Monthly Archives: December 2009

Sweet Treats at the St. Regis

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Traditional Alsacian holiday cakes at Vitrine. (Photo courtesy of Marc Fiorito)

For Chef Romuald Feger of Vitrine, the restaurant inside the glam St. Regis San Francisco, winter is an especially sweet time of year.

As a child growing up in the Alsace region of France, he fondly remembers his Grandmother Alice lovingly baking more than 20 different kinds of bredele.

These holiday biscuits or small cakes are a staple there. And his prolific Grandmother would turn out upwards of 50 pounds of these treasured baked goods, most of which found their way into the lucky hands of friends and family.
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Breakfast is Big

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Breakfast is becoming a very important meal of the day for restaurants. By the way, that's a pistachio-citrus brioche from Bouchon Bakery in Yountville.

If you think you’ve seen more restaurants doing breakfast and brunch this year, it’s not your imagination.

With restaurants struggling to make a buck in this lackluster economy, more and more of them have decided to add brunch or breakfast to their menus in hopes of enticing more customers through their doors.

Will this trend continue when the economy picks up?

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A Cookie For Coffee Lovers

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Everyday oatmeal and coffee make this cookie not so everyday.

Coffee and oatmeal. Is that not a perfect way to start the day or what?

Me thinks it’s even better if you add a little chocolate — OK, a lot of chocolate — and a big ol’ heap of buttery macadamia nuts.

Maybe these “Espresso Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies” aren’t exactly as nutritious as a bowl of steel-cut oatmeal with skim milk and raisins. But man, are these cookies loaded with chewy goodness.

For these cookies, I used a sample of a new product: Barry Callebaut Espresso Chocolate Chunks. No doubt you already know the Callebaut name as a maker of fine professional quality baking chocolate. Here, semisweet chocolate is mixed with vanilla and ground chocolate for rich, smooth tasting chunks that meld the complex bitterness of coffee with the more mellow, slightly sweet taste of chocolate. A 16-ounce bag sells for $8.95 on the King Arthur Flour site.

Espresso chocolate chunks.

In keeping with the theme, I adapted an oatmeal recipe from — where else? — the “King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion” (Countryman Press). I’ve had this book for five years, ever since it came out. What I love about this book is that it provides numerous variations of the same recipe. For instance, if you’re looking to make an oatmeal cookie as I was, you’ll find a chewy version, a crunchy version, a crisp variety, a soft one, and even others for a “Date-Stuffed Oatmeal Sandwich” and a “Flourless Oatmeal Drop.” Read more

A Sweet Time at Parcel 104

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The best flan you'll ever eat.

If you needed to borrow some sugar, Santa Clara’s Parcel 104 was the place to be last Friday night, where the sweet stuff was on display in full force.

The restaurant’s pastry chef, Carlos Sanchez, hosted a select group of guests — including yours truly — for a decadently sweet holiday dessert party. Sanchez, who is also trained in the savory side, is now doing double-duty as Parcel 104’s chef de cuisine, too. So, he threw in a couple of savory courses just to keep things especially interesting.

The party got started with a demitasse of golden beet soup. Eggnog-like in color and very rich, the soup is deceptive. The creaminess hits you immediately, and then the sweetness of the natural sugars of the yellow beets powers through.

A surprising soup with the flavor of beets.

Next, a signature salad from Sanchez — a crispy nugget of flattened, breaded moist chicken atop seasonal greens with thin slices of pear, orange and persimmon. A Ranch-style creamy dressing with the heat of habanero woke things up, and added a perfect counterpoint to the sweet, refreshing fruit.

A crispy nugget of chicken with creamy habanero dressing.

Slightly warm citrus risotto followed. It was like a creamsicle in your mouth. Unlike rice pudding, where the grains are cooked until they almost break down, this dessert risotto was done al dente, giving it a more interesting texture.

Tangerine risotto.

That was followed by one of Sanchez’s most popular desserts — coffee flan. Even the so-called flan haters at my table went nuts for this version. This was no wiggly-jiggly flan. It is extremely firm and dense, yet out-worldly smooth. Take a spoonful in your mouth, and it’s almost like foie gras terrine in texture with an unbelievably unctuous quality.

A glittery, gooey chocolate cake.

Lastly, caramel-filled chocolate cake that was all aglitter with gold dust and served with an ajillo pepper ice cream. The velvety ganache gave way to gooey, thick caramel and a crunchy chocolate-cookie crust. The pepper in the ice cream was subtle, giving it a floral quality and a mere tickle on the back of the throat.

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Bottega is Bellissimo

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Crispy soft-boiled egg with Pecorino pudding at Bottega.

Since opening last year, Executive Chef Michael Chiarello’s Bottega restaurant in Yountville has racked up accolades and crowds galore.

After being invited to dine there recently for the first time, I can understand why it’s won so many foodie fans so fast.

The large restaurant is done up in dark reds, browns and greens. Venetian plaster, Murano glass chandeliers, leather chairs and deep hued wood accents give it a most inviting warmth.

Wouldn't you love a set of these water tumblers? I know I sure would.

Little touches give the place even more distinctiveness from the hammered copper water tumblers to the parade of plateware that arrives throughout the dinner — from homey, floral china to rustic earthenware to modern square and rectangular dishes.

Prices range from $6 to $14 for appetizers, $15 or so for pasta, and $16 to $29 for entrees.

Chiarello came by to say hello, as he often does to patrons as he makes his way through the dining room, which is always bustling. The charming chef offered to let his kitchen just cook for us. And an array of dishes began to arrive.

From his early days as the opening chef of Tra Vigne in St. Helena to his years as the star of the “NapaStyle” cooking shows, Chiarello’s always been known for bold, brash flavors that excite and satisfy. Bottega is no different.

Smooth, silky duck liver pate.

Up first was a silky duck liver pate with soft, sweet sauteed apples and a hillock of parsley and frisee, a nice counterpoint to the fantastically fatty nature of the dish.

Bigeye tuna crudo.

Next, a special that night of bigeye tuna done crudo-style — sashimi-like with a topping of pine nuts and pear — and served dramatically on a slab of pink salt.

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