Category Archives: Restaurants

Dining Outside at Howie’s Artisan Pizza

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House-made pastas like this fettuccine bolgonese star at Howie's Artisan Pizza.
House-made pastas like this fettuccine bolgonese star at Howie’s Artisan Pizza.

One of Town & Country Village’s most enduring restaurants is Howie’s Artisan Pizza. But now this popular 13-year-old Palo Alto pizzeria has added handmade pastas to its lineup, too.

Chef-Owner Howard Bulka had plans pre-pandemic to expand the compact kitchen ever so much to accommodate a pasta-making station. Of course, those plans got pushed back with the advent of Covid. But now, his plans have come to fruition.

Not only can you enjoy the new pastas served in the dining room, but also on the pergola-covered outdoor dining area just in front of the restaurant. What’s more, you can even buy fresh pasta ($9), sauces ($9.50 per pint), and even frozen baked ziti ($22), manicotti ($13.95), and lasagna bolognese ($23) to take home.

A meatball, mushroom and broccoli pizza.
A meatball, mushroom and broccoli pizza.

My husband and I chose to enjoy our meal outside on a breezy evening, starting with the chopped salad ($15.25), a crunchy mix of romaine tossed with cubes of salami, Swiss cheese, cucumber, chopped egg, and green onion. With the ranch dressing on the side, you can add as little or as much as you want, controlling just how super-leaded you want your chopped salad to be.

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In Tribute to Sally Schmitt: Portuguese Duck and Sausage in Rice

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A Portuguese-inspired dish of roasted duck legs, andouille sausage and sun-dried tomato rice, all garnished with duck cracklings.
A Portuguese-inspired dish of roasted duck legs, andouille sausage and sun-dried tomato rice, all garnished with duck cracklings.

Before it was Thomas Keller’s Michelin three-starred French Laundry, the old stone building in Yountville was variously a bar, laundry, brothel, and rooming house, that languished in decrepit condition for years.

It took Sally and Don Schmitt to see its potential, and to pour heart, soul, and untold hard work into transforming it into the original French Laundry in 1978, a cozy, one-menu per night restaurant. Sally did all the cooking, while husband Don greeted guests and poured the wines. It was a beloved institution that drew such acclaim that it attracted the likes of Robert Mondavi, Marion Cunningham, and Julia Child to dine.

When it came time for the Schmitts to retire from the taxing grind of restaurant life, they put the French Laundry up for sale in 1990. It took three years to sell it, as chef after chef deemed it too small or the area too rural. That is, until a down-on-his-luck chef named Keller came by, took one look, and fell hard for the place. The Schmitts generously gave him 18 months to raise the money necessary, because in their hearts they somehow knew Keller was the perfect successor.

As Sally Schmitt once deadpanned in an interview with me years ago about choosing Keller, “That worked out pretty well, didn’t it?”

Last month, Sally Schmitt passed away at age 90 — following her husband who died in 2017 — and just one month before the debut of her cookbook, “Six California Kitchens” (Chronicle Books), of which I received a review copy.

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Dining Outside at Pomet

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Smoked Half Moon Bay black cod at Pomet.
Smoked Half Moon Bay black cod at Pomet.

Second-generation farmer Aomboon Deasy admits she never harbored fantasies about owning a restaurant.

After all, being a part of a family-run farm, K&J Orchards in Winters and Yuba City, was work enough. But when the owners of Homestead restaurant in Oakland — longtime buyers of the farm’s produce — approached her about taking over the space, she thought it over for a few weeks, then decided to dive in whole-heartedly.

“It was another challenge, another chapter,” she told me.

And one she obviously couldn’t resist.

The result is Pomet on Piedmont Avenue, which I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant to try last weekend. The cozy establishment takes its name from the Romanian word for “orchard,” a fitting choice for the farm, founded by her parents, whose pristine fruit can be found at farmers markets around the Bay Area, as well as incorporated into dishes at some of the region’s most respected restaurants.

Chef Alan Hsu and Proprietor Aomboon Deasy.
Chef Alan Hsu and Proprietor Aomboon Deasy.

Pomet represents farm-to-table cooking — beyond.

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Where I’ve Been Getting Takeout of Late, Part 41

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Half & Half Whole Chicken (Secret Spicy on top, Golden Original on the bottom) at BBQ Chicken.
Half & Half Whole Chicken (Secret Spicy on top, Golden Original on the bottom) at BBQ Chicken.

BBQ Chicken, Cupertino

I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole known as Korean dramas.

Yes, I’m not too big to admit that I’ve joined the legions who are now binging these multi-season dramas that almost always include a pivotal boy-meets-girl storyline, along with copious amounts of craveable Korean food.

After getting indoctrinated with Netflix’s popular “Crash Landing on You” (which I highly recommend), with its many scenes of principle characters chowing down time and again on golden pieces of chicken at BBQ Chicken, I was overjoyed to discover that this Korean fast-casual chain’s only Northern California outpost happens to be in Cupertino, in the 99 Ranch strip mall not far from Apple headquarters . So, of course, I had to try it.

Inexplicably, the name may be BBQ Chicken, but it’s fried chicken that makes up almost its entire menu. Go figure.

Kimchi fried rice.
Kimchi fried rice.

You can get just wings. Or drum sticks. Or only boneless pieces. You can get chicken with no sauce or with galbi sauce or done up with honey garlic or even powdered cheese. And you can get it spicy — all the way up to the “Wings of Fire,” which have four chili pepper symbols after it to emphasize its incendiary level.

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Dining Outside at Chez TJ

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Dry-aged squab with confit mushrooms at Chez TJ.
Dry-aged squab with confit mushrooms at Chez TJ.

Operating a restaurant during the worst of the pandemic has untold challenges. But imagine if it’s one that’s housed in a historic circa-1894 Victorian with small rooms and tight hallways, and a tiny kitchen geared toward turning out exquisite upscale tasting-menus, not takeout fare in cardboard boxes.

Michelin-starred Chez TJ in downtown Mountain View not only weathered all of that, but also made a big chef change mid-pandemic, remodeled its interior, and even added a splashy outdoor dining area complete with modern fire pit, and a snazzy louvered roof that can close in inclement weather.

It remains a lovely and special experience, as always, as I found when I dined outside last week.

Owner George Aviet has a gift for spotting talent. Among the celebrated chefs who have headed Chez TJ early in their careers are: Joshua Skenes, who went on to open San Francisco’s Saison and Angler; Christopher Kostow, who went on to earn three Michelin stars at The Restaurant at Meadowood in St. Helena; Bruno Chemel, who later opened his award-winning Baume in Palo Alto; Scott Nishiyama, who worked at the French Laundry, and is expected to open Ethel’s Fancy in Palo Alto this year; and most recently, Jarad Gallagher, who left to open Smoke Point BBQ in San Juan Bautista.

You can see the new outdoor dining area to the right.
You can see the new outdoor dining area to the right.

Christopher Lemerand took over in summer 2020, bringing along an equally impressive background, having cooked on the team at Atelier Crenn in San Francisco when it received its second Michelin star, and at Coi in San Francisco when it received its third Michelin star.

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