With an absolute perfect spring weekend nestled into the rolling hills of Healdsburg, Jacky and I took part in the annual wine pick-up party at one of my favorite wine-makers, William Selyem. The weekend consisted of loyal Selyem collectors/followers who were out for the weekend to stock up on their precious cases of ‘07 releases, who at the very least got a taste of some carefully crafted, and aged library vintages.

Recchiuti Confections was present with a table of our chocolate confections for tasting and sale during this annual party. I snapped a few pics for you to savor.

Enjoy…

Popularity: 3% [?]

Springtime in San Francisco is unlike anywhere else. Between the flowers, beautiful weather and amazing light, it’s really also a season for fresh ideas. So of course, we’ve been spending a lot of time in the kitchen experimenting with new chocolate flavors, infusions and some other surprises. The two pics here are a little peak into the kind of processes we have going on right now. One shows some mixed nuts we’re about to chop up so we can test out a new recipe and the other photo is of chocolate ganache setting. I can’t even tell you how rewarding it is to see the smiles on everyone’s faces here at Recchiuti when they get to taste test all of the new surprises we’re cooking up.

Popularity: 8% [?]

I must confess, I was extremely flattered to receive an invitation to the much anticipated tulip extravaganza on display from loyal Recchiuti customers, turned dear friends of mine, Lee & Missy Isgur.

Let me share with you a little background regarding my relationship with the Isgurs. I originally met them during my Farmer’s Market days on Green Street in San Francisco, which lasted from 1998 to 2003. Lee and Missy would visit my chocolate booth every Saturday, and made sure to spend some time chatting with me at my chocolate haven, which, back then, consisted of a card table, pop-up tent, and of course, a full display of Recchiuti Confections. We were there rain or shine. In fall of 2003, Recchiuti moved into its home and permanent shop located in the Ferry Building Market place, where we are still frequented by our loyal fans/customers, who have become our extended family.

All right, back to the Lee & Missy part of the story. For years, we would hear tales from other people who’d visited their home in Woodside and had witnessed first hand, the most memorable display of heirloom tulips from every possible rare, and exotic genetic from around the globe.

I tried to capture the eye candy for you to enjoy.

Cheers-Michael

Popularity: 11% [?]

I’ve been meaning to write this story sooner, versus later. But I’m still recovering from a serious food hang-over. I was sworn to secrecy by the hand of the Dissident Chef, who will remain anonymously “the chef/guy,” only seen in photos with eye coverings in order to maintain his underground status.

I must say, this guy can throw down some serious chow to a complete group of strangers gathered together in a dining venue that is always changing, and to top it off is a total secret to the diners up until the day of the feast. Myself included, we had to wait anxiously for our marching orders to arrive via email from the chef himself. Once, I received my orders, and luckily had saved my appetite as best as one can do, I headed off to this top-secret location in anticipation of the feast we were about to experience.

The one bit I left out was that each course was accompanied by a Recchiuti chocolate and paired with a great wine. Our palettes were exposed to a savory/sweet contrast, which to my surprise complimented each other in the most mouth-watering and stomach-pleasing way.

Here are a few of the 9 courses we were served with such precision. Check it out….

-Green Garlic Soufflé with warm butter egg yolk on wheat toast paired with a Recchiuti Fleur de Sel caramel and ‘06 Madigan Chardonnay

-Mediterranean Bronzino w/ Braised Fennel, Spring Onion and Pork Belly, served Pomelo Nage with a Recchiuti Tarragon Grapefruit Truffle and ‘03Ehrhart Herrenweg Riesling

That’s all, I’m stuffed just writing about this stellar meal.

Cheers, Michael

Popularity: 18% [?]

First off, Easter is sooner verses later this year, March verses April. I never really gave it as much thought as when the actual date Easter falls on. I realize it’s a very important chocolate day on a global level. Not to disregard the true meaning of Easter, but it seemed to magnify itself when our loyal chocolate fans would ask what Easter chocolate we were creating right after Valentines Day has passed, especially when it’s two weeks earlier this year. Now it’s time to scramble, and bust out those Easter chocolate molds, polish them up, and fill them with a variety of wonderful ganaches, deposited into a shell of pure 64% Madagascar extra bitter chocolate.

Our staff has been hard at work putting on their Easter chocolate egg heads and shedding their hearts in a brisk transition from molded fine chocolate hearts to fine chocolate eggs, and bunny motif chocolates. In addition to our Easter chocolates, we created a few larger decorative eggs for our shop in the Ferry Building Market place. The shop is so festive and the kitchen is abuzz with bunnies, chicks and all of those yummy Easter pastel colors.

I snapped a few pictures for all of our loyal fans outside of the Bay Area to enjoy.

Happy Easter-

Popularity: 22% [?]

The holidays are always fun here at Recchiuti. The staff really gets into dressing up the chocolates, the store and even us, from time to time. Here are a couple shots of the special chocolate treats we’ve created just for our Recchiuti Store in San Francisco.

Popularity: 22% [?]

Just when I thought I was over the hump with one of the biggest chocolate days, Valentines Day. I decided to work with Liz Bills, founder and chef extraordinaire of California Table. In between consuming significant amounts of dark chocolate and fleur de sel caramels we put together a wine and Recchiuti chocolate pairing, along with Liz’s scrumptious savory bites before we got started.

We snapped a few pics for you to enjoy and savor.

Cheers, Michael

Popularity: 34% [?]

I wanted to share a few pictures of Food from the Heart 2008, which took place on Friday, February 8th. The event was very successful with a strong turnout of locals and some tourists, a touch confused.

Enjoy the pics and have a Happy Valentine’s Day…

Popularity: 41% [?]

Well… after a bout of friendly banter, Mark Alsterlind and I decided that we could actually work together without killing each other or making too much of a mess. During a long evening of painting with chocolate, which turned out to be a lot of fun and extremely productive, Mark and I decided to take the show on the road and set up a chocolate painting studio near Recchiuti Confections retail store in the Ferry Building Marketplace. We created in fine chocolate amid the live Valentine’s Day crowd for the first annual “Food from the Heart” event in 2004.

The event is a Valentines Day celebration (the weekend before February 14th) in the Ferry Building, including local farmers in the interior walkways, and set up carts laden with their fresh seasonal produce, musicians scattered throughout the building, and even a salsa and tango dancing demo, and lessions. We created chocolate paintings that related to individual food shops, such as brightly colored swimming fish for the fishmonger, dancing cupcakes for an organic bakery and so forth.

The Ferry Building was swarming with pre Valentines onlookers curious and excited about what was happening in the building, and the bonus was that everyone was able to watch us create fine chocolate paintings right before their eyes; afterwards, we would smash the paintings into bite size chunks allowing the crowd to taste the delicious chocolate.

We had no intention of saving the chocolate paintings, using the highest quality chocolate, I wanted people not only to experience what can be created with chocolate, but also to relish the great tastes resulting from these jovial and beautiful paintings.
Happy Valentine’s Day!

Popularity: 41% [?]

It all started when we opened our store in the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero in San Francisco in summer of 2003. What happened was a random visit from a gentleman visiting our store, who lives in France. Ex-patriot, and fine artist, Mark Alsterlind figured out a way to get thru to me, at my kitchen, we agreed to meet that same day. When we met, Mark described his colorful journey with painting with fine chocolate as a new medium rather than the oils & pastels he usually works with. He was curious to see if I would be interested in collaborating with him someway he proposed that we “hang out” for an evening, and work on some chocolate paintings. The symbiotic relationship developed since I too worked in fine chocolate for many years making towers of chocolate boxes over wedding cakes or chocolate sculptures using neon lighting pierce through the center - it seemed a good fit. He also inquired about my technical expertise in fine chocolate since it was new to him.

Mark has been living in France for 20+ years, and has been teaching art history at university and has studios in Paris and South of France. He befriended a chef/owner at a Michelin rated restaurant and worked on one of kind edible chocolate paintings to accompany plated desserts served at this ultra chic restaurant in Paris.

So after a long day of production at Recchiuti; Mark and I got to work creating and sharing our discoveries in using fine chocolate to create very elaborate paintings. With a little vodka to loosen thing things up … we created pieces featured at a pre Valentines Day event at our store in the Ferry Building Marketplace. The event, called Food from the Heart, is celebrated annually the weekend before Valentine’s Day, February 14th. Enjoy the process pictures, and I’ll get back to you with the second part of actually working with fine chocolate and painting live in front of a full audience.

Check it out….

Popularity: 41% [?]