From rare to wacky, Friends of the Palo Alto Library is stocked with unique and affordable cookbooks
The internet is cluttered with recipes – from TikTok creators to recipe bloggers, it’s almost overwhelming to figure out what you want to cook. Sometimes it’s nice to just open a cookbook and flip through its glossy (or possibly food-stained) pages.
When I was a kid, I had an obsession with going to the Los Altos Library and checking out cookbooks and other food-related books. Some of my favorites include “Hello, Cupcake!” by Karan Tack and Alan Richardson, which gave creative recipes for cupcakes that looked like anything but a cupcake; “Eat This, Not That!” by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding, which taught me a lot about nutrition in a fun and digestible way; and anything “Cooks Illustrated” or “Baking Illustrated,” which would discuss the food science behind recipe development.
This week, we’re focusing on cookbooks – specifically the hundreds of cookbooks that cycle through the Friends of the Palo Alto Library every month. From rare to silly to educational, there’s a cookbook for practically everyone. And it won’t break the bank either, as most are priced between $3-$8.
Stay tasty,
Adrienne
This monthly sale is a treasure trove of historic, whimsical and practical cookbooks – all for a very low price
Learn how to cook with bugs, incorporate Coca-Cola into all sorts of dishes and even make an (unofficial) Harry Potter cauldron cake in the pages of cookbooks stocked at a Friends of the Palo Alto Library (FOPAL) book sale.
A barbecue favorite is reborn, a Korean grocery store is coming to East Palo Alto and a Singapore Festival this weekend
- An Armadillo Willy’s regular has bought the shuttered Sunnyvale location and will host the grand opening of Empire Armadillo BBQ & Deli on Thursday.
- Redwood City’s Donato Enoteca has completely revamped itself after 16 years with a fresh remodel, a new chef and an all-new menu.
- Mega Mart, a Korean grocery store with an outpost in Sunnyvale, plans to open in East Palo Alto Sept. 25.
- Dad’s Lunchonette in Half Moon Bay is hoping to reopen Friday after damage and flooding from a break-in, according to a recent Instagram post.
- Local Kitchens has permanently closed its Los Gatos location.
- Taste wines from more than 25 winemakers at downtown Campbell’s Fall Wine Walk at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
- Little Green A Plant Bar in Redwood City is hosting a September Makers Market Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with live music and handmade goods from six vendors.
- Unity Palo Alto is hosting a Caribbean Food & Music Fest Saturday at noon with Jamaican jerk pork, curried chicken, tofu with veggies, rice and beans, plantains, sweet potato pie, hibiscus tea and more.
- Palo Alto’s Museum of American Heritage will host a free event Sunday from 3-5 p.m. exploring heirloom foods. The event includes a cooking demonstration by Embarcadero Media blogger Laura Stec, a talk on heirloom foods and a walk through the museum’s garden with garden volunteers.
- The HEAL Project is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a farm open house Sunday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the San Mateo County School Farm in Half Moon Bay. Visitors can pick strawberries, make mini bouquets, taste heirloom apples and make a smoothie with a bike blender.
- The Singapore Festival will be held at the San Mateo County Event Center Sunday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. with food vendors, live entertainment and a marketplace.
- Alpha Acid Brewing Co. will be celebrating Oktoberfest Saturday and Sunday with $5 pints for its two German-style beers and Redwood Grill food truck on-site offering German-style food. On Sunday from 3-5 p.m. there will be live accordion music. For more Peninsula Oktoberfest events, check out our roundup.
Dinner at Flea Street
Dining at Flea Street feels like eating at your grandmother’s home – it’s warm and welcoming, with an old-school ambiance and food that features classic flavor pairings.
The farm-to-table aspect is front and center, with more than 20 partner farms and ranches listed at the bottom of the menu and some dishes featuring ingredients from owner Jesse Cool’s garden, including cucumbers, herbs and honeycomb. It’s also a particularly vegetarian-friendly restaurant, with nearly half of the menu featuring meat-free dishes.
The Menlo Park restaurant has been around since 1980, and while there isn’t a white tablecloth in sight, it feels like the type of restaurant that would have them. Looking at the demographic in the room, I was definitely the youngest.
The dinner started with complimentary biscuits smattered with sesame seeds and served with ruffled butter, sea salt and cucumbers. The biscuit was buttery and flaky, and the freshness of the cucumber cut through the richness.
I tried the Peaches and Sage cocktail, made with vodka, St. Germain and lemon ($22), and it was perfectly balanced and not too sweet. The Thyme for Figs with pisco, Cointreau and lime ($22) was also delicious and served with the remainder of the cocktail in a separate glass on the side.
The menu at Flea Street is divided into bites, small plates and large plates. I started with a bite (which was more like six bites) called the As Kneaded Toast of the Moment. It featured Point Reyes blue cheese, Hidden Villa figs and rosemary on whole wheat rye sourdough with sesame seeds ($12). Sweet figs and funky blue cheese is a classic flavor pairing that you really can’t go wrong with.
The combination of peaches, tomatoes, burrata, pesto and balsamic is a crowd-pleaser, and Flea Street currently offers a salad with exactly that ($27). It’s a simple dish that lets the local organic produce shine.
I don’t often see fried green tomatoes on menus in the Bay Area, so I was excited to see a small plate featuring the Southern staple. Served with charred corn salsa, avocado mousse and chipotle ($24), the dish featured ample acidity to cut through the crispy fried cornmeal crust.
Perhaps the most out-of-the-box dish on the menu was the eggplant parmesana soup with smoked mozzarella, eggplant croutons and basil oil ($20). The gray color reminded me of the line “Try the gray stuff, it’s delicious” from “Beauty and the Beast,” and it definitely was delicious, although I would have liked the eggplant croutons to be crispy to add a contrasting texture to the smooth and thick soup.
The fresh pasta carbonara featured house-cured pork belly and pole beans ($36). The pork belly was sweet, salty and added that meaty umami punch to the dish, which the pole beans counterbalanced with some freshness.
The Vegetarian Tasting, “A Flea Street Classic” dish, featured ricotta chive gnocchi, grilled summer vegetables, roasted eggplant and corn fritters ($39). All four dishes were executed perfectly, with the gnocchi fluffy with a nice sear on the outside and the corn fritters super crispy with a punch of sweet corn flavor.
For dessert, I ordered the TCHO Dark Chocolate Torte with whipped mascarpone, honeycomb and hazelnut ($15). Even with the sweetness from the honeycomb, the dessert wasn’t too sweet, with the rich, slightly bitter chocolate and the salty mascarpone cutting through.
To end the dinner, a slice of fig drizzled with chocolate was served.
Overall, I can see why the clientele skews older – and there’s nothing wrong with that. Both the ambiance and the menu aren’t trying to be modern and cutting-edge – they’re trying to be classic and let the quality ingredients shine.
Flea Street, 3607 Alameda de las Pulgas, Menlo Park; 650-854-1226, Instagram: @flea_street. Open Tuesday to Saturday from 5-8:45 p.m.
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