Chef-Owner: ROSALIE CARTWRIGHT
KITCHEN: Anise Cafe, 1663 W. San Carlos St., San Jose (408) 298-8178 • www.anisecafe.com
TW: What’s one ingredient you can’t
do without?
RC: I would say garlic. Almost all of
my dishes have garlic. I think it really
brings out the flavor in [dishes].
TW: What’s your favorite meal?
RC: Another restaurant that I really
love is Anh Hong on Tully Road.
They serve seven-course beef… and I
love that dish. At home when we do
it, we usually have a group of 10 to 12
people. You roll everything fresh and
it’s hands on. It’s a lot of fun and brings
out conversation. It’s time-consuming,
and a lot of people just want to eat their
food and not deal with preparing it.
But with this, you have to cook your
meat, your shrimp, put it on rice paper,
add vegetables and roll it. Every bite is
another roll. It’s a working meal.
TW: What dish would you cook to
wow friends?
RC: Usually what I do with a nice sitdown dinner is a langoustine salad with
mango, avocado, and blood orange. It
looks amazing, with yellow from the
mango and green from the avocado.
Blood orange just makes the dish so
pretty. The shape of the langoustine
looks like a lobster, only smaller. I
deep-fry the head and display it on the
plate. And it looks so architecturally
defined that people don’t want to eat it.
I will follow that up with an osso bucco
Milanese, a veal shank.
TW: Who’s your favorite cookbook
author or cooking show host?
RC: Flavor by Rocco Dispirito. He’s
Italian and he uses old-school techniques with ingredients from around
144
R
osalie Cartwright credits her
Vietnamese mom and grandma
with giving her a culinary head
start. It was in their kitchens that
she learned how to gut a fish, carve a
chicken, and the clever use of special
Vietnamese, Thai and Indian ingredients. Working in several restaurants
after coming to the U.S. with her family at 13, Cartwright’s interest in the
food business grew. But her passion for
cooking was put on the back burner for
an accounting and marketing career. It
wasn’t until 2004 that this mother of
two decided to combine her head for
numbers with her culinary talents to
start her own restaurant. The result?
Anise, a cozy 75-seat joint with creative California-inspired Vietnamese
fare that has also become known as one
of Silicon Valley’s hidden gems.
TW: Who inspires you?
RC: Two people: Julia Child changed
the way we think about food in this
country. She’s a great teacher and
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2007 SPRING DINING GUIDE
always cooks with grace and ease.
Alice Waters shook up the food world
almost 35 years ago with her restaurant
Chez Panisse in Berkeley, and set the
foundation for organic produce. Both
are pioneers.
TW: What’s your signature dish?
RC: My specialty at the restaurant is
a green apple salad with lemongrass
beef. It’s basic, yet refreshing. I use
Vietnamese vinaigrette to bring out the
flavor of the apple, and lemongrass is a
great herb to use with beef and pork.
TW: What’s your favorite Silicon
Valley restaurant?
RC: Sushi Zen on First Street. They
make a great soft-shelled crab with
Japanese vinaigrette. All their sushi
is so fresh and I’ve not had a bad
meal there. Another is La Foret. It’s
so hidden; it kind of reminds me of
my restaurant. They do a wonderful
job on their wild game. Good service,
great space.
MANGO & WATERCRESS SALAD
(SERVES FOUR)
FOR DRESSING
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 ½ tablespoon Asian sesame oil
¼ cup fresh lime juice
2 cloves of shallots finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon of galanga finely chopped
1 teaspoon lemongrass finely chopped
2 dashes hot sauce such as Tabasco or Spiracha
Freshly ground white pepper to taste
FOR SALAD
¾ pound watercress, coarse stems discarded
(about 6 cups loosely packed)
1 (1- 1 ½ pounds) firm-ripe mango, peeled, pitted, and
cut into julienne strips – this can be done by using
a shredder
¼ cup torn fresh cilantro leaves
¼ cup torn fresh basil leaves
1 pound shrimp, shelled and deveined; rinse well.
Add a dash of salt to shrimp and poach. Peel and slice
into half.
Whisk together all dressing ingredients in a small
bowl, then whisk in salt to taste. Gently toss all salad
ingredients together in a bowl. Add just enough dressing to coat.
PRESENTATION
Deep-fry 8 squares wonton
On a square plate, put a little bit of the Mango &
Watercress Salad in the center of the plate as an
anchor; then place a wonton on top. Again, add more
of the salad, top it with another wonton before balancing the rest of the salad on it. Top with shrimp, cilantro
and basil.
Optional: Top with roasted sesame seed, roasted shallots, and fried taro.
“Every chef has a favorite fruit or vegetable. Mine has
always been watercress and mango. Watercress has
a peppery and slightly bitter taste. It is perfect with
mango, which is a little sour and sweet. There’s great
contrast in color and flavor, and both complement each
other. Watercress is also an excellent source of vitamins
A and C, vitamin K, potassium, iron, copper and calcium.”
– Rosalie Cartwright