Summer Was Made For Smoked Salmon Lettuce Wraps

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A fun, easy, no-cook crowd-pleasing summer dish.
A fun, easy, no-cook crowd-pleasing summer dish.

When the heat of summer is on, this is the perfect dish to get dinner on the table in no time flat.

It requires absolutely no cooking — just some knife work.

It is full of freshness, crunchiness, and vibrant, good-for-you ingredients.

“Smoked Salmon Lettuce Wraps” is all that.

It’s from “The Mediterranean Dish Simply Dinner” (Clarkson Potter, 2024), of which I received a review copy.

It’s by Suzy Karadsheh, the Egyptian-born, New York Times best-selling cookbook author and creator of The Mediterranean Dish cooking and lifestyle site who now makes her home in Atlanta.

The cookbook features 125 recipes that follow her carefree philosophy that dinner needn’t always follow a formal format but can be much more free-form. Why not make an entire dinner out of mezze, such as “Cherry Tomato, Pomegranate, and Mint Salsa with Pine Nuts,” “Fried Goat Cheese Balls with Caramelized Onions, Balsamic, and Fig Spread,” and “Simple Marinated Chickpeas with Halloumi”? Or fire up the grill for “Green Goddess Chicken Kebabs” or “Grilled Shrimp Saganaki.”? Or make a one-pot meal like “Armenian Apricot and Red Lentil Soup” to enjoy with a round of crusty bread?

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Pasta Lovers Rejoice Over Bosco

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Chicken for two -- brined, smoked, and grilled over a wood fire -- at Bosco.
Chicken for two — brined, smoked, and grilled over a wood fire — at Bosco.

Chef Ryan McIlwraith has a way with pasta.

After all, he’s the former director of culinary development at Michael Chiarello’s Bottega, the fine-dining Italian restaurant in Yountville and the former executive chef of Alora, the Mediterranean restaurant in San Francisco. In fact, his “100-layer ‘nduja lasagna” at Alora composed of silky, thin layers of pasta, bechamel, bolognese, and Pecorino, seared to order for the crispiest edges, remains my favorite lasagna ever.

Last September, he became executive chef of Bosco, an expansive Italian restaurant in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood. Fortunately for all of us, he and Chef Kaili Hill, whom he also worked with at Alora, are applying their skills here to turn out more sublime pastas, plus a whole lot more.

Bosco is part of the Absinthe Restaurant Group, of which McIlwraith and Hill are veterans. In fact, McIlwraith was the opening chef for Bellota, the Spanish restaurant that was housed in this same space until closing in 2024.

The two traveled through Italy prior to Bosco’s opening to hone their ideas for this wood-fired restaurant that’s named for the Italian word for “forest.”

The open kitchen that greets you as you enter the restaurant.
The open kitchen that greets you as you enter the restaurant.
The bar.
The bar.

Last week, I was invited in as a guest to sample the menu. The huge, 5,000-square-foot restaurant sits on the ground floor of an office building. In fact, the restaurant’s restrooms are actually located in the soaring atrium of the building.

Owing to its size, Bosco has a very open, airy, contemporary warehouse-like feel with soaring concrete columns. The open-kitchen with long waterfall counter is the first thing you see when you walk in, along with a large bar off to the side.

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Carbo-Loading at Rose Pizzeria in Berkeley

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A fantastic mushroom pizza at Rose Pizzeria in Berkeley.
A fantastic mushroom pizza at Rose Pizzeria in Berkeley.

After enjoying a splendid musical production of “The Lunchbox” at the Berkeley Rep, based on one of my favorite films of the same name, I did the only logical thing afterward:

I stuffed myself silly with pizza.

After all, it was only a short stroll away from the theater to Rose Pizzeria, which the New York Times named in 2024 as one of “The Best Pizzas in America.”

Owners, married couple Gerad Gobel and Alexis Rorabaugh, also opened a second location this spring, this one in San Francisco.

The entrance.
The entrance.

The original Berkeley location is tiny, so it pays to make a reservation in advance if you can. Otherwise, you’re in for a wait.

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Fire Up the Grill for Jamie Oliver’s Shrimp Skewers & Ajoblanco Sauce

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All scratch-made, and ready in about half an hour.
All scratch-made, and ready in about half an hour.

Just like with fashion, when it comes to cooking, less often makes for a bigger impact.

I’ve long been a fan of Jamie Oliver for his attitude that cooking shouldn’t be a big deal. Over the years, he’s shown that a handful or so of ingredients plus a modest amount of time is all that’s required to put together a truly winning dish.

Now, he’s turned that same philosophy on the backyard grill with his newest cookbook, “Grill: Easy Grilling, Big Flavor” (Appetite), of which I received a review copy

The British chef offers up 90 recipes that won’t tax the budget, dexterity or comprehension of any home cook.These are simple — some might even consider basic — recipes that are sure to get the summer backyard festivities going.

Fire up the grill for everything from “Grilled Fish Tacos & Stone Fruit Salsa,” “Charred Squash & Tahini Chickpea Salad,” and “Arrabiata Chicken Drumsticks” to “Fruity Pork Chops & Grilled Potatoes” and “Shrimp Toast Burgers.”

Like the rest of the recipes in this book, “Shrimp Skewers & Ajoblanco Sauce” doesn’t require any heavy lifting.

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Revamping the Croissant

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Costco croissants get jazzed up in a big way.
Costco croissants get jazzed up in a big way.

When you’re lucky enough to hold in your hands a perfect specimen of a croissant, made with the finest butter into shatteringly crisp, ethereal layers, say from San Francisco’s Arsicault, do NOT do anything to it. Just enjoy as is. Slowly. Deliberately. Dreamily.

Other times, when the croissant happens to be more mundane, say from Costco, where a package of a dozen can be had for a bargain-basement price of 50 cents per pastry, then by all means, play with your food.

Specifically, by making “Croissant Toasts.”

This fun, summery recipe calls for flattening those croissants, searing them in a pan, then blanketing them with whipped ricotta and juicy, burst cherry tomatoes.

It’s like everyday ricotta toast — but pimped out.

This fanciful recipe is from “Ohana Style” (Clarkson Potter), of which I received a review copy.

It’s the newest cookbook from everyone’s “Top Chef Fan Favorite,” Sheldon Simeon. The Hawaii chef is the owner, along with his wife Janice Simeon, of Tiffany’s and Tin Roof, both in Maui.

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