Monthly Archives: December 2009

New Restaurants, New Chefs, New Beard Papa and New Holiday Treats

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Sea scallops at the new Meritage in the Claremont Hotel. (Photo courtesy of John Benson)

The newly renovated Claremont Hotel, Club & Spa in the Berkeley hills has unveiled a swanky new restaurant, Meritage.

Guests can sidle up to a mahogany bar or take a seat in the main dining room with its wall of windows affording breathtaking views of the Bay.

Following on the heels of sister establishments, Meritage at the Boston Harbor Hotel and Le Meritage at the Maison Dupuy in New Orleans, the Berkeley locale features an extensive wine list to go with its seasonal, contemporary California cuisine.

Dishes include Castroville artichoke soup with crispy prosciutto and roasted tomatoes ($7/$12); Sonoma goat cheese-potato terrine($9/$17); seared sea scallops with celery root-Yukon Gold potato puree($15/$28); and Bay Area cioppino ($16/$29).

The nicely designed menu lets you order dishes in either small or large plate sizes. Dishes also are characterized by wine characteristics so that you can easily pair a dish to a particular varietal you’re fond of. For instance, the ahi tuna tartare with crispy rice, marinated cucumbers, sesame and ginger ($13/$25) is listed under “fruity reds.”

Creamy artichoke soup. (Photo courtesy of John Benson)

Beard Papa fans will rejoice that another branch of the popular Japanese cream puff bakery has opened — this one at 365 2nd Ave. in San Mateo.

It’s Beard Papa’s fifth Bay Area location. The bakery is famous for its cream puffs that have a unique crispy, pie crust-like exterior and traditional, airy choux pastry interior. The official grand opening complete with ribbon cutting ceremony will take place at noon Dec. 18. For more information, call (650) 342-PAPA.

Parcel 104 in Santa Clara has a not-so-new chef. Jonny Hall, former chef de cuisine of Parcel 104, has been named that restaurant’s executive chef, succeeding Robert Sapirman, who left earlier this year.

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Organic Lamb with Idaho and San Francisco Connections

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A perfect lamb stew for a cold winter night.

Lava Lake Lamb of Idaho, 100 percent grass-fed and certified organic, is luscious, juicy and flavorful meat to be sure.

But what really sets this lamb apart is that all profits from the sale of the meat benefit land and habitat conservation efforts across nearly 1 million acres in south-central Idaho. Those efforts include restoration of wetlands, and studies of rare plants and songbirds.

I recently had a chance to sample some of this fine lamb and to learn more about this unusual enterprise near Sun Valley, Idaho.

Philanthropists Brian and Kathleen Bean of San Francisco purchased 20,000 acres of land on the Pioneer Mountain range-land. Of that, 7,500 acres were made permanently protected in a conservation easement held by the Nature Conservancy, where Kathleen worked for seven years. Her husband is an investment banker.

One of goals of the Beans was to run a sustainable business that sold lamb. The meat is now served at a number of Idaho restaurants. It also can be purchased on the Lava Lake Lamb Web site.

The rosemary garlic lamb sausages I tried made a simple, harried weeknight dish of pasta and tomato sauce something extra special.

The sample of lamb stew meat, tender and mild tasting, went into a recipe from “Flavors of Tuscany” (Broadway) by Nancy Harmon Jenkins.

“Lamb with Black Olives” is an easy stew flavored with garlic, rosemary, a little tomato paste and some dry white wine. As the dish cooks, the lamb juices infuse the sauce, giving it a richer flavor. Like most stews, the taste is even better the next day after the flavors have really melded.

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French Laundry Holiday Party

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A giant clothespin ice sculpture greeted guests on Sunday at the French Laundry holiday party.

Yes, the French Laundry is the only Michelin three-star restaurant in California, and one of the hardest reservations in the country to snag.

But did you know that the tres elegant Yountville restaurant sure knows how to throw one heck of a holiday party, too?

This past Sunday afternoon under gray, threatening skies, the stone building was aglow with candles, a roaring fireplace, and gleaming white tents for its annual holiday party. Yours truly was among the throngs who gathered to enjoy the festivities.

Chef-proprietor Thomas Keller cheerfully greeted guests. Keller may be fond of Prada boots, but he donned some rather uncharacteristic footwear that afternoon that one couldn’t help but notice — real-deal red clogs.

Chef Thomas Keller

Keller's footwear of choice on Sunday.

Me to Keller: “Are you pulling a Mario Batali?”

Keller quipped back: “Don’t say that. Don’t say that. Mario’s are orange and plastic. These are leather and wood. A chef has to uphold standards.”

Fun was definitely in the air on Sunday. If you’re used to the serene environment of the French Laundry, this was noisy, crowded and oh-so casual. It was fun to see cooks who normally turn out exquisite “Oysters and Pearls” instead creating fluffs of pink cotton candy and truffled popcorn.

A French Laundry cook makes four-star cotton candy.

Truffle popcorn, anyone?

The signature salmon cornets that usually precede every dinner at the French Laundry were in attendance on Sunday, but in miniature form.

The famous salmon tartare cornets with creme fraiche.

An assembly line to make the cornets.

Mini versions of Bouchon Bakery’s Nutter Butter cookies and chocolate snowman cupcakes also could be found all over the restaurant, including some set around an old-fashioned gingerbread house display.

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Three Interesting Wine Gifts

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Can you guess what's on top of this wine bottle?

Hunting for an unusual gift for the vino lover in your life?

Look no further than the photo above.

You’re probably wondering just what that contraption is affixed to the top of that wine bottle.

It’s a Ravi Instant Wine Chiller, which I got a sample to test out.

Now mind you, I was dubious about this gizmo, which can reportedly cool wine 40 times faster than other products and do a much quicker job than simply sticking the bottle in the fridge.

After all, at a retail price of $39.95, heck, I’d just as soon just stick the darn bottle in the fridge for free, if you know what I mean.

But I have to admit that when used on a bottle of red wine, there is a marked difference in taste. Wine experts will often complain that many restaurants serve their red wines much too warm. Ideally, reds should be enjoyed at a temperature of about 65 degrees.

To use the Ravi, you first have to chill the cartridge in the freezer. Once it’s very cold, it’s ready to use after you attach the funnel-like base. Insert the funnel-end into the opened bottle of wine, tip the bottle and the wine will pour out into your glass through the top of the cartridge.

We experimented on a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. First, we tasted the wine just straight out of the bottle. It was big, bold and fruity, just like a good California Cab should be. Second, we tasted the wine again after it was poured through the Ravi. There was a subtle but noticeable difference. The wine, now chilled a bit from the Ravi, was decidedly rounder, with smoother tannins, and deeper fruit flavors.

You have to clean the Ravi after each use, by rinsing it under water, then using a small plastic pump to blow air through it to make sure all the excess water is removed. And of course, you have to remember to stick it back in the freezer so it’s handy the next time you open a bottle of wine.

As intriguing as it was, I’m not sure I’d fork over $39.95 for it for myself. But I might do so for a gift for a wine aficionado whom I thought might appreciate it.

You don’t even have to be a wine enthusiast to appreciate this jaw-dropping book, “Into the Earth” (Panache Partners) by photographer Daniel D’Agostini with Molly Chappellet, co-owner of Chappellet Winery & Vineyard in St. Helena.

This large, coffee table-size tome takes you inside — way down inside — some of the oldest and glamorous wine caves in California.

The first caves were dug by hand with pick axes by Chinese laborers. Nowadays, it takes monster machinery to do the work.

Caves are valued for their consistent cool, dark environments — optimal ones for storing and aging wine.

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SPQR Is PDG

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Squid ink spaghetti with Dungeness crab.

Before you scratch your head too much, that would be SPQR, the popular Italian restaurant in San Francisco, whose name stands for Senatus Populesque Romanus or “The Senate and People of Rome.”

And PDG, my play on acronyms, would be “Pretty Darn Good,” as in what I thought of the restaurant when I was invited to dine earlier this month.

Executive Chef Matthew Accarrino, who just took over the helm there, had a hard act to follow. After all, he was succeeding the one and only Chef Nate Appleman, whose popularity and way with food had foodies nearly weeping when he departed for New York this summer after winning the James Beard “Rising Star Chef” award. Appleman’s new Manhattan pizzeria is set to open any day now.

Bay Area gourmets needn’t have worried, though. Accarrino boasts quite the lineage, too — having graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, apprenticing in Italy, and working with the likes of celeb chefs Charlie Palmer, Todd English and Rick Moonen. That was followed by a stint as opening sous chef at Per Se in New York, then off to work at Tom Colicchio’s New York empire of Craft, Craftsteak, and Craftbar. Most recently, he was chef de cuisine at Craft Los Angeles.

On a blustery evening, nearly every table was occupied in the warm, wood-accented narrow dining room. Patrons seem to have embraced the new menu, which is more refined than the rustic dishes of the past.

Accarrino makes his own ricotta daily from milk and buttermilk, and the creamy, spoonable fresh cheese shines in quite a few dishes.

Ricotta fritters. Can't eat just one.

We started off with one of them — spiced ricotta fritters with smoked maple syrup ($7). These were like little donut holes — tender and fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside, with just a little sea salt over the top. They would make a most excellent brunch nibble.

Don't get squeamish, but yes, underneath all this are crispy bits of pig's ear.

Next, we had the crispy pig’s ear ($8), well, just because it was on the menu. I’ve only had pig’s ear served Chinese-style before — basically, boiled and chopped into little, crunchy pieces. This was quite a different rendition. The texture of the triangular pieces was crispy, then almost gelatinous on the inside — like cracklings with molten fatty goodness.  Served with pickled jalapeno slice and radishes, these would be great with cocktails. But then, what fried food isn’t?

Baked ricotta with braised leeks.

Accarrino also sent out a long rectangular wedge of baked ricotta topped with melty braised leeks, balsamic brown butter, almonds and chickweed ($13). This dish really let the ricotta shine through.

SPQR makes all its own pasta and it shows.

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