Category: BiteClub

Suddenly cranberries have lost their luster. The thought of reheating the leftover stuffing and potatoes one more time makes give you the chills. And turkey? The mere mention is shudder-worthy. It’s time for a little post-Thanksgiving, pre-holiday eating that has absolutely nothing to do with the T-word. Look forward to Wednesdays and Saturdays at the […]

Experimentation in the kitchen is not a welcome Thanksgiving tradition. Trust me, I’ve tried it and I have the electric knife scars to show for it. You don’t mess with turkey or gravy or mom’s sausage stuffing or cranberry sauce in a can. The mere whiff of something different sets folks into a frenzy of […]

Revised for 2007, but with that same ’06 flavor you’ve come to love… You could wake up at 4am and stick your hand into the backside of a frozen turkey. You could slave away in the kitchen all day just to have your mother tell you the potatoes are lumpy and the gravy lacks her […]

Ready for a little exotic eating? Braised antelope, buffalo rib eye, venison carpaccio , wild boar spare ribs and elk loin are on the menu all week at two area restaurants–John Ash & Co and Hurley’s in Napa. The dinners have become an annual event at Hurley’s, coinciding with the beginning of the hunting season, […]

If you’ve ever had a close friend eat at the French Laundry, you’ve probably ended up on the receiving end of the Conciliatory Cookies and Too Bad Truffles, AKA Pastry Chef Claire Clark’s shortbread and chocolates. It works something like this. Your pal gets the meal of a lifetime. Busting to tell you about it […]

As you’ve probably figured out by now, BiteClub’s got a thing for being first. Especially when it comes to food. Doubly so when it comes to snacks. So you can imagine how freakishly jacked-up I get when five bags of not-yet-released-to-the-public Fire & Spice potato chips land on the doorstep for my tasting pleasure.* Not […]

A while back, a BiteClubber asked about local Russian restaurants or bakeries. Well, I’ve been doing my homework, and the news wasn’t especially good. Despite a growing population of Russian and Slavic folks in the area, they’re woefully under-represented in the restaurant department. In fact, the only spot where you could reliably buy piroshki in […]

Is there a Brit-pub brouhaha brewing in Santa Rosa? Just months after Toad in the Hole opened its doors in Railroad Square; Stout Brothers Pub has finally opened on Fourth Street with a similar fish and chips, bangers and Guinness focus. But that’s about where the similarities end. Stout Bros. owners have transformed the former […]

The Sebastopol spot that’s seen as many reincarnations as Shirley MacLaine is closing again. But fear not. It will reopen. According to the owners of the Sebastopol Brewing Company, they’ll be throwing in the towel on November 1 after two years at the downtown location. Going out with a bang, however, the Brewing Company will […]