Tag Archives: Rich Table

September 10, 2013 · 8:37 pm

PANNA COTTA

Even though Sarah is trained as a savory cook, by default she has also been doing baked goods and desserts at Rich Table. She doesn’t think of herself as a pastry chef, but her success proves otherwise. Desserts have been among some of the most popular items at Rich Table since it opened over a year ago. There is always pressure to keep some of the old favorites on the menu, but there is also pressure to introduce new items on a fairly constant basis.

Two recent additions are:

Blue corn cake with honey-griddled plums, and vanilla ice cream. This dessert is a riff on Sarah’s favorite cornbread recipe, but made with blue corn meal. I suspect that comes from her interest in New Mexico traditions. She also has a good source for blue cornmeal from  Tierra Vegetables in the farmers market at the San Francisco Ferry Building.

Blue corn cake with honey-grilled plums and vanilla ice cream

Blue corn cake with honey-grilled plums and vanilla ice cream

Bittersweet chocolate ganache with almond butter crunch and passion fruit meringue.

Bittersweet chocolate ganache with almond butter crunch and passion fruit meringue

Bittersweet chocolate ganache with almond butter crunch and passion fruit meringue

Panna cotta is one of the old favorites, but Sarah has come up with lots of variations that have kept it popular and fresh. Some of those variations include buttermilk, coconut, and more recently cream cheese.  Panna cotta is a cousin of flan, crema catalana, and crème brûlée. Those custards are made with eggs which are cooked gently to provide thickening. Panna cotta has gelatin added for the thickening agent. In commercial kitchens, leaf or sheet gelatin is the form most commonly used, but that form is not often available in grocery stores and is a little trickier to use. That’s ok, because a perfectly good panna cotta can be made with the granulated form, although you may need to experiment and cut back on the amount of the gelatin if the finished panna cotta too firm for your taste.

Sarah’s current cream cheese panna cotta is delicious, but if you want to try it at home you will need to tinker with the amount of gelatin you use. The firm texture of the cream cheese sets up too hard with the usual amounts of gelatin.

I think her buttermilk panna cotta is every bit as good. Sarah makes it with fresh cultured buttermilk that the restaurant gets when it house-churns its own butter. That’s not practical at home, but fresh commercial buttermilk will work. That’s my version below.

Straining berry mixture for the sauce base
Containers of berry sauce lines up to go into the cold room
Blackberries
Raspberries
Strawberries
Blackberries and raspberries
Sauce with mixed berries
Chunks of cream cheese before blending
Blending panna cotta mixture
Mixing cream cheese with immersion blender
Sheet gelatin set to soak
Gelatin bloomed and ready to be added to the panna cotta mixture
Heated cream ready to receive the gelatin
Individual panna cottas ready to be chilled

RECIPE

Panna Cotta

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup water
  • 1 packet unflavored gelatin
  • 1½ cups heavy cream
  • 1½ cups buttermilk
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons orange blossom water
  • 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur (optional)

Method

  1. Place the water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over the top. Let stand for 5 minutes or until the gelatin softens. Do not let it stand too long or it will turn into a solid blob that is hard to dissolve.
  2. In a medium saucepan, combine the cream, buttermilk, and sugar. Bring to a  boil for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
  3. Using a whisk or immersion blender, stir in the softened gelatin. Stir for at least a minute. Make sure that the gelatin is completely dissolved. Otherwise it will sink to the bottom and form a separate gelled layer.
  4. Stir in the orange blossom water and optional Grand Marnier or other orange liqueur.
  5. Pour into 6 6-ounce cups. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours or overnight.
  6. Serve with fresh berries or your choice of toppings.

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July 13, 2013 · 2:48 pm

CHICKEN LASAGNA WITH PUMPKIN AND GREENS – SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RISING STAR CHEFS

A while back we spent some time in the Bay Area baby sitting while our kids were involved in out-of-town business trips. One of the payoffs for our efforts was that we got to attend the Silicon Valley crawfish boil I wrote about. Another bonus was the chance to attend the San Francisco Rising Stars celebration sponsored by Starchefs, an organization that publishes magazines and websites catering to food professionals. Once a year, in a different city, Starchefs throws a big event to recognize rising star chefs from that community. This year it was San Francisco’s turn. Sarah and Evan were fortunate enough to be selected among the eight Rising Star chefs, along with outstanding pastry chefs, artisans, restaurateurs, brewers, and mixologists.

The event was held at AT&T Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants. There is a lot of excitement just with the prospect of seeing a huge major league baseball park all spiffed up and without the crowds.

Still, there was a different crowd: for a select few (actually willing to pay a lot more for their tickets) there was a VIP reception in the main-floor restaurant and lounge. “Free” drinks, appetizers when you could intercept the servers, and some women in long gowns – in a baseball park.

After the reception, everyone headed to the seats behind home plate to watch the awards ceremony. One by one the winners were called out of the dugout to run to home base for an introduction, award, and photos.

Next, everyone rode elevators up to the Club level, complete with spectacular views of the stadium and San Francisco Bay behind it. There the winners had all prepared some of their signature dishes and served them from tables set up around the lobby, interspersed with tables of wine paired with each of the dishes.

Long dresses in a baseball stadium
Bar at the VIP reception
Panorama of AT&T Park
Chef honorees gathering before heading to the dugout
Running to home plate
Accepting trophy plates
AT&T Park and San Francisco Bay
Sarah and Evan Rich at their booth
Chicken lasagna with pumpkin sauce and seeds

There was some pretty spectacular food, and this is just a sampler:

  • Nick Balla, Bar Tartine                            Fisherman’s stew with green chile
  • Richie Nakan, Hapa Ramen                   Crispy ramen noodle cake
  • Jessica Largey, Manresa                         Verbena- and chamomile-poached sea bream collar
  • Jason Fox, Commonwealth                    Scallop, hearts of palm, popcorn puree
  • Brett Cooper, Outerlands                       Fish sauce-glazed Berkshire pork belly
  • Duncan Holmes, Sons & Daughters     Squab with marcona almond butter
  • Mark Liberman, AQ                                 Australian beef short ribs with black garlic

Of course, we were partial to Sarah and Evan’s offering from Rich Table, chicken lasagna with pumpkin and greens

All in all, it was a great evening in a great setting in a great city.  My only concern was getting out of the parking lot with all of those other revelers.

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June 18, 2013 · 5:36 pm

CHIPOTLE CULTIVATE SAN FRANCISCO

We just returned from a week in the San Francisco Bay area. Our trip was primarily a baby-sitting junket, but we wound up experiencing a non-stop rush of food events. The main reason for our trip was so that our daughter and son-in-law could go to New York City to cook in a charity event in Rockefeller Center for CityMeals on Wheels, but we wound up baby-sitting while they cooked at their restaurant, Rich Table, for visiting chefs attending the Chipotle Cultivate Festival in Golden Gate Park. Then there was the NYC event itself, and while the offspring were out of town, we helped my son and his family with their annual crawfish boil in Silicon Valley, and then cooked a birthday dinner for my son.  In between all of this we had a spectacular all-holds-barred dinner at Rich Table and a late lunch at the Presidio Social Club, a lovely little place on the Presidio grounds. Finally we attended the awards ceremony for San Francisco’s Rising Star Chefs held in the Giants’ AT&T Park. Sarah and Evan cooked again, and the reception was a real food blowout.

Now we have to work on losing the weight we gained during this food extravaganza.

My first report from the week is about the Chipotle Cultivate Festival, sponsored by the Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant chain. This started out as an event in Chicago’s Lincoln Park three years ago, spread to Denver’s City Park last year, and now this year moved to include San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The event was held in Hellman Hollow with nearby Lloyd Lake. The festival was free with lots of live music, so there were big crowds. Chipotle had food stands around the grounds with some of their specialties for sale. There were lots of other food vendors, but one of the highlights was a series of cooking demonstrations by well-known chefs. Amanda Freitag, perhaps best known as one of the judges on the Food Network’s Chopped, travelled from New York City. So did Douglas Quint and Bryan Petroff, co-owners of Big Gay Ice Cream Trucks, wildly popular in NYC. Ludo Lefebvre, Jon Shook, and Vinny Dotolo came up from Los Angeles. Michael Charello of Bottega in Napa Valley, Richard Blais from Atlanta, corporate chefs from Chipotle, and San Francisco chefs Minh Tsai, Evan Bloom, Led Beckerman, and Sarah and Evan rounded out the list of chefs who did cooking demonstrations throughout the day.

Sarah and Evan chose to prepare Sarah’s popular dessert, caramelized olive oil cake with fresh strawberry sauce and cream cheese ice cream. Oil cakes have been around for years, but recipes in cookbooks are often hard to find. Oil is used as a substitute for butter or shortening. Its liquid state at room temperature makes a moist cake, but that also means it will not support cake loft as much as solid fats. For that reason, the cake is more dependent upon incorporated air in other ingredients so it is important to beat those ingredients enough to give the cake lightness. Olive oil has only recently become a popular ingredient. The 1975 edition of the Joy of Cooking has three recipes for oil cakes but also strong advice to avoid olive oil because of its strong flavor. These days, that strong flavor has made olive oil cakes popular.

An additional step that makes Sarah’s cake special is caramelization. As she says, you can caramelize the top, the top and bottom,or all sides, depending how much time you want to spend. One way to caramelize the cake is to sprinkle it with sugar and use a salamander or torch as you might for a crême brulée, but that may be too tricky, so you can accomplish the same thing in a very hot skillet or griddle. The caramelization step can only be done when you are ready to serve the cake.

The second part of the demonstration dish was a strawberry sauce made from fresh strawberries. California strawberries fresh from the farm are totally unlike the flavorless, cardboardy kinds you get in the supermarket. The farm varieties are red, juicy, sweet, tender, and filled with the strawberry flavor of long ago. Adriana Silva, the owner of   Tomatero Farms near Watsonville and the strawberry purveyor, also participated in the demonstration. She has gone from 2 to 200 acres under cultivation in just a few years, and she raises six different varieties of strawberries which come in at different times during the season. The variety used for the demonstration was “Seascape”, a red, sweet beauty.

Golden Gate Park is a beautiful place with wonderful plantings
Seagulls always look for a handout when food is nearby
Lloyd Lake nearby Hellman Hollow, is great for bird watching
Muscovy duck – don’t eat me
Beginning the demonstration
Adding the olive oil and answering questions at the same time
Adriana Silva talks about strawberries and her organic farm
Caramelized olive oil cake with strawberries and cream cheese ice cream
The star of the show
Always time for an interview
Kids play while parents work

The final part of the dish for the demonstration was a generous topping of cream cheese ice cream, churned at Rich Table that morning. It is like eating a bite of cold New York cheesecake except that it melts in your mouth.

RECIPE

Olive Oil Cake

Ingredients

  • 8 large eggs
  • 1½ cups granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1½ lemons, zested
  • 1 1/8 cups whole milk
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup cake flour
  • 1 1/3 cups almond flour
  • ¼ cup baking powder
  • 1½ cups extra virgin olive oil + more to grease the cake pan
  • granulated sugar to caramelize the top

Method

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixture, combine the eggs and sugar. With the mixer set on medium speed, cream the eggs and sugar together for at least five minutes to incorporate as much air into the mixture as possible. It should form a smooth, shining ribbon.
  2. Turn the mixer to low and add the salt and lemon zest
  3. Slowly drizzle in the mil with the mixer still running.
  4. While the eggs and sugar are mixing, sift together the flours and baking powder.
  5. Add the sifted flours to the mixture, continuing to beat on low.
  6. Drizzle in the olive oil very slowly as you would making mayonnaise.
  7. Prepare a half sheet cake pan ( 16 x 12 x 3 inches) by oiling liberally with the extra olive oil
  8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Use a spatula to make sure the batter fills the corners of the pan.
  9. Bake in the middle of an oven pre-heated to 325°F for 25 minutes or until the cake springs back to the touch and/or tests clean with a toothpick
  10. Remove from the oven. Cool on a baking rack for five minutes. Then invert onto a flat surface. Gently transfer the cake. You may need to use your fingers or a thin spatula get the cake out in one piece.
  11. When ready to serve, cut the cake into serving-size pieces, sprinkle with sugar, and place sugared-side down on a clean hot griddle or skillet. When the sugar is caramelized (2-3 minutes) serve caramelized side up with sauce, whipped cream, or ice cream.

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April 25, 2013 · 10:31 am

RICH TABLE – KEEPING OUR FINGERS CROSSED

What a year this has been! About this time last year Rich Table was a construction site, and Sarah and Evan were wondering if they could open on time. They were also wondering if they would get enough customers to pay the bills.  Their anxieties have been addressed. The doors of their new restaurant opened right on schedule, and almost from the beginning, they have been busy. One of the biggest complaints on Yelp is that getting a reservation is almost impossible. As proud parents, we know the feeling. When we are visiting San Francisco, we need to call Sarah weeks ahead to make sure we have a table. Sometimes we have had to sit at the bar, and once we only got in when there was a last-minute cancellation.

Great reviews on local food blogs and by Michael Bauer in the San Francisco Chronicle have certainly helped with their popularity, but the excellent service by “celebrity” wait staff, creative cocktails, and – of course – the imaginative food have drawn in lots of repeat customers and regulars.

The chefs have travelled to places as far away as Chicago and Mumbai to cook at the invitation of restaurants and chefs in those settings.

Now, even before the first anniversary of their enterprise, Sarah and Evan are enjoying an experience that once they could only dream of. Along with their friends,  the husband-wife team who operate State Bird Provisions in another part of San Francisco, they are among five finalists for the James Beard Foundation award for the outstanding new restaurant in the United States.

For those of you who don’t know, the James Beard Foundation Awards is cooking’s version of the Oscars. It is black-tie/long dresses in the Lincoln Center in New York City. There are categories for all sorts of food-related honorees, including best chef, best restaurant, best restaurateur, best television show, best cookbook, even best food blog (I am not on the list). There are lots of pre- and post-event parties, so it becomes a days-long celebration of food. I am certain that there is a lot of amazing food at all of the parties and events.

I thought you might be interested in the lists of finalists in two categories: Best New Restaurant and Individual Food Blog, so here they are:

BEST NEW RESTAURANT

  • Empellón Cocina                       NYC
  • Grace                                           Chicago
  • The Ordinary                             Charleston
  • Rich Table                                  San Francisco
  • State Bird Provisions               San Francisco

INDIVIDUAL FOOD BLOG

  • Cannelle et Vanille                       www.cannellevanille.com    Aran Goyoaga
  • Hunter Angler Gardener Cook   www.honest-food.net           Hank Shaw
  • Vinography                                      www.vinography.com           Alder Yarrow

Cookbook, television, and journalism awards will be announced on May 3, 2013. The other awards will be announced May 6, 2013. If you are interested in checking out all of the finalists in all of the categories, go to www.jamesbeard.org/awards

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January 10, 2013 · 10:36 am

NAPA CABBAGE AND BREAD SOUP

I had some napa cabbage left over from my New Year’s Day braised cabbage, so I decided to make some soup.

Napa cabbage (also spelled nappa cabbage) is an authentic Chinese cabbage. The name comes from a Japanese word that means something like vegetable greens.  So far as I have been able to figure out, the name has nothing to do with the Napa Valley in California. I think that name is probably from the Spanish, meaning an aquifer or gas layer. The taste of the cabbage is milder than regular cabbage, and the leaves are crisper

Regular cabbage dates back to the Egyptians, but probably cabbage heads did not appear on the culinary scene until the twelfth century in Germany. For this recipe, you can use regular cabbage, but I think you will like the flavor better with Chinese cabbage.

The soup makes a simple lunch or dinner. We had the added pleasure of a slice of Srah’s new bread, Douglas fir scented levain topped with fresh butter. A perfect winter-time light lunch

RECIPE

Napa cabbage soup with Douglas fir levain-1Napa Cabbage and Bread Soup with Croutons and Parmesan Cheese

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • ½ large head napa cabbage, cored and shredded
  • 4 cups vegetable stock
  • ½ teaspoon beau monde seasoning, or to taste
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 ½ inch slices good quality white bread cut in ½ inch cubes
  • 2 ounces Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
  • ¼ cup minced parsley

Method

  • In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan or stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onions, stir, and cover. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions are wilted and translucent. Do not allow them to brown.
  • Add the shredded cabbage to the pot, cover and continue to cook until completely wilted. Do not brown. Then add the vegetable stock, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Add the beau monde seasoning and adjust with salt and pepper.Cook for 40 minutes or until the cabbage is soft. Add more liquid if necessary.
  • In the meantime, place one of the diced slices of bread on a small baking sheet and dry in the middle of an oven preheated to 225°. Bake for 30 minutes, turning frequently, until the bread cubes are completely dry and crisp. Remove from the oven and set aside.
  • When the cabbage is fully cooked and tender, stir in the remaining cubed slice of bread. The bread should dissolve and thicken the soup. Add more liquid if needed.
  • When ready to serve, plate the soup in 4 wide soup bowls, top with the croutons, sprinkle with the grated Parmesan cheese and parsley. Serve immediately.

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October 13, 2012 · 8:35 pm

RICH TABLE – VERDICT IN; THE CRITICS APPROVE

Rich Table in the Hayes Valley section of San Francisco has only been open for a little over 2 months, but already the food and service have impressed the local critics. Michael Bauer in the San Francisco Chronicle has said, “It was ironic and symbolic that my first visit to Rich Table was the night of the blue moon, because only once in a blue moon does a restaurant like this come along.” ( 3½ stars, September 30, 2012) In San Francisco magazine, Josh Sens says, “Elements of surprise…Rich Table might sound like every other joint in town, but it’s not.” (3 stars, October, 2012)   7×7 San Francisco has selected Sarah and Evan as the chef representatives in their annual “The Hot 30”. (October, 2012)

With all that publicity, it may not be a surprise that the reservation book is filled for the next three months, but even if you can’t get a reservation, don’t despair. There are a few seats at the communal table deliberately left open for walk-ins. The bar is always humming, so you may need to sit on an outside bench to wait your turn.

How did a new restaurant get up and running so smoothly in such a short time? Only part of the answer is the talent of the chef-owners, Sarah and Evan Rich. The other part is the professional staff who work together comfortably, more like a family than a restaurant crew.

Maz has taken on responsibility for running the front of the house after working in the wait staff and as beverage manager for years at Coi. He has put together a menu of creative cocktails and an excellent choice of wines and beers that complement the food.

James and Nick have worked as cooks with Sarah and Evan for years, and so watching them in action is like watching a well-practiced athletic team. They have been joined by Bayoni, Miles, and Andrew. How all these folks fit in the tiny open kitchen is a mystery, but without a misstep they work with one another to turn out the orders beautifully composed and on cue.

Michael and Charles left good, long-time positions in high-end restaurants to join the team. Rachel and Jamie, the runner, have also become team members. This makes a first-class, friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable front-of-the-house crew.

We visited San Francisco a few days ago with plans to eat at Rich Table. As parents of one of the chefs, Sarah, we thought that would not be a problem, but in a text message, Sarah gently reminded my wife that we need to let her know our plans , otherwise she could not guarantee a space.

We wound up sitting at the communal table with a party of five from France. They were making the “Great Circle Tour” of the American West. Even with limited English on their part and non-existent French on ours, we enjoyed a chat and wound up sharing some food.  They cleaned their plates and enjoyed the restaurant. I heard  one  say, “Magnifique.”

We spent three hours eating everything that Sarah sent out to us. Here’s what we ate:

SPANISH CAVA WITH BEAU SOLEIL OYSTERS FROM NEW BRUNSWICK, CANADA

Canadian oysters in California! Delicious and ocean salty. Still, the highlight is the crushed squash blossom mignonette. The sauce is beautiful with green and yellow-orange confetti. It is also tasty with an acidic base that complements the salty oysters.

SARDINE CHIPS WITH HORSERADISH ANCHO CRESS

This is rapidly becoming a signature dish of Rich Table. Big, crisp potato chips have a slender sardine fillet woven in the middle raising the question, “How do they do that?” The horseradish sauce is a perfect foil.   CAUTION: you can’t eat just one!

WINTER SQUASH FRITTER WITH PRESERVED LEMON AND ARUGULA SALSA VERDE

Another signature dish, corn fritters, has been transformed for the fall season into winter squash fritters with the sweet, creamy filling, crispy crust, and salty toasted squash seeds as a garnish.

HOUSE-MADE BLACK GARLIC MORTADELLA WITH HOT MUSTARD

This in no way resembles the usual bologna-like mortadella. The sausage is a silky mousse of pork laced with lardons of pork fat and bits of black garlic, a smoked and aged garlic that has a nutty, woodsy flavor.

RAW KING SALMON WITH CUCUMBER AND DOUGLAS FIR TOPPED WITH SALTINE TUILE DOTTED WITH YOGURT AND FORAGED PURSLANE

Almost too beautiful to eat – well, almost! The salmon hides below a paper-thin tuile of saltine decorated with polka dots of yogurt and “bows” of foraged purslane. The decorations are delicious. The salmon and cucumber are superb.

HEIRLOOM TOMATO SALAD WITH BURRATA AND TOASTED SEAWEED

Sort of a sophisticated caprese. The tomatoes multi-hued, each with its own synthesis of sweet and tart. The burrata is creamy and a notch above the usual mozzarella, even the house-made, fresh variety. Seaweed  for basil? So Japanese and so different.

PLANCHA BREAD, RABBIT SAUSAGE, CORN, AND RED FRILL MUSTARD

Toppings for the plancha bread, done on one of the flat-top stoves, change frequently For our visit, rabbit sausage and corn were a perfect balance. Mustard served as both greens and sauce.

GARGANELLI WITH LAMB SAUSAGE AND ARUGULA

This unusual and beautiful pasta originated in Romagna and was rolled on a weaving comb to produce indentations before it was formed into cylinders resembling the breathing tubes of chickens (hence the name). Here it is topped with a light brown sauce faintly seasoned with tomato and the juices from lamb sausage. The sauce is perfect for dipping with bread.

WILD FENNEL LEVAIN AND HOUSE-CULTURED BUTTER

The perfect bread for dipping – but also for eating by itself or with the house-made cultured butter. There are lots of excellent, famous bakeries in San Francisco – Acme, Grace, and Tartine to name a few – but this house-made bread has become another signature dish. The bread is made with a sourdough starter that has been maintained for years. The scent and subtle taste of foraged wild fennel pollen makes it unique. The butter is made from milk and culture that have been aged together for two days. Then the mix is churned. The butter is pressed and aged for another several days while the pungent buttermilk is saved for other uses. (You’ll see more about that later.)

TAJARIN WITH CUITLACOCHE

The pasta originated in the Italian Piedmont. It is thicker than capellini but thinner than spaghetti. In Alba, a traditional dish is tajarin served with a sauce of black truffles. Thus, it is appropriate with cuitlacoche (corn smut, maize mushroom), a fungus that sometimes develops on ripening ears of corn. In Mexico it is a great delicacy and has been called “Mexican truffle”. Small wonder because it brings a chestnut color to the sauce along with a complex earthy aroma and taste which are clearly reminiscent of fresh truffles at the peak of the season.

RABBIT CANNELLONI, NASTURTIUM, SUNGOLD TOMATOES

An elegant pasta roll filled with tender rabbit and bathed with an herbal, slightly sweet sauce that makes you want more. The nasturtiums with their delicate blossoms and showy tiger stripes look too beautiful to eat, but they’re not. An elegant dish.

KING SALMON, BOK CHOY, TOASTED BUCKWHEAT, YOUNG GINGER

The bok choy and subtle ginger set an Asian note while the crunchy toasted buckwheat kernels offer an interesting contrast to the tender salmon fillets.

SWEET GLAZED PORK DUMPLINGS, BRAISED ESCAROLE, RADICCHIO

Delicate  rolls if pasta stuffed with a fluffy farce of pork augmented with airy egg whites and unctuous pork fat. The sweet glaze is caramelized so that the dish becomes a sophisticated pot sticker.

That’s it – only thirteen savouries, and we finished all of them. Then came dessert.

MUSKMELON GRANITÉ

The dish came to the table resembling a drift of melon-colored snowflakes, and the first spoonfuls added to the image. Then the surprise: buried in the bottom were perfect cubes of ripe melon and a ball of melon-flavored cream made with a siphon.

PANNA COTTA WITH PLUMS AND ALMOND CRUMBLE

So good that Susan started eating before I could take a picture, so here is an image of the fresh peach version from earlier in the season. This has become another signature offering.

PLUM CAKE WITH BUTTERMILK ICE CREAM

The cake oozes moisture and flavor. Not too sweet, but sweet enough with the subtle flavor of seasonal plums and a poached plum on the side along with a quenelle of buttermilk ice cream, tangy and smooth as silk. The buttermilk comes as a by-product of the house-churned butter. Some by-product!

That was it! No more, though no more was needed. Clearly a tour de force of creative American cooking with overtones of French, Italian, and Japanese. Can’t wait to visit again.

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August 21, 2012 · 9:55 am

RICH TABLE: JUST DESSERTS WITH SARAH RICH

As Rich Table has gotten up and running, they have focused on their menu of savory dishes. Sarah and Evan work closely to develop that menu, which changes daily. Almost by default Sarah has been responsible for the baking and the dessert menu. Even though her training and experience have been in savouries on the line, she has also done pastry. So it was natural for her to take on that responsibility. As well, she has taken responsibility for selecting the cheeses for the cheese plate, to be served with grilled levain drizzled with honey. Each evening is a classic presentation of one sheep-, one goat-, one cow-milk choice –  on a recent visit these were Ossauiraty, Onetik Chabrin, and Templais du Fleuron, respectively – as well as hard, soft, and blue.

One of the most popular “bites” at Rich Table has been fennel-scented levain served with cultured butter. Some have wondered why the restaurant charges for this dish when many restaurants provide a “free” bread basket. The answer lies in the preparation of the dish. Sarah and Evan forage for wild fennel pollen. The harvested pollen is used as the key flavoring in the popular bread. Leaven for the bread comes from a years-old culture which Sarah feeds on a daily basis and then readies each night for bread baking. The recipe has been specially developed, and the bread is baked daily; then served warm, soft and fragrant. The butter comes from cream to which a culture is added and allowed to age for several days before it is churned, kneaded, and hand-formed in house. All of this seems like a lot more effort than placing a daily order from Acme Bread.

If you just need a little sweetness at the end of the meal, go for the mixed melon granita. It’s very light as it rests on flavorful bites of melon.

Mixed melon granita

Caramelized olive oil cake with strawberries and miso is delicious and flies in the face of convention. Harold McGee in Keys to Good Cooking says that fats and oils make cakes moist by interrupting the protein-starch structure. In most recipes the fat recommended is butter for flavor or vegetable shortening for lightness. Oil is not commonly used. Interestingly, King Arthur Flour’s Baking Companion says that one insurance salesman, Harry Baker, made a good living selling chiffon cakes to Hollywood celebrities until he sold the secret recipe – using vegetable oil – to General Mills in 1947. Since then, there have been many cake recipes developed using vegetable oil including popular carrot cake, applesauce cake, and vegan cakes. However there remains the caution in several popular cookbooks not to use olive oil as the strong flavor will spoil the cake. This caramelized version is evidence that olive oil is wonderful in cake and a perfect foil for roasted strawberries and  miso with cream cheese.

Caramelized olive oil cake with roasted strawberries and cream cheese

Salted chocolate sable with fresh raspberries, sorrel, and chocolate cream is a chocolate lover’s dream come true. The sable is a crisp thin cookie with just enough salt to play off the berries and creamy chocolate cream beneath it.

Salted chocolate sable with raspberries, sorrel, and chocolate cream

Buttermilk panna cotta seems ordinary enough, but the fresh  stone fruit sauce and almond crumble elevate it to a unique offering.

Buttermilk panna cotta with stone fruit and almond crumble

Any one of these desserts is a perfect choice to end your meal. Better yet, share several with your dinner partners.

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July 27, 2012 · 7:03 am

THE BIG DAY IS FINALLY HERE! RICH TABLE OPENS!

Rich Table opened last night after months of preparation, years of planning, and even more years of goal setting.

Sarah and Van on the doorstep

The big push started when Sarah and Evan got the keys to their restaurant space on the first of May. For nearly three months carpenters, plumbers, electricians, Sarah and Evan ripped out walls, moved bathrooms, replaced walk-in refrigerators, and refurbished stoves.  What seemed like an impossible task only three months ago has been completed with a beautiful restaurant and an exciting menu.

Gabe the amazing carpenter

Surrounded by construction

Samples from Maz’s great wine selection

Lots of people supported the effort.  Family and friends  contributed to the Kickstarter Project.  Maz Naba, in charge of the front of the house, has been responsible for developing a unique wine list and some clever cocktails. Said-Jonathan Eghbal, the interior designer, helped Sarah and Evan realize the image they had for the space. Gabe, the amazing carpenter, solved countless construction problems and paid attention to details. Postcard Communications implemented a creative public relations program which included a web site capturing the feel of the space and the food.

“The Beam”

The space is finished. It accomplishes the goal of welcoming the diner in a relaxed but stylish atmosphere.  A huge steel red support beam has become an important part of the decor. The walls are covered  with rustic wood salvaged from an old sawmill. Colors are  muted blues, greens, and wood tones.  Lights hang down from the ceiling on industrial pipes to complete the relaxed environment while tables and chairs pick up the comfortable feel.

Tuning up the kitchen

Sarah and Evan plan to change the menu frequently to reflect the freshest available local ingredients. Still, you can get an idea of what some of your choices might be from a look at their sample menu:

  • wild fennel levain with house-cultured butter
  • sardine chips with horseradish and wild arugula
  • plancha bread with roasted cauliflower sprouts
  • peas, marble potatoes and nasturtium vinaigrette
  • ricotta agnoloti, pork belly, favas, douglas fir
  • duck breast, stone fruit, farro, cress
  • hanger  steak, button mushrooms, piperade, nettles

Unfortunately we couldn’t share in the festivities of opening night, but we plan to visit the restaurant soon.

You can check it out, too

Opening night

Rich Table, 199 Gough, San Francisco, CA 94102, 415-355-9085, richtablesf.com

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July 8, 2012 · 10:26 am

RICH TABLE UPDATE

We just got back from a week-long visit to San Francisco where we tended our grandson while my daughter and her husband worked overtime to get their new restaurant – Rich Table – open by July 19.

The dining room before any renovations

First-day restaurant owner thinking, “What have I gotten into?”

To my wife and me it seemed impossible to believe that they had signed the lease and accepted the keys on May 1 and were planning to be open by July 19. Part of our disbelief was grounded in having been there the day they walked into the space. The previous owner occupied the space for 12 years, and so much of the clutter of over a decade was still around. The restaurant had only shut its doors for the last time the night before, so there were also the leftovers of last-minute meals and unwashed dishes.

Wonder what else is in that scary basement?

The space is in a very good part of the city, close to the performing arts centers as well as the city hall. Still, the space was in  desperate need of a major redo. And that’s exactly what Sarah and Evan did. Walls were torn out, the restroom was relocated so that it was ADA compliant and no longer opened into the middle of dining room, banquettes were tron out, and major cooking equipment, including the range led together with duct tape,  was either replaced or sent out for a total refurbishment. Carpet was pulled up, and lurking beneath was a beautiful hardwood floor just begging to be refinished and polished.  Other discoveries included beautiful wooden pillars hidden behind drywall covers and a great red support beam for the ceiling. An image of the red beam has become a part of the web site home page for Rich Table. Old furniture was out and natural wood tables with classic chairs were brought in.

“The Beam”

After the demolition was completed. the new construction began. Evan went to an old saw mill which was being torn down in Petaluma. He bought several hundred square feet of old barn wood to be used on the walls of the dining room. With the help of their designer, Sarah and Evan put together a new space with soft-colored wooden walls, a gleaming cherry-stained hardwood floor, complementary curtains, and interesting lighting.  The roughness of the wood was softened by welcoming throw pillows at the back of the banquette.

Finishing touches on the community table

The new corner of the banquette

In the meantime, the two remained busy cooking for private parties, trying out some of the dishes they plan to offer on their menu. Their goal is to provide creative, well-prepared high-end food in a relaxed atmosphere without all of the fuss and with affordable prices. A couple of the dishes which will make their menu are shown here.

Grilled artichoke and crab bouillabase with ramps

Braised oxtail with foraged spring things and flatbread

They still have lots of finishing touches to put in place, but the restaurant is close enough to being ready that we wound up having a sort of family picnic. Sarah cooked some of the food at home, then brought it to the restaurant to be finished. Our son joined us from his home in Silicon Valley. After a sparkling wine toast (New Mexico Gruet, what else?) we wound up having a  feast – nothing fancy: roasted chicken, giblet sauce, fresh-baked biscuits, ears of  corn seared on the restaurant plancha, sautéed shaved Brussels sprouts, and a delicious dessert  leftover from a private party: sort of a deconstructed Black Forest cake with rich chocolate cream served between wafers of a crisp chocolate panade and topped with macerated fresh sweet cherries and whipped cream.

The big push now begins. The reservation program is not yet set up, but the plan is for Rich Table, 199 Gough, San Francisco, to be open by the end of the month.

Ready for a toast

RECIPE

Jacques Pepin says that one of the marks of a good chef is to be able to cook a perfect omelet. The other mark is the ability to roast a perfect chicken. Here is Sarah’s recipe.

Oven-Roasted Chicken

Ingredients

  • 1 fresh four-pound baking chicken
  • salt and pepper
  • 6 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
  • 1 lemon, halved
  • good handful of your choice of fresh herbs – thyme, rosemary, sage, or tarragon are all good choices
  • ½ cup melted butter (about)

Method

  • Thoroughly clean the chicken, inside and out, with running water
  • Salt and pepper generously inside and out
  • Stuff the cavity with the chopped garlic, cut lemon, and herbs
  • Brush the chicken all over with the melted butter and place in the middle of a heavy, oven-proof pan (cast iron works the best) over a hot flame.
  • Turning frequently and basting as needed, brown the chicken on all sides
  • Move the chicken in the skillet to the middle of an oven preheated to 425º F
  • As it bakes, turn the chicken frequently and baste it with pan juices and remaining melted butter.
  • Bake for about 1 hour or less  or until the temperature of the thigh muscle reaches 165° F using an instant read thermometer
  • Remove from the oven, let rest for about 5 minutes, and then slice into serving pieces while the skin remains crisp.

Grilling corn and Brussels sprouts on the plancha

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March 14, 2012 · 6:53 pm

CORRECTION ABOUT SARAH AND EVAN’S KICKSTARTER

Mea culpa!!

I gave you the wrong URL for checking out Sarah and Evan’s Kickstarter page. Here’s the right information directly from Sarah and Evan:

If you haven’t heard already…we’ve signed a lease for our restaurant at 199 Gough St! We’ve been working hard for this for many years now and are so excited that it’s this close!

We thank you for all of the support you’ve given us, we wouldn’t be where we are now without it.

We’ve opened a Kickstarter project, so if you or your friends are interested in being contributors to our new restaurant you can find us at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1777795794/rich-table We’d love to get our supporters involved, and we’re offering great rewards.

We will be planning a future pop-up prior to opening and will let you all know more about that soon.

Thank you again,

Sarah and Evan Rich

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