Patio Gazebo Design Ideas

announcer:â a kqed television production. ♪♪ sbrocco:and everybody say, "opa!" -opa!-opa! sbrocco:hi, i'm leslie sbrocco. welcome to"check, please! bay area," the show where regularbay area residents review and talk about theirfavorite restaurants. we have three guests,and each one recommends

one of their favorite spots, and the other twogo check them out to see what they think. this week,event planner lea stafford devises events,formulates themes, and shapes moments, knowing that each perfectelement contributes to a successful occasion. with this is mind,it makes her own

dining expectations very high. and restaurant consultantrichard ju knows the business. his culinary trainingmakes him a tough critic. from the front of houseto the kitchen, systems must work smoothly, and he setsa pretty lofty bar. but first,c.f.o. michelle martinez. she studied balletand acting in stark contrast to her currentbusiness life.

her eatery reflectsthese differences by adding an asian twistto traditional italian dishes, thereby concoctingits own version of contemporarycalifornian cuisine. in greenbraeat jason's restaurant. lee: i opened this restaurantfor one thing -- for me to cook. i'm not thatregular kind of chef. i don't have chef jackets.

i wear a t-shirt to work,i wear shorts to work. 'cause i'm on my feet all day. i work six days,seven nights a week. hi, my name is jason lee,and this is my restaurant. i put all my heartand soul into this place. it's everything i love to eat. so everythingthat is on the menu is something thati love from my heart. a little bit ofasian influences,

italian influences,californian influences. you know, i love meat. everything has somethingof bold flavor. we're not afraid of it. this restaurantis family-driven. my wife works at the bar.my little sister -- she works asa hostess sometimes. my mom does all my flowers. my father helps me out wheneveri need any shopping to be done.

when a customer first comesto the restaurant and has no ideawhat they're getting into, i love it whentheir reaction is like, "oh, i never even knewabout this place. i got tell allmy friends about it." there you go.7, well-done. what we do in the kitchen,how hard we work, and how my staffin the front strives to make their experiencethat much better,

i think that's the reasonwhy people come back. it's just that whole feeling -- just to cook it, feel goodabout it, send it out. they feel good about it. their plate's empty. that's the best feelingyou can have. sbrocco:all right, michelle, you went from the artsto finance. martinez: yes, but i'm ata museum that strives

and works on creativity, so i fit right in. sbrocco: and is that whyyou go to jason's? creative cuisine? martinez: i got to jason'sfor that reason, and they are in my neighborhood. sbrocco:so, where do you go first? martinez: i usually gowith the dragon prawns. the dragon prawns are four giantprawns tempura batter-fried

with a delicious wasabi aioli, crisp, crunchycold tobiko on top. it's enough for two to share, and i've neverbeen disappointed. ju: we had those, as well.we ordered the prawns, and i was just shocked byhow huge the prawns were. it was amazing. the flavorswere really good on this dish. it was a little bitoverdressed for us. -martinez: mm.-ju: but it was delicious.

but we also hadthe beet salad. the flavor of the saladoverall was good, but it felt like they werereally skimpy on the beets. they were also a little skimpyon the cheese and the pecans, as well. that was a little bitof a disappointment. stafford: i actually hadthe crab cakes, and the flavor was nice. it had nice celery and onion,

and there was an avocado puree which was perfectly plated,in my opinion. it wasn't heavily dressed. but while the exteriorwas really nice, i did not care for the interior. it wasn't warm enough for me. the exterior was crispy. it was hot like i like it, but that heat just didn'tmake it to the center for me.

sbrocco:all right. hot shots. ju:oh, so, the hot shots. there are three shooters.-martinez: a trio. mm-hmm. ju: the fish --it's a really nice hamachi that's cut intolittle tiny cubes, and when you take the shotin one bite, it's great. martinez: you do shoot it,and there's a lot going on in those three shot glasses.-ju: there is. martinez: there's hamachi,there's diced avocado.

ju:there's some chili threads. martinez:scallion, fried ginger, and a touch ofwhite truffle oil. it's just a delicious umami mix. sbrocco:right, you can't deconstruct it. you have to just go all in. martinez: you can't reallydeconstruct it too much. sbrocco:and what about entrees? you had mentionedyou had the halibut.

stafford: yeah,i had the seared halibut. it was on top of asparagus. they also had a tapenade -- an olive tapenadewith grapes -- that was along the perimeterof the plate. the inside was nice and flaky. everything was juicy. the potatoes were niceand fluffy and creamy. i was actuallyquite pleased with it.

ju:i had the rattlesnake pasta, which was a pennein a sriracha cream sauce. my wife and i split it, and they actuallytook the initiative and split the plates for us, which was really nice.-stafford: that's always nice. ju: it was a very nice creamygradual build-up of heat, and the flavorswere just amazing. martinez: one of our go-tofavorites, the chilean sea bass,

served over jasmine rice with a side of sautã©edspinach in a miso glaze. and it comeswith a side of soy vinaigrette. the fish was servedperfectly broiled, and the meat just flakes off, and it's just delicious. -ju: we also had dessert.-sbrocco: yeah? ju: which we orderedan apple pie a la mode. -stafford: i had that, as well.-ju: it was perfect, actually.

it was heated up,so it was really nice and warm, contrasted well with the vanillaice cream that we had. yeah. i have to secondwhat he says. the ice cream itself, it hadsome kind of caramel undertone that really broughtout that apple pie. ju:it was the cinnamon powder. stafford: yeah, it was really,really good. i enjoyed it.and the crust was super-flaky. the apples were -- they hada nice crunch to them.

it was perfect. martinez: we hadthe chocolate dream. sbrocco: mm-hmm. martinez: which was a delightfulcrust of crushed walnuts and crushed lady fingersthat were made in-house, and then a lightchocolate mousse, and it was delicious. sbrocco: and what about drinksto go with those, because they have one little tipthat now everybody's gonna know.

on tuesdays and thursdays,it's half-priced wine. he's got a nice wine list with mostlycalifornia selections. stafford: i actually just had asimple glass of sparkling wine. they don't skimpon the amount that they pour, so i enjoyed that.-sbrocco: i know. when you go tothose restaurants, they pour you that much.drives you nuts. and jason, a very youthful guy,

has owned this restaurantfor nine years. martinez: yeah, we've beenfollowing for a while. he was in kindof a weird location before in a strip mall. and this is a big upgradefor him, the location he's at now. sbrocco: well, but, and it'sstill in -- people should be aware -- it still is inan office park, right?

martinez:it is in an office park. ju: oh, we actually arriveda little early and we got to walk aroundthe office park a little bit. and so, we did get to seea little bit of the view. sbrocco:what about service? ju: so, service wasthe major problem for us. when we first arrived,we asked to be seated outside. it was a beautiful evening. we ended up in a small table

between the patioand the dining room. and so it felt like we werekind of in no man's land. sbrocco:just the positioning of that. what about service for you? stafford: service was actuallythe complete opposite for us. when we arrived,the hostess was on the phone and a server noticed that, so she actually seated us. so that was something

that i really don'texperience very often. you typically have to wait.and she was super-attentive, always checking on us, topping our glasses off. everything was great.-sbrocco: fantastic. your spot -- give usa quick summary. martinez: i would say jason's ismy family's favorite restaurant. delicious california cuisine in a nice settingwith good service.

sbrocco:all right. and richard? ju: they had good flavors, but i would probablynot be back. there's just too many optionsin the bay area for us to makethe trek up there. -sbrocco: and lea.-stafford: i'd say, personally, i wouldn't make that trekall the way back there, but if i was in the area, i'd go back for a nice glassof a little something.

sbrocco: if you would liketo try jason's restaurant, it's located ondrake's landing road at barry way and greenbrae. the telephone numberis 415-925-0808. it's open for lunch on weekdays,dinner every night. reservations are recommended, and the averagedinner tab per person without drinksis around $30. it's all aboutlocally sourced,

responsibly raised meatat lea's spot. you can dine thereand take some home to cook the next day. this hip location is in oakland, and it's called clove & hoofbutchery and restaurant. blevins:as a whole-animal butcher shop, we decided to bringin whole animals. part of that responsibilityis using that entire animal. whether it ends upin the butcher shop

or the restaurant,everything gets used because that's just partof our responsibility as humans eating meat. all right. here we are.table 7. my name is john blevins. this is clove & hoofbutcher shop & restaurant. and i'm the executive chefand owner. here at clove & hoof,we use one beef, 2 pigs, 1 lamb,20 chickens, 6 ducks,

and assorted other gamemeats every week. we do a lot of preserving,fermenting. everything we do here at clove& hoof is in fact house-made, from the pickles,the condiments, the sauerkrauts. we wanted to educate our staff, as well as our customers, because animal husbandry isa term that's thrown around, but every animal that we getfrom each one of our farms, we have visitedand we know the farmers

and we know the practices. i am from atlanta,so i do use a lot of southern-inspiredingredients, but also, i feel that nostalgia plays a huge part in my menu. we want people to almost havea longing for something when they eat here. that is like -- wow, that's somethingthat my mom could have made.

sbrocco: all right, lea. another meat-loving womanlike myself, a carnivore. this place is carnivoreheaven, isn't it? stafford: it is.my family loves to go there. we enjoy anythingwith meat in it, so this is justright up our alley, and it's in our hometown, so that's whywe enjoy going there, and it's super-casual.

you can stop by,dine in, take out. it's lovely.-sbrocco: what is your dish? what do you dig your teeth into? stafford: i have a coupleof options, but honestly, i really love theirphilly cheesesteak there. it's nicely seasoned,the bun is like no other. it also has a nicefondue cheese sauce on top of it with lovely onions, and it's seared to perfection.

martinez:i agree with the bakery roll. we had the cheesesteak, too. my mouth was wateringreading the description of it. i will say i was disappointed,though. ours came. it was supposed to comewith mushrooms and onions. there was half a mushroom on it and hardly any cheese sauce, which it sounded delicious,but i wouldn't know. and so it was reallyjust the steak,

which was delicious, but i was lookingfor the full fried turnip stick, match sticks, and the whole thingand didn't really get it. sbrocco:you were cheated! martinez:i was cheated a little bit. ju: we orderedthe cheesesteak also, and it was a really fillingand delicious cheesesteak. i do agree that it wasa little bit overly beefy,

but the cheese oozing outof it was just amazing. overall, it wasa delicious sandwich. sbrocco:can you ever be overly beefy? i don't know! what else did you have,michelle? martinez:my husband had a steak, the 16-ounce ribeye, and it was a beautifulcut of meat. beautiful.i wish they'd cooked it

a little bit longer for him. he asked for it medium rare,and it came out probably rare, but delicious nonetheless. and you really got the sensethat this is farm-to-table, the highest quality cutsyou can imagine. stafford: there's a real ethic,a real ethos to the place. martinez: i like that they haddescriptions of every farm right up on the wall. i got the sense that theyare friends and colleagues

with the owners of the farms. we also took some meat home. we took some sausages home, and their homemade sausageswere delicious. sbrocco:what else did you have, richard? ju: we also hadthe charcuterie platter, which was great. we had a couple of terrines. we had a pork and ham terrine,which was my favorite.

we also had some foie grastorchon with a strawberry jam. the foie graswas smooth and buttery. martinez: and i had the chickenand waffles. and the chicken --i have to say, maybe we just hit iton a bad night. they had a reallybig to-go order -- really big --going on, and i sent my chicken back'cause it was burnt and my waffleswere cold and soggy.

and so they took it offthe bill for us. they were really nice about it. although, i turned my attentionto the beef tallow fries and i wasn't sad for long. so, those were probably thebest french fries i've ever had. stafford: yeah, those beeftallow fries are really, really good.-martinez: delicious. stafford: when you frysomething in its own fat, it's just -- it's delicious.-sbrocco: the way to do it.

did she hit iton a bad night? what about the chickenand steak? stafford: i honestly think you may have hit iton a bad night. my husband actuallydid order the same exact dish, and it wasthe complete opposite. the chicken was nice and moist,and it was crispy, and the ginger wafflewas perfect, as well.nice and fluffy and crispy.

martinez: i was bummed'cause i was gonna splurge on fried chickenand that waffle! sbrocco:what about you, richard? ju:i had the smoked pork chop, which was just amazing. it's funny that youmentioned the fat because when it comesto your table, it's a double-thickcut pork chop, and there's a pretty fat ringof the fat around the pork,

and my wife wantedto cut it away, and i was like, "no, no, no!what are you doing?" -sbrocco: "eat the fat!"-ju: that's the best part. and so, i proceededto cut the pork chop so that every bite would get just a little morselof fat in there, and it was just amazing. we couldn't finish it. so we ended uptaking it home

and having it the next morningfor breakfast, which was even better. stafford: yeah.and we did the same thing. honestly, i couldn'tfinish my food. i had the burger,and it's actually two 4-ounce patties on their burgerwith a pimento cheese on there. you get picklesand lettuce and onions, and it's delicious. but it's super filling.it's juicy.

you get everything running downthe side of your hands. -sbrocco: that's a burger, man.-stafford: my husband -- sbrocco: that's a burger. stafford: you have to, like,hunch over and eat it. my kids actually split a burger,as well, and nothing was lefton their plate, which is kind of rare. sbrocco: this is a kid-friendlyspot, isn't it? stafford: it is.it's super-casual.

you have anyone in there -- a family with small children,you have an older crowd, you have kind of the more hipand artsy crowd coming through. it's honestly --all are welcomed in there, and you feel comfortable. ju: it felt authentic,i want to say. the servers were so nice. sbrocco: what did you feelabout pricing? martinez: i thoughtthe pricing was good.

i thought it was fairfor what you got because the cuts of meatare so luxurious and amazing. but i would be remissif i didn't mention dessert. our dessert was delicious. we had butterscotch puddingwith brulã©ed bananas, salted peanuts,and house-made whipped cream. and ever since, my son's beenasking for butterscotch pudding, which i don't thinki could do theirs justice. sbrocco: all right.this is your spot, lea.

wrap it up for us. stafford:if you're a meat person and you're looking for meatin the best city ever, you have to stop byclove & hoof. sbrocco: and michelle. martinez: i would say amazingcuts of meat, poultry, and homemade sausages. we probably hit iton a down night, but i'd go back.-sbrocco: and richard.

ju:this is a temple of meat here. this is what farm-to-tableshould be, and i would definitelygo back, hoof down. sbrocco: all right.if you would like to try clove & hoof butchery& restaurant, it's located on broadway streetat 40th and oakland. the telephone numberis 510-547-1446. it's open for lunch every day, dinner wednesdaythrough monday.

reservations are acceptedfor large groups only, without drinks is around $30. champagne from franceis the iconic sparkling wine, but bubbly is madeacross the globe. we know italian proseccoand spanish cava and, of course, world-classcalifornia sparkling, but did you know you canuncork high-quality examples made with traditionalchampagne varieties including pinot noirand chardonnay

from far-flung spots like the islandof tasmania in australia or the mountainous centralotago area of new zealand? what about this beauty from noneother than north carolina? it's time to get your bubblyon and go explore. cheers. european influencedasian decor sets richard's spacious eatery apart. it allows room for steamingdim sum at lunch

and sizzlinghot pot at dinner. you'll find it allin the richmond district of san franciscoat dragon beaux. ng:dim sum is my speciality. i've been runninga dim sum restaurant for more than 20 years. and the hot potis a fresh cooking idea. my name's willy ng. welcome to dragon beaux.

hi. here at dragon beaux,we try to do things a little bit more differently. in our lunch,we try to bring some elements of surpriseand refinement, and then for dinner,we focus on hot pots for that luxury. our chefs put a lot of effort in preparingthe hot pot ingredients.

they spend lots of time toprepare each one of the broths. our seafood comes daily, and then we select only thefreshest catches of the day. i love to go backto visit in china and hong kong and singapore. they give usa lot of inspiration to find out what's the bestcooking new idea. leung: from this neighborhood,we also have a mix-up of american, russian,korean, vietnamese, filipino,

all sorts of people from alldifferent age ranges come here. a lot of them is new toeither dim sum and hot pot, but it's really funwhen i start to explain to them how to cook the foodin the hot pot, explain to themthe different dim sum. and then seeing them enjoy it, it brings a lot of joyto our staff. sbrocco: so, how did youdiscover this place? ju: i live in the neighborhood,actually.

i was very excitedto see them come in. it's the same family that openedkoi palace in daly city, so we had to go try it. we love it.-sbrocco: are you a dim sum? because dim sum during the day,hot pot at night. have you done both?-ju: i've been to both, and i love both, actually. the dim sum is a reallyelevated modern twist on traditional dim sum pieces.

some of my favoriteare the wild mushroom bell, a traditional steamed bunwith mushrooms inside. they powder it with somemushroom truffle powder on top so it looks likea real mushroom cap. and when you bite into it, you just get someearthy goodness, like the mushroomswere just picked off the forest floor.-sbrocco: mm-hmm. ju: the sea bass dumplingis a colorful explosion

with lively colorsfrom the fresh vegetables and tender sea bass morsels. stafford: i actually had thechicken and mushroom dumpling, and like you said,it was really, really delicious. it was kind of like bitinginto a little pillow of heaven. it was moist chickenand mushroom in there -- sbrocco: yeah, but that's whatdim sum means -- "from the heart." from the heart,a little pillow of love.

stafford:it was really, really good. and the actual bun itselfwas super moist, fluffy, and just light and airy. sometimes, you getthat kind of heavy, dense bun, so it was perfect. and then we alsohad the veggie chow mein. that kind of came aroundwith the roaming servers, which i really like that. it could have useda little more sauce for me

to give it a little more body, but the flavorswere really good. martinez:we went to dinner, but we made sureto have the dim sum, which i'm so glad we did. we had the juicy pork dumplings, which are true to their name. succulent, delicious, clear pork juicesquirts out of every one

when you're eating them. ju: you have to be carefulnot to get it on yourself. martinez: it's only a shame thatthere's only four to an order. they're delicious. and we also triedthe minced beef sesame puff, and it was served withan assortment of ground beef, i think, water chestnuts,scallions, and a deliciousmix of spices. we also hadthe pot stickers.

the pot stickers were someof the best i've ever had. i tasted some basil in there. ju: yeah, they use a lotof non-traditional chinese ingredients,which i really appreciated. they're willing toput themselves out there and try somethingthat may not be accepted by the traditionaldim sum crowd. sbrocco: and it's quite a grandspot, isn't it? ju:oh, it's beautiful in there.

sbrocco: i mean, it reallyis beautifully decorated. ju: they have multiple color-changingchandeliers inside. martinez: i was mesmerizedby the chandeliers. they kind of lookedlike planets. it was just lovely.-stafford: it was really nice. very ornate, and you were in,i would say, an escape. you didn't really imagine being in a restaurantwhile you were there.

ju: much less being righton geary boulevard. sbrocco: so, let's talkabout the hot pot because there's a whole processto ordering that hot pot, and it's quite extensive. ju: so, they do have two optionsfor a hot pot. you can do a set menu where they pre-selectall the items that you're gonna beeating that evening, or you can also selectthe all-you-can-eat option,

which i usually dobecause i feel like it's a good value there. you basically check offwhich ingredients you want, and they bring it to your table. you cook it in your ownhot pot at your table, and some of theingredients are things that i've never had atanother hot pot restaurant -- things like the fish pasteand the shrimp paste. those were just amazing.

they feel like they'reheavenly balls of meat. the shrimp paste comesin a bamboo tube, and you just scoop it outinto the little ball and cook them in the hot pot. sbrocco:there's a hot pot tradition -- i mean, it goes back1,000 years, at least, in china. ju: yeah, it's a traditionalnorthern chinese style of cooking that emigratedall the way to san francisco, and i'm very glad for that.

martinez:we did the all-you-can-eat because the menu is vast, and we were hot pot newbies, and so we werea little overwhelmed, and we just ---sbrocco: ♪ hot pot newbies ♪ sorry.-martinez: we just thought, let's just do a little bitof everything and make sure we hitall the highlights that way. and so we had two broths.

we had the 12-bone broth,which was delicious -- a very rich, nice broth. and then, at their suggestion, we countered thatwith a szechuan broth. it was hot and spicy,peppers floating throughout it. and i think we triedjust about every meat and seafood they had. fresh, delicious.very nice meal. -sbrocco: and very interactive.-martinez: very interactive.

a nice place maybeto take a family or friends that you haven'tseen in a while. it allows for conversation.-ju: that is the process. you get to just sit down, relax, talk to whoever you're with, and enjoy the foodin front of you and be appreciative for it. i just triedthe kombu sake miso broth, and it was the best brothi've ever had with hot pot.

the flavorsof the meat really pop. martinez:there was some sauce they made at the side of the table for us. -ju: yes.-martinez: that was like magic. it was delicious. ju: so, there's four tablesauces on there. there's a ginger soy,there is a peanut sauce, a sate sauce,and a chili oil. martinez: and she came aroundand mixed all those

to our liking. ju: oh, that's great. martinez:and she asked each of us what our flavor profileand tolerance for spice was.-sbrocco: right. ju:i'm gonna do that next time. i'm gonna have them mixthe sauce for me next time. sbrocco: what about service?obviously attentive and -- stafford:honestly, my experience

was a little bit different. i actually had to flagsome servers down in order to get service. once i got the server,they were very, very helpful inbreaking the menu down and understanding whatwas presented on the menu. but in order to get someone,it was challenging. sbrocco: all right, richard.this is your spot. give us a quick summary.

ju: so, for a modernand creative twist on traditional chinese dishes, i would definitely recommendgoing to dragon beaux. sbrocco: and lea. stafford:i'd definitely be back if i'm in the areafor all of the flavor and the affordabilityof everything that they offer.-sbrocco: okay. michelle. martinez: for a slower-paceddining experience

with an abundanceof yummy dim sum and a vast hot pot menu,i would definitely return. sbrocco: all right, if you wouldlike to try dragon beaux, it's located on geary boulevard at 21st avenue in san francisco. the telephone numberis 415-333-8899. it's open for lunchand dinner every day, reservations are recommended, and the average dinnertab per person

i want to thank my guestson this week's show. michelle martinez,who returns to the cal-ital asian flavorsof her favorite spot at jason's restaurantin greenbrae. and lea stafford'smeat-centric spot to eat in or take home at clove & hoof butchery& restaurant in oakland. and richard ju, whose destination offerstwo options,

serving both dim sum and hot pot at dragon beauxin san francisco. now, we really want to hearabout your experiences at any of the restaurantswe've been talking about, so find us on facebookand follow us on twitter. and don't forgetthat you can watch any of the showson our website at kqed.org/checkplease. it's where you'll find linksto the restaurants

and where you'll find my notes on the delicious wineswe're drinking today. so, join us next timewhen three new guests will recommendtheir favorite spots right here on "check, please!bay area." i'm leslie sbrocco,and i'll see you then. cheers, everyone.-ju: cheers. -martinez: cheers.-sbrocco: cheers.