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If you don’t know that pizza is one of the hottest trends in the food world, then where have you been? In New York City, a place hardly lacking for good pizza pies, several artisan pizzerias recently opened. During my trip there last week, my goal was to try a slice at each. On my list: Motorino, Keste´, Co. and Pulino.

First up, Keste´ Pizza & Vino. It’s in a cramped and narrow space on Bleecker Street in the West Village. No reservations; put your name in and wait. On a Monday night, it was only 10 minutes. You are practically sitting in your neighbor’s lap — tables are crammed in every nook and cranny. No matter, the aroma of pizza baking is more than enough to make it worth your while to stay.

You get Neapolitan-style pizzas here. In fact, Keste´ is the US headquarters for the Associazione Pizzaiuoli Napoletani, the group that sets standards for what “true” Neapolitan pizza is, and also certifies pizzaiolos (pizza makers).

From the menu of 20+ pizzas, we chose the classic Margherita and the Proscuitto e Arugola. Pies are cut into 4 wedges, enough for 2 people to share. The Margherita was FANTASTIC. The crust is little crisp and chewy. The flavors were bold yet familiar: creamy mozzarella, sweet tomato sauce. This pizza ranks up there with what I think is the best pizza in the world, at Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix. The proscuitto pizza was no slouch though, again the same chewy crust and just the right balance of salty and sweet flavors. Keste´ was my favorite of the NYC pizzerias. A very simple wine list has offerings of house white,
rose´or red, served in carafes.

Next, Pulino. This is a Keith McNally restaurant, the same guy who brought us Balthazar and Pastis. Pulino’s interior will remind you of Balthazar and Pastis. It’s rustic and simple, just like the food. Pizza’s the main attraction here, as is the chef, Nate Appleman, a recent transplant from San Francisco. He was part of the A16 team, one of the San Francisco’s best Italian restaurants.

An insalate verde is a good start. Loved the dressing, made with red wine vinegar and creme fraiche.  I can tell you that Pulino’s pizza, at least the one I had, bested A16’s efforts. I had the Pesto pizze,with basil and arugula pesto, mozzarella, pecorino, pinenuts and stracchino Here the crust is paper thin and crisp, allowing the toppings to shine. The stracchino was rich and gooey, a nice contrast to the crunch of the crust.

Last is Co., which is in Chelsea. Very minimalistic interior.

This pizzeria was opened by Sullivan Street Bakery owner and baker, Jim Lahey. He’s known for his no-knead dough technique. At Co. the crust isn’t too thin or too thick — I’d say it is between the super thin Pulino crust and Keste’s chewy crust. Of the three pizzas, Co.’s had the proper amount of blistering and char. For me, what makes the pizza here are the toppings. I had the Peas & Proscuitto pie, with peas, shredded proscuitto, bechamel, mozzarella, parmesan and pea shoots. I’d never had peas or pea shoots on a pizza, but it really works! I paired it with a Shinas Estate “The Innocent” Viognier, a match that was fresh and luscious. Co. has the best wine list of the three pizzerias.

I never did make it to Motorino. Yet another Neapolitan-style pizzeria, Motorino has two locations, in Brooklyn and in the East Village. According to New York Times food critic Sam Sifton, it’s the best pizza in the city. My next trip to NYC, I’m going straight to Motorino from the plane. We’ll see then if it’s better than Keste’s.

Of course, while all of these pizzas are excellent, none of them are better than any of the pies coming out of Chris Bianco’s pizza oven at Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix. It’s worth a quick round trip flight from San Francisco just to eat one of his amazing pizzas. So far, Keste´ is the only pizzeria I’ve found that even comes close.

Of course, there’s always Ray’s – big slices, stringy cheese, mmmm. Perhaps it is the quintessential New York pizza.

Recession worries seemed to fade as wine lovers opened their wallets and raised paddles bidding up the prices at the 30th Auction Napa Valley, held over this past weekend. There was lots of good food and great wine flowing throughout the event. I went to the Taste Napa Valley and Barrel Auction on Friday, at Rubicon Estates. I love this annual event, and it’s a great one to go to even if you don’t make it to the live auction on Saturday. Dark skies and cool temps threatened rain, but it held off.

At Taste Napa Valley, wineries pour whites and rose´and many of Napa’s top restaurants dished out bites.

You could nosh on anything from chickpea fries to pulled pork sliders from BarBersQ and watermelon sorbet with chocolate chips (for seeds!), topped with fleur de sel. Martini House served up a creamy mushroom soup that was an inspired pairing with the Kongsgaard “The Judge” Chardonnay. Check out this incredible paella, from Zuzu in Napa.

What I really noticed was that there were many more wineries pouring Rose´ than in past years. No complaints here, I love Rose´especially this time of year. Some of the best I tasted were from Entre Nous, (a Cab rose´) where Philippe Melka is the winemaker, and Louis M. Martini, also a Rose´of Cab.

The real excitement was inside the caves at Rubicon, where the live barrel auction was taking place. As you can see, it was jammed-packed, as people went from barrel to barrel, sampling and bidding.

Opening bids on the barrel lots started at $175 per case with the minimum increments of $50. In about 15 minutes time, I saw the Shafer Vineyards lot go from $5700 to $6000 (and yes, that’s for one case).
Updating the Shafer bids.

If you think that’s a lot, the final bid on the Shafer lot, the 2008 Hillside Select Cabernet Sauvignon, went for $58,650. Amazing! The second highest bid was $37,700 for the Spottswoode Estate lot, a St. Helena Cab.

At the end of the weekend, when all was said and done, more than $8.5 million was raised, with $1 million coming from the barrel auction alone. All proceeds benefit
health, youth services and housing non-profits in Napa County.

No, it’s not peach season, not yet. We won’t get to bite into fresh, juicy peaches until mid-June at the earliest. But if peaches are dried or frozen, then you can eat them year-round.
And last night at Flea St. Cafe in Menlo Park, CA, that’s exactly what we did. Owner Jesse Cool hosted peach farmers Mas and Marcy Masumoto, who have a peach farm south of Fresno, CA, called Masumoto Family Farm. Mas is known for writing Epitaph for a Peach, his journey to save the Suncrest peach variety. It’s a treat to meet him; he’s as passionate about peaches and farming in person as he is in the pages of his book. He’s also just written Wisdom of the Last Farmer.

We had a five course meal, with peaches features as a crema on Dungeness crab and wrapped with salumi as appetizers, a peach soup with short ribs, a chicory and parsley salad with the best peach fritters ever, chutney made by Marcy Masumoto with pork loin, and a strawberry rhubarb crisp with peach whipped cream, and a peach chocolate truffle. Yum! To me the best wine pairing was the Pey-Marin Riesling “The Shell Mound”. The crisp acidity balanced the sweet peaches.

All I know is that I will be heading to the Berkeley Bowl starting in mid-June to purchase some of Mas’s fresh peaches, and I can’t wait!

I have to say Saturday was a great day. It started with going to the Cartier and America exhibit at the Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco. Talk about bling! More diamonds, emeralds and rubies than I’ve ever seen in one place. The focus was on American women who bought or wore Cartier jewels. At the turn of the 20th century it was fashionable for women of a certain social status to wear tiaras, whether or not they were royalty, and you’ll see a lot of them here. Seems like a quaint trend, can you imagine wearing a crown now? Some of Grace Kelly’s jewels are on view, including her 10 carat diamond engagement ring. Then there’s the set of jewels that Mike Todd gave Elizabeth Taylor — diamond and ruby necklace, bracelet and earrings. Wow. And, many of the Duchess of Windsor’s pieces (aka Wallis Simpson). Also on view, a behind the scenes peek at the drawings and how the jewelry is made. If you go get the audio tour. Runs through May 9, 2010.

The rest of the day I spent walking around and tasting artisan chocolate at TasteTV’s Chocolate Salon at Ft. Mason. This is even better than Willy Wonka’s chocolate river! More than 50 chocolatiers were offering samples of their sweet treats, from across the country. I have to confess, I hit chocolate overload about half way through, so I didn’t get to taste everything. Here’s the best of what I did try:

Saratoga Chocolates - Strawberry balsamic truffle. One bite and the sweet concoction of strawberries and balsamic vinegar explode in your mouth.

Ococoa - They bill their chocolates as “the grownup peanut butter cup,” and the sunflower honey and butter cup is to die for.

Neo Cocoa – Here it’s the “heart” of the truffle — the filling — that takes center stage. Loved the lime zest chocolate.

Vice Chocolates – As far as vices go, chocolates aren’t so bad. Really like the fig and anise seed bar.

Posh Chocolat - These sweets are made in Montana, not exactly the center of the chocolate foodie world. Doesn’t matter, the couple who makes these chocolates have created a world of interesting flavors with chocolates of single origin Ecuadorian dark chocolate. Some work very well, and one I wasn’t crazy about. Likes: The Turkish coffee caramel, the bacon caramel applewood smoked sea salt, and the coconut pineapple caramel Hawaiian pink sea salt. Salt is a common theme in their recipes. The strangest combo here is the white truffle oil caramel with flakes of Cypress sea salt. Putting bacon in chocolate is one thing – truffle oil is just going a bit too far.

Little Sky Lavender Farm – Something different – yummy brownies infused with lavender! They sell the brownie mix so you can make them at home.

Jade Chocolates – These Asian flavor-inspired chocolates win big in the eyes of the Chocolate Salon judges. Their Genmai chocolate bar made of milk chocolate, roasted brown rice, roasted green tea and jasmine tea won 1st place for Best Flavored Chocolate in this year’s salon. The Terracotta bar with tamari almonds and pink sea salt won New Product Award 1st place.

William Dean Chocolates – Got my vote for most colorful confections. But never did get to try, the line was way too long!

Vermeer Dutch Chocolate Cream Liqueur – vodka-spiked chocolate is an indulgence.

Last week I was a judge at the Mendocino Crab & Wine Days. For the past 11 years, local chefs have entered their crab cakes in a cook-off to be chosen best of the best. In a separate contest, local wineries enter the bottling they think pairs best with pure crab meat (look for this in a later post).  It’s all Dungeness crab, caught locally off the coast of Mendocino.

We blind tasted our way (chef, restaurant and ingredients not identified) through 15 crab cakes and awarded scores for taste, presentation and originality.  The best cakes really honored the crab — nice chunks of crab meat, simple preparation with no one ingredient overpowering the crab.

The judges for the most part were in agreement on which crab cakes worked and which ones didn’t.  We preferred the less fussy presentations, and the cakes that had more crab than filler.

The winners above L-R:  1st place:  Silver’s at the Wharf – full of chunks, moist, not perfectly shaped.  We liked the acid from the grapefruit.  2nd place:  Cafe Beaujolais.  Great presentation, crab chunks with and green bean garnish.  3rd place Mendo Bistro.  Nice clean flavors and presentation, panko breading, (just awesome in my notes).

The next day, there’s a public tasting of all the crab cakes, and everyone casts votes for the People’s Choice award.  Results were similar to ours.  1st place:  Def Chef Catering; 2nd place:  Silver’s at the Wharf; 3rd place:  Mendo Bistro.  Congratulations to all!

This post’s title, Snack on This! I have totally borrowed from friend and colleague Mark Oltz.  Whenever we were looking for new titles to segments on In Wine Country he’d always throw out “snack on this.”  Today’s the last day of the three day Fancy Food show in San Francisco.  There are hundreds of food vendors, from all over the country and all over the world.  You can spend all day there and eat nothing but cheese — some darn good cheese.  I managed to pull myself away from the cheese pavilion to sample other things.  Here’s my list of favorites.

Everything’s better with bacon.  The cured meat was everywhere; lots of jamon Iberico legs being carved up.

Bacon makes its way into chocolate at Vosges, in a dark choc bar and in a fantastic bacon caramel toffee.  Also saw dried smoked salmon “bacon bits.”

Porchetta was on display too.  Tasted this really delicious petite porchetta from Porchetta Primata in Italy. The good news, it’s available at Costco.  For those of us who live in or near Napa Valley, or are visiting the wine country, you’ve got to go to Fatted Calf at Oxbow Market in Napa for their amazing porchetta.  I’ve seen it made and it’s full of garlic, lemon and all sorts of herbs…yum!

Next to cheese caramel was everywhere you looked, in all sorts of decadent bars and candies.  Poco Dolce’s Burnt Caramel was one favorite, and so were the chewey vanilla caramels from the relatively new Happy Goat.  Their caramels are made with goat milk — from goats from small loca farms producing milk that is antibiotic, growth hormone and pesticide-free.

More for the sweet tooth – wine country-based Anette’s Chocolate Factory has always had an exceptional (and addictive) beer brittle.  Here at the show they’re introducing triple nut bourbon brittle, a new favorite for me, with pecans, pistachios and almonds.  I also tried their Chardonnay wine brittle which is terrific.  Follow this link to a story about Anette’s that we did on In Wine Country.

There were lots of beverages too…flavored sodas, zero-calorie flavored waters, tea and more tea.  I love the rose nectar called Sence.  The packaging is beautiful…the bottles above on the left.  It’s not too sweet, and is a great mixer for coctails, like the vodka-spiked drinks they were making.  It’s stylish and fun and something different.  The teas I really like actually come from a coffee company in Hawaii.  The pulp of coffee beans grown on Moloka’i is dried and blended with other herbs and flowers, into a tisane.  My favorites are the lemongrass and the lavender tisanes.

To quote Rachel Zoe, some of the foods “I die” for — and will be buying as soon as I find them online or at my local grocer:  the coco-passion jam from The French Farm just rocks!  Also love the confit of jasmine flowers, confit of violet, both very delicate flavors.  Can’t wait to get my hands on a bottle of Lucero‘s peach balsamic vinegar.  It’s a white balsamic and the peach is just perfect, not overly sweet.  Lucero’s ascolano olive oil is one of the best I tasted.  I must also have the new spicy ketchup from Maya Kaimal, a purveyor of Indian food.  I love their curry simmer sauces too.

One product related to wine caught my attention.  You may have heard of Vinturi, a hand-held device that decants (aerates) one glass of wine at a time.  It is similar to a funnel and it makes a sucking sound as the wine passes through it.  The Soiree is an alternative for decanting on the go.  It’s a glass bulb that fits into the bottle mouth, and you pour right through that.  Check it out.  I’m going to do a side by side test and will let you know the results.

You know how fashion designers end their shows with a wedding gown walked down the runway?  To end my post, here’s the foodie version of a wedding cake — in cheese!  This was created by the folks at Cypress Grove Chevre, and is made up of a variety of their cheeses…including the wonderful Truffle Tremor, made with yes, fragrant, earthy truffles. Cowgirl Creamery introduced Devil’s Gulch, a new seasonal cow’s milk cheese topped with spicy dried red pepper flakes (adds a nice kick!)

Rogue Creamery had a great line up of blue cheeses.  The cheesemaker also paired up with Oregon beer brewer Rogue, adding a chocolate stout to cheddar.

Were there things I didn’t like?  Yes, like the pesto from a vendor who told me it’s the best in the world — but not to me.  Also tasted pasta sauces with overcooked noodles (yuch), some overly sweet sodas, green tea ramen noodles.

Mmmm – Dungeness crab, fresh and local.  Does it get any better than that?  Well yes it does, especially with a spot-on wine pairing.  In this case you’ve got the crab with its clean flavors and just a little bit of sweetness.  A regular Chardonnay esp w/ any oak will overpower the crab.  While a Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling are more reliable choices, why not try this? An unoaked Chardonnay.  Look for Chards that are fermented and aged in stainless steel tanks.  My choice for this evening -  Sarah’s Vineyard “Steel Blue” Chardonnay.  It’s zippy and bright, and really helps enhance the tasty crab.

I just thought that this dish was photo-worthy. It’s a char siu marinated Alaskan black cod. The red color is amazing and yes, the dish tastes as good as it looks. It’s on the menu at The Red Crane in Cupertino, CA – and at lunch it’s $12 with miso soup, and garlic noodles and bok choy.

What’s char siu you ask? It’s a type of cooking and seasoning. According to Wikipedia, char siu is a method of barbeque or roasting, and the seasoning or marinade is responsible for the red color. Red miso is typically used, along with honey, five spice powder, soy and hoisin sauce. All I know is that the cod was buttery and a little sweet and absolutely delicious.

You’re at the grocery store, staring blankly at the shelves of olive oil.  It’s almost like looking at shelves full of wine.  Intimidating.  Confusing.  You just want a decent bottle of extra virgin olive oil.  Do you choose by label, by country, by price?  To make matters even worse, it’s highly likely that bottle of oil you just picked up contains an inferior olive oil that wouldn’t pass a test for extra virgin olive oil.  And even though it is labeled “product of Italy” that oil probably came from Spain, Greece, Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Morocco or Argentina.

I went just took a tour of three California olive companies — one olive processor, two olive oil producers. Was organized by the fairly new UC Davis Olive Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science (hey I was at the ground breaking for that center years ago.) The main point of the tour seemed to be enlisting us attendees (about 10 of us chefs/writers/bloggers) in getting the word out about what’s really in a bottle of “extra virgin olive oil.”

I’ve done many TV stories on artisan olive producers in wine country:  McEvoy, Round Pond, Pasolivo, The Olive Press.  One of the oil producers on the tour was Bozzano Olive Ranch, near Stockton, CA.  It’s also a small artisan operation.  When we got there they were custom milling oil for a client.  It’s fascinating to see olives get separated from leaves and stems, get washed and then milled into paste.

The oil is extracted from the paste, and when it flows out, it’s cloudy (eventually the oil clears up).

Bozzano has two main products, A2 and Toscana, both blends of different olive varietals.  It’s sort of similar to wine.  The owner told us that only 20% of what’s milled turns into olive oil; the rest is pumice.  The olives are also handpicked. Makes you understand the high prices for these artisan oils.

In stark contrast, another stop, Corto Olive in Lodi (wine country) is the second largest olive oil producer in California (and the US) after California Olive Ranch.  The milling plant was much bigger, and there are actually two mills working 24-7 during the harvest, which was happening while we were there.

They machine harvest (which we didn’t see) and they say that’s one reason their oils are priced lower, like $7.99 per  half liter (compared to Bozzanno at $26/half liter).  Corto emphasizes freshness — that oils are stored in temperature controlled tanks topped off with nitrogen to keep oxidation out (hmm sounds like wine), and fill bottles only as orders come in.  I’ve been to California Olive Ranch, and they do the same thing.  You can find California Olive Ranch at local markets but Corto is a dedicated custom-mill facility and they provide oil for private labels — Sam’s Club and Zabar’s for example.  We got to try freshly milled oil — otherwise known at olio nuovo.  It’s bright green and cloudy, and the aroma is very grassy.  The taste is bitter and grassy — a “three cough oil” for sure.  If an oil causes you to cough, that means it’s pretty pungent.  I like oils like that!  Most Americans go for a softer, fruitier oil.

When you are at the milling line, the whole room smells like olives.  Here’s a video of the final oil coming out:

The other stop was at olive processor Musco Family Olive Company, in Tracy.  I’ve never thought about black olives and other types of canned/bottled olives and how they get to be that way.  But then I never eat black olives.  They remind me of the canned sliced mushrooms that pizza places used to use.  No flavor or texture.  Musco says most Americans prefer the black olives.  Well they don’t pick them black, they pick them green.  Then they are cured in these cement tanks.

There are about 1300 tanks in the storage yard at Musco.  At peak capacity Musco says they process enough olives to give every person in the world 4 olives.

The cured green olives go through an oxidizing process where they turn black (aka ripe).   Then they’re pitted and canned.  They told us the small green olives, especially the ones stuffed with pimentos, usually are imported from Spain and other countries.  Musco uses mostly Manzanilla olives, a Spanish variety.

One cool thing from Musco — they have a olive nutrition chart with calorie counts.  The range is from 4 calories for a small olive to 12 calories for a “super colossal” olive.

So if you’re buying olive oil, what to look for? For California oils, the Certified Extra Virgin seal from California Olive Oil Council on the bottle means the oil inside is indeed extra virgin.  If you see an oil that says imported from or product of Italy, look at the fine print.  The label probably says something like “contains oils from…” a list of countries.  There’s no law that governs extra virgin olive oil imports.  You can always buy small bottles, and do a taste test.  Once you’ve had fresh oil, and true extra virgin oil, other oils made from inferior oils and blends won’t measure up.  My advice, eat local.  California’s oils are just as good, if not better than some top Italian oils.  Also terms like cold press or first press don’t mean much anymore, since most EVO is almost always the first and cold press.

And, finally, what to pair with olives?  You need a wine that can cut through the brininess.  My choice is bubbly, either a nice California sparkling wine (Iron Horse, Schramsberg, Domaine Carneros or Mumm will do), or a Spanish Cava (Segura Viudas is a good bet).

David Chang, Momofuku’s colorful chef owner, had a book signing junket through the Bay Area.  I saw him at Kepler’s, a great independent bookstore in Menlo Park.  I got there extra early since I was sure the event would be packed.  But at 10 minutes before his appearance, only a few people in chairs – so I got a great 2^nd row seat.  More people did eventually show, but it was not a sell-out crowd. 

David talked about starting up Momofuku Noodle Bar, and it is so unbelievable the restaurant even survived, let alone become such a success.  It was a tiny, 600 sq ft space, and hardly any room to walk behind diners.  In the summer the hoods sucked up all the air conditioning, so they had to figure out how to keep the diners from sweating to death.

David said he stuck to his vision – creating great food with great ingredients.  No one had really done this with ramen.  He says he wants to keep improving it, even though now it is pretty darn tasty.  There was no décor, not because he wanted a minimalist look, like some critics thought, he just had no money for it.

While there were no firework or f-bombs, Chang did explain his comment about San Francisco restaurants put only figs on the plate.  He feels many places serve the same type of food, and he wants to see new and fresh, something different.  He says even New York isn’t that exciting as a culinary capital.  He looks to Europe, especially San Sebastian and Brussels.

If you are in New York, you’ve got to stop by Noodle Bar, or Ssam Bar.  Ko is his prix fixe place, with only three seatings, one at lunch and two for dinner.  Reservations only at Ko – have to call six days out.  His newest eatery Ma Peche, opens soon in the Chambers Hotel.

 The Momofuku cookbook has the ramen recipe, along with the broth, which is what really makes this dish.  Also the slow poached egg technique is pretty impressive.  And the recipe for Chang’s famous pork buns are here too.