Christina Waters

Here we are again, swilling the sushi and sashimi at Kawa Sushi (corner of Mission & Bay).

It’s pretty hard to beat the incredible protein & wasabi hit of this menu. Service is outstanding, the tables are generously spaced, and you can actually carry on a conversation over the Santa Cruz Roll, the tekka maki with shiso and a sashimi combo appetizer.

The $1 prices on small sakes during weekday happy hour add extra incentive to feast at this reliable sushi bar.

Here’s how we handle it, this winter/recession thing.

Beans, rice and Italian sausages (all natural pork made by New Leaf).

Add a big glass of Bonny Doon Vineyard’s excellent Sangiovese, a few candles (yes, David, we still dine by candlelight every night), and voila!

Katherine Stern has worked expert magic on the menu at La Posta. Since the richly resuméd chef came on board a few months ago, things have gotten very interesting at the chic Seabright dining room.

Contemporary Italian cooking. Deeply burnished flavors. Uncluttered presentation.

E.g. an intensely tangy Meyer lemon crostata, with mascarpone.

La Posta - open for dinner Tues-Sun - at 538 Seabright Avenue.

News of Gabriella’s impending demise—promulgated by the owner himself—seems to have been premature.

The love of a good tax attorney might be just the ticket. We’ll see.

But whatever the actual status of the tiny downtown dining room, a packed house last Friday (including me and my birthday buddy) enjoyed some of the best food ever produced by wunderkind Brad Briske and his young kitchen team.

Somehow there continues to be miles of savvy and style separating what this dining room can produce and what others can manage. Not sure just how or why. But I will be back for more next week.

Tikka Masala from Seeds of Change - is serious flavor in a jar. All the labor-intensive work of grinding, roasting, mincing, and simmering has been done for you - all you need to do is get a jar of this wonderfully aromatic simmer sauce ($6 @ New Leaf) and let its heady perfume turn something ordinary into a spice trip.

Confession: I am not a mistress of Indian cuisine. I don’t have a wildly successful curry recipe up my sleeve. But I adore (adore) the extreme spices of Mother India. So I’m always grateful for high-wattage shortcuts.
We had roast chicken the other night. Chicken can always use a little extra kick, no? This tikka masala worked transformative magic. I like my Indian flavors on the hot side, so we also applied a few hefty dollops of “hot” mango chutney to the chicken, along with tons of the tikka masala.

Fabulous. (I know all of you spice purists are probably rolling your eyes. But some of us gotta work for a living and don’t have tons of leisure time to watch the Food Channel and whip up a respectable masala from scratch.)

Consider the prospect of succulent Mexican bay scallops, with tender local squid atop a pool of gigante and ceci beans.

You know you want this dish.

You’ll find it in the soothingly cozy dining room of Gabriella Cafe.

New Year’s Eve dinner at chic La Posta, 538 Seabright (831.457-2782, involves this terrific $50 prix fixe menu.
Antipasti - Santa Cruz foraged mushrooms in cartoccio
or
Sformato of cauliflower with bagna cauda
or
Calamari ripieni

Primi - Windmill Farms Butternut squash and chard cannelloni
or
Dungeness crab and wild nettle lasagnette
or
Tortellini in brodo

Secondi- Ceci bean caciucco with cavolo nero More…

Authentic red velvet cupcakes - tender, moist and topped with an exuberant amount of butter-cream frosting, plus some colorful sugar ornaments. This really hit the spot last week, and for $2.25 a pop, might be one of the last culinary bargains in the known world. Those green Christmas tree cookies don’t look bad either….
Gayle’s.

Richly flavored and colorful, the large (16oz) jars of Happy Girl Kitchen heirloom tomatoes called out to me last Saturday as I strolled the Westside Farmers Market. I plunked down $10 and took home a jar.

Later that evening, half the jar of crimson and orange pomadori surrounded a large filet of local halibut (from H&H) topped with chopped kalamatas, capers and oregano, for a terrific “mixed grill” dinner. And the other half jar remained to go into a luxurious marinara later that week.

Well. Those organic tomatoes, full of the end-of-summer, roasted into complete sweetness and intensity.

Happy Girl Kitchen also makes vibrant jams, plus canned and pickled veggies. Visit them on-line, or at any number of local farmers markets, and at Staff of Life and Food Bin.

Artisanal cheesemaker and rancher Rebecca King (who was also former chef at Gabriella) emailed to remind me about the chance to purchase freshly dressed, organically-raised young lamb in time for holiday special dinners. The lamb is raised at Monkeyflower Ranch, and fed on pasture grasses, alfalfa and spent organic grains from Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing. Mild and tender, just like the animals themselves, the meat is now available in whole or half carcass. More…