Tag Archives: Campbell restaurant

The Playful Autumn Tasting Menu At Be.Steak.A

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The "Snack Yard'' first course on the fall tasting menu at Be.Steak.A.
The “Snack Yard” first course on the fall tasting menu at Be.Steak.A.

Chef Patrick Capurro wants to take you on a journey, one that recalls the cozy flavors and brisk weather of autumn in Chicago as when he lived there.

At Be.Steak.A in the Pruneyard in Campbell, he does just that with his new fall tasting menu that’s full of pure whimsy and delight.

That’s what I found when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant to try it on a bustling Tuesday night.

Be.Steak.A, owned by Chef Jeffrey Stout, offers both a la carte dining and a seasonal tasting menu that’s $185 per person with an optional $130 wine pairing (six different pours). You can book the tasting menu when you make a reservation online or opt to order it when you get there, though, you risk the chance of it selling out for the night.

The dining room.
The dining room.

Walk through the restaurant doors and you’re greeted immediately with a beverage.

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Where I’ve Been Getting Takeout of Late: World Wrapps

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Furikake Salmon Bowl from World Wrapps.
Furikake Salmon Bowl from World Wrapps.

Way, way back in the mid-1990s, I set myself a goal to eat my way through the “specialty wraps” section of World Wrapps in downtown Palo Alto.

Alas, I was probably within a couple of orders of accomplishing that when the fast-casual cafe shuttered.

In early 2020 just before the pandemic hit, two of the original founders revived the brand with a location in San Francisco. It not only managed to survive the tumult of the past two years, but has expanded to five other Bay Area cities. A couple weeks ago, its newest debuted at The Pruneyard in Campbell, where I was invited in as a guest to try the menu.

Of course, my original plan was to dine outside there. But when a crazy heatwave sent temperatures soaring to 102 degrees, I decided to take the food to-go to eat at home with the A/C on. Can you blame me?

Inside the new location at The Pruneyard.
Inside the new location at The Pruneyard.

When co-founders Matthew Blair and Keith Cox (the latter also co-founded Pacific Catch) originally founded World Wrapps, it pioneered enfolding innovative, globally-inspired fillings of fresh ingredients inside a rainbow of burrito-sized tortillas.

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Dining Outside At Be.Steak.A

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This is how Be.Steak.A does a deviled egg. With truffle shavings, of course.
This is how Be.Steak.A does a deviled egg. With truffle shavings, of course.

Chef-Owner Jeffrey Stout weathered not only three years of permit approvals and construction, but a worldwide pandemic, to finally open his splashy new Be.Steak.A.

For diners, it was more than worth the wait.

The fine-dining Italian-influenced steakhouse playfully named for the classic Italian steak known as bistecca Fiorentina, initially was limited to only takeout during the pandemic. But now, with both indoor and outdoor seating available, it can be enjoyed in its full glory.

Whereas his Orchard City Kitchen, just steps away in the same Pruneyard complex, presents a casual and eclectic array of global small plates, Be.Steak.A is pure luxe. It’s where 5 ounces of Hokkaido Snow Beef (aka A5 strip loin) with a “snow” of cacio e pepe will set you back $288. And no, that’s not a typo. It’s where food is presented on famed Italian blue and white ceramics by Richard Ginori. But it’s also a restaurant that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s not stuffy in the least, not when deeply bronzed beef fat popovers ($9) with smoky deviled ham butter (like the most elevated version ever of Underwood Deviled Ham) and pickled cucumbers is served under a cloche shaped like a lounging pig.

The inside of a beef fat popover.
The inside of a beef fat popover.
The popovers are served with deviled ham butter and pickled cucumbers.
The popovers are served with deviled ham butter and pickled cucumbers.

When you check in at the host stand, you’re presented with a soothing cup of warm bone broth. As you’re escorted to your table, you pass a huge long window that affords a direct view into the kitchen, all done up in stainless steel with accents of lipstick-red all around. If you happen to time it just right, you might even get to see cooks making pasta by hand at a massive table in front of the window.

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Run — Don’t Walk — To Orchard City Kitchen

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"Beets & Butterfish'' -- one of the delights on the ever-changing menu at the new Orchard City Kitchen.

“Beets & Butterfish” — one of the delights on the ever-changing menu at the new Orchard City Kitchen.

 

It’s been a long two years in coming for Chef Jeffrey Stout.

The former opening chef-partner of Alexander’s Steakhouse in Cupertino, Stout was let go rather unceremoniously back then from that establishment, where he earned a Michelin star and maintained that rating for three years.

He set about to start over — this time with a more casual-style of dining with eclectic small plates that he could really put his own spin on.

The result is the wonderful new Orchard City Kitchen that opened just two months ago in Campbell’s Pruneyard. Last Wednesday night, the lively dining room was packed, a promising sign for a restaurant that has not done any marketing or public relations work. Indeed, Stout says he’s averaging over 200 covers a night already.

Chef-Owner Jeffrey Stout in the kitchen.

Chef-Owner Jeffrey Stout in the kitchen.

It’s easy to understand the restaurant’s appeal. It’s a come-as-your-are kind of place with favorite cookbooks and a Japanese Lucky Cat decorating shelves, and bare wood tables with a nifty bracket underneath to slide your wood board-backed menu into when you don’t need it anymore. A glass-fronted walk-in is visible at the back of the restaurant, lined with fresh fruits and veggies for all the world to see and to emphasize Stout’s farm-to-table philosophy. White subway tiles line the large open kitchen that Stout jokes is the “most open open-kitchen” there is because of the fact that the floor-to-ceiling, retractable windows opposite it in the dining room can open up and fold back completely, giving passersby a front-row view of the cooks at work.

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“Edible Selby” Book Events, Silicon Valley Restaurant Week & More

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Photographer Todd Selby’s Food-Centric New Book

Fab photographer and illustrator, Todd Selby, has turned his lens on the food world.

The result is “Edible Selby” (Abrams), a quirky new book that showcases the kitchens, gardens, homes, restaurants, and workplaces of more than 40 food and drink purveyors, including a sea forager in the Bay Area, a Neapolitan pizza maker in Tokyo and a roof-top farmer in Brooklyn.

Each profile is accompanied by Selby’s illustrations, a hand-written questionnaire and a recipe. If that weren’t enough fun, the book also features his illustrated refrigerator magnets.

Meet Selby at a series of upcoming events in the Bay Area:

* Bar Tartine in San Francisco, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 22. Tartine Bakery’s Chef Chad Robertson will be joined by Chef Danny Bowien of Mission Chinese Food in San Francisco and New York, Chef Russell Moore of Camino in Oakland, New York Chef Ignacio Mattos, and Bar Tartine’s Nick Balla and Cortney Burnes. The chefs will be making sandwiches inspired by the book. Sandwiches are sold individually. Or you can pay $60 to receive a sandwich, book, and Selby tote bag.

* Bar Jules party in San Francisco, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Oct. 23. Price is $45 per person, excluding drinks. To purchase, call (415) 621-5482.

* SFMOMA book signing in San Francisco, 5 p.m. Oct. 25. Selby will be signing his book, as will James and Caitlin Freeman of Blue Bottle Coffee, who will sign their book, “The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee” (Ten Speed Press). At 6 p.m., join the three for a conversation. At 7 p.m., head up to the museum’s rooftop for a reception at the Blue Bottle Coffee Bar. Free with museum admission.

Time for “Silicon Valley Restaurant Week”

Today though Oct. 24, participating restaurants in Silicon Valley will be offering special three-course, prix-fixe dinners.

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