Soif’s Up for Lunch
Starting Wednesday, June 25, Soif is open for lunch. See my post at the top of the page. That's right, wine fans. Now you can enjoy chef Chris Avila's lunches, Wed - Sat, from noon to 2, at Soif, located at 105 Walnut Avenue, in downtown Santa Cruz (831-423-2020) Be...
Never Better
Avanti that is. A few very hot nights ago we gave up on the whole idea of cooking and headed over to Ristorante Avanti where the evening specials dazzled. Under the expertise of lead sauté cook Roberto Serna, two entrees and one shared salad said everything about the...
Range Rover
More will be written - by me among others - about Range, a slender slice of culinary chic at 842 Valencia in the Mission District. But for now let me just give you the short description of our two desserts. One was a thin, thin wedge of fresh rhubarb tart. The thin...
On the Road: don’t leave home without. . .
A decent bottle of red wine. And real glasses, stemware — we got ours at the St. Vincent de Paul store in Paso Robles. $1 each. Wrap them in a tea towel, throw in a bottle opener and a bag of pistachio nuts, and voila! instant happy hour. This sort of emergency...
Mojave Field Trip
On the way to the Mojave — a stunningly beautiful and difficult expanse of geological wildness — we always stop for the night in Paso Robles. Once simply a cow town next to a mission, now a cow town with wraparound vineyards, fine restaurants and a charming grid...
Food for Thought
Now is the best time to dine out at your favorite restaurants. Am I crazy? Nope. Restaurants are in deep fiscal misery, feeling the pinch due to rising fuel costs, lowering dollar and grains being used up for ethanol or shipped halfway around the world. That means...
True Confessions
Barstow is one of those places whose very name sounds like the middle of nowhere. And it just about is. However, if you pass through there at lunchtime — as we did last week — you can do a whole lot worse than pull into the parking lot of IHOP and head for one of...
Try This at Home!
You've noticed that food prices have gone up, up and up? So do something about it! *Stop eating so much meat. Just stop it! Think of chicken, fish, pork and lamb as protein accessories, with fresh, seasonal veggies and whole grains as the main attraction. *Only shop...
Quickie
Farm & Garden Organic Produce Cart - Summer's here and the bounty from UCSC's Agroecology apprentice program is back at the corner of Bay & high Streets, every Tuesday and Friday, noon to 6pm. Flowers, herbs, infant lettuces, chards, onions, strawberries — the array...
Holy Molé!
Cooking adventuress Diana Kennedy will spend three days in the Santa Cruz area - on a lengthy West Coast junket celebrating the long-awaited re-issue of her definitive, and much-loved The Art of Mexican Cooking. It's all here - myriad authentic Oaxacan molés, chile...
Real Strawberries
The Best Strawberries of the Season! Whatever we were eating before, whatever those other little red orbs were that people were trying to call "strawberries," well - this is the real stuff! At New Leaf, look for the little container of RMS Farms Organic Strawberries -...
Bistro Breakfast?
Ham & eggs & a little light bubbly – sounds like breakfast doesn’t it? But it was bistro appetizers at Soif last week. Let me explain. A “small plate†order of salumi caught our eye – but so did the evening special of a poached egg over shiitake mushrooms....
Gabriella: the Never-ending Story
Fresh seafood gets star treatment at the hands of Sean Baker, who makes beautiful food at Gabriella Cafe. Baker is currently running a variety of sculptural crudo appetizers involving artworks of oysters with baby fennel mignonette, uni interspersed with tart minced...
Feel Good Foods @ Vine Hill
The visually delightful, all-organic catering group founded by Heidi Schlecht and Amy Linstrom (who also operate the inviting River Cafe) continues to fuel some of our best parties. Platters lavish with edible flowers, opulent proteas, and other eye-candy adorned the...
Choice Bites
A girl's gotta eat, right? And in this region, that can be a delicious prospect. Over at River Cafe - I do love that place - I drifted into an altered state over a brilliant "salad" of quinoa, that soft, fluffy, Inca grain. The pale yellow quinoa was tossed with...
October 1 – 8 . . .
Meder Street Sunday Market
If you're like us, you live for August and September — dry-farm tomato season! The best, the most intensely-flavored, the juiciest - tomatoes the way the Great Mother intended them to be. And there are lots of terrific tomatoes out there at our farmers markets. But...
NuLu @ Capitola Book Cafe
Restless Lulu Carpenters entrepreneur Manthri Srinath emailed to tell me that his empire now stretches from Scotts Valley, through downtown Santa Cruz and over to....Capitola! Caffeine enabler Srinath has installed all the sensitive and jolting coffee drinks and...
Getting Fresh
The Farm Cart is back at the foot of the UCSC campus, every Tuesday and Friday, and it's loaded with crisp greens, long-stemmed cippolini onions, herbs, flowers and berries. Ah, the blueberries and strawberries have been especially wonderful this year. Maybe it's the...
A Bite of Bastille
Muriel and Michel of Au Midi invite all of their friends and patrons to come to the great French summer fest known as Bastille Day — Tuesday, July 14th, naturellement! The intimate Aptos bistro will be open that evening by reservation only, for a limited seating of...
Block Party Bonanza
Obviously it was an idea whose time had arrived. The idea of an outdoor community dinner seemed simple enough. But who knew that it would be so wildly popular that even before the 6pm start time the long table between Kelly's and its companion wineries was packed....
Grazing Market @ Kelly’s
This Saturday - 6-9pm - June 27 - bring your own plates, utensils & glassware and take a seat at the long, long communal table for a summer al fresco feast. Dining on farm-fresh dishes in the middle of Kelly's Swift & Ingalls parking lot. The idea is effortless. Mark...
Hottest Ticket in Town
That would be Bonny Doon Vineyard's Cellar Door — where Friday night hosted out-of-towners and locals, artists — including "Cigare" sculptor Michael Leeds, who sat directly under his distinctive metal creation (see post below) — and robust ultra-fresh dishes...
MoBo
When that mad scramble for the new and the trendy gets tiring, it's time to get back to basics. Mobo Sushi is not only as good as it ever was, it's now even bigger. Gone are those beloved (or maddening, depending upon your POV) tiered seats. Now Mobo has expanded all...
Scallops @ Soif
The kitchen of Chris Avila just continues to provide comfort to serious foodies and adventurous winos. Take the other evening, for example. Armed with a glass of four-dimensional Sangiovese, I feasted on one of those amazing scallops appetizers Soif does so well. The...