People who cook are picky eaters. They don’t eat out often, and when they do, they want evidence that the chef was paying attention, and not just knocking it out in the kitchen.
Executive Chef Todd Shoberg, who signed on last year at Piatti’s in Mill Valley, is paying attention.
He spiffed up the Piatti favorites that keep the neighbors coming back, but he’s also inaugurated a new “Market Menu” that changes daily, celebrating the local farm-to-table ethic that has made northern California the envy of omnivores everywhere.
The Market Menu was born of Shoberg’s daily trips to the market to buy goods and produce. The quality of the food through the progression of the seasons, the particular commitment of the producers and their stunning results were irresistible, and they changed from visit to visit. The only way to take advantage of these fleeting opportunities was to create a menu that was equally spontaneous, a place where impulse and inspiration could meet on the dinner plate: the daily Market Menu.
So what can you expect on the Market Menu? Hard to say; there’s no way to know what will happen until Shoberg hits the market, and the market is at the heart of it all. But a look at a recent menu will give you a pretty good idea…
- A new crop of beets, dry-farmed, from Tomatero Farm in Watsonville, roasted with star anise, nutmeg and cloves, to draw in the aromatics as they cooked,showed up on the menu in Roasted Red Beet Ravioli with lemon poppy seed butter, purslane, and goat cheese.
- Second-crop mission figs turned up later that day perched at the edge of a Sweet Marsala Zabaglione.
- Shoberg tossed another market find, Honey Haven nectarines, into a Summer Salad with avocado, the first heirloom tomatoes of the season, and lemon cucumbers with a honey (from the slopes of Mt. Tam) vinaigrette and fresh bergamot.
This is wonderful food -- not because it’s fancy, but it’s because it’s so good. As Shoberg puts it, “this is the food that we do for ourselves.”
It’s the sort of restaurant food that delights home cooks and dedicated eaters alike because real food is the star of the show, and Shoberg brings a chef’s insight into that little extra touch that makes a thing good even better – for example the spice-roasted beets, a technique that Shoberg was willing to share.
Piatti’s is about 20 minutes away: drop down to 580 westbound, and cross the Richmond-San Rafael bridge to 101 South; take 101 South and take the exit toward Seminary Drive. Make a sharp right at the end of the off ramp, and an immediate sharp left, that will put you in Piatti’s parking lot. An early crowd of families fades into professionals-on-the-way-home-from-work as the sun sets, and after dark, a genial, late crowd of grown-ups.
Market Menu changes every day – you’ll have to call (415/380-2525) to see what’s cookin’, that's how fresh it is.
Piatti’s Market Menu Spice-Roasted Beets
- 3 – 5 pounds fresh beets
- 3 cinnamon sticks (about 2-inches long)
- 2 star anise
- 1-tablespoon whole cloves
- 1-teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/3-cup extra-virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper
- Cut the greens off the beets. Give the beets a superficial scrub to remove some of the excess grit.
- Toss the beets with the olive oil and spices in a large bowl until the beets are fully coated with oil.
- Arrange the beets in a perforated pan and cover with foil. (Shogren bakes the beets in a double pan – one perforated, one not – with water in the bottom pan, and foil over the top to hold in the steam. A broiler pan with a slotted top, sealed with foil works well, too. Shogren also suggested using a regular baking pan with a small amount of water, covered with foil. The steam helps transfer the aromatics from the spices to the beets.)
- Bake at 350F for 45 minutes (or so) until the beets are tender (a sharp knife will slip in easily).
- Cool the beets, then peel them.
Shoberg used the spice-roasted beets, pureed with a little goat cheese, to fill ravioli. But they’re also good warm, with a little olive oil and fresh-ground pepper, as a vegetable side, or sliced into salads.
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