Grant Achatz is on a book tour. Last night he was at Omnivore Books in San Francisco. An intimate setting for 40 of us who snapped up tickets to meet Achatz and hear a reading from his book. Omnivore books is a tiny, one room book shop lined with shelves holding an exceptionally curated selection of books about one subject, cooking and food. Any foodie worth his or her sous vide or lobster foam knows by now about Grant Achatz, chef owner of Alinea in Chicago. For those who don’t know, he’s a protoge of Thomas Keller (French Laundry) and Ferran Adria (El Bulli), and has become famous for his innovative take on molecular gastronomy.
EAT – A day at the Fancy Food Show
Every January, the Fancy Food Show rolls into San Francisco for a 3 day eating extravaganza. This trade show is put on by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. The show fills up both the north and south exhibition halls of the Moscone Center. It is a ginormous feast.
What is a “fancy food”? Think gourmet. Jams, dips, tea, popcorn, shortbread, biscotti, olives, olive oil, cured meats, cheese, cheese and more cheese. Pasta sauces, BBQ rubs and sauces. Plus a lot of chocolate. From all over the world. Samples abound, and pacing is a must. One small bite, and ditch the rest of the sample.
Out of 80,000 food and drink samples, I’ve distilled it down to these absolute favorites. (And no, I didn’t get anywhere close to trying even 1% of that.)
EAT DRINK – Sweet wine for Thanksgiving…seriously!
Thanksgiving is a time for tradition. The traditional turkey with stuffing, cranberry sauce and yams with that marshmallow topping. A safe, time-honored wine, Pinot Noir. Yawn. This year I’m gonna shake things up a bit. I’ll be pouring a sweet wine for the main event and not just for dessert. I’m inspired by Aline Baly, a champion of drinking what most of us consider to be dessert wines, from the beginning to the end of the meal. Aline’s family is the proprietor of Chateau Coutet in Barsac, a sub-district of the Sauternes region in the southern part of Bordeaux. Chateau Couter is a Premier Cru Classe Sauturnes. That’s all they make. Last time Aline was in the San Francisco Bay Area, she invited me to join her for lunch at Wood Tavern in Oakland (one of my fav restaurants). To demonstrate how versatile her Sauternes wines are, we ordered straight…
DRINK – Urban wine
Since wine can be made anywhere these days, it’s no big surprise that Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda, CA (also known as the East Bay) are home to many urban wine brands, both established and start ups. So what if there are no vineyards in the city (that I’m aware of). At this past weekend’s Urban Wine Experience in Oakland, the local wines were showing rather well, paired with bites from local restaurants. The public event was held by the East Bay Vintner’s Alliance. I found a lot to like, and some really good values. There were many good Rhone varietal bottlings, and that made me happy, since j’adore Rhone wines. I might just need to do a little East Bay Rhone wine tour. These are the standouts: One of my last sips of the day was at Stage Left Cellars. It’s a fairly new player in the urban wine scene.…
EAT – Ubuntu, better than ever
One of Napa Valley’s best restaurants is Ubuntu in downtown Napa. Executive chef Jeremy Fox’s “vegetable cuisine” was a revelation. He redefined what it means to have an all vegetable-based menu, with much of the produce coming from the kitchen’s biodynamic garden fresh every day. Fox and Ubuntu received many awards and accolades. Well Fox departed earlier this year, and I think many of us were holding our collective breath about the restaurant’s future. Would it be as good with another chef? Will the vegetable menu be replaced? Will the restaurant close? Rest assured, we can all breathe. I believe Ubuntu is now better than ever. The kitchen is now in the hands of executive chef Aaron London, who has been at Ubuntu since its opening in 2007. He’s got a stellar resume´- including stints at Daniel, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, L’Astrance and Arpege in Paris. London is not…
EAT – NYC Pizza
If you don’t know that pizza is one of the hottest trends in the food world, then where have you been? In New York City, a place hardly lacking for good pizza pies, several artisan pizzerias recently opened. During my trip there last week, my goal was to try a slice at each. On my list: Motorino, Keste´, Co. and Pulino. First up, Keste´ Pizza & Vino. It’s in a cramped and narrow space on Bleecker Street in the West Village. No reservations; put your name in and wait. On a Monday night, it was only 10 minutes. You are practically sitting in your neighbor’s lap — tables are crammed in every nook and cranny. No matter, the aroma of pizza baking is more than enough to make it worth your while to stay. You get Neapolitan-style pizzas here. In fact, Keste´ is the US headquarters for the Associazione Pizzaiuoli…
DRINK EAT – Auction Napa Valley 2010
Recession worries seemed to fade as wine lovers opened their wallets and raised paddles bidding up the prices at the 30th Auction Napa Valley, held over this past weekend. There was lots of good food and great wine flowing throughout the event. I went to the Taste Napa Valley and Barrel Auction on Friday, at Rubicon Estates. I love this annual event, and it’s a great one to go to even if you don’t make it to the live auction on Saturday. Dark skies and cool temps threatened rain, but it held off. At Taste Napa Valley, wineries pour whites and rose´and many of Napa’s top restaurants dished out bites. You could nosh on anything from chickpea fries to pulled pork sliders from BarBersQ and watermelon sorbet with chocolate chips (for seeds!), topped with fleur de sel. Martini House served up a creamy mushroom soup that was an inspired pairing…
EAT – A Thomas Keller Dinner at Home
On Sunday night my cookbook club took on the challenge of making dishes out of famed wine country chef Thomas Keller’s series of cookbooks. We divided up into teams of two and each made one course of a plated, sit-down dinner (usually everything’s served buffet-style.) We feasted on 6 courses, made from The French Laundry, Bouchon and Ad Hoc at Home cookbooks. At the end of the meal, we all agreed that while everything was delicious, the time involved — 8 hours for a quiche (Bouchon) 3 days for French onion soup (Bouchon) — was way more than we’d ever want to do on a regular basis. But we sure did gain an appreciation and understanding of why Keller’s restaurants are so darn expensive! To us, the Ad Hoc cookbook was the most approachable with recipes that aren’t as time consuming or complicated. Notice no one attempted anything out of…
EAT – Peaches in April
No, it’s not peach season, not yet. We won’t get to bite into fresh, juicy peaches until mid-June at the earliest. But if peaches are dried or frozen, then you can eat them year-round. And last night at Flea St. Cafe in Menlo Park, CA, that’s exactly what we did. Owner Jesse Cool hosted peach farmers Mas and Marcy Masumoto, who have a peach farm south of Fresno, CA, called Masumoto Family Farm. Mas is known for writing Epitaph for a Peach, his journey to save the Suncrest peach variety. It’s a treat to meet him; he’s as passionate about peaches and farming in person as he is in the pages of his book. He’s also just written Wisdom of the Last Farmer. We had a five course meal, with peaches features as a crema on Dungeness crab and wrapped with salumi as appetizers, a peach soup with short ribs,…
SHOP EAT – Cartier Jewels and Chocoholics Paradise
I have to say Saturday was a great day. It started with going to the Cartier and America exhibit at the Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco. Talk about bling! More diamonds, emeralds and rubies than I’ve ever seen in one place. The focus was on American women who bought or wore Cartier jewels. At the turn of the 20th century it was fashionable for women of a certain social status to wear tiaras, whether or not they were royalty, and you’ll see a lot of them here. Seems like a quaint trend, can you imagine wearing a crown now? Some of Grace Kelly’s jewels are on view, including her 10 carat diamond engagement ring. Then there’s the set of jewels that Mike Todd gave Elizabeth Taylor — diamond and ruby necklace, bracelet and earrings. Wow. And, many of the Duchess of Windsor’s pieces (aka Wallis Simpson). Also on…