potrero view

January 2009

Home Cooked Meals That You Don’t Have to Prepare

By Gina Poggi

For many San Franciscans dinner consists of a frozen entrée or takeout.  With busy schedules jam-packed with work, errands, exercise and kids, it’s no wonder many of us resort to fast, greasy, and salt-laden foods.  Wouldn’t it be nice to come home to a healthy, delicious, gourmet dinner?  Four Bay Area businesses – Amaranth, Peal Cuisine, Cooks!, and Debbie Does Dinner – offer three different ways to have fresh, organic home-cooked meals seamlessly pop out of your oven.

After working in various food venues Chef Lisa Cutler, a Sunset district resident, decided to express her culinary creativity by launching her own personal chef service, Amaranth, named after a native San Francisco plant that’s known for its high-protein grain and luscious red color.  Cutler, a California Culinary Academy Cordon Bleu program graduate, prepares meals in her clients’ home, so long as they’re located within an hour of San Francisco.  At the end of the day her clients come home to tasty, nutritious meals that are ready to heat and serve.

Amaranth is perfect for upper Haight resident Terry Burchell, a busy Wells Fargo professional. “With my schedule, I never have time to cook. Lisa is my healthy, delicious alternative to ordering delivery or microwaving yet another frozen dinner.”   Amaranth sources all produce, meats and other ingredients from local, organic suppliers.  The menu features scrumptious dishes like West African Chicken and Bananas and Pork Loin with Apricot Glaze, but Cutler makes it a point to cater to each of her client’s needs.   She has a questionnaire about allergies, dietary needs, likes and dislikes, and goes over the specifics with her clients. “I suggest a menu and after they approve it, they can pick and choose which meal they want to eat that day,” said Cutler. She even cooks family recipes.

“It’s a delight to have mouth-watering home cooked meals that are tailored for my palate and dietary requirements,” said technology consultant and Panhandle resident David Brenneman, who touts Amaranth’s rice salad as “uber good.”  The price for weekly or biweekly service varies depending on the size and number of meals.  Typically a meal costs $16, plus the grocery expenses.  A two-person household with an every-other-week service of four entrees plus one side dish, pays $250 plus groceries. The fee covers menu planning, travel time, shopping, storage containers, and food preparation.  It’s a win-win situation for Burchell. “I actually save money, and when I come home, the kitchen is clean, and the fridge is stocked.”

Peal Cuisine has been delivering eclectic, delicious and healthy vegetarian meals to San Francisco residents for more than a decade.  Noe Valley resident Jane Peal spent five years traveled throughout the Mediterranean, cooking her way through most of the countries and learning the various cuisines.  She graduated from Tante Marie’s Cooking School, and served an apprenticeship at Greens Restaurant.

Fresh, natural ingredients, prepared authentically, are the basis of Peal’s cooking style.  Peal Cuisine’s changes its menu monthly, featuring a Vegetable Salad with Truffled-Champagne Vinaigrette Caramelized Vegetable Cassoulet with Cognac and Alpine Flavors, and Orzo Persilliade for New Year’s Eve.  A near-organic three-course meal for two costs $30.  

Partners Nona Lim and Derek Kennedy have been dishing up home cooked meals at Cook! for more than two years.  The pair have devised meal plans that satisfy even the most finicky of palates.  Based in South San Francisco, Cook! caters to carnivores, vegetarians, and even offers gluten- and dairy-free dishes.  Each week Cook! delivers meal kits to clients that contain fully prepared ingredients and step-by-step instructions to quickly cook a dinner.  Everything is sliced, diced and ready to heat. In 20 minutes or less clients can prepare a gourmet meal.  “The food is fresh, healthy and tastes great,” said South-of-Market resident Oriana. “It is also a great way for me to learn how to cook and feel more comfortable in the kitchen.”

Cook! uses all natural, organic meats and fish from local suppliers. Meal kits are preservative and additive-free, and are prepared on the day of delivery or the day before.  “We love Cook!,” said full-time working mom, and Bernal Heights resident Suman, “because in less than 15 minutes, my husband and I can have a healthy and delicious dinner on the table. The ingredients are always fresh and the meals are creative.”

Cook! features two types of menus:  gourmet, which focuses on Californian restaurant style cuisine; and family, which is designed for the entire family.  The menu changes monthly, and includes delectable entrees like Roasted Chicken Thighs with Chorizo Rice Pilaf, Organic Spring Mix with Persimmon and Pecans, Grilled Steak with Creamed Horseradish, Wilted Kale with Shallots, and Leek and Potato Soup.  Cook!’s clients enjoy all of the dishes, but the hands-down favorite entrée is Miso Salmon with Soba Noodles and Bok Choi, according to owner Lim.  Cook! delivers throughout the Bay Area. Family menus for four are $37.95; gourmet entrées start at $14.95.

Debbie Epstein of Debbie Does Dinner relies on seasonal items and local, organic ingredients to whip-up her delicious entrees in a South San Francisco commercial kitchen.  “The meat is all natural; the fish is wild or come from sustainable farming practices,” said Epstein.  Though she cooks many meat and fish-based dishes, Epstein also caters to the veggie crowd, with at least two vegetarian options or more on the menu.  Epstein started Debbie Does Dinner ten years ago, and describes her cooking style as “comfort food with a healthy twist.” She uses multi-grain pasta instead of regular pasta, and prepares a low-carb version of zucchini manicotti.  Debbie Does Dinner sends out a new menu each week to her clients with three or four entrée choices plus desserts.  Once they’re delivered the meals are ready to heat and eat.

“She’s amazing. She cooks in all these different styles. It’s very fresh tasting and very homemade tasting and just delicious,” said Noe Valley resident Hilary Craddock. Craddock, who recently sustained a leg injury, couldn’t stand or walk for more than five minutes at a time.  With a part-time job and two kids and a husband to feed, she often relied on greasy to-go food.  “It turned our family upside down,“ said Craddock, “It was take out, take out, take out and I just couldn’t stand it anymore.” That’s when she called on Debbie Does Dinner for help.  “We thought we would try something that was at least a homemade meal that I could feed to my family and not feel guilty about having unhealthy choices.” One of her family’s favorite: a butternut squash lasagna that Craddock describes as “phenomenal.”

Potrero Hill resident Cathy Widener, a full-time working professional and mother of two, relies on Debbie Does Dinner’s services two to three times a month.  She loves the entrees, as well as the desserts. “I love her Chicken Marabella, and the turnovers are always great…her Whoopee Pies I get every single time that she offers them. They’re amazing,” said Widener.

A grandniece of Betty Crocker, Epstein says she’s a “baker at heart.” Her menu features 17 varieties of cookies and bars, all of which are made from scratch.  The most popular treats: Double Chocolate Mint Cookies and Yum Yum Bars, a decadent seven-layer bar made of graham cracker crust, layers of chocolate chips on butterscotch chips and coconut.  Debbie Does Dinner delivers throughout the Bay Area.  Prices range from roughly $10 to $14 per portion.

To have healthy meals delivered to your door contact Jane Peal at 826.2133 or visit www.pealcuisine.com; Debbie Epstein at 468.3323 or debbie@debbiedoesdinner.com.  For more information on Amaranth’s Personal Chef Service visit www.amaranth-sf.com.  To learn more about Cook!  visit www.cook-sf.com or call 513.5328.

 

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