Recently, I was fortunate to try a few samples of a few flavors of ice cream and sorbet from Rumba Desserts. This California based company focuses on capturing the flavors of Peru by using exotic Peruvian fruits, making their product unique and intriguing at the same time. How about a Purple Corn sorbet for being special? Rumba’s Citron Morado Sorbet is just one of their unique flavors that combines an Organic Peruvian Purple Corn infusion with Lisbon Lemon and Tahitian Lime Juice. It’s an uncommon flavor combination, yet it’s refreshingly exciting to your taste buds.

What really impressed me with Rumba’s products was how much flavor bursts through. Since Rumba Desserts uses all natural ingredients, you can expect their ice cream and sorbets to taste just like real fruit. The instant I tried the Mango Sorbet, I felt as if I was eating a real mango. It was far from tasting all artificial and sugar loaded. The taste of mango was there and you knew it.

A Scoop of Lucuma Ice Cream

The real highlight for me was sampling the Lucuma Ice Cream. Lucuma is a Peruvian fruit that has the characteristics of having a maple-caramel like taste. In ice cream form, this flavor was just pure bliss. It was amazingly silky, and the flavors truly reminded me of a caramel ice cream, only this time, the flavor was coming from the Lucuma fruit. It’s on my list of recommended flavors to try.

You can find Rumba Desserts at various specialty grocery stores around the Bay Area by following this link. There are also several tasting sessions going around, giving you the chance to sample some of Rumba Desserts’ ice cream and sorbets. For more information about Rumba Desserts and to see if a tasting is near you, you can contact them at info@rumbadesserts.com.

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This year’s event aimed to avoid the problems of last year’s event by providing more food vendors and space to accommodate all of the crowds, while still remaining true to the same concept of bringing together street food vendors and restaurants to celebrate their passion for food. Just a quick stroll down Folsom Street, I could already tell that this time around, things would go much more smoothly. By having more vendors and space at the event did help spread out the crowds so that the lines for food wouldn’t be so long. Below are some of the sights of yesterday’s event and what I was able to sample:

Pork Sisig Tacos from Hapa SF

Melon, Duck Prosciutto, and Lardo Salad from Flour + Water

Pork Sausage with Butter Bean Salad from Flour + Water

Curtis Kimball of @cremebruleecart armed with his torch

Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée from @cremebruleecart

Chef Mourad of Aziza busy on the Grill

Fried Chicken with Harissa from Aziza

El Porteño Empanadas filled with Beef, Olives, Raisins, and Egg

A look at the Kung Fu Tacos truck

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About Ovarian Cancer:
Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecologic cancers in the United States and is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among U.S. women. The American Cancer Society estimates that 21,650 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the U.S. in 2008 and about 15,520 women will die from the disease. It is an insidious disease that can strike without warning or cause.

To support the awareness for the OCRF even more, Foodbuzz is donating $50 for every post about Banana Splits with the Top 9 Takeover. With the Top 9 Takeover, Foodbuzz will be showcasing 9 blog posts that feature the same theme. We wanted to support the cause, so we decided to join in.

To get into the spirit of summer, we decided to come up with a Filipino style banana split. Instead of regular bananas, we used Saba Bananas that have been wrapped in egg roll wrappers and then fried. These little fried banana rolls are called Turon in Filipino cuisine. The classic Filipino Turon adds in jackfruit to enhance the sweetness of the bananas. We opted to use Nutella Spread instead of jackfruit in our recipe, for that hint of chocolate.

Ingredients
Egg Roll Wrappers
Saba Bananas
Nutella Spread
Water
Brown Sugar
Vegetable Oil
Ice Cream of Your Choice

Steps

First, divide the bananas in half, and slice them again, sort of into long strips. Next, begin wrapping the bananas in the egg roll wrappers.

Spread a little bit of Nutella inside the egg roll wrapper before placing a slice of banana inside. The inspiration to use the Nutella in our Turon comes from having Turon from Patio Filipino in San Bruno, where they use chocolate in their version. Take a slice of the banana and coat it in some brown sugar, place it inside of the wrapper, and roll.

Seal wrapped bananas with a touch of water so that they don’t open up when you fry them.

In a large skillet over medium high heat, fry the wrapped bananas until they are golden brown on both sides. This should take about 2-3 minutes. Remove them from the skillet and place them on a plate with a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.

Keeping in with theme of the Filipino Banana Split, we paired the Turon with a scoop of Ube – purple yam and Mango Ice cream. Both of these can be found at your local Asian Market.

Just drizzle on some melted Nutella spread and sprinkle some nuts of your choice to top it off. And there you have it. Our twist on an American classic, summertime favorite…

If you too feel like joining in to support awareness for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, you can build your own banana split on Kelly Ripa’s website. For every virtual banana split submitted, Electrolux will donate $1 to the OCRF.

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Las Vegas… Home to world class casino resorts and fine dining restaurants. No wonder this city is crowned the city of entertainment. There’s something for everybody here. Sure, you could spend your time throwing down money on gambling or spend your cash shopping in Vegas, but I wanted to make sure I was going to eat good while I was here.

Although I wanted to support my local California Chefs like Michael Mina, Hubert Keller, and Thomas Keller by dining at their Las Vegas restaurants, I knew that I could just visit their restaurants close to my home. I wanted to explore a little more. But, with so many restaurants to choose from, how was I going to make my decision?

I read about Joël Robuchon’s restaurant, L’Atelier, and how they offered an open kitchen so that you could watch your meal being prepared. That feature of the restaurant instantly drew me in. And yes, knowing that Joël Robuchon was named Chef of the century did influence me in a way, but I was intrigued to see how his philosophy on food would be seen with the way his team would prepare my meal.

Housed inside the MGM Grand Casino, you will find Joël Robuchon’s restaurants, L’Atelier and Joël Robuchon. Just a few steps away from the gaming floor, you are transported to a restaurant where your visual senses are in for a ride. When you are seated inside L’Atelier, the first thing you will notice is the open kitchen with Robuchon’s cooks busily working.

Las Vegas may be home to some amazing shows, and you can definitely list L’Atelier as a show to behold. L’Atelier offers counter seating, where you can watch cooks plating and preparing your meal just a few feet from where you sit. At one instance, my eyes were glued to the head chef as he prepared a ribeye. You could see him carefully using his turner to scoop up the juices to baste the ribeye as it was cooking. He finally finished the dish by melting a piece of butter onto the stove and letting those flavors set into the steak.

Two Chef’s tasting menus are available, but when we visited, we opted to order à la carte. It would’ve been nice to explore a tasting menu, but the dishes that we wanted to try were not offered on them. L’Atelier also offers a menu of small tasting portions which gives you that ability and feeling of building your own tasting menu for yourself, or you can enjoy those dishes as appetizers.

A selection of bread – from croissants to small baguettes

Amuse-bouche of Grapefruit gelée, Apple, all topped with Avocado and Cilantro

Appetizer – Foie Gras Ravioli served in Chicken Broth, topped with Thai Basil and Cream

The soup was topped with cream that was optional, served table side. The small pillows of ravioli bursted with flavor when you went in for a spoonful.

Free Range Quail Stuffed with Foie Gras, served with Truffled Mashed Potatoes

The quail was perfectly tender and moist, with the foie gras adding more richness to all of the succulent flavors. The truffled mashed potatoes were so fluffy and buttery. I could say that they were the best mashed potatoes that I’ve ever tasted.

John Dory with Baby Octopus, served with Fava Beans, Artichokes, and Black Olives

The sauce that accompanied the fish was slightly sweet and tart, paired well with the earthy fava beans, artichokes, and salty olives. All of the flavors seemed to absorb right into the flakey and delicate texture of the John Dory.

Soufflé served with Pistachio Ice Cream

What better way to end a French dinner, than with a classic French dessert? As an added touch, the Pistachio Ice Cream was served table side, with our server placing a spoonful of ice cream that melted down the center of the soufflé. The soufflé was light, with a sweet finish coming from the ice cream.

Throughout the entire evening I couldn’t help myself from not looking up and watching other diners’ meals being prepared. It was fascinating to witness how some of the dishes were executed. Dining at L’Atelier might just be worth a visit if you want to enjoy that feeling of being inside the kitchen at one of Joël Robuchon’s restaurants.

Here’s a video taken at our dinner:

L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon
Inside the MGM Grand Casino
3799 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV 89109
Visit L’Atelier’s Website

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We arrived at Sam’s for lunch and the place was already packed with diners. The restaurant itself sits right next to the ocean, giving you the opportunity for waterfront dining. We were lucky enough to grab a table next to the window.

So, what makes the lobster rolls at Sam’s stand out? You can start with the bread. The roll itself is a brioche bun, specially made for Sam’s. Toasted on all sides, giving a light crunch when you bite into the roll, but still remaining soft with a rich buttery taste.

And of course the lobster. The lobster they use for the roll is meat from the claws that has been tossed in butter. They are very generous when it comes to packing the rolls with lobster meat. I counted about six claws in the roll they served me. The lobster doesn’t hide behind any mayonnaise like a traditional lobster roll, so you can really taste the sweetness coming from the lobster and roll itself. The word succulent isn’t enough to discribe the roll.

Each order is severed with a side of house made potato chips and coleslaw.

In 2007, Sam’s lobster rolls have been mentioned on NBC’s Today Show as being one of the top 5 sandwiches in the country. Who would’ve expected that a restaurant on the West Coast would have such a standout lobster roll.

Sam’s Chowder House
4210 Cabrillo Highway North
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
(650) 712-0245
www.samschowderhouse.com

Coverage of the 29th Annual Santa Cruz Clam Chowder Cook Off & Festival Saturday wasn’t your typical day at the Santa Cruz Beach...

Recently, my cousin discovered that Suruki Supermarket in San Mateo offered uncooked Hamachi Kama. I took it as an opportunity to try and pick up a few to grill this past weekend. I browsed through Suruki and was able to pick up some collars. While browsing I noticed they also had Uni, Monk Fish Liver, and even Toro available. I was pretty impressed at the selection of goods they had.

Back home, I fired up the grill and prepared the collars just by seasoning them with sea salt and pepper on each side. I grilled them for about 15 minutes total, flipping the collars occasionally as they cooked. No special herbs or spices here for this dish. I served the collars with slices of lemon wedges and added a small pinch of finishing salt to them. If you want some extra flavor you could try serving a ponzu sauce along with the dish or do what I did and combine a little soy sauce and lemon juice for a variation of a toyomansi.

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That night we opted to go for the 8 Course Chef’s Tasting menu. The menu was very intriguing. Several keywords highlighted each course, along with the main components of the dish. It left you with a sense of surprise and wonder at what you were going to receive. Below is a look at our meal:

“Amuse-bouche”
A bite of foie gras with passion fruit ice and sweet potato.

“Dawn”
Kumamoto oysters dressed in a beet emulsion and passion fruit.

“Soil”
A mix of root and baby vegetables with sprinkled with pumpernickel crumbs.

“Herbs Garden”
A refreshingly sweet celery sorbet with toasted quinoa and apple.

“Wilderness”
Tender Venison served with a crostini and pear purée.

“Trou Normand”
A sweet drink with the essence of guava, to cleanse your palate.

“Sea”
Succulent lobster tail with sea urchin foam and buttery foie gras, on a bed of couscous.

“Farm”
A piece of beef cheek, with a incredibly soft, fall apart texture.

“Spring Sky”
“Pearls and Snow” – lychee, frozen goat cheese, and meringue, served on a pillow of pineapple tapioca.

“Fromage”
Epoisse, Sable Breton and Vanilla-Kumquat Compote

“Cacao”
A decadent chocolate cake served with a chocolate ganache.

“Dusk”
A “Surprise”, which consisted of in house made chocolates to end the meal.

What amazed us was the presentation of each course. Every dish was visually appealing and appetizing. Whether it was seeing the small intricate details of the garnishes or the arrangement of the dishes’ components, I simply thought to myself, “Wow.” It was an very enjoyable evening to be able to see and experience Crenn’s tasting menu. Just sitting here and reminiscing about the “Sea” course is enough for me to want to go back.

Luce
InterContinental Hotel
888 Howard St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 616-6566
www.lucewinerestaurant.com

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Crawfish and shrimp are served in bags by the pound. Open the bags up and the aroma of garlic surrounds the table and you could just see your order swimming in a pool spicy cayenne garlic butter sauce.

We ordered a pound of shrimp which came out well cooked and was very sweet. And since we wanted to go Cajun, we couldn’t leave Crawdaddy without ordering their crawfish. It’s a lot of work to get to the crawfish meat, but it was worth it. The crawfish was sweet, and when dipped in the garlic butter sauce, the flavors just complemented each other. You had a taste of that sweet and spicy going on where sips of soda or water was a must to cool down the fiery burn.

There isn’t a lack of heat here. You have your choice of mild, medium, or hot with your orders. We went with the mild and still saw my friends gasping for cool air. I thought mild was the perfect heat level. Anything else just might make you really chug down water.

A final tip to keep in mind is to use the bibs they give you. With all the shrimp head twisting and crawfish shell cracking happening, things can get messy and you don’t want any of that on your clothes. Crawdaddy is truly a hands on restaurant and not for the lazy eater because you’ll be busily working for each bite.

Crawdaddy
779 Story Road #1
San Jose, CA 95122
(408) 286-2729
www.crawdaddysj.com

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I’ll admit that I’m not a huge wine connoisseur, and being in Napa, you would expect someone to be excited about going wine tasting. I’ve only been to a few wineries and I do have a good time, but I’m more into checking out the food scene of Napa. I just feel that there’s good food to be tried and enjoyed here. So far, the meals I’ve had here have made me want to keep coming back for more.

A few weeks ago, we took a trip to Napa and I wanted to find good place for lunch, and saw that Chef Richard Reddington’s Redd in Yountville was one of the top suggested restaurants to eat at. After reading a few initial reviews, it seemed to be a spot worth checking out. Finding out that Redd held one Michelin star helped with that choice.

We started off our meal with with the Yellowfin Tuna and Hamachi Tartare as an appetizer. It was served with sliced pieces of Asian pear and chili oil to give the dish a balance of sweet and spicy. A sprinkle of Jasmine rice that was fried in peanut oil added a nice slight crunchiness to the dish.

My adventurous self wanted to try something that I never really order, so I went with the Crispy Duck Confit with Foie Gras Meatballs. I don’t ever recall catching myself ordering duck, so I was looking forward to trying this dish. It was simply delicious. The duck was served on top of spaetzle and cabbage which I thought had amazing flavor. As for the duck, it was very moist. It left me with the impression that I should be trying duck more often.

Also, on our order was the Caramelized Diver Scallops, served on top of a cauliflower purée. This was a beautifully presented dish. I’ve seen scallops at so many restaurants before, but when this dish arrived at our table, our eyes lit up. The balsamic reduction served with this dish, helped bring out the sweetness of the scallops.

I seldom talk about the service aspect of restaurants that I’ve been to, but I have to mention how a little more goes on with Redd when they treat diners. Our server explained the dishes in complete detail for us, which I always enjoy hearing. The only other restaurant that really did that for us was Ad Hoc. Ever since that meal at Ad Hoc, I really appreciated servers and restaurants that train their staff for doing that. It just adds more to the dining experience.

Redd was an experience that I have been sharing with everyone. For lunch, I couldn’t be any happier and satisfied.

Redd
6480 Washington Street
Yountville, CA 94599
(707) 944-2222
www.rednapavalley.com

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Rain or shine, we were going to cover the event as Foodie Correspondents thanks to Foodbuzz. Thankfully, the weather stayed dry throughout Saturday’s festival where the crowds of hungry chowder fans walked the Boardwalk in search of the best Manhattan and Boston clam chowders. Booths were all set up attracting crowds. Some simple, others with playful themes like dancing mermaids or Oompa Loompas complete with a Willy Wonka commanding the crowd. It was all about checking out each booth because to try out the chowder, you had to give up one of five of your precious tasting tickets from your tasting kit.

Just like last year’s festival, we walked the Boardwalk just before the public tasting began to see the final prep work being completed.

You could see contestants busily mixing up their batches of chowder, chopping the remainder of their ingredients, and setting up for the rush of people ready to come to their booth. I can recall the smell of bacon permeating the air at one of the booths. Seeing all of this action was enough to get anyone excited to eat.

Right when 1:00 P.M. hit, it was time for the public tasting. Armed with our tasting kits – which included 5 tasting tickets, a People’s Choice Ballot card, reusable chowder cup, and spoon – we began to line up. We sampled chowder from all three divisions: individuals, corporate/media, and professional, to get a balanced selection of different chowders. Below is what we were able to try.

Draeger Construction
Boston: This was the booth where I smelled bacon being fried, so I wanted to line up here first. Bacon fans would rejoice to the plentiful bacon bits. To complement the bacon, you had plenty of chunks of clams, potatoes, and celery.

Manhattan: Just like their Boston chowder, their Manhattan chowder was chunky. The taste of sweet tomatoes shined through.

Mom’s Clam Diggers
Boston: Right away, just visually the differences can be seen between Mom’s Clam Diggers’ chowder and Draeger Construction’s chowder. We noticed that their chowder wasn’t thick at all, but more of a lighter cream broth with a smokey and peppery finish.

The Clamtone Cruzers
Boston: It was back to the thicker Boston chowder with The Clamtone Cruzers. It seemed that the flavor mainly came from herbs they must have used.

Cabrillo Culinary Arts
Manhattan: Those who like a little heat would have enjoyed this Manhattan chowder. The chowder was bold and spicy.

Boston: On the other hand, Cabrillo Culinary Arts’ Boston chowder had a very sweet finish.

Aegis of Aptos
Boston: Strangely enough, the last Boston chowder that we sampled was almost a combination of every Boston chowder that we had. Both sweet and smokey, every bite reminded me of what I had throughout the afternoon. Almost the perfect way to end it.

We went to the festival not looking for the best… That’s left for the judges to decide. We were there more for enjoying everyone’s take on clam chowder and appreciating all of the uniqueness each competitor brought to the cook off. Whether they were cooking clam chowder based from passed down family recipes or just a plan amongst a circle of friends, everyone was out to have a good time.

Below is the list of the winners of the 29th Annual Santa Cruz Clam Chowder Cook Off & Festival:

Best Professional Boston
1st Place – Severino’s Grill, Chef Antonio Gomez (Aptos)
2nd Place – Blackboard Catering, Chef Clint Hughey (Santa Cruz)
3rd Place – Lil Biscuit House, Chef Martin Krawetz (San Mateo)

Best Professional Manhattan
1st Place – Severino’s Grill, Chef Miguel Ponce (Aptos)
2nd Place – Blackboard Catering, Chef Clint Hughey (Santa Cruz)
3rd Place – Cabrillo College Culinary Arts, Chef Danny Pena (Aptos)

Best Individual Manhattan
1st Place – “Little Kahuna” – Brad Winding (Castro Valley)
2nd Place – “Dragonmama’s Red” – Michelle Ber (Fremont)
3rd Place – “Mitchell’s Chowder” – Zack Mitchell (Santa Cruz)

Best Individual Boston
1st Place – “Ye Oldde Cape Codders” – Darin Wallace (Oak Grove)
2nd Place – “Clam Rock” – Chris Hirz (San Jose)
3rd Place – “Clamma Lamma Ding Dongs” – Amy Gilmore (Roseville)

Best Corporate
1st Place – Dominican Hospital (Santa Cruz)
2nd Place – Jerry’s of Hollister (Hollister)
3rd Place – MYC Delta Clammers (Martinez)

Most Original Team
1st – Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing (Santa Cruz)
2nd – Dominican Hospital (Santa Cruz)
3rd – Cocoanut Grove Castaways (Santa Cruz)

People’s Choice
Professional: Severino’s Grills (Aptos)
Corporate: Dominican Hospital (Santa Cruz)
Individual: Grandma’s Clam Digger (Aptos)

Most Tasted
Professioinal: Carmona’s BBQ & Deli (Watsonville)
Corporate: Draeger Construction (San Jose)
Individual: Rosie’s Clam & Get it (Soquel)

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