Christina Waters

It turns out that longtime Santa Cruz foodie Dan Dickmeyer was right. There is going to be a new Italian place on Soquel Avenue, where the old Malabar was, and it’s scheduled to open in July.

If you’re like me (and I truly doubt it) you don’t immediately think “Italian” when you hear the name “Lillian.” But you will from now on. Lillian’s Italian Kitchen is the name of the new place at 1116 Soquel Avenue, and it’s all about Southern Italian cooking. Think Sicily when you consider menus items like meatball sandwich, pasta e fagioli, Sunday Gravy (the old southern Italian meat sauce with spaghetti), prawns diavola over penne - even cannoli for dessert is on the brand, spanking new menu.

July. Something to look forward to. Grazie tanto.

Welcome new chef Sean Baker to Gabriella Cafe, and get ready to be impressed. Baker comes from Zibibbo in Palo Alto, and before that, Millenium in the City. A few nights ago Baker blew away a packed house at a Bonny Doon wine dinner, with his multi-course magic that produced raves from winemaker Randall Grahm and other finicky gourmands. Out-going chef Rebecca King, now the proud owner of a sheep ranch, is still doing the pastries at the tiny restaurant. But back to the wine dinner.

I was seated with a brain trust of oeno-logic, including wine marketer Bob Marsh, Gabriella owner Paul Cocking, Bonny Doon’s new marketing maestro Burke Owen and BD president-for-life himself, Randall Grahm (shown here considering the Albariño). So the wine talk flew thick and fast throughout dinner. Be that as it may, it didn’t take long before dinner itself became the topic of collective admiration. “These wines make me think,” admitted chef Baker of the BD array he tasted before designing the menu matches. His thinking made delicious sense with a half dozen wines, many from the winery’s biodynamic Ca’ del Solo vineyard near Soledad.

Starting with a bravura dish of tiny calamari and young English peas, bathed in a broth with fresh mint and a distinctive jolt of chile, the meal never stopped knocking us out. The calamari (I’m so mad at Tana Butler for having such a GREAT shot of this dish on her site today!) paired smoothly with a light, crisp 2006 Albariño, Ca’ del Solo Monterey. Next came an equally glamorous salad of wilted baby red chard, with lentils, blood sausage — thanks to Justin Severino and the gorgeous pork raised on TLC Ranch - carmelized fennel and apples. A tart vinaigrette pulled the dish together, as did an astonishing Cigare Blanc 2005, one of the top Rhône-style whites on either side of the Atlantic. Even the winemaker was impressed, noting the quince and lime notes in the Roussane/Grenache Blanc blend.

With rare lamb chops, presented with two sauces - a rapini pesto and a cook cucumber-cumin yogurt - the chef and winemaker had chosen a 2003 Le Cigare Volant, the beloved flagship of Bonny Doon Vineyards for many years. Loaded with blackberries, licorice and casses, this “state of the Doon” beauty could, in the judgment of Owen, easily go to 2013 and beyond. Oh I forgot. There was a pretty intermezzo of a single fresh strawberry and mascarpone, joined by that “pink wine” that Grahm adores, the ‘06 Vin Gris made from old vine Cinsault grapes.

A second entree of pappardelle with rosemary venison ragout proved both decadent and intense, and perfect with a bright, spicy 2004 Nebbiolo, also ca’del Solo, Monterey Vineyard. “nebbiolo’s a very challenging grape,” Grahm noted. “We added 15% Barbera skins, to give it a certain je ne said quoi - a little bit of an edge. And dessert was an olive oil orange cake with muscat candied kumquats - an inspired match with the 2006 Ca’del Solo Muscat. Every dish devised by the crafty chef resonated with the mineral and floral bouquets of the selected wines - in other words, this was one of those dinners in which the flavors and the wines really did collaborate.

There’s a rumor that the calamari dish will become a permanent member of the Gabriella menu. Pray that it does! And make reservations to check out the new culinary star in town — Sean Baker.

Gabriella Cafe - 910 Cedar St., Santa Cruz (831) 457-1677.

And who isn’t on the look-out for some chewy, tender, deeply rich, barely sweet chocolate brownie? Even in a field littered with killer brownies, one stands out bigtime.

Yes, I do mean the heavy, yet tender, intensely dark chocolatey brownie from River Cafe (also available at enlightened farmers markets, like the one on the Westside, Saturdays.)

Made from the deluxe Valrhona chocolate and lightly studded with walnuts, it hits all the right spots. Just barely sweet, this plump, supple, sophisticated square of insanely good chocolate never, ever cloys.

Ever.

And it runs a mere $3 for more than you can decently consume in a single sitting.

Come up and see what talent, hard work, great instructors and an Irwin scholarship, can create. The annual Irwin Scholarship exhibition - opening Wednesday, May 30, 5-7pm at UCSC’s Sesnon Gallery — is entirely packed with some of the best from some of the brightest. This year’s scholarship recipients — Michael Allison, Nicola Buffa, Katie Dorame, Kevin Dwyer, Adam Harms, Ian Paul, Henry Plant, Sean-Michael Rau, Maria Schoettler, Augustus Thompson, Olivia Vegh — are painters, photographers, installations artists, sculptors, printmakers, whose creativity has been helped by the support of the William Hyde and Susan Benteen Irwin Scholarship Fund.

Juicy artwork, a free public reception, what’s not to like? The gallery is located at Porter College, and is open Tues-Sat, noon to 5pm. For details, check the Sesnon website. See you on Wednesday.

This year’s New Music Works Avant Garden Party is seasoned - both musically and culinarily - with the complex spices of Thailand. This Sunday, June 3 from 3-7pm, the mysteriously tropical island and lagoon located in a mythic corner up the upper yacht harber, will host a rare and beautiful display of Thai Piphat Music and Dance by the ensemble of Wat Buddhanusorn, the brilliant a capella work of the Ariose singers directed by Michael McGushin, a world premier of interactive installation Ttitriadic Chimes, songs by Paul Hindemith and compositions by NMW founder Philip Collins.

But for the hungry and thirsty, just know that your $35 adv/$40 door ticket price also gets you tipples from an array of wines, beers and exotic beverages - plus the al fresco Southeast Asian delicacies from the woks of Jozseph Schultz and David Jackman. (more…)

Don’t even think about seeing Away from Her unless you’re prepared to 1) cry your eyes out and 2) have your cultural stereotypes about marriage shattered to pieces.

As beautiful as ever, and radiantly no-longer-young, Julie Christie illuminates the broken heart of this deeply affecting film, as a woman entering the twilight of dementia. But before the film even unpacks its considerable candor about the loss of memory, it transforms itself into a transcendent portrait of love.

It took me an hour to compose myself after I walked out of the Nickelodeon last weekend (take kleenex and dark glasses!), but once I was able to focus again I realized I’d just seen something breath-takingly rare — a film about the distilled quality of a long love directed by a woman still in her 20s.

Co-starring Gordon Pinsent and Olympia Dukakis (in a searing and unexpected performance), Away from Her opens with a few quirky moments in which lovely Fiona Anderssen (Christie) may or may not be slipping into Alzheimer’s. Set in snowy Canada — indeed with the exception of Dukakis, the entire cast, crew and setting are Canadian – the film observes the difficult moments of recognition, acceptance, and then non-acceptance between the long-married husband and wife as to her condition. Based on a short story by Alice Munro, the script is a tissue of exceptional clarity — and it just stretches to feature length, thanks to the letter-perfect casting and hands-off directorial style of writer/director Sarah Polley.

Christie was always a beauty, back in the 60s and 70s when her incandescent face and generous mouth made her an international sex symbol. But I never thought her much of an actress. (more…)

You know the ones I mean. Locations in which well-meaning, hard-working entrepreneurs keep trying to set up a restaurant business, and which keep resisting any success. Locations whose ill-fated feng shui, or abyssmal karma, bodes against every effort to achieve something like success. There are many such culinary Bermuda Triangles in every town, and the Santa Cruz area is no exception. Here - with input from many readers - is a short list of retail revolving doors. Places that just plain don’t work, no matter how creative the make-over.

1) The very top cursed location is the corner of Ocean and Soquel. What is it about this place? Surely this could be a prime location for something? I mean every hungry, thirsty tourist aiming for the beach has to pass by here, right? Yet over and over - nothing works. Maybe it’s the tiny parking lot, or the fact that it’s just a little bit too far from downtown. This one got the most votes of all! Former Rock ‘n’ Tacos, Maui Maui, something pancake house, something vegetarian, somebody’s bakery & café.
According to Larry Pearson, Players’ Pizza was the last successful restaurant at that site, owned by Terry & Cathy Hutson who closed it down and moved to the Sierra foothills 10 years.. . . Where’s the al qaeda when we need them? Just blow up this building and put it out of its misery.
2) Then there the former Manoff’s, on Water Street that re-re-opened a few minutes ago as another taqueria, after the demise of Puerto Escondido Taqueria. Way too tiny and (it has to be said) ugly. After many years of serving great burgers, Manoff’s went the way of Castagnola’s and the Santa Cruz Hotel. Then it was the Turkey Shack, then Mike’s Soul Food (or was it the other way around?), then some other burger joint, then a taqueria, and now yet another taqueria.
3) Several readers felt that the Art Center dining rooms of former, incomparable India Joze have become another cursed location. (more…)

Boris Tyomkin, Dylan Morgan and Dag Weiser are showing some fresh paint on canvas - an experimental mix full of attitude and gusto - at the Michaelangelo Gallery on River Road, at the edge of Santa Cruz, starting June 1. Not what you expect. Check it out.

Cocoa d’Arriba is yet another designer chocolate bar, priced at just under $3 and situated near enough to the check out lanes to tempt even the St. Anthony’s among us. We succumbed. At 77% cocoa and inflected with orange liqueur, this elite treat is ultra smooth and creamy. But the high cocoa content proves the downfall - at least in terms of enjoyability. Mono-dimensional in taste and almost unrecognizable as chocolate, this product lacks the balance between cocoa and butterfat to satisfy our chocolate desire. So there you are.

However, a sensational bar of pure dark chocolate - 61% cacao - from the house of Guittard (founded in San Francisco in 1868) proved almost perfect. Almost. The balance was exceptional, and yet, somehow the overall chemistry was not complete.

THE BEST! That’s when we discovered the electrifying Scharffen berger Semi-Sweet chocolate, with 62% cacao. This elegant, $3.50 slice of heaven, hit every note. Substantial with a hint of creaminess, it started beautifully, opened into tangerine notes, and finished with a touch of honey. Absolutely perfect balance, and the company gets highest marks for using - and proudly printing on the label - non-GMO soy lecithin. Check out the labels of everything you’re tempted to purchase. If it’s got “soy” in any form, chances are it’s already been genetically modified. Franken food is everywhere - be vigilant. And while you’re on the anti-Monsanto path, fuel up on this glorious chocolate from Scharffen Berger. Stupendous chocolate any way you bite it.

Grilled sea scallops on a bed of Israeli cous cous, with ultra fresh snap peas and fava beans, micro bits of Meyer lemon all tossed in olive oil and Meyer lemon juice, with nano-strips of fresh basil. It is literally the month of May on a plate. Thanks to Avanti chef Ben Sims, who has other such goodies up his seasonal sleeve.