Latest news with #Tartine
The Age
6 days ago
- Business
- The Age
Middle Park finally gets its moment as a new bar and bistro opens in the suburb
Eating out Just open From the owner of Tartine and Ned's Bake, Middle Park European is a long-awaited diner for pasta and steak frites. For months, Middle Park residents have been peering through the venetian blinds of the building on the corner of Armstrong and Erskine streets, eagerly awaiting its transition into a wine bar and bistro they can call their own. After much anticipation, 110-seat Middle Park European will officially open on June 3. The latest venture by restaurateur Matteo Bruno's Valarc Group (Richmond's Tartine, Windsor's Ines Wine Bar and Sistine, and more) will feed the local hunger for an elevated dining option in the suburb, says Bruno, who lives nearby in Albert Park. 'I was really familiar with this strip and I knew that there was really nothing of this nature.' He tested the concept when he acquired Ned's Bake after it went into administration, adding nights at the Middle Park location, which he says 'locals couldn't get enough of'. Bruno hopes the same will be true for Middle Park European, open for lunch through dinner six days a week for residents to use as casually or ceremoniously as they like. There's an immediate warmth to the front bar – all salmon-coloured tiles, lime-washed walls and original stained-glass windows – where you can perch at a standing table with a beer, or champagne and a half-dozen oysters, while you wait for a seat. The 'spine of the venue', Bruno says, is a curvy walnut-timber bar, inset with stone, that the team needed a local boat builder to make. It stretches up the building's right-hand side into a cork-lined dining area with booth and banquette seating. Vintage cabinetry sourced from Kyneton homewares store Kabinett adds to the lived-in feel. Leading the (open) kitchen is British-born head chef Aaron Wrafter, who cut his teeth at the Michelin-starred, now-closed Turners, and Harborne Kitchen in Birmingham. His menu is Italian-leaning, with French flourishes and a substantial selection of seafood. To start, caviar 'dip' saves you having to splash out on a tin. A bed of creme fraiche is topped with Black River caviar, chives (and chive oil), and pickled shallot. There will always be two kinds of house-made pasta – so generously 'sharing-sized' that Bruno had to order bigger tables. For the opening menu expect fresh tagliatelle with Shark Bay crab and bisque, and ridged shell-like cavatelli with pork-and-fennel sausage. Mainstays include fish'n'chips and steak frites (porterhouse, say, with tarragon butter), while a specials board will introduce new dishes every couple of weeks. As with the food, the wine list favours Italy and France, with a few big-ticket bottles from Barolo and Burgundy. More affordable local alternatives also punch above their weight: Heathcote winery Vinea Marson's barbera is 'just as bold as ones from Piedmont that are 20 times the price', says Bruno. Cocktails are largely driven by citrus and amari, including an Aperol-tinged spicy marg and salted-caramel espresso martini with Averna. Open lunch and dinner Tue-Sat.
Sydney Morning Herald
6 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Middle Park finally gets its moment as a new bar and bistro opens in the suburb
Eating out Just open From the owner of Tartine and Ned's Bake, Middle Park European is a long-awaited diner for pasta and steak frites. For months, Middle Park residents have been peering through the venetian blinds of the building on the corner of Armstrong and Erskine streets, eagerly awaiting its transition into a wine bar and bistro they can call their own. After much anticipation, 110-seat Middle Park European will officially open on June 3. The latest venture by restaurateur Matteo Bruno's Valarc Group (Richmond's Tartine, Windsor's Ines Wine Bar and Sistine, and more) will feed the local hunger for an elevated dining option in the suburb, says Bruno, who lives nearby in Albert Park. 'I was really familiar with this strip and I knew that there was really nothing of this nature.' He tested the concept when he acquired Ned's Bake after it went into administration, adding nights at the Middle Park location, which he says 'locals couldn't get enough of'. Bruno hopes the same will be true for Middle Park European, open for lunch through dinner six days a week for residents to use as casually or ceremoniously as they like. There's an immediate warmth to the front bar – all salmon-coloured tiles, lime-washed walls and original stained-glass windows – where you can perch at a standing table with a beer, or champagne and a half-dozen oysters, while you wait for a seat. The 'spine of the venue', Bruno says, is a curvy walnut-timber bar, inset with stone, that the team needed a local boat builder to make. It stretches up the building's right-hand side into a cork-lined dining area with booth and banquette seating. Vintage cabinetry sourced from Kyneton homewares store Kabinett adds to the lived-in feel. Leading the (open) kitchen is British-born head chef Aaron Wrafter, who cut his teeth at the Michelin-starred, now-closed Turners, and Harborne Kitchen in Birmingham. His menu is Italian-leaning, with French flourishes and a substantial selection of seafood. To start, caviar 'dip' saves you having to splash out on a tin. A bed of creme fraiche is topped with Black River caviar, chives (and chive oil), and pickled shallot. There will always be two kinds of house-made pasta – so generously 'sharing-sized' that Bruno had to order bigger tables. For the opening menu expect fresh tagliatelle with Shark Bay crab and bisque, and ridged shell-like cavatelli with pork-and-fennel sausage. Mainstays include fish'n'chips and steak frites (porterhouse, say, with tarragon butter), while a specials board will introduce new dishes every couple of weeks. As with the food, the wine list favours Italy and France, with a few big-ticket bottles from Barolo and Burgundy. More affordable local alternatives also punch above their weight: Heathcote winery Vinea Marson's barbera is 'just as bold as ones from Piedmont that are 20 times the price', says Bruno. Cocktails are largely driven by citrus and amari, including an Aperol-tinged spicy marg and salted-caramel espresso martini with Averna. Open lunch and dinner Tue-Sat.
San Francisco Chronicle
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Hot pizza popup from Tartine alum finally opening S.F. restaurant
Opening soon: a restaurant from a pizza popup that built buzz for blending Bay Area sourdough and crispy New York-style pies. Jules Pizza will fire up the ovens in the Lower Haight at 237 Fillmore St. on May 20. The traveling pizza operation from owner Max Blachman-Gentile, the former culinary director of famed bakery Tartine, has been a draw at venues like wine bars Buddy and Birba, serving pizzas topped with classic and seasonal ingredients. Blachman-Gentile named the popup in honor of his maternal grandmother, Julia. Jules, as she was known, taught his mother how to cook, and she in turn taught him. Among his most cherished memories, he said, are special family dinners with many relatives, often with his mother making pizza, his favorite food. 'This is a story about grandmas,' he said. Two classic-style pies will be permanent fixtures at Jules. The Marone ($21), which Blachman-Gentile described as a 'fancier version of cheese pizza,' comes topped with two types of mozzarella — low-moisture and fresh, made in-house — caciocavallo and Pecorino Toscano. The Spicy Ronny ($24) comes covered in pepperoni slices, togarashi pepper flakes and Calabrian chiles for a bit of heat. White pie fans can look forward to the Fun Guy ($25), topped with a mushroom cream sauce and roasted mushrooms, red onion and rosemary. To amplify all the ingredients, Blachman-Gentile uses Hornkuhkäse, a rare Swiss cheese he described as 'almost like a fondue on its own.' The menu's rotating seasonal pizzas will feature fresh produce from Bay Area farms. With summer right around the corner, the chef-owner is looking forward to his hit Field Dream pizza, with roasted corn, sungold tomatoes and a drizzle of an aromatic pesto-like sauce made with Thai basil and serranos. Until those crops are in, he'll be making the most of spring garlic to flavor his herby meatballs ($17) and working with asparagus that will go into crudo dishes. Beyond pizza, the menu will include a chicken with blistered snap peas, braised butter bean mash and an oregano-white wine jus. There is also a charred, deeply caramelized arrowhead cabbage ($15) with a sauce using Calabrian chile butter, topped with a pumpkin seed gremolata and shaved bottarga. The beverages list will focus on wines and beers. There will be some soju available as well, in a nod to a series of Jules' popups in Seoul. Diners will have the option of a traditional pour, or a soju bomb for their beer. 'This is meant to be approachable,' he said. 'We want people to feel like they had a nice night out that doesn't just feel like they went to a fast-casual restaurant.' Blachman-Gentile's pizza making process is meticulous, though that's not unusual for a pizza obsessive whose resume includes time at New York pizzerias Emily and Roberta's. His flour is from Cairnspring Mills of Washington State, which uses a proprietary milling method that leaves plenty of the wheat bran inside the flour, but still yields a light and fluffy crust. 'You're able to get more of like almost a whole-grain dough without it tasting or feeling like a whole-grain dough,' he said. Roughly a day's fermentation is the sweet spot, he said, for the crispy, light pies he prefers, a departure from what's become common among his peers. 'When a lot of people talk about pizza dough and fermentation times they think longer is better. I don't think that's the case,' Blachman-Gentile said. His procedure yields a New York-style pie that's crispy and charred but still light enough that it flops when you pick up a slice. In true New York style, the kitchen at Jules Pizza is fitted with a gas-powered deck oven. As much as he likes the propane-powered stone ovens from his popup days, after 'so much schlepping, we're happy to not have to do anymore,' he said. Some of the chef's Tartine experience will also be applied to making breads, which will be used in some dishes and for sandwiches. Remodeling the interior took roughly seven months; it now has a brighter look and feel than its predecessor, Iza Ramen. The dark pine banquettes and tables were sanded to reveal their natural light hue. The navy blue walls are now coated with white paint and artwork made by the chef-owner's friends, who use items found at local antique fairs and flea markets. Hanging above the tables are Tiffany pendant lamps with colored crystal lampshades. The glass features are meant to evoke the nostalgia of a trip to an old-school pizzeria, such as a dine-in Pizza Hut in the 1980s. 'I want some of the space to have a cozy grandma's house type of vibe,' Blachman-Gentile said. But, he clarified, 'a little more interesting than an actual grandma's house.'
New York Times
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘No Cake, No Entry': More Than 1,000 Picnic to Celebrate the Love of Cake
More than a thousand people gathered for a picnic on Saturday around tables draped with white tablecloths and spread over the lawn of the Legion of Honor art museum in San Francisco. There was just one rule: 'No cake, no entry.' Attendees — including pastry chefs, home bakers and people with store-bought cakes — walked, drove and flew to bring elaborate cake creations to Cake Picnic, a touring festival where you can have your cake and eat it, too. 'It was harder to get than a Taylor Swift concert ticket,' said Elisa Sunga, Cake Picnic's organizer, noting that the $15 tickets sold out in less than a minute. This Cake Picnic turned out to be the biggest since it started nearly a year ago. Ms. Sunga described the intense interest in the festival as both 'exciting' and 'terrifying.' A spectacular variety of cakes adorned the tables, including: a light lemon cake with passion fruit filling, a tower made out of smaller spongecakes, Jell-O cake, pink champagne cake, a kid-baked dinosaur pyramid cake, and plenty of desserts with flowery ornaments. In the first hour, picnickers placed their cakes on stands and crammed them onto the tables. Then, after the arranging was complete, came that fleeting and glorious moment: The crowd gawked and took photos of the 1,387 cakes, both sweet and savory, in their pristine, unsliced form. After the photos were taken, the ensuing buffet was an act of controlled chaos. Smaller groups went up for cakewalks. Each person was given a pastry box and instructed to collect slices at will. Once everyone had a turn, the tables were opened for ravenous seconds, thirds and fourths, until no crumbs were left behind. In April 2024, Ms. Sunga, a 34-year-old home baker, hoped to gather about a dozen people in Potrero del Sol Park in San Francisco to sit in a circle and eat cakes that they had baked and brought. 'It started primarily because I wanted to eat a lot of cake,' Ms. Sunga said. 'I love cake.' She posted the gathering on the invitation app Partiful, and it took off. Hundreds of people responded. After the first event in April 2024, she took the cake show on the road, first to Los Angeles, then to New York and then back to San Francisco in November — 'places with cake communities,' she said. At the last picnic, 613 cakes were on display. 'It's not my full-time job, but I would love to travel full time for cake,' said Ms. Sunga, who works at Google. 'It's taken on a life of its own.' Ms. Sunga, who brought two red velvet cakes of her own, said chefs from well-known bakeries, such as Tartine and SusieCakes, attended. The Legion of Honor, the picnic venue, opened a special exhibit last week, 'Wayne Thiebaud: Art Comes from Art,' celebrating Mr. Thiebaud, who died in 2021 and is most famous for his decadent paintings of cakes and confections. The Cake Picnic aimed to turn his dessert still lifes into a 'living tribute,' according to the museum's website. Joyce Lim, 32, who lives in San Francisco, called herself a Cake Picnic 'groupie.' She said that she has baked for every Cake Picnic so far and will attend future picnics set for London and New York. (A two-day April picnic in Carlsbad, Calif., is sold out.) Ms. Lim, an architect, said she has embraced cake baking for the picnics after at first being intimidated by it. On Saturday, she brought a scallion-pancake focaccia cake with chili-crisp cream cheese frosting and crème fraîche. 'I enjoy procrasti-baking, basically baking instead of handling my other life responsibilities,' Ms. Lim said. She said she has been impressed by the creativity and diversity of cakes that people bring. Her cake might just top her previous elaborate entries: a kabocha cake layered with ginger-poached pears and miso-caramel cream cheese frosting, and a smörgåstårta, a Swedish cake with rye layers, hard-boiled eggs and caper filling. Brenna Fallon, one of dozens of volunteers at the picnic, said that the brief period after the cakes are laid out and before the buffet begins is an ''Alice in Wonderland' moment.' 'Everybody is just gleefully going through the aisles,' said Ms. Fallon, 34, who is from Walnut Creek, Calif. 'People are plotting — which cakes do they want to make a beeline for when they get in?' Ms. Fallon, an amateur baker who brought an Earl Grey chocolate cake with a salty buttercream, said that a feeling of celebration was in the air. 'It's a slice of life,' she said. 'It feels like a big picnic with a bunch of friends you just don't know yet.'
