Category Archives: Cheese

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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A Salute to Cheese

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Indulge in cheese at Slow Food NationSurround yourself with cheese, cheese, and more cheese at Slow Food Nation’s Cheese Pavilion of Taste, Aug. 30-31, in San Francisco.

Cheese lovers will be beside themselves when 54 producers from around the country show off everything from raw-milk cheese to artisan yogurt. Some cheeses are made on such a small scale that they’re not normally easily found in stores, either.

It’s just one of 15 taste pavilions that will be set up at the 50,000-square-foot pier at Fort Mason. Each will focus on a particular ingredient or food. Attendees can sample and learn more by viewing demonstrations and talking to producers. Bread will be baked in wood-burning and tandoori ovens in the Bread Pavilion, and ice cream will be hand-cranked at the Ice Cream Pavilion.

Read more about the cheese pavilion in my posting on the Slow Food Nation blog.

The Green Kitchen, part of the Taste Pavilions, has a stellar line-up of chefs from around the country who will demonstrate how basic tools and simple ingredients combine to make culinary delights.

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Delectable Dates To Mark on Your Calendar

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If you love cheese, then head to Cheese Plus in San Francisco, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 21, as the specialty store celebrates its third anniversary with a Summer Solstice Food Festival.

More than two dozen food artisans will be on hand to show off samples of their products. From noon to 2 p.m., cookbook author and San Francisco Chronicle food writer, Janet Fletcher, will sign copies of her latest book, “Cheese & Wine” (Chronicle Books).

A knife sharpening expert also will be on site to sharpen your knives and give advice on how to care for them.

Up in Wine Country, there are a bevy of events to come. First up, the Martini House in St. Helena hosts its fourth annual Riesling Week. June 16-21, the restaurant will showcase Rieslings from Germany, Alsace, and Austria.

A special four-course prix fixe menu will be offered, with each dish paired with a different Riesling such as pan-roasted monkfish wrapped in Hobbs smoked bacon accompanied by a pour of Domaine Weinbach ”Schlossberg” Grand Cru, Riesling, Alsace, France, 2005. The dinner is $115 with the wine pairing; $70 without.

Next up, also in St. Helena, enjoy the third annual Napa Valley Jewish Vintners Celebration. Nearly 40 Jewish vintners from California, as well as Israel, will celebrate “Connecting Our Roots,” June 20-22. Proceeds will benefit Jewish non-profit organizations in the valley.

The three-day event begins on a Friday with a reception at a private St. Helena estate, followed by exclusive winery open houses on Saturday, then a glam gala at the Culinary Institute of America’s Greystone Campus, and ends with Sunday brunch at the Napa Valley Museum featuring guest speaker, the best-selling author, Scott Turow.

Tickets are $650 per person. For more information, call (707) 968-9944 or click here.

And lastly, designer heels and big-name wines? Who can resist that combo? If you can’t, then the fourth annual “Wine, Women and Shoes,” 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. June 29 should be on your must-do list.

The event, at the St. Supery Vineyards and Winery in Rutherford, raises money for women’s causes. Since its inception, more than $2 million has been raised for women’s charities.

Enjoy a fashion show of chic foot candy, wonderful wines, and a live and a silent auction. And don’t forget the “Shoe Guys,” who will be carrying shoes on silver trays so you get a peep of those must-have peep-toe pumps.

Tickets are $150 for regular admission; and $250 for premiere admission, which includes front-row seating at the fashion show. For more information, call Belle Orpilla or Katie Wolford at Planned Parenthood at (925) 676-0505 ext. 5220 at 925-676-0505, ext. 5222; or email info@ppshastadiablo. Also, visit: www.ppshastadiablo.org.

The Ultimate Cheesy Time

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If you’re near any Whole Foods store in Northern California at noon April 12, you’ll want to head inside to enjoy a truly cheesy experience.

That is when the “cracking open” ceremonies will begin, as cheesemongers in each store worldwide will simultaneously demonstrate the traditional method of breaking into hefty 24-month-aged wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano using five different knives from Italy.

Yes, you read that correctly. The cheese-breaking ceremony will take place at every Whole Foods store in the world (that would be 270 of them). The process of cutting up the 85-pound wheels of cheese will take about half an hour. If you think that might be some sort of record in the making, well, Whole Foods does, too. The company will be attempting to set a Guiness World Record with the feat.

Parmigiano Reggiano has been made for centuries in one area of Northern Italy that includes Reggio Emilia, Parma, Modena and portions of Bologna and Mantua. These regions are the only ones with the ideal conditions to produce this cheese.

After one year of aging, each artisan-crafted wheel that passes the test is branded with a unique proof of authenticity — an oval certification mark — and left to finish aging. That seal guarantees that the cheese was made under the regulations of the Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano Reggiano and conforms to its stringent standards of quality.

Each year, Whole Foods cheese buyers visit the region to hand select wheels for the stores. Tastings will be available at the store on April 12. Customers also can take home information on wine pairings and recipes for dishes that really highlight the cheese.

For a sneak preview of the cheese carving show, click here.

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