Bistro Jeanty: So French you'll belch the Marseillaise

From pig's feet and escargot to jellied bone marrow, the French have an uncanny ability to drown pretty much anything in béchamel or brown butter and make it exceptional. But what keeps eaters beating a path to Chef Philippe Jeanty's Yountville restaurant is his elevation of rustic cuts and home-style French cooking from merely palatable to universally comforting.

A perennial vote-getter on the Chronicle's Top 100 Bistro Jeanty is oft-lauded as Wine Country's most authentic French country bistro. A native of Champagne and the opening chef of Domaine Chandon, Jeanty's menu features simple dishes like rabbit terrine, Coq Au Vin, cassoulet, Sole Meuniere, steak frites, foie gras pate, fried smelt and roasted bone marrow--classics informed by a mother's kitchen and hometown bistros. Classics that, to the consternation of some and comfort of others, remains constant. (Beef stew and cassoulet in summer? Really?)

In warm weather, the small patio is a favorite spot for sipping espresso and lingering over crepes Suzette. Inside, the restaurant is intimate and cozy, painted in a soothing tone of buttercup and plastered with vintage French adverts and Marcel Pagnol posters. Lace curtains adorn the windows and a country bicyclette sits parked outside with flowers in its basket. Calculated charmant, bien sur. Mais charmant.

Best bets on the lunch/dinner menu include the pork belly and lentils ($14), fried smelt, and Entrecote frites (a grilled rib eye steak with fries and Bearnaise sauce, $28), tomato soup in puff pastry ($8.75), and Coq au Vin ($16.50).

Daily specials supplement the menu--like a recent Sunday's addition of bone marrow. Not the easiest dish to approach, it's elegantly crude. High level stuff even for experienced gourmands, it amounts to gently scooping out the inside of a roasted cow femur, spreading the gelatinous goo on a crouton and moaning ecstatically. And while a silver spoon, civilized drip of Bordelaise and swig of Cotes du Rhone helps the process feel less flagrantly carnivorous, one can't help listening cautiously for the disapproving clucks of angry vegans.

With the opening of Jeanty at Jack in SF and PJ Steak (which has since closed) fans howled (as fans often do) that consistency had begun to suffer. Along those lines, the Sole Meuniere ($18.50) was the meal's only casualty. And while it was perfectly okay, the flavors were a bit muddy and tired. The brown butter seemed oilier and less nutty than expected. The citrus tang that I so love in this dish was only in the small bits of cut lemon I had to squeeze myself. And the capers were merely window dressing. Perhaps I should have followed the old adage about fish on Sunday and stuck with the steak.

Desserts keep the French accent with a focus on rich crème brule and delicate crepes Suzette with orange butter. For a change of pace, skip the sweet stuff and tuck into a nice slice of Epoisse (served a bit chilly for my taste, but nonetheless stinkily delightful) with candied walnuts and poached pear as you ponder post-modern existentialism and the brilliant humor of Jerry Lewis.

Bistro Jeanty, 6510 Washington Street, Yountville, 707.944.0103

Downdog & dinner: Ubuntu opens

Napa's long-awaited new restaurant and yoga studio, Ubuntu, officially opened last Thursday. Curious crowds packed into the restored 19th century building to get a glimpse, quickly overwhelming the kitchen. In fact, BiteClub couldn't find a single morsel to be nibble on, leaving the opening party hungry and well-jostled.

The menu will lean heavily on the restaurant's own biodynamic gardens, featuring lots of fruits and veggies. Flexitarians and carnivores take note, however: Ubuntu is hardly a wheat-grass shack and will offer up meat and dairy.

The vibe is redeco-yoga-chic--exposed bricks and beams commingle with Asian artifacts, sleek booths and ultra modern lighting. C'est so Napa.

The upstairs yoga studio overlooks the restaurant, but word is that the spot has been specially insulated so that cooking smells and restaurant noise won't distract ohm-chanters above. Still, does anyone else find it strange to be doing yoga in a restaurant?

Ubuntu is open for dinner this week, and will serve breakfast and lunch starting Aug. 27. Stay tuned.

Ubuntu, 1140 Main St., Napa, 707.251.5656

Rosso Pizzeria & Wine Bar

You had me at burrata.

With a menu that reads like a Sicilian love letter, former Tra Vigne Chef John Franchetti's newly opened Rosso Pizzeria & Wine Bar ain't your average pie shop. The remodeled space in Santa Rosa's Creekside Center focuses on paper-thin prosciutto, fresh-made tapenades, signature salads, antipasti and bubbling wood-fired pizzas.

No ravioli. No manicotti. No frozen breadsticks. No crap.

Instead, Franchetti sticks to fresh, simple piatto that let the flavors of his painstakingly-chosen, organic and sustainable products shine through. Like Franchetti's house made burrata--a fresh milk mozzarella stuffed with ricotta.* Sourcing the curds from an award-winning local cheese maker who learned the craft from his Italian grandfather, Franchetti forms the fresh, pillowy cheese by hand and serves it with nothing more than a wink of olive oil, salt and pepper. It's heaven on a plate.

In fact, the SR-native actually gets contagiously giddy talking about his organic salad mix from Sebastopol, the reverse-osmosis water used for the dough (which he makes several times daily) and signature veal and pork meatballs with marinara. Franchetti even cops to the fact that after reading Jeff Cox's recent rail about imported olive oil, he decided to use locally sourced (and definitely not cheap) McEvoy Ranch oil exclusively. Both on the menu and in the kitchen, he pays homage to his producers--Rafter Ranch, Redwood Hills, Love Farms and Point Reyes-- rather than the usual lip-service to distract from the SYSCO truck pulling up out back.

Opening standouts include fritto misto made with calamari and local organic veggies with a green chile aioli; $3 "snacks" of crispy pizzetta and fresh made tapenades (don't miss the creamy 'pesce' spread made with fish, lemon and mascarpone); salads (like the Rosso Caesar with chopped Sonoma romaine, lemon anchovy dressing, gorgonzola and Calabrian chilies, $8.50); 'piadine' flat breads with salads piled on top; or fresh pizzas with toppings of Sonoma white corn, roasted peppers, red onion, arugula and Redwood Hill goat cheese.

Plans are in the words for an expanded prosciutto and salumi menu, with more locally sourced meats. The wine bar offers up a large list of well-chosen organic, sustainable and biodynamic wines from Sonoma County and beyond. Kids get healthy treatment, too, with their own menu of pint-size pizzas, roasted chicken, salads and fried house-made mozzarella.

So despite one slight word of caution--Franchetti doesn't go easy on the garlic--this is truly one of the most promising restaurant openings in the last year. So, uh, you'll know where to find me for lunch over the next few weeks. Pass the burrata, please.

Rosso Pizzeria & Wine Bar, Creekside Center, 53 Montgomery Dr., Santa Rosa, 707.544.3221.

*Okay cheese nerds, here's the deal: Burrata typically refers to fresh mozzarella stuffed with cream and bits of mozzarella. Historically the cheese is wrapped in fresh leeks to signify its freshness (if they're not still green, it's too old) and consumed within days of being made. The real Italian stuff is near impossible to find in the states unless it's flown in. Some refer to Franchetti's version of burrata as 'burricotti', since it is filled with ricotta rather than cream.

General's Daughter: The Comeback Kid?

Everyone loves a comeback story. All the better when it involves Kobe beef.

After years of lurking in the shadows as a solid, but not particularly innovative Sonoma institution, the General's Daughter has been reinvented as one of the most consistently impressive restaurants in Wine Country. No easy task.

Because the only thing more difficult than opening a restaurant is trying to change the public's perception of an existing eatery--especially when that perception is one of bridge club luncheons and wedding rehearsal dinners. (I held mine there 10 years ago.)

But with quiet perseverance over the last two years, Chef Preston Dishman has been winning over the hearts, minds and stomachs of locals with his southern take on California classics. Backed by the restaurant's new owners, Floridians Jim and Bettie Hall, Dishman's been given free reign over the menu, marrying southern ingredients like andouille sausage with local tomatoes, Dungeness crab cakes with creole mustard butter or goat cheese beignets. He is, after all, a Southern boy.

Dishman stops, however, well short of making the whole thing feel hokey and forced. Calling his food New American with a distinct Southern drawl, Dishman's obvious mastery of classic French techniques serve as a solid platform for his experimentation in Cal-Ital-Lowcountry cooking.

Bottom line: This ain't just collard greens and grits. Think foie gras with roasted peaches; heirloom tomatoes with spicy rock shrimp and basil vinaigrette; buttermilk panna cotta with blueberry gelee, brown sugar streusel and blueberry sorbet; venison with harissa spiced carrots. And, okay, West Coast shrimp & grits with andouille and Tabasco butter. (See a sample menu)

It took a plate of Dishman's slow braised American Kobe short ribs at a recent winemaker dinner, however, to seal the deal. Swoon-inducing, the ribs were melt-in-your-mouth bits of meat and sweet sauce piled on a potato puree (more butter than potatoes, Dishman admits with a smirk) with baby spinach. Professional courtesy was all that kept me from a gushing bear hug of thanks.

Maybe next time. This comeback story still has plenty of chapters waiting to be written.

If you go: Dishman's menu is arranged by courses, with diners selecting three ($49), four ($61) or five ($73). All menu items are available a la carte, however, should you (and you will) want to share a few extra dishes. "Beginnings" range from salads to oysters; "The Deep Blue" showcase Preston's skill with seafood (sea scallops with Israeli couscous, Maine lobster with potato gnocchi, tomato and mascarpone cream); "Field and Forest" (lamp chops, beef with polenta, duck breast), a cheese course and dessert (fig tart, buttermilk panna cotta, Meyer lemon crème brulee). The menu change up depending on what's fresh and seasonal, and Dishman likes to use fresh produce from his chef's garden at Benziger Winery.

General's Daughter, 400 West Spain Street, Sonoma, 707.938.4004

Do duck testicles make you green?

The next time Incanto's Chris Cosentino asks me if I want to watch him break down a whole pig--nose-to-tail--I swear I'm going to take him up on it. One of my biggest foodie regrets, in fact, was passing by the chance to see this offalist at work, elbow-deep in hog.

Because while most of us are a bit squeamish about the seemingly nasty bits of animal left behind after the prime bits of meat have been cut away, Cosentino doesn't flinch. In fact, SF's Manic Organ-ic prizes every usable bit of the animal, sautéing, frying and steaming blood, brains, and, uh, even duck testicles in ways not often seen in the US (at least in the last 75 years or so).

Call it gross. Call it brilliant. Call it a whole new take on sustainability.

And, call it recognized. Cosentino, along with fellow offal-lover Fergus Henderson (sometimes hailed as the father of the organ meats resurgence) of London's St. John Restaurant and were both recognized as top Green Chefs by the environmentally-conscious blog, Grist.com.

It's also a bit of a radical change in thinking. Serious carnivores are rarely hailed by the mostly veggie-centric ecorati. To their defense, animals do take a serious bit of resources to raise, slaughter and process. But when sustainability is part of the total equation--from birth to table--even many hard-core vegetarians are rethinking their stance. In fact, it has recently been reported that flexitarianism "former vegetarians who eat the occasional sausage or hamburger "is a new trend among the formerly meatless. Some credit the influx of more organic, sustainable, humane practices into meat processing for the change.

So, while Alice Waters, Dan Barber and notable French vegetable enthusiast Alain Passard remain usual suspects on "green chef" lists, it's refreshing to see folks like Cosentino and Henderson's commitment to waste-less meat eating lauded.

Even if it isn't your cup of blood pudding.

Check out the other Green Chefs, including Pacific Grove's Ted Walter and Manresa's David Kinch, were nominated by Grist.org

In other news: Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations kicks off its new season tonight (7/30) on the Travel Channel.

Odyssey: Hidden Windsor spot won't stay secret long

Chefs are a notoriously fickle bunch to feed. Anyone worth their whites can sniff out undercooked pasta at 100 yards and won't hesitate to dress down a fellow cook (usually behind their back) with devastating candor if the fries are frozen or the spinach wilted. Suffice to say it's not just their knives that are razor sharp.

So, when word gets out that local toques have been frequenting Windsor's new Odyssey Restaurant after-hours, my foodie feelers start tingling. When I find out that the chef, Rudy Mihall, cut his teeth at Gramercy Tavern, spent two years in Italy and, according to an email from Jeff Mall "won't be under the radar much longer", my wheels are pretty much smoking in the rush to get there.

Nestled into the tiny space formerly occupied by L'Assiette, Odyssey has just 10 tables and a long, glowing bar that dominates the space. There's little room to maneuver, but proximity can have its benefits--like the ability to chum up to your neighbors and pilfer a little nibble from their plate. Not that I'm suggesting you do this uninvited. But when a ridiculously huge foie gras burger comes to the table, the urge is, well, irresistible.

In the six weeks since opening, Odyssey has breezed past the nervous tension and bungling that are the hallmark of first-timers and settled comfortably into wowing the locals. Mihall has clearly mastered the confines of his small kitchen (allowing more time for his creative coiffures) while friend and SF restaurateur Tom Gordon manages the front of the house.

The menu changes up daily, with house favorites like the pizza, burger and beet tartare as staples. Despite not having a wood-fired oven, Mihall cranks out impossibly thin and crispy pizzas, topped with arugula, pancetta and fresh mozzarella ($13-$15). And no, he won't tell you the secret to how he makes them. Starters show off Mihall's flair for the dramatic: Beet tartare ($10) with sunflower greens is a jewel-toned vision almost too pretty to eat and chilled pea soup with poached lobster (with, get this, pickled ramps) is packed with bits of meat that make its $12 price tag seem a bargain.

Capping off the food frenzy, you'll want to check out the foie gras burger ($21), if just to say you've done it. It's a layer upon layer of flavor (and cholesterol): black truffles, braised short ribs and foie gras encased by beef sirloin. It's not an easy thing to pull off--keeping the exterior from drying out completely, while making sure the inside isn't blood raw. Mihall gets it as close to right as anyone possibly could, searing the outside and finishing the whole affair in the oven. Roasted tomatoes and a brioche bun just add to the dedadence. Thing is, the burger's far too large to actually fit in your mouth, so just split one round the table. I don't want to be responsible for any of you keeling over in coronary arrest if you brave it alone.

Dessert hasn't quite worked itself out yet. Considering the sweet teeth of local clientele and late(ish) hours, we'll look forward to some creativity in this department to cap off the meal. No worries. Just ask the chef sitting at the end of the bar for a few ideas.

If you go: The spot is a little hard to find, hidden in a far corner of the Town Green and signage is minimal. Considering the buzz, you may want to call ahead for reservations. The restaurant has a considerable wine list featuring many local wines, in addition to a large selection of Italian reds and whites.

Odyssey Restaurant, 426 Emily Rose, Circle, Windsor, 707.836.7600. Open Tuesday through Thursday, 5pm to 10pm; Friday and Saturday, 5pm to 11pm.

Battle of the Chefs: Thirty minutes and 10 mystery ingredients: Allez cuisine!

If you've ever watched Iron Chef, you'll pretty much get the premise of the recent Steel Chef cook-off during Sonoma Showcase last weekend--throw a good-natured group of chefs into an impossibly stressful cooking situation in front of an audience; keep the key ingredients a mystery until the last second; set the timer for 30 minutes (30 minutes less than the real Iron Chef) and then judge the outcome. Publicly.

Chosen by SRJC's Culinary Arts Director Michael Salinger, the mystery foods for round one included gulf shrimp, pork loin, figs, nectarines, corn, Andouille sausage cherry tomatoes and fresh pasta. For the championship round, the bag nicluded rack of lamb, loin of lamb,squash, tomatoes, Santa Rosa plums, fingerling potatoes, portabella mushrooms and Belgian endive.

I'm always surprised, frankly, that there aren't more mental breakdowns during these things. Because if you threw a bag of random ingredients at me with 30 minutes on the clock I'd probably start crying hysterically.

But these are pros. First round competition pitted Jack Mitchell of Sassafras Restaurant against Jeff Mall of Zin Restaurant. Using the first mystery bag, Mall swayed the judges with an impromptu dish of shrimp and grits, pork loin with peppers and pinot sauce and the sliced fruit.

"I barely had time to get the pork on the plate. I didn't have time to slice it, and the judges were eating with plastic forks and knives. I honestly thought Jack had won," Mall said.

Facing off in the championship round against Janine Falvo of Carneros Bistro (who had topped Jeffrey Madura of John Ash & Co.), Mall did a 'Ratatouille' inspired, uh, ratatouille. But not just ratatouille--curry rubbed rack of lamb, ratatouille, grilled endive and a pinot noir sauce with a Remy Pez dispenser garnish. "It was the fastest 20 minutes of my life," says Mall, who ultimately won the coveted Steel Chef title.

Never doubt the power of Pez. Congrats, Jeff.

---

Want to know how how he did it? Mall dishes on his dishes.

For my first dish, I did shrimp and grits. I took the corn shucked it, cooked it in some boiling water, took the kernels off the cob and added the cob back to the water to make a corn stock. I then stirred in polenta, I know -not really grits into the corn stock to make grits. I also added cream, butter, salt and the corn kernels. I rendered out the sausage and sautéed the shrimp in the fat with some tomatoes, peppers and white wine, and added just a touch more cream. I took the pork loin and pan roasted it, I also added some red peppers and Anaheim and jalapeno peppers I had diced. I then added some fresh figs and sliced nectarines. Deglazed with pinot noir and served over some fresh pasta.

For the championship battle I rubbed the rack with curry powder, salt and olive oil and grilled it. I dropped the potatoes in boiling water to cook half way, pulled them out and sliced them and threw them into the oven with butter and salt to roast. Grilled the lamb loin, endive and portabella mushroom. Threw the plums in a blender with some port wine and salt. Sautéed the squash with onion, garlic and the tomatoes. Reduced some pinot noir with chicken stock and balsamic vinegar. My first dish was the curry rubbed rack of lamb with ratatouille, grilled endive and a pinot noir sauce. I did not have eggplant, so I could not make a real ratatouille. I did have a 'Remy' Pez Dispenser from the movie ratatouille in my pocket. I used 'Remy' as a garnish. For the second dish I served the lamb loin with the roasted fingerlings, grilled portabellas and Plum Port sauce.