I have recently made the greatest discovery of my life, gastronomically speaking. On a recent trip to San Francisco I was taken to b. Patisserie. Shouting OMG into the next century would not do this “salon de thé” justice’. Opened in 2013 by co-creators, co-owners and total pastry geniuses, Belinda Leong and Michel Suas, b. Patisserie could very well have pastry chefs from all over the world setting out on pilgrimages to San Francisco. There is a line from the Eagles song, In the Long Run, “all the debutantes in Houston, couldn’t hold a candle to you.”
Sitting in a windowed corner of b.’s, savoring the croissant, the butter, sugar, crisp crusty outer layer melting in my mouth, the tune played in my head with the words changed to “All the pastry chefs in Paris, couldn’t hold a candle to b!”
b. comes from the name of San Francisco native Belinda Leong who began her career in pastry making back in 1999 working in the renowned San Fran restaurant, Gary Danko. After eight years there, learning much from Gary Danko who she cites as one of her major culinary influences, Belinda left for Europe, working in top patisseries and restaurants in Paris, Spain and Copenhagen, refining her skills and adding to her repertoire. After two years she came back to the Bay area as the pastry chef of Manresa the two Michelin starred restaurant in Los Gatos.
It’s so darn good to get awaaaay. I’m bored with the predictable
patterns of my home life: my constant computer, my cooking, my own
backyard. My brain craves novelty, my tongue new tastes, my eyes new
vistas, but my complacency wants it all to come easy--so good to have
work in the Bay Area of Northern California.
The trouble with San Francisco is that there are way too many fabulous places to eat. Regardless of how much over-eating a person chooses to do, enjoying more than 3 meals a day may be the digestive limit. Just two days in which to eat in the city by the bay upped the ante for my family. Our weekend in San Francisco was to visit with our adult children. What a difference from those early years when only a small selection of beige foods would cross the little lips of our youngest. Now he’s 6’5”, so that early limited palate clearly didn’t stunt the kid’s growth. He and I plotted for months about where to eat, and at first we thought we’d go to one of the recent James Beard award winners, but all were booked four months in advance. How frustrating. But the depth of eating possibilities in the city and beyond left no time for sulking. Rock, paper, scissors, and plans were made.
Just For You Cafe in the Dogpatch Neighborhood of San Francisco, sits about two blocks from where I now live. Their food is all fresh and local and is served with the Louisiana influence of owner Arienne Landry. I love their fish tacos and their tuna melt, but I had never reviewed their burger. Until today.
I keep trying to figure out why the Chinese Chicken Salad served at ‘Comforts Cafe’ is so uniquely spectacular. Well, first: as we’ve all infused, everything is location, location, location. And this chicken salad lives in a fabulous spot in a dreamy, mythic redwood-filled community. ‘Comforts’ is a very aptly-named, truly comfortable, small but open hang-in, hang-out, take-out restaurant on a small main street in the small northern California town of San Anselmo. It boasts daily, wonderfully creative specials including a brilliantly, non-greasily sautéed Chicken Okasan, innovative egg breakfast dishes with fresh local seafood and Sonoma jack cheese and veggies.