Summer Fireworks @ Gabriella
Sean Baker, wunderkind chef at Gabriella, has been joined by new pastry chef Jessica Yarr (former sous chef at Theo's) for what can only be called a culinary summer of love. Baker, who you'll recall is a Cordon Bleu grad, formerly of Zibibbo in Palo Alto and...
Quickies
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,...
Fresh Paint
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...
CatMan
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...
All Red, All the Time
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...
Clueless Kitchen
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...
Question
Where can I find "Profumo di Genova" basil? Seeds, plants, leaves - anybody got a source?
Anglo Philia
Those words do not describe a naughty predilection. It just means that I love England and never more than last month when I spent a few days on the moors of the Peak District, Derbyshire, hiking with my friend Graham and spending huge sums of money on memorable, if...
Are They Kidding?
We just returned from a breakfast outing to an establishment north of Santa Cruz - old place, new revamp - that can't possibly be serious about serving food. It can't actually desire to win the hearts and minds of customers. Can it? I mean it took thirty minutes for...
Flashpoint!
And another thing......I'm not the only Santa Cruz resident who has to think twice about going to dinner or movies downtown. Problem is — the two hour parking meters, each one of which is attached to a predatory meter "person" with a stop watch. How the hell are we...
Volcanic Red
Here's my new favorite wine — from Sicily, home of volcanic soils, radiant climate and sensuous foods. This lusty cabernet sauvignon is Timpaia 2004, from Feudi di San Giuliano ($17.99 at Shoppers). At 13.5% alcohol it's big enough to have a mind of its own, but not...
Max Walden: R.I.P.
Goodbye to the man whose playful vision, and entrepreneurial savvy once defined — the Cooper House — the atmosphere of downtown Santa Cruz. Many will miss him, just as they miss those wild days when Cher used to hold down a bar stool at the original...
Zeffirino – a Genovese Landmark
A few weeks ago I joined two vivacious residents of Rome (one from the US, the other originally from Canada) for a meal of stellar regional cuisine and old-fashioned, unapologetically attentive service at Zeffirino, a celebrated Genoa dining room since 1939. Utterly...
Just Say “No!” to Long-Distance Produce
Since we all have access to any number of fabulous farmers markets, is there really any excuse for us to even consider buying produce that has been shipped across the country? No, of course not. Okay. Now my question is to our local grocery stores. Why would YOU even...
Genoa on my mind
It's been over a week since I left the jungles of Heathrow for the sanctuary of San Francisco. And I still find myself thinking about the ease of dining on the Italian Riviera. Genoa might not register much more than a blip on the world culinary radar, but it easily...
About the Masthead Photos…
The glassy silver sea at the top of my homepage this week was glimpsed just beyond my favorite sandstone cliffs. Nests of the beautiful cepphus colomba are now stocked with aerobatic babies there. Smell the salt air?
Riviera Dining
Frutti di mare - "fruit of the sea" - Italian really does have a zesty way of describing the world. Well, seafood - especially calamari, octopus and shrimps - was on every menu I found during my trip to Genoa and the Italian Riviera last week. The first night, I...
First Thoughts on Genoa
It will take another week to sort through all of my tasting notes from the recent week in Genoa, but I can state my case in a single word — pesto. Here on the beyond beautiful Ligurian coast of Italy, pesto isn't remotely like the rather tedious glop of green-tinged...
Yes, Portofino is as beautiful as
you've always thought. Think of the most beautiful piece of California coastline. Now compress it, steepen the hillsides, intensify the blue-green of the water, add truly tasteful shops and a scattering of outdoor cafes. A castle on one overlook, a chapel on another....
Sculpting a Plan for Peace
The Rosecrans Project Art Exhibit, is the work of San Diego-based sculptor Brad Burkhart, whose inspiration for the project is the process of envisioning a post-war world. The opening reception is this Friday, June 29, at 6pm at Louden Nelson Center. It began when...
The Wine Boss, the Wine . . .
Well, the wine I fell in love with was a Windy Oaks Pinot Noir 2003 to die for! It had everything - supple, plummy, some olallieberry, a hint of leather (the kind on a jacket that has been worn by an Italian BMW driver) and only 14.2 alcohol. Enough to hold all those...
Art at the Beach
Porcelain artist Jenny Morten is at it again — plan to show up at Esplanade Park in Capitola, on June 24 to be amazed by Morten's delicate vases and bowls in colors of the sea. Sumptuous stuff. "Art at the Beach" - it was good enough for Monet. It's good enough for...
What are we reading?
Well, I'll tell you. Here's what's sitting on the coffee table as we head into summer. Gertrude, Hermann Hesse's third novel - a love triangle involving a composer and his colleagues. Vasari's Lives of the Artists, v.2 - in which the chatty renaissance art...
Feed a Cold
River Cafe & Cheese Shop has blown me away once again. And it's not simply that one entire counter-top of fresh, decadent desserts should be declared illegal. Especially those addictive Valrhona chocolate brownies. The other day Jack had a cold, so to pamper him I...