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Vancouver Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Vancouver Sun
Cook This: 3 recipes for sharing from Family Style, including crispy devilled tea eggs
Our cookbook of the week is Family Style by fashion designer Peter Som. Jump to the recipes: crispy devilled tea eggs , sweet and sour sticky ribs with citrus peanut gremolata, and charred cabbage with hoisin tahini Caesar . Fashion and food may seem a world apart, but for designer and cookbook author Peter Som , they're connected. A great-looking sweater might catch your eye as you scroll, but appearance isn't everything. There's also how it fits and feels. Likewise, we eat with our eyes first, yet a dish has to have substance, following up its looks with flavour and texture. Though the fundamentals and technicalities differ, Som's creative approach to both is similar. 'Whenever I design clothes, I like my clothes to be what they call 'front of closet.' That's a garmento term, but it's those pieces you want to wear every day. That favourite sweater,' says Som, who has dressed many notable figures, including Michelle Obama and Beyoncé. Discover the best of B.C.'s recipes, restaurants and wine. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of West Coast Table will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Som extended his elegant way with the everyday to the 100 recipes in his cookbook debut, Family Style (Harvest, 2025). 'I want these to be dishes you'll make over and over. That'll be great when you get home on a Tuesday at seven and you're tired, or perfect for Saturday company.' Writing the book was a period of rediscovery for Som. He dedicated Family Style to his mom, Helen, and maternal grandma, Mary, the family matriarch who died 20 years ago. His aunts, uncles, cousins, sister and mom shared stories, which helped him learn more about Mary through her food as he translated their memories into recipe form. Helen and Mary instilled a love of food in Som from a young age. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, his grandmother's mostly Cantonese cooking and American baking and his mom's love of French food and the local, seasonal cuisine born out of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., shaped him. 'I could never get McDonald's, which, as a kid, is really annoying, but now, I fully appreciate the dedication she put into everything that was put on the plate,' he says of Helen's cooking. 'As a working architect, she didn't have tons of time. But when my sister and I would get our braces tightened, she would make spinach soufflé because it was easy to eat, and we got our vegetables. Food has always been very central to my life, and it's been exciting to delve into it even more.' Som sees his career in food as an 'expanding focus,' not a departure from fashion. 'I still have a few toes in fashion in a few projects. But back when I did my runway collections, I was full-on. I had all toes, all hands and my full body — I was all-in fashion, and cooking was always in the background. I think it was the thing that kept my feet on the ground in a very heady, sometimes crazy industry.' Retreating to his kitchen, whether to cook for himself or his friends, was a way for Som to centre himself. When he closed his runway collection business in 2015, cooking became even more integral. Som's professional foray into food started organically as he tapped into something that he had long loved to do. Som started sharing photos of his dinner on Instagram and realized his audience had an appetite for it when people started asking for the recipes. In 2019, he launched The Extra Taste , a vertical on his website featuring all things food, including recipes and restaurant guides. In fifth grade, Som knew he wanted to be a fashion designer. 'From that moment on, I had my blinders on. I was focused. So, it took me a while to allow myself to have a new dream, in a way. And it wasn't until I took off those blinders that I saw something I loved through the whole time, right under my nose.' The book's title is a nod to Som's design background. He likes his dishes to look appealing without feeling belaboured, whether it's a finishing flurry of herbs or a sprinkle of salt. It also encompasses his favourite way to eat: family style. 'There's nothing more fulfilling than family, blood or chosen, coming around a table and breaking bread or, in my case, sharing rice,' he says, laughing. If you have a pantry and a fridge door full of essentials, such as 'flavour bombs' miso, hoisin and Pecorino Romano, Som believes you can mix and match and come up with a delicious meal. Creativity in the kitchen is the throughline of Family Style. He wants readers to have fun — to allow themselves to experiment, play with ingredients and taste how they go together. 'You never know where it'll lead you.' After all, he says, 'Umami is umami, whether it comes from miso, soy sauce or a hunk of Parmesan.' Som merges influences, using hoisin and tahini in a Caesar dressing drizzled over charred cabbage wedges and finishes an udon dish with finely grated Pecorino Romano. From his award-winning eponymous fashion line to past women's runway collections for Tommy Hilfiger and current designs for Rent the Runway , Som is renowned for sleek silhouettes and vibrant colours. When he had his runway collections, Som says he designed 'happy clothes' for everyday moments, not just special occasions. He develops recipes with a similar ethos. 'If something can put a smile on your face, especially in the crazy world we're living in, that's what it's all about. For me, and I think for a lot of people, food is comfort. It's security. It's nostalgia. It brings you back to those childhood memories. So, if somebody makes my recipe and it makes them smile, that's the greatest honour.' Makes: 12 devilled eggs Marinated eggs: 2 tbsp light soy sauce 2 tbsp dark soy sauce 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns 1 star anise 2 tsp sugar 3 black tea bags 6 large eggs Panko topping: 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 1/3 cup panko 1/8 tsp smoked paprika 1/4 cup mix of finely chopped dill and cilantro Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper Everything else: 3 tbsp Kewpie mayonnaise 1/2 tsp oyster sauce 1/2 tsp mustard powder Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 1 sheet nori, finely chopped 1 tbsp bonito flakes Dill and cilantro, for garnish In a small pot, combine the light soy, dark soy, Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, sugar, tea bags and 1 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then turn the heat down, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool completely, then remove and discard the tea bags. Transfer the marinade to an airtight container. Rinse the pot, fill with fresh water, and bring to a boil. Gently lower the eggs into the boiling water and cook for 9 minutes. Transfer the eggs to a bowl of ice water to cool completely. Peel the eggs and add them to the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 30 hours, stirring the eggs a few times to ensure the marinade coats all the eggs thoroughly. To make the panko topping, heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the panko and smoked paprika and toast, stirring frequently, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the herbs, season with salt and pepper, then transfer to a plate and spread out to let cool. To assemble, remove the eggs from the marinade and cut them in half, wiping the blade clean between each cut. Remove the yolks with a spoon and transfer to a small bowl. Add the mayonnaise, oyster sauce and mustard powder and whisk until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Use two spoons to spoon the yolk mixture back into the egg whites. To serve, spread half the toasted panko on a serving plate, then top with the devilled eggs. Sprinkle with the remaining panko and top with the nori and bonito flakes. Garnish with dill and cilantro and serve. Serves: 6-8 Ribs: 1 tbsp five-spice powder 2 tsp smoked paprika 2 tsp onion powder 1 tsp garlic powder Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 1/2 tsp cayenne powder 1 (4-lb/1.8-kg) rack baby back pork ribs 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 3/4 cup beer, apple cider or water Sweet and sour sauce: 1/4 cup ketchup 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar 3 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp maple syrup 1 tbsp sriracha Kosher salt 2 to 3 drops red food colouring (optional) 2 tsp cornstarch Gremolata: Grated zest of 1 orange Grated zest of 1 lemon Grated zest of 1 lime 1/2 cup minced flat-leaf parsley 1/4 cup chopped roasted salted peanuts 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil Preheat the oven to 275F (140C). Line a rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan with aluminum foil. In a small bowl, combine the five-spice, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper and cayenne and mix to combine. Rub the rack of ribs with the olive oil, then coat completely with the spice rub on all sides, patting with your hands to make it adhere. Place the rack bone side down on the prepared baking sheet (if your rack is large, cut it in half). Add the beer to the pan, taking care not to pour it onto the rack. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and roast for 2 hours. Meanwhile, make the sweet and sour sauce. In a small saucepan, combine the ketchup, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, maple syrup, sriracha, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and food colouring (if using). In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water until completely combined, then pour the mixture into the saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, until thickened. Remove from the heat and set aside. Remove the foil, turn the ribs bone side up, and brush generously with the sweet and sour sauce. Turn the oven temperature up to 400F (200C) and roast, uncovered, for 20 minutes, flipping the ribs and slathering with more sauce every 5 minutes. Turn the broiler on high. Brush more sauce on the meaty side of the ribs and broil for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling and starting to darken. Remove the ribs from the oven and brush one final coat of glaze on top. Let rest for 15 minutes. While the ribs are resting, make the gremolata. In a small bowl, combine the orange zest, lemon zest, lime zest, parsley, peanuts and olive oil. Cut the rack into individual ribs. Sprinkle with the gremolata and serve with more sweet and sour sauce alongside. Serves: 6-8 1 large head green cabbage, cut into 8 wedges with root end attached 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 1 tbsp fennel seeds Hoisin tahini Caesar: 1/2 cup Greek yogurt 3 tbsp tahini Juice of 1 lemon 2 tbsp Kewpie mayonnaise 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 1 tbsp Dijon mustard 2 tsp hoisin sauce 2 tsp anchovy paste 1/4 cup finely grated Pecorino Romano Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper Everything else: 2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil 1/4 cup panko 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds 1 tsp grated lemon zest Chopped dill fronds and chives, for garnish Flaky sea salt, for finishing Preheat the oven to 450F (230C) with a rack in the centre position. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread out the cabbage wedges on the prepared baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Season with kosher salt and pepper and roast for about 20 minutes, or until the wedges are tender and charred on the edges. Flip, sprinkle with the fennel seeds, season again with kosher salt and pepper, and continue to roast for an additional 20 minutes, or until the edges are charred, the cabbage is tender, and a knife inserted into the root end slides in easily. Meanwhile, make the dressing. In a large bowl, combine the Greek yogurt, tahini, lemon juice, mayonnaise, olive oil, mustard, hoisin, anchovy paste and Pecorino Romano. Season with kosher salt and pepper and whisk until smooth. In a small skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the panko and sesame seeds and toast, stirring frequently, until deep golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon zest. Arrange the cabbage on a serving platter and drizzle with the dressing. Sprinkle the sesame panko atop, then garnish with dill and chives. Finish with flaky sea salt and serve. Recipes and images excerpted from the book Family Style by Peter Som. Copyright ©2025 by Peter Som. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our cookbook and recipe newsletter, Cook This, here .
Irish Examiner
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Seafood Made Simple: These home baked beans go well with any piece of fish
Netflix series Chef's Table is back with a new season. This time around, the focus is honouring four 'Legends'. There's Alice Waters, who pioneered the farm-to-table movement in America. Her restaurant, Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, California opened in 1971 and is still going today. Then there's Thomas Keller, chef owner of the famous The French Laundry in Napa Valley, where he has held three Michelin stars for 18 years. The king of fine dining in America, he has another three Michelin-star restaurant, Per Se, in New York city. José Andrés, born in Spain, has a whopping 40 restaurants in America. In 2010, he founded the non-profit organisation Central Food Kitchen, providing meals across the world in response to humanitarian, climate and community crises. He's been included twice in Time magazine's most influential people. I was delighted to see Jamie Oliver included in this series. Oftentimes, he doesn't get the respect I feel he deserves within the industry. He's the chef on this list that's influenced me the most. So much so, that I'm not sure what I'd be doing now if his TV shows like Naked Chef hadn't sparked my interest in food all those years ago. His episode charts his rise to fame at 24, how he made cooking cool and uncomplicated, without the use of technical language, authored 35 books with dyslexia, his hugely impactful work navigating the reform of school dinners in the UK and his contribution to the sugar tax legislation. This weekend's recipe, gurnard with home baked beans, is all about that kind of simplicity. These beans would work as a side dish with any piece of fish, so use whatever is available to you. They are great with chunky fillets of hake and pollock. Gurnard is a fabulous fish. Lesser known and underutilised it's native to our waters. Gurnard with Home Baked Beans recipe by:Aishling Moore These beans would work as a side dish with any piece of fish, so use whatever is available to you. Servings 4 Preparation Time 15 mins Cooking Time 2 hours 10 mins Total Time 2 hours 25 mins Course Main Ingredients For the baked beans 250g dried cannellini beans (or 2 x 235g of cannellini beans drained) 2 tbsp olive oil 1 small bulb garlic 2 sprigs rosemary For the tomato sauce 3 tbsp golden rapeseed oil 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 tsp smoked paprika 1 pinch cayenne pepper 1 tsp dried oregano 300ml passata 1 tbsp honey 25g butter Salt Black pepper For the gurnard 4 x large fillets of gurnard (or 8 small) 2 tbsp golden rapeseed oil Fine sea salt 1 lemon Method Soak the beans overnight (or at least 10 hours before you plan on cooking) in 1 litre of boiling water in a large bowl. Strain the soaked beans and rinse well under cool running water in a colander. Grease a large pot or Dutch oven with the olive oil and place the rinsed beans, garlic bulb, herbs and bay leaf inside. Top up with 1.1 litres of boiling water and season generously with sea salt and place a tight- fitting lid on. Bake in a 175°C preheated oven for 1 hour 45 minutes. Check after one hour, as cooking time can differ depending on the beans. Remove from the oven, discard the stalks of rosemary and garlic. To make the sauce, heat a medium heavy-based pot on medium heat. Add the garlic and cook in the rapeseed oil for 2 minutes until golden. Add the smoked paprika, cayenne and oregano and cook for a further minute before adding the passata. Add the honey, season with salt and black pepper and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook for 8-10 minutes to reduce the sauce. Add the drained beans and warm through. Finish with butter and taste to correct seasoning. Keep warm while cooking the gurnard. For the fish: Preheat oven to 175°C. Grease a large baking tray with rapeseed oil. Place the fillets of gurnard on the greased tray and brush each fillet generously with rapeseed oil. Season with fine sea salt and bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes until the fish is cooked through and flakes when gently pressed. Finish with lemon juice and serve. Fish tales Gurnard is one of the trickier species to fillet, so I'd recommend relying on your local fishmonger to tackle this fish. You'll find bones running down the centre of the fillet of gurnard. I recommend asking your fishmonger to remove these also. Make sure you use a baking tray large enough to have space between the fillets of fish to allow the heat to circulate evenly. If you're going to the trouble of soaking and baking the beans in the oven, you'll have some leftovers. Add to salads, soups and stews or make a cannellini bean hummus. Refrigerate leftovers for up to three days. These beans are also great for breakfast. Read More Seafood Made Simple: My Welsh Rarebit blends fish with cheese for an oceanic oomph
Telegraph
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Chef's Table: Legends, review: before Jamie Oliver, cooking was for losers
Television is laden with food. From drama to entertainment factual, from The Bear to Boiling Point to Bake-Off to MasterChef, chow is cool. Ten years of Netflix's Chef's Table, which casts chefs as rock stars and restaurants as their much-hyped backing bands, attests to a complete reassessment of what food means. There was a queue 200-long for a pop-up selling baked potatoes in Soho last week. This means something (although it may just be that the spud fans have never heard of the Emperor's New Clothes). For its 10th anniversary, Chef's Table has re-emerged as Chef's Table: Legends (Netflix), granting an hour each to Jamie Oliver, José Andrés, Thomas Keller and Alice Waters. Of these, British viewers will most likely have heard only of Oliver, unless the names (and prices) of American restaurants The French Laundry, Chez Panisse and minibar happen to be palatable. But while Legends may appear to be just hagiography – and there is indeed a great deal of kissing the ring – over the course of the series it does make a compelling case that what these four chefs have done is more than just amusing bouches. Oliver's societal influence is the most obvious – it's why he gets people's backs up even as he's selling millions of books. With the calm and ease of hindsight, Chef's Table makes a strong argument for how he has changed British cuisine. It's not that complex a history – before Oliver, the British were not great chefs, cooking was for losers and no self-respecting young Oasis fan would be seen dead at a fishmonger's. After Oliver, cooking was cool and something boys did to get girls. He changed TV cookery, and cookery, and eating. The films about Andres, Keller and Waters are if anything even more beautiful to look at (side issue, but food photography in 2025 is so good it is practically Pavlovian) but, as with the Oliver film, they also tease out how something as high-end as fine dining trickles down into mainstream culture. Andres, for example introduced the small plates phenomenon to American cuisine (for which this diner thinks he should be par-boiled, though opinions may differ). Waters, with Chez Panisse, championed the farm-to-table movement, which has ultimately led to people thinking a little bit more about where their food has come from and why that might matter. And Keller has done his best to de-poncify fine dining, while still maintaining two three-Michelin-starred restaurants for more than a decade. Are they all democratisers, as Chef's Table maintains? Well millions of us are waiting for the next series of The Bear, which is all about fine dining and food and standards and caring (and indeed, featured one Thomas Keller in a father figure role last season). As this series shows, you don't have to have eaten their food to understand why these people deserve some veneration. Chances are that without The Naked Chef sliding down the bannisters like a prune, very few people in the UK would be watching The Bear or paying any interest to a Netflix documentary series called Chef's Table.
Los Angeles Times
22-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Food icons Jeremiah Tower and Alice Waters make peace over a bottle (or two) of Champagne
Champagne helps mend old wounds between food icons, L.A.'s own Willy Wonka, Andrea Crawford's Fillmore bakery, the essential restaurant workers you rarely notice, a redo of the legendary Judgment of Paris wine tasting, and can a new bar save Chili John's? I'm Laurie Ochoa, general manager of L.A. Times Food, with this week's Tasting Notes. Depending on who you ask — and in this case I mean the two people at the heart of the question — it's been anywhere from 13 years to 30 years since Alice Waters and Jeremiah Tower have spoken to each other. The two food icons had a famous falling out, in part because the rightly earned fame of Waters as the mother of California cuisine overshadowed Tower's significant contributions to food as we know it during his early years with Waters at Chez Panisse and later when he opened Stars in San Francisco. But last week at the Ojai Food + Wine Festival — a gathering of culinary superstars from around the world — all was forgiven. 'Last night, Alice walked into a room and encountered Jeremiah Tower, who she was not expecting to see, and Jeremiah was not expecting to see her,' said critic and author Ruth Reichl, who was hosting an onstage talk at the festival's Ojai Valley Inn with Waters. 'It was really, for me, one of the most satisfying moments in food in [a] long time. I mean, to see these two icons, happy to see each other.' 'I think I need a glass of Champagne to talk about it,' Waters said after Reichl asked her to describe the previous night's rapprochement. 'I walked into that space, which was so huge, and there were ice buckets all around the room filled with my favorite Champagne, just asking to be opened,' Waters said. 'And it happened to be a Champagne that Jeremiah and I shared a love for. I mean, really, we had been to that Champagne place, and I don't know what it was about it, but we just felt a huge connection ...' '... again ... ' came a voice from the audience. It was Tower, who was beaming as he finished her sentence. 'Again,' Tower repeated as he confirmed that they had renewed their connection. 'How many years has it been?' Waters, looking thrilled, said to Tower from the stage. 'Thirty?' 'Thirteen,' he said. 'Yeah. We really hadn't communicated, and all of a sudden [it was as if we] were back in the kitchen [at Chez Panisse] having the best time, working together talking together. But that Champagne helped.' 'Always does,' Tower responded with a huge grin. For those of you wondering, like me, which Champagne is loved so much by Waters and Tower, I found out later from Reichl that it's Krug Champagne. In fact, Tower — who was at the festival to curate and cook a lunch at the festival with chefs Mary Sue Milliken, Susan Feniger, and Elizabeth Falkner — was hosting a caviar and Krug Champagne reception when he had his meeting with Waters. 'I was sitting next to Alice at dinner,' Reichl later told author Bill Buford during a live video conversation that two of them did for her Substack newsletter La Briffe, 'and she was just weeping all night and talking about forgiveness and how important this was to her.' Tower has previously said that he and Waters did see each other at least one other time since he left Chez Panisse in 1978. When he was promoting the 2017 documentary 'Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent,' directed Lydia Tenaglia, he told this paper's Margy Rochlin that was at Waters' table during the 40th anniversary celebration for the Chez Panisse. But at the time many were still trying to pit the two of them against each other, arguing over who did more to ignite what became known as California cuisine. Reichl, who witnessed the birth of the movement first hand, credits them both: 'I always felt like the combination of the two of them at Chez Panisse was like lightning in a bottle,' she told Buford. 'It was two people with completely different food aesthetics coming together and doing something magical.' Two other culinary legends had a surprise encounter last week. Mozza founder and Ojai Valley Inn culinary ambassador Nancy Silverton was at the Ojai Food + Wine Festival in part to host a dinner with chefs Jonathan Waxman, Evan Funke and Sarah Cicolini of the great Rome restaurant Santo Palato. On Saturday, she decided to take a short break from the festival to visit Andrea Crawford at Roan Mills Bakery in Fillmore. As former Times food editor Amy Scattergood wrote in 2007, Crawford first became a part of the California cuisine movement in the early 1980s when she started growing lettuce for Chez Panisse in Waters' Berkeley backyard. Then Wolfgang Puck talked Crawford into moving to Southern California so she could grow herbs and lettuces for Spago restaurant — which she did in the Encino backyard of Silverton's parents (at the time, Silverton was Spago's pastry chef). Crawford outgrew the space and eventually established the Kenter Canyon Farms brand that so many of us know from Southern California farmers markets. In 2012, she began growing wheat and the next year started baking bread in Fillmore under the Roan Mills label. In 2017, she opened the front of the bakery to the public as a retail operation. But Silverton had never visited. 'What a beautiful space! And it's big!' Silverton told Crawford as they discussed the price of eggs (which is why Crawford is baking less brioche these days), how she worked out more civilized baker's hours (instead of working through the night, her workers start at 4 a.m. and 5 a.m), and whether a lemon cake recipe from Silverton's cookbook 'The Cookie That Changed My Life' could work in the cool rooster-embossed cake pan sitting on top of Crawford's desk. I bought some of Crawford's gorgeous English muffins, a fantastic cherry pie, some Kenter Canyon arugula and my favorite Camino red wine vinegar made by Oakland's Russell Moore and Allison Hopelain. (I usually mail order the vinegar, a last remnant of the couple's great hearth-based restaurant, but I thought I'd save the postage since I was driving.) On the way back, the scent of chicken grilling outside Fillmore's La Plaza meat market, a favorite of Silverton's and her partner Michael Krikorian, was too tempting not to stop. And just before we made it back to downtown Ojai, Silverton made us stop at the Summit Drive-In to try their shakes, which the menu board promised are 'hand-scoop and hand-spun.' Silverton is partnering with 'Somebody Feed Phil' host Phil Rosenthal on a diner in L.A.'s Larchmont Village named Max and Helen's for Rosenthal's parents. And even though the diner should be ready to open in early summer and the two have been tasting shakes all over the place, Silverton the perfectionist doesn't think they quite have their shakes down. I didn't mind the stop — I especially loved the extra chocolate sauce that swirled around the chocolate shake. If you see a similar swirl at Max and Helen's later this summer, you'll know where it came from. Sonoma winemaker Pax Mahle, sommelier legend Patrick Cappiello (who founded Monte Rio Cellars), and Vinohead media company founder Josh Entman had the wild idea to recreate the Judgment of Paris, the 1976 taste-off that changed the course of winemaking in California when two of the state's wines, a 1973 Stag's Leap Cabernet Sauvignon and a 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay, beat every other French wine in the competition. They're calling the new competition the 1976 Redo, and in January the trio hosted the first round of the competition in which any U.S. winemaker was allowed to enter. Times contributor David Rosoff, founder of the late Bar Moruno and curator of wine programs in many L.A. restaurants, joined 10 other wine pros to choose five finalists from 144 Chardonnays, 125 Cabernet Sauvignons, 80 Syrahs and 45 Chenin Blancs in one marathon tasting. (The final tasting will happen in May.) 'That's 394 wines, to be exact,' Rosoff writes in his account of the tasting. 'The most surprising category was unquestionably Chenin Blanc,' Rosoff writes. And 'the most consistently triumphant category'? Syrah. The story reveals more about what he 'learned about the state of American wine' and what the wine tasters did after they finished tasting nearly 400 bottles of wine. Hint: It involved more wine. Seamus Blackley, inventor of the Xbox game console, goes deep when he is obsessed. During the pandemic, as features columnist Todd Martens writes, he didn't just get into sourdough; he acquired centuries-old Egyptian yeast to bake bread. Now the physicist and tech entrepreneur is focused on chocolate — not from cacao harvested in tropical climates more suited to the plant, but from cacao grown right here in Southern California. 'Oh yes, we're going to have an L.A. chocolate company,' he told Martens. 'We're going to be aiming at a different peak flavor than other people are because we have different organisms,' Blackley added, alluding to microbes in Los Angeles versus the equator-adjacent regions in which cacao is typically grown. 'That's exciting.' How often do you pay attention to the person bringing you water in a restaurant or clearing your empty plate? Many customers make a point of thanking their server when the food arrives, especially in the days since the COVID pandemic, but the person busing your table can be easily overlooked. There are many restaurant jobs that customers rarely notice but that are essential to making the business work. Food's Cindy Carcamo profiled three restaurant workers for our Back of House series: utility worker Alfonso Lira, who clears tables, makes pizza dough and fixes the sound system, among many other duties at Santa Ana gastropub Chapter One; dishwasher Sophia Velador, who considers her work at Long Beach's Alder & Sage therapeutic; and line cook Tomas Saldaña, who makes the difficult-to-master radish pastries at Paradise Dynasty.
