Contemporary Italian: Favorite Recipes from Kuleto's Restaurant

For decades, Kuleto's has hosted new guests and old friends from up the street and around the world right in the heart of San Francisco's Union Square. Their Northern Italian cuisine with an American twist uses choice ingredients hand-picked by local family farmers to create seasonal specials and celebrate the natural bounty of Downtown Bay Area fine dining. If you've eaten at Kuleto's Restaurant in San Francisco, you know how good Italian food can be. The focaccia is fresh from the oven; the pesto is fragrant with fresh basil, garlic, and fine olive oil; the calamari is sweet and tender; and the Tiramisu is indescribable. And that's just the beginning. Not satisfied with producing first-rate versions of Italy's best-loved dishes, Kuleto's Executive chef Robert Helstrom is constantly exploring new ingredients and flavor combinations. The result is an exciting menu that offers exuberant Italian cooking with a uniquely American accent. At Kuleto's the succulent roast duck is cooked with dried cherries instead of fresh, and the ravioli is filled with delicate smoked salmon. the grilled lamb chops are paired with eggplant risotto, and the Veal Scaloppine comes with artichokes. When salmon is in season, Kuleto's serves it, bathed in a robust red wine and black olive sauce, even through salmon is distinctly non-Italian. In this, his first cookbook, Chef Helstrom has collected 80 of Kuleto's most popular recipes, the traditional and the not-so-traditional, all carefully adapted for the home kitchen. here are the appetizers, soups, pastas, risottos, salads, side dishes, entrees, and desserts that keep enthusiastic diners coming back to Kuleto's again and again. Easy to prepare, full of fresh, flavorful, healthful ingredients, this is food that is sure to win rave reviews at your table.