Category Archives: Cheese

Whet Your Appetite with Burgers, Cheese, Sandwiches, Cocktails, and Wine

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Spruce's gourmet burger (Photo courtesy of Frankie Frankeny)

Sundays were made for burgers and red Burgundy.

Spruce in San Francisco sure thinks so. The glam restaurant is offering a “Burgers and Burgundy” menu every Sunday through November in the lounge or dining room.

Chow down on the classic burger snuggled inside a house-made English muffin with pickled onions, zucchini, and remoulade, while sipping one, two or three rotating selections of Burgundy. The burger is $14; the Burgundies are available at $12, $25, and $50. A flight of all three wines also is available for $40.

Big spenders can add foie gras to their burgers for an extra $13.

Cheese more your thing? Then, you’ll be glad that the postponed sixth annual “Cheese & Wine Dinner” at Parcel 104 in Santa Clara is back on for Nov. 8.

Parcel 104 Executive Chef Robert Sapirman will be joined by chefs Chris Schloss of Cin-Cin Wine Bar in Los Gatos, Mark Dommen of One Market in San Francisco, and Arthur Wall of The Restaurant at Wente Vineyards in Livermore. They will prepare a five-course dinner, each showcasing a different artisan cheese, and paired with an appropriate wine.

Local cheese authority and cookbook author Laura Werlin will be on hand to answer questions about cheese. The night’s appetizers will be made from recipes from her cheese books. The dinner is $145.

Togo\'s turkey-cranberry sandwich (Photo courtesy of Togo\'s)

For those watching their pennies, Togo’s has a deal for you. Wednesdays through Nov. 26, participating Togo’s shops will roll back the price of a different select sandwich every week to the original 1970 price of $1.99. For Northern Californians, you’re in luck, because every Togo’s in Northern California is participating in the promotion.

During “Flashback Wednesdays,” with every $1.99 sandwich purchase, Togo’s will make a donation to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Togo’s, though, has not yet stated how large a donation that will be.

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A Heart-Attack Meal

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Clam pizza

You’re lucky I’m still alive.

After all, the amount of fat I consumed in one meal recently in Los Angeles is probably enough to send most folks into cardiac arrest. But I am a seasoned professional — used to putting my body on the line when it comes to chowing down on the finer, fattier tasting things in life.

And it doesn’t get much finer than Pizzeria Mozza at N. Highland Avenue and Melrose Avenue. Everytime I make it to Los Angeles, this is a stop I have to make, a stop I dream about all vacation-long.

A restaurant by Nancy Silverton (of La Brea Bakery fame), Mario Batali (who needs no introduction), and Joseph Bastianich  (Lidia’s son), this is a true temple of carbo-load hedonism. It makes what is arguably the best pizza around. It’s the only pizza in which I eat every bit of crust. When it’s this good, why let any go to waste? It’s at once chewy in some parts, crispy in others, and with a deep, bready flavor like a fine artisan loaf.

Since it opened, the restaurant has been a hard ticket. But it does take reservations now. And if you don’t mind eating at the odd hour of 3 p.m.-ish, you usually can walk in on a weekday or weekend to find a free table or a free seat at the bar.

Bone marrow in all its glory, baby.

That’s what my hubby and I did, snagging a table on a Friday afternoon. We started with an appetizer of sinful bone marrow ($12). Roasted in the oven, three dinosaur-like bones come to the table, encasing a wealth of unctuous, rich marrow to be spread on grilled bread. Add a sprinkling of salt, some parsley leaves, and a confit garlic clove for a taste of heaven.

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Mozzarella Mania

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Hand-pulled mozzarella. Made fresh three times a day.

Got your attention? Get a taste of that at Poggio in Sausalito, Sept. 9-13. Executive Chef Peter McNee serves freshly made burrata year-round, but he only makes hand-pulled mozzarella during the peak of summer. With heirloom tomatoes at their best, he believes it’s the greatest time to pair them with his dreamy-creamy mozzarella.

He explains: “Fresh mozzarella has a sweeter flavor and a more delicate texture than what you can find in any store,” and by making the mozzarella three times a day, “we are able to keep the cheese at room temperature so that it is always soft, supple, and sweet.”

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Scenes From Slow Food Nation

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The artsy display at the olive oils tasting pavilion.

Like a culinary Woodstock, crowds of foodies continue to congregate at this weekend’s Slow Food Nation celebration in San Francisco to support all that’s sustainable, organic, family-raised, handcrafted, traditionally made, and downright delicious.

An expected 50,000 are expected to attend lectures, films, concerts, and tastings that illuminate and showcase why access to good food made without chemicals, antibiotics, genetic engineering, and harm to the environment is a right we all should have.

Slow Food is a global organization founded about 20 years ago in Rome, when citizens rose up in ire against the planned opening of a McDonald’s by the landmark Spanish Steps.

Endive grown by Solano's California Vegetable Specialties

This is Slow Food’s first mega event in the United States. Most of the events already are sold out, including the super-popular Tasting Pavilions, where visitors can sample everything from charcuterie to pickles to spirits to cheese, in focused, educational tastings.

Swiss chard and other veggies growing in the Victory Garden

But one of the best free events is still open to all comers. Through Aug. 31, the market in Civic Center Plaza will showcase the best of the best from California farmers and producers.

Elephant Heart plums from Blossom Bluff Orchards in Fresno

Here’s your chance to sample and buy Frog Hollow Farm peaches, Marian Farms biodynamic raisins from Fresno, Stinson Beach-based Ancient Organics’ ghee, Lagier Farms’ Bronx grapes from Escalon, and plenty more.  Additionally, nosh on gourmet prepared foods, including novel ice cream flavors from Ici Ice Creams in Berkeley, 100 percent grass-fed hot dogs from San Francisco’s Let’s Be Frank, and Vietnamese street food from San Francisco’s Out the Door.

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Delicious Happenings

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A modern horse sculpture overlooks the hip Urban Tavern dining room. Photo by John Benson.

Urban Tavern, a stylish gastropub, has opened in downtown San Francisco, the newest project by celebrated Chef Laurent Manrique (of Aqua in San Francisco), and restaurateurs Chris Condy of C&L Partners, and Donna Scala of Bistro Don Giovanni in Napa.

With a unique horse sculpture made of tractor, car and motorcycle parts as its centerpiece, the restaurant serves Mediterranean-inspired cuisine. Meats and seafood (grilled conventionally or cooked on the plancha, a flattop grill), with your choice of sauces served a la carte. Also on the menu is grilled lamb ratatouille sandwich ($16), mussels four different ways ($14 to $16), and beef Daube Catalane (priced for 1, 2, or 4 persons at $23, $42, and $79, respectively).

Journey south to Santa Clara on Sept. 20 for Parcel 104’s sixth annual “Wine and Cheese” dinner. Chefs from around the Bay Area will help prepare the multi-course feast, in which every course will feature a different artisan cheese. Author and cheese expert Laura Werlin will be on hand to answer questions. Price is $145.

Parcel 104’s Executive Chef Robert Sapirman also once again will be the lead chef for the seventh annual March of Dimes Celebrity Chefs & Master Vintners Gala Silicon Valley, Sept. 14 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose.

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