Tag Archives: best chicken wings

Square Pie Guys Debuts in the South Bay

The Mush-O-Roni at Square Pie Guys in Campbell.
The Mush-O-Roni at Square Pie Guys in Campbell.

Come for the thick-crust pizza. But stay to savor the Szechuan wings. In fact, you just might want a second order of those.

Square Pie Guys, which debuted in San Francisco six years ago, just opened its first South Bay locale — in Campbell.

It specializes in Detroit-style pizza from the Motor City, which was appropriately enough originally baked in industrial car parts tray.

The name may be a bit of misnomer — as the pizzas are baked in deep rectangular pans, not square ones — but the results are incredibly crisp perimeters and corners with the lacy, baked-on cheese we all fight over.

Last week, I was invited in as a guest of the bright, airy restaurant, where the friendly employees were making a point to greet each table.

You know you're in the right place.
You know you’re in the right place.
The decor is simple but with fun touches.
The decor is simple but with fun touches.

You order at the counter, then take your number to your table, where a server will deliver the goods when ready.

Read more

Chicken Wings: Low, Slow, Let’s Go!

Steaming soy sauce chicken wings -- straight out of the oven after a long, gentle bake.

Steaming soy sauce chicken wings — straight out of the oven after a long, gentle bake.

 

When it comes to cooking, culinary teacher Andrew Schloss wants us to take it low and slow.

How slow?

Think meatloaf that takes up to eight honors in the oven or a Black-Bottom Banana Custard Pie that bakes for as long as six hours.

Before you scoff, though, consider that all of that is fairly unattended cooking. Slide it into the oven and go about your day. Meantime, all that extended time under gentle heat does its magic by rendering food soft, supple and suffused with flavor.

You’re essentially turning your oven into a giant slow cooker. But unlike a slow cooker, which has a tight-fitting lid, oven-cooking allows for more evaporation. That means flavors get much more concentrated, Schloss says.

I’d have to agree after receiving a review copy of his book, “Cooking Slow: Recipes for Slowing Down and Cooking More” (Chronicle Books). Many of the recipes intrigued, but I decided to try one already familiar to me to get a real sense of what a difference this style of cooking might make.

Read more