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 strategically located at the entrance to the newly expanded UCSC main library and provides aid and comfort for students who want to work the computers and finish their homework, without experiencing blood sugar crash.
Things are still being finetuned (more…)
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 in the “front yard” parking lot.
The macchiati are terrific, and the ambience is as close to Milanese industrial chic as it’s possible to get on the pacific rim.
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 GMO-riddled highly processed items made by the Friends of Monsanto? Just because they’re “on sale”?
Maybe you could get a bit more creative with slow-cooked stews and pastas most of the week, and then go out to your favorite restaurant feel terrific afterwards?
Point is, dining is not pigging out. It is entirely possible (and satisfying) to have a light dinner of appetizers joined by a glass of interesting wine. That won’t break your budget but it will make you feel a lot better about Life and the state of the world. Burger King mega-calories are not part of prosperity consciousness. Neither is an endless procession, night after night, of frozen mystery entrees from Costco.
Scrimp somewhere else. (more…)
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 platter accompanied by whole walnuts, housemade quince confit and thick local honey.
Kudos to chef Katherine Stern and her hard-working kitchen crew. (more…)
My New Favorite Cigare
It surprised even me that of oh say a dozen vintages sampled last week of Le Cigare Volant—that sensuous blend of syrah, grenache, mourvedre and cinsault—I would find myself leaning into a glass of one of Randall Grahm’s white Rhônes. But I did. (See post below.)
The single vineyard—Beeswax Vineyard, Arroyo Secon, San Benito County—has yielded a formidable 2009 Le Cigare Blanc, made of 57% Grenache Blanc and 43% Roussanne, loaded with tannin and haunting violets and quince, possibly a hint of madrone, perfume. An autumnal green-gold in hue, this is a Byronic riff on central coast terroir. Well worth sitting down and spending some quality time with.
Try it at the Bonny Doon Vineyard tasting room, if you haven’t already scored some for your home cellar.
Inside the Flame
A book of sensory adventure: The rituals, passions and discoveries of an engaged life.