Tag: Italian

Romanesco, the Lady Gaga of Broccoli

Romanesco, the Lady Gaga of Broccoli

| January 16, 2013 | 2 Comments

A properly Roman dish, this dish combines the classic “Cacio e Pepe” (cheese and pepper) with beautiful florets of broccoli romanesco sautéed in garlic and olive oil.

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Food Speaks in Many Tongues

Food Speaks in Many Tongues

| August 27, 2012 | 12 Comments

Porridge Head! Sweetie-Pie. Adaptable Tomato. Every language uses descriptive food phrases as insults, endearments, warnings and advice. Here is a smorgasbord of food metaphors and idioms in 17 languages including French, ASL, Danish, Chinese, German, Spanish, Turkish, Hebrew, Italian and Arabic.

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Book Review: Lidia’s Italy in America

Book Review: Lidia’s Italy in America

| December 20, 2011 | 1 Comment

In Ms. Basitanich’s new book “Lidia’s Italy in America,” which she wrote with her daughter Tanya Bastianich Manuali, the focus is on the unique ways Italian American immigrants interpreted dishes from their homeland throughout the United States. Watch “Lidia Celebrates America — Holiday Tables & Traditions” on KQED TV.

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Check, Please! Bay Area: Grand Oaks, Risibisi, Elite Cafe (603)

Check, Please! Bay Area: Grand Oaks, Risibisi, Elite Cafe (603)

| July 21, 2011 | 0 Comments

Check, Please! Bay Area Season 6: episode 3 airs Thursday July 21 at 7:30pm on KQED TV 9. The third episode of the season features these restaurants: Grand Oaks Restaurant and Sports Lounge (Oakland), Risibisi Italian Restaurant (Petaluma) and The Elite Cafe (San Francisco).

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Pizza and Pasta Rule at Osteria Coppa

Pizza and Pasta Rule at Osteria Coppa

| April 4, 2011 | 0 Comments

Osteria Coppa in San Mateo is owned by the folks who run Sam’s Chowder House in Half Moon Bay; a Peninsula institution. Executive Chef Chanan Kamen takes pride in his handmade pastas and hand-stretched pizzas, and it shows. His resume includes Michelin-starred Quince and Jardinere in San Francisco, and Picholine and Tabla in New York City.

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If you grate the cheese, be grateful for the rind

If you grate the cheese, be grateful for the rind

| July 28, 2009 | 4 Comments

If you are a fan of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, you probably buy chunks of it. You grate them and devour them. Eventually you are left with rinds that are too small to grate, but too precious to throw away.
If you are like me, these rinds pile up in the cheese bin of the fridge. At $16 a pound or more, how could you possibly throw them away?
Then the time comes to utilize these rinds. I am sharing a method I learned from a line chef at Oliveto, after I asked him about pasta recipes for a dinner party.

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Deceptively delectable: Tonnato with summer vegetables

Deceptively delectable: Tonnato with summer vegetables

| July 13, 2009 | 2 Comments

Sometimes it’s best not to tell your dinner guests what you are about to serve them.

Sometimes you should just watch their eyes light up as they try that first bite, and then reveal what you’ve prepared.

This is one of those dishes.

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First Look at Donato Enoteca

First Look at Donato Enoteca

| July 5, 2009 | 0 Comments

If you stepped into Donato Enoteca in Redwood City on opening night, you might have thought you were in Italy. It seemed just about every Italian in the Bay Area was there. Not only that, as a guest of honor, in attendance was the chef’s mother, who flew in from Italy on a whim.

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Foreign Food Affairs

Foreign Food Affairs

| April 30, 2008 | 3 Comments

Next Monday May 5th you can join the Cinco de Mayo crush at local Mexican restaurants, or you can meet the authors of celebrated Italian and French book on food, instead. We suggest the latter, besides, the best community celebrations will take place on the weekend, such as San Francisco Cinco de Mayo San Francisco [...]

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Giving Up Sunday Gravy: A Lost Food Tradition

Giving Up Sunday Gravy: A Lost Food Tradition

| April 19, 2008 | 58 Comments

Have you ever given up a long-held family food tradition? I have. Years ago I gave up Italian Sunday Gravy, which is basically manna for Italian Americans. Although I stand by my decision, I often regret it as well. Like many other Italian-American families, my mother made Gravy — a rich tomato-based sauce with numerous [...]

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