Category Archives: “Take Five” Q&A

Take Five With South Bay Chef Justin Perez, A True Survivor

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Chef Justin Perez

The restaurant industry can be a nail-biting, roller-coaster ride. But few chefs have weathered as many jolting ups and downs as Justin Perez.

In 2003, his small Buca restaurant in Campbell faced a David-and-Goliath fight when restaurant chain Buca di Beppo, which has more than 30 locations nationwide, threatened a lawsuit because it believed the name of Perez’s restaurant was too similar and could confuse customers. Rather than face an expensive legal battle, Perez renamed his popular establishment, Restaurant O.

Two years later, a bizarre incident occurred while Perez was relaxing with his family at their San Jose home. A hysterical woman came running up to them, screaming that her husband was going to kill her. Perez and his family took her into their home and called police for help.

His good deed, though, soon turned into a horrific nightmare. His house was subsequently fire-bombed, and bricks hurled through his front windows. The husband’s brother was later convicted of those crimes, but not before Perez, his wife, and their young children were severely traumatized.

In 2006, with his life back together, Perez spent $30,000 to renovate Restaurant O. He did all the work, himself, with the help of a few friends, only to discover a year later that his landlord was selling the property to make way for a senior retirement project there instead.

As word spread about the plans, diners stopped going to the restaurant, believing it was already closed. With so little business, Perez was forced to shutter it.

He was crushed. Yet unbelievably, the worst was yet to come.

I caught up with the 37-year-old chef, who somehow has remained indefatigable through it all.

Q: Your life has been a soap opera, hasn’t it?

A: We used to actually say, ‘As the O turns,’ when we had bad days at Restaurant O.

Q: And after Restaurant O closed, that wasn’t the end of your struggles?

A: No. Around that time, I found out my former director of operations had embezzled about $750,000 from the restaurant. I’d known him for 20 years. He was my best friend. It was pretty devastating.

Q: How did you finally find out?

A: He got really sick last year, and had to stop working. That’s when we found out. He had taken out loans and forged my name on them. We’d give him money to pay the taxes, but we ended up owing more than $300,000 in payroll taxes to the IRS. At one point, I owed close to $1 million to the IRS and to our vendors.

Q: What did you do?

A: I mortgaged my two houses –the San Jose one my family lives in and the one in Oregon that my grandfather lives in. I tried to pay things down as much as I could, but when interest rates went up, that killed me.

I finally filed for personal bankruptcy. So I’m no longer the owner of my company. Chris Flippen, my director of marketing and sales, is. I’m just an employee.

Q: Where is your former best friend now?

A: He disappeared. We filed police reports on him. But nobody knows where he is now.

Q: I don’t know many people who could look so pulled together after going through something like that. How have you managed to do so?

A: I’m back where I started, at square one. But I love it. I’m just happy I got through it. I survived.

Q: Your Restaurant O Catering company is now operating out of La Hacienda Inn in Los Gatos. How did that come about?

A: The owner wants to demolish the property for townhouses. But that won’t happen for a couple years. So he offered it to me in the meantime. I’ve been here since March. The building we have is twice the size of what we had at Restaurant O. And we use the patio for hosting the special wine dinners that we do each month.

Q: Have your customers remained loyal or have they been scared off by the bankruptcy?

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Take Five With Legendary Chef Bradley Ogden, Who Dishes On His Newest Project

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Bradley Ogden at a recent Parcel 104 event.

Celebrated chef and restaurateur for 35 years, Bradley Ogden has overseen such acclaimed restaurants as Campton Place in San Francisco, the Lark Creek Inn in Larkspur, Parcel 104 in Santa Clara, and his eponymous Bradley Ogden in Las Vegas.

His latest project may catch you by surprise. It’s in — of all places — Solvang. Yes, the noted chef is about to put his stamp on a new, upscale restaurant in the land of windmills and Danish bakeries. Founder of the Lark Creek Restaurant Group (where he’s still a major shareholder and a board member), and in charge of the culinary programs at Parcel 104 and Bradley Ogden restaurants, Ogden let us in on the scoop about his new venture.

Q: Why in the world Solvang?

A: (laughs) It’s a consulting job at the old Royal Scandinavian Inn. The Chumash tribe bought it. They own a casino 4 miles away, but it’s not connected to this project.

It’ll be a boutique hotel with more than 100 rooms. Yes, we have to keep the country-like facade, but the inside will be gutted and the look will be contemporary and warm. I’m redoing the restaurant there. Hopefully, it’ll open in early December. Nope, there’s no name for it yet.

Q: How expensive of a project is this?

A: It’s probably at $12-$20 million project with the hotel and restaurant.

Q: What will the restaurant be like?

A: It will be about 80 seats with a glassed-in kitchen. When you walk in, there will be French doors that will open up to the lounge-bar area that will have water features, landscaping, and fireplaces. The design will be sort of a light California-Hawaiian decor.

You have one of the biggest agricultural areas in the world here, so sustainable agriculture will be a big part of the menu. It will be influenced by local fishermen and local growers. The wine list will be 90 percent American, up and down coast of California, with a heavy emphasis on the Santa Ynez, Paso Robles, and San Luis Obispo area.

It will be an upscale, contemporary American restaurant with prices in the $30 and under range.

Q: And who is the target clientele?

A: Locals, which is the mainstay of any restaurant. And we hope to draw in tourists.

Q: Is it easier or harder to open a restaurant these days?

A: It’s harder now. It doesn’t get any easier even when you know what conceptually works and doesn’t work. We’re in an economy that’s fluctuating, but it’s nothing that we haven’t been through before. People don’t have a lot of money to spend. They may stay closer to home. But they’ll always eat out. It’s cheaper to dine out than eat in.

Q: It is?

A: In some ways, yes. You can’t leave the market without paying $100.

Q: You mean, when you shop at Whole Foods?

A: (laughs)

Q: What do you think of all those reality-TV cooking shows? Do you watch them? Shun them? You know, your whole crew at Parcel 104 is addicted to “Top Chef.”

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Take Five With Parcel 104’s Robert Sapirman

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Robert Sapirman, executive chef of Parcel 104

Imagine cooking without such staples as sugar, chocolate, vanilla beans, cinnamon, coffee, and even pepper. That’s the challenge that Executive Chef Robert Sapirman and his crew at Parcel 104 restaurant in Santa Clara are taking on with the second annual “104-Mile Dinner” on June 7.

 That night, every ingredient used must come from no more than 104 miles from the restaurant (measured from point to point in a straight line). Climate Clean of Portland, Ore. will be working with the restaurant to mitigate and offset the greenhouse gas emissions generated from this $125-per-person dinner.

The seven-course dinner includes Point Reyes oysters, local petrale sole, and pork belly from pigs raised in the Yosemite area. Also on the menu are Cornish game hens that were slaughtered, then air-chilled, as opposed to the conventional method of water chilling. Proponents of this method favor it because they consider it more sanitary (studies so far, though, are inconclusive). In air-chilling, the poultry also absorbs less water, making for a crisper skin when cooked and more intense flavor.

Watercress and beignet dessert by Pastry Chef Carlos Sanchez

Parcel 104’s pastry chef, Carlos Sanchez, will be ending the night with a refreshing dessert of Sausalito Springs watercress topped with strawberry sorbet made with honey, fresh strawberries the staff will pick the day before in Sonoma, and tiny beignets of Bellwether Farms Carmody cheese.

The menu is subject to change, of course, since it’s all based on what’s available locally at the time.

I sat down with Sapirman to find out the most difficult aspects of creating such a dinner.

Q: You came on board as chef last year just as the restaurant was about to do the 104-mile dinner for the first time. I think I detected just a tiny glint of fear and panic in your eyes then. How is it different this time around?

A: Last year, it was all about what could we get our hands on. It was a real race to find things. This year, we have more time, and we’re able to reach out to see that’s really out there.  Last year at the last minute, we were able to find wheat flour in Sonoma, so we were able to make crackers for the beet salad. This year, we’ve already discovered that Full Belly Farm (an hour northwest of Sacramento) — which is right on the edge of our 104-mile limit, and believe me, I measured it — produces flour and wheat berries.

Q: Last year, you guys were in a tizzy because you thought you wouldn’t be able to use salt. But at the last second, you found a source?

A: Yes, we get salt from underneath the Dumbarton Bridge. There are salt flats there. And a producer makes this very coarse pretzel salt from there that we have to grind ourselves until it’s finer.

Q: So there will be salt, but no peppercorns?

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Take Five With the Food Network’s Alton Brown

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Alton Brown dishes on fishy stuff in Monterey

At first thought, the Food Network’s wacky wizard of food, Alton Brown, might seem an unlikely choice to be a host at this past weekend’s “Cooking For Solutions” event at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

But Brown, an avid scuba diver and father of an 8-year-old daughter, knows full well the challenges we face now and in the future in sustaining the ecosystems of our oceans. At the “Cooking For Solutions” event, which gathered chefs, scientists, and food producers to examine ways to preserve the health of the planet, Brown summed up his philosophy as only he can.

When it comes to seafood, he said, “My motto comes from the side of the old Los Angeles police cars: Serve and Protect.”

I chatted with the energetic, surprisingly frank 46-year-old megastar, whose “Good Eats” show, which he directs and writes most of the scripts for, debuted on the Food Network in 1999. A graduate of both the University of Georgia and the New England Culinary Institute, he now lives in Marietta, Ga. with his wife, DeAnna, and daughter, Zoey. Brown also is the commentator for “Iron Chef America,” host of the “Next Iron Chef,” and star of “Feasting on Asphalt.”  Additionally, he has his own production company, Be Square Production.

He wasn’t always a natural at science. Nor was he always a foodie. In fact, previously he was a cinematographer and video director. You can see his work in R.E.M.’s “The One I Love” video.

Q: So science wasn’t something you were always passionate about?

A: No, not at all. I flunked chemistry twice in high school, mostly because it didn’t matter. It was all numbers and formulas, and ‘let’s cut up a rat.’

Q: So how did you come up with the concept for “Good Eats,” which is all about explaining the science of cooking?

A: I wanted to give people a practicality they could build on. In culinary school, I realized I wasn’t a very good cook. To figure out how to do it better, I realized science was the answer.

Q: When did sustainability become so important to you?

A: When I became a father. I began to relive my life through my daughter when I was that same age of 8 years old. I became so aware that so much had changed. We no longer place much value on our food; we value cheapness.

My Mom grew up very poor. They grew their own food, they had their own chickens. We’ve made it now so that poor people can’t grow food so easily, and they can’t keep chickens. There are all these regulations. We’ve made it so that with poverty in America, there’s no self-respect.

Q: How else did becoming a father change your viewpoints?

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Take Five With Lisa Rhorer of the New Cin-Cin Winebar

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Lisa Rhorer enjoying Bethel Heights Estate Pinot Noir 2004 Willamette Valley. Photo by Dave LiporiAs Google’s first marketing manager, Lisa Rhorer learned to think outside the box. That’s why the 40-year-old was undeterred when it came to leaving behind her passion for high tech to pursue another — wine.

On May 13, she will open the doors to her own wine bar and lounge, Cin-Cin, 368 Village Lane in Los Gatos (formerly Cafe Marcella). It’s a venture with longtime South Bay/Peninsula restaurateur Don Durante, the former executive chef of Le Mouton Noir in Saratoga, and Birk’s in Santa Clara, who now also owns Cascal in Mountain View.

With its use of bamboo, cork, recycled glass, and reclaimed black walnut, Cin-Cin emphasizes sustainability. That’s evident in the wines, too. The majority of the ones featured are made by eco-conscious producers.

With a menu of small plates infused with Asian and Spanish flavors, Cin-Cin invites you to linger. Don’t miss the Diner Sliders, cute as a button, and juicy as can be mini burgers made from organic house-ground beef and nestled inside tender Parker House rolls.

The executive chef is Los Gatos-native Chris Schloss, who has cooked at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland; Azul in Miami; and Telepan in New York City. Durante has known Schloss since he was a kid, as Schloss’ father was involved with Birk’s.

Rhorer’s Google stock options came in handy to help finance the wine bar. After working for the search engine giant for three years, Rhorer left in 2005 to enroll in the wine studies program at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena. Later, she traveled extensively in Europe to meet winemakers there, then went on to work at the Vintage Wine Merchants in San Jose’s Santana Row and to be a wine buyer for Whole Foods in Los Altos.

We chatted about how working at Google prepared her to start her own business, her favorite food and wine pairing, and her remembrance of her first sip of wine when she was all of 10 years old.

Q: You were really that young when you had your first taste of wine?

A: Yes. It was a Robert Mondavi Cabernet. My Dad was taking wine appreciation classes when I was growing up. He took us to Napa. We visited the Mondavi winery. He was a huge fan of Mondavi Cabs.

We always had wine at the table. He allowed me to have one finger-full of wine at the table. It was less than an ounce. I did like it. I liked the feel on my palate. The funny thing, though, is that Cabs are not my favorite now.

Q: What are your faves now?

A: By going to Austria and Germany, I learned to really enjoy Rieslings, drier Burgundys, and Gruner Veltliner. For reds, I like drier, more complex ones like Pinot Noir from Oregon or Burgandy. I don’t drink a lot of Merlots and Cabs, I have a sugar sensitivity. The high alcohol of wine in California don’t agree with me. I get real headachy and bloatedness. The high sugar and high alcohol also mask food. I really go for wines that go well with food because it creates a harmonious experience. That’s why I go for wines with more complexity and elegance.

Q: What is it about wine that captured you?

A. It’s an intellectual beverage. You learn about the culture of people, geology, and vineyard practices. Wine is one of those things you can never learn enough about it. And there’s a pleasure from drinking good wine. It evokes all the senses — your nose, mouth and brain.

Q: What made you decide to open a wine bar?

A: It’s the new watering hole or new Starbucks. Back in the day, people used to go to saloons to catch up at the end of a busy day. As we get busier and become a more sophisticated culture, we still need that watering hole.  I want to provide an environment for them where they don’t feel intimidated and can learn.

Organic, sustainability, and biodynamic is also very important to me. A grape skin is very permeable. Anytime you’re spraying with pesticides you digest that, and you erode the soil. It’s not good for the land and it’s not good for you. I’ve seen what it takes for growers to change their practices. It’s a lot of work. And I want to support that.

Q: How did working at Google prepare you to open a wine bar?

A: It taught me that it doesn’t matter if a ton of people are out there doing something. With Google, there was also Excite, and Lycos. But there’s always a better way to do things. Google taught me not to be deterred, that just because there are a lot of people out there already, that doesn’t mean you can’t go for your dream.

Q. What is a favorite, moderately priced wine that you wish more people would discover?
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