Did you know that German chocolate cake has nothing to do with Germany (Deutschland)?
The name comes from the fact that it uses a type of chocolate called German chocolate, which was invented by an Englishman named Sam German.
Nicole and I were up in Santa Rosa looking at furniture, because that’s pretty much all we do now, so I had the idea of checking out one of Guy Fieri’s restaurants. For those of you who don’t know Guy Fieri, he was the winner of the second season of The Next Food Network Star and will have a new show called “Guy’s Big Bite”, that debuts on June 25.
The menu is great. Almost everything sounds good. The food is unique and interesting without being froofy (or pricey). I didn’t see any ragout, compote, concasse, confit, reductions, or demi-glace on the menu.
After cocktails, we started with one of Guy’s signature dishes, Rhode Island Calamari. He puts a different spin on fried calamari by serving it in a mildy spicy sauce with pepperoncini in a bread bowl and plating it on a dish that looks like standard issue from the United Federation of Planets. Fantastic.
Then Nicole had the Tequila Turkey Fettucine and I had Chipotle Pasta with shrimp and cajun sausage and a really good chipotle-barbeque sauce. Both were very, very good.
We finished with a slice of apple pie with delicious vanilla ice cream and a wonderful strawberry cheesecake. Both were excellent and had the nice touch of being served on chilled metal plates.
In short, we loved this place. My only complaint is that it’s in Santa Rosa which makes it too far to go on a whim. Sigh.
Events coming up at Sur La Table at Santana Row. Free knife sharpening during the month of October. Ted Allen (“Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”) on December 3. Rachael Ray on December 5.
We had dinner at this place which turned out to be Indian (I had assumed Middle Eastern). We were not wildly impressed. It ain’t no Darbar.
Spalti Ristorante is a nice Italian restaurant on California Ave. in Palo Alto. I used to go there a lot more when I lived near California Ave. Nicole and I went tonight and although we were a little disappointed with our carciofi (artichoke) appetizer, the Gnocchi del cardinale and Risotto del giorno (with roast pork loin, asparagus, and mozarella) were quite good.
This site looks really interesting:
For parents with kids, my friend’s wife is offering cooking classes for ages 9 to 14 on Saturdays starting March 26. She is a professionally trained chef and likes to teach kids. There are adult classes as well.
For more information, check out her website at
