has kept this brand alive for generations.

Read more

Fro-Yo Craze Continues

Posted on by 13 comments

Trying to eat more healthful in the new year?

Then, you’ll be glad that the frozen yogurt craze that came, went, and returned, continues to be more than alive and well in 2009.

Yogen Fruz, established in 1986 in Toronto, now has more than 1,100 locations in more than 20 countries, and that includes the United States.  The fro-yo company is making a push into Northern California, having opened a cafe in San Francisco in 2008 at 3 Embarcadero Center. Now, it’s about to open one early this year in San Jose at the Westfield Oakridge Shopping Centre.

Read more

Stew Sensation

Posted on by 14 comments

Fennel stars in this awesome stew.

This is without a doubt one of the best stews ever.

Since it was published four years ago in Gourmet magazine, I’ve made this “Braised Pork with Orange and Fennel” at least annually, if not twice or thrice a winter. It’s the one stew I can’t wait to make once the weather turns the least bit chilly.

Moreover, it’s the stew that created a sensation when I wrote about it a year or so ago in the San Jose Mercury News Food section. Readers wrote to tell me how much they loved the flavors of orange zest, fresh ginger, soy sauce, cinnamon, and anise seeds. A friend even recalled that women friends at her gym were all gabbing non-stop about how divine the dish was.

Who can blame them? The pork shoulder cubes cook up tender alongside slices of fennel in a sauce that’s hauntingly part Asian and part Italian. Serve it over plain steamed rice or, as I do, over soft, spoonable polenta cooked with plenty of Parmigiana.

The presentation is pure rustic comfort. The taste is a savory sensation. It’s homey enough for family; chic enough for company. And it’s a straightforward recipe that cooks up mostly unattended, so it can be easily whipped together even on a weeknight if you find yourself with a little extra time on your hands.

I’ve already made it once this winter. Try it, and there’s no doubt, you’ll be making it again and again, too.

Braised Pork with Orange and Fennel

Read more

« Older Entries Recent Entries »