Come hungry, thirsty and inquisitive to Macy’s Valley Fair in Santa Clara, 2 p.m Jan. 20, when the team from Menlo Grill & Bar joins me for a cooking demo.
Executive Chef Saul Romero, who heads the restaurant at the Stanford Park Hotel in Menlo Park, previously cooked at the tech cafes at Google, eBay, and PayPal. He’ll be showing how to jazz up wild King salmon with walnut chimichurri and roasted butternut squash.
Deep-dish and salad from The Star via DoorDash. (photo by Carolyn Jung)
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 sausage deep-dish, delivered freshly baked and hot. (photo by Carolyn Jung)
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.
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.
Chef Peter Armellino of The Plumed Horse. (photo courtesy of the restaurant)
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 folks that put the fun in tacos — Tacolicious — will join yours truly for a cooking demo at Macy’s Valley Fair in Santa Clara, 1 p.m. Nov. 11.
Chef Quinten Frye will show you how to make tortillas from scratch, then turn them into inventive, delicious tacos. You’ll get a chance to take a taste, plus bring the recipes home.
Frye previously cooked in Hawaii, Mexico, and in Washington D.C. for superstar chef Jose Andres. As culinary director now for Tacolicious, he oversees its five locations, including the one in downtown Palo Alto and the one in Santana Row in San Jose.
Portuguese olive oil showcased in four ways in this dazzling cake at Adega.
Carlos Carrerira beamed with pride last Wednesday evening as he started to introduce his daughter before the assembled throng of media and San Jose officials gathered at his family’s Adega restaurant for a celebratory dinner.
“This all started when my daughter decided to skip UCLA and go to cooking school instead,” he said with a smile.
This referred to the little restaurant that could, and how. Last year, before it even turned a year old, the Portuguese restaurant in the working-class neighborhood of Little Portugal garnered the first Michelin star ever in San Jose.
When Carreira’s daughter, Pastry Chef Jessica Carreira, who oversees the restaurant with her fiance, Chef David Costa, stepped into the dining room, she was greeted with a standing ovation.
Tears welled in her eyes, as the applause went on and on.
As her father explained, when his daughter got the idea to open a restaurant with his help along with his wife’s, Fernanda, he assumed she would do so in San Francisco or Palo Alto or Los Gatos. But she stuck to her guns. Jessica only wanted to open in the neighborhood she grew up in, and which she still calls home.
The all-star line-up of Portuguese chefs with a Michelin star: (L to R) Alexandre Silva of Loco Lisbon, Jessica Carreira of Adega, David Costa of Adega, Pedro Lemos of Pedro Lemos, and George Mendes of Aldea.
Her instincts and loyalty paid off when Michelin put them on the global map. “It’s been so great,” she says. “We went from a secret foodie destination to a boom of people knowing about us, even in Portugal.”
If you love fresh oysters, you won’t want to miss the 1 p.m. Sept. 23 cooking demo at Macy’s Valley Fair in Santa Clara with yours truly and Chef David Baron of Salt Wood Kitchen & Oysterette.
Baron will demonstrate how to jazz up oysters with toppings of kimchi butter; “Bloody Mary” and green apple; and finger lime-tarragon.
Are you salivating yet? You’ll get the recipe to take home, too.