Seafood Brasserie

BiteClub has learned that Seafood Brasserie, the McCormick & Schmick-managed seafood restaurant in Santa Rosa’s Hyatt Hotel will be losing its longtime chef, Liz Ozanich and restaurant’s management group, McCormick & Schmick’s will be pulling out. The change comes as the Hyatt Vineyard Creek & Spa transitions ownership to the Noble Investment Group. McCormick & […]

First look at West County Grill

I arrived at 5pm. The doors opened at 5:30. To say the tension was palpable would be an understatement. The waiters huddled around an impromptu staff meal awaiting instructions. Cooks fiddled with their mis en place, checking and double checking the ingredients. Busboys threw on white jackets and checked their hair in whatever reflective surface […]

Mmmm….sharkey

Posted By: saundra (20/03/2007 9:34:15 AM)Comment: Gary Chu’s in Santa Rosa is serving shark fin soup. Sharks are captured, their fins cut, then they are thrown back in to die of wounds or eaten by others. This is unacceptable and illegal here in the U.S. Please be responsible diners and don’t order the soup, hopefully […]

BiteClub’s Best Sonoma County Chef 2007

Congratulations to Chef Mark Stark, (Willi’s Wine Bar, Willi’s Seafood, Monti’s) voted BiteClub’s Top SoCo Chef for 2007. Just a handful of votes behind, in second place, Syrah’s Josh Silvers (who sportingly told BiteClub he was proud to have lost to his friendly SR rival, Stark). And, in a close third place, Cyrus’ Douglas Keane. […]

ZIN Restaurant & Wine Bar

Zin serves deviled eggs without apology.Potato and fried onion casserole without flinching.A Blue Plate Pot Roast every Tuesday to a packed house. Here, comfort food rules and no one walks away from the table hungry. Riffing on American regional favorites, (Chicken-N-Dumplings, spaghetti and meatballs, Mac-N-Cheese) Zin Chef Jeff Mall feeds the need for dishes just […]

Absolutely Crabulous

There are crab cakes. And there are crab hockey pucks. Crab cakes have, uh, actual crab in them. In fact, the main ingredient needs to be crab. Crab hockey pucks are those nasty, greasy little things chefs try to pass off as crab cakes, but are mostly breadcrumbs, egg and celery with a string or […]

Cocktail hour at Cyrus

The cocktail menu at Cyrus reads like a J. Peterman catalog, minus the quirky illustrations of wrinkle-free travel dresses. But it has that same breathless, exotic quality that compells you to spend 10 minutes ignoring your martini (and your date) learning about the history of Mexican Coke, hand-crafted vodkas and why Rangpur limes are so […]

Artisan Cheese hangover

‘She’s press, she’s not just weird,’ apologized my friend as I was hunched awkwardly over a plate of cheese stuffed pork, trying to get an elusive shot for my personal pork photo collection. The chef backed away slowly. I’m not sure I blamed her. Food is a passion for many. But at this weekend’s First […]

Round Table redeemed?

I’d all but given up on Round Table Pizza after one too many lackluster birthday party pizzas. And soccer party pizzas. And school event pizzas. (Though I’ll admit that judging any restaurant when surrounded by screaming 9-year-olds isn’t 100 percent fair.) However, redemption has arrived in the form of the new Proscuitto Artisan Pizza, topped […]