GQ’s Chef of the Year is……
David Kinch - guru-in-charge of Manresa. Read the GQ piece here. Kudos David!
Nutty as a Fruitcake
When my sister and I were little, we would make the annual trek to Aunt Mariana and Uncle Doodle's house for a holiday visit. Aunt Mariana would reach up high into her pantry and take down the fruitcake we were forced to eat each Christmas. My sister and I would...
The other orange drink
Little did I know that I would grow up to consume a breakfast liquid that closely resembles industrial effluent, or rain forest mud mixed with compost. But I do. And I love this stuff. It's loaded with carrot, celery, cucumber, collard greens, kale and parsley. It's...
Saratoga Holiday Wine Stroll
Saratoga by Candlelight — that's what's in store for you if you walk off your Thanksgiving feast at the 2nd Annual Holiday Wine Stroll, Friday, Nov. 25, 4pm til 7pm. You can walk through charming Saratoga, enjoying strolling carolers, take a carriage ride, hear live...
Vine Hill’s new tasting room
The countdown is on for a December 2-3 opening of the area's newest wine tasting room, lodged—logically enough—in the midst of a suite of popular tasting boites at Ingalls & Swift, aka Surf City Vintners by way of Kelly's. Arms still aching from a marathon session...
Holiday Wine @ Shoppers
An unbelievable deal awaits at Shoppers Corner in the form of a 2006 Pinot Noir Anderson Valley from Demuth Winery that drinks like $45 but costs only (better sit down) $9.99. Details. This garnet-hued baby is accessible yet complex, immediate but not superficial....
Paiement & the Masters – UCSC Nov. 18 and 20
The soaring quartets, orchestra and choral passages of Beethoven's mighty Mass in C Major join Mozart's Symphony No. 40, in an evening of definitive musical bravura— with maestra Nicole Paiement at the helm—for two concerts, Friday November 18 and Sunday November...
Lunch @ MOMA
The excuse was the outstanding de Kooning retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art, a sleek exhibition setting that lives up to its classically modern name. But the first thing we did was head up to the 5th floor Terrace cafe for a delightfully civilized early...
Xerxes, the opera
Proving how easily a 250-year-old opera can provide musical epiphany, George Frideric Handel came to San Francisco last week with his delectable pastiche of arias, recitatives, and impossible vocalese —the opera Xerxes. It was probably one of Benjamin Franklin's...
Monday @ Soif
My friend Mateo scarfed down two orders of the Cajun fried oysters while I took my time over this deeply comforting appetizer of sautéed fresh porcinis on toast dusted with parmesan reggiano and topped with a fried egg. It was all the better with a glass of Birichino...
Wine you need to try
Write this down: Palacios "Petalos" Mencia. Now go to Soif. Say out loud the words you wrote down. Wait for a glass of scarlet wine to arrive. Swirl, sniff and drink. Be amazed.
Big Basin, Big Dinner – Nov. 17
Big Basin Vineyards winemaker Bradley Brown teams up with Chef Josiah Slone of Sent Sovi in Saratoga next week for a sparklling four-course dinner on Thursday, November 17. Winemaker Brown will talk about the various wines served, and bring participants up to speed on...
Don Breaks over the SF Opera House
If you think it's not possible to ruin Mozart’s mighty trickster masterpiece Don Giovanni, think again. The new production currently underwhelming audiences at the San Francisco Opera is a directorial mess studded here and there with some tremendous singing and two...
Shrinking Soap!
Dial soap has been a staple in my shower since the pleistocene. Big yellow bar makes for squeaky clean epidermal surfaces, etc. But wait! What's this? No more big bar, now a highly compromised size and a fraudulent shape. Okay. Let me back up a few steps. I'm...
another angle on that fraudulent soap
Is that disgusting or what? I mean look at how they did that. Oh I'm sure their spin doctors put out the word that the new shape was more ergonomic, easier to hold, etc. But it's just smaller, period.
R.I.P. Classical KBOQ
Along with many Monterey Bay listeners, we tuned into 103.9FM Monday evening to enjoy a bit of Mozart with our dinner, only to hear—gasp!—elevator muzak from somewhere in the 70s. What had happened? This is what happened. The Central Coast's only classical music...
Pasta Panache @ Gabriella
Gabriella Cafe chef Adrian Cruz is cooking up gorgeous dishes of sexy, seasonal items - they taste as good as they look. A case in point is this impeccable bowl of tagliatelle, sensuous thick pasta noodles tangled with Monterey Bay calamari, octopus and a dice of...
Barrel Tasting @ Windy Oaks – Oct. 30, 1-5
Come out to Windy Oaks Winery and taste some of Jim Schultze's Burgundian-style 2010 pinot noirs, at a pre-Halloween Barrel Tasting, this Sunday, October 30th from 1-5pm. Sample new releases, Corralitos sausages, gourmet cheeses, and other special 'treats.' The best...
Tuna Can Rant
Actually, it could be about any packaged product on the market today. The incredible shrinking product. It started with the size of the cardboard roll inside toilet paper rolls. The cardboard cylinder is noticeably (i.e. MUCH) wider in diameter than it used to be....
Touch and Go – review
Santa Cruz author Thad Nodine's book is a complete page-turner. Read my complete review here.
Global Village Cafe @ McHenry Library
We checked out the new Global Village Cafe—loaded with the fabulous aromas of Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting company espressos and stocked with pastries, soups, smoothies and even ice creams from Penny Ice Creamery. The Cafe, managed by Adam Hoffman, is very...
Verve in Seabright
Holding down a central spot in the warehouse district next to Pacific Edge climbing gym and behind Day's Market, the spacious new coffee roasting plant for Verve also boasts a very very tiny espresso counter, with a few stools at the bar and unlimited schmoozing space...
Opinionista Outspeak
I am so tired of people complaining that dining out in restaurants is just too expensive. Is it really a big savings if you clip coupons like a mad woman and save $$$ on food you wouldn't normally buy? Are you being totally smart by eating cheap junk food, or...
The Week of Prix Fixe
From the looks of it Santa Cruz Restaurant Week succeeded brilliantly in getting diners out of their kitchens and into some of the top eateries in the county. We stopped by La Posta for three interesting courses, from pizzetta to an imaginative artisanal cheese...