If there's one cuisine that I'd love to be able to cook like a native at home, it would be Moroccan. Why? For the seductive spicing that scents the kitchen like a bazaar; the dried apricots and dates nestled up lush and luscious next to slow-cooked lamb; the crisp brik pastries; the fiery smear of harissa; the unexpected matches of sweet and savory, even the delicate, gold-rimmed glasses poured theatrically full of hot, achingly sweet mint tea out of the held-high spout of an intricately decorated silver pot.

I had my first Moroccan meal—a platter of couscous piled with meat and soft-cooked vegetables, ladled over with flavorful broth and shared by everyone at the table—in a small, cozily dim neighborhood restaurant in Paris in 1983. I was a teenager, and no stranger to New York and New Jersey's various ethnic restaurants, thanks to my culinarily-adventurous parents, but the flavors of North Africa were utterly new to me. Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco, which brought descriptions, at least, of tagines, couscous, preserved lemons, and ras el hanoot to American kitchens (getting authentic ingredients was something else), had been published ten years before, but author Paula Wolfert's caftan-wearing bohemian taste hadn't wafted to our corner of the East Coast yet. I had to get to France, with its large post-colonial population of North Africans, to taste scorchingly hot merguez (lamb sausage) and the pigeon pie, called b'steeya, whose savory filling was wrapped in shatteringly crisp, sugar-dusted pastry leaves.

Now, decades later, San Francisco has its own mini-neighborhood of inexpensive Moroccan and Tunisian restaurants along a five-block stretch of Polk Street. And then there's Aziza, the swanky destination with the unlikely Outer Richmond address, as much like these casual couscous joints as Kokkari is to a gyros shop on Telegraph Ave. Run by Mourad Lahlou, the tattooed, Moroccan-born chef who came to San Francisco in 1985 to go to college at SF State, Aziza is a contemporary restaurant first, with Moroccan roots but a menu dedicated to modern techniques rather than classic interpretations. Because, as Lahlou writes in his new book, Mourad: New Moroccan, why shouldn't Moroccan food evolve, just like California cuisine has? As he writes about his childhood memories of growing up in Marrakesh with a large extended family,

But the thing is, I don't long for that world. I cherish it, and I cook from it every day. And so, dish by dish and year by year, my food evolves. I started at Kasbah [his first restaurant, in San Rafael] with a somewhat obsessive attitude about showing people real Moroccan food, done the authentic way. But there we were in California. It's just not possible. The ingredients are different—even the ones flown in from Morocco don't taste the same by the time they arrive...So, before long, I was doing the Moroccan version of what so many inventive northern California chefs have done. I adapted what I knew and loved to make it work with the beautiful ingredients I can get here, and then just followed my nose, my heart and my palate."

Mourad Lahlou. Photo: Deborah Jones

Mourad's food here in the Richmond is an expression of both his own and his customers' restless taste. His book, gorgeously photographed in that lavish minimalist style familiar to readers of European and Australian food magazines, in which single items are shot in mouth-watering, brilliantly detailed close-up, surrounded by tons of expensive-looking white space, sells the not-quite-established celebrity appeal of the handsome Mourad as much as it does his food. The book is gorgeous and spot-on contemporary; if you want a chic cookbook to give your have-everything loft-dwelling pals for the holidays, this is it. (And to ensure an invitation to the cocktail party where they try out the recipes for harissa bloody marys and Berbere-cured chicken liver mousse.)

But can you cook from it? For DIY obsessives, the most crucial parts are the opening chapters, which focus on the spice-driven building blocks of Mourad's cuisine. He mentions, casually, that his restaurant staff makes five different ras el hanout blends for different dishes, but putting together the one 23-ingredient version he offers should satisfy, especially if you, the home cook, follow it up with the sexy 22-ingredient vadouvan blend, for which it helps to have a dehydrator as well a tablespoon or so of an additional 10-ingredient curry mix. There is a long, leisurely section about hand-rolling your own couscous from coarse semolina, salt, water, and flour, and an even longer one about making tissue-thin sheets of warqa, Morocco's version of phyllo, with the up-to-date help of a little xanthan gum.

Once you move onto the main dishes, success, as always with chef- and restaurant-driven cookbooks, depends on your affinity and patience for long ingredient lists and multiple sub-recipes. Restaurants, as surely as any TV watcher now knows, spend all day, every day, making the many different items that come together on your plate. One guy makes the stocks. Another guy takes those stocks and turns them into sauces. Someone else chops the onions or toasts and grinds the spice mixes. Even if it looks like you're getting protein, vegetables, and sauce on a plate, do a little real analysis and you'll probably find a dozen different steps (or double that) that went into making your meal. And Mourad, 21st-century chef, likes his drips and drizzles, his frizzled herbs and sudden spice-drenched dabs of infused oils.

Of course, you can strip out the fancy stuff, and just make the still luscious-sounding entrees and surprisingly simple but alluring salads and sides. But if you want to get the full Mourad, you're going to have to do some serious spice-shopping, and get ready to divvy up multiple tasks, probably over several days, to crank out a full menu. To make that Lamb Shank, Spiced Prunes, and Brown-Butter Farro, be prepared to brew up a Red Wine Gastrique Lamb Sauce, make the Spiced Prunes, simmer up some lamb stock, dry your shanks in the fridge overnight, and then tend to them lovingly for at least most of an afternoon, including a nearly 3-hour braising time in the oven. (And if you happen to have some Activa RM around, you can follow the "Chef to Chef" tips and turn the meat into a sliceable log.)

You won't find xanthan gum in Paula Wolfert's clay-pot-lined kitchen. In the nearly 4 decades since her first Moroccan cookbook came out, Wolfert, who lives in Sonoma, has become perhaps the American expert on traditional Mediterranean cuisines. Given the Bay Area's affinity with all things olive-oiled and bay-leaved, it's rare to find a kitchen not stocked with at least one of her cookbooks around here. (Those that don't usually have a few by Joyce Goldstein instead.) Wolfert, now 71, still finds a thrill in capturing authenticity, in ferreting out obscure or lesser-known dishes or methods, often unique to a particular region or place. She's especially drawn to those that she feels are in danger of disappearing, as cooks give up (perhaps with a sigh of relief) traditional labor-intensive methods and ingredients.

Back when Wolfert first started her cookbook-writing career, her books were more for armchair travelers than hands-on cooks. Finding fresh purslane, nigella seeds, or cubeb pepper was almost impossible; there was no busy-mom instant couscous on the shelves at Safeway. But slowly, book after book, Wolfert made a difference. Now, leafing through The Food of Morocco, her decades-later update of that first couscous book, a Bay Area cook would be hard-pressed to find an ingredient that she couldn't source between a handful of well-stocked international-foods shops.

Wolfert's book doesn't look as striking as Mourad's; the design is busier, the serifed typefaces fussy, the colors a little washed out. Still, after all these years, Wolfert still has the enthusiasm to sit down with her readers and start right at the beginning. The first 50 pages are lists, techniques, and explanations that explain all the basics and then some, from The Ten Most Frequently Used Spices (with descriptions), to her own long and enticing description of ras el hanout, and how it can include up to a hundred ingredients, even the poisonous, irritating, supposed aphrodisiac known as Spanish fly. There are questions and answers about how to grate a tomato, why and how to grate an onion, how to make saffron water, even how to peel chickpeas. Wolfert makes no assumptions about the sophistication or hipness of her readers; you can't imagine her labeling a chapter on couscous "Here's How I Roll," as Mourad does. In the recipes, the flavors are familiar, even comforting, rife with almonds, eggplant, cumin, cilantro, turmeric, ginger, olives, lemons, and honey, but the methods just different enough from a typical California sear or grill to twist the results into something altogether different.

So which cookbook will get more spattered in my kitchen? When I'm cooking for myself, I'll trust Wolfert. Cooking to impress? I'll ask the tattooed guy over, and hope he brings a bunch of friends with sharp knives and plenty of time.

Staffan Terje at Perbacco. Photo: Frankie Frankeny

Chef and Restaurateur Staffan Terje likes it fresh at his Perbacco and barbacco eno trattoria "authentic Italian" restaurants in San Francisco. Why would a Swedish-raised chef choose to craft traditional dishes and recipes from "la cucina Piemontese?" Terje explained, "Italian food is the food that talks to me. You don't choose who you fall in love with. It just happens." Meat eaters of a certain breed may swoon to know that Terje has a curing room at Perbacco, used to make various salumi.

Perbacco is repeatedly listed as a San Francisco Chronicle Top 100 pick. 7x7 named the Perbacco Salumi on its "100 things to try before you die" list in 2009, and Conde Nast Traveler in 2007 gave the restaurant a spot on the 95 Hot Tables list.

Terje grew up on his grandfather's farm in Sweden, and became passionate about food and eating at an early age. He was surrounded by farm fresh produce, and comes from a family that loved to cook and eat. In high school, Terje was required to apprentice. Many of his classmates chose to apprentice as teachers' assistants; he chose a local slaughterhouse instead. "I was a punk rocker and naturally wanted to shock my classmates." The tactic work, and in the process, Terje realized he had a knack for butchering and quickly picked up knife skills that serve him today. Following high school, he enrolled at the Hotel and Restaurant School in Stockholm, and apprenticed at the Michelin starred Gourmet Restaurant.

Terje has been cooking in the Bay Area since 1986. Before opening Perbacco and barbacco, he was the chef at Scala’s Bistro for seven years. He has cooked at the James Beard House. Terje was responsible for new restaurant openings, menu development and training with the Piatti Ristorante group in Yountville, starting in 1988.

Here are Terje's favorite Bay Area food spots:

Where do you like to shop for food?

My secret neighborhoods and places that I browse for food are Japan town, Nordic House for Swedish ingredients (I love that they stock all my favorite foods from my native home), The Spanish Table in Berkeley, and Tokyo Fish Market for an amazing selection of fish and Japanese ingredients.

Favorite local food & drink spots?

My favorite restaurants in the area are Chotto, Aziza, and Incanto. Each of these places has something unique to offer. At Chotto, I love their yakitori and ramen and the ambience is great. Aziza has amazing couscous, but quite frankly everything on the menu is wonderful, and Incanto makes a delicious spaghetti with tuna heart.

How about Mom and Pop joints?

The staff at Perbacco loves the dim sum from You's, so we get takeaway on Saturdays and enjoy it together before prepping for the night.

Guiltiest food pleasure?

Guilty, me? Never. But to be honest I do love Mast Brothers chocolate from Brooklyn.

Where do you live and where are you from?

I currently live in the South Park area of San Francisco. Not South Beach, South Park proper. I was born and raised in Nykoping, Sweden, which is about 50 miles South of Stockholm.

Any news on the horizon?

It looks like mostly travel this year. I am hoping to be in Italy early this summer, then on to Sweden and maybe Japan in the fall. When traveling to each of these locations, I am researching and gathering ideas and methods to bring home with me to uniquely incorporate them into what I do at the restaurant. It’s a time to get inspired.

Keep an eye on Terje's restaurants to see how these travels translate for eaters.

Coi’s Evan Rich surveys Page mandarin oranges

Another sunny Saturday morning found us back at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, the secret weapon of San Francisco’s thoughtful, creative chefs. The Bay Area has a wide variety of interesting fruits and vegetables growing here and near year-round, and while we’re surrounded by it all the time, you’re not alone if you have little to no idea what to look for when picking produce. We tagged along with four local culinary artists on their morning run around the various farm stands to steal their valuable tips.

Mission Beach Café’s Trevor Ogden sorts through parsnips.

Trevor Ogden, executive chef at Mission Beach Café, is currently accompanying his braised Prather Ranch lamb shank with a puree of baby parsnips, which he picks up from Heirloom Organic Gardens. When shopping for the root vegetable for home cooking, however, Ogden says size doesn’t really matter all that much.

“You can use both,” he advises. “Bigger can be better, but the little ones you don’t have to peel.” Look for clean, firm roots.

Aziza's Louis Maldonado looks at Romanesco broccoli.

Louis Maldonado, chef de cuisine at Aziza, enjoys working with Romanesco broccoli, which he prizes for its trimmings even more than the crowns. Sometimes he’ll even purchase them separately, often from Dirty Girl Produce. The trimmings work well for him because he doesn’t have to blanch or otherwise prepare some big hunk of broccoli. We’ve always stumbled around and picked huge, fat crowns, but it turns out that’s not a great strategy. Maldonado instead looks for really small crowns and roasts them whole with anchovies, lemon, parsley, and olive oil.

“When they get bigger, it kind of takes the special [qualities] away, so we just try to go for smaller ones,” he says. “The stuff they don’t make money on, we try to buy.”

Credo’s Gustavo Romero ponders the best purple kohlrabi.

Purple kohlrabi is big and scary looking, not the sort of vegetable that timid chefs would take a chance on, but Gustavo Romero, executive chef at Credo, makes it sound versatile and easy to use. Heirloom Organic Gardens is sporting big, beautiful specimens of this traditionally Lebanese, cabbage-like veggie right now.

“All the stuff they bring here is good quality,” notes Romero as we walk back towards the stand and spot the purple beasts. He picks up a few that are bigger, with cleaner white spots. “For the restaurant, I like to use the larger ones to mash them, because it’s easier and you spend less time doing it. In root vegetables, I don’t think the size especially matters unless you’re talking about carrots, because baby carrots have a lot more flavor.” Credo currently cooks a fish in parchment paper with root vegetables, including kohlrabi. He also loves to boil them and use them in a puree for a great consistency.

“Kohlrabi is great steamed in a stew with potatoes, carrots, and a chicken; it’s also great as a crudité or shredded like a cole slaw, skin and all,” adds Heirloom Organic farmer Dave Jamrock.

Page mandarin orange

Like many of his colleagues, Evan Rich, chef de cuisine at Coi, heads to the Hamada Farms stand for citrus. Right now, the Page mandarin oranges at Hamada are really good. He uses the juice for a play on a mandarin sour cocktail: Frozen mandarin ice with mandarin vodka jelly and a frozen meringue flavored with Angostura bitters.

He looks for a fruit that weighs a little bit, and says the color of the skin is important: If it’s more vibrant and darkly hued, the juice will probably be sweeter and more concentrated. He also suggests holding one in each hand; the heavier one will produce more juice.

Hamada is a reliable source, but Rich will often go the extra step to research the weather conditions around the various farms to figure out which ones might be producing the fruit with the most and most flavorful juice at the moment and then do a taste test at the stands.

“At Coi, that’s the kind of intensity we have with the ingredients,” he says. “It’s very important about taste and freshness. With fresh ingredients, there’s like an energy — it’s hard to explain, but it’s like there’s something that you can’t even notice, but it’s a subconscious thing that you just realize it’s better. And that’s why I come here.”

Previously: Bay Area Chefs on Winter Produce

Photo Credit: Michele Hood

Daniel Patterson is a self-taught chef well known to eaters and readers for his food, expanding Bay Area restaurant group, and writing. His fine dining Coi Restaurant (@coirestaurant) opened in 2006 in San Francisco, and won two Michelin stars in 2008. Frank Bruni of the New York Times named Coi as a top ten new restaurant outside of New York, and the San Francisco Chronicle awarded Coi four stars. Patterson opened a more casual concept called Il Cane Rosso in the Ferry Building in 2009. Plum opened in Oakland last year. On December 1st, Patterson reported on his Twitter feed that he was the soup cook "at least for a little while" for the Plum lunch debut. Bay Area Bites caught up with Patterson soon after that via phone interview.

In 1994 Patterson opened Babette's, his first restaurant, in Sonoma, at the age of 25. Soon after, Food & Wine Magazine named him "Best New Chef" in 1997 and San Francisco Focus awarded him the title of "Rising Star Chef" the same year. In 2000, Daniel opened Elisabeth Daniel in San Francisco, which was nominated "Best New Restaurant" by the James Beard Foundation in 2001. He was named "Chef of the Year" by San Francisco Magazine in 2007.

With natural perfumer Mandy Aftel (aftelier.com), he wrote "Aroma: the Magic of Essential Oils in Food and Fragrance" in 2004. His bio says that "It was the first cookbook to explain the use of essential oils in cooking and the connection of the sense of smell to emotion and memory in this context."

Patterson reported that he and his family cook at home "a lot" and that he and his wife used to go out much more often before they had a child. And yes, his young son loves to eat chicken skin. As for his food favorites, Patterson paused. "I'm not that kinda guy. I order what I'm in the mood for. It doesn't typically follow patterns."

THE WISH LIST
Patterson wants to visit these restaurants and said it's "My wish list, for when I get a day off":

• Benu
• Commis
• Flour & Water
• Commonwealth: "I've never been."
• Frances: "Unbelievably, I've never been there."

FAMILY TIME
The chef and his wife like to dine out near their home in the the East Bay. "Most of the places we go our geared to (our son)." First stops are courtesy of Charlie Hallowell: "Usually, we get pizza from Pizzaiolo or Boot & Shoe. I love their salads, and love the drinks at both... the Pizzaiolo head bartender is terrific."

Another family stop: Russell & Allison Moore's Camino Restaurant, which "is geographically close to where we live." Patterson will generally order "whatever they have on the menu."

In the City, Patterson's first outing of choice is the Cal-Med-Moroccan fine dining hotspot Aziza, run by Chef Mourad Lahlou: "Let (Chef) Mourad cook."

Next up are organic wood-fired comfort food at Nopa and organic-sustainable Mexican food with a local bent at Nopalito. Patterson said both restaurants are "sensational."

For Southern-Italian food and wine, A16 is another San Francisco favorite. "We used to live around the corner… we don't go to the city so much anymore."

SWEETS
James Freeman's Blue Bottle "has an incredible space in the middle of the city. Cakes too. It's really special."

Patterson enjoys eating Humphry Slocombe ice cream. Humphry's Jake Godby used to do pastry work at Coi.

June Taylor Preserves hit the sweet spot: "We always have some of these at home."

DRINKS
Bar Agricole "is fantastic. Thad Vogler is a favorite."

"I love the drinks at Slanted Door. Eric Atkins has been there a long time. He'll make stuff and it's always amazing."

ON READING
Having a family and running three restaurants seem to leave Patterson with little free time. He said that "I've done a lot of book events this year. Reading time is nonexistent. I work from eight in the morning to midnight. (So) I read in concentrated bursts. Or to research."

He did cite Harold McGee's new Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes book (The Penguin Press, $35), calling it "fantastic." Daniel has written for the New York Times, Food & Wine, London Financial Times and San Francisco Magazine. Readers can look forward to Patterson's second book, which he is currently working on. It will be a Coi cookbook.

Richie Nakano (Hapa Ramen) plating Ricotta Crostini with Butternut Squash

What was that warm tingling sensation glowing from the back of my throat? Was it my imagination, or did my pulse just quicken a touch? I retraced my steps to Richie Nakano (Hapa Ramen) and shot him a quizzical look. "You felt it, huh?" he said, reading my mind. Yes, Richie. I felt it. What did I just eat?

Oh you know, your standard crostini, spiked with nicotine. Nakano's dish started out innocent enough: toasted slices of crusty bread topped with fresh Straus Family Creamery ricotta made that morning, and butternut squash seasoned with thyme and oregano. Here's where it gets interesting. He roasted the squash over tobacco leaves. Sourced from Happy Quail Farms, the leaves are typically used to wrap cigars. Used for cooking…the result is an interesting, sweet, smoky flavor, with some interesting physical reactions. Nakano made sure not to put too much of the butternut squash on each crostini (and don't worry, this was a 21+ event). He did warn that if trying this innovative method at home and you're tasting a lot as you cook, be careful that your heart doesn't explode.

Amanda Hesser, author of The Essential New York Times Cookbook (Photo Credit: Marc Matsumoto)

Hapa Ramen was just one of the 11 restaurants who participated in Sunday's SF Food Wars: Ultimate Potluck Cocktail Brunch edition with Amanda Hesser. The sold-out event was the official West coast launch party for The Essential New York Times Cookbook. Hesser spent six years cooking her way through the New York Times's recipe archive, testing more than 1,400 recipes from across a 150-year period. For the potluck brunch, each local chef prepared a dish inspired by recipes from the cookbook. Here are a few highlights:

Beet Tzatzkiki & Smoked Trout Lettuce Cups by Adam Timney, Starbelly (Photo Credit: Marc Matsumoto)

This impossibly pink Beet Tzatzkiki (page 89) from Adam Timney at Starbelly was just what we needed on this rainy gray afternoon. Made with thick, creamy, Greek-style yogurt, the beet dip was sweet and tangy, and served with a spoonful of smoked trout and a little mint in a crispy lettuce cup. This was one light, refreshing, and well-balanced bite.

Poached Eggs by Mourad Lahlou & Louis Maldonado, Aziza (Photo Credit: Marc Matsumoto)

Aziza outdid itself with three solid dishes from Mourad Lahlou, Louis Maldonado, and Melissa Chou. Their take on Poached Eggs with Date-Chorizo Paste (page 636) was beautifully presented in an eggshell. Composed of a soft-poached egg layered with a date-chorizo mixture and topped with some creamy crème fraiche foam, the flavors had the familiar feel of a hearty huevos rancheros brunch even though the aesthetic was more refined. I especially loved the play between the spicy, meaty chorizo and the molasses-like pureed dates. Rather than accenting the dish with truffle oil, as recommended in the original recipe, the chefs bumped up the flavor with a pop of citrus zest in the filling and tied it all together with the soft, airy creaminess of the crème fraiche.

Joyce Goldstein's Pickled Salmon by Mourad Lahlou & Louis Maldonado, Aziza (Photo Credit: Marc Matsumoto)

Joyce Goldstein's Pickled Salmon (page 404) was presented in pretty hors d'oeuvre form with the pickled salmon served in a mousse-like consistency accompanied by delicately sliced cucumbers and pickled onions over dainty squares of pumpernickel.

Banana Cream Pie by Melissa Chou, Aziza (Photo Credit: Marc Matsumoto)

I adored pastry chef Melissa Chou's sophisticated take on Banana Cream Pie (page 863). It started with a buttery, flaky pie crust round, topped with vanilla-specked cream, slices of banana, and a sprinkling of oatmeal crisp. A garnish of some dark chocolate and mocha cream was the perfect addition that graduated this dessert from finishing school.

Unlike other SF Food Wars, this event was a non-competitive tasting event so no one officially took home the crown. As far as I'm concerned though, after eating my way through these creative dishes, I'm the real winner.

2010 San Francisco Bay Area Rising Star Award Winners

The Rising Stars Revue is back in SF this year with an awards ceremony and walk-around tasting gala to be held on Wednesday, June 16th, at Ghirardelli Square.

Liza Shaw's (A16) Roasted Sardines and Minted Pea Bruschetta with Pickled Onions, presented by restaurateur Shelley Lindgren

Hosted by Gary Danko chef de cuisine, Martin Brock, the tasting gala will feature signature savory dishes, desserts and cocktails presented by the 14 Rising Stars. Check out this year's winners and the tantalizing dishes they plan on making for the gala:

CHEFS
Matthew Accarrino, SPQR
Bone Marrow Sformatino, Smoked Bacon, and Onions

John Paul Carmona, Manresa
Boudin Blanc, Dates, and Wild Watercress

Maximilian DiMare, Wood Tavern
Crispy Pork Belly with Bacon, Red Lentil Ragout, and Poached Egg

Louis Maldonado, Aziza
Marinated Striped Bass, Petrossian Caviar, Green Strawberries, and Brown Rice

Thomas McNaughton, flour + water
Ravioli Doppio of Pork and Pea

Scott Nishiyama, Chez TJ
Moulard Duck Foie Gras “Neige,” Blackberry, Cashew, and House-Made Mustard Toast

PASTRY CHEFS
Melissa Chou, Aziza
Crème Fraîche Panna Cotta with Plum Soup

Catherine Schimenti, Michael Mina
Apricot Mousse, Cherry Sorbet, and Lemon Verbena

MIXOLOGISTS
Erick Castro, Rickhouse
Statesman
The Lusty Maritime Punch, featuring Highland Park Single Malt Scotch Whiskey

Brian MacGregor, Jardinière
Tippler’s Delight

SOMMELIER
Sarah Valor, Commis
Wine pairings with each chef’s dish

HOTEL CHEF
Josh Thomsen, The Claremont Hotel Club & Spa
Laura Chenel Goat Cheese-Potato Terrine with Slow-Roasted Baby Beets and Aged Balsamic Syrup

RESTAURANT CONCEPT
Joshua Skenes, Saison
Little Roots Braised with Bonito, Caramelized Shoots, Flowers, and Leaves

RESTAURATEUR
Shelley Lindgren, A16 & SPQR
Roasted Sardines and Minted Pea Bruschetta with Pickled Onions

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HOST CHEF
Martin Brock, Gary Danko
Cured New Zealand King Salmon with Jicama, Lotus Root Chips, and Curry Remoulade

VIP HOST CHEF
JW Foster, The Fairmont San Francisco
Petrossian White Sturgeon Caviar with Champagne-Poached Red Torpedo Onion Relish, Butterball Pomme Chip, Charred Citrus, and Crème Fraîche
House Cold Smoked New Zealand Greenshell™ Mussel with Parsnip Frites, Santa Cruz Heirloom Tomato and Sonoma Riesling Consommé, and Asian Pear and Fennel Salad

Joshua Skenes’s (Saison): Little Roots with Caramelized Shoots and Leaves

The Rising Star Awards recognize up-and-coming chefs, pastry chefs, sommeliers and mixologists from around the country who represent future leaders of the national culinary scene. StarChefs.com, online magazine to foodservice industry insiders since 1995, chooses only four American cities in which to name Rising Stars each year -- this year, they chose LA, SF, NYC and Washington, DC. Candidates are nominated by previous SF winners and the StarChefs Advisory Board (which includes the likes of Daniel Boulud, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Bobby Flay, and Todd English). Winners are chosen by the StarChefs editorial team.

More than 90 San Francisco Bay Area candidates were considered via in-person tastings and interviews. "A new breed of young culinary professionals is defining the Bay Area dining scene, taking it beyond simply sourcing the best ingredients and championing the sustainability movement," said Antoinette Bruno, chief executive officer and editor-in-chief of StarChefs.com. "They are true artisans and craftspeople."

Catherine Schimenti’s (Michael Mina) Apricot Mousse, Cherry Sorbet, and Lemon Verbena

StarChefs.com’s Rising Stars Revue
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
7:30-10:00 pm
Ghirardelli Square, SF

Tickets for the Rising Stars Revue are $95 per person; VIP tickets are $150 and include a pre-event reception with Champagne and Petrossian Caviar. A portion of the proceeds will go to La Cocina.

******

Try your hand at Melissa Chou’s stellar dessert. Elegant, light, and refreshing -- just the thing to wow your dinner guests at your next summer festa.

Melissa Chou’s (Aziza) Goat Yogurt Panna Cotta with Rose Gelee, Strawberry Merengue, Compressed Green Strawberries, Mint, Hibiscus Soup

Crème Fraîche Panna Cotta with Plum Soup
Recipe courtesy of Melissa Chou, pastry chef of Aziza (adapted from her StarChefs award-winning dish)

Serves: 12

Plum Soup Ingredients:
4 pounds plums
1 cup sugar

Preparation:
1. Rough chop plums and place into a large pot (include pits). Add sugar and enough water to cover the plums generously (about 10 cups). Place a piece of parchment on the surface of the liquid and cook on medium high heat for about an hour, occasionally stirring, but not crushing the plums.
2. Set a strainer over a large bowl and pour in the soup. Simply allow the soup to drain out, but do not press on the plums or the soup will become cloudy. You should have about 6 cups soup.
3. Reduce the soup until you have about 4 cups. Adjust sugar to taste. Chill and reserve.

Crème Fraîche Panna Cotta Ingredients:
2 cups crème fraîche
¾ cups cream
6 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ teaspoons gelatin powder

Preparation:
1. Dissolve the gelatin in a generous tablespoon of water. Meanwhile, gently heat the cream with the sugar in a small pot over medium low heat.
2. Cut the gelatin into cubes and when the cream begins to simmer, remove from heat and add the gelatin. Whisk until fully dissolved. Whisk in the creme fraiche. Strain and pour into about 12 lightly oiled 2 ounce timbale molds.

Garnishes:
Strawberries, cut lengthwise into sixths
Mint chiffonade

To serve:
1. Gently run the tip of a small knife around the edge of the panna cotta. Using your fingers, gently pull the panna cotta away from the side of the mold and invert into a shallow dessert bowl.
2. Garnish with the strawberries and mint. Pour in about ¼ cup of soup and serve.

(All photos courtesy of StarChefs.com)

The restaurant list for the 7th Annual Dine About Town has been announced. Dine About Town (DAT) was designed seven years ago to allow customers to try out new restaurants around the city at a reasonable deal. Modeled after restaurant weeks in cities such as New York, DAT features a fixed price lunch and dinner at over 100 restaurants throughout San Francisco. This year, DAT will take place from January 15 - 31.

For a three-course, preset meal, you will pay $21.95 for lunch and $31.95 for dinner at any of the participating restaurants.

Food enthusiasts around the city make a sport out of trying to find the best deals and the best meals that can be had during Dine About Town. While restaurants will continue to be added to the DAT list until opening day on January 15, the current restaurant list features some participants that seem to be good deals or to have interesting menus:

Absinthe (lunch)
Aziza (dinner)
Bacar (dinner)
Big 4 (lunch/dinner)
One Market (lunch/dinner)
Sens (lunch/dinner)

Chowhounds warn of spending more on a DAT meal than you would normally spend at a restaurant for a comparable meal. Examples of this are Chou Chou, Scott Howard, 1550 Hyde and Le Charm -- many of which have year-round prix fixe meals for slightly less than the DAT price. An additional tip: when finding DAT deals, check out the actual prix fixe menu. Some restaurants relegate their most boring, pedestrian dishes to the DAT menu, unfortunately.

The rules of Dine About Town:

* You must pay with Visa.
* You must tell the server that you'd like the Dine About Town deal when you arrive.
* The best DAT deals fill up quickly so make a reservation.
* All meals are preset and three courses.