Little Star Pizza

What happens when Little Star Pizza teams with DoorDash?

Easier deep-dish delivery for South Bay folks.

Delivery app DoorDash recently launched a 2,000-square-foot commissary kitchen in San Jose for four different delivery-only restaurants. It represents an option for restaurants that want to expand their delivery reach without having to invest in their own brick-and-mortar facility.

The first tenant-partner in the DoorDash Kitchens is The Star, an off-shoot of San Francisco’s Little Star Pizza, famed for both deep-dish and classic thin-crust pies.

I was invited to try a sample delivery from the commissary kitchen, which now services the San Jose-Santa Clara area.

You can order either on the app or Web site, and choose what day and what time-frame you want it all delivered. DoorDash also lets you add a tip on the order electronically, so you don’t have to fumble with your wallet when you answer your door.

I chose the Classic Small Deep Dish Pizza ($22), Mediterranean Deep Dish Pizza ($22), and small Goddess Salad ($6).

The driver texted me when he picked up the food, and noted he’d arrive at my house in about 25 minutes. Sure enough, he was there at the pre-scheduled appointed time, bearing pizzas that were still hot.

The crust on the pizzas are beautifully golden. They’re crisp on the outside and slightly chewy within, rather like olive oil-brushed focaccia.

The Classic is piled high with a generous amount of chunky tomato sauce, nubbins of fennel sausage, mushrooms, onions, and green bell peppers. The Mediterranean is even more flavorful with its loaded mix of tomato sauce, roasted chicken, artichoke hearts, green olives, onions, red bell peppers, and feta.

They were as satisfying as if I had eaten them at the restaurant, only I got to enjoy them in the relaxation of my own home.

There wasn’t a whole lot to the Gem salad, owing to the fact that the toasted almonds mentioned on the Web site were nowhere to be found. Still, the greens were fresh and flecked with a few minced chives.

I appreciated the salad was composed of Little Gem leaves, too, rather than mundane iceberg or spring mix. The accompanying creamy pesto dressing was full of tangy, piquant and herbaceous flavors. I ended up cutting up a cucumber in my fridge to round out the salad a little more.

If you’re craving pizza in the South Bay — particularly deep-dish — you’ll definitely be glad to know it’s a mere delivery away now.

Taste & Tribute

Help preserve ancient Tibetan culture, while enjoying one of the most unique chef galas around.

The 17th annual Taste & Tribute takes place Nov. 17 at the Four Seasons in San Francisco.

Founding Chef Laurent Manrique, owner of Cafe de la Presse in San Francisco, will be joined by 21 other top chefs, including Jennifer Sherman of Chez Panisse, Rogelio Garcia of The Commissary, Anjan Mitra of Dosa, Khai Duong of Kai restaurant, Daniel Corey of Luce, and Gerald Hirigoyen of Piperade.

The chefs will work in pairs, with each duo creating a different four-course menu for each 20-guest table. Even more fun, the chefs will plate the dishes in front of guests.

I’m thrilled to be a guest of the event this year at the table that will be hosted by chefs Peter Armellino of Plumed Horse and Jarad Gallagher of Chez TJ.

I hope you’ll join me at this wonderful event, which helps the Tibetan Aid Project print and distribute reproductions of ancient texts after most of the originals were destroyed when China invaded Tibet in 1959. This year’s gala also will help raise funds for the recovery efforts following the devastating Napa and Sonoma fires.

During the evening, there also will be both silent and live auctions featuring items including Tibetan art, jewelry, and dinner packages at some of the best restaurants in the country. Additionally, up for bid in the live auction is the chance to have Armellino and Gallagher, who each hold a Michelin star, come to your house to cook a dinner for up to 10 guests.

Tickets to the gala are $350 each.

Chef Hugh Acheson Demo at Whole Foods Santa Clara

Chef Hugh Acheson, who is touring the country in an Airstream trailer to promote his new cookbook, “he Chef & The Slow Cooker” (Clarkson Potter), will be making a stop at Whole Foods at Santa Clara Square, noon to 2 p.m. Dec. 10.

Acheson, who will begin setting up that day at 10 a.m., will be showing how to make his “Beer Braised Pork Tacos” from his cookbook.

Sales of the tacos will benefit Seed Life Skills, Acheson’s non-profit aimed at teaching middle-school students the benefits of home economics.