A Shout-Out to Two Asian Restaurants on the Peninsula

Posted on by 2 comments

A manly meal of crispy pata at Bistro Luneta

If you’ve never experienced the bold, pungent flavors of Filipino food, Bistro Luneta in San Mateo is a great place to get an introduction to this under-appreciated cuisine.

With Spanish, Chinese, and Malaysian influences, the cuisine is a harmony of salty, tangy, sweet, and savory. Husband-and-wife proprietors Jon and Janet Guanzon, along with Executive Chef Emmanuel Santos have given a modern interpretation to the cuisine.

A special of Korean ribs with citrus at Bistro Luneta

Standouts on the menu include Tokwa’t Baboy, an appetizer of grilled pork slivers crowned with crusted, fried tofu that’s lightly crisp on the outside and amazingly custardy on the inside. Even tofu haters won’t be able to stop eating this dish.

Eskalops Adobo bring perfectly seared scallops together with meaty, caramelized portobello, all in a deeply flavored adobo sauce. The Crispy Pata, a staple on Filipino menus, gets the star treatment here. A pork leg is cooked till the meat is fork-tender, then deep-fried until the skin is a crackling shell that you’ll need a sharp knife to break through.

The Guanzons host winery dinners at the restaurant regularly. In the near future, they also hope to invite other Filipino-American chefs from around the Bay Area to come cook on special guest-chef nights.

In Palo Alto, Proprietor-chef John Le Hung of Three Seasons restaurant in downtown, has revamped his nearby former iTapas & Wine Bar, 445 Emerson St.; (650) 325-4400. It has been renamed Bistro D’Asie with a new concept. After one too many confused customers walked through the doors of iTapas expecting Spanish tapas, rather than Asian/International ones, he decided to craft a different menu.

Read more

Sprinkles Cupcakes To Open Its Doors on Tuesday

Posted on by 7 comments

A tower of frosted delights. (Photo courtesy of Sprinkles Bakery)

Get ready for red velvet, chai latte, ginger lemon, banana dark chocolate, and more cute-as-can-be, freshly baked, no-need-to-share treats when Sprinkles Cupcakes opens on Sept. 23 at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto.

Yes, the cupcake bakery that’s all the rage with Tyra Banks, Oprah, Katie Holmes (Mrs.Tom Cruise), and other celebs is finally putting down sugary roots in the Bay Area. Other Sprinkles bakeries can be found in Beverly Hills, Newport Beach, Dallas, and Scottsdale. You can spot them easily by the lines outside the doors.

It’s only fitting that Pastry Chef-Proprietor Candace Nelson and her co-owner/husband Charles Nelson open a shop here. After all, Candace’s French-American great grandmother, Margaret Craig, owned three successful restaurants in the Bay Area for more than 20 years. Candace and Charles also are two former Silicon Valley tech investment bankers who spent long hours crunching numbers for others while they longingly dreamed of baking cupcakes. (Hey, I would, too!)

Read more


Calling All Moms Who Like To Cook Chicken

Posted on by Leave a comment

Foster Farms has a contest for you. The poultry producer has teamed with local NBC stations for a “Super Moms” contest. Sorry, only moms in the strategic cities of San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles are eligible.

Enter your best chicken recipe by midnight Oct. 1 and you might be the grand prize winner chosen to star in your own Foster Farms commercial, as well as for a trip for two to attend classes at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York.

For complete information, click here.

Get Ready For A Meal of A Lifetime

Posted on by 3 comments

Grant Achatz's elegant new cookbook

Think of it as like the Rolling Stones in concert with U2. Or De Niro starring with Pacino. In their prime, of course.

In this culinary version, it’s Grant Achatz, chef of Chicago’s molecular gastronomy mecca, Alinea, teaming with his mentor Thomas Keller of the incomparable French Laundry in Yountville and Per Se in New York, for three very special dinners.

Keller, the only American-born chef to possess seven Michelin stars, and Achatz, who survived a harrowing bout with cancer to win the 2008 “Chef of the Year” award by the James Beard Foundation, will cook together Nov. 11 at Per Se, Dec. 2 at Alinea, and Dec. 9 at the French Laundry.

We’re talking 20 — yes, 20 — courses paired with wines. Each chef will prepare 10 alternating courses that reflect their best creations that honor their 12-year friendship, and to celebrate the publication of each of their new cookbooks.

Thomas Keller's new tome on sous vide cooking

Early on in his career, Achatz sent Keller his resume every day for nearly a month until Keller hired him to work at the French Laundry. Achatz quickly distinguished himself, and rose to sous chef, before leaving for Evanston, IL in 2001 to open Trio. Four years later, he opened the highly innovative Alinea. This will mark the first time Achatz will be cooking with Keller since leaving the French Laundry.

Read more

Domaine Chandon Says Cheers with Cocktails

Posted on by Leave a comment

Enjoy the last of summer's peaches in a cocktail. Recipe follows.Sure, you know Domaine Chandon in Yountville for its lovely sparkling wines. But did you know you can also sip a hip cocktail there, too?

Indeed, Domain Chandon has become apparently the only winery in the country that serves cocktails in its tasting room. Being a pioneer is nothing new to the winery, which also was the first winery to establish a fine-dining restaurant on its premises. The winery worked with a London mixologist to come up with the $8 cocktails that incorporate its sparkling wines, such as the Chandon Luscious Peach, made with bubbly, fresh peach slices, mint leaves and simple syrup.

Oct. 2 is a great time to visit the winery, too, if you want to dance the night away. That night, the winery will host “Drink Pink: A Bubbly Benefit For Breast Cancer Research.”The winery’s restaurant, Etoile, will serve appetizers and small bites alongside glasses of pink sparkling wine. DJ Dukes will provide music under the stars.

Read more

« Older Entries Recent Entries »