Monthly Archives: October 2011

“A Wine & Food Affair” in Sonoma County and a Food Gal Giveaway

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Enjoy sips at more than 100 wineries stretching across Sonoma County at the 13th annual “A Wine & Food Affair,” Nov. 5-6.

Visit your favorite wineries and discover new ones in the Dry Creek, Russian River and Alexander valleys. Many participating wineries also will be preparing recipes from the “Tasting Along the Wine Road” cookbook for you to sample.

You’ll receive a commemorative tasting glass and a copy of the cookbook to take home.

Tickets are $70 (for attending both days), $50 for tasting on Nov. 6 only, and $30 for designated drivers (attending both days).

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win a pair of weekend tickets good for both Nov. 5 and Nov. 6. Entries, limited to those who can be in Sonoma County that weekend, will be accepted through midnight PST Oct. 15. Winner will be announced Oct. 17. Winner must provide his/her own transportation to Sonoma County.

How to win?

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Nick’s on Main — A Tiny Place With A Big Heart

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Ahi tartare tower with Asian flavors.

With only 35 seats — and each of them snuggled close together — Nick’s on Main in Los Gatos is small on space, but vast on charm and warmth.

I’m not the only one who thinks so, either, as evidenced by the crowds that can’t wait to get in each evening to enjoy Chef-Owner Nick Difu’s robust comfort food.

Difu, 40, is a Santa Clara County native with legions of fans in the South Bay, who have followed him as he’s cooked his way around Los Gatos from Cafe Marcella to the Wine Cellar and to 180 Restaurant.

As evidenced by the name, Nick’s on Main is the restaurant he can finally call his own. Opened three years ago, this intimate space is done up in classic black and white with framed old family photos adorning one large wall and the other decorated with a striking carving emblazoned with the restaurant’s logo.

Recently, I treated my friend Donna to dinner here for her birthday. It was her first time dining here, and she couldn’t help but remark how it felt like she was eating in someone’s home, rather than in a restaurant.

Chef-Proprietor Nick Difu.

That’s because Difu makes you feel welcome from the get-go. He’s out in the dining room a lot, serving courses to tables, greeting regulars and making sure the folks waiting outside to get in are comfortable.

I first met Difu eight years ago, when I wrote a profile story about him when I was the food writer at the San Jose Mercury News. With his infectious grin and gregarious nature, Difu is hard to miss.  But what you might not detect at first until he confidently extends his hand to shake yours is the fact that he has only three fingers — all on his left hand. Difu was born with all of his fingers, but when he was 6 months old, blood clots developed that caused his other fingers to fall off.

Despite that, he graduated from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco,  and worked his way up through a series of Bay Area restaurants, always impressing the chefs who had hired him with his work ethic and good cheer.  Indeed, it was another fellow chef years ago who bestowed upon him the nickname of “chef3lefty,” which Difu still readily answers to with pride.

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A Tasty Way to Get Your Grains

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SooFoo is a hearty blend of nine grains and legumes.

After you’ve been a long-time San Francisco patron of the arts, film producer and inventor of Skyy Vodka, what’s left to do?

For San Franciscan Maurice Kanbar, it’s creating a healthful grain mix that’s low fat, and free of sodium and cholesterol.

Kanbar started making the blend of California long-grain brown rice, brown lentils, wheat berries, oats, barley, black lentils, rye berries, green lentils and buckwheat for himself. But friends liked it so much, they urged him to package it and sell it.

So, SooFoo was created. The name is play on words of “super good food,” which is how Kanbar likes to describe his grain blend.

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Duff Goldman Comes to Santana Row, Michael Mina Anniversary Celebration & More

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Meet Chef Duff Goldman at Santana Row. (Photo courtesy of the Food Network)

Duff Goldman vs. Robert Sapirman

Yes, the “Ace of Cakes‘‘ Food Network star takes on the local chef of Citrus restaurant in the Valencia Hotel in San Jose’s Santana Row. All in good fun, of course.

It’s all part of the Oct. 8-9 “Cadillac Culinary Challenge,” in which celeb Pastry Chef Duff Goldman (who is also trained in savory cooking) will be challenging Chef Robert Sapirman in battles at 11:30 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. each of those days to see whom will be crowned “Cadillac of Chefs.”

Seating is first come, first serve. And of course, while you’re there, you also can test drive a new Cadillac.

Never Too Early To Start Thinking About Thanksgiving

If there’s one holiday that strikes fear in even seasoned cooks, it’s Thanksgiving.

Tante Marie’s Cooking School in San Francisco wants to help. It’s hosting two one-day workshops to teach you how to host a “No-Stress Thanksgiving Dinner.”

This hands-on class is being offered 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 8 and Nov. 15. Price is $195.

You’ll learn how to make everything from hazelnut gougeres with stilton and red grapes to sourdough stuffing with prosciutto and Parmesan to pumpkin pie with toffee pecan topping. You’ll even make your own pie crust that you can take home to freeze for your holiday pie.

Chef Michael Mina has a lot to celebrate this year. (Photo curtesy of the chef)

Special Michael Mina Dinner

Oct. 9, Michael Mina will celebrate his 20-year career, as well as the first anniversary of his eponymous San Francisco — in grand style.

He will host a special Anniversary Tribute Dinner, 6 p.m. at Michael Mina restaurant, which will feature six courses prepared by famed chefs who have cooked alongside him over the years, including Traci des Jardins of Jardiniere in San Francisco, Melissa Perello of Frances in San Francisco, Joseph Humphrey of the soon-to-open Dixie in San Francisco and Ron Siegel of the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. Also lending a hand with one of the courses is Mina’s mentor, George Morrone.

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Judging the 2011 Foster Farms Chicken Cook-Off

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It was a clucking good time at the CIA last Friday for the Foster Farms chicken cooking contest.

Last Friday at the Culinary Institute of America’s Greystone Campus in St. Helena, it was an all-out fowl time.

The second annual Foster Farms Fresh Chicken Cooking Contest, brought together six contestants — two each from California, Washington and Oregon — to pit their best chicken dish against one another.

The judges (left to right): Liam Mayclem, the Food Gal, Narsai David and Natalie Haughton.

Yours truly was invited again to be a judge, alongside fellow judges, Liam Mayclem, host and producer of the CBS show, “Eye on the Bay”; Natalie Haughton, cookbook author and food editor of the Los Angeles Daily News; and Narsai David, food and wine editor at KCBS radio.

More than 2,000 recipes were entered in the contest that showcases everyday recipes for fresh chicken. Both homecooks and professional ones were allowed to enter.

The Culinary Institute of America's St. Helena campus.

Whose chicken dish will be victorious?

The cook-off was split into two rounds, with three contestants cooking at a time at the CIA’s Williams Center kitchen. They each had 90 minutes to prepare their dishes.

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