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chef cam is live!

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photo courtesy jamesbeard.org

photo courtesy jamesbeard.org

The James Beard Kitchen cam made its debut today with Daniel Boulud and his team cooking from his cookbook Daniel:  My French Cuisine. I found myself watching as much to see talented chefs making beautiful food as to see if they display the temperament of the many chefs whose kitchens I spent time in many moons ago.

When I first heard they were putting a live camera in the kitchen at The James Beard House I was reminded of the year that one of the football leagues (not the NFL…USFL maybe?) put microphones in players’ helmets. Remember how well that worked out?  Well hopefully this will be a more productive use of the technology and there will be less cursing….or at least the cursing will be in French! I’ve been in an awful lot of restaurant kitchens (often back end toward the kitchen as I was beating a hasty retreat after relaying a less than welcome customer request). Of course I was never in the kitchen of the Daniel Bouluds of the world.  Now you and I and all the rest of them can spend some time in the James Beard Kitchen with the professionals.

So far things are looking very civilized. I admit it, I’m looking for a few fireworks. It’s a kitchen for goodness sake!
Leslie

painting in bars

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images courtesy paintnite.com

images courtesy paintnite.com

paint nite2

If facebook is any indication, then everyone is painting in bars these days. Have you noticed? So many renditions of Van Gogh’s Starry Night, Hawaiian sunsets and flowers a la Georgia O’Keefe posted on my wall in the last few weeks. Even the AP has noticed. I’m starting to feel a bit left out and think maybe I need to get on this. Wonder if the new bar in my ‘hood would be agreeable?

Based on my extensive research, if you do this with Paint Nite, the largest organization I’ve found, it’s about $45 plus the cost of whatever reduces your inhibitions. Check their website and choose by date, location or the piece of art you want to (try to) recreate. They provide all supplies and an artist to teach. You can also contact Social Artworking to purchase supplies and organize your own event, which means you need to teach the painting techniques from written instructions.  Eek.

Sounds like fun….anyone want to try it with me?

Keep in touch,
Leslie

my friends are so talented

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Since we are on the topic of awards, the Northern California Chapter of IIDA just announced the winners of their tenth annual Honor Awards. A couple of my friends were big winners and their projects are amazing.

Studio O+A

Primo Orpilla and I went to college together in Silicon Valley when it was still young. We graduated from San Jose State University in 1988. Primo went on to open O+A with his wife, Verda Alexander. Together they’ve changed the look and feel of the Silicon Valley of our youth….the offices of that day tended to a lot of very sad beige. O+A won two prizes last week at the IIDA award ceremony.  They won the ‘Work Medium Honor Award’ for their project for Open Table in San Francisco.  And just to prove that the world is tiny, the structural engineer on this project was my buddy Bobby Vaziri of Vaziri Structural Engineering.

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O+A also won the ‘Work Small Merit Award’ for Giant Pixel in San Francisco’s Mint Plaza.

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EDG Interior Architecture + Design

My friends Cindy Kupka and Catharine Tarver collaborated with the rest of their team on Elena and Pony Line at the Four Seasons in Buenos Aires to win the ‘Anywhere But Here Honor Award’.  When I worked at EDG a few years ago I had the luck and pleasure to work with both Cindy and Catharine….both talented designers and so much fun to work with!

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awards time!

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One of the things that I love about San Francisco is that people will forego paying the heating bill if necessary in order to eat great food. There is so much amazing food going on in Bay Area restaurants that sometimes something has to give. I can always burn old chairs for heat, but never in this lifetime will I be cooking like Kim Alter or the Rich team. This time of year is always a little frustrating because there are so many great places that I still haven’t eaten and they’re all in the news at once…awards time. So I’m just starting a list of who’s in contention for which award in the Bay Area and I’ll start pecking them off one by one.  Please don’t let on to Steve that this plan is in the works.  He might shut me down.

Food & Wine, the People’s Best New Chef (Bay Area contenders)

Matthew Accarrino, SPQR

photo courtesy spqr.com

photo courtesy spqr.com

Kim Alter, Plum

photo courtesy sfgate.com

photo courtesy sfgate.com

 

Brett Cooper, Outerlands*

*but the restaurant is closed for renovation and Chef Cooper won’t return, so guess this might save one chair

Evan and Sarah Rich, Rich Table

Ari Weiswasser, Glen Ellen Star

photo courtesy glenellenstar.com

photo courtesy glenellenstar.com

 

James Beard Foundation Award Nominees (Bay Area contenders)

Best restaurant design or renovation:  Jensen Architects, Shed

photo courtesy healdsburgshed.com

photo courtesy healdsburgshed.com

Best Chef: West

 Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski, State Bird Provisions

photo courtesy statebirdsf.com

photo courtesy statebirdsf.com

 Corey Lee, Benu

 Daniel Patterson, Coi

Best New Restaurant: Coqueta

photo courtesy coquetasf.com

photo courtesy coquetasf.com

 

Outstanding Wine Program:  A16

Outstanding Bar Program:  Bar Agricole

Outstanding Service:  Quince, The Restaurant at Meadowood

photo courtesy therestaurantatmeadowood.com

photo courtesy therestaurantatmeadowood.com

Outstanding Pastry Chef: Belinda Leong, b. patisserie

Outstanding Restaurateur:  Cindy Pawlcyn (Mustards Grill, Cindy’s Back Street Kitchen)

Rising Star Chef of the Year:  Jessica Largey, Manresa

Outstanding Restaurant:  The Slanted Door

photo courtesy slanteddoor.com

photo courtesy slanteddoor.com

 

Outstanding Chef:  David Kinch, Manresa

photo courtesy manresarestaurant.com

photo courtesy manresarestaurant.com

It’s a long list!  Congratulations to all of our local semi-finalists. I’m looking forward to trying at least a few before Steve catches on.

Keep in touch,
Leslie

chilaquiles!

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The Little Chihuahua in my new SF hood (nopa) is now serving brunch and they have chilaquiles on the menu! Steve and I cruised the neighborhood yesterday morning and found the Grove Street farmers market (complete with a little cooking exhibition!), about three hundred cafes serving breakfast, and every shade of neighbor.  It was awesome.  But we haven’t made it to The Little Chihuahua yet….next weekend.

The backstory:  chilly killys. That’s what my coworker Shirley called the dish she was famous for. I was the new designer in the office and had no idea what to expect. The next morning Shirley arrived at the office with a giant pyrex filled with a blend of tortilla chips, cheese and eggs. It was good, but I was still not as impressed as my office mates. And I was still confused by the name.

photo courtesy facebook/john ater

photo courtesy El Huarache Loco facebook/John Ater

A few years after my first exposure I saw chilaquiles on a menu and finally understood the name, although I’m sure I still mispronounce it. It’s a ‘leftovers’ dish of fried corn tortilla chips, verde sauce (although some use a red sauce but I much prefer verde), Mexican cheese and crema, cilantro, onions, lime juice and over easy eggs. I’ve come to love this dish as much as those office mates of long ago, just not the casserole style that I was introduced to. I order it whenever it is on the menu and have found the absolute best rendition at El Huarache Loco in Marin Country Mart. Not only are these the best chilaquiles so far, but the story behind El Huarache Loco is pretty sweet too.

best chilaquiles EVER! photo courtesy El Huarache Loco facebook page

best chilaquiles EVER!
photo courtesy El Huarache Loco facebook page

can they match El Huarache Loco? photo courtesy The Little Chihuahua facebook page

can they match El Huarache Loco’s chilaquiles?
photo courtesy The Little Chihuahua facebook page

So next on my breakfast agenda is to hit The Little Chihuahua on Divis. Fingers crossed it’s as good as ELH….dang….so many days to pass before my next fix!

Please please please let me know if you have a spot with awesome chilaquiles….I’m always up for another go. Have a great week,
Leslie

a trabocco in Alameda

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trabocco photos courtesy weisbachad.com/Paul Dyer unless noted otherwise

entry and dining patio
photos courtesy weisbachad.com/Paul Dyer unless noted otherwise

Giuseppe Naccarelli, the chef/operator at Trabocco Kitchen and Cocktails in Alameda, grew up in Abruzzo, Italy, a region bordered on the east by mountains and on the west by The Adriatic Sea. Naccarelli was raised in the kitchen and after moving to America spent nearly 20 years at Il Fornaio. With his first foray into restaurant ownership he hearkens back to the coastline of his childhood and the wooden fishing machines that dotted the shore. Working with my friend Lev Weisbach (and yes, I even helped a bit with the original space planning), the design team used these fishing machines, or trabocci, to color the textures and details of Naccarelli’s first restaurant. The end product is elegant and yet comfortable and exciting at the same time.

Trabocco_34

Trabocco signage reminscent of the wooden sticks of the seaside trabocci

Trabocco_16

Bar area.  Wine wall beyond defines private dining room.

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Dining area with fireplace. Sparkling crystal netting reminiscent of fishing nets.

Trabocco. photo courtesy trabocco.com

An Italian fishing machine, or trabocco. Photo courtesy trabocco.com

 

buried in taxes

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I’m up to my eyeballs in taxes today, so am just posting a few links that I’ve enjoyed from around the web.  Hope you do too!

Miss Ko

photo courtesy restaurantandbardesign.com

photo courtesy restaurantandbardesign.com

Check out the latest from Philippe Starck.  Miss Ko (the restaurant) was branded by GBH and designed by Philippe Starck and lies smack dab in the middle of Paris (49/51 avenue George V – 75008 Paris).  It is one out of the park crazy design that features Miss Ko in all her yakuza glory and is infused with symbolism that should keep you on your smartphone for hours trying to figure out what it all means.

Homemade Ricotta

Allison Eats is a beautifully crafted website.  Lovely graphics.  And some pretty amazing recipes as well.  I was just at a talk last week (thanks to my friend Brooke over at Too Many Apples) featuring the good people from Cowgirl Creamery and Strauss milk, two of my local favorites.  I love cheese more than anything, and that’s what they talked about for an hour.  So Allison’s recipe for Ricotta hits me right where it counts.  I’ll be trying this once I clear all the papers away…

Humphry Slocombe’s new location

photo courtesy insidescoopsf.sfgate.com

photo courtesy insidescoopsf.sfgate.com

A special note to my good friend Errol, Humphry Slocombe is now open in the SF ferry building.  I’ll be checking this out in the next few days!

believe it or not I have two complaints about Coi

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photo courtesy sf.eater.com

photo courtesy sf.eater.com/maren caruso

If you’ve been reading Parti* Notes (my newsletter and blog) for any length of time you know that I’m a bit of a Daniel Patterson groupie.  I’ve eaten at his restaurants, bought his cookbook, follow him around when he speaks, and scavenge the restaurant rags for any item pertaining to the esteemed DP.  Steve and I had the awesome good fortune (and I seriously mean fortune) to spend some well earned dinero at Coi in December.  So when I saw that Coi had received a facelift last month I suggested that we might, just maybe, have another go?  Please?  Steve just laughed.  But the seed is planted.

Eater SF visited the newly updated space and provided some nice photos.  In December there was only one thing, well maybe two, that I found less than absolute perfection.  Of course the food was awesome.  But I’m a bit of a lighting nut when it comes to restaurants.  And the lighting at Coi was not great.  The tables were not lit properly to really show the beauty of the food.  DP prides himself on appealing to all of his guests’ senses, and in most cases he is spot on, but not with the lighting.  Pun intended.  And apparently this is one of the things that he fixed with this update.

The other very minor complaint that I had on my visit was the restroom.  While it was most assuredly eye catching (round mosaic tiles everywhere, cloth towels for hand drying, gray rocks in the sink to catch the water), the tile work, while interesting, was not well executed.  In addition to lighting in restaurants, I’m also a freak about bathrooms.  I would never complain about this bathroom at all except that it was at Coi where most everything is perfect and it was just slightly less than so.  And apparently during this reno it was taken down to the studs and redone.

So the seed is planted and I’m very much hoping that my hubby will surprise me with another visit so I can check out what’s new in person.  In the meantime, let me know if you get a chance to visit and tell me what you think.