Check, Please! Bay Area is KQED's local series featuring regular people reviewing Bay Area restaurants.

Visit the Check, Please! Bay Area blog to experience the restaurants from Season 2 Episode 8:

1) Little Star Pizza: | restaurant information | reviews

2) Vignette: | restaurant information | reviews

3) Zatar: | restaurant information | reviews

Please feel free to join the discussion by posting comments about the show and your reviews of the featured restaurants!

You can watch all episodes online as well as subscribe to the Check, Please! video podcast in iTunes.

This season, Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic will be blogging about what happens behind-the-scenes during the making of Check, Please! Bay Area.

You can also view the Check, Please! Bay Area photo gallery to view behind-the-scenes shots at many of the featured restaurants.

Just try to walk by Tartine without stepping inside. I dare you. Easily, in my estimation, the best bakery in the Bay Area, the smell of their freshly baked delicious treats will seduce you. It's like a little corner shop of sirens. Luscious, flaky, fruit-filled, chocolate-dipped, crunchy, nutty, tender-baked heaven.

So you had better believe that when I found out they were going to have a party to launch their gorgeous new cookbook--Sweet and Savory Pastries, Tarts, Pies, Cakes Croissants, Cookies and Confections by Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson--I made sure to clear my datebook.

For all you fans out there, tonight, yes tonight, Chronicle Books, Tartine Bakery, and M.A.C. Modern Appealing Clothing will be gettin down and um, tasty.

When:
Thursday November 16th from 6-9pm

Where:
M.A.C. Modern Appealing Clothing
387 Grove Street, San Francisco
415.863.3011

Tartine treats and beverages will be served.

Title: Co-founder, Sellers Markets
Hometown: Bay Village OH

1. What did you do before opening Sellers Markets?
Songwriter and musician, I was in the band Stabbing Westward. There are a lot of parallels between music and food. It's the theater of food, we have an open kitchen, so you see it as it's happening. It's like a rock show, people get nervous, you prep, from 11 to 2 you're jammed then you realize what a rush it was.

2. What is your vision for the future of Seller's Markets?
We're going to remain committed to local, sustainable agriculture; we have a chef-driven menu with a value-price point. We take advantage of seasonal ingredients and introduce them and see what flies. We will always do seasonal dishes. We're trying to blur the line between fast food and fine dining.

Our goal is to recreate the success of the first store, we believe we could grow it organically to in the Bay Area to 15 stores by 2010. If the tidal wave of organic food continues then it could be a statewide or national brand. Anywhere there is a Whole Foods store we could do well.

3. What is your definition of "sustainable", any roadblocks to achieving sustainability?
Being a good steward to the land and raising animals humanely, you don't use pesticides and hormones. Taking care of the land and taking care of the animals and crops.

A lot of sustainable providers are small batch artisan providers. We've had to switch out some folks because some delivery guy decided to go surfing. We need products delivered consistently. That's been a big hurdle. We will only need more sustainable providers as we continue to grow. I hope the suppliers will step up to the demand.

4. What are the most popular item on the menu?
The BBQ chicken sandwich, pulled chicken with Belfiore smoked mozzarella, jalapeno slaw, tomato on Boulangerie Bay Bread panini roll. It's a killer sandwich. It's been on the top of the charts going on 21 months. The rotisserie chicken salad is also way up there.

5. What's the most surprising thing people probably don't know about Sellers Markets?
How well we value the people who work here. We have profit sharing for key employees, and stock options for everyone--dishwashers on up. We want to take care of our people. We plan to offer health care to everyone, which we will be able to do soon, when we reach a critical mass of stores. A lot of people bring their family and friends into the company and I think that says a lot about our business.

Every time I teach a class I invariably get a few emails which say, "I can't make this one, but I'll try to take your next session." In the past there may not have been a next class, but recently I made a commitment to teach some basics, on a schedule no less.

In the next few months I will teach what I consider to be basics within the foundation of baking. My own experience is that by learning some of the building blocks, we can build and grow from there to more complicated ideas and methods. All pastry starts with butter and flour, custards with the egg, caramel is sugar, and meringue, egg whites.

And everyone is a little afraid of pie dough.

My classes will be small. I am offering 2 spots, at half the cost, in each class for those who may not be able to afford the price, but can help me with set-up and clean-up. I am teaching in a commercial space I have been consulting in-- not a fancy kitchen, but practical for 8-12 students to get in the swing of actually mixing, shaping, rolling, piping, whisking, smelling, watching, practicing, touching, tasting and discussing. The first and last baking class I taught in this space was pate a choux and the response was overwhelming.

In the last few years I have also taught numerous knife skills classes, but those tend not to need a professional kitchen space. I've enjoyed teaching them in a number of lovely homes all over the Bay Area, and will most probably teach them continuously as the need arises. Want to host a class in your home? Follow this link to Eggbeater where you can click on the "Email Me" link, in the upper left hand column, to discuss with me about how these classes are formed.

The dates and subjects are as follows:

Sunday November 19 PIE DOUGH
Sunday December 3 CARAMEL
Sunday December 17 PIE DOUGH
Sunday January 14 CUSTARDS
Sunday January 28 Would you like a repeat, or something new? There's been a vote for egg whites, but feel free to chime in on what you'd like for me to cover.

For specific information about the cost, how to register, the time and location, click on this link.

What's great about having a schedule is that people can sign up early, block out the date, or get a gift for someone in advance. I have begun a little Excel spreadsheet to keep all the classes separate and organized. My hope is I can be as organized as June Taylor was with her marmalade and fruit conserve classes-- she gave the same handouts for each student, and everyone who took a class from her covered the same information, making us all feel as though we were part of a delicious club.

And for those of you who need a little background:

I am a seasonal fruit-inspired pastry chef with over 14 years experience cooking and baking professionally. I've worked in such notable kitchens as Gramercy Tavern in Manhattan, The French Laundry and Bouchon in Yountville, Citizen Cake and Aziza in San Francisco.

My desserts have garnered attention in The SF Chronicle, Gourmet, San Francisco Magazine and I was a featured Chef in 7X7.

Six years ago I gave my first public cooking demonstration through the Shop With The Chef program at the SF Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market, and soon taught a myriad of unique baking classes with Sur La Table. I began teaching private independent classes a few years ago, first by teaching friends and friends of friends. My classes are chock full of detailed information and stories about the many kitchens I've worked in.

Whether you're a baking novice, a line cook, or a a seasoned home cook/baker, I assure you there's something to learn in my classes. I love teaching, inspiring, passing on, answering questions and watching people really get what something should look, feel and taste like when one learns the whys and not merely the hows of baking. I hope to see you soon.

Come one, come all, come hungry to learn.

Autumn harvest from the market ~ potimarron, squash, pomegranates, persimmons and little green kiwai

How six months morphed into thirty months is more than my little brain can comprehend. When I set out on this culinary adventure with one duffel bag, three pairs of shoes (including my cooking clogs) and my precious set of knives, my goal was to survive six months then move to New York to cook in a kitchen there. I had no intention of staying and actually my biggest fear as I boarded the plane was whether or not I'd be able to make it the entire six months.

Arc de Triomphe, my first picture I took on my first day in Paris, 4 May 2004

I was in tears the day before I left at my friend M & B's house. She said: "What are you afraid of?" I sniffled: "That I will fail and have to come home early." Her response: "So what?" Sage advice in hindsight. At the time it was the worst outcome imaginable and I threw myself on the bed, inconsolable. Two and a half years later, much to my amazment, not only did I not have to come home early, I've managed, by the grace of God and some remarkable friends who championed my journey, to survive and thrive in this City of Lights. I can't believe how much time I wasted worrying and agonizing over something that never came to fruition though I believe a healthy dose of humility is always beneficial to keep life in perspective.

So how to celebrate such a momentous and seemingly impossible accomplishment? With a big dinner of course, surrounded by some of those friends who cheered me along from the moment I landed. Friends I met my first week in Paris, friends that helped me find work, one as I was boarding the plane to move back to San Francisco, and new friends discovered in this wacky food blogging world.

I was so delighted with my last dinner of duck and figs that I thought I'd stick with it and try a recipe I found in the UK Food & Travel willed to me by a friend who moved back to Washington. So off I went to visit my blue-eyed butcher Serge for six beautiful duck magrets (breasts) and then to my little Place Monge market that has been a source of joy, inspiration and a feeling of belonging since I arrived.

First stop was Bernard and his bio produce stand for sweet potates (patates douces), persimmons, potimarrons (cross between a pumpkin - potiron - and chestnut - marron) and other funky squash for the centerpiece, along with herbs, tomatoes, and of course the supporting actress in tonight's show, a flat of figs.

Next stop was Momo and some olives for apps, then Jean-Marie and his foie gras stand. Across the way to Philippe for some fabulous cheeses and then les fleurs automn for the mantle and table. Bernard also showed me some now treats he had - a kiwai (kee-why), which is the ancestor to the ubiquitous kiwi. These little kiwai were no bigger than the tip of my thumb and I was instructed by Bernard to just pop them in my mouth, skin and all. They have a smooth soft skin, not fuzzy, so easy to eat and not so surprisingly they tasted just like a...kiwi sans hassle and mess of peeling them! So I draped a few branches of these over my potimarron, squashes, persimmons et al and created an interactive centerpiece that everyone could nibble on throughout the meal.

So now it was time to cook. My friend Marleen had come down from England for the celebration and offered to help prep. I immediately took her up on it, tossed her an apron and we got chopping. About two hours before people showed up I put in a frantic call to my friend Jeff to come help as I was painfully far behind with visions of my guests falling asleep in the living room waiting for dinner. Thanks to four extra hands, we served dinner on time and everyone had a happy glow from the champagne and foie gras. Voila le menu...

Deux Ans et Demi en France!
Two and a Half Years in France!
Samedi, 4 November 2006
chez Laura

Pommery Champagne Brut Royal
Pate aux Armignac
Saumon Fumee sur Brioche avec Citron Creme Fraiche

Chateau Larcis Jaumat, St Emilion Grand Cru 2004
Magret de Canard "Laque" avec Sauce aux Figues
Patates Douces avec Sauge
Haricots-verts et Eschalots avec Sauce aux Creme-Noix Epicee

Sauterne de Chateau Haut Bommes 2002, Gironde
Assiette des Fromages

Chateau de la Dauphine 1989, Fronsac
Gateau Chocolat Moelloeux
Glace Vanille Fait Maison

Mignardises de Patisserie Pinaud

Et voila les recettes...

Lacquered Duck
* adapted from Food & Travel, UK Edition, October 2005
this recipe is for 4 people. I bought huge duck breasts that served two people easily so adjust your recipe accordingly

- 4 duck magrets (breasts)
- 2 T coriander seeds - crushed
- 2 T fennel seeds - crushed
- 200 ml light soy sauce
- 4 oranges - juice & zest (I used clementines for this and the fig sauce. They are sweeter and so beautiful and abundant right now)
- 4 cinnamon sticks (or a few shakes of cinnamon, forgot to buy the sticks)
- 8 star anise (I substituted a few shakes of quatre epices or allspice here since I was too lazy to trek across town in search of star anise.)
- 4 T honey
- 2 T brown sugar
- pinch cayenne (I put too much and it had a heck of a kick and though no one kindly pointed it out, quite a bit of water and wine was consumed :) )

1. crush fennel and coriander seeds in a morter and pestle or a blender or mini cuisinart.

2. measure out the rest of the lacquer ingredients

3. zest and juice oranges

4. combine all the lacquer ingredients, simmer and reduce by half

5. while the lacquer is reducing, score and render duck fat in medium heat saute pan, pouring off the fat as it accumulates

3. place duck breasts on rack, skin side up, in roasting pan

4. pour the lacquer reduction over duck

5. repeat about 8-10 times until it is glazed

6. if the lacquer gets too thick, add 200 ml water + 1 tbsp sugar and continue glazing

7. place in a 425F oven (no. 7) and cook for approximately 15 minutes (depending on size of the magrets)

The fig sauce was the same recipe from my Vendee figs recipe here.

The sweet potatoes I tossed in the duck fat that I'd reserved from the last time I'd make duck and sage chiffonade (cut in ribbons) and roasted for about 45 minutes at 400F.

I decided to try a variation on my standard green beans with lardons (bacon), spiced nuts and roquefort. I didn't want flavors to compete with the duck so I leaned a little lighter in flavor this time. I blanched the green beans, and finished cooking them in a saute pan with chopped shallots. In a separate pan I added 250 ml of cream and my spiced nuts (nuts tossed with salt, pepper, cayenne, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin, tumeric and roasted) and let those flavors meld. When the beans were done i poured the spiced nut cream sauce over the mound of green beans and tossed. It sounds heavy but there wasn't a lot of sauce and it just lightly coated the green beans and accompanied the duck perfectly.

The salmon-brioche apps I learned when I worked at Farallon. It is simply toasted brioche with smoked salmon laid on top, cut into bite sized squares served with a tiny dollop of creme fraiche mixed with lemon zest and lemon juice.

The chocolate fondant recipe is highlighted in my Chocolate Conundrum post. I wanted pure flavors to serve with a stunning Bordeaux I'd received as a gift on my 2-year anniversary in Paris (any excuse to have a dinner party!) so pure chocolate, pure vanilla, and pure fabulous red cabernet sauvignon.

The chocolate fondant cake was a bit more fondant than cake but I nestled it with a scoop of home made vanilla ice creamand served with the 1989 Chateau de la Dauphine Bordeaux. It was quite a crescendo to an evening of convivialite. Here's to two and a half more!

Bon appetit!

----------------------

If you're interested in reading more about this delicious journey, please check out my recently published book, My Keyboard for a Cutting Board - Life in a French Kitchen v1.0.

"Part luscious food-porn and part letter home from abroad, Laura's first book is both engaging and compelling, telling the story of her initial experiences cooking in France after leaving a corporate cubicle job in Silicon Valley. Culled from her blog, and letters she actually wrote to friends and family, it shares her story - including descriptions of food that make the mouth water, and far less appetizing descriptions of things like the shoebox apartment she rents, that could fit inside one room of her former residence in the Bay Area." -Melissa Bartell, Bibliotopia

Check, Please! Bay Area is KQED's local series featuring regular people reviewing Bay Area restaurants.

Visit the Check, Please! Bay Area blog to experience the restaurants from Season 2 Episode 7:

1) Shalizaar: | restaurant information | reviews | recipe

2) South Park Cafe: | restaurant information | reviews

3) Forbes Island: | restaurant information | reviews | recipe

Please feel free to join the discussion by posting comments about the show and your reviews of the featured restaurants!

You can watch all episodes online as well as subscribe to the Check, Please! video podcast in iTunes.

This season, Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic will be blogging about what happens behind-the-scenes during the making of Check, Please! Bay Area.

You can also view the Check, Please! Bay Area photo gallery to view behind-the-scenes shots at many of the featured restaurants.

There are a whole crop of wine books out right now. Here is my guide to the current harvest:

For the Oenophile
Anthony Dias Blue's Pocket Guide to Wine
If you don't know what oenophile means, this book is probably not for you. It is less a guide to wines, than a guide to wineries. Divided by region, the author actually recommends only a handful of wines in several price categories. Those wishing to survey a regions wineries at a glance may find it handy.

For the Francophile
The Wines of France
I have to say I love this book. It is an easy to navigate guide to the wines of France written in an accessible and unpretentious style. First thing you will notice is that it uses colored tabs to make perusing a region a snap. The crib sheet feature at the beginning of each chapter lists Must Trys, Smart Buys, and Safe Houses. Whether you are new to French wine or a connoisseur this book will help you sort through the wineries, the wines, the price ranges and recent vintages.

For the Novice
The Simple and Savvy Wine Guide
Wine can be intimidating. Several authors have attempted to demystify wines and write guide books "for the rest of us". Unfortunately for those who know a bit about wine, the style of this book may feel a bit too dumbed down. For example one of the chapters in this book is Wines by Mood, here you'll find categories like "Girl's Night In: Pinks, Bubbles & Sweeties" and "Bathtub Whites". Get the picture?

For the Foodie
What to Drink with What you Eat
This book is one of my favorites, it take a unique approach to pairing wines, and other beverages with food. You can look up the wine and see what it pairs with or look up the food. Either way you slice it, this is an enthusiastic no-nonsense book that will encourage you to experiment and enjoy. And really isn't that what wine should be all about anyway?

Head over to Cooking with Amy for my review of Jay McInerney's latest book on wine, A Hedonist in the Cellar

San Francisco Gourmet was one of several bloggers who attended "Inside the Kitchen" -- a culinary event held at the Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay several weeks ago. In his most recent post, SF Gourmet talks about William Werner, pastry chef for the Ritz and its' flagship restaurant Navio.

... a young pastry chef, perhaps accustomed to toiling away out of the spotlight as he builds his career, stunned the crowd with his innovative, delicious, and utterly satisfying desserts. This seemed to be the culinary equivalent of the walk-on actor who almost steals the show, a forceful exclamation point demanding that we sit up and take notice.

Sacramento food bloggers gathered recently to hold the First Sacramento Food Blogger Picnic. Elise posts a great roundup of the day and Brendon chronicles the picnic with words and pictures on his blog.

This, my friends, is my idea of bliss: a mellow, unrushed conversation with food bloggers over wine and dessert.

Looking for cooking ideas? Tea tempts us with a recipe for beet radish pickles, Ellen encourages us to make Mustard Baked Pork Chops, and Muffin Top shows us how to make some lovely pumpkn muffins

Our Bay Area bloggers don't lack for opinions about local restaurants. What are we discussing these days? Blog Appetit talks about the changes at Yoshi's, the Restaurant Whore reviews Bar Crudo, Food Musings tells us why we should try Maverick, and Restaurant Girl discusses Sauce in Hayes Valley..

What happens when you get something in your email inbox that says "Heritage Red Wattle Smoked Pork Chops" will be at your local market in a few days? Besides moving all around in your desk chair so it looks like you have ants in your pants, feel your mouth water uncontrollably, and resist the urge to call your local drug dealer, Fatted Calf, and tell them you NEED that RIGHT NOW, nothing.

What can you do but wait? It hurts, but you have to wait. The market opens in 52 hours, surely that's not too long to wait for manna, right? It could be so much worse. It could be a mangosteen which might never come to your continent, or the Ortolan, which is going extinct.

You get to the market. It's there, scratched in chalk innocently on a little chalkboard. The drug dealers smile, right out in the open. They have what you want. What will you have to do to get some? For some insane reason they still have them, even though it's almost noon.

Or they've run out and not erased those words, Heritage Red Wattle Smoked Pork Chops, yet. They're testing you. It's working, you're sweating, can't concentrate on your lover's words. All you can think is

Pork Chop

like a blinking neon sign in Time's Square, (and I don't mean the ones there now advertising Disneyland-themed restaurants), darkness enveloping the letters when they blink for a moment.

Somehow, like the hero you never read about in the paper, you get ahold of two chops. Pink and fat and traced lovingly with white fat, cut down one side with a strong bone. O G-d. You think you might faint.

When you get your booty home, you release them from their protective plastic covering, rinse with cold water, dry gently in papertowels, sprinkle generously with Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper and drop-lift them into your searingly hot, blacker than black cast iron skillet, fat edge down.

Ttssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!

Smoke rises. Fat jumps. Protein caramelizes. No fat is in the pan except what renders as you create a strip of crunchy salty pork fat that will later be embraced by your mouth, tongue, teeth. You cook chop to just over 160F, let it relax, saute some escarole, mix it with the inner yellow tender leaves, raw, send her out for a few Meyer lemons, dress hot-raw salad with lemon juice, sel gris, olive oil and pepper. Nothing too much to get in the way of the Heritage Red Wattle Smoked Pork Chops. O no.

When the chop hits the pan you smell

Bacon.

You go limp. A pork chop that is also bacon? You pinch yourself. Goddamn but you're lucky to be alive.

It's the best breakfast you've ever had after you've emerged from bed at 1 pm. You lover's hair is tousled. The gleam in her eyes has been polished by you just moments earlier. Neither of you can say much but moans can be heard.

Dizzy with exquisite delight, she says "I have to get that Fatted Calf Newsletter." And you make a mental post it note: be on the lookout for more Red Wattle pork.

Willy Wonka's in da' house! It's that time of year again... the fabulous, and now worldwide, Salon du Chocolat. Picture a convention center. Then picture a convention center filled with chocolate. There you have the Salon du Chocolat. On Monday, I trekked across town to the Paris Expo to taste chocolate from the global greats and the tiny artisanal chocolatiers from the far corners of France. Enjoy....

Jean-Paul Hevin - a man after my own heart.... I'll take these over a pair of ruby slippers any day!

obscene amounts of chocolate....

chocolate fashions...

chocolate beauty products... face lotion and scrub...

the obligatory chocolate fountain that we dipped chunks of fruit in and ate right there with juice running down our chin :)

chocolate covered marshmallow sticks - my personal favorite. guimauve is also my favorite French word. no idea why, it's just fun to say :)

rose macarons

mendiants which means vagabond in French

nuits d'amour ~ nights of love. hmmmmm... i'll take a case!

chocolate origami

and more obscene amounts of chocolate....

au revoir.... a la prochaine....

If you are not yet in a chocolate coma, here are some pictures from last year's Salon du Chocolat in Paris and New York....

--------------------------

Chocolate Ooze Cakes

Ingredients for 6 servings:

6 oz. butter (plus some extra to butter molds)
6 oz. bittersweet chocolate
3 large eggs
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup granulated sugar (plus extra for molds)
3 teaspoons of flour

1. Preheat oven to 450F.

2. Melt the butter and chocolate together over a bain marie.

3. Whisk the eggs, yolks and sugar until light yellow in color. this is called "blanchir" in French.

4. Combine the chocolate/butter mixture into the egg/sugar slowly.

5. Add the flour and combine.

6. Pour the mixture into the molds.

7. Bake in a 450F oven for 7-8 minutes, unmold and serve immediately.

8. Test one ahead of time because every oven and cooking time is different.

Bon appetit!