Sure, you can celebrate Valentine’s Day with chocolate.
But that’s just so expected, isn’t it?
Why not shake things up by giving a gift that’s sweet, symbolizes (ahem) fertility and is loaded with antioxidants that do a body good?
I’m talking about the humble grape.
You might be thinking, “boring,” but hear me out. The juicy seedless clusters you mindlessly pick up at the grocery store go all-out glam here.
Seasons Restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco is hosting the ultimate girly pre-Valentine’s Day outing 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Feb. 12.
Enjoy a delicious two- or three-course brunch while taking in a fashion show of Tory Burch’s spring 2012 collection, inspired by the seaside town of Deauville in the ’20s.
You’ll also enjoy access to the bottomless Bloody Mary Bar or endless mimosas.
Enjoy dishes such as grilled organic salmon with pear, toybox tomatoes, Marcona almonds and arugula salad; and brioche French toast with fresh strawberries, bourbon anglaise and Vermont maple syrup.
Argentina is justly famous for Malbec, the inky varietal with bold tannins that’s perfect with a great steak.
The family-owned Reginato Winery of Mendoza makes a version that is sure to turn any day into a celebration. That’s because it’s bubbly.
Malbec is more commonly made into still wines. That’s what makes Reginato Winery’s Sparkling Rosé of Malbec so fun and unexpected.
It’s made in the same method as Prosecco, with the secondary fermentation taking place in a stainless steel tank rather than in the bottle, itself, as in the methode champenoise style of true Champagne.
Practically from the first day it opened nearly three years ago, San Francisco’s Flour + Water restaurant has had droves of people lining up nightly to get inside.
Who can resist blistered Margherita pizzas and hand-made pork raviolini with chanterelles and thyme?
Not me, as I joined the throngs in line on this Mission District corner on a recent blustery evening to snag a seat at the bar on my own dime.
After all, it sure beat trying to drive home to the South Bay at the height of the rush-hour commute on a Friday night.
Instead of fighting highway traffic, I parked myself on a bar stool right next to the kitchen. It afforded a bird’s eye view of the cooks stretching pizza dough and assembling pasta dishes all under the scrutiny of a very judicious expediter, who took tweezers to plates to arrange microgreens just so before they were delivered to the dining room with his approval.
As I perused the menu, I knew I was going to order pasta. After all, I can’t pass up supple noodles of any sort, but especially ones made every day by hand in the restaurant’s famous upstairs “dough room,” which I got to see on an earlier visit.
I started with a salad of cured steelhead trout ($12) that was a definite spot of brightness on that chilly, dark night. Roasted beets added sweetness, fresh horseradish a hit of fire and paper-thin slices of Persian lime bursts of citrusy refreshment.
Could this meaty ragu dish prove to be the apple of your eye?
It just might — because besides the expected pork, tomatoes, bacon, garlic and basil, it also contains slices of fresh, juicy apples.
This unusual pasta dish is from “Top Chef” victor Stephanie Izard, the only woman who has thus claimed the title in that Bravo TV show, now in its ninth season. After winning, she went on to open the wildly popular, Girl & the Goat restaurant in Chicago, which was nominated last year for “Best New Restaurant” by the James Beard Foundation.
This recipe is from her new cookbook, “Girl in the Kitchen” (Chronicle Books), of which I received a review copy late last year. The book spotlights her signature rustic cuisine with Mediterranean and Asian influences.
Unlike some ragus, which take hours to cook, “Apple-Pork Ragu with Pappardelle” is quite quick to make. It’s a powerhouse, too, with the sweetness of apples playing off the richness of pork and bacon, and the saltiness of capers. Ladle over homemade fresh paparadelle or most any store-bought dried pasta. (I used orechiette.)