by Christina Waters | Jul 27, 2007 | Food, Home |
Pastry poetry deepens at Gabriella with the handiwork of Jessica Yarr. Imagine polenta cake with sweet corn gelato. Chocolate torte with amaretto whipped cream. Endless hand-crafted truffles in amazing complexity – dark dark chocolate, sherry-tinged chocolate, chocolate romanced by hazelnuts. Yes, yes, yes!. . . . The ribs at Hula’s are good enough to turn even the most stubborn vegan. Well, almost. . . and La Bruschetta up in Felton is not the same since Luca Rubino sold it this spring. You can still find Rubino’s distinctive touch at In Vino Veritas in Scotts Valley. Thank God! . . . Don’t miss the designer fish tacos at Kelly’s on the Westside. . . And if you can find a bottle of Sones Cellars Petite Sirah, buy it. It’s a bottle-full of huge ripe berries and spice, from a local, micro-winery. Or enjoy a glass at Gabriella. Your call.
by Christina Waters | Jul 20, 2007 | Home |
Tom Maderos can paint his way out of a paper bag. He pays attention to the way the light strikes the water. The way the sun hits the cliffs. Come see how the coast looks according to his imagination.
Coastal/Abstracts – a show of work by Tom Maderos – opens on August 3 (with reception from 5-9pm) and runs through the end of the month. It happens at the Attic Gallery, 931 Pacific Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz. For details call 831/457-8143 or tom@ebold.com.
[The image here is entitled West Cliff View 4.]
by Christina Waters | Jul 19, 2007 | Home |
I don’t know who this guy is, but he’s a genius with that big rig he slams up and down Empire Grade these days. Part of an expert road crew, he works his multi-ton Cat with the precision of a surgeon. Completely focused, he can pick up massive baby-blue PVC pipes and lay them back down with the delicacy of Martha Stewart arranging place settings.
Seriously, he’s good. No, he’s better than good. He’s a virtuoso of heavy equipment. You could lay your baby down in the middle of the road trusting that this guy could excavate, lay pipe and fill it all in again without getting so much as a grain of sand in the little one’s eye.
Awesome!
by Christina Waters | Jul 19, 2007 | Home, Wine |
That would be the magnificent and strange Proietti “Vignalibus” Cesanese from Olevano Romano Italy, now available at Soif retail for a worth-every-penny-of-it $28.
This blood red bottle of vintage 2005 Cesanese grapes offers a rich, musty nose like old roses and deep raspberries, before unpacking its elegant stash of tannins. A lovely creation full of restraint, that doesn’t give itself too quickly.
At times it tends toward zinfandel, yet it remains true to its own idiosyncratic character. I found more rose bouquet as it opened, and a persistant perfume of bricks and geraniums with a hit of vanilla at the bottom. At 13.5% it is an adult wine for stylish and endless summers.
by Christina Waters | Jul 18, 2007 | Food, Home |
Have you ever left a restaurant and wondered “Who gave these people a business loan?” Right. Then you know how I feel now that I’ve sampled what is advertised as “Classic Southern Italian Cooking” at the new place on Soquel Avenue. If you know the food business, or have an experienced cook, or even a few killer recipes — it would make sense that you might want to open an eating place. Lacking any of the above, opening a restaurant in a town full of creative food, is simply suicide.
I have no wish to hurt anyone pouring heart and soul into a new business. But vanity restaurants should pay us to stop by. A person who knows nothing about cars wouldn’t be wise to open an auto body shop, right? So why would merely opening a few cans and putting some over-sized photographs on the walls qualify someone for restaurant ownership?
Southern Italian? I don’t think so. Southern Philly, maybe, (more…)
