Articles by Mariel Balderas

Taste of Compassion at Florentine restaurant,  Nov. 22.
Try a new restaurant or a new dish at an old favorite while benefitting West Valley Community Services. Tickets are $24 with reservations or $26 at the door and 50 percent of the proceeds will benefit WVCS.

Thanksgiving at the Plumed Horse, Nov. 25.
Join Michelin-starred chef Peter Armellino on Nov. 25 for a four-course Thanksgiving menu with Armellino’s interpretation of the classics. Choices include kabocha squash soup with diver sea scallops, oven roasted turkey with the traditional accompaniments, roasted fall vegetable risotto or roast New York strip with a warm Valhrona chocolate fondant for dessert

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Blind tasting challenge at Artisan Wine Depot; Summit to Sea and Psycho Donuts Tasting Event; Winemaker Dinner at Cin Cin; Winemaker dinner at California Cafe in Palo Alto; Anthony Bourdain at Sur la Table; British pub crawl.

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Your weekly guide to food and wine events in Silicon Valley and beyond.

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The best happy hours in Silicon Valley provide much more in the way of sustenance and ambiance. When researching restaurants, bars and wine shops for this piece, I kept in mind a few things. The first was, how much am I willing to spend at a happy hour? I went to places where I could spend $25 and only get one appetizer and one cocktail, but that didn’t seem like much of a bargain. I wanted to top out at about $20 for some high-quality food and inspired libations. The second thing was, how many people could be fed with those $20?

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After attending Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris, Adrienne Garcia was on her way to becoming a pastry chef. After a stint at Manresa in Los Gatos, she went back and forth from the savory side to the pastry side, eventually arrived at Menlo Park’s Marché. Along with executive chef Guillaume Bienaime, she creates highly seasonal menus that play with flavors and familiar concepts and presents them in new ways with delicious results.

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Veggielution, San Jose’s premier urban farm, is holding a benefit dinner Saturday, Sept. 11 at Eulipia. I got a chance to sample some of what consulting chef Joseph Gaudet will be cooking up for the event. Taking inspiration from Veggielution’s one-acre farm, he prepared the preview meal right on the farm with delicious results.

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Desserts are not Silicon Valley’s strong suit. Mediocre crème brûlée, ho-hum sliced chocolate cake and uninspired, oversweetened fruit desserts abound. But dig a little deeper, and one can find a few outposts of creativity, such as Saratoga’s Sent Sovi, Ruffled Feathers Eatery in downtown San Jose, and Tigelleria in Campbell.

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