Obamanation
Finally a candidate offering just what we want – our own self-esteem. Taller, slimmer, younger, he’s exactly what America wants to be. The culturally-approved facade. The kind of self-image sold on television - "only three easy payments of $19.95!" In his empty...
Coen Country
A high-testesterone cast, a terse script crafted from a Cormac McCarthy western, and the mordant humor of the Coen brothers — No Country for Old Men is as close to flawless as it gets. Go see it just to see why Tommy Lee Jones’ face is a national treasure. Go see...
Nation of Groupies!
Isn't anyone else getting tired of his mechanical chanting, the chilling delivery, the obvious manipulation? The last time Americans voted for someone who spoke in such repetitive, glib generalities and revealed so little of substance about himself, we ended up with...
There Will Be Blood
It's not hard to believe, watching There Will Be Blood, that Daniel Day-Lewis could simply do a Google Search for an Oscar, and it would arrive at his door the next day via FedEx. He's that good. And in this would-be epic by director Paul Thomas Anderson, his...
The Glass Ceiling Just Got Thicker!
Being embraced by the Hero of Chappaquiddick might not be the sort of endorsement an aspiring leader would want. But then, as I watch the cameras pan the Senate at last night's repeat of every other Bush State of the Union speech, I get a queasy feeling as I see the...
Chocolate Fantasies – Citrus Dreams
Guess where these incredible ganache-frosted chocolate merlot cakes are being created? (Answer: read my upcoming Metro Santa Cruz profile - issue of February 6.)
We spent a knockout birthday dinner at the very new, very accomplished Limoncello (503 Water Street, on the site of the former Bella Napoli). Thanks to chef Giovanni di Maio, every course was solid — as satisfying as it was beautiful. From creamy buffalo mozzarella...
Chocolate for Grown-ups
Maybe it was the understated crimson wrapper. Maybe it was the elegant matte finish. Maybe it was the prospect of dark chocolate inflected with something dramatically different. Whatever it was about that bar of Café-Tasse artisenal chocolate I saw at Shoppers, I...
Dream Ticket – A Modest Proposal
What's wrong with a Clinton/Obama ticket, with Hillary on top? The O man gets down with 8 years of solid, on-the-job training - and then slides on into the Oval Office right after that..... Last night's debate looked a lot like prom night courtship behavior to me. If...
Rare Tipple
It was Capricorn Birthday night at the Ideal Restaurant, and I joined a small band of other January birthday boys and girls for the super dooper Prime Rib dinner — free to patrons with birthdays in that month. Do I need to tell you that the place was packed to the...
Cafe Rouge
Is it just me or is Berkeley really more there than most other places in the Bay Area? Whatever it is, I shamelessly confess that I like having lunch all by myself at one of the outdoor tables of Cafe Rouge. This hopelessly hip place holds down one corner of the 4th...
Diving Bell Hits Bottom
How much is Julian Schnabel paying the film critics? There's no other reason why intelligent film-goers would succumb to the sophomoric exercise in cinematic vanity that is The Diving Bell & the Butterfly. Intrigued by raves from a wide range of reviewers, including...
Smith Gallery Opening
We joined art lovers this weekend at the opening of Linda Pope's latest curatorial creation at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery at UCSC. Claire Lerner's eclectic combinations of photographic images and mixed media - "The Relaxation Project" (detail,r.) fills the Main...
Dish du Jour at Avanti
Once again, Avanti scores a direct hit - this time the kitchen won us over with a lunch special of braised pork (pastured pork from TLC Ranch, butchered at the restaurant), golden chanterelles and tumescent, gravity-defying gnocchi. The pork surrendered upon impact,...
Apocalyptic Behavior
Americans in record numbers are exercising their metastasized souls and fickle appetites. And it's not on eBay - it's on the presidential primaries. I thought this was supposed to be a presidential election, not a national installment of "American Idol." But I was...
Gayle’s Turns 30!
Unbelievable - but true. While the actual celebration happens on February 14, the glorious bakery and rosticerria is offering oodles of great reasons to come to Gayle's starting right now. Pictured here is a lunch we took home last week — luscious rosti from the...
Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
Only 3600 bottles of St. George "Absinthe Verte" were made last year by inventive distiller Lance Winters. And I scored one of them last week. Yes, this was the allegedly hallucinogenic tipple that fueled artists, poets and bohemians at the turn-of-the-century. Think...
Texas Tipple
It's not everyday I'm faced with a wine made in Texas. So when my New Year's Eve hosts offered me a glass of McPherson Viognier, I struggled to suppress a smug smile. What I tasted wiped that grin right off my face. A Viognier from Lubbock! And a good one. Who knew?...
Stormy Weather
We lost two local legends last week — Gilda Stagnaro, matriarch of the wharf, and Gary Lease, scholar, hunter extraordinaire and Professor of History of Consciousness. Gilda made a place at her table for over 35 years for devoted locals and delighted visitors. A...
National Drek
How can we explain the Disney-produced mess that is National Treasure 2? How is it possible that Nicolas Cage - with his monochromatic, slack-jawed, puppy-eyed expression, his bad dye job, his cornball tendency to break out in patriotic sweats at the drop of a hat -...
Malibu New Year
Röckenwagner for our last lunch of 2007 - and Parkhouse Eatery for the first lunch of 2008. Delicious in both cases. Especially the plump old-fashioned apple pancake with crème fraiche at Röckenwagner Cafe & Bakery in Venice's Abbot Kinney boutique district,...
More Election 101
Is Ron Paul the village idiot? the court fool? or one of the smartest secret weapons in the Republican arsenal? Think about it. Why is this stranger-than-fiction gnome up there on the stage with all those relatively clear-headed straight-arrows? Here's why. Paul is so...
NewLu’s
When Joseph Schultz tells you, "this place has the best coffee in town," you tend to pay attention. The founding chef/ethno-gastronomer for the late, great India Joze Restaurant was referring to the new Lulu Carpenter's housed in the new/old Octagon across from...
Aptos Au Midi
The Chocolate Creation of the Year: Yearning for some authentic French cooking? You will want to sample the handiwork of chef Muriel Loubiere, who along with husband Michel has opened Au Midi, a small, charming place devoted to a small menu of French culinary hits....