Best Pasta
The maccioroncini with wild rabbit and celery ragu at Beccofino.
Dessert of the Week
Black Mission figs are given new glory in a fabulous end-of-summer dessert from the feverish mind of chef Sean Baker. You may need to sit down for this. Four pillows of lemon and cardoon-honey-laced mascarpone were each topped with a ripe fig, sliced open to reveal...
On a Roll
Are these the best dinner rolls in town? Very likely. The small, elegantly-shaped francese rolls from Gayle's — not those enormous sandwich francese rolls, but the neat, oval babies with crisp edges, gossamer crust and soft, fragrant interiors. They are good beyond...
Star of East Cliff Drive
Giovanni's back, and Star Bene's got him! The chef/owner of the former Caffe Bella Napoli is now the starring attraction at the cozy (and hard to find) E. Cliff Drive dining room, where Ceil and I feasted last night. We started with excellent focaccia to dredge...
Dish of the Week
Thank you Ben Sims for making my new favorite dish — Avanti's weekend special of braised pork shoulder in white wine and tomatoes. Thank you for your exquisitely sensitive touch with the pork, so that it falls effortlessly into bite-sized shreds. The succulent...
Picnic with the Bard
Get ready for some shameless self-endorsement. I created a sandwich so good I have to share it with you. And yes, you can try this at home. Well, just like every year since the beginning of time, I got ready for the SSC Festival Glen production - in this case, the...
Sweet
The pastry case at Kelly's - a delicious argument in favor of almost anything.
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Fusion Reaction
The subtext behind complaints about multi-cuisine restaurants (see my mini-rant below) is not only that it's incredibly difficult to get one culinary genre right, much less two or three. But that calling a place, e.g. an "Asian Restaurant" implies that there is such a...
Grahm Does Manresa
The irrepressible Randall Grahm, winemaker of Bonny Doon Vineyard will lead gastronomes through a memorable evening of wine and cuisine at Manresa, in Los Gatos, on September 7. Chef David Kinch will prepare a four-course dinner at his Michelin-starred landmark,...
A Fusion Too Far?
"Chinese-Japanese Cuisine" says the sign on the old China Station building at Fair & mission, which is currently being revamped for a future opening. Huh? The Westside is prime restaurant territory, where roving foodies (not to mention ravenous students) eagerly await...
Salad Daze
Ben Sims at Avanti made my new favorite summer salad last week. Fresh local albacore confit, shredded into unctuous morsels and then arranged with organic green beans, heirloom baby tomatoes and a garlicky, fresh aioli garnish. Consumed with something in the key of...
Another Reason to Live
At this week's SCMWA professional wine judging, Lionel Le Morvan of Ma Maison Restaurant laid out a spread that was truly choice. Giant shrimps from French New Caledonia, coucous with succulent chicken and fiery harissa, housemade lamb sausages (tdf!), gorgeous...
Scallops @ Soif
My new favorite light dinner - three fat, perfectly cooked scallops sitting on a bed of crunchy, roasted cauliflower. The sauce? A dazzling sweet-&-salty puree of raisins and capers. For $13, it's an affordable luxury. Add a Gruner Veltliner and find yourself smiling...
Cocktails @ Clouds
Moss doesn't grow on Lou Caviglia, who lies awake at night dreaming up ever more tantalizing deals-of-the-century. My friend Susan adores the Martini Dinner specials at Clouds, and she showed me why last week when four of us lived large for very little $$$ at the...
Last Tango?
Since the "peace candidate" has announced that we should be sending more troops to Afghanistan, I figure it's time to party like there's no tomorrow. And to help, here's a new organic, luxurious butter from the nice folks of Clover. Ultra-creamy European-style,...
Fresh Mint Gelato: the Sequel
Yes, I know. Many of you ran out to Shoppers to find this extraordinary frozen sin and it was all gone. Here's why. My original source, gourmet realtor Dee Vogel, confessed. She kept buying tub after tub of this Ciao Bella gelato, and has by her own admission taken on...
Farm-fresh Produce
By now you've already finished up your romance with English peas and have moved on to peaches and chiogga beets. We've been enjoying the strawberries and tender baby greens — both wild and cultivated — offered by the Farm Cart at UCSC. Tuesdays and Fridays, the...