Christina Waters

Fresh seafood gets star treatment at the hands of Sean Baker, who makes beautiful food at Gabriella Cafe.

Baker is currently running a variety of sculptural crudo appetizers involving artworks of oysters with baby fennel mignonette, uni interspersed with tart minced grapefruit (inspired!), and local halibut tartare in pools of chopped avocado, chili smoked tomato and Meyer lemon.

After dinner, I feasted on a spectacular saffron Pavlova meringue, drizzled with rose custard, sweet fresh strawberries and toasted pistachios. Gabriella pastry chef Jessica Yarr never fails to astound me.

The visually delightful, all-organic catering group founded by Heidi Schlecht and Amy Linstrom (who also operate the inviting River Cafe) continues to fuel some of our best parties.

Platters lavish with edible flowers, opulent proteas, and other eye-candy adorned the tables and decks up at the Vine Hill winery release party last weekend. Endive leaves were stuffed with roasted salmon, dill, and lemon zest aioli. Buffalo mozzarella and sage were wrapped in prosciutto and then grilled - that’s the sort of one step further thinking that characterizes Feel Good Foods’ catering style. Yet completely fresh and clear, nothing tricky or mysterious. The ripe cheeses and myriad olives shared plates with toasted almonds, More…

A girl’s gotta eat, right? And in this region, that can be a delicious prospect. Over at River Cafe - I do love that place - I drifted into an altered state over a brilliant “salad” of quinoa, that soft, fluffy, Inca grain. The pale yellow quinoa was tossed with scallions, marcona almonds and currants. But the real mood elevator was the use of micro zest of kumquat, that moody, tangy cousin of the lemon and tangerine. It was sensational, and went beautifully with my take home portion of Liberty Farms duck breast from Avanti.…Yes, the duck at Avanti never fails, especially with a current spring “hash” of lentils, favas, green garlic and roasted onions. An argula pesto dressed the dish, which was just as good the second night, as the first. . . . Katya and I stopped for appetizers at Soif the other night, where the deal of the century arrived in the form of a substantial calamari salad for $6! Tender, delicious, tossed in a Meyer lemon dressing - it was lovely with a blush Tokay. . . . One more Avanti note: I had one of the best Avanti dinners ever last night - lamb sliced over roasted Yukon gold potatoes, fresh snap peas in the pod and infant white turnips!!!!! Yeow - with a Sebastapol Syrah - heaven.

Ben, Ben, Ben - when you’re hot, you’re……

The quest for chocolate continues — and my most recent fieldwork has turned up another reason to live.

Lake Champlain Organic Chocolate! Packaged in a convenient purse-sized (!) 1.25 oz bar, this truly TDF chocolate comes in some brilliant forms. Those who like it dark will scream over the 55% cocoa Dark Spicy Aztec. It tastes something like what Moctezuma might have consumed on his way to the harem - the rich, deep chocolate is spiked with vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin seeds and enough cayenne pepper to make your palate pay attention. The finish on this one is very exciting.

Now for the milk chocolate, sea salt and almonds version. Those of you who will recall my ecstatic description of A16’s chocolate budino with sea salt and olive oil, should heed this shout out about the Lake Champlain chocolate bar. Even though it contains only 38% cocoa, which ramps down the intensity of its chocolatey-ness, it recovers nicely thanks to the presence of sea salt. The salt powers the chocolate flavor further, faster and, I’ll say it, deeper. Almonds are a value-added ingredient which brings even more to this mouth party.

Dig it - the price is a mere $1.79 per bar, which is scored into eight convenient two-bite-sized rectangles.

At Shoppers, and probably elsewhere. Get it. Eat it. Get some more.

TLC rancher Jim Dunlop himself was doing the farmers market honors last Saturday - sitting on a mound of free-range gold from his free-rambling, pasture raised chickens. I’ve wandered the range with some of the very chickens who laid these eggs and a happier, more inquisitive, feisty bunch doesn’t exist. Ergo - I was happy to go ahead and pay top dollar - seven of them - for a dozen of the TLC ranch-fresh eggs.

Check out this three-minute egg, sitting in my favorite egg cup from San Miniato al Monte monastery shop in Firenze. An egg worth savoring, loaded with protein, omega 3s and grassy terroir. Intense flavor and electrifying orange color (not photoshopped I promise!) — TLC’s superior eggs are worth every penny.

Tastes Like Chicken Ranch - not just for terrific pastured pork. At your local farmers market.

What would Jesus eat? we asked as we thought about a special Easter dinner this year. Well, obviously lamb, yogurt, onions, rice pilaff, pine nuts, something with lemons and olive oil. Garlic, absolutely garlic. Lamb grilled over wood found in the desert, like mesquite.

With Middle-Eastern spices and ingredients in mind, we pulled together a truly delicious dinner of elements, that with a few exceptions — tomatoes, asparagus and red bell peppers on our skewers, and a Meyer lemon pie with crème fraiche - might have easily been found in the markets of Nazareth.

Okay, so the apostles didn’t have Peeps. But had they, they surely would have enjoyed them. Our pink peeps this year were genuine añejo - aged for over one year in a top cupboard of my kitchen. Just dessicated enough to give a unique depth to each bite. More…

If Sean Baker gets any better at what he does, Gabriella could wind up with a Michelin star one of these days.

We were blown away on the first evening of Spring by a few choice appetizers from what is becoming the top kitchen in the area. Certainly for sheer creativity, sex appeal and culinary chance-taking — it sets the pace.

From an amuse of pastured lamb on aioli and heirloom tomato glaze, to the long fingers of grilled bread topped with green garlic — okay, the Grüner Veltliner and Morgan Pinot Noir certainly didn’t hurt — it was one of those matchless hours in a lovely dining room.

Surrounded by the new show of oil paintings by Tom Maderos, Katya and I split two appetizers that show chef Baker’s continued exploration of the fresh, the wild and the organically-grown.

A dish of grilled wild shrimp arrived on a bed of warm marrow beans that had been tossed in something spicey with flashes of sweetness. Crimson nuggets of pomegranate seeds joined the sensuous beans, and a marmellata of spring onions and garlics added depth. As conceptually smart as this dish is, it was effortless to enjoy. The flavors soared.

The special appetizer of the evening proved another huge hit. More…

It was a moment of matchless synchronicity. I met my great and good friend Rita Bottoms, former empress of UCSC Special Collections, for lunch at Au Midi in Aptos. There we were, surrounded by colorful impressions of Parisian cafe life, thanks to a display of oil paintings by Rita’s husband, Tom Bottoms — when our host Michel Loubiere brought a few bottles of wine to our table.

“You have an admirer,” he revealed. And we looked over at a happy foursome - one of whom was winemaker Ryan Beauregard, a savvy young talent who knows an opportunity when he sees one. So we sampled some brand-new releases from Beauregard Winery, including a notable Sauvignon Blanc 2006, loaded with crisp structure and a long, solid middle - made from grapes harvested in Lake County. Our lunch began with tableside greetings from chef Muriel Loubiere, some fragrant francese and a velvety soup of sunchokes.

My Daube provencale entrée of Kobé beef, carrots and polenta showed off the chef’s miraculous reduction sauce of wine, herbs and a topnote of orange. More…

Confession. I’d walk a mile for a cupcake. A residual daydream from childhood, where the cupcake was Queen. An ornamental, hand-held device that can transport you to immediate comfort — ah, the cupcake! Creamy, layered with complex sweetness, spice, tender texture — the cupcake has it all. Plus it’s affordable and can be eaten by a single person in a single sitting.

So can I really be blamed for ordering one of these dangerously delicious carrot cupcakes - topped with my weight in perfect vanilla cream cheese frosting - at my new favorite coffeehouse? The cupcake is from Black China Bakery, which makes a habit of pushing all my satisfaction buttons.

The place? Find out in the March 26 issue of Metro Santa Cruz.

Relax, it’s gonna happen. I spoke with Oswald co-owner/chef Damani Thomas yesterday and he’s definitely on the project. “We’re just trying to get the construction going,” he said. Everything is taking longer than expected, but Thomas is looking toward Oswald opening, “hopefully this summer.”

And yes he will be doing the cooking. “That’s what I was born to do.”