EXPERIENCE MIDPENINSULA DINING 2016 MEET THE CHEF INSIDE THE KITCHEN OF CHEZ TJ RECIPES FOR CREATIVE COCKTAILS FAVORITE FARMERS MARKETS DELISH 2016 1 Join us at The Menlo Grill Bistro & Bar off ering American comfort dishes prepared with fresh, sustainable and local ingredients, and featuring an extensive wine-by-glass and craft brew selection. BREAKFAST • LUNCH • DINNER LATE NIGHT DRINKS & SNACKS Courtyard seating during the summer. LIVE MUSIC Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, 6pm – 9pm Friday and Saturday, 5pm – 9pm Visit us on Facebook for featured musicians. Call 650-330-2790 for more information and reservations. 100 El Camino Real, Menlo Park • menlogrill.com Located at the Stanford Park Hotel 2 DELISH 2016 2016 EXPERIENCE MIDPENINSULA DINING Bottoms up 4 Some of the Midpeninsula’s best cocktails, and how to make them at home A passion for the finer things 10 Chef Jarad Gallagher thrives at Michelin-starred Chez TJ 4 Farm fresh 16 The Midpeninsula’s farmers markets, mapped Season of ph 22 The Midpeninsula’s best options for satisfying Vietnamese soup ON THE COVER: Morro Bay halibut at Chez TJ in Mountain View, served with fava beans, potato, spring onions and a truffle sauce. Photo by Michelle Le. Publisher: William S. Johnson Photographers: Michelle Le Editor: Jocelyn Dong and Veronica Weber Delish Editor: Elena Kadvany Vice President Sales/ Marketing: Tom Zahiralis Art Director: Kristin Brown Advertising Sales: Adam Carter, Writers: Elena Kadvany and Elaine Clark, Connie Jo Cotton, My Nguyen Janice Hoogner, and Wendy Suzuki Embarcadero Media: The Almanac, Mountain View Voice, Palo Alto Weekly 450 Cambridge Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94306 650-223-6500 AlmanacNews.com, MountainViewOnline.com, PaloAltoOnline.com ©2016 by Embarcadero Media. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited. DELISH 2016 3 16 FOOD & DRINK Brandon Clements, bar manager for The Village Pub in Woodside, muddles strawberries in a glass while mixing the About Thyme cocktail, shown below. Photos by Veronica Weber. mony.” Nocino, a bitter green walnut liqueur, is an “under-appreciated” digestif (a post-meal libation said to aid digestion), Clements said. “I’ve Bottoms up always loved (it) on its own, and wanted to fi nd a way to incorporate Some of the Midpeninsula’s best cocktails, its bold fl avors into a cocktail,” he said. and how to make them at home Ingredients: 1 sprig of fresh thyme by My Nguyen 5 medium-sized strawberries 1 1/2 ounces of Bulleit bourbon his a great time for spirits afi cionados. Thanks to the resurgence 1/4 ounce of Monteverdi Nocino della Cristina liqueur Tof classic cocktails, and the expert mixologists who have turned 3/4 ounce of fresh lemon juice cocktail making into an art form, the cocktail scene on the Midpenin- 1 teaspoon of sugar sula is growing steadily. 2 dashes of Angostura bitters Here are fi ve signature drinks from local restaurants and bars, as well as step-by-step instructions on how to craft them at home. Instructions: Step 1 Brush the thyme along the rim About Thyme and inside of an old-fashioned glass. The Village Pub, 2967 Woodside Road, Woodside Step 2 In a cocktail mixing glass, muddle four strawberries. Pour the The Village Pub’s About Thyme is a complex, refreshing — and nec- bourbon, walnut liqueur, lemon juice, essary — libation for California’s climate. The bourbon-based cocktail sugar, bitters and ice into the glass. demonstrates the balance of three major elements of both classic and Step 3 Cover the glass and shake contemporary cocktails: sweet, sour and bitter, said Brandon Clements, vigorously for about 20 seconds. bar manager for the Michelin-starred restaurant in Woodside. “I love Step 4 Using a mesh cocktail strainer, this cocktail because it offers a bit of everything,” he said. “You’ve got double strain into an ice-fi lled old- your bourbon, which is among my favorite spirits, and literally as fashioned glass and garnish with fresh American as apple pie, the sweet and sour combination of strawberry thyme and a whole strawberry. and freshly squeezed lemon, and the herbaceous and bitter notes of the thyme ... and nocino — all distinct fl avors working in perfect har- (continued on page 6) 4 DELISH 2016 Simple can be simply delicious! &UD]\IUHVKÀVKWUDGLWLRQDODQGHGJ\WRSSLQJVYLEUDQW KRPHPDGHGUHVVLQJVHQGOHVVFRPELQDWLRQVPDGHWRRUGHU ULJKWEHIRUH\RXUH\HV*UHDWIRRGIURPJUHDWLQJUHGLHQWV Eat BETTER. Feel BETTER. WROLYHWRODXJKWRHDWWRORYH Town And Country Village 855 El Camino Real Suite 9 Palo Alto 650.800.7388 www.pokélove.com Follow us: @thepokélove pokéLOVE Inc. ©2016 All Rights Reserved. Top 100 Best Restaurant on Open Table in America 2IIHULQJDQXOWLPDWH¯QHGLQLQJH[SHULHQFHLQDQLQWLPDWHFRQWHPSRUDU\VHWWLQJ Featured twelve course chef’s tasting menu | Optional Wine Pairings Dinner served from 5-9pm pm, Monday-Saturday | Open Table Reservation 132 State Street | Los Altos | 650-917-9030 | www.AmbienceFineDiningLosAltos.com DELISH 2016 5 FOOD & DRINK (continued from page 4) Mio and Mao Pizzeria Delfi na, 651 Emerson St., Palo Alto Named after Bar Director Alex Philips’ favorite 1970s claymation TV show about two cats named Mio and Mao, Pizzeria Delfi na’s Mio and Mao is for gin and citrus lovers. The gin is spiked with Aperol (an Italian apertif made of bitter orange, gentian, rhubarb and cinchona, among other ingredients) and mixed with fresh lemon, mint, cucumber and simple syrup. “Guests love it because it’s a perfect balance of something boozy and citrus-driven,” said Philips, who uses City of London dry gin to allow the citrus fl avors to shine. If you’re making the drink at home, experiment with your preferred brand of gin, Philips recommended. Ingredients: 1 ounce of City of London dry gin 1 ounce of Aperol 1 ounce of fresh lemon juice 1/2 ounce of simple syrup (water and sugar) 3 mint leaves 2 slices of cucumber Instructions: Step 1 Pour the gin, Aperol, lemon juice and simple syrup into a cocktail shaker with the mint leaves and cucumber slices; shake. Step 2 Using a mesh cocktail strainer, double strain the mixture into an 8-ounce glass fi lled with ice. Step 3 Garnish with mint sprig Above: Ingredients for the About Thyme cocktail created by Brandon Clements of the Village Pub features fresh thyme, strawberries, Bulleit pierced through two thin slices of bourbon, Monteverdi Nocino della Cristina, fresh lemon juice, sugar and cucumber. bitters. Photo by Veronica Weber. Top left: the Mio Mao. Courtesy Pizzeria Madera Manhattan Delfina. Bottom left: the Madera Manhattan. Courtesy Madera. Madera, 2825 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park It’s hard to conceive of a cocktail party without a classic drink Instructions: like the Manhattan. The boozy and sophisticated drink is made Step 1 Infuse the bourbon with the peel from one orange and with whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters. At Madera in Menlo one vanilla bean for two weeks. Park, bartender Oscar Lopez crafts the restaurant’s signature drink, Step 2 Pour all the ingredients into a metal cocktail shaker fi lled the Madera Manhattan, with ice and stir for 30 seconds to chill. with Angel’s Envy Bourbon Step 3 Pour into a martini glass and garnish with a bourbon- instead of whiskey, and soaked cherry (bring 1 cup of bourbon and 2 tablespoons of infuses the bourbon with sugar to a simmer in a small saucepan over low heat; stir until orange peel and vanilla bean. the sugar dissolves; pour the syrup over 4 ounces of cherries into “It makes the drink a little bit more a glass jar and leave overnight) and vanilla bean-infused orange complex and unique,” Lopez said. peel. The smokiness of the bourbon, he said, complements the vanilla and orange fl a- vors. “It’s really easy on the palette,” Lopez Aged-rum old fashioned said. “It’s a smooth drink that you can really Timber & Salt, 881 Middlefi eld Road, Redwood City enjoy.” A tip: This drink is best served stirred, The default setting for the classic old fashioned is booze, bitters not shaken, Lopez said. (Sorry, James Bond.) and sugar muddled into water to form a simple syrup. But Brian Matulis, bar manager and partner at Timber & Salt in Redwood Ingredients: City, adds an unusual twist to the old classic: housemade Mauby 2 ounces of Angel’s Envy Bourbon syrup, a Carribbean syrup made from bark from a buckthorn tree. 1 ounce of sweet vermouth The syrup adds a sweet spice and slightly bitter fi nish to the “spirit- 2 dashes of angostura bitters forward” drink, Matulis said. The old fashioned can be made from 1 orange robustly fl avored spirits, from whiskey and brandy to tequila, mez- 1 vanilla bean (continued on page 8) 6 DELISH 2016 DELISH 2016 7 FOOD & DRINK Above: Kimberly Nolan, a bartender at Cascal in Mountain View, pours Mahón gin into a tumbler while making the restaurant’s signature Spanish tonic cocktail (pictured bottom right). Photo by Veronica Weber. Bottom left: Timber & Salt's aged-rum old fashioned is mixed with housemade Mauby syrup, rum and orange bitters. Courtesy Timber & Salt. (continued from page 6) Cascal Spanish tonic cal, rum and genever (the juniper-fl avored national liquor of the Cascal, 400 Castro St., Mountain View Netherlands and Belgium). Matulis opts for Santa Teresa 1796 aged Cascal’s Spanish tonic is an easy-drinking, tart and sweet cocktail rum, which is solera-style (an aging process that blends different that features Spanish gin mixed with the citrus kick of grapefruit vintages of spirits, owner Stewart Putney explained ) from Venezu- and the warm fl oral notes of St. Germain, a liqueur made from ela. “The idea behind the drink is to riff on the traditional American elderfl ower. “It is a fresh Spanish twist on a traditional cocktail that old-fashioned cocktail, but using Caribbean ingredients,” Putney fi ts with our Pan Latin-inspired theme,” said Brad Daley, partner said.