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At Home With Patricia Wells - Cooking classes in Paris and Provence, Cookbooks and Restaurant Reviews.

Best bites from Boulevard

Emily Buchanan April 25, 2011

House Made Ricotta & Nettle Tortelloni, Black Trumpet Relish, Crispy Nettles, Parmesan Boulevard

Nancy Oakes is one of my favorite chefs, for a meal at her always reliable, always lively restaurant Boulevard in San Francisco is forever memorable. She pleases with ease and flair, and with every bite you feel as though a careful decision has been made to create the perfect pairing of each ingredient. The other evening we feasted on delicate and sweet Royal Sweet Sea Scallops teamed up with spring radishes, toasted hazelnuts, and house pancetta. One of the most remarkable tastes of the meal came with the chewy Monterrey Red Abalone accompanied by a lobster hollandaise and the most amazing, delicate, and full-flavored fried green tomatoes (I want the recipe!) For a real treasure of a dish, try the House Made Ricotta and Nettle Tortelloni (photo) served with a giant mushroom slice, as dense and flavorful as any meat.

Boulevard, 1 Mission Street, San Francisco 94105. Tel 415 543 6084.

Patricia Wells is a journalist, cookbook author and cooking school instructor living between her homes in Paris + Provence.

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Patricia Wells

Patricia Wells – journalist, author, and cooking teacher – is an American who has lived in Paris since 1980. She is the author of 13 books, including The French Kitchen Cookbook, Simply Truffles, Vegetable Harvest, We've Always Had Paris...and Provence, Bistro Cooking, Simply French, and Trattoria. Her first book, The Food Lover’s Guide to Paris, was a landmark work that "cracked the code" to the Paris food world. (The Food Lovers Guide iPhone app is available from the iTunes store, and an all new version of the print edition is scheduled for March publication.) She is the only woman and only foreigner to serve as restaurant critic of a major French publication, the newsweekly L’Express. From 1980 to 2007 she served as restaurant critic for the International Herald Tribune. Previously, she was a writer and editor for The Washington Post and The New York Times.

She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for her contributions to French culture, and received an honorary doctorate from Muhlenberg College in 2013 and another in gastronomic journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2007. Several of her books have received the James Beard and IACP awards, and most of them have been translated into several languages. At certain times of the year, she conducts week-long cooking classes both in her cooking studio in Paris and at her farmhouse in Provence. She is married to Walter Wells, retired executive editor of the International Herald Tribune and now her enthusiastic sous-chef.