Tag Archives: Sarah Rich

RT Bistro Completes A Trifecta

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Porcini doughnuts with caviar at RT Bistro.
Porcini doughnuts with caviar at RT Bistro.

When it comes to their brand of cooking, husband and wife chefs Evan and Sarah Rich have a knack for throwing you for a loop — in the best of ways.

Think you’re getting potato chips at their flagship, 14-year-old Rich Table in San Francisco? You are — but ones uncannily threaded with whole sardines.

Expecting a whole roasted cauliflower at their two RT Rotisserie locations in San Francisco? You might want to don sunglasses when it arrives blanketed in technicolor fuchsia from a dazzling red beet tahini sauce.

Hankering for shrimp Louie at their newest restaurant, RT Bistro, which just opened in January? The chilled shrimp in a creamy sauce will arrive not on a mound of lettuce, but on disks of fried eggplant that are crisp on the outside and creamy within.

The Riches call their food “New American.” In truth, it’s what Sarah and Evan most like to eat — familiar sounding dishes with deepened flavors that get playfully and imaginatively tweaked without losing any focus.

It’s proved to be a winning formula for them and General Manager-Partner Jonny Gilbert.

RT Bistro's entrance is around the corner from Rich Table's.
RT Bistro’s entrance is around the corner from Rich Table’s.

Last week, I finally had a chance to check out RT Bistro, which is actually located in the same building that houses Rich Table, with its entrance just around the corner from it.

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Dandelion Chocolates’ 12 Nights of Chocolate

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Chocolate braised lamb pierogies by Sarah Rich at "12 Nights of Chocolate.''
Chocolate braised lamb pierogies by Sarah Rich at “12 Nights of Chocolate.”

Could there be a more wonderful way to spend an evening than indulging in chocolate, chocolate, and more artisan chocolate?

That’s just what Dandelion Chocolates’ annual “12 Nights of Chocolate” is all about. The San Francisco bean-to-bar chocolate factory celebrates everything chocolate in its 9th year of this festive event that benefits the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank.

I had the opportunity to experience night #3 when Dandelion’s pastry chef, Stephen Durfee, kindly invited me as his guest.

From the moment you open the door of the 16th Street factory, you are enveloped in the hedonistic aroma of chocolate everywhere. If only my house could smell this way all the time.

The setting for the evening.
The setting for the evening.

The factory’s loading dock was transformed into a wonderland for the event with chandeliers hanging over three long tables set with a line of illuminated candles. A piano player provided welcoming cheer next to decorated holiday trees.

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Rich Table’s Spaghetti with Peas, Goat Cheese — And A Most Unexpected Ingredient

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A pasta dish that will thrill with surprise.

A pasta dish that will thrill with surprise.

 

As I set this brimming bowl of pasta in front of my husband, he twirled in his fork, then took a bite.

“This is so weird,” he exclaimed with growing glee. “But it’s really good!”

That might just be your reaction, as well, to this eyebrow-raising spaghetti tossed with peas, lime, goat cheese — and are you ready for it — duck fat.

Yes, “Spaghetti with Peas, Lime, Goat Cheese, and Duck Fat” is from the cookbook, “Rich Table” (Chronicle Books, 2018), of which I received a review copy. It’s by husband-and-wife chef-owners Evan and Sarah Rich with assist from Eater Cities Director Carolyn Alburger.

Rich Table cookbook

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of dining at San Francisco’s Rich Table — where scoring a table is never an easy feat — you know that this type of dish is part and parcel for this Michelin-starred restaurant that has a knack for creating winning dishes with rather unexpected, and often mind-boggling combinations of ingredients.

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You Can Never Go Wrong at Rich Table

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Broccoli tamale at Rich Table.

Broccoli tamale at Rich Table.

 

Rich Table is one of those restaurants that confounds.

In the best of ways.

What other place thinks of threading whole sardines through potato chips? Or baking levain bread with dough infused with Douglas Fir? Or tossing a tangle of pasta with sauerkraut and pastrami?

Only this San Francisco establishment founded by husband-and-wife chefs Evan and Sarah Rich.

No wonder this casual, relaxed place has earned a Michelin star.

Step inside the casual Michelin-starred restaurant.

Step inside the casual Michelin-starred restaurant.

A little bathroom humor on the bathroom wall.

A little bathroom humor on the bathroom wall.

Even before garnering that honor, Rich Table was always a tough place to get a reservation. It’s even more so now. But plan ahead to score a table and you will be richly rewarded, as my husband and I and our friends were on a recent Sunday night. We paid our own tab at the end, but Chef de Cuisine Brandon Rice did send out a parade of desserts on the house at the end.

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The 34th Annual “Taste of Yosemite” — Plus A Change to the Next Scheduled One

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The Majestic Yosemite Hotel in all its majesty.

The Majestic Yosemite Hotel in all its majesty.

 

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA — There may not have been snow here last week, but there was plenty else to ignite the senses.

A bevy of celebrated chefs took to the stage and kitchen in the 34th annual “Taste of Yosemite” at the Majestic Yosemite Hotel (ahem, yes, the Ahwahnee to sentimental folks like myself).

I was thrilled to be the guest moderator/host at the first two sessions of this winter-time bonanza that features cooking demos and grand gala dinners.

Chef David Bazirgan of Bambara in Cambridge, making a return to California, where he cooked for 13 years.

Chef David Bazirgan of Bambara in Cambridge, making a return to California, where he cooked for 13 years.

Chef David Bazirgan's tasting of hummus, eggplant puree, and cashew romesco.

Chef David Bazirgan’s tasting of hummus, eggplant puree, and cashew romesco.

For 34 years, the event has taken place throughout January. But look for the 35th one to break tradition.

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