Piece of Cake
In a room that smelled like paradise I watched a woman adding intricate lettering to the top of a freshly-made birthday cake.
Find out where I was.
In the March 5, Metro Santa Cruz.
A16 in San Francisco
To Die For!: Giving new meaning to the word “chocolate,†was a spectacular chocolate budino tart I shared with friends on the night of the recent lunar eclipse. The place was A16 (see the current Condé Nast Traveler), on Chestnut Street in San Francisco. A long, lean series of rooms, the red-hot Italian dining spot is crowned by a pizza oven and house-made salumi. But the budino. Jeez Louise.To-die-for (yes, it IS time to revive that useful phrase).
We began with shared plates of an erotically-textured burrata with crostini and an order of ciccioli – a house specialty terrine of pork that was nothing short of stupendous. No fussy presentation – but the flavors were intense and joyful. We shared a salad of slightly warm yellow beets and marinated fennel, topped with shaved pecorino. God! Our wine was a bottle of round and spicy Cusumano Sagana 04 Nero d’Avola from a menu of Italian wines that is deep as well as wide. A full page just of Sicilian reds! Okay, calm down Christina. (more…)
Maderos @ Gabriella
Recent paintings by Tom Maderos – plein air and still life specialist – will fill the interior of Gabriella Cafe starting on March 10. The show, which continues through May 5, will show off Maderos’ expressionistic skills with oil on canvas. If Diebenkorn had painted the Santa Cruz coast, the effect might be close to the luscious composition of Maderos’ color-saturated work. (“El View Lodge” shown here.) Like those of the Bay Area school of the 1960s, Maderos’s flat picture plane is rich with sensuous color, unexpected spatiality and the figurative pushed almost to abstraction. Unfussy, almost effortless (at least in appearance) these artworks will keep diners company as they enjoy the edible artwork of chef Sean Baker.
Maderos’ paintings are also available, “to go,” if you get my meaning. I have one of his austere floral studies hanging in my office.
Gabriella Cafe – 910 Cedar Street in downtown Santa Cruz.
Oscar Mop-up
Did I call it, or what? Well, almost. I was wrong about Julie Christie, but otherwise . . . An all-European quartet of major Oscar-winners surely made a statement, though I’m not quite sure what it was. It’s hard not to be moved at Javier Bardem‘s jubilation (AP photo). Other than being thrilled about the Coen brothers big win – a more laconic duo is just not imaginable – there were a few, uh, highs.
The beyond-sexy Bardem kissing co-star Josh Brolin. Daniel Day-Lewis kissing George Clooney. Great moments in metrosexuality. Day-Lewis being knighted by “the Queen,” was a delicious bit of improv, as was the slash-and-burn haircut on screenplay winner Diablo Cody — who deserves an Oscar just for her name. (more…)
Heritage Birds et al.
At Avanti last week, Jack feasted on his beloved meatballs with ribbons of pappardelle (they are killer) , while I roamed the range looking for some new flavor hit. Big fun arrived in the form of a roast half Poulet Rouge, one of those deeply flavored, heirloom French breeds that are wowing foodies all over the Bay Area these days.
Avanti’s kitchen finished the roast poultry with a red wine sauce, and served it with an unctuous parmesan risotto and a watercress salad ($17). Shaved fennel topped the risotto, which made a fine impression on the poulet. It really does taste like a meal in France, only much closer to my house. . . If you’re lovin’ the pork chops at Avanti, then you are familiar with the pasture-raised, organically-fed pigs raised by Jim Dunlop of TLC Ranch. (more…)
Inside the Flame
A book of sensory adventure: The rituals, passions and discoveries of an engaged life.