Cafe Society
If you look around you might just spot a 21st century Simone de Beauvoir or Jean-Paul Sartre sitting and scribbling something deep at one of the little tables on the deck of River Cafe, at 415 River Street in Santa Cruz. The perfect spot to soak up a bit of winter...
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...
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....
Oswald Update, etc.
First off, there are changes on Water Street. Il Trullo is changing hands - and soon to become something called Limoncello. The word on the street is that Giovanni di Maiao, chef of the original Cafe Bella Napoli, might be coming back to the kitchen. Mangiamo, and...
Condiment of the Week
That would be the "Original California-Style" hot pepper sauce known as (ta-da!) The Pepper Plant. We discovered this zippy hot sauce at Margie's Diner in Paso Robles on the way back from the Mojave last week. Made in Gilroy, this all-natural product is saucy and...
Bean There
Rummaging around the seductive shelves at River Cafe & Cheese Shop, I was looking for a substantial lunch. Something to go with that fabulous bbq pulled pork and slaw sandwich. Hmmm, what's this? A platter filled with gemlike gigante beans, green olives, yellow...
Autumn Vinaigrette
Ginger & Garlic Vinaigrette: Perfect with arugula. Three parts minced ginger to one part minced garlic. That's how it begins. Then whisk in your best olive oil and sherry vinegar in 3 to 1 proportions. Add sea salt to taste. Toss with arugula. Killer. (You'll...
Halloween Sushi
You haven't lived until you've seen a sushi bar decorated for Halloween. Mobo did a fine, if restrained job of tossing a few pumpkins and spiders and cobwebs here and there on October 31. But I was there for one thing - my favorite guilty pleasure lunch. Sushi. More...
Tourist Dining, L.A. Part I
Granted this is high-end tourist dining, but still...when in the belly of the downtown LA art scene — I refer to the splendid, if self-congratulatory performative smorgy known as the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Mark Taper Forum, the Disney Hall, yada yada — you...
Tourist Dining, L.A. Part 2
After the performance, I roamed the broad sidewalks outside the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion along with most of the Mark Morris Dance Group audience — we were trying to come back to earth. Across the street in the gleaming Disney Hall is Joachim Splichal's flagship...
The Emperor Has No Clothes
The subject is lettuce mix. I guess I've just had enough. Yesterday, as I once again picked over the wilted, tired lettuces in the mix at New Leaf - searching for a handful of greens that still looked as though they still retained some lifeforce, I realized it had...
Au Midi Opens
Michel Loubiere, whose wife Muriel is a talented chef, emailed to tell me that the couple will unveil their new restaurant, Au Midi, this weekend. The French dining spot is located in Aptos, in the tiny center behind the Aptos Cinema, at 7960 Soquel Drive. I'm looking...
Tripp Does Cheese
Here's a highlight of Theo's chef Nicci Tripp demonstrating one of his delightful house cheeses for Wine Country magazine.
Changes
Severino's Community Butcher is heading back east! The talented couple, Hilary Prescott and Justin “Blade Runner†Severino will be leaving the area at the end of the year. Headed for Pennsylvania. “We’ve got family there, we can afford to buy a home and raise...
Farmers Markets Rule!
If you haven’t yet gotten the message that the Saturday morning Westside Farmers Market is THE happening place, then allow me to put you straight. Last weekend the market seemed to have doubled its size — harvest time has filled every one of the organic produce,...
Sean Does Salumi
Here's an example of the Sean Baker all-star line-up of handmade salumi, available to adventurous diners at Gabriella Cafe and at the new Le Cigare Volant cafe at Bonny Doon tasting room on Ingalls Street. These gorgeous paper-thin specialties taste even better than...
Limoncello!
Yes, chef Giovanni diMaio did deliver what we expected last week at a wonderful Limoncello lunch. I like to use the holidays as an excuse to take my mom and aunt out for lunch, and Limoncello surpassed our hopes. Manicotti with a dreamy ragu, veal piccata with...
Philly Tartare
Here's another reason why I love to visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The museum's restaurant invariably offers gorgeous lunch dishes for excellent prices. This salmon tartare, served on a bed of transparent zucchini ribbons and topped with shaved fennel and a...
Cheese Whiz
Everybody loves cheese, but few of us get to hang out with someone whose cheese lore is deep and pungent. That someone would be fromagiere Andrea London who can talk époisses and cabicou 'til the cows come home. How exciting it was to discover last week that London...
Oswald IS Opening!
And according to co-owner Eric Lau, we're talkin' weeks. "The goal was for us to be open on the 15th of this month," Lau told me today. "We've got all the big stuff done. But now it's just the details — furniture, glassware, that stuff." Lau went on the record as...
Italy – a few more tastes
So how was this latest trip to Italy? Here are a few choice images - words to follow. Mint tagliarelli with fresh porcinis — at La Bussola in Firenze. Quite possibly the finest plate of pasta I've ever had.
Late Harvest Salad
While quaffing a bracing bit of white wine from the French Savoie, I inhaled my new favorite appetizer at Soif. Served in a rustic glazed dish, fat gigande beans were joined by pancetta and those sexy end-of-the-season tomatoes that taste like a Mediterranean smile....
Fall Attractions: TomatoFest
Pomodori Time! The 17th Annual NatureSweet Carmel TomatoFest®, happens once again on Sunday, September 14, 2008,12:30 pm, at the magnificent Quail Lodge Resort in Carmel.Founder/Director of the TomatoFest®, Gary Ibsen, announced that 60 of America’s finest chefs...
Snowden Cooks!
Hands-On Sensations: Foodwise, you need to make plans to join mega-food instructor, menu designer and restaurateur Mimi Snowden at one of her upcoming Cooking Classes. Sept. 18th & 19th- "An Indian Summer," an end of summer BBQ with succulent bbq lamb. October 23rd &...
Culinary Changes
The talented Nicci Tripp, whose sophisticated orchestrations of fine, seasonal ingredients helped reinforce Theo's culinary reputation for the past seven years, has left the Soquel landmark to become General Manager and Executive Chef at Vida, located at 1222 Pacific...