Monthly Archives: October 2012

“Edible Selby” Book Events, Silicon Valley Restaurant Week & More

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Photographer Todd Selby’s Food-Centric New Book

Fab photographer and illustrator, Todd Selby, has turned his lens on the food world.

The result is “Edible Selby” (Abrams), a quirky new book that showcases the kitchens, gardens, homes, restaurants, and workplaces of more than 40 food and drink purveyors, including a sea forager in the Bay Area, a Neapolitan pizza maker in Tokyo and a roof-top farmer in Brooklyn.

Each profile is accompanied by Selby’s illustrations, a hand-written questionnaire and a recipe. If that weren’t enough fun, the book also features his illustrated refrigerator magnets.

Meet Selby at a series of upcoming events in the Bay Area:

* Bar Tartine in San Francisco, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 22. Tartine Bakery’s Chef Chad Robertson will be joined by Chef Danny Bowien of Mission Chinese Food in San Francisco and New York, Chef Russell Moore of Camino in Oakland, New York Chef Ignacio Mattos, and Bar Tartine’s Nick Balla and Cortney Burnes. The chefs will be making sandwiches inspired by the book. Sandwiches are sold individually. Or you can pay $60 to receive a sandwich, book, and Selby tote bag.

* Bar Jules party in San Francisco, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Oct. 23. Price is $45 per person, excluding drinks. To purchase, call (415) 621-5482.

* SFMOMA book signing in San Francisco, 5 p.m. Oct. 25. Selby will be signing his book, as will James and Caitlin Freeman of Blue Bottle Coffee, who will sign their book, “The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee” (Ten Speed Press). At 6 p.m., join the three for a conversation. At 7 p.m., head up to the museum’s rooftop for a reception at the Blue Bottle Coffee Bar. Free with museum admission.

Time for “Silicon Valley Restaurant Week”

Today though Oct. 24, participating restaurants in Silicon Valley will be offering special three-course, prix-fixe dinners.

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Chef Charles Phan’s Grilled Five-Spice Chicken with Tamarind Sauce

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Charles Phan's grilled five-spice chicken with tamarind sauce to spoon over everything.

More than a decade ago, I remember taking my parents to dinner at the Slanted Door for the first time.

Housed in its original location then on Valencia Street in the heart of the Mission District in San Francisco, I remember my Mom getting out of the car and looking around the neighborhood with trepidation. Walking quickly through the somewhat sketchy neighborhood, she clutched my Dad’s arm tightly and murmured, “Where are we going???”

But once ensconced inside the lively restaurant, my parents much enjoyed what was their first real taste of Vietnamese food — from crispy imperial rolls to shaking beef to claypot chicken in caramel sauce.

Indeed, since opening that first restaurant in 1995, Chef-Owner Charles Phan has helped introduce the cuisine of his homeland to countless diners like my parents, luring them out of their comfort zone by virtue of the addicting profusion of fresh herbs and pungent fish sauce that are its hallmarks.

For years, folks have nagged Phan to write a cookbook. But with six restaurants/cafes now, he hardly had the time.

Fortunately for all of us, he finally managed to do it, releasing his first cookbook last month, “Vietnamese Home Cooking” (Ten Speed Press), of which I received a review copy.

The book is filled with beautiful photographs of Phan’s most recent trips to Vietnam. The recipes highlight the fundamental techniques used in Vietnamese cooking: frying, steaming, braising, grilling and stir-frying.

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New PopChips Tortilla Chips and A Food Gal Giveaway

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New Ranch tortilla chips from PopChips.

If you’re like me, you find it dangerous to have a bag of PopChips anywhere in your house.

That’s because the air-popped potato and sweet potato chips are so crunch-a-licious. Plus, you can convince yourself that they’re actually kind of, sort of healthful because they’re all natural and have half the fat and fewer calories than regular chips. It’s enough to make you inhale the bag, which I admit I have done on occasion.

Well, your will power is about to be tested again because PopChips has introduced its newest product: tortilla chips.

Yes, made the same way with little oil in a proprietary popping process.

The triangular-shaped tortilla chips are made with stone ground masa. They come in four flavors: Nacho Cheese, Ranch, Salsa, and Chili Limon.

The texture is crisp but a little lighter and airier than a regular tortilla chip. They’re also a bit thinner than regular PopChips. The Nacho Cheese is plenty cheesy and the Ranch has the creamy-onion-garlic taste of the dressing. My favorites were the Salsa and Chili Limon because both have a little heat but still allow the corn flavor to shine through more so than the other two flavors.

They are available in four varieties.

A 1-ounce bag has 120 calories, no saturated fat and 135-190mg of sodium, depending on the variety.

Find them at Safeway, BevMo, Target, Costco and Jamba Juice. They’re also available on Amazon.com at $20.50 for 24 (1-ounce) bags.

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win 12 coupons for 12 free (3-ounce or 3.5-ounce) bags of PopChips or PopChips Tortilla Chips. Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST Oct. 20. Winner will be announced Oct. 23.

How to win?

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After Hours in the Bakery at Baker & Banker

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"XXX Chocolate Cake'' -- one of the perks of dining after closing at a bakery.

For anyone with a sweet tooth like mine, it’s a fantasy come true to eat to your stomach’s content in a bakery after it’s closed for the night.

I wasn’t exactly let loose to scour the pantry, though. Instead, I was invited recently to dine as a guest of the restaurant with a few other food writers in what is essentially the private dining room at Baker & Banker in San Francisco.

The acclaimed restaurant in Pacific Heights, owned by husband-and-wife Pastry Chef Lori Baker and Chef Jeff Banker, also has an adjacent bakery. After closing each night, the bakery is available for private parties. It has to be a small one, though, as there’s enough room for only eight at the one table set up right by the bakery counter. There’s also a minimum of five diners required.

The 8-person table in the private dining room (in the bakery) at Baker & Banker.

A reminder that you're inside a bakery.

To get to it, you walk into the restaurant, head to the back, go through the small kitchen, and walk down a few stairs right into the heart of the bakery.

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