In September and March, we run reviews of local restaurants done
by local people.
I love these reviews because they are usually right on. No
snobby taste buds, no high-falutin’ ideas about what’s good food
and what’s not. Just friendly local advice from your neighbors.
In September and March, we run reviews of local restaurants done by local people.
I love these reviews because they are usually right on. No snobby taste buds, no high-falutin’ ideas about what’s good food and what’s not. Just friendly local advice from your neighbors.
Some of these reviews were a little long and had to be shortened. Others were short and sweet and I left them that way. Thank you to everyone who wrote in. Be advised that I stockpile these as they come in, so don’t wait. If you go to a restaurant and have something fabulous to recommend, e-mail or mail it to me before you forget about it.
• Someone’s In The Kitchen, Hollister
Nominated by Jennifer Coile of Hollister
“There is nothing in the South County/San Benito County area with the flavor and quality of ‘Someone’s In The Kitchen.'” Jennifer describes the small café as a “bakery/café/teashop/bookstore” that serves a limited lunch menu using local produce and fish from Moss Landing. “Try the albacore and see if it resembles tuna fish in any way,” she advises. The owner, Christy Estrada, started her business as a bakery but expanded offerings when she got lots of local demands for lunch.
Visit “Someone’s In The Kitchen:” 1745 San Felipe Rd., Suite 3, Hollister (by the airport). Phone: (831) 636-8205. Hours: Tuesday – Friday, 11am to 4pm. Special event: High tea on the last Saturday of the month, 4-6pm. Call for reservations.
• Rosy’s At The Beach, Morgan Hill
Nominated by Russ Hodgison
of Gilroy
“I’ll drive the 15 minutes it takes to get to Morgan Hill if it means I can have Rosy’s fish tacos on Friday night … I love to drive the back roads to Morgan Hill on a warm night for this casual meal that’s sooo tasty but not too filling. It’s perfect.”
Russ also recommends the nightly fish specials: “They’re always good.”
Visit Rosy’s: 17320 South Monterey St., Morgan Hill. Phone: (408) 778-0551.
• Sinaloa Café, Morgan Hill
Nominated by Jeff Braquin
of Hollister
“There are plenty of margaritas in Hollister, but I will drive to Morgan Hill for the ones at Sinaloa on Monterey Street,” he says. Referring to Sinaloa’s new location after the old building was consumed by fire, Jeff says: “The new place doesn’t have quite the same hard-edged ambience, but there’s plenty of room which is nice. Besides, with great margaritas, huge Mexican plates and great salsa, who cares?”
Visit Sinaloa Café: 17535 Monterey Road, Morgan Hill. Phone: (408) 779-9740.
• The Courtyard Grill, Old City Hall, Gilroy
Nominated by Cindy Gates-Crawford of Morgan Hill
“When I need to take clients to a nice lunch, we go to Old City Hall on the outside patio. The salads are awesome (especially chicken breast with tangy dressing) and several clients have ordered the pizzas and loved them.”
Cindy likes the “green feeling” of the outdoor courtyard, which she says is not available at any other South County restaurant. She adds that her clients love to try the garlic items on the menu. “It really gives you a special feeling to eat there. Great service, too,” she writes.
Visit The Courtyard Grill: 7400 Monterey Road, Gilroy. Phone: 846-8880.
• Don Ciccio’s and Doña Esther’s, San Juan Bautista
Nominated by Donna Edwards
of Gilroy
“These are two very different restaurants, but I love them both,” writes Donna. “Don Ciccio’s is my special occasion restaurant. It all starts with olives and bread. All of the pastas are fabulous but I especially like the seafood pasta with fish, clams and shrimp. The sauce is so good I sop it up with the bread. The restaurant is dark and lit with candles and they always play good music, so it’s a nice romantic spot.”
At Doña Esther’s, Donna always orders chile rellenos with sauce and cheese on top. “Add a beef enchilada or a homemade tamale and I’m happy. The leftovers are great for the next day.”
• Black Bear Diner, Gilroy
Nominated by two people, Dee Thomas of Morgan Hill and Fred Dimas of Gilroy
“If it’s late, I head to Black Bear,” writes Fred. “The food is ‘home food,’ you know? Makes me feel like going to sleep. My favorites are the steak or a big hot cake breakfast. They do a great job with breakfast. If my grandchildren come, they always have a milkshake and grilled cheese. Simple but great.”
Dee agrees: “Can’t miss with a Black Bear shake, sundae or any dessert. They’re fabulous. Also like the really friendly servers and the booths.”
Last, I’d like to give a little nod to two newbies that are worth a try:
• Scramblz in Morgan Hill, where the old Lyon’s used to be, East Dunne Avenue. They’ve brightened up the place, new everything, bright décor, and the breakfasts are big and good. Very kid friendly with some smart features: a roll of paper towels at each table and a dessert menu that doubles as a place mat. They feature some giant desserts, designed for a child’s birthday party.
• Red Brick Pizza in Gilroy, in the Target shopping center on 10th Street. This is fast-food pizza, cooked in just three minutes. The chopped salads add quite a bit to the menu; I tried the Greek chopped salad and it was great, mixed perfectly with the dressing and lots of crisp vegetables, feta cheese and delicious olives. The pizzas are small but good. The restaurant also serves a mean gelato, about 10 flavors daily.
And now for some recipes …
• Sweet corn: Rocca’s Market and LJB Farms are offering great sweet corn right now. Grab some ears and try Mark Bittman’s simple recipe for grilled corn. He writes in his cookbook, How to Cook Everything, “Grilled corn is the ultimate. Slightly charred kernels are both lovely and crispy-sweet.”
If you prefer boiled corn, I like this method, given to me by a reader years ago: Place all ears of corn in a tall pot. Cover with water and put a lid on the pot. Bring to a boil. By the time the water reaches a boil, the corn will be perfectly cooked. Turn off the heat and let the ears sit until you’re ready to eat.
• Beer marinated chicken: This recipe comes from A Taste of Germany, an organization dedicated to spreading the word about good German foods and beverages. There are many more great recipes on the Web site:
www.germanfoods.org.
This chicken recipe requires dark beer and good mustard for marinating the chicken. This is a perfect barbeque recipe for the dog days of September.
• Hot weather steak: This “Spicy Beef and Horseradish” sandwich recipe comes from Hannah Mann of Morgan Hill. She likes to make it on nights where she doesn’t have a lot of time. The spread can be made ahead of time. The steak takes only 20 minutes. Let everyone assemble their own sandwiches and use paper plates to cut down on the work.
Happy cooking!
Note: Because of the high number of nominations received, I will be running the remaining restaurant reviews next week.
Spicy Beef and Horseradish Sandwiches
1 (2 lb.) flank steak
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
2 green onions, minced
2 teaspoons horseradish
1 1/2 teaspoons chipotle pepper sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Toasted French bread slices
Sliced green onions for garnish (optional)
Step 1: Preheat grill or broiler. Grill steak for 15 minutes or until desired tenderness. Let stand for 5 minutes and thinly slice.
Step 2: Meanwhile, combine cream cheese, minced green onions, horseradish, hot sauce, garlic powder and salt in a medium-sized bowl; stir well.
Step 3: To serve, spoon cream cheese mixture onto each slice of French bread. Top with sliced steak. Garnish with sliced green onions, if desired. Makes 4
servings.
Grilled or
Roasted Corn
8 ears fresh corn
Salt and pepper to taste
Butter (optional)
Step 1: Use whatever method you’d like: Start a charcoal or wood fire, or preheat a gas grill, or turn the oven to 450 degrees.
Step 2: Peel back the husks of the corn and remove the inner silks. Smooth the husks back in place, but don’t worry about them completely covering the kernels. Or, if you prefer, shuck the corn entirely.
Step 3: Grill or roast the corn, turning occasionally. With husks on, cooking time will be about 15 to 20 minutes on grill, or 20 to 30 minutes in the oven. With husks off, less than half that time. When some of the kernels char a bit and others are lightly browned, the corn is done. Serve with salt, pepper and butter. Makes 8 servings (or four if your guests love corn).
Dark Beer-Marinated Chicken
1/2 cup peanut oil
1 teaspoon German mustard
1 cup dark beer
1/4 cup lemon juice
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon minced fresh basil
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
3 1/2 to 4 1/2 pounds chicken pieces
Non-stick cooking spray
Step 1: Whisk together oil and mustard in bowl. Whisk in beer and lemon juice until mixture is smooth. Stir in garlic, salt, pepper, basil and thyme. Add chicken pieces and turn to coat well. Cover and refrigerate 2 to 12 hours.
Step 2: In charcoal grill, heat about 60 briquettes until white ash appears. Meanwhile, drain chicken and discard marinade. Push hot briquettes to one side of grill, using tongs. Spray rack with cooking spray. Cook chicken over coals until skin is crispy, turning once; this will take about 10 minutes.
Step 3: Move chicken to grill side away from briquettes; cover grill and cook until juices run clear and meat is an opaque white all the way through; about 15 minutes.
Makes 4 servings.
Notes
• Anonymous Etiquette: Thank you to Bob Shomler and Ruby Hart, who wrote in with some additional tips for last week’s place setting question. Ruby correctly pointed out that knives have no tines; what I should have said is that the serrated blade should be pointing toward the plate. Bob wrote a long explanation that was very helpful: “We learned that in the European service tradition, much of which translated to the U.S., utensils go on the side of the hand that will use them; thus (for continental style dining) diners use forks in the left hand, knives and spoons in right. I think this was designed for right handed dominance – both fork and knife are used together while eating. Using the knife requires more strength and dexterity, thus right hand for knife and fork in left. The eating with fork in left hand mostly didn’t carry over to the U.S., thus here one sees the trading of fork from left hand whilst cutting on plate to right hand to eat …” Thank you both for your input!
• Cooking questions: Frances Barracas of Morgan Hill wonders what to do when she runs out of buttermilk and needs it for a recipe. I have two suggestions: For one cup of buttermilk, mix one tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice with enough milk to equal one cup. Stir, then let sit five minutes. Or, my new favorite, keep powdered buttermilk in your pantry. Use _ cup buttermilk powder with 1 cup of water.
• No whining: The wine industry has been looking for cork alternatives for years. Screw tops, however, don’t have quite the same allure. Now, Alcoa, one of the world’s largest producers of sealing products for beverages, has developed a good-looking glass stopper. It’s called Vino-Lok, looks like the top of a decanter and can be used to reseal an opened bottle of wine. It is sealed in place with an aluminum covering cap. Both the Vino-Lok and the covering cap are recyclable. Though the Vino-Lok is expensive now (it requires a specially-shaped bottle), Alcoa says as sales increase, the glass stoppers will cost the same as high-quality cork does now. The first sales have been recorded in Germany’s wine region.
