Perhaps the most anticipated opening is Thomas Keller's Bouchon, scheduled for September. The restaurant, located near his French Laundry in Napa Valley, will serve food reminiscent of Lyon's small bistros known as bouchons. Food typical of a bouchon may include garlic sausage and cheese served with a salad of potatoes, lentils, dandelion leaves and bacon. The chefs behind the French resurgence bristle at the idea that their food is considered California. Part of the popularity of Vietnamese food can be attributed to the lifestyle of the people, says Mai Pham, chef-owner of Lemongrass in Sacramento.
Dishes tend to be lighter and emphasize vegetables more than other Asian food does.
Like his peers, he uses local ingredients and updates the flavors of his ancestry by borrowing techniques from other cultures. But the spices are Singaporean, possibly a combination of fennel, cumin, lemongrass, ginger, garlic and star anise. Yeo, like so many chefs, is sensitive to his food being labeled fusion. You have to know the food first, the classical way it is prepared before you put your own personality to it. Numerous national concepts can be traced to California's influence, including Big Bowl, backed by Chicago's Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises and headed by Bruce Cost.