Periscope Cellars

“Hey Dad I just found out there’s a winery in my building and I’ve set up a meeting for your blog”. My daughter lives in an old industrial building in Emeryville that has been partially turned into lofts. The back part of the building is still very much commercial. While walking her dog she noticed a bunch of guys rolling large oak barrels onto the loading dock, to be used in the wine making process. A conversation and emails ensued and the deal was sealed.

I try to stay away from blogging about wine. Not that I don’t like wine, it’s just that the subject gets so serious and snobby sometimes. My philosophy about wine is drink it often and in copious amounts. Between generous relatives’ wine collections, and employers who’ve paid for wine training classes, I’ve been fortunate to taste and enjoy some of California’s best vintages. Having lived in the Bay Area for a long time I remember when Napa and Sonoma wines didn’t cost the price of a car payment. Lately I limit my wine purchases to Trader Joe’s bargain section.

With some uneasiness I prepared for my meeting with the winemaker. It didn’t help my confidence level when the Chronicle wine section did an in depth article about the East Bay wine scene that included the very guy that I’m going to meet. Will he be serious and snobby?

On the appointed day we finally meet Brendan Eliason, owner /winemaker of Periscope Cellars. While having serious credentials and experience he is far from snobby. Brian seems part guy next door, part artist and part mad scientist. He is generous to a fault with his time and seems extremely happy to be doing his wine thing.

The surroundings are certainly not like the palatial settings of the North Counties, more like a big old military bunker. It is a pleasant learning experience. What did I learn? The name Periscope Cellars comes from the fact that submarines or parts thereof were repaired in this building. The walls are many inches thick and made of the most heavy duty concrete. I learn that the first Top Chef was filmed here and that Brian has a lot of really cool set pieces from the program. But most of all, I learned that the wine thief is my friend. A wine thief is a long tube device that allows you to extract wine from the barrel. Thief we did and tasted the components of Brian’s creations. It seems the winemaker likes to blend, and blend he does well in Deep Six, his newest vintage. Smooth and easy to drink; it was a big hit on Thanksgiving Day. Even those amongst us who don’t normally drink red enjoyed.

Brian is attempting to jump through the bureaucratic hurdles necessary to open a tasting room in the building. Until that time, his wine is available online at Periscope Cellars.


Wine Thief is my friend


In the barrel


In the bottle

Fra' Mani

I say salame you say salumi. You can’t read much food related news without stumbling across mention of salumi. If I’ve got this correct, salame is singular and salami is plural. Salumi, on the other hand, is an Italian reference to cured meats, similar to the French charcuterie. You can call it what you will, deli, cold cuts, antipasto (yes dear, antipasto includes other things), just call me when you've got some around.

The west coast seems to be fertile ground for the salumi craze. In Seattle Chef Mario Batali’s dad, Armandino, has been producing product for a while under the Salumi Artisan Cured Meats label. In Berkeley Chef Paul Bertoli, is creating salumi with his own label, Fra’ Mani.

I thought it was about time I checked out the local guy’s goods. I went to the Fra’Mani website and found that the Pasta Shop in Berkeley sold the products at retail. I was on the way to the East Bay anyhow so it was an easy stop. I have a love/hate thing about the Pasta Shop. I love the products and I hate how much I spend when I checkout. I’m a sucker for good beautifully presented food. Low and behold! On our arrival there was Chef Bertoli himself in his immaculate white chef’s coat. They happened to be doing a tasting of their products this day. At first I thought it was my lucky day, but having left my riot gear at home, I avoided the teaming mass of people munching away like a pack of lions after a fresh kill. Good luck, however, was had at the cheese counter where the Pasta Shop had packaged the goods in small sampler bags. I picked out several varieties, along with olives, cheese and Acme Bread, and exited, ‘stage right’.

At my daughter’s house I laid the salumi on a stone tile ($2.50 from Urban Ore in Emeryville) and the tasting began. I have to be honest here. I did not want to like this product. Are they selling the sizzle here? I thought it was another “artisan” product at a high price (15 to 22 dollars a pound). You’re killing me man - what’s wrong with good old “cryovac” salami down at the Safeway? Well, to borrow a hip hop phrase, this stuff is off the hook! The texture and flavor is incredible. Let’s just say comparing this salami to the supermarket stuff is like comparing Velveeta to Parmigiano Reggiano. A little goes a long way; a quarter pound will provide four people a nice starter for dinner. I used mine to accompany a little wine tasting. Wine, that’s my next blog.

Fra’ Mani you’ve done the Bay Area proud.

clockwise from the left

prosciutto salami (that's what the label said)

nostrano

soppressata (my favorite)

gentile

Pupusas Manana

In July I announced that I was on the lookout for underground foods. I read stories about New York and foreign street food vendors and my mouth waters. Yes we have local street food here in Marin. The food stalls at the farmers market provide some tasty bites but I’m still looking for that “underground experience”.

The food gods work in strange and mysterious ways. Roberto, the maintenance manager at my work asked if I would like to try a pupusa made by his aunt. Of course I said yes. Heavens to Betsy these are good! Hot, filled with pork, cheese and topped with curdito (spicy cabbage salad) these little Salvadoran beauties are the best I’ve tasted. May I have some more kind sir? His aunt does make these to sell on occasion and Roberto will let me know when the next batch will be available. It comes to light that I, in fact, know his aunt. Her name is Vincenta and she normally works the swing shift cleaning offices. Every now and again when the day person calls off Vincenta fills in.

Well this is my lucky day. Vincenta is a charming woman who speaks little English. In El Salvador she worked in a Pupuseria and made piles of pupusas each day. Now she makes them about once a month to earn a little side money. With my culinary Spanish and little help from a translator I found that the addition of rice flour to the corn flour is the secret to the extraordinary lightness of these pupusas. It is an all day process to prepare the product. Shopping, preparing, cooking and packaging are labor intensive. The final product arrives wrapped in foil warm from the griddle. Packed in a separate plastic bag is the essential curdito. The office is filled with the delicious scent of corn. I always order 20 so I will have leftovers for a few days. They microwave nicely. Now when Vincenta arrives and says "Pupusas Manana" I reach for my wallet and anticipate tomorrows dinner.

Hawaiian Lunch Plates

Hawaiian lunch plate places have been popping up in the bay area like mushrooms after the rain. There are several big players vying for a piece of the fast food market. History has it that these plates were a great way to feed workers a lot of food at a cheap price. Heaven knows I enjoy a lot of food cheap!

On a visit to my daughter's place I was anxious to check out Kilohana Grill in Emeryville, a two location operation. There were four of us so we were able to select several plates for our tasting. Each plate comes with a protein, two scoops of rice and pasta/potato salad.

Our selections

Hawaiian BBQ Beef

Kahli Ribs/Korean style short ribs


Hawaiian BBQ Chicken


Kalua Pork


Mango dessert

Jury foreman may I have the verdict please? Ok I had jury duty last week but reviewing restaurants is similar to deciding a verdict. Kilohana Grill is a great value; large portions will fill you up for about eight dollars. There were a lot of goods and yums being mumbled in between bites. I was pleased but thought everything was on the bland side. Monochromatic rice and pasta/potato salad got lost on the Styrofoam plate. Maybe with some vegetables and few shakes of hot sauce or soy would improve my verdict.

The Kitchen Sisters / Hidden Kitchens

There it was, an invitation in my email. The producer for NPR’s The Kitchen Sisters had invited me to a book signing for the recent paperback release of Hidden Kitchens. I’m not sure how she got my email address, but I would like to thank whoever made this happen. The guest list included a virtual who’s who of San Francisco’s artistic talent. Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Armistead Maupin, Randy Thom were slated to appear, as well as several of the people who had appeared on Hidden Kitchens.

I hate to admit that although I had seen The Kitchen Sisters on TV and gone to the website to listen to several episodes, I was not a NPR listener. That being said, I still accepted the invitation as I know a good thing when I see it. April and I took our yacht (Golden Gate Ferry) and motored over to City Lights Bookstore in North Beach.

As veterans of a number of book signings, we arrived early to do recon on the location. Some of these adventures can be a lot like cattle drives; you stand in line and await your thirty seconds’ of face time with the author. This was not the case here. It seemed more like a private party. Kitchen Sisters: Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva and their producer, Laura Folger, were all there meeting and greeting. We were made to feel very welcome with some good food and drink. The evening flowed successfully with readings, sound bites and guests from the project.

How would I describe The Kitchen Sisters? Charming and genuine are the first words that come to mind. They are passionate about what they do and care for the people they interview. Hidden Kitchens is part history lesson, part recipes but more importantly it recognizes that food is more than fuel for people. It has a lot to do with community, emotion and fellowship. Is there a universal language? Perhaps it’s food.

Now that I’ve read the book, I realize what a remarkable project it is. For anyone that is passionate about food this book would be a great gift. Thank you, Sisters, for inviting me into your world.

Guacamole Napoleon

Sandi, a loyal reader and friend of Life’s a Picnic was the motivation for today’s post. She is the ideal food taster for my grand food experiments, a lover of food with a sense of adventure. Sandi is quick with praise but not afraid to express her opinion about changes that would improve the finished product.

After watching Rachael Ray on the Food Network Sandi suggested that I make a side dish Ray had made, Guacamole Stacks. Rachael has parlayed her pretty girl next door looks and personality to make herself the newest media mogul. It works for me. I was always a sucker for the pretty girl next door, I married her.

A couple of days later I saw a repeat of the show and decided to give it try. The basic premise is to use the components of guacamole and instead of mashing them up, stack them up. Ray rough cut hers and stacked them together. For my interpretation I used a ring mold to create a savory napoleon. Apply avocado first, ripe sweet tomatoes, sweet onion, salt and pepper. Repeat and then drizzle with vinaigrette of two parts fruity olive oil to one part fresh lemon juice. The juice of the tomato comingled with the dressing and created a sublime flavor.

Sandi loved it!

Guacamole Napoleon

Concertina Garlic Potatoes

The lowly potato has been a real budget saver during lean times for my family and friends. Steve, a coworker of mine, determined not to starve before next weeks paycheck, designed the “Thousand Island Tater”. A ten pound sack of potatoes provided substance for several days. Using the condiments the company provided free he made homemade Thousand Island dressing. He carefully mixed foil packets of mayonnaise, ketchup and relish to create the potato topper. He then nuked a couple of potatoes, topped them with dressing and got full cheap.

When my wife was staying home raising our four kids the potato was a regular on the menu. Mila, a Croatian friend of my wife taught her to make “pita”. Flour, water, and oil created dough that was rolled out with a long dowel to a paper thin consistency. It was layered into several half sheet pans and topped with potatoes, onions, garlic and butter. It created a strudel-like pastry than was good warm or cold.

While browsing our cookbook collection my wife rediscovered a recipe from The Ultimate Fat-Free Cookbook published in 1997. I’m guessing the name Concertina Potato comes from fact the finished product looks a bit like concertina wire. A baking potato is sliced every ¼ inch being careful not to go all the way through. Slivers of fresh garlic are placed in between each slice. The original recipe calls for baking without added oil. The wife adapted the recipe to a fatty version by drizzling olive oil on before baking. The finished product tastes a like a cross between a baked potato and augratin potatoes. The photo below shows a bit of butter added. Some other topping suggestions include sour cream with chives, tomato salsa, bacon bits and barbecue sauce. Use them as a side dish for beef or add a salad and make it a meal. If there happens to be any leftovers they make great, garlicky home fries. Chop and sauté with diced onions in oil until brown and crispy. Good food cheap.

concertina potato