by Christina Waters | Sep 23, 2009 | Food, Home |
Kawa Sushi – two words that spell instant oral gratification. Spacious interior, pristine, high-quality sushi and sashimi, friendly service, and a user-friendly sake happy hour for those who like to dine early and often.
Here’s our dinner last Tuesday – including our new favorite roll, the Santa Cruz roll. Mmmmm. Protein in the most gorgeous delivery packages human culture has yet devised.
Don’t complain about the awkward location – you can’t miss it. Corner of Bay & Mission. Kawa Sushi. Much more sophisticated than those places where you need headphones just to wade through the sonic konichiwas…..
by Christina Waters | Sep 22, 2009 | Home, Wine |
You bet I absolutely believe that $7.99 is a true deal for a better-than-decent bottle of refreshing, low-oak French Chardonnay.
So I loaded up at New Leaf last week on my new favorite easy-sippin’ late summer white – a 2007 Loire Chardonnay from Domaine Roc de Châteauvieux. Light – 12.5% – but still nuanced, this minerally beauty offers nose of white flowers (maybe some jasmine, perhaps alyssum) followed by salt and a lemony finish. Completely likeable, it works equally well with halibut and aged sheep cheese.
HOWEVER – I went out today and checked the wine racks at New Leaf and…the price is now $9.99 for this lovely white wine.
Yes, it IS still a very good deal. But I think there must be some sort of pre-emptive cliché for this situation….something like “carpe diem,” or “she who hesitates pays two dollars more.”
Worth a try, even at $9.99.
by Christina Waters | Sep 16, 2009 | Home |
by Christina Waters | Sep 9, 2009 | Food, Home, Wine |
No longer just a gorgeous place in Spain, Mundaka is also the name of a hot new tapas restaurant in the center of Carmel. Gabe Georis and his partners have worked interior design miracles with burnished, distressed and time-worn recycled materials, all of which give a distinctive patina to the two spacious dining rooms of this chic new spot.
Last week, armed with graceful tumblers of Spanish varietals — a white Txakoli and a mighty Rioja from M. de Legarda crianza, both loaded with minerals, fruit and a perfume of sea salt — we worked our way through several rounds of $2 pintxos. These tiny tastes, maybe three bites each, included a brandade on sliced potato, stacks of salmon, pink beets and caper berries, an outrageously garlicky baguette topped with fresh tomatoes and (I know, I just said it) garlic, plus duxelles topped with air-dried beef. Major flavor intensity in every bite.
The central room, with its upright piano, steep stairway to a mysterious (more…)
by Christina Waters | Sep 8, 2009 | Food, Home |
