Los Gatos now has a top-tier provisioner for those who love live-fire grilling. Carnico opened in the plaza across from Safeway in downtown, in the very spot that used to be Rose Cleaners. The shop is now filled with striking Mibrasa grills and ovens, all made of stainless steel in Spain, as well as the world’s most revered dry-aging refrigerators made by Dry Ager, a company in Bavaria, Germany.
Cookbooks from luminaries like Tyler Florence, Josiah Citron, Joshua Weissman and Paul Kahan, are prominently displayed on gleaming steel counters, and an abundant collection of grillware, also made by Mibrasa, are stacked on or hung from display racks. You can find everything you need here for properly cooking all the recipes in “American Grill,” by Florence.
The owners, Jorge and Sarah Bianchi, are Los Gatos residents who live right down the street, and are raising their three children here. Sarah is herself a Los Gatos High graduate. She met Jorge, a native of San Sebastian, while spending a year abroad learning Spanish. The couple lived in Spain for a while before returning to Los Gatos. Their business is essentially representing top quality professional cooking equipment that is used by Michelin chefs the world over. The couple rattled off a list of Bay Area chefs, including Tyler Florence at Miller & Luxe and Corey Lee in San Francisco, and Johnny Black at Chez Noir in Carmel.
“Mibrasa is second generation, owned by three brothers, outside of Barcelona,” says Jorge. “This is the best equipment, top of class, durable and chef-driven. We brought them to the US, to professional chefs, in 2018. Our goal now is to bring these grills and ovens to consumers who want to build the ultimate outdoor kitchens.”
‘We see an increased demand from diners who eat out at the best restaurants, who are ordering dry-aged meats, perhaps sitting at the chef’s table and watching the action.’
The couple is developing videos and brochures to show builders, designers, architects and consumers the different options available for customizing the perfect live-fire cooking setup.
“We see an increased demand from diners who eat out at the best restaurants, who are ordering dry-aged meats, perhaps sitting at the chef’s table and watching the action. They are curious and want to try it themselves. We can help them create the perfect setup suited to their needs,” says Jorge. He demonstrated how one removes the racks in the Mibrasa oven, before dumping in the charcoal and lighting it. Once it has come to temperature, usually in 30 to 40 minutes, you use a special Mibrasa tool to redeploy the racks, then you place your meat or veggies in the proper pan, and in less than two and a half minutes for medium-rare steak, your meat is done.
Sarah adds that Mibrasa is making smaller, more compact units for home use. In fact, Carnico has a couple of gorgeous Mibrasa hibachi units. As small as they seem in comparison to the full-size ovens, I could not lift the thing. Solid steel, baby. “One trick we learned with this hibachi, is that you have to use far less charcoal, and you have to raise up the rack,” Jorge relates. “Otherwise, your shrimp will be toast!”
Not only do they have exactly what you need to properly dry age, prepare and properly cook your meat over live fire, but they can also provide the most important part of the equation: the meat itself. Not a butcher shop or a deli, Carnico offers a nice selection of perfectly 30- and 60-day dry-aged Angus beef raised in Nebraska and prepared in New York City by Pat Le Frieda, whose cookbooks, “Meat” and “Glorious Beef” tempt you to bite into something juicy and umami. Their most popular steaks are the NY strips, and they offer ribeyes with and without bone. They also have pub burgers. All the beef is grass-fed and corn-finished, and you can buy all manner of seasonings as well as finishing sauces.
Carnico also carries a gift-worthy selection of tinned seafood, which have become all the rage. You’ll find grilled pates, grilled fish and octopus in decorative tins bearing artwork that reveals the devilish side of Spanish humor. You can also take home sliced Beher Iberico ham from the famous dark hogs that feast only on acorns. If you really want to surprise the gourmand on your list, give them a can of duck confit, sourced from a company in Quebec.
If you’re curious about dry-aging, or wood-fire grilling, drop in and Sarah and Jorge will be happy to share their experiences and turn you on to a new way of looking at meat. They’ll explain the differences between wet and dry aging, and why the latter is superior, delivering a flavor experience sought after by connoisseurs and carnivores alike.
And by the way, you can age game and pork, as well as beef, in the dry agers, which work by using a UV light device that automatically destroys pathogens in the air.
Carnico is located at #1, 501 N. Santa Cruz Ave. It’s open Monday through Friday, 11am-7pm, Saturday, 11am until 6pm. Closed Sunday.
