If you only have two days in SF here are some real treats. Piemontese (Italian), Moroccan, Peruvian and fresh seasonal modern American cooking. Take your choice. Read about them in the RESTAURANT page of this website. (Pic above; causas at La Mar.)
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I am in love with San Francisco.
Judith Tabron and I started out the day on KGO radio with host Gene Burns here in the city, while NZ wine producers showcased their wine. (See pic).
We went to the farmers market at the Ferry Plaza. We saw amazing produce.
We ate at La Mar. (Pier 1.5) Peruvian cuisine. Pisco sours, the ultimate cocktail, and a tasting menu of cebiche, causas, empanadas. Yum! And then more cocktails. An inspiring feast.
We had dinner at Flour + Water (Mission District). Terrific use of the seasonal produce that we'd admired at the farmers market. Especially the salads and the pasta. Not to even mention the pork with parsley root puree, fresh asparagus and baby carrots.
And then the bars: Heart - a new wine bar in the Mission district, Baretta for yet more amazing cocktails, and a nightcap at Bourbon and Branch. Their Sazerac was wonderful. Tomorrow I am off to Portland, Oregon.
If you go to San Francisco, don't miss TONY'S PIZZA NAPOLETANA at 1570 Stockton St, near Washington Park in North Beach. Late this afternoon, after I had explored the boutique stores on Fillmore, Joanne Weir and I lunched on a Margherita pizza with a bottle of Umani Ronchi Lacrima di Morro d'Alba 2008. Tony was away in Naples defending his title as top pizza maker in the world, but his chefs produced this amazingly good pizza with a chewy thin crust, and ever so slightly charred on the edges to give it great smoky flavour. And it was topped with San Marzano tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and garden fresh basil. I could have eaten two pizzas they were so good. And as we left Marni, the manager, handed Joanne a big bag of '00' flour that had just arrived from Italy. So maybe home made pizzas are on the menu at her place tonight as I had always thought Joanne was the best pizza maker in the world. (Until she took me to Tony's!)
I arrived yesterday at SFO (thanks to Air NZ for the beautiful sleep on the lie flat bed) and was straight into a wine tasting, with my friend Joanne Weir, cook extraordinaire, of the Loire wines. We may have taken the Sav Blanc grape from that region of France, but my, how NZ wines would stack up against those I tasted! My favourite was from Quincy at Domaine Lecomte, and in a new innovation, they are selling one serving of wine in these nifty little test tubes. (see photo). A first for me.
Then off to Whole Foods (like a very upscaled version of Nosh) for our dinner ingredients. Joanne cooks like me: no fuss, the best possible produce prepared with minimal intereference. Spring here of course, so asparagus salad with Meyer lemon to start, lamb sirloins grilled over the open hearth fire in her kitchen on stewed beans, red onion, olive oil, fennel seeds and tomato (I cooked that with some delicious red beans Joanne sources from a supplier in New York) and fresh strawberries to finish. The Pinot Noirs of California are lovely... smooth and full bodied with clear fruit aromas, and Joe, Joanne's husband found us a real treasure from their cellar.
I'm now off to explore the local neighbourhood shops on Fillmore St.
Tuesday has been an exciting day. We completed the Winter section of our book The Vegetable Cook Book (working title, to be published by Random House and due out in August this year) today and shot the accompanying photos for that section. Since we started in the Spring last September, we have worked through all the seasons and that means today we're complete. Yay!
I have worked with food writers Kathy Paterson and Ginny Grant on the project, and the wonderfully calm food photographer Aaron McLean has shot about 50 of the recipes. They look amazing. It's not a vegetarian book, but rather a celebration of the world of fresh seasonal produce from the garden that every vegetable lover will enjoy and cook from.
Now we're all working out what surprise events we can do together to launch the book later in the year. Watch this space!
In the past two weeks Auckland has seen the closure of two long running restaurants; Ariake and The New Orient.
Ariake provided Aucklanders with their first taste and experience of the wonder of fine Japanese food. The first site, tucked into a basement in Lower Albert St, was a mysterious place where diners were served an array of food delivered with the care and style that Japanese food demands, and everything was delicious and excitingly new.
The New Orient, upstairs above an arcade in Elliott St, offered Chinese food that was beautifully presented, albeit the cuisine that Kiwis had come to expect in such restaurants; sweet and sour dishes, lemon chicken, fried garnished rice, whole steamed fish and much, much more.
As someone who has been writing about restaurants for more than 23 years, I am not surprised by the closure of both these stalwarts. Restaurants must continually work at progressing their business. It’s a bit like a website; if you return and nothing has changed, you have no reason to visit again. And these places each had their own formula which they sadly stuck to for more than 30 years. New Zealand is privileged to have a vibrant and diverse restaurant and café industry and these places were unfortunately overtaken by a hipper, more savvy type of Asian restaurant that suits today’s worldly traveller and diner.
But there’s also something missing in the Asian dining scene. In my travels to various parts of the world I’ve enjoyed stunning Asian meals in equally stunning surroundings. I remember more than a dozen years ago I was in London and was invited to a sneak preview of Tamarind, an Indian restaurant opening in the Shepherd’s Market precinct. I had lived in London twenty years before and usually dined out on Indian or Pakistani curries in tiny corner shop or basement restaurants, where the food was spicy and fragrant and we usually took our own beer and ate in basic surroundings. So I was stunned by the dramatic décor and spectacular presentation of the food at this exclusive Indian restaurant. It was colourful and sophisticated with knowledgeable professional service to match.
I have returned to London several times in recent years and always seek out fine ethnic eating. The meals can be a revelation, in dazzlingly decorated settings; authentic food often made with ingredients sourced in Asia, and always an appreciation of western tastes without corrupting the original cuisine. Think Alan Yau’s Chinese dim sum, Kiwi chef Nic Watt’s innovative Japanese food at Roka, or David Thomson’s divinely unusual yet authentic Thai food at Nahm in the Halkin Hotel. And an absolute plethora of Indian restaurants that are so sharp they seem like nightclubs.
The same can be said about Asian eating in Paris, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Sydney or Shanghai and Hong Kong. They tell me that by the year 2016 one third of Auckland’s population will be Asian. So why, in contrast to the rest of the developed world is our Asian eating scene in New Zealand concentrated on cheap or economical eating? I have no problem finding delicious Asian food and not for a minute would denigrate much fine authentic cooking. We have a tradition in New Zealand cities, like most around the world, of recent immigrants setting up small food operations, driven by the need to find self-employment and to recreate the food they enjoyed in their homeland. The food is good, and they often provide exactly the experience an adventurous traveller would find in a hawker centre or as street food.
But, with the exception of less than a handful of places we are limited to economical eating out and can find no lavish, well decorated stylish Asian restaurants with equally stunning food. We can eat Korean, Hong Kong barbecue, Cantonese, Thai, Vietnamese, Laotian, Malaysian, Cambodian, Japanese, Indian and more. But it’s mostly in scruffy surroundings or food halls and comes with uninformed and sloppy service. Try getting the server to explain the composition and origin of any dish, or to translate the specials marked on the blackboard!
I believe we’re now ready to embrace even more authentic and sophisticated eating. I wish restaurateurs and their investors would move up several notches and recognise the growing refinement of our multi-cultural appetites. Maybe there might be less closures?
I have just arrived home from a weekend in Christchurch, where I cooked up a storm at the Food Show.
Go to my RECIPES section to see what I cooked.
I was also privileged to demonstrate the Induction Cooktop on the Electrolux stand. Induction cooking is amazing! I have always been a gas girl but I feel a kitchen renovation coming on after using this speedy, safe cooktop that is so easy to look after and to clean.
Two days this week I have found myself in two gardens and it’s only Wednesday! Both very different, but both with the aim of feeding people with handsome produce…
On Monday, after an early golf match (we lost on the 19th hole), I drove to Mangere in South Auckland and picked a big basketful of the most beautiful tomatoes. The Young family in Pukaki Rd has grown produce for Auckland markets for as long as both my mother and I can remember. Late in summer, their beefsteak tomato crop ripens and on fine weekdays, from 10am to 3pm they open their fields to PYO customers. That may not seem unusual but in this modern age of mass production and cultivation in a controlled environment, there is something extremely special about getting dirt on your shoes, your fingers green from pinching the tomato stalks, and then bottling, saucing or simply eating this heavy sweet ripe fruit that has grown outdoors.
It made me think that we accept produce far too easily that is picked green, carefully transported to markets, distributed and then sometimes re-distributed, arranged on shelves, chosen, and sent through the checkout before we get to take it home and eat it. And sometimes after all this activity we still have to wait for it to fully ripen. At least at farmers markets, farm stands and in PYO gardens we get to eliminate many of these steps and we can choose vine or tree ripened produce. Long may the Youngs continue to cultivate their land, and not succumb to the encroaching suburban sprawl of housing estates that now border their gardens.
On Tuesday, another heart-warming experience. I again drove to South Auckland, this time to the East Tamaki Primary School for the launch of the Garden to Table Trust. Modelled on Stephanie Alexander’s School Kitchen Garden programme, the trust aims to teach children to grow, cook and eat their own vegetables and fruit. I had heard a lot about the hard work that has already got this project up and running in this school and in two more in the Auckland region. Many of my friends and neighbours are involved in a voluntary capacity, many large corporations, companies and charitable trusts have got behind it, and the delight and commitment shown by the school children was fabulous.
Every spare inch of land that is not used for play areas has been turned into gardens. The Year 4, 5 & 6 children tend these vegetables and fruits, then cook with them and sit together family style to share the yummy food they have produced under supervision. The school is part of a now very proud community and the activity has even influenced several of the neighbours to start their own gardens, with much success. Let’s hope it really takes off and more schools not only teach the children about cultivation, but also how to cook, eat and adequately provide for their nutritional needs. There’s real hope for a healthy future with this initiative.
Talked with Kathryn Ryan this morning on National Radio. Listen and you may be inspired to visit Matakana.
Monday 22 March Food and Wine segment.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/
Last night I got a cruisy role. Eating, drinking and commenting. Take a peek.
http://tvnz.co.nz/masterchef-new-zealand/s1-e7-video-3418708