Chevalier Thomas Keller

Thomas Keller greets well-wishers /Michelle Locke

Chef Thomas Keller joined a select group this year when he was named a chevalier by the French Legion of Honor. Only two other Americans who work in food have received that honor, Julia Child and Alice Waters.

Keller celebrated the award at a recent ceremony at his Napa Valley restaurant, The French Laundry in Yountville, and some  notable names turned out of the affair. Among those in attendance were chefs Gary Danko and Alice Waters, vintner Bill Harlan, Chuck Williams, founder of the Williams-Sonoma kitchen equipment stores. and Margrit Mondavi.

It was a very elegant affair with a string quartet and everyone dressed to the nines. Even a very well-behaved poodle in attendance wore a neat little black tie. Waiters circulated with Champagne and trays of fabulous canapes. I snacked first and asked questions later which is how I came to eat my first-ever snail, tucked into a crispy little vol-au-vent. I’m happy to report it was delicious.

Mondavi, widow of vintner Robert Mondavi had the crowd laughing as she talked about remembering the days when Yountville didn’t have a paved road. Now the tiny town is a nexus of fine dining and luxury lodging, much of which has to do with Keller’s world-famous French Laundry. He’s since gone on to open other restaurants including Bouchon and Ad Hoc in Yountville and Per Se in New York.

 

Waters, cofounder of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse and known nationally for her work in promoting eating fresh, seasonal food, also spoke, congratulating Keller for his commitment to quality.

“He has held on to a purity about the food, a sense of the importance of gastronomy, the real pleasure that he brings to people at the talbe _ it’s a beautiful thing,” Waters said.

Black tie and tail /Michelle Locke

 

Bistro Don Giovanni

The bar at Bistro Don Giovanni /Michelle Locke

Just off Highway 29 on the outskirts of Napa, Bistro Don Giovanni is popular with locals and visitors.

The food here is rustic and hearty. Eat indoors in the big, warmly decorated dining room or dine in a glassed-in terrace where a log fire crackles in winter. On warm days, you can sit on the shady patio overlooking fields of vines.

Until her untimely death in 2014, you would often find Chef Donna Scala bustling in and out of the kitchen making sure that everything on the plate is perfection. These days a photo of Donna and her trusty Vespa looks down from the walls of the restaurant. Staff still put out the same menu standbys like the roast chicken and grilled burger as well as seasonal highlights like the peach Back Door Salad.

The wine list is extensive _ a bottle of Mason Sauvignon Blanc is a good accompaniment to most meals _ and there’s also a full bar offering seasonal cocktails. Try the Blondie Mary if it’s on the menu.

 

Address: 4110 Howard Lane, Napa, California
Phone: 707-224-3300
Websitehttp://www.bistrogiovanni.com
Prices: Entrees run from about $13 to $30

  • Don’t miss: The fritto misto appetizer, crisply battered veggies and seafood + spicy aioli

Keeping up with the royals

I’ve got a couple of royal wedding food stories going and I cannot stop singing, “What a lovely day for a wedding.”

It’s really rather unfortunate that I know just the one line.

Anyway, if you’re looking to keep up on the doings of Kate and Wills, here are a few links.

The official site. The latest from Buckingham Palace.

@CassVinograd AP London-based correspondent tweeting with a delightfully irreverent take.

The royal Facebook page. (OK, I typed that perfectly calmly but in my head I’m going, “Good Grief! The royals have a Facebook page!??! What next? The palace Twitter feed?” And here, of course, is the palace Twitter feed, although as of Wednesday morning it was down so perhaps that’s some consolation.)

And, finally, @Queen_UK. No, of course, it’s not the real QE2. But she/he’s quite funny and will keep you up to date on when it’s #ginoclock. Which apparently comes around more often than I would have thought.

 

Parsing parsnips

 

Parsnip, or rather, turnip, cake /Michelle Locke

Back in the BC era (before children) Mr. Vinecdote and I used to enjoy scouting out locations for cheap eats, especially in Oakland’s Chinatown, and one of our best finds was fried parsnip cake at a place called Happy Noodle. (And if I might digress for a moment, how fun are those Chinatown business names? I always got a giggle buying groceries at the New Dick Market in Oakland, because I am 12, and I also felt the pastries we bought at the Happy Bakery, just around the corner from the sadly now-gone Happy Noodle, were just that little bit lighter and fluffier. It makes me wonder, What would happen if I billed myself as Happy Vinecdote? OK, don’t really want to hear the answer on that one.)

Anyway, fried parsnip cake may not sound super appetizing, but it’s actually very good. It’s essentially shredded and steamed vegetable with finely chopped vegetables and something spicy like sausage added in.

For once, my resident Chinese expert could not be of much assistance on this other than to say the Chinese name for parsnips is white carrot. And to further complicate the issue, white carrots covers a host of other things, too, so “parsnip cake” most likely is made of turnips or Chinese white radishes.I found one recipe online, but I would recommend trying to buy these ready-made. They can usually be found at the kind of Chinese restaurants or take-out places that have dim sum. Eaten right out of the box they’re just a bit doughy for my taste. The trick, which I learned at the Happy Noodle, is to slice the cakes in half horizontally and vertically and then fry them in a small amount of olive oil along with a few green onions roughly chopped. Turn the cakes over when the bottoms are golden brown and add one egg, beaten, stirring the egg around to distribute. Cook to desired level of crispness and serve immediately.

If you’re having this for lunch, as with a lot of Chinese food, a cup of green tea hits the spot. But if you’re looking to pair with wine, I would try a robust white, perhaps a Vouvray or a rich chardonnay like Cupcake Chardonay Central Coast.

At Happy Noodle, we always had these with a spicy, dark-brown dipping sauce that complemented the cakes perfectly. I tried recreating at home, no dice, and finally could bear it no longer, asking Mr. V to find out the secret the next time we were in the restaurant. A long conversation ensued, from which I learned basically nothing except that it came in a bottle. (You know how it goes? The other two parties chatter away for about 10 minutes and your interpreter turns to you and says, “He says, yes.”) But I persisted. Could I please see the bottle. I promise not to tell. A short while later out came the waiter solemnly bearing a bottle of … Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce.

A true moment of Sino-Anglo collaboration.

 

 

Totally tofu

 

 

Tofu sheets drying at Hodo Soy Beanery /Michelle Locke

If there’s one thing I enjoy it’s watching other people work _ doesn’t matter whether they’re fixing lunch or fixing a pothole.

So you can imagine how much I enjoyed a recent visit to the Hodo Soy Beanery in Oakland, a state-of-the-art tofu facility tucked away in what was once a candy factory.

The beanery was founded in 2004 by Minh Tsai, who wanted to recreate the fresh, high-quality tofu he ate as a child in Vietnam. The company recently added some star power by signing up John Scharffenberger, founder of the Schaffen Berger chocolate company, as CEO.

If you think of tofu as a kind of punishment food that only a vegan could love, think again. Good tofu is tasty enough to eat raw, with a delicate, cheese-like texture. It’s even better cooked my favorite way, mixed with a spicy, juicy meat sauce.If you’re in Oakland and want to learn more, check out the Hodo Soy website. Tours are available for the public twice a month for $10.

Here’s a video I made of my visit.

 

 

Happily, the “person at work” theme didn’t end for me at the factory. I got to go home and watch Mr. Vinecdote put together a great dish of shrimp and tofu.

To make: Peel and dice about 1 tablespoon of ginger and chop one bunch of green onions into roughly two-inch lengths, frying both in olive oil until beginning to soften. Add a block of tofu, cut into cubes. Stir 1 teaspoon flour into about 3/4 cup of water or chicken broth and add to the pan. Check for seasoning and add salt or soy sauce to taste. In a separate pan, fry about half  pound of shrimp until it turns pink. Stop as soon as shrimp are cooked. Add to the onion-tofu mixture and serve over steamed rice.

For a wine pairing, the flavors of this dish are so delicate that just about any light white wine will do, and, in fact, if you have some bubbles all the better. If you want to try something different, pick up a Picpoul de Pinet, an inexpensive and delicious wine from France’s Mediterranean coast that is perfect with shellfish.

Bon appetit.

 

Cupboard Love

 

Did 2010 make you feel like curling up with a plate of something warm and soft? You weren’t alone. Allrecipes.com just released its top recipes for last year and the list includes  such comfort food staples as brownies, twice-baked potatoes and pulled pork. According to Allrecipes, the list was compiled by analyzing data from 535 million visits and more than 3 billion page views.

In case you’re wondering, that’s just a teensy bit more traffic than Vinecdote gets. (Click more, friends!) And I can’t help wondering how many of those billions of page views translated into food on the table. I can’t count the number of times I’ve started out with the best of intentions and found my interest flagging round about the time when I got to the instruction to take out a third bowl or pan or _ and this is a guaranteed dealbreaker _ “let sit overnight in a cool place.”This is why I’m a fan of food processor desserts. Sifting, stirring, whipping? No. But even at my lowest I can just about manage to measure ingredients into a bowl, push a button and then decant the contents into the oven.Some of my efforts to process my way to quicker sweets have proved unrewarding. It appears chocolate cake can be made this way, but not well. Although I have not entirely given up on that. But the other night I gave peanut butter cookies a whirl and they turned out great. This is real American comfort food (and I say that as a British immigrant) and really very easy.To wit:

EASY PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES (recipe adapted from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened and cut into chunks
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy because I hate creamy)
  • 1-1/2 cups flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

Makes about 3 dozen cookies. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two baking sheets. Put ingredients in food processor. Process until combined. Form dough into balls. Place on greased cookie sheet. Flatten cookies with back of fork. Bake for 10-15 minutes. After the first 5 minutes or so, watch them like a hawk because, like all cookies, they go from blonde and raw to brown and burned in about 15 seconds.Curious about what home cooks were making, or at least thinking about making in 2011? Here’s the list from Allrecipes.Top Recipes of 2010

Hmm, I wonder how brownies would work out in the food processor?Bon appetit!

Pretty Pumpkin

Look what my friend E. made for dinner the other night. It really seems too pretty to eat, doesn’t it? They did, though.

This a great dish for fall and is based on a recipe from Dorie Greenspan, author of the fabulous new cookbook, “Around My French Table.” It’s one of those recipes you can play around with, a little more of this, a little less of that, and is fairly simple, too. Dorie talked about this on NPR recently and it seems to have made quite a hit. I heard about a few other people who were inspired to try it. As E. puts it, “how could I *not* try something with heavy cream, bacon, and Gruyere?” He did use half/half to cut down on the cream factor a bit.  Here’s the original recipe, reprinted with kind permission of Dorie. Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good

  • 1 pumpkin, about 3 pounds
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 1/4 pound stale bread, thinly sliced and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
  • 1/4 pound cheese, such as Gruyere, Emmenthal, cheddar, or a combination, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
  • 2–4 garlic cloves (to taste), split, germ removed, and coarsely chopped
  • 4 strips bacon, cooked until crisp, drained, and chopped
  • About 1/4 cup snipped fresh chives or sliced scallions
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
  • About 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment. Using a very sturdy knife — and caution — cut a cap out of the top of the pumpkin (think Halloween jack-o’-lantern). It’s easiest to work your knife around the top of the pumpkin at a 45-degree angle. C lear away the seeds and strings from the cap and from inside the pumpkin. Season the inside of the pumpkin generously with salt and pepper, and put it on the baking sheet or in the pot. Toss the bread, cheese, garlic, bacon, and herbs together in a bowl. Season with pepper — you probably have enough salt from the bacon and cheese, but taste to be sure — and pack the mix into the pumpkin. The pumpkin should be well filled — you might have a little too much filling, or you might need to add to it. Stir the cream with the nutmeg and some salt and pepper and pour it into the pumpkin. Again, you might have too much or too little — you don’t want the ingredients to swim in cream, but you do want them nicely moistened. (But it’s hard to go wrong here.) Put the cap in place and bake the pumpkin for about 2 hours — check after 90 minutes — or until everything inside the pumpkin is bubbling and the flesh of the pumpkin is tender enough to be pierced easily with the tip of a knife. Because the pumpkin will have exuded liquid, I like to remove the cap during the last 20 minutes or so, so that the liquid can bake away and the top of the stuffing can brown a little. When the pumpkin is ready, carefully, very carefully — it’s heavy, hot, and wobbly — bring it to the table or transfer it to a platter that you’ll bring to the table. Serving You have choices: you can cut wedges of the pumpkin and filling; you can spoon out portions of the filling, making sure to get a generous amount of pumpkin into the spoonful; or you can dig into the pumpkin with a big spoon, pull the pumpkin meat into the filling, and then mix everything up. I’m a fan of the pull-and-mix option. Served in hearty portions followed by a salad, the pumpkin is a perfect cold-weather main course; served in generous spoonfuls or wedges, it’s just right alongside the Thanksgiving turkey. Dorie’s variations There are many ways to vary this arts-and-crafts project. Instead of bread, I’ve filled the pumpkin with cooked rice — when it’s baked, it’s almost risotto-like. And, with either bread or rice, on different occasions I’ve added cooked spinach, kale, chard, or peas (the peas came straight from the freezer). I’ve made it without bacon, and I’ve also made and loved, loved, loved it with cooked sausage meat; cubes of ham are another good idea. Nuts are a great addition, as are chunks of apple or pear or pieces of chestnut.

Bon appetit!

 

Goodbye, Fess

Fess Parker, 85, died today.

Parker, of course, is famous to Baby Boomers as TV’s Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. But he was also a force in wine country, founding The Fess Parker Winery & Vineyard in Santa Barbara wine country  some 30 years ago.

I visited the winery in late 2002 while writing a story about celebrity vintners. I really didn’t know what to expect, but what I got was a gracious, silver-haired giant of a man who radiated equal parts charisma, country charm and a sly sense of humor. He was 78 then and full of energy, driving myself and a photographer around the property in a Hummer, occasionally stopping to stride through vineyards, his long legs eating up the yardage. One of our stops was at a local diner where the waitress knew without asking to bring him his usual breakfast,  a substantial plate heavy on the pancakes.

Fess was my favorite kind of interview, the subject who has interesting things to say and isn’t shy about saying them. The deep,  gravelly drawl didn’t hurt, either.  We drove around hills that were just beginning to turn green with winter rains and he talked about everything from his serious pursuit of wine excellence to his days in Hollywood. And he told stories on himself, like the time his wife went to the wine store to fill the cellar in their new Bel Air home and came back with such famous wines as Chateau Lafite from France. His reaction, he said with a twinkle, was a shocked, “How could you spend $6 a bottle for wine?”

Interestingly, the family at first called the winery simply Parker, wanting the wine to speak for itself. But it wasn’t long before Fess convinced them they needed something extra to stand out from the thousands of brands crowding store shelves. “I learned one thing from Walt Disney,” he said, “and that was the value of a trademark. Some people take it the wrong way and say you’re just promoting yourself. But my vision is to have a presence that represents quality.”

After the interview was over, I thanked him, went home and wrote the piece. I didn’t expect to hear from him again but a few days after Thanksgiving a fax came across my office machine _ a handwritten thank you note from Fess. That’s unusual in this business, and very unusual from a celebrity.

So, today lots of people will be remembering Fess Parker in his roles as frontier heroes Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone _ great characters both. But I’ll be thinking of Fess Parker, wine pioneer and gentleman.

Farewell, Fess.