I've never been to The French Laundry. Ever since my love for food evolved from outings to the Olive Garden to a lovely dinner at Oliveto, it has represented to me the pinnacle of haute cuisine in America. Several years ago, when I happened to be spending the day in Yountville with an ex-boyfriend, I asked him to slowly drive past the restaurant in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the chef (as we weren't able to get a reservation). And lo -- there he was, the celebrated Thomas Keller, standing in the bucolic backyard and chatting with one of his staff. I squealed loudly like a teenage groupie and my ex-boyfriend remarked, "Well, I can't compete with that."

I still haven't been to the restaurant. But after dining tonight at Benu, I almost feel that I have -- through one of its gifted progeny. Keller's former chef de cuisine of 4 1/2 years, Corey Lee, is the creative force behind this remarkable restaurant. He's been receiving loads of press, with renowned New York City chef David Chang recently declaring Benu, "the best restaurant in America." It's been open for a little over a year, and it's still possible to easily get a prime time reservation on a weeknight. (I'm sure that'll change as they were recently awarded with two Michelin stars.) With my friend Scott Spencer of Spencer's Pantry in tow, we headed to Hawthorne Lane in SOMA.

After you pass through the gate that leads to Benu's stone courtyard, you pass by a glass door on the right that offers you a glimpse of the spotless kitchen that emanates the same calm zen quality as the restaurant itself. The staff seems unhurried, working intently on their dishes at their stations.

The first thing I noticed about the spare, modernist interior after we sat down (designed by Richard Bloch) was the muted, gray tonality of the space that was gently illuminated with a neutral, balanced light. It reminded me of walking into an art museum at dusk or that first moment before a play is about to begin, with the house lights gradually dimmed before the performance. There's a cool stillness that evokes more of a contemplative mood -- rather than a romantic one -- in its atmosphere. With higher-end fine dining, I'm accustomed to walking into hushed, dark spaces lit only by candlelight and the other patrons shrouded in darkness.

Scott and I knew beforehand that we were going to order the 19-course tasting menu ($180 / person, which the whole table must order together). Yes, 19 courses -- and spoiler alert: each one was exquisite. I won't go through the entire tasting menu -- which you can see in the slideshow below -- so I'll just review some of the highlights.

The square black wooden tables, sans white tablecloths, offer an appealing backdrop that is both casual in its presentation yet still retains a formal quality. Each dish is served in a beautiful Korean ceramic vessel (made by KwangJuYo, seemingly crafted with each course in mind as they complemented the ingredients perfectly.) And most of the courses were eaten with a small silver spoon that lay on a stone rest. The service was impeccable; each dish was brought out by a rotation of different servers -- a nice touch that added a punctuation of freshness to each course -- who described the ingredients and the best way to indulge in the dish.

A single bite of oyster and pork belly that wonderfully melded together and was encapsulated in a sugar glass-like kimchi-infused wrapper was probably the most delightful thing I've ever eaten in my life. And to think that was only the second course; my mind was already blown by the combination of the crunchy kimchi glass giving way to the luscious oyster and pork belly in one rapturous, melt-in-your-mouth bite. Umami overload.

Do you know those colorful shrimp chips that sometimes accompany dishes at Asian restaurants? Benu reinvented this snack favorite with their "salt-and-pepper squid" dish by creating a large, peppery black chip topped with tender cubes of squid and jalapeno for a bit of a spicy kick.

And there were the soup dumplings. Not just any soup dumplings, but "foie gras xiao long bao." (I'll digress here for a moment and say that dumplings are one of the core elements of my being. I am obsessed with dumplings, to the point where I contemplated starting my own independent dumpling enterprise.) They arrived on an elegant white circular porcelain platter that's a nod to the steamed bamboo baskets commonly seen in Chinese restaurants. After taking a small bite to release the warm foie gras broth into the spoon, I slurped up the rich soup before eating the rest of the tender pork dumpling. I was rather forlorn that there were only two; it was over much too soon. (And I suppose, come next July, this dish will be off the menu.)

The "beef braised in pear, beech mushroom, sunflower seeds and leaves" -- like the kimchi glass earlier in the meal -- drew upon Chef Lee's Korean roots. One secret to creating tender Korean beef barbecue is to add pear to the traditional soy sauce, garlic, onions and scallions marinade to help tenderize the beef. And the succulent (and I'm guessing, sous vide-prepared) beef was heavenly.

The entire tasting menu unfolded like the four seasons, starting off with lighter bites and spring-like tastes, then ending with deeper, richer autumnal flavors towards the end. A gorgeous dessert of "fig, white chocolate, balsamic vinegar, sake lees (the sediment leftover after rice is pressed to make the alcohol)" resembled a delicate snowfall on a winter's day. It was accompanied with "malted rice tea, pine nut, pine needle honey"; you'd drink the sweet tea, then eat a soft custard at the bottom of the glass.

Three hours later, at the end of our feast -- concluded with fine chocolates from Napa-based La Forêt Chocolate & Confections -- Scott and I were in a state of serene bliss. The flawlessly executed dishes -- with several an homage to Asian home-cooking favorites -- inspired lively discussion between us about technique, ingredients, and our love of food. Benu is a temple to fine dining, and I will make another pilgrimage on another special occasion.

Benu
22 Hawthorne Street
San Francisco CA 94105 map
(415) 685-4860
For parties of seven or more, contact Kathryn Douglass at (415) 685-4860 x116
Dinner service only. Tuesday-Saturday, 5:30pm to 9:30pm
Benu on Facebook

Chef/Restaurateur Michael Mina may have his roots in San Francisco, but with 18 restaurants across the country now, you don't have to be in the Bay to taste his food. In fact, with the opening of American Fish, his latest venture at the sleek ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Sin City now boasts one more restaurant from Mina Group than even San Francisco (for those keeping score, the count is 5-4).

American Fish (ARIA, Las Vegas)

American Fish celebrates the bounty of America's great lakes, rivers and oceans. The menu features regional products prepared in four signature cooking methods: poached in ocean water, griddled over cast iron, baked in sea salt, and wood grilled and smoked. The design of the space impossibly melds soothing nature with Vegas glitz. Displayed behind the elevated bar is an infinity forest of birch trees, a blue-lit installation above brings to mind salmon running upstream, copper and wood tones glow throughout the dining room, and a gleaming showcase kitchen spans the length of the room.

While I was in Vegas for the Food & Wine All-Star Weekend, I had the opportunity to sit down with Chef Mina, taste some of his food, and chat about American Fish, techniques you can bring into your own kitchen, inspiration, and of course, great food. Here's what he had to say:

Michael Mina at American Fish (Las Vegas)

What particularly about the concept for American Fish made you want to bring it to Vegas?
You live in San Francisco so you know my background was Aqua and it was a fish restaurant. That's the first restaurant I brought to Las Vegas. As everything else, I think times change, and change is obviously good, but that era of fine dining, more and more, is becoming high energy. In the food, I think product and technique more than ever right now is the driving force, and what I mean by that is people are going back to simplicity. It's interesting because diners are going back to simplicity in dishes but with the highest level of quality of product that we've ever seen them be aware of, which is great. I was just in New York at ABC Kitchen and I couldn't believe it – I was like, what?! Jean-Georges is serving fried calamari with aioli and tomato sauce…but it was perfect. I mean it was perfect, it was delicious…more than ever now, people are looking for simplicity and familiarity, and that's what this concept is all about. This concept is about things like cooking trout in a cast iron pan over an open fire. As simple as it sounds when it's done really well people can relate to it and they enjoy it. And that was the idea. The ability to build a showcase kitchen like this and use those techniques and then feature a lot of product from America because there's such good product here now.

Is there anything on the menu that is your personal favorite?
The salt grill technique. That's definitely my favorite technique. I just love it because it gets both the wood flavor and it gets the salt flavor, and I like salt. I like that natural flavor of salt in the food where cooking it in rock salt gives it to you -- it's like finishing with a finishing salt, I love that flavor.

Something that piqued my interest from this afternoon was when you were talking about poaching the fish in ocean water. How did you come up with that?
I was doing an event in Hawaii, and I literally went and got buckets of water out of the ocean and I poached all the lobsters in it. I started with the lobsters in the shell because I was wondering how strong the flavor would take to it, poached them, then de-shelled them, and then finished them in that same ocean water with a little bit of butter, and it was amazing.

Did you sous vide it like you do here?
Actually at that point, I hadn't taken it to that level yet. I just did it in a pan, really really slow, poached in water and butter…and I was amazed at what the outcome was. And I was amazed at what people said. Then we got to a point where I actually made a sauce out of some of the water and butter the lobster was cooked in, so you really got that pop of the flavor, and it was great. Then I took it to the next level. As soon as I did that, it was just, every piece of fish I could find the rest of the time I was in Hawaii I was poaching it in ocean water. That's when I really started getting it. And then, like 99% of everything you do, you find out that it's been done. I came back to San Francisco and I was talking to my chef, and it was funny because one of the guys who works for me that's a food runner is from Peru, and he's like, "Oh, no, in Peru we do that."

You mentioned earlier that the ocean water used here at the restaurant comes from Monterey or Hawaii. So you're saying you actually buy ocean water?
I buy it in the sense that I have my fish company bring it when they bring everything else. It was funny because somebody wrote something once that I thought was really interesting. They wrote, "Why in the world would you bring water in?" And as I'm sitting here, drinking a glass of Fiji, I'm thinking to myself, that's the oddest thing to write. As you're writing that you're probably drinking a bottle of water. And, [the poaching technique] doesn't take a lot of water. It's not a big pot of it that you're throwing out every time.

Do you have to purify it?
Well, it's tested. We don't actually have to purify it. You just get really clean water. They test it for us.

If I wanted to try this at home, how would I go about getting clean ocean poaching water?
Boil it. You can go get ocean water, boil it, strain it, and then cool it down. That's the trick. And then use it the same way from a cold state and it'll be fine.

You've obviously done incredibly well in San Francisco. How is it opening up restaurants in different cities? Are you finding that your audience is different?
People who love food are people who love food. Price point depends on the city and what's accepted in that city, so you have to be aware of that. Also, I think you also have to be aware of the dining experience people are looking for. I know when I come to Las Vegas, and when other people come to Las Vegas, they have a big list of things they're going to do that night, so time is an issue. People do want to dine fast. I think overall, one of the things that really attracted me to do more restaurants in Las Vegas is what I fell in love with when I did Aqua at Bellagio. I fell in love with how people were coming to enjoy themselves, and you were a part of their enjoyment. It was great. It was such a nice environment. People come into the restaurant and they want to have a great time…and you know, so they're a little loud. But that's the piece that I came away with from early on was how much I enjoyed that. It fits my personality, it fits my company, it fits everyone in my company. You can do great food, great techniques, everything else, and you can do it in an environment where people are relaxed and enjoying themselves.

Let's talk culinary influences. What are big ones for you?
I love bold flavors. I love strong flavors. And in that sense I love Asian food because I like acidity, sweetness…I like that whole thing of acidity, sweetness, spice, and fat balance. I love balance in food. And so, Asian food in general has that. And then Japanese food, technique-wise and product-wise -- I'm glad it has become as popular as it has. We've all learned a lot from it. I'm classically trained in French cooking, I went to CIA, and the roots of a lot of that is French. So…those are all big influences. Also, Italian cooking -- I think that a lot of California cooking has come from rustic Italian cooking, so I always study and look at that.

What's the best advice you've ever been given as a chef?
Travel. Eat out. Taste. Never taking for granted how something tastes. You have use your palette and your mind at the same time to ever make a statement. You have to learn all the techniques and everything else, but you have to understand what you're going for in your food. You have to have a clear vision of what you're trying to achieve out of your cooking. And I think that traveling, eating out, has a lot to do with that because you learn so much in the kitchen that it's so easy to close yourself off to that…it's a completely different experience as a diner. I mean, I've had chefs work for me that I taste a dish and I'm like, "This is great!" And I look at him and I ask, "Have you sat down and eaten a whole dish?" As a chef, you have to eat the dish beginning to end. That's why entrées are so much harder than appetizers, because you have to keep somebody's interest, 25 bites into a dish.

What was the last great meal you had?
The last great meal I've had? Um…I have great meals all the time. Well I was just in New York, so every place I ate…I would say ABC Kitchen, just in the sense that it was unexpected. I had heard so much about it, but I didn't expect it to be the way it was, and I really did enjoy it. I really enjoyed the whole feeling. And, to me, any great meal is about your company, it's about the people you're eating with. Obviously the food and everything else, but it's the full experience.

What are some of the all-star dishes you had there?
Like I said, it was actually interesting because it was more about simplicity, so I had a toast with a chicken liver mousse, it was just great, and you know, maybe it was just because I hadn't had toast with chicken liver mousse on it in a long time, but it was delicious.

Any guilty pleasures? You know, when no one's looking that you're sneaking?
Yeah…too many, obviously (as he pats his stomach). Probably...I love barbecue. Yeah, I love barbecue.

Like, ribs?
Yeah, ribs, anything. I love it. Again, it goes to the whole thing of bold flavor foods -- acid, sweet, spice. Barbecue is my guilty pleasure.

Who makes the best barbecue?
Sonny's in Dallas is really good. The original. Only the original.

I know you have two sons -- do they like to cook as well?
Yes, constantly. They've been coming to the restaurant with me since they were four. I used to bring one on Friday, one on Saturday. Now they're big enough that they both can come at the same time. And they cook. They work all over the restaurant. I think I'm completely blessed. I can bring them to work. They really understand what I do. (Whips out his phone) I'll show you the little one making an ice cream sandwich. Anthony. He's actually very good, I'm just showing this because it's a cute video, but I've got him making tuna tartar. Sam is the older one. This is him grilling…

That's right, Chef, start them young.

Guests and host Leslie Sbrocco taping episode 612 of Check, Please! Bay Area at KQED. Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

Check, Please! Bay Area Season 6: episode 12 airs Thursday October 27 at 7:30pm on KQED TV 9. View other airtimes and channels.

You can watch individual restaurant segments as well as view the entire episode online. The website also provides restaurant information not specified on the show, written reviews from the guests and restaurant recipes. If you have opinions on the restaurants featured please feel free to share your thoughts. This season, Leslie Sbrocco will be sharing wine tips with each episode.

The twelfth and final episode of the season features these restaurants: Izzy's Steaks and Chops (San Francisco), El Huarache Loco (San Francisco) and Helmand Palace (San Francisco).

Leslie Sbrocco: Wine Tips -- Opening Champagne Using a Saber

Taro Mochi Cake from Hanalei Roadside Truck

Taro. Isn’t that some kind of sweet potato that’s made into expensive chips? Or a purplish goop, called poi, served at Hawaiian luaus that no one really eats?

I admit those were my assumptions until a recent trip to Kauai where I stumbled upon a divine sweet: a moist, spongy taro mochi cake made with coconut milk and rice flour that I bought from a roadside truck in Hanalei.

So enamored was I with this enchanting taro treat, that I signed on for a tour of the nearby family-run taro farm which produced the purple-flecked delicacy.

Following our guide through lush, windswept green fields among waving heart-shaped taro fronds, I learned that Hawaiian taro farmers face a host of challenges, including hurricanes, flash floods, hungry wild boar and an infestation of apple snails. But they persevere because taro has been a revered food in the islands for over a thousand years.

In fact, Hawaiian folklore considers taro to be “the elder brother” of all Hawaiians and since it is disrespectful to fight in front of an elder, when a bowl of poi is uncovered, all argument must stop.

Taro also happens to be one of the world’s earliest cultivated plants. Easily digestible, a good source of fiber, Vitamin C, E, B6, calcium, potassium and iron, it is featured in the cuisines of more than two-dozen countries from Brazil to China. Every part of the plant is cooked and consumed: leaves are stir-fried, steamed or made into soup; stems sautéed, boiled or ground; and the roots (technically termed corms) are steamed, fried, mashed, and appear in everything from appetizers to desserts.

When I said a tearful goodbye to my sweet little Hawaiian taro mochi cake and returned stateside, I set myself a quest -- I love quests -- to unearth (pardon the pun) a range of international dishes made from this worldwide staple. Shouldn’t be too hard in the mini-United Nations we call the East Bay.

Fried Taro Roll

First stop: Berkeley’s Green Papaya Thai Vegetarian Cuisine, a pleasant café with a long menu, for their fried taro appetizer, a generous plate of warm sliced taro roll made with tapioca and rice flours and red beans. Deep-fried in a paper-thin sheet of bean curd, its crispy golden skin contrasts nicely with the creamy filling, in a typical lavender-taro-hue.

Taro plays a starring role in many Chinese dishes, including a taro cake traditionally eaten for Chinese New Years. Even McDonald’s has caught on; their restaurants in China sell taro pies.

Two dim sum classics highlight the taro root. Squat squares of pan-fried taro cake are made from rice flour and dried scallops, shrimp, mushrooms and Chinese bacon or sausage. But the more eye-catching morsels are taro dumplings. These pork-filled balls have a wispy, lacy shell that results from deep-frying the thick coating of boiled mashed taro.

I recently sampled some yummy dumplings at Peony in Oakland Chinatown; with their fluffy, crunchy coating, it was like biting into a crispy cloud. (Hint: for the best experience, ask for them to be brought piping hot).

Vietnamese cuisine includes taro in spring rolls, soups, and desserts. Piedmont Avenue’s stylish Xyclo offers appetizers in which taro plays a supporting role; in their Xyclo roll, it’s tucked inside crispy, cigar shaped tubes along with finely chopped chicken, shrimp, carrots, mushrooms and glass noodles.

Besides poi, the sacred mixture of pounded taro root and water, the taro plant is an essential part of another Hawaiian culinary tradition: laulau, which utilizes its leaves. Pork or chicken and salted butterfish are wrapped in taro leaves and then enfolded in inedible ti leaves. The chunky green packages are steamed for several hours, turning the taro leaves to a soft, smoky (and vitamin rich) mush.

Berkeley’s Wiki Wiki Hawaiian BBQ serves up hefty portions of island favorites to the starving-student crowd. My pork laulau actually wasn’t too bad. When I inquired how they prepare it, I was told that frozen pre-made laulaus are shipped from Hawaii. Have with scoop of rice and macaroni salad for the full island experience.

For an easy DIY luau, head to Berkeley’s Tokyo Fish Market. They carry frozen Hawaiian pork or chicken laulau with no added chemicals or preservatives. You steam them at home.

On the sweet side, taro turns up in a myriad of mauve incarnations:
The ubiquitous taro bubble tea drink originated in Taiwan. Taro powder provides a thickener, a nutty taste and the light purple color. I’m partial to the bubble tea at Albany’s Tay Tah Café on Solano Avenue.

A warming Chinese dessert for a cold evening: chunks of cooked taro in a bowl of hot sago (think tapioca) pudding. My go-to unassuming Chinese dessert spot: Oakland’s Yummy Guide.

My teen-age daughter turned me on to my favorite taro treat: Yogurtland’s taro frozen yogurt. One of the regular flavors in their two Berkeley locations, its tartness forms the perfect base for fruit and topping creations.

I am not done trekking the taro trail; there are many ethnic taro specialties yet to taste:

Toranguk, a Korean soup traditionally served at Chuseok, the harvest holiday.

Sinigang, the tamarind-based national stew of the Philippines.

And a range of Indian regional dishes including leaf pancake, stem saag and a spicy taro curry with prawn.

Anyone know a good Maldivian restaurant? I hear natives of the Maldives (stunning islands in the Indian Ocean) eat their cooked taro with grated coconut, chili paste and fish soup.

Cuisinett interior

French food tends to have the stereotype of being pretentious, formal, and expensive. But the owner of the newly opened Cuisinett in San Carlos, Geofforey Raby, and former Executive Chef of Menlo Park’s shuttered Marche, Guillaume Bienaime, want you to believe otherwise.

“The kind of food we serve here is the kind my Mom would make,” says Raby. “I’ve been working in restaurants since I was 15 in Lille, France. I've learned that there's importance to making people happy. But there's a fine line between being attentive and being annoying. I wanted to create a casual, family-friendly restaurant with beautiful, simple design and great quality French food at a good price.”

Coq au Vin with Buttery Peas, Carrots and Pearl Onions

They call it “French Comfort Food,” and their main focus is to change the common perception that French cuisine is stuffy and complex. Think Pasta Pomodoro or Crepevine. “We wanted things to be understandable and uncomplicated. We’re not doing extravagant plating here. We want you to have the food you order from cashier to table in 10 minutes without compromising quality and taste.”

Enter Chef Bienaime. The two met in May through a mutual contact in the restaurant industry. Chef Bienaime spent over seven years at the acclaimed Marche, two of those years heading up the kitchen before it closed earlier this year. So why would his next project involve a casual restaurant that doesn’t even have waiters?

“For me, it’s an opportunity to do something new. There are some very old school menu items like Coq Au Vin that are very difficult to cook quickly. So it was a challenge for me to do something more contemporary with these dishes while maintaining their classic quality. The more I got into it, the more I believed in the concept,” recalls the Chef.

“Marche went through a bunch of phases. It started as a casual concept and got more and more complicated through the years. So when it closed, I had the desire to approach more people with my food,” says Chef Bienaime. “What I love about cooking is how it makes people happy. I’d rather make more people happy than less.”

Despite being open for a relatively short amount of time, the Chef’s confidence in his dishes shows. They’re solidly delicious and are expertly, albeit simply, prepared.

Diners can chose from a variety of side dishes like french fries, sautéed spinach, or buttery peas and carrots. The specialty of the house is their Roasted Chicken, which you can have with a mushroom or mustard cream sauce, or in the style of Coq au Vin. It doesn’t disappoint with its moist meat and buttery flavor. The sauces are rich, distinct, and tasty without overpowering the chicken’s flavor.

Moules Frites w/White Wine, Shallots and Herbs

The most popular dish on my multiple visits, however, seemed to be the Moules Frites (Mussels with Fries) with shallots, white wine and herbs. The Chef uses Mediterranean mussels which are bigger, plumper, juicier and sweeter, and were cooked to perfection. There wasn’t a rubbery mussel in the bunch. And the accompanying french fries were perfectly golden crisp and tender inside. This was a straightforward yet wonderfully executed dish.

Ratatouille

For vegetarians, their Ratatouille is quite good and is served with a simple salad of mixed greens. The buttery Parmesan breadcrumbs on top contrast nicely with the nutty, toasty flavor and the mix of yellow and red bell peppers, various squash and eggplant make for a hearty dish.

“French food isn’t just centered in Paris bistros, so we’ve divided France up into 6 regions. Now people can see the different varieties of food there are in France,” says Raby.

With the restaurant now open and the menu developed, Chef Bienaime doesn’t plan on being in the kitchen on a daily basis. However he’s constantly adjusting the existing menu and plans to add more items for children. In the future, he will serve as culinary consultant and head of operations.

It’s their hope to create multiple locations over the next few years. And in the shorter term, Chef Bienaime is hoping to entertain the idea of having some special 6-course reservation only dinners for about $100 per person on Sundays, since they’re not usually open that day. They’ll also be offering a Family Meal for four people that’ll include a whole roasted chicken, choice of sauce, two sides and a baguette for under $30 that people can take to go.

“Guillaume is about serving fantastic food, I’m about helping to creating the experience,” says Raby. “It’s like Starbucks. There have always been coffeehouses, but Starbucks they worked on the experience. To a certain extent, that’s what I want to do with French food and make it and experience that’s accessible.”

And Chef Bienaime agrees. “I believe more and more in the concept every day.”

Cuisinett
1105 San Carlos Ave., San Carlos
(650) 453-3390
Mon-Sun, 11am-9pm, Lunch & Dinner Service
Dine-in or Takeout available
Facebook: Cuisinett
Twitter: @cuisinett

Guests and host Leslie Sbrocco taping episode 611 of Check, Please! Bay Area at KQED. Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

Check, Please! Bay Area Season 6: episode 11 airs Thursday October 20 at 7:30pm on KQED TV 9. View other airtimes and channels.

You can watch individual restaurant segments as well as view the entire episode online. The website also provides restaurant information not specified on the show, written reviews from the guests and restaurant recipes. If you have opinions on the restaurants featured please feel free to share your thoughts. This season, Leslie Sbrocco will be sharing wine tips with each episode.

The eleventh episode of the season features these restaurants: Café Aquarius (Emeryville), Tanguito Argentinean Grill & Empanadas (San Francisco) and VEGA (San Francisco).

Leslie Sbrocco: Wine Tips -- Pairing Dessert Wines

When it's a beautiful, summer-like Friday night in October, it's probably one of the most challenging times to try and get a table anywhere in the Marina without a reservation. But while some folks are willing to stand in line and wait for hours for the new iPhone 4S, I was committed to getting into the new location of Umami Burger, the famed mini-empire from Los Angeles. As I'd never had the opportunity to try one of their much-ballyhooed burgers down in SoCal, I was looking forward to finally sampling their fare. They had opened their doors on October 7, much to the delight of the Bay Area foodie crowd which has already packed Yelp with their reviews with its first week.

I rounded up some fellow colleagues from KQED (one who jokingly refers to herself as a "meatoutatarian," which means she'll only eat red meat when out dining) to join me in line. I'm glad I had the company of my colleagues as the wait was long: over an hour and a half long. Granted, as mentioned before, it was Friday night and the hype factor was in full effect, but some seating snafus at the front of the house had our party of three overlooked and not called when we were next in line. The hostesses were cheerful for the most part -- as cheerful as they could be while wrangling the horde milling about the front door -- and we were finally seated in the back of the restaurant. (If you're a lucky duo, you'll get one of the sidewalk tables that's out front while this lovely weather lasts.)

The Union Street location of Umami Burger is housed in the former location of Jovino. (According to one of my KQED colleagues who lives in the neighborhood and had dined their regularly, they were also known for their excellent burgers during its run.) The interior space itself has a spare, Asian aesthetic with wood accents and muted colors. The noise isn't overpowering, even when packed to full capacity was it was tonight.

After we settled in, our server asked if this was our first time dining at the restaurant, then gave us an explanation of the meaning of "umami" and their mission statement. We ordered an array of burgers to share: the Greenbird ($12), the Umami Burger ($11), and their priciest, most decadent item, the Bacon-Wrapped Scallop Burger ($15, topped with crispy pork belly and only available at this location). I was curious about their Cali Burger and its "house-made American cheese," and apparently there's some cheese alchemy involved as they create their own special blend of cheeses in the kitchen (which are not made from scratch). Sides are ordered separately, and during our wait I had spotted other diners eating tater tots. Our server explained that these "cheesy tater tots" were now a secret menu item since they often sold out but were available for the asking. We ordered those along with a side of truffled cheese fries.

The fried items arrived first, and we dipped them into the Asian soup spoon filled with their house-made Umami ketchup. They were both delicious, especially the tater tots, which were crispy on the outside and the texture and flavor of creamy mashed potatoes on the inside. Later on we also asked for their complimentary jalapeño ranch sauce (which wasn't really appealing to any of us as it was reminiscent of cheap nacho chips) and the garlic aioli (fantastic).

Then the burgers came shortly thereafter, and they were impressively plated on large white dishes with a "U" stamped on top of their brioche-like buns. The medium-rare, juicy Umami Burger was definitely our favorite, as the shiitake mushrooms, caramelized onions, roasted tomato, parmesan crisp, and umami ketchup toppings delivered a wonderfully savory combination as promised.

Bacon-Wrapped Scallop Burger on the left, Umami Burger on the right.

I was partial to the Greenbird next; the Shelton Farms turkey had been seasoned with a blend of spices that made it taste unlike any other I'd ever had. It was truly original and delicious, and accompanied with avocado, green cheese (more house-made cheese magic from the kitchen), butter lettuce, green goddess dressing and sprouts. My colleague was curious about these sprouts as they had had black seeds; our server had assumed they were alfalfa sprouts, but after some inquiries were made to the kitchen it was determined they were onion sprouts.

Sadly, I wasn't as impressed with the Bacon-Wrapped Scallop Burger, which had two lean slices of somewhat tough pork belly dressed with a sweet chili sauce and yuzu-garlic aioli on top of the scallop patty (which reminded me more of a fried egg than scallops). The blend of flavors just didn't match up to the Umami Burger and I was disappointed with the quality of the pork belly; I'll have to try it again in the future to see if it holds up on another occasion.

Although we were stuffed, we ended our meal with one of their house-made ice cream sandwiches as the peanut-butter cookie made with salt-and-pepper ice cream (the flavor of that day which are rotated regularly) piqued our curiosity. The cookies were quite crisp and thus made it difficult to share (I think it's better as a solo dessert) and the ice cream had a vinegar tang to it instead of a peppery quality we were expecting. Not outstanding, but definitely not the main draw of the restaurant, either.

So did I find it to be worth the wait? Yes, although I probably won't head back anytime soon unless it's during the presumably quieter hours of the weekday. And our bill ended up at $34 each (we'd also ordered one drink apiece), so it's not like a cheap run to In-N-Out. But I'd love to try some of their other items off the menu, especially the Cali and Veggie Burgers, which are only available at the Union Street location. If you don't have the stomach to wait for too long, walk up to the bar and order to-go. We saw one lucky resident who lived right next door walk in, pick up his order and slipped right back upstairs for private dining in his apartment.

Umami Burger
2184 Union St at Fillmore map
415-440-UMAMI
Twitter: @UmamiBurgerSF
Facebook: Umami Burger
Hours:
Sun-Thurs: 11AM-10PM
Fri and Sat: 11AM-10PM

The pair behind "A Public Affair" play at the table. Photo: Dudley Flores

Seated in the center of the industrial-chic dining space at Orson in San Francisco last week, Ryan T. Smith and Wendy Rein look like any other cute, urban couple catching up over a meal.

But--wait--the twosome are picking at unadorned lettuce, albeit artfully arranged on the plate. Under the table they sport ballet slippers. And, diners are about to discover, not as some quirky fashion statement. For a few nights this month, Elizabeth Falkner's restaurant, which has a rap for adventure in the kitchen, is bringing some extra buzz to the table.

Smith and Rein, the long and lithe co-creators of the popular local company RAWdance, are giving eaters something to chew over while they dine out. Their 10-minute A Public Affair, showtimes roughly at 7 and 8:30, makes fun, flirty use of objects on hand (greens get nibbled suggestively, napkins are tossed playfully over a partner's head, and chairs morph from obstacles to props).

This week, the couple will perform their new work, billed as "California cuisine with a side of violins and a dash of dance," on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Think a riff on traditional dinner theater with a surprise twist a la flash mobs.

This isn't the duos first foray into performing sans a stage: They've danced in an empty store at the Westfield Shopping Center during the holiday season, strutted their stuff in Union Square Park, and just last week took their modern moves to a UCSF LGBT mixer on the rooftop grass patio at the Mission Bay site. (Gotta love the bounce back a sprung surface like grass provides.)

Smith and Rein, partners in dance for more than a decade (and housemates too), are artists-in-residence at ODC Dance Commons, where they teach classes in the wildly popular Rhythm and Motion program (Full disclosure: This writer has been an R&M devotee for 20 years.)

And, like fellow teacher Amara Smith, the pair want to play with food in their creative work. "San Francisco has such a strong, pulsing food culture that we're all naturally pulled to it," says Smith. "I also think there's something about the sense of community around food, the act of bringing people together to share an experience, that's really appealing to tap into."

Rein and Smith, both vegetarians, cook, eat, and experiment in the kitchen together, which is the only room in their house they can dance in. They're also big fans of Top Chef, where Falkner has served as a judge. (This month she can be found among the competition on The Next Iron Chef on the Food Network.)

In flight: Ryan T. Smith and Wendy Rein of RAWdance. Photo: R. J. Muna

Despite the unconventional setting, the dancers choreography exhibits classic technique with a strong physicality, set to violin music composed by Sarn Oliver, one half of Tangled Duo, which performed live in the preview run of this work last Tuesday. Scheduling conflicts prevent the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra members from performing each evening.

The dance world can be insular and elitist, says Smith, which is why his company performs for the public in unexpected places. "We like to break down those boundaries by showing athletic, crafted work up close and personal without any distance from our audience," he says.

Dancing in a restaurant is not without unique challenges. "The performance is a constant negotiation between musicality, character, spacing and safety," says Smith of the self-contained piece performed in the heart of the dining room while staff ferry hot food to hungry customers. "We have to negotiate jackets hanging from chairs, purses on the floor, waiters passing by, and dropped spoons." He adds: "It's a tricky situation but a fun one."

This writer can report that no food went flying (except as choreographed) during last Wednesday night's two performances and diners seemed delighted by the cheeky interlude between courses.

The curious and couples looking for something special for date night should snag a table at Orson tonight or tomorrow.

And, heads up to those who want to catch the show without forking out major money in the dining room for, say, hangar steak: The bar or lounge serve as perfectly fine spots from which to watch.

Orson's Happy Hour menu, now available from 5 to 8, features duck fat French fries, curry cauliflower gratin, and mac & cheese, along with $5 cocktails. Watching patrons' reactions to the seemingly spontaneous display in the dining area: Priceless.

Details:
Orson Restaurant Bar + Lounge
508 4th Street
(between Bryant & Brannan Streets)
San Francisco
415-777-1508
October 18 and 19

Boxing Room Executive Chef Justin Simoneaux. Photo: Liza Gershman

The Cajun and Creole dishes of his native Louisiana influence Chef Justin Simoneaux’s cooking at the recently opened Boxing Room. Simoneaux’s affinity for coastal Louisiana cuisine stems from growing up going hunting, fishing and enjoying frequent family seafood boils, fish fries, barbecues, pig roasts, and pots of gumbo. He absorbed recipes from his mother and grandmother and began cooking in a New Orleans seafood restaurant at age 15, where he worked his way up to line cook and then became kitchen manager by age 18. To gain more training and experience, the young budding culinarian enrolled in the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco in 2005.

He worked and was promoted to the position of sous-chef under Chef Robert Cubberly at the now-closed Le Petit Robert in Russian Hill. Simoneaux says Chef Cubberly set his foundation for cooking and was a great mentor. In 2007, Simoneaux joined Coco500 as sous-chef, working with Chef-owner Loretta Keller. She hired him as her chef-de-cuisine to open The Moss Room at the California Academy of Sciences in 2008. The restaurant garnered three stars from Michael Bauer at the San Francisco Chronicle, and was a “Top 100 Restaurant” in 2009. Chef Simoneaux was also named a San Francisco Chronicle “Rising Star Chef” that same year. At the Boxing Room—named for the box factory that was once housed there years ago—many of Simoneaux’s personal favorites are highlighted on the menu: Cajun boiled peanuts; Louisiana seafood gumbo with brown rice and house-made Tasso; deep fried alligator; and New Orleans-Style stuffed artichoke. Michael Bauer said in his two and a half star August review of the restaurant that: “You'll get excellent fried oysters, fried alligator, fried chicken and fried seafood in the po' boy, but it's far from a greasy spoon because the kitchen takes a light, fresh approach.”

Simoneaux lives in the Haight and is dating Lynn Silva, who is a cook at Spruce. “We met while working at The Moss Room. Started out as friends and then realized we enjoyed a lot of the same things and fell in love.” The chef said that he would soon get some R&R via a New Orleans trip for Mardi Gras and his brother’s wedding.

On food
“This kind of food takes time. For example, to get the right color of roux to make our gumbo, you need about an hour… and that’s before anything else hits the pot.”

Where do you source ingredients?
“Most of my vegetables come from Mariquita Farm and Star Route Field to Family Farms. For seafood, I get oysters and a couple of items from the West Coast but most of it comes from Louisiana.”

Favorite 2-3 food & drink spots?
“Alembic: I love their cocktails. Even if I’m not hungry I always find myself ordering the duck hearts and a slider, no matter what kind they are serving.

Absinthe: I go there after work since it’s only a block away. For a perfect late night snack, I go for the soft garlic pretzel and spicy pork meatballs. The cocktails are always great.

Recently, I’ve found myself at Wing Wings on my days off. I love their wings and usually wash down the spice over a cold beer at The Gold Cane.”

Date night favorites?
“The lady and myself are suckers for sushi. Our favorite go-to spot would probably be Domo in Hayes Valley.”

What’s your guiltiest food pleasure?
“I’ve been known to whip up a packet of Top Ramen. I don’t know why, but it is good.”

What is your favorite meal to have with friends and family?
“It would have to be a classic crawfish boil with all the fixins’ -- potatoes, corn, mushrooms, sausage, artichokes and ice cold beer (which I have all of this tattooed on my arm). My friends are all in the business, so we mostly cook together at one of our houses or in the park.”

Justin's Tattoo

Guests and host Leslie Sbrocco, having fun taping episode 610 of Check, Please! Bay Area at KQED. Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

Check, Please! Bay Area Season 6: episode 10 airs Thursday October 13 at 7:30pm on KQED TV 9. View other airtimes and channels.

You can watch individual restaurant segments as well as view the entire episode online. The website also provides restaurant information not specified on the show, written reviews from the guests and restaurant recipes. If you have opinions on the restaurants featured please feel free to share your thoughts. This season, Leslie Sbrocco will be sharing wine tips with each episode.

The tenth episode of the season features these restaurants: La Mexicana Restaurant (Oakland), Kabuto Sushi (San Francisco) and Pazzia Restaurant & Pizzeria (San Francisco).

Leslie Sbrocco: Wine Tips -- Making Vinegar from Leftover Wine