by Christina Waters | Aug 23, 2007 | Home |
One of the joys of wine judging each year at the Santa Cruz Mountains competition, is getting to meet some of area’s top restaurant owners and managers. But this year offered something special — Michel and Muriel Loubiére, natives of France, who have just completed negotiations for their own restaurant — Au Midi. After nine months in our area, the couple has acquired the space of the former Al Boccalino, in Aptos, (behind the Aptos Cinema). Muriel, the chef, and is quite passionate about developing a menu that will not be filled with fussy, heavy old-fashioned French clichés. Au Midi, which the Loubiéres expect to open in late September, will showcase the sunny, fresh, intense flavors of the South of France, which means more olive oil, less butter – more seasonal produce and a leaning toward seafoods.
The preview menus included mussels, scallops, duck magret, pistou, quiches, brandade and pissaladiere, as well as sumptuous salads and tarts all involving local specialty produce. This is exciting news and I wish all bon chance to Muriel and Michel!
by Christina Waters | Aug 23, 2007 | Home, Wine |
The first Thursday of every month, Theo’s hosts a Brown Bag Wine Dinner beginning at 6:30pm. A specific wine varietal is featured each month and Chef Nicci Tripp prepares a 3-course meal to complement the chosen wine. The price is only $45 per person, all inclusive, and you need only bring a bottle of the featured wine or purchase one from the wine list to share. Of course, there’s no corkage fee.
Enjoying a cult following among connoisseurs for over a decade, the Theo’s wine evening is a great place to get started learning about wine. As exciting as the chance is to taste a huge range of wines, and to enjoy a fine dinner as well, for my money the big draw is expert commentary by Anita Sjoberg, who knows more about wine than any ten people you’d care to name. (more…)
by Christina Waters | Aug 14, 2007 | Art |
Wrapping up our tour of this year’s SSC festival, we bundled up for a nighttime performance of The Tempest, an atmospheric bit of surrealism-in-the-redwoods. Thanks to ingenious visuals by costume designer Brandin Barón and lighting design by David Lee Cuthbert, this Tempest sparkled with eye candy. And once again, the most interesting part of seeing all the plays this year is the chance to experience the deep texture created by the repertory casting. As Prospero, the shipwrecked Duke of Milan, James Winker reminds us, “We are such stuff as dreams are made on.” But just last week, I’d been regaled by Winker as the linguistically inept Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing. The same dramatic resonance occurs in the case of Prospero’s daughter, Miranda – played by Barbara Suiter, who also plays the much maligned Hero in Much Ado. The Tempest‘s splendid Caliban is played by Omar Ricks, whose singing enchants Much Ado audiences. The repertory casting lets us watch the range of the actors across at least two separate dramatic scripts. And the glen, as always, more than earns its reputation as a magical performance space — a softly hooting owl high up in the trees added a touch of “brave new world” fantasy during last Saturday’s performance.
Wanting to sink into Shakespeare’s strange saga of humans, gods, beasts and spirits, I found myself distracted by uncertain direction and a few casting issues. (more…)
by Christina Waters | Aug 8, 2007 | Home, Movies |
Hot and fast enough to pierce full body armor, The Bourne Ultimatum locks on and doesn’t let up for almost two hours. Utterly jet-propelled, this flick delivers rock solid movie licks and then some. Don’t even think about waiting until it’s out in DVD — you gotta see this one on the Big Screen so that you can go for what amounts to one Very Big Ride.
I promise that you will be glued to your seat, unable to breathe, during this intense and intelligent flash cinema spectacle. Let’s just say that Bourne makes James Bond look positively lethargic. (more…)
by Christina Waters | Aug 8, 2007 | Home |
Attic View: Interesting news about The Attic changing hands. It’s high time the place got spruced up a bit. It’s so, well, listless. And hopefully someone will toss the revolving display case with all that plastic-wrapped cake. . . . Went to May’s at the former Takara site on Soquel Avenue, where the hand-written sign assured us — “We Now Open.” Well, may be, but may be not. The sushi wrappers kept unwrapping, the server insisted that we “Enjoy,” and the beer and wine license has not yet arrived. . . . The new Batik Cafe, at former Parwana site next to the Rio Theater, is slated to open on Aug 18. . . . Wish I could tell you that Oswald would be opening soon. According to Eric Lau, things are taking, well, longer than they wanted. “But this is going to be a real restaurant,” he assured me, “with real restroom facilities, ” he laughed. And two and a half times the space of the late, great bistro. “We’re making progress, but there’s a lot of progress to be made,” Lau said. Realistically, “we’re looking at the first of the year,” for a new, revamped Oswald (at the corner of Soquel and Front Streets).
