The space feels a bit like three or four restaurants in one. In the front is a casual and inviting space facing the open kitchen.

The middle section is across from the bar and is a bit more chic. After all, "enoteca" means wine bar.

At the far end is the most formal Wine Cellar dining room.

All along the outside of the restaurant is outdoor seating.

Chef Donato Scotti, a native of Bergamo, Italy, envisioned Donato Enoteca, after years working at well-known Italian restaurants in Italy and the US. His food is the sort to make any Italian happy, there was plenty of stuffed pasta, risotto and pizza to go with endless glasses of Prosecco. While not specializing in a particular region, I suspect the food will often reflect the cuisine of Lombardy.

Some of the tastiest dishes of the night were creamy risotto and braised wild boar served on crostini.

Clearly the chef has skills beyond cooking just the dishes of his own home turf, in particular, the seafood dishes including some grilled shrimp and calamari were succulent and delectable.

That said, the dish I will be most eager to try when I return will be the Costoletta alla Milanese, a thin, crisp breaded veal cutlet that is a speciality of the region and a favorite dish of mine. The Bay Area can always use another great Italian restaurant and if opening night was any indication, Donato Enoteca is well on it's way.

Here is the recipe for one of Donato Enoteca's signature dishes:

Insalata Biete e Fave

Serves: 4

Ingredients:
Chioggia and Golden beets 2 each medium sized
6oz fresh peeled & poached fava beans
1.5 oz wild organic arugula
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 stem rosemary
2 glasses dry white wine (Pinot Grigio preferred)
1 Tablespoon Chianti vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
1 ounce Pecorino fresco or goat cheese
1 clove garlic
Salt & pepper

Method:
Place the beets in a high-edged baking pan. Pour the dry white wine over the beets and add the smashed garlic clove, chopped rosemary and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Cover with aluminum and bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

Remove aluminum and finish baking until done (poke with toothpick, should come out dry and easy). Set to cool until warm approximately 30 minutes.

Once cooled, gently peel skin from beets and cut beets into segments. Set aside.

Prepare vinaigrette dressing by whisking 1 tablespoon Chianti Vinegar with a sprinkle of salt then 3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Toss segmented beets and fava beans with dressing after gently place on bed of arugula topping with a choice of cheese. Lightly drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and ground pepper.

At gala events you expect to see top chefs preparing bite-sized nibbles for guests. But at StarChefs events working chefs are not just preparing the food, they are the ones being celebrated. StarChefs is all about the chefs of today, and the rising star events are a great way to get a taste of what's hot at the moment.

If you're not a chef, it's possible you've never visited StarChefs. The web site offers recipes, community features, publications and articles that are geared for the restaurant professional. Roughly every other year, they also hold an event in our neck of the woods. For the first time, this year they held a Rising Stars Revue™ in Napa and toasted the up and coming chefs of Napa and Sonoma at the historic Charles Krug winery in St. Helena.

Fifteen chefs, sommeliers and a mixologist were honored with food, wine and prizes to boot. Interestingly there were several husband and wife teams, one of whom had to close their restaurant in order to attend. Some favorite dishes from the evening were:

Ubuntu Fregola in Caramelized Vegetable Juices with Salsa Maro from Jeremy Fox of Ubuntu

Poached Poussin with Summer Vegetables from Christopher Kostow of The Restaurant At Meadowood

Ricotta Gnocchi, Salsa di Pomodoro della Nonna and Pecorino from Nick Ritchie of Bottega

Chicken Fried Sweetbreads with Green Bean and Mushroom Casserole from Matt Spector of Jolē

Sauteed Maryland Wild Striped Bass, Ragout of Salsify, Black Trumpet Mushrooms, Bloomsdale Spinach and Spinach Vin Blanc from Restaurateur Award winner John Toulze the girl & the fig, fig café, Estate

Lemon Verbena Parfait with Summer Stone Fruit from Pastry Chef Deanie Hickox-Fox of Ubuntu

Long Ranch Goat Two Ways: Grilled and Braised with Rancho Gordo Beans and Salsa Verde from Host Chef Richard Haake of Winery Chefs

At the event guests got a chance to vote for their favorite dish. I had a hard time choosing between intensely herbal and fragrant fregola dish and the delicate yet crisp striped bass but in the end, the winner was Matt Spector and his decadent sweetbread dish. Looking at the recipes that were in the program, it's clear why we love eating out. With complicated techniques, multiple preparations and long ingredient lists, these were not dishes you would likely make at home!

One of the most beautiful dishes was this plated dessert from Deanie Hickox-Fox. Basically an unconstructed tart, it featured a bit of crunchy crust, sweet apricot with lemon verbena cream accented with a fruit puree, and garnished with edible flowers and a thin wafer cookie.

To make at home, I'd recommend the cocktail presented by Scott Beattie, the Bella Ruffina, a pretty rose colored cocktail perfect for warm Summer days or nights...

Bella Ruffina
4 ounces Braquetto di Aqui
1 ounce Carpano Antico Vermouth
1 dash orange bitters
1 Amarena cherry, for garnish

Combine the sparkling wine, vermouth and bitters in a champagne flute and stir gently. Drop the cherry in the bottom of the glass to serve.

Recipe reprinted from Artisanal Cocktails by Scott Beattie, published by Tenspeed.

Sunset magazine has long been the go-to source for "how to live in the West" especially when it comes to travel, gardening, home improvement and of course, food and wine. Since the centennial of the magazine in 1998, Sunset has been hosting an annual open house called the Sunset Celebration Weekend. The weekend takes place in June, and there is a schedule of chef demonstrations, garden and outdoor living events and live entertainment. The entrance fee is $15 and that gets you admission to all of the presentations although you'll need to sign up for the wine tasting events separately and they fill up quickly.

Many vendors offer tastes and nibbles, but for a meal, you'll have to pay. I was a bit disappointed that the food available was the typical street fair variety such as corn dogs, gyros and overpriced tostada salads. Not very inspiring! The exhibitors and vendors range from Hawaiian Airlines and speciality nurseries to the ShamWow! and everything in between.

Highlights of the experience include meandering through the gardens, including the team garden for the Our One-Block Diet, a tour of the test kitchen and the outdoor kitchen.

Test kitchen has a long counter where finished dishes are evaluated. Once the editorial and test kitchen team is finished with the dish, a green flag indicates the staff can eat it. A red flag means the dish is not yet finished, and a pirate flag means, the dish did not pass muster, eat at your own risk! In the tote bag you receive at the entrance are some coupons, a schedule and a great booklet with recipes from all the chefs so even if you only come one day, you'll have recipes from the whole weekend.

My favorite presentations were by chefs Burak Epir of the Pilita Mediterranean Turkish Grill in San Carlos and Cindy Pawlcyn of Mustard's Grill. Epir showed off his kebab technique with a huge knife, and shared tips such as using a small sieve to filter stems and seeds from dried herbs. He used my favorite pepper, maras, in his recipe for Kilis kebab which also included lots of fresh parsley, the most commonly used fresh herb in Turkey.

Cindy Pawlcyn emphasized the importance of using the ripest produce, explaining it is better to substitute an ingredient than to use something that is not deliciously ripe. She also showed a technique of smashing hazelnuts with the side of a chef knife rather than chopping them to create a better and more uniform texture. Great tips, no matter what recipe you try.

Kilis kebab
10 tomatoes
2 poblano peppers
1 medium white onion, preferably sweet
1 bunch Italian parsley, chopped
1 Tablespoon salt
1/2 Tablespoon fresh ground pepper
1 Tablespoon Maras red pepper, also called Marash pepper
1/2 medium white onion, grated
2 pounds ground lamb, shoulder cut

On a charcoal grill cook the tomatoes and pepper until well charred, remove the skins and finely dice.

Also finely dice the onion and mix it with the chopped parsley. Add to the charred tomato and peppers and set aside. Cover and keep warm.

Prepare the kebab by adding salt, pepper, Maras red pepper and the grated onions to the ground lamb. Mix well. Make the meatballs and place on a skewer. Grill indirectly over the heat, until nice and juicy. Place the charred tomato and peppers on a plate and set the meat kebabs over it.

Recipe reprinted courtesy of Sunset and chef Burak Epir

1. European cakes
These cakes include the very traditional fondant wrapped cake with a bow, Princess cakes with marzipan and St. Honore cakes with pate a choux puffs. Most standard bakeries can do these cakes. Plan on spending at least $4-5 per slice.

2. Art cakes
These cakes feature painting, fondant cut-outs, piped buttercream and other elaborate types of decoration. They are more likely to be unique. Popular sources of inspiration for these cakes comes from the venue, dress details, or the theme of the wedding. At a minimum expect to pay $7 per slice and up.

3. Sculpture cakes
The popularity of these cakes has grown, due to television shows like the Ace of Cakes. What sets these cakes apart is their 3-d structures made to look like almost anything imaginable from the Eiffel Tower to a high heel shoe. Prices are $8-10 per slice, minimum.

4. Alternative cakes
When is a cake not a wedding cake? When it's a stack of cupcakes, doughnuts, or even individual cakes for each guest. The prices for these can vary greatly. Some options are less expensive than a traditional cake, some are more.

Wedding planners suggest contacting a bakery or baker at least five months before the wedding. Popular bakers like Feuersinger often get booked six to nine months ahead and say for popular dates such as New Year's Eve, three day weekends or auspicious Chinese dates, plan a year ahead.

Tips:

Make sure the cake tastes as good as it looks. Fondant will create a smooth finish but is not as tasty as buttercream. Plan on about an hour for your cake tasting, and be sure to bring fabric swatches, photos of cakes and anything else that will help your cake designer get a feel for what you'd like.

Decide on a theme for the wedding before deciding on the cake. This will make it easier to design the perfect cake. The trend in wedding cakes is personalization, a cake like no other. Find an architectural element, a special cake topper or even a monogram.

Got a wacky idea for a cake? Consider using it for the groom's cake, a Southern tradition that has been growing in popularity.

Find out what the cake cutting fee is before finalizing your budget. Many venues charge between $5 and $10 just for cutting and serving.

Two cakes are more economical than one. Get the wedding cake of your dreams in a smaller size and have a back up sheet cake for up to half the guests. Sheet cakes can cost as little as $2.50 per slice and no one will know the difference.

Another money saving tip: Make your own cake stand and work with a florist to decorate the area around the cake.

A cake with columns for height, filled in with flowers, is impressive but likely to be less expensive than a heavily decorated cake.

To get inspired and learn new cooking techniques there are two cookbooks I rely on, Veganomicon and The Accidental Vegan. Veganomicon was written by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, two hipsters and founders of the Post Punk Kitchen. Some great recipes from the book include Pasta e Fagioli and Chickpeas Romesco.

The Accidental Vegan by Devra Gartenstein features recipes that are very straightforward and easy to cook. They are definitely the type of recipes that will make you forget you are not eating meat. The Greek Lentil Soup, Szechuan Noodle Salad, Fennel Tapenade and Baba Ganoush recipes are all keepers. Sadly many of the dessert recipes often use non-hydogenated margarine which does not appeal to me.

I spoke to author, teacher and dietician, Jill Nussinow the "Veggie Queen" to to get her thoughts on the subject:

"I think that the big key to going vegan is to make food taste great no matter what. Many ethnic dishes are or can be vegan easily -- think Thai (minus fish sauce and substitute tamari or Bragg's liquid amino acids), Mexican minus the cheese, Indian, Japanese, Chinese. Classic combos such as rice, beans and tortillas are vegan. The salsa and guacamole are too."

"Use the freshest food that that you can buy and don't expect anything to taste like meat because it doesn't. One of the worst things to do is buy vegan cheese or some kind of meat substitute and think that it's going to be the same as eating whatever it resembles, at least by name."

Here are my tips for incorporating more vegan meals into your diet:

Cook Asian & Middle Eastern Food
These cuisines are loaded with easy vegan dishes such as Hummus, Thai Style Vegetable Curry, Tofu Stir Fried with Shiitake Mushrooms and Chinese Peas.

Concoct Creamy Soups
Making soup is a great way to use a variety of vegetables. Pureeing cooked corn, black beans or potatoes will yield a creamy soup without any dairy.

Build Hearty Salads
Salads made from ingredients like avocados, bulgur, edamame and shredded vegetables are anything but rabbit food.

Don't Forget to Snack!
Dips and spreads made from beans, nuts, and even roasted vegetables can be tasty and nutritious.

Invest in Olive Oil
Olive oil adds flavor and nutrition and can often be used in place of butter. Try it in mashed potatoes, popcorn and on garlic bread.

If you have tips of your own, feel free to leave them in the comments section.

Celiac disease is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with the absorption of nutrients from food. Celiacs cannot tolerate a protein called gluten, commonly found in wheat, rye, barley, and possibly oats. The problem is, gluten can be very hard to avoid. It's not just in things made from flour but as an additive in things like bouillon, candy, cured meats, sauces, soups, soy sauce and even tortilla chips. The symptoms of celiac disease are many and include a whole host of gastrointestinal disorders, making it hard to diagnose.

Relatively few Americans are diagnosed with celiac disease, it's estimated most suffer unknowingly. Fortunately awareness is growing in no small part thanks to food blogs like Gluten-Free Girl, Karina's Kitchen and La Tartine Gourmande (mostly gluten-free). Each of these three blogs include plenty of recipes but are really about the love of food and how our experiences connect us all, written by passionate, funny women with unusually strong creative talents.

Celiac products are beginning to show up on shelves, and not surprisingly some of the best are from Italy like two newly introduced gluten-free organic pastas from Rustichella d'Abruzzo. One is made entirely from corn, the other from rice. If you are cooking for someone who is celiac, they are a great choice. Each are light and flavorful, but like conventional pasta they must not be overcooked or they become gummy. The rice noodles are particularly good with Asian style sauces and the corn noodles pair well with Southwestern flavors. Here are a couple more suggestions for how to use them, courtesy of Market Hall Foods, I think canned tomatoes would work in place of fresh too:

• Cook some loose Italian sausage with fresh tomatoes and garlic and toss with the Corn Fusili
• Stir together fresh tomatoes, black olives, feta cheese and fresh parsley and mint. Let marinate for a few hours and toss with the Rice Spaghetti

Two good books for celiacs include Shauna's book, Gluten-Free Girl How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back...And How You Can Too and 1000 Gluten-Free Recipe. Shauna's book will be an inspiration to anyone who wants to enjoy food, not just tolerate it. While Gluten-Free Girl has some recipes in it, the real bible is 1000 Gluten-Free Recipes. It's what the Joy of Cooking is for the rest of us, a place to find a recipe for almost everything under the sun.

Feeling crabby? On the West Coast our crabs are the Dungeness variety, as opposed to the soft shell crabs or Blue crabs found on the East Coast. They are considered a "best choice" for sustainability according the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch. Dine at local restaurants in February and enjoy special crab dishes and tasting menus. Use your Signature Visa card and receive a commemorative cookbook feature over forty prominent chefs and restaurants, including Chris Cosentino of Incanto, Bruce Hill of Bix and Craig Stoll of Delfina.

Dungeness Crab Week is the second of three seasonal city-wide food celebrations to promote San Francisco chefs and restaurants. As a part of the celebration, the 7th annual Crab Cracking Contest at Union Square benefiting the San Francisco 49ers Foundation will be held Saturday, February 28. Union Square chefs paired with San Francisco 49ers and local celebrities will compete in a crab cracking contest. Enjoy tastes of the created crab dishes, a beer and wine garden as well as music and other activities for the entire family.

What: Dungeness Crab Week

When: February 19 - March 1, 2009

Where: Participating San Francisco restaurants include 1300 Fillmore, Bix, Delfina, Ducca and Jardiniere.

How: Make reservations

Enjoy this fresh take on crab, from Mark Dommen, Chef/Partner from One Market Restaurant.

Dungeness Crab and Asian Pear Salad 

Ingredients:
2 Asian pears
10 large fresh mint leaves, plus more small leaves
1 green onion
About 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
Pinch cayenne chili power
1/2 pound Dungeness crab meat
8 large shelled sections Dungeness crab legs
2 French breakfast radishes
2 cups maché, rinsed and drained 
4 tablespoons Straus organic yogurt
1 tablespoon basil oil or mild extra-virgin olive oil
 
Preparation: 
1. Peel pears, core, and julienne fruit on a Japanese mandolin with medium teeth blade.  In a bowl, mix pears with 1 tablespoon each lemon olive oil and juice, cayenne, and sea salt to taste.
 
2. Stack large mint leaves and cut into fine slivers. Finely dice green onion. Mix mint and onion with pears.
 
3.  In another bowl, gently mix crab meat with remaining lemon oil and lemon juice to taste.
 
4. Rinse radishes; cut into a fine julienne and mix with a few drops lemon oil and lemon juice. 
 
5. Spoon 1 tablespoon yogurt onto center of 4 plates, streaking artistically. On each plate, set a ring mold in yogurt. Fill molds equally with pear salad; press to compact evenly. Top equally with crab meat; press to compact evenly. Carefully lift off molds.
 
To serve:
Top each salad with 2 crab leg pieces, garnish with radishes, maché, and tiny mint leaves; drizzle with basil oil.
 
Makes 4 portions

In past years I've written about trends, but this year I didn't really get a sense of trends. Sure, there were plenty of new products using super antioxidant ingredients and lots of chocolate, especially single estate and exotically flavored varieties. I also saw noticeably fewer salts, but more teas than in years past. But none of that seems earth-shattering news. What struck me this year were what I'm calling "the good ideas." Without further ado, here are some of my top picks for items I hope indicate potential trends in the future.

PB Loco's Peanut Butter with Asian Curry Spice. I love peanut butter but get awfully tired of all the sweet flavors. I can see a lot more possibilities with a delicious savory jar like this one. I hope they introduce more because right now plain and sweet flavors dominate the shelf.

Apparently bakers and pastry chefs have known about LorAnn for years. LorAnn makes bakery emulsions which are flavorings that are not alcohol based so they don't "bake out." Available in flavors like almond, rum, buttery vanilla and more, they are bright and true, and very reasonably priced at about $5 for 4 ounces.

I'm excited to see that chocolate is being grown in Hawaii. Original Hawaiian Chocolate products are not quite as good as the best chocolate from Venezuela, but it has its own character and it is better than what is typically used for that local confection, chocolate covered macadamia nuts. I'm sure it will only improve over time.

If you've been to Barcelona, or seen Anthony Bourdain's Spain episode of Without Reservations than you just might know something about the quality tinned seafood from Spain that is more highly prized and more expensive than even fresh seafood. Hats off, or perhaps sombreros off, to Conservas Gallega for importing these conservas into the US.

The Spicy Gourmet spice blending sets. The best spices are whole, freshly toasted and ground. How do you get people to toast and grind? Sell them top quality spices paired with a grinder. I wish this company much success in their worthy endeavor.

Yuzu, yuzu kosho, sudachi, and kabosu. If you don't know much about these Japanese ingredients, with any luck, you will soon. WA Imports is bringing beautifully packaged pure Japanese citrus based juices, jams and pastes to market under the brand name Yakami Orchard. These are not the adulterated products you find on the market today and they are great for desserts, sauces, marinades.

Head over to Cooking with Amy to check out some of my favorite international products from the show.

All Summer long chocolatiers suffer as warm weather makes working, not to mention shipping their delicate product a challenge. But Winter comes along and everyone I know craves chocolate. Hot chocolate, chocolate confections, chocolate cake, it's all good.

This coming Saturday you can indulge your desire for chocolate and find out what to drink with your favorite bon bon. CocoaBella Chocolates will be hosting a Top Chocolatier Pairing Event, featuring Christopher Elbow of Christopher Elbow Artisanal Chocolates, Fritz Knipschildt of Knipschildt Chocolatier, and Jeff Shepherd of Lillie Belle Farms.

For the first time ever, these three of the world's top artisan chocolatiers will be together presenting their favorite chocolate and spirit pairings at CocoaBella's flagship old-world European style store in San Francisco.

What: Top Chocolatier Pairing Event

Where: CocoaBella Chocolates, 2102 Union St, San Francisco

When: Saturday January 17th from 8:00-9:00 pm

How: Tickets are $20 per person, including drinks and chocolate, and are available at CocoaBella stores or by phone at (415) 931-6213

To this day one of my favorite hot chocolate drinks is this one:

Nutella Hot Chocolate

Makes: 1 serving

Ingredients:
3/4 cup milk, whole or low fat
2 Tablespoons Nutella

Preparation:
Gently heat the milk over medium low heat, in a heavy saucepan. Stir in the Nutella and whisk until smooth. Serve in a mug with or without whipped cream.

I get plenty of press releases about $100+ dinners. But really good deals are hard to find when it comes to dining and more desirable now than ever. For the next couple of months I'm going to try to focus on events under $40. We'll see how it goes...

Dine About Town, the annual dining promotion sponsored by the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau is back! In a traditionally slow restaurant season it offers a good way to try a pricey restaurant for less than you might normally pay. Three course lunches are $21.95 and three course dinners are $34.95. Just a few of the restaurants on the list I highly recommend include Foreign Cinema, Luella, Anchor & Hope, RNM, Absinthe, Ducca and 1550 Hyde. But make your reservations now, because popular restaurants get very busy during this promotion, especially on the weekends.

A particularly good deal is Macy's Dine About Town launch party. Your $20 donation to Meals on Wheels gets you 10 tasting tickets which you can use to sample offerings from some of the Dine About Town participating restaurants, namely Café Andree, Campton Place Restaurant, Chez Papa Resto, Colibri Mexican Bistro, Daffodil, Fish & Farm, First Crush, Level III, Market Street Grill, Roots, and XYZ.

What: Dine About Town launch party

Where: The Cellar @ Macy's Union Square, 170 O'Farrell Street, San Francisco

When: January 14, 2009 at 6 p.m.

How: Purchase tickets. Note that tickets must be purchased in advance; bring your printed confirmation to exchange for tasting tickets at the event. Space is limited.

Why: At the party you will meet Dine About Town featured chefs, enjoy a cooking demonstration by Jake des Voignes, executive chef at Fish & Farm, moderated by “the tablehopper” Marcia Gagliardi and taste Napa Valley wines and receive a keepsake "Only in San Francisco" wine glass.