Recipe for a chef Recipe for a chef (July 09, 2004)

Journeys to Pleasanton kitchens take many routes
by Deborah Grossman

Dining choices in Pleasanton range from gourmet restaurants to national chains to family-run eateries. We ventured behind the scenes at three restaurants to discover what chefs are cooking up this summer - and why they choose to spend their days and evenings in hot Pleasanton kitchens.
A chef with many hats

OK, so you can't exactly spend the night at the Pleasanton Hotel. But inside the Victorian-style, Main Street restaurant you can learn to cook, meet winemakers, attend a mystery theater, celebrate your wedding reception, brunch with friends, and relax during weekday Happy Hours or at Thursday patio blues and barbecue. Executive chef Neil Marquis oversees this culinary beehive of activity.

If the mark of a master chef is blending art and science, Marquis fits the bill. His mother launched his cooking career at age 4 when he made pancakes for his Palo Alto household. While studying geology at San Jose State, Marquis worked part-time for the catering arm of Bill Graham Presents.

After graduating, he realized he could earn as much money in his chef's whites as crawling around mucky excavation sites. Plus, he could prepare steak and lobster for the Grateful Dead.

In 1994, he graduated from the California Culinary Academy and apprenticed in France. Marquis then worked at restaurants from Skates in Berkeley to the Argent Hotel in San Francisco. In 2000, both the Pleasanton Hotel and Charles Schwab in the city offered him jobs.

"Cooking for Schwab executives and the huge employee cafeteria would have been doable. But here, owner Bill Laube gives me free culinary reign to experiment with the menu and, now, to teach," said Marquis. "Sometimes I can't believe I get paid for doing something I love so much."

His passion for food was passed on to students in a recent cooking class. Decked out in chef's coat and toque (hat), students learned basic skills and helped prepare the dinner they later savored.

Pleasanton student Carole Carlson was confident she could replicate Chef Marquis' artichoke appetizer. "It's great to be hands-on in the class and pick the brains of a chef," she said. "I tried recipes with artichokes before but they never worked. Now I'll make the red pepper aioli, too."

This fall, Marquis plans to offer cooking classes at the Pleasanton Hotel through the Pleasanton Adult School.

Winemaker dinners are another of Marquis' favorite functions. At a recent dinner featuring Livermore's Crooked Vine wines, owner Dale Vaughn-Bowen observed, "Neil's positive attitude and interest in food rubs off on everyone. He works hard to find the best pairing of food and wine, like our Zinfandel with his pepper-crusted filet mignon and wild mushrooms in a bing cherry Zinfandel demi-glace."

For Marquis and his staff of 12, a typical weekend might involve hundreds of brunch and dinner meals, a wedding reception for 185, and a winemaker dinner for 50. Marquis is pleased that the Hotel has evolved from primarily a special events venue to one where he greets many repeat guests.

Marquis recently began offering a weekly fresh fish menu based on the "Best Choices" from the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program, which monitors availability of fish from environmentally sustainable sources.

Over half of Pleasanton Hotel customers order fish entrŽes. The most popular seafood dish - and Marquis' personal favorite - is wild salmon basted in vermouth garlic sauce. The chef also serves English sole stuffed with Dungeness crab and artichokes. The meatloaf on the menu is a direct descendant of his mother's recipe.

Though he lives in the gourmet haven of Berkeley, Marquis said, "I love working here in close proximity to Livermore Valley wineries. And downtown Pleasanton reminds me of the Palo Alto I knew as a kid."
Got Italian?

Chief pizza-tosser and owner Vinny La Rosa customized Vinny's 2 Go! with an array of freshly prepared pasta dishes, pizza and panini to meet the active lifestyles of Pleasanton residents.

"Our vision is to help people by offering flavorful, healthy options to fast food. When Mom or Dad is working, then carpooling to soccer practice, it's hard to put a quick, delicious dinner on the table," he said.

In August 2003, La Rosa opened Vinny's 2 Go! in the Rosewood Shopping Center with plentiful parking for pizza and platter pickup.

"We thought about a downtown location, but we offer a lot of 'grab and go' food. Walking three blocks to your car with a big, hot pizza box can be awkward," said La Rosa.

Ready-to-carry-out dinners include spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, and chicken parmesan. Everything is fresh - there is no freezer on the premises - and the only cans are tomatoes, notably San Marzano brand from Naples, Italy. Other ingredients are additive- and preservative-free.

For pizza, La Rosa hand tosses the house-made dough and makes the sauce every day from fresh tomatoes. The "Little Italy" pizza brims with sausage, garlic, meatballs and pesto. He long-simmers his pasta marinara sauce, and hand rolls low-fat meatballs every day.

The "Bambino" panini features imported, natural Parmigiano Reggiano from Parma paired with its counterpart, prosciutto di Parma. Mozzarella, provolone, sun-dried tomatoes and sweet peppers are layered in the "Mona Lisa" panini - what La Rosa describes as "an adult grilled cheese sandwich."

The source of La Rosa's cooking inspiration is his grandfather Vincenzo, an immigrant from Sicily, who launched La Rosa Pasta Co. in 1907. La Rosa grew up on Long Island surrounded by family cooks who rarely made spaghetti and meatballs, but paired numerous varieties of La Rosa pastas with seasonal produce and fresh meats.

Rather than eat dormitory food in college, La Rosa cooked family recipes on a hot plate in his room. After graduating, he managed the La Rosa pasta factory in Milwaukee until the family sold the business. La Rosa thought then about opening an Italian restaurant, but instead managed plants for Pepsi and then Gatorade in Oakland.

Meanwhile, La Rosa honed his culinary skills by preparing family meals, reading cookbooks, watching Mario Batali on the Food Network, and attending classes.

After a brief stint in high-tech plant operations, the Livermore resident realized his dream, dedicating the Pleasanton eatery to his pasta-loving grandfather.

Determined to make authentic, Italian New York style pizza, he ordered a traditional oven with a stone deck rather than the conveyor ovens that shortcut the baking process in many pizza chain operations.

Every guest receives a warm, friendly greeting from La Rosa. Some stay to eat their pizza slice or hot meatball hero (hoagie) and watch La Rosa at work. With professional-quality photos of Venice and Pisa taken by the La Rosas adorning the sunny, Mediterranean-yellow walls, the dŽcor of the small restaurant evokes Italy. A framed La Rosa Pasta Co. advertisement - a snapshot of his family's heritage - hangs alongside the Italian scenes.

Running a family business isn't easy, but hearing customers say it's the best pizza or meatballs they've ever had makes the work worthwhile, noted La Rosa. Wife Bernice, a graphics designer in Pleasanton, stops by after work to cashier. Daughter Toni appreciates her father's cooking even more now that she eats dormitory food. Asked what it's like to work for her Dad during breaks from UC San Diego, she replied, "Things aren't just slapped on a grill and served fried and greasy. The food is from Italy and our roots are Italian. It's like we've opened our family kitchen to the public. When I come to work, I feel like I'm walking into our home."
Hilton honors

What's it like to be the executive chef at the largest hotel in town, the Hilton Pleasanton at the Club?

Just ask Arneil Omaque who was hired as a line cook when the hotel opened in 1985 and become executive chef in 1990.

"The cooking - handling the banquets, special events, room service and three meals a day service at Players at the Club restaurant - that's the easy part," he said. "The challenge is to find new ways to bring back happy and satisfied customers."

Over the years, four sets of owners at the hotel have recognized that Omaque's low key, people-oriented style is conducive to outstanding service. He fostered the seafood craze in Pleasanton by adding peel 'n' eat shrimp to the popular Sunday brunch buffet at Players. During the summertime Hot Sizzling Thursday Nights, his barbecue attracts regulars who dance and socialize at the hopping, patio scene.

The recently renovated, 294-bed hotel has a diverse dining clientele, said General Manager Mario Lopez, adding that Chef Omaque offers something to please everybody.

With a staff of 14, Omaque presents Pacific Rim-inspired bistro food at Players. But Omaque does not play the role of celebrity chef. You'll find him cooking dishes such as heart-healthy, ginger wrapped sea bass with Thai coconut chili garlic sauce or ranch steak, a 16-ounce peppercorn-crusted, corn-fed Angus steak.

Omaque shows his creative instincts with appetizers such as Pacific Rim crab cakes with lemon grass and a hot antipasto plate with whole baby artichokes, Kalamata olives, roasted red peppers and feta cheese. Early-bird dinners are a house specialty, with Prime rib the most popular selection.

The chef's sense of humor shines through in the menu. Scampi Arnelli, sautŽed jumbo prawns with mushrooms and prosciutto tossed in a Champagne butter sauce, sounds Italian. But it is, simply, a creative takeoff on his name, Arneil.

The asparagus and spinach salad also has a personal angle. One evening, his family arrived unexpectedly at his Union City home. Since he didn't have their favorite salad fixings of iceberg lettuce and ranch dressing, he picked baby spinach from his garden and poked around his kitchen.

When he unveiled his asparagus and spinach salad in citrus poppy seed dressing with pecans, mandarin oranges and sun-dried cranberries, they raved about it. Hilton customers order it frequently, and Lopez, his manager, eats it daily.

Cooking up dishes with unusual flavor combinations and artistic presentation comes naturally to Omaque. When he arrived in America from the Philippines at age 19, his first job was as a prep cook in a hotel. He watched the line cooks present food in an artistic way and wanted to emulate them. It didn't take long until he progressed in the kitchen.

When he saw the executive chef drag a chainsaw outside to carve an ice sculpture for a hotel event, he wanted to learn that art, too.

"One day, the chef grabbed me and said, 'Do it.' If your heart is into something, it doesn't take long to master."

Now he carves tiki statues for island-themed events, ice baskets filled with fresh flowers for Mother's Day brunches, and company logos for business meetings.

His son Neil, 11, inherited his Dad's culinary curiosity. He loves to make scrambled eggs for breakfast and is learning all about marinades. The family-oriented chef often brings his wife and two children to Pleasanton on his days off.

Given his talent and experience as an executive chef, Omaque has been offered jobs in other Bay Area and Southern California restaurants but they don't tempt him.

"I opened up this place. I'd only leave if the owners wanted to say goodbye," he said. "Why would I leave Pleasanton? When I first arrived, there were fields everywhere. It's now a thriving community. My heart is here."

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