Starters

Kumamoto & Sweetwater Oysters hog island oyster co., tomales bay, ca  $3 ea / $18 for 7 ‡

Marinated Olives fresh herbs, lemon, garlic  $7 ‡

Oven Roasted Almonds & Golden Raisins olive oil, rosemary, crushed red pepper  $7 ‡

Bacon-Wrapped Medjool Dates, house-made chevre, pink lady apple  $8

Warmed Herb Goat Cheese Crostinis house-made chevre, fresh herbs, garlic toast $7 ‡

Dungeness Crab & Cheese Bruschetta aioli, fresh herbs, cheese, garlic toast $12

Grass-Fed Lamb Meatballs cuban mojo sauce  $12 ‡

Scallops Benedict day boat scallops, prosciutto, hollandaise sauce, toast $12 ‡

Japanese Tobiko Caviar with Buckwheat Blinis crème Fraiche, sieved eggs, sweet onion $8 ‡

Smoked Trout Spread acme bread $9 ‡

Chilled Cucumber-Melon Gazpacho Soup shot $4 / bowl $8 ‡

French Onion Soup cheese, garlic toast (vegetarian) $8 ‡

Cheese Plate with acme bread $5.5 per oz ‡

Selection of cheeses: CA: Brie (Triple Cream), France:  Comte, D'Affinois, Bucherondin de Chevre, Bleu D'Auvergne, Spain: Manchego (3 Mo.), Holland: Sheep Gouda, Aged Gouda, Italy:  Taleggio, Red Cow Parmigiano Reggiano,  Portugal:  Queijo Sao Jorge, Vermont: Cheddar (2 yr.)                     

Salads

Market Salad lettuce, fresh fruit, roasted almonds, warm herbed goat cheese, herbed citrus dressing  $7 ‡

Green Bean & Tuna Salad hard-cooked egg, sweet onion, black olive dressing  $9 ‡

Bread Salad lettuce, poached egg, bacon, garlic croutons, citrus dressing  $9 ‡

Roasted Beet Salad watercress, walnuts, goat cheese $9 ‡

Grass-Fed Beef Carpaccio Salad beef tenderloin, watercress, caper dressing, grana cheese $15 ‡

Caesar Salad romaine lettuce, garlic bread $8 (add chicken $4) (add shellfish $6) ‡

Roasted, Spicy Monterey Sardine Salad lettuce, tomato, onions, citrus dressing  $12

Pizzettas

Grass-fed beef flank steak, chimichurri sauce,  fresh mozarerlla, lettuce, tomato, onions $16

Bacon, Spinach, Apple & Blue Cheese, fresh mozarerlla, olive oil, blue cheese dressing $14

Prosciutto, Arugula, Tomato & Nicoise Olive, fresh mozzarella, olive oil, citrus dressing $14

Roasted Zucchini & Onion, fresh mozzarella, olive oil, mojo dressing $14

Burgers & Sandwiches

Grass-Fed Burger with bacon & cheese, house-made bun Beef $8, or Bison $12

Salami-Caprese Sandwich, salami, mozzarella, tomatoes, basil (vegetarian available) $9 ‡

Sandwich Cubano $12

Fried Egg Sandwich, bacon, collard greens, mozzarella, hollandaise sauce $10

Dungeness Crab Melt hand-picked crab, aioli, fresh herbs, cheese, cocktail sauce, green salad $14

Grilled Cheese & Tomato Sandwich, mozzarella, fresh tomato, ketchup, green salad $8 ‡

Pastas

Build-Your-Own Macaroni & Cheese Select your favorite cheese from our cheese list $9

Cheese Raviolis dungeness crab, butter, lemon juice  $21

Grass-Fed Bison Stroganoff pappardelle pasta  $25

Latin

Brazilian cheese bread (Pao de Queijo)  $2, with black truffle $3 (allow 20 min)

Venezuelan seafood cocktail (Vuelve la Vida)- wild shrimp, clams, calamari $8 ‡

Free-Range Chicken Tacos corn tortillas, bacon, collard greens (vegetarian available) $12

Feijoada (brazilian stewed beef, pork, black beans) rice, collard greens, farofa (toasted yucca) $19 ‡

Empanadas (beef or butternut & collard greens) $9

Butternut Cachapas (venezuelan griddle cakes) $9

Arepas (shredded beef or avocado & fresh mozzarella) $9

Entrees

Seared Peking Duck Breast with Sangria Reduction, mashed root vegetable-potatoes, veggies $21

Pot Roast grass-fed beef, red wine sauce, mashed butternut-potatoes, seasonal veggies  $19 ‡

Nectarine Chutney-Glazed Pork Chop mashed butternut-potatoes, seasonal veggies  $17

Paella with Sausage, Chicken, & Shellfish $25

Grass-Fed NY Beef Steak mashed butternut-potatoes, seasonal veggies  $30

Tucos Wine Market & CafE

Dessert Menu

All Desserts $8

Panna Cotta house-made summer fruit compote

Strawberry Tres Leches Shortcake strawberries, crème fraiche, evaporated & condensed milk, whipped cream

Walnut Cake Roll  fresh-ground walnuts, whipped cream, bourbon-caramel sauce

Cinnamon Crumb Bread Pudding house-made vanilla ice cream

Chocolate Pudding Cream Puffs bourbon-caramel sauce, hot fudge, toasted walnuts

Affogato shot of espresso, house-made vanilla ice cream

Dessert Wine Flight (1/2 oz pours) $15

Prunier Pineau des Charentes, Cognac, France

Radee Passionfruit Wine, Thailand

Vientos Alcyone Dessert Tannat NV, Atlantida, Uruguay

Quinta Infantado Tawny, Porto, Portugal

Tea for Two

Pot of Loose Leaf Rare Tea $6

Chinese Oolong Tea Monkey-Picked

Pot of Herbal Tea $4

I just had the best salad of my life!  Our new Green Bean-Tuna Salad with Black Olive Dressing. 

A few months ago I had a wonderful green bean salad at Shady Lady in Sacramento.  Chilled, cooked green beans, with chopped sweet peppers, in a nice vinaigrette.  I loved it and it made me think about adding a green bean salad at Tucos.

After spending about a month thinking about green beans (no, I'm not kidding), I came up with an idea to ceviche the beans.  Cilantro, sweet onion, hot peppers, lime juice seemed like a wonderful way to frame the chilled, cooked green beans..... Failure.  The lime juice never really wanted to marry with the green beans, neither did the hot peppers, and the texture was, how do I say it politely, BORING.  Back to the drawing board.  Another week or so thinking about green beans and then it came to me while driving- green beans, hard-cooked egg, really good canned tuna, sweet onions.  Today I put the idea on the plate, adding nicoise olives, creating a garlicky, lemony, dressing with black olives and the results were spiritual...  It has to be the absolute best possible way to enjoy a green bean.

Recipe for the Black Olive Dressing:

1C  Mojo Sauce (see prior posting for recipe)

1/4 C Olive Oil

2 TBS Black Olives (prefer nicoise)

Blend until emulsified

Build the salad to taste with however much green beans, sweet onion, hard-cooked eggs, tuna, nicoise olive (or other pitted, feisty black olive) and fresh chopped parsley.  Apply dressing generously.  Careful with the salt since the black olive dressing is a bit salty already (from the olives).

Yesterday was such a wonderful day!  I got to present a cooking demonstration at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market- one of the nation's most prestigious farmer's market.  It was a dream-come-true!  I presented a three-course menu designed to be easy, delicious, and fun- a menu that will work well for a summer get-together with friends and family:

Farmer's Market Green Salad with Citrus Dressing

Summer Paella

Panna Cotta (Italian gelatin custard) with Market Fruit Compote

The recipes are great  workhorse recipes for improvising around your finds at the market.  The demonstration seemed to be very well received by the standing room-only crowd.  A special tahnk you to Antonio, our lead cook, for helping out with the demo- we made a great team!  Here are the recipes for anyone interested:

Farmers Market Green Salad With Citrus Dressing

(serves 10)

1/2    cup fresh orange juice

1/2    cup olive oil

1/4    cup apple cider vinegar

1/2    teaspoon Dijon mustard

2    teaspoons chopped fresh chives

2    teaspoons chopped sweet onion

1    teaspoon salt

2    pounds salad mix

1    cup golden raisins

1    cup toasted nuts

2    cup fruit, sliced thin

For dressing:

In a blender, combine orange juice, olive oil, vinegar, mustard, chives, onion and salt and blend on medium speed. Set aside.

For salad:

In a large bowl, combine salad mix, raisins, nuts and fruit slices. Toss with the dressing and serve.

Farmers Market Paella

(serves 10)

1          quart shellfish

1          cup light crisp white wine

1          onion, chopped, sautéed golden

1          quart market meats (sausage, chicken, seafood, etc.), cooked (roasted or boiled)

2          cup medium-grain rice

1          quart ripe tomatoes, peeled, diced

½   cup olive oil

1            tablespoon kosher salt

pinch of saffron

2          shakes Tabasco

1/4   cup Mojo sauce

For market meats:

Boil meats like sausage, chicken (skinless).  Seafood can be raw.

For Broth:

Boil 1 quart shellfish (clams ideal) until done.  Reserved the seafood to add to finished Paella.  Used liquid for broth. Add hot water to make 3 cups broth.

For Rice:

Combine rice, broth, saffron, tomatoes, onions, olive oil, salt, Tabasco in pot or deep baking pan, cover with foil and bake 20 minutes in 400F oven. Then add cooked market meats (including reserved shellfish from broth), cover and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Finish by drizzling mojo sauce on top and generous freshly chopped herbs.

Mojo Sauce

1/3    cup olive oil

1/3    cup orange juice

1/3    cup lemon juice

6          garlic cloves- fine minced

1            teaspoon kosher salt

½      teaspoon ground pepper

½      teaspoon ground cumin

Combine

Panna Cotta with Market Fruit Compote

(8 servings)

½     cup heavy cream

½     cup crème fraiche (or sour cream)

1 ½  cup milk

½     cup sugar

1            teaspoon vanilla

3     sheets gelatin (or 3 tablespoons gelatin powder)

Soak gelatin sheets in cold water until soft.  Mix milk into crème fraiche a little at a time to thin  without clumps, add sugar and vanilla.  Lightly squeeze softened gelatin sheets and melt in small pan over hot water, then slowly add cream mix (similar to tempering eggs).  Refrigerate until set.

Market Fruit Compote

(2 cups)

½    cup water

½    cup sugar

1     cup fresh fruit, peeled, diced

1            tablespoon liquor (rum, bourbon, tequila depending on the fruit)

Make simple syrup by bringing water to boil and adding sugar.  Remove from heat.  Add half of fruit and blend.  Add remaining fruit and alcohol.  Refrigerate.

Cooking over primitive, hardwood fires is my new religion... As I write this, I'm still floating on air from my recent evening experimenting with cooking over a primitive, hardwood fire (a campfire).  I'm feeling incredibly relaxed as a result, almost like I spent a day at the beach or at some wonderful camping trip....  When I think about it, should be no surprise- I love camping and my favorite part of camping is the campfire.  There's something calming, spiritual and therapeutic about it. 

A recent Anthony Bourdain show on Argentinean Chef Francis Mallmann's passion for cooking over harwood fires (as well as his recent book "Seven Fires") captured my imagination and basically reset my culinary clock.  Tired of waiting for a camping trip, I improvised by layering brick and stone onto a wheelbarrow and began my campfire.  I laid a cast iron griddle and nice heavy grill from my barbeque and began my adventure- spring onion and tomato halves basted in olive oil and sprinkled with kosher salt, sweet peppers roasted over the hottest part of the fire then slow cooked over the coolest part till they went perfectly limp, freshly-picked ears of yellow corn roasted over the hottest part. Fra'Mani sausages on the griddle, and rib-eye steaks both on the grill and griddle to see the differences.  The results were roll-your-eyes-to-the-back-of-your-head spectacular.  Mallmann is onto something.  The burnt flavors together with the campfire smokiness strikes at the most primitive parts of our pleasure zones like few things in life can... I won't name those few other things- you know already.

If you frequent Tucos, chances are you've seen this distiguished, silver-haired gentleman, and his wife, sitting at table at Tucos with several opened, partially drunk bottles of wine in front of him- he's not drinking them so much as tasting and evaluating them.  That's Dr. Manning, perhaps the most passionate wine afficionado I've ever met (and an all around great guy). 

Recently Dr. Manning had to undergo some pretty heavy medical things and we've all been praying for him at Tucos.  Rumor has it that he went home today and chances are we'll soon be seeing him seated at Tucos with a whole bunch more open bottles....

We wish you a super speedy recovery JaRue!!!

It's official, 2009 will be closed to all commercial king salmon fishing- again.  We've all been reading about the economy, the layoffs, the furloughs, the bailouts.  Imagine a two year furlough with little or no bailout- that's what our local salmon fishermen are going through as they brace for yet another year without work. 

"Many of the little guys won't make it through a second year of closure.  For us, we have a retirement (from a previous career) to carry us.  If it weren't for that (and the small fish distribution business that we operate) we wouldn't make it either", says Larry Mayamuro, our local source for California king salmon.

The local king salmon population faced a disasterous fall runover this past year due to a triple whammy of factors: fresh water being diverted to cities from the delta, poor ocean conditions causing poor food source (crill) for the small salmon fry when they go to the open ocean, and a large proportion of hatchery fish which increases the salmon's vulnerability since the hatchery fish tend to migrate at the same time (and as a result are exposed to the same poor conditions) versus wild fish that migrate at different times throughout the run (and might find better conditions depending on the time they migrate).

As for the prospects for 2010, Larry says it looks like it will be a good season. "The salmon are very resilient. In 1983 we went through a similar situation only to see a record catch in 1988".  Hang in there Larry (and all of the Califonia king almon fisherman), we can't wait for 2010 to put our local king salmon back on the menu at Tucos!

"Let's go enjoy ourselves"- I can't think of a better measure of enjoyment than fun.  The more fun something is, the more one enjoys it. So how do we define fun at Tucos?  Great company. Feeling very comfortable and relaxed. A belly-rolling, out of control laugh. Lots of flirting and storytelling. Food and beverages that delight. A mind that's totally stimulated experiencing new things that are slightly outside of the comfort zone. Time that has passed oh so quickly. People all around you also doing the same. Leaving feeling like you want to go home and make passionate love to your partner.  I think that pretty well frames our view of fun.

Notice what's missing in our definition of fun?  Stuffy, polished, impersonal attitudes.  Food creations designed to impress you with their sheer creativity and aesthetics and at the same remind you how distant you are from our greatness. A quiet, cerebral encounter with dressed-to-impress people all around you.  Proper etiquette that is so proper that you are in full etiquette mode for fear of offending others or embarrassing yourself.  I imagine there are some folks out there that crave this type of experience (and they pay out the nose for it).  But as for me, no thanks.

Thanks Blair for taking the time to check us out.  We're so pleased with the review!