Thomas Keller Gift Selections

If you have a spendy budget and a discriminating foodie friend to shop for this holiday season, look no further than Chef Thomas Keller’s new holiday offerings.

First up, the “Bochon Bistro Chocolate Tart & Wine Port Gift Set” ($250), which provides everything you need to recreate the bakery’s famous chocolate tart, including a limited edition bottle of Meyer Family Port Wine.

Next, the “French Laundry Sparkling Wine & Caviar Gift Set” ($1,000), which includes a 2-ounce serving of Sterling White Sturgeon Caviar, a 375ml bottle of Schramsberg Blanc de Blanc Chardonnay-based Brut sparkling wine, and a buckwheat blini mix prepared by The French Laundry kitchen, as well as two mother of pearl caviar spoons for serving.

Finally, “Per Se’s Black Truffle Risotto Gift Box” ($850), provides all the necessary ingredients to recreate that restaurant’s stupendous black truffle risotto at home, including a 3-ounce black truffle foraged from Provence, an engraved wooden truffle shaver, and other specialty ingredients.

To order any of these gifts, go to FinesseMagazine.com, Keller’s in-house publication.

In other French Laundry news, look for David Breeden, executive sous chef of Per Se in New York to become chef de cuisine at the French Laundry in early 2013. A Tennessee native, Breeden worked at McCrady’s in Charleston before being hired by the French Laundry in 2005 and then joining the Per Se team in 2007. He succeeds Timothy Hollingsworth at the French Laundry, who will be leaving to pursue his own endeavors.

The Easy Way to Give Restaurant Gift Certificates

San Francisco-based Treatful has teamed with OpenTable to make it convenient to give gift certificates to favorite restaurants around the country.

Just choose the restaurant and the amount of the gift, then a “treat” in the form of an email will be delivered to the recipient on the day of your choosing. The “treat” can be redeemed at the restaurant anytime and has no expiration date.

City Farmz Opens in Downtown Campbell

Got the DIY bug? Or want to spread the love to others?

City Farmz at 389 E. Campbell Ave. is the place to go.

It’s your one-stop place for growing, raising, and making all manner of things at home. You’ll find heirloom seeds, garden tools, feeders for raising backyard chickens, as well as feed and coops. They’ll even help order the chicks for you. For canners, there are how-to books and videos, as well as everything you need to learn how to put up your own preserves.

More: Scenes from the French Laundry Holiday Party