Saratoga News | 0234 | August 21, 2002

August 21, 2002 Saratoga, California Since 1955

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Valeriano's chef Eric Tosh takes his time when designing a menu. Both the restaurant and its menu will undergo a renovation in the fall.

Valeriano's to emerge from renovations with new menu

By Suzanne Cristallo

A melon still warm from the sun or mushrooms with earth and moss still clinging to them can be the ingredients that inspire the menus of Eric Tosh. He's the chef at Valeriano's, a restaurant with an Italian theme in a historical building with a banking past. Both the menu and the building across from the Town Plaza in downtown Los Gatos will be undergoing a renovation next month.

"There's an ideal way to design a menu," he says. "When you have time."

Time is precious to Tosh, who talks while handling the interruptions from two telephones. He's also the chef at Blake's Steakhouse & Bar and Eulipia, both in San Jose. All three restaurants are owned by Kathleen and Steve Borkenhagen. The pair have owned Valeriano's since January of 2001 and plan a facelift for the place, including new paint colors, carpet and chairs. The restaurant will close for two weeks at the beginning of September to accommodate the changes.

The respite will give Tosh the time he needs to sit down with his vendors and find out what's new. "I call this a market basket," he says of the list of meats he gets, along with a look at the seasonal harvest provided by Green Leaf, the San Francisco vendor that collects produce from a myriad of local farmers for him.

"It might be a fresh black-eyed pea that starts me thinking about how ingredients will go together," he explains. "Then you try it out, and then try it on customers."

Creating an exciting menu isn't a skill learned in school - and Tosh went to one of the best: the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. "You learn mostly from working with top guys, like Bradley Odgen of Aqua, who taught me to get the best ingredients available." Tosh thinks of it almost as a fun game, getting vendors to bring the freshest picks they can find, placing sun-warmed melons and earth-moist mushrooms before him.

Already a fall menu is taking shape in his mind: heirloom tomato soup en croute (in toasted, hollowed-out bread); "an interesting salad" like Meyer lemon arugula and pears with caramelized pinenut brittle; an entree selected from the daily specials or one of the "old favorites" like rosemary marinated rack of lamb with olive jus or veal chop, followed by tiramisu, the delicate Italian cake.

"We're also going to come up with a great wine pairing for the new menu," Tosh says, indicating he will be calling on his four-year experience as chef at Beringer Winery in Napa. The restaurant also offers a full-service bar.

Tosh gained more than his culinary degree at the California Culinary Academy. He also met and married Diane Rose, a fellow student, who is now chef/owner of the new Crimson Restaurant in Los Gatos. Tosh and Rose pair up frequently to cook at special wine-tasting dinners or for benefits, such as the November March of Dimes event planned to be held in the Los Gatos Opera House.

"A bunch of chefs from around here will do that event," he notes. "Diane and I will be offering packages for auction, like a private dinner cooked by us."

And what do two busy chefs do when they get the chance to cook for themselves? "When we eat at home, it's easy," he says, "like oysters, cheese and bread."

Valeriano's, located at 160 W. Main St. in Los Gatos, is open for dinner Sunday through Thursday, 5-10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday 5-11 p.m. For more information, call 408.354.8108.