i8tonite

Month: July 2015

i8tonite: Questionnaire with Chef Mat Schuster of San Francisco’s Canela Bistro & Bar

Chef Mat Schuster is a master of Spanish cuisine. He is the executive chef and co-owner, along with his partner, Paco, of the four year-old Canela Bistro & Bar located in San Francisco’s Castro. With Schuster’s creative hands, diners will eat a phenomenal Croquettas con Jamon, a fried small egg shelled shaped tapa, crunchy on the outside and once bitten, oozes out a creamy béchamel interior, dotted with Iberico jam bits. He also submits guests to his version of iconic Spanish albondigas (meatball), a thoughtful mixture of pork belly and shoulder with a hint of housemade chorizo served in an apple cider sauce. Most of San Francisco’s dining landscape is steeped in Anglo, Italian and French cooking, but the food of Spain is some of the most under represented in the culinary capital. Chef Schuster, along with his talented staff, serve up a variety of the country’s tasty bits without having to pull out your passport. In i8tonite’s Chef Questionnaire, he talks about his love of fish, his dislike of sea cucumber and love of Spain.

How long have you been cooking? Sixteen years I suppose but some days I feel like I just started!

What is your favorite food to cook? I love cooking fish and seafood in general. That is my favorite.

What do you always have in your fridge at home? Cheese, yogurt, fruit, almond milk, something pickled, something spicy, something creamy.

What do you cook at home? When I do cook at home, its usually things that we don’t cook at the restaurant like fish tacos or barbecue.

What marked characteristic do you love in a customer? Great question. Adventurous, friendly, approachable.

What marked characteristic do you find unappealing in a customer? Unadventurous, unfriendly, unapproachable. Ha ha!

Tupperware, Rubbermaid, or Pyrex? All of them and multiples.

Beer, wine or cocktail? Beer, beer, beer.

Your favorite cookbook author? Its like asking a parent to choose a favorite child.

Your favorite kitchen tool? Knife.

Your favorite ingredient? A good olive oil.

Your least favorite ingredient? Sea cucumber. Seriously, we actually were served this at a Michelin-star restaurant. Yuck.

Least favorite thing to do in a kitchen? Waste time.

Favorite types of cuisine to cook? Spanish, of course!

Beef, chicken, pork or tofu? Pork, duh.

Favorite vegetable? Onions, yum.

Chef you most admire? Joyce Goldstein. She knows everything.

Food you like the most to eat? I have a sweet tooth. I need a patch for it.

Food you dislike the most? Haven’t really met one. Oh wait, sea cucumber.

How many tattoos? And if so, how many are of food? None…at the moment.

Recipe from Chef Mat Schuster: Seared Mushrooms with Sherry

Here is a recipe that Chef Mat likes to make at home. Its origin is pinxto bar in Logrono in the North of Spain called Bar Soriano. This place only makes this dish – seared mushrooms in their own juices.

It is simple to make. Take 3 large very white mushrooms. Remove the stem. Heat a pan on high and add in some olive oil, not too much. Sear the mushrooms on one side, then flip when brown. Be careful not to burn. Remove the mushrooms from the pan, add in a little minced garlic and sherry. Skewer the mushrooms on a toothpick and serve on top of a piece of bread. Sprinkle with salt and lemon juice. Delicious.

– The End. Go Eat. –

July 29, 2015
Chef Questionnaire with Chef Scooter Kanfer-Cartmill, Palm Springs’ Tropicale Cafe.

SInce I’m still traveling here is a re-dux in case you missed it of Chef Scooter Kanfer-Cartmill. Next week, Chef Christopher Hill, Bachelor Kitchen.

July 18, 2015
What is Sonoran-style Mexican Food?

SInce I’m not cooking this week but traveling in Arizona, I’ve become fascinated by the difference between Tex-Mex, Southwest, New Mexican and Sonoran as well as the state food which is the Arizona Cheese Crisp or Chimichanga. I wanted to be able to share this food experience as I learn about what is truly Arizona cuisine.

July 17, 2015
Chef Questionnaire with Chef Scooter Kanfer-Cartmill, Palm Springs’ Tropicale Cafe.
Chef Scooter Kanfer- Cartmill is pretty much a California cooking legend as much as the celebrated chefs she’s worked beside. She’s worked and trained with everyone from Fred Eric (Vida), the late Michael Roberts (Trumps), Wolfgang Puck (Spago), Thomas Keller (The French Laundry) and Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feninger (Border Grill). After stints at The Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop and Nic’s Beverly Hills, Kanfer opened her much-lauded restaurant the house in LA’s Larchmont. Customers could find her cooking up American comfort food at its finest such as “Animal Cookies with a Shot of Milk”, “Grandpa’s Mac-and-Cheese”, varieties of spoonbread and other comfy delights in the early aughts. (The cookies — which came in forms of dragonflies, dragons and monkeys with a shot of milk — was a favorite of mine.) Now, she is coming up with salivating and fun dishes – such as Three Little Pigs (housemade sausage, grilled pork loin and BBQ pork ribs) — in Palm Springs at Tropicale Café. Beside the cool nights and warm days, eating Kanfer’s food truly makes the desert community a destination to relish.

“…this is one chef who delights in feeding people,” Irene S. Virbila, Los Angeles Times.

How long have you been cooking? Too long to remember, fire had just recently been invented. All the “cool” kids had to have it.

What is your favorite food? Don’t have one. It’s like picking your favorite child.

What do you always have in your fridge? Sriracha. Hot Sauce. Schmaltz. Pickles. Iced green tea. Champagne. At least three different kinds of mustard. Stinky Cheese. Roast chicken.

What do you cook at home? Roast Chicken with all the fixings (i.e.: Hungarian noodles, French green beans, or mashed potato with a garlic butter). Sunday Style Roast-Pork Prime Rib. Beef Bourgogne. Coq au vin or poached eggs with avocado on toast. Simple things that I can put on in the morning (slow-cooker) and that my wife can finish while I’m at restaurant… so we can eat together.

What marked characteristic do you despise in your customer? Wow. Let’s go deep here. Abusive arrogance displayed to my staff — being a celebrity or hipster douchebag.

What marked characteristic do you love in a customer? An adventurous eater with a sense of humor as well as desire for exploration and appropriate recognition of my staff.

Tupperware, Rubbermaid, or Pyrex? Tupperware and Pyrex.

Beer, wine or cocktail? Champagne, good wine, the occasional Negroni and 15-year old single malt scotch.

Your favorite cookbook author? Too many to list (but that won’t stop me). Julia Childs. James Beard. M.F.K. Fisher. Gabriella Hamilton. Mark Bittman. Harold McGee. Clementine Paddleford. Michael Roberts!

Your favorite kitchen tool? Iced tea spoon and my intuition.

Your favorite ingredient? Salt. Flavored salts. Chicken, duck and bacon schmaltz (Fat). Foie. Scooter says, “Salt and fat are where it’s at!”

Least favorite thing to do in a kitchen? Yell at a cook and paperwork.

Favorite types of cuisine to cook? Pretty much anything that strikes my fancy. (By fancy, I mean American regional, re-thinking and re-imagining old classics in a modern and accessible way.)

Chef you most admire?
- Michael Roberts: He taught me how to grow and trust my palette.
- Odessa Piper: She is the Alice Waters of the Mid-West.
- Fred Eric: He taught me to not just think outside the box — but to blow the box up.
- Mary Sue Milliken & Susan Feninger: They gave me my foundation. “Simple food is the most difficult to do. It’s either perfect and tells a story…or it just sucks”: Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feninger.
Food you dislike the most? Food that is pretentious, derivative or arrogant. Food that tries to be “hip” or trendy. Food that is disingenuous.

How many tattoos? And if so, how many are of food? None. I’m going to be buried next to the Goldbergs.

Recipe from Chef Scooter Kanfer – Cartmill. Chef, Tropicale Café (Palm Springs, CA.)

Sunday Style Roast: Prime Rib Of Pork With Dried Fruit Sauce
- 4-5 LB Pork Rib Roast (Have your butcher remove the chime bone so it’s 5-6 bones)
- Drizzle Roast w/Olive Oil
- Scooter Spice Rub: Kosher Salt, freshly crushed black pepper, crushed fennel seeds or pollen mustard seeds, garlic, celery Seeds and red pepper flakes.
Make a bed of sliced onions, celery, fennel, and dried fruit (apricots, prunes, raisins, sour cherries) in a heavy bottom roasting pan, Dutch oven or cast iron pan. Place the roast. Add a cup or so of Marsala, little water or chicken stock. Cook in a pre-heated oven of 350 degrees. Internal temperature needs to reach 140 degrees inside thickest part of roast (push the meat thermometer until half way inside the meat). Juices should just run clear. Let roast rest for 20 minutes before carving. Serve with the dried fruit and veggies.

– The End. Go Eat. –
July 15, 2015
I8tonite: Aromatic Chicken and Goodbye to Hollywood

I’ve feel I’ve discovered something about myself; as much as I love the idea of being a steady beacon in a sea of waves, I might be incapable of it. I mean being that stay-in-one-spot type of person. I think that’s what a parent is, someone that you know will be there. I see that in my friends who are parents…hell, I see it in my friends who aren’t parents. They wake up, they drink their tea and go to work, some with kids in tow.

Me? I wake up. I drink my coffee. Manage my clients. Pitch the media. Cook. Write. Love my dogs and boyfriend. Then when it gets too quiet…in my life…I feel the need to shake it up which is what I’m going to do. (We are going to do.) Life is supposed to be an adventure, right? Therefore, I’m up for the challenge and the adventure. No one has said that I’ve ever been held back by fear… admittedly, I’m scared shitless.

It’s really not goodbye to Hollywood; it’s saying hello to Scottsdale and beyond.

Billy Joel sang it well, “So many faces in and out of my life. Some will last. Some will just be now and then. Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes. I’m afraid it’s time to say goodbye again. Say goodbye to Hollywood.”

Oh and by the way, this spice rub for chicken is delicious and easy home-cooking. At least one thing is easy.

Aromatic Roasted Chicken Thighs (adapted from Primal Palate)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon tumeric

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon of olive oil.

Note: I don’t even measure. I just eyeball it.

8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix all the spices together in a large bowl. Rinse and dry all the chicken; then toss all of it into the bowl with olive oil. Rub all the chicken around in the spice mixture. Let sit for about ten minutes while the oven continues to get hot. Take all the chicken and spread it out into an even layer in a large roasting pan. Cook for about 30 minutes until the juices run clear. (If you want, throw some veggies around it like cauliflower, small potatoes, wedges of zucchini.)
The original recipe says to grill as well. That’s up to you.

July 12, 2015
I8tonite: A Chef’s Questionnaire with Oakland, California’s Chef Roland Robles, Handlebar and FiveTenBurger.
Chef Roland Robles first came to prominence with FiveTenBurger, a food truck that cooked up delicious burgers throughout the Bay Area garnering amazing notices from such publications as Oakland Magazine and San Francisco Chronicle. Last year, he opened Handlebar, a brick-and-mortar with partner, Jennifer Seidman who also owns the area’s Acme Bar & Company. Handlebar is a neighborhood restaurant and bar where Robles explores fare outside the bun. However, he still serves up the best burger – in my humble opinion – in the Bay Area. Hands down.
- How long have you been cooking? Since I was a boy, 35-40 years.
- What is your favorite food to eat? I adore Chinese, especially the Americanized delivery style but any really.
- What do you always have in your fridge at home? Herbs and eggs.
- What do you cook at home? Extravagant ten-course dinners and tacos.
- What marked characteristic do you find unappealing in your customer? Entitlement.
- What marked characteristic do you love in your diners? Patience.
- Tupperware, Rubbermaid, or Pyrex? Pyrex
- Beer, wine or cocktail? Beer and a shot. I’m a cook.
- Your favorite cookbook author? That’s tough… (Marcella) Hazan, (Julia) Child, my mom, (Kylie) Kwong
- Your favorite kitchen tool? My run of the mill Japanese deba.
Japanese deba
- Your favorite ingredient? Salt.
- Least favorite thing to do in a kitchen? Wash dishes.
- Favorite types of cuisine to cook? Chinese, TexMex, Italian.
- Chef you most admire? For television: Mario Batali, Jacques Pepin.
- Food you dislike the most? Poorly made anything.
- How many tattoos? A lot.
- And if so, how many are of food? One. A sacred jalapeño.
A “No-Recipe” recipe from Chef Roland Robles:

I often make these chicken tacos:
- Diced boneless chicken breast
- Onion, garlic, jalapeño, turmeric, salt, sugar, garlic granules, onion flake, chili flake
- Chopped fresh cilantro
Mix all these ingredients and a little oil. Let rest. Heat a cast iron way up, dump the mix in and sear it almost all the way through for great color and turn over to finish. Put it in a bowl, mix in chopped cilantro. Serve with raw onion, chilies and hot tortillas.

— Go Eat. —
July 8, 2015
I8tonite: 4th of July Homemade Barbecue Sauce

American Flag

Barbecue is a fundamental right of every American to enjoy. It is an American creation as much as our Declaration of Independence. It not just a food for celebration, it is a showcase of our cultural melting pot that helped to create our nation.

Barbecue, the act of grilling or smoking meats with a fire may or may not come from the Spanish word barbacoa. Historians seems to be uncertain but they do know that the technique came to the United States by way of the Caribbean, via the Spanish and the reprehensible slave trade. Cooking over slow-burning coals, although brought to the shores in the 17th century, became rooted in our country’s Southern states by the late 19^th century and is every bit as American as jazz and rhythm and blues.

A very, very truncated version of barbeque history is that slaves had much to do with the barbeque as we know it today. Pigs were plentiful and hid in the woods so they were free. However, it was a long process to clean the animals so gatherings were created to butcher, prepare, cook — and give away — as much of the meat as possible. The sauce was adopted with a vinegar and tomato base to “mop” the meat, saturating it to assist in cutting the pig’s fat and possible gaminess of a wild hog upon eating. The slow-roasted meat, like in many cultures, was basted and then served with the same sauce.

As we celebrate this auspicious day in our country’s history, we are cooking a time-honored tradition that was created — not by just one culture – but by many generations born in the United States and on American soil. For me, it brings to mind why we honor July 4^th – for freedom for all — and that whether you are black, white, gay, straight, hermaphrodite, transgendered, yellow, orange, gender-neutral, rainbow-colored or albino the first sentence of the second paragraph from the Declaration of Independence: “… that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress, July 4, 1776

Homemade BBQ Sauce (Adapted from the kitchn) Makes 3 cups

I tablespoon olive oil

½ chopped red onion

4 – 5 garlic cloves, minced (I love garlic)

1 (8-ounce) can of tomato paste and 1 (8-ounce) can of tomato sauce or 1 (16-ounce) can of tomato sauce.

2 teaspoons of cumin, preferably freshly ground and toasted

4 tablespoons of dark brown sugar

¾ cup of apple cider vinegar

¼ cup of honey (or molasses, agave syrup, maple syrup, Karo syrup). Each one will impart a different flavor so it’s up to the cook and what you have in your pantry.

1/8 cup of Worcestershire sauce

¼ cup of yellow, brown or Dijon mustard (never grainy)

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

2 teaspoons liquid smoke

Several dashes of hot sauce to taste (if you want it with some kick.) I used sriracha as it had the heat. I wanted to temper the sweetness with some high temperature on the finish.

Let’s make this puppy:

Using a medium size sauce pan, drizzle in the olive oil and get it hot. Throw in the onions and cook until soft. Add the garlic. Stir until fragrant.

Add the cumin and tomato sauce/puree. (Add 8 ounce of water if using the puree). Stir.

Now add all the remaining ingredients and stir until thickened. Add more water, if you would like a thinner sauce. Also, at this point, see if you want to add more sweetener or make it zestier.

Use it as a baste for meats or non-meats. Serve extra on the side.

NOTE: This is a homemade barbeque sauce. It’s delicious but you can definitely play around with the ingredients. There should not be a hard and fast rule. Just deliciousness.

July 3, 2015