Category: BiteClub

Is that a hint of Clear Lake I’m detecting in my wine? Could be. If you’re drinking some of Napa and Sonoma’s most popular wines you may be getting more than just a whiff of Lake County grapes. With its hot summer days, accelerated growing season and cheap land (by northern California standards, at least), […]

Let them eat faux grasWhen chefs in Chicago were banned from using foie gras in their restaurant, they got creative. Instead of prized duck liver (the animals are force-fed to artificially enlarge the liver), they’re using everything from chicken livers to garbanzo beans to approximate the taste and texture. A recipe for chicken liver faux […]

Big changes for the Carneros Inn’s FARM restaurant. Opening chef Kimball Jones, formerly of Campton Place has departed. Jeff Jake, who recently jumped ship after opening Bar Vino in Calistoga (while doing double duty as Brannan’s exec. chef) has been named as executive chef for the Inn (which includes Boon Fly Cafe, FARM and the […]

Everyone loves a comeback story. All the better when it involves Kobe beef. After years of lurking in the shadows as a solid, but not particularly innovative Sonoma institution, the General’s Daughter has been reinvented as one of the most consistently impressive restaurants in Wine Country. No easy task. Because the only thing more difficult […]

The BuzzSeems Santa Rosa wasn’t quite ready for Nirvana’s high-concept Indian fusion. The restaurant has reportedly closed. Though BiteClub was initially enthusiastic about the food, continued problems with service and consistency–as well some fairly rabid counter-advertising by nearby Sizzling Tandoor–seem to have doomed the restaurant.The TightwadFerrari tastes on a Volkswagon budget? BiteClub gets it. Get […]

The next time Incanto’s Chris Cosentino asks me if I want to watch him break down a whole pig–nose-to-tail–I swear I’m going to take him up on it. One of my biggest foodie regrets, in fact, was passing by the chance to see this offalist at work, elbow-deep in hog. Because while most of us […]

After months of anticipation, Railroad Square’s Toad in the Hole pub will open at the auspicious hour of 4:20pm Friday, July 27. If you don’t get the significance, uh, ask your kids. The English style bar and eatery will offer Bangers & Mash, fish and chips, meat pies and other tasty Brit fare from former […]