Portola Valley’s newest restaurant, Portola Bistro, has begun serving up elevated French and Italian-style dishes.
Situated inside the Ladera Country Shopper center, the restaurant occupies the former Portola Kitchen, which closed in March after owner Mike Wallau decided to focus on his other restaurant, Mike’s Diner Bar in Palo Alto. That restaurant subsequently closed in June.
Portola Bistro hosted its grand opening Oct. 10 with a crowd of about 140 people, including many locals who have lived in the community for decades, says restaurant co-owner Dino Tekdemir. He’s hoping they become regulars.
Tekdemir shares ownership with Allen Isik and owns several other Peninsula restaurants, including Naschmarkt’s two locations in Campbell and Palo Alto, Anatolian Kitchen in Palo Alto and a newcomer this year, Barbayani Taverna in Los Altos.
The new menu offers appetizers such as grilled octopus with squid ink aioli and ahi tuna tartare; pizzas topped with prosciutto or filet mignon; and mains like double-cooked pork belly with roasted cauliflower and pear, pumpkin and celery root purée and lobster ravioli with brown butter sage sauce.
Lunch service is set to start, followed by an expansion to weekend brunch.
“We are looking to be there forever,” Tekdemir says.
Details >> Open from 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and until 9:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday at 3130 Alpine Road in Portola Valley; portolabistro.com.
Richmond gets new cafe for durian, a smelly fruit
A shop selling nothing but durian, the Asian fruit renowned for its rotten odor, has opened in Richmond.
Liu Shang Pin, whose sign calls it the “JQ&B Richmond CA Flagship Store,” debuted in early October in the Pacific East Mall. It appears to be the only one of its kind in the Bay Area. The store’s stock and raison d’etre is whole durian, wrapped in gold foil and presented like treasures in glass-fronted fridges.
The shop is designed like a tropical jungle inhabited by weird, durian-pomorphic characters. A leafy roof is hanging with spiky fruit, and a green couch holds throw pillows shaped like smiling durians. Overseeing it all is a massive sculpture of a boy whose head is mostly durian, wearing a crown and licking his lips.
An employee recently explained that while Malaysia has around 200 varieties of durian, Liu Shang Pin carries only 10. The whole fruits are sold by the pound, ranging from approximately $16-$30 depending on type. Some of the durians, such as the “King” variety, look upward of 5 pounds, meaning a single fruit could cost more than $100.
The durians are flash frozen and need nothing more by way of preparation than letting them sit at room temperature for a few hours. Once ready, diners can remove the spiky outer shell and get to the meat — yellowish, custardy lobes that resemble sea urchin.
Durian is an acquired taste for some, hovering between sweet and extremely funky. Its odor has been compared to dirty socks and rotting meat. In Malaysia, it’s not uncommon to see signs forbidding it on public transit or in hotels. Still, many love the flavor of durian, which supposedly has additional health benefits.
It’s worth noting there is no durian smell in Liu Shang Pin. The fruits are meant to be taken home, not consumed on site.
Details >> Liu Shang Pin is in the Pacific East Mall, 3288 Pierce St., Richmond.
Nirvana Soul coffee teams up with 49er player’s charity
There’s good reason for South Bay football fans to make a chai latte their drink of choice this NFL season.
The Nirvana Soul coffeehouses have teamed up with San Francisco 49er T.Y. McGill to create a special coffee blend and signature latte to benefit McGill’s Purpose Project.
The initiative kicked off at the flagship Nirvana Soul shop at 325 S. First St. in downtown San Jose.
From now through the end of the NFL season, all proceeds from sales of the T.Y. Chai and the Purpose Project Blend coffee beans will go to the T.Y. McGill Jr. Foundation’s student mentorship, goal setting and career building programs.
McGill’s specialty latte is a drink that combines chai spices with the flavors of sweet potato pie, including cinnamon and nutmeg. For the medium-roast coffee blend, Nirvana Soul uses Ethiopian and Ugandan beans.
Nirvana Soul, a trailblazing Black-owned business, was launched in 2020 by sisters Jeronica Macey and Be’Anka Ashaolu. They since have expanded with a Cupertino coffeehouse and one at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library downtown.
McGill, a defensive tackle, began his NFL career in 2015. He joined the Niners in 2022 after playing for the Colts, Browns, Eagles and Vikings.
Details >> 315 S. First St., San Jose; www.nirvanasoulcoffee.com/coffee/p/purposeproject
Send restaurant news tips to Linda Zavoral at lzavoral@bayareanewsgroup.com, Kate Bradshaw at kbradshaw@bayareanewsgroup.com or John Metcalfe at jmetcalfe@bayareanewsgroup.com.