Category Archives: Seafood

Sustainable Tinned Salmon to the Rescue

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Safe Catch Wild Pink Salmon with summer tomatoes and chive blossoms.
Safe Catch Wild Pink Salmon with summer tomatoes and chive blossoms.

With fresh wild Alaskan salmon a pretty penny and California’s commercial salmon fishing seasoned cancelled this year because of dwindling wild stocks, what’s a salmon lover to do?

Open up a can.

Canned salmon has come a long way since my childhood, when my economical mom would pry open the top of a tin and plop out the contents, bones and all that were soft enough to actually eat, but perhaps not the most attractive looking.

Sausalito’s Safe Catch takes canned salmon to new heights, First, it sources sustainable salmon from the Alaska Salmon Fishery or northern Pacific Ocean, following the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Guide. Second, every salmon is tested for mercury, with Safe Catch accepting only those that are 25 times lower than the FDA action limit. Third, each can contains no fillers, just salmon and salt.

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Summer’s South Carolina Shrimp Burgers — Plus A Cookbook Giveaway

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So crisp, moist, and delicious, this shrimp burger is sure to become a new summer favorite.
So crisp, moist, and delicious, this shrimp burger is sure to become a new summer favorite.

Summer’s the time when folks like nothing better than firing up the backyard grill.

But there are some who lack grills — either because they have no suitable yard or balcony or they simply don’t like playing with fire like that.

“South Carolina Shrimp Burgers” are just the ticket for them — and really for anyone who loves a great burger of any sort.

Reminiscent of the popular ones enjoyed all over the coastal Carolinas, this moist-on-the-inside and crisp-on-the-outside shrimp burger is cooked on a skillet on the stovetop in no time flat.

It tastes of pure summer sunshine, long lazy days, and much like a New England lobster roll — except it’s easier and more economical.

The recipe is from the new “The Complete Summer Cookbook”,” of which I received a review copy. It’s by America’s Test Kitchen.

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Dining Outside at Shepherd & Sims

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The delectable ahi tostada at Shepherd & Sims.
The delectable ahi tostada at Shepherd & Sims.

You’d be hard-pressed to find another chef who has left such an imprimatur on the South Bay as Chef Jim Stump.

In his early days, he was executive chef at Birk’s in Santa Clara, then the same at Le Mouton Noir in Saratoga, before launching the Los Gatos Brewing Company and downtown San Jose’s A.P. Stump’s.

In 2012, he debuted the popular The Table in San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood. Since then, his The Hot Behind You hospitality management group has opened Forthright in Campbell, The Vesper in Campbell, and most recently, Jim Stump’s Taproom & Kitchen at San Jose Mineta International Airport.

In fall 2021, during the throes of the pandemic, he also opened Shepherd & Sims in Los Gatos. The name is a co-mingling of the surnames of his wife and business partner, Angelique Shepherd-Stump and Stump’s birth name when he was adopted as a child.

A couple times a year, I play hooky from my home office during the week to enjoy a “ladies who lunch” outing with friends to celebrate one of our birthdays.

Shepherd & Sims sports a sizeable covered patio for dining, as well as a snazzy indoor dining room.
Shepherd & Sims sports a sizeable covered patio for dining, as well as a snazzy indoor dining room.

If you’re inclined to do the same — or to just enjoy a wonderful lunch outdoors on a sunny day — Shepherd & Sims is the spot to do it.

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Hawaii Eats: Pacifico On The Beach, Maui

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The impressive mahi mahi Wellington at Pacifico on The Beach.
The impressive mahi mahi Wellington at Pacifico on The Beach.

Lahaina, Maui, HI — If you’re lucky enough to be on Maui from now through Saturday, you can enjoy the inventive dish that landed Assistant Executive Chef McKenna Shea of Pacifico On The Beach victory on the Food Network’s “Chopped” last month.

For the past month, the inviting beachfront restaurant has featured that special abalone salad that helped her trounce three other chefs and score the $10,000 prize.

Admittedly, she was initially befuddled upon opening up the mystery basket to discover abalone and ube cheesecake. Who wouldn’t be, right?

Not only that, she had never worked with abalone before. But harnessing the skills she’d learned from her mentor, Pacifico’s Executive Chef Isaac Bancaco, she set to work.

The "Chopped'' special abalone salad.
The “Chopped” special abalone salad.

Visiting Maui last month, I had a chance to dine at Pacifico, a 28-year-old restaurant that Bancaco was hired to revamp a year ago. Don’t be surprised if some of the fresh catch of the day was actually caught by Bancaco, who’s an avid fisherman, too.

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Dining At Afici

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A spectacular uni pasta at Afici in San Francisco.
A spectacular uni pasta at Afici in San Francisco.

Few good things resulted from the pandemic. But one of them is surely Afici.

This South of Market fine-dining restaurant in San Francisco grew out of the pasta-oriented pop-up and takeout that Executive Chef Eric Upper of Alexander’s Steakhouse did during shutdown. A New York City native who worked at Auerole in New York, and Joel Robuchon in Las Vegas, Upper had the opportunity to lean into his Italian heritage, having studied Tuscan cuisine at Lorenzo de’ Medici School in Florence.

The pop-up proved so popular that it led the Alexander’s Steakhouse Restaurant Group to open Afici last summer.

The result is a stylish restaurant featuring inspired Italian specialties not found easily elsewhere, including house-made charcuterie made exclusively with prized A5 Wagyu.

I had a chance to experience Afici last week, when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant.

Afici's bar and lounge.
Afici’s bar and lounge.

With the wacky weather of late that’s brought snow to the Bay Area, it was an especially nice touch to be greeted at the host stand with cups of warm ginger-infused tea.

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