Holiday Cookie Winners 2012

By biteclub


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THE WINNERS
Once again it was a tough decision, but I enlisted the help of several judges, including a professional baker. We loved many, liked even more, and threw out a few stinkers (as well as a couple of “borrowed” recipes).  You can see all the recipes below, or just go to biteclubeats.com/cookie for ALL the recipes from 2008-2012.

Here is the breakdown for 2012

– Overall Winner 2012: Sugar and Spice Cookie
Though it wasn’t the flashiest, it was just a great holiday cookie that’s simple to make, has simple ingredients and best of all, holds up well over a few days. We love that Amy ditched the shortening and make it work with butter.  Amy wins bragging rights and a $100 gift certificate to Sur La Table.

– Best Chocolate: Nutella
The hazelnut spread really added a richness to your usual chocolate cookie.

– Best Gluten Free (TIE): Cranberry Orange AND Oatmeal Raisinet
We had to declare a tie in this emerging category. The cranberry orange cookies are a light, cakey cookie that use a lot of unusual ingredients (if you aren’t a gluten-free baker) and also happen to be vegan, for folks with dietary restrictions. The crispy, crunchy Oatmeal Raisinet cookies use GF oatmeal, but  the other ingredients are standard.

– Most Unusual: Peanut Butter Bacon
We ended up referring to this as the Elvis Cookie. Our professional baker kept coming back to this one, really loving it. Our only suggestion for changes might include candy-ing the bacon for a crispier crunch!

– Best Fruit: Cornberry
The jury was VERY mixed on this one, but I personally loved these. You kind of either love cornmeal or you don’t. I made them extra toothy by using a local cornmeal that was very roughly ground and a locally-grown wheat. It’s worth trying these out if you’re a cornbread muffin fan.

Best Shortbread: Matcha Shortbread
Every year, I vote for shortbread recipes to win. It’s a personal bias (which is why I always get a second opinion). The Matcha tea makes for a unique flavor that’s not for everyone — especially kids, who all hated this one. But I liked the slightly astringent, green tea flavor of these grown up cookies. I also really, really loved the Hot Chip Shortbread, especially right out of the oven. Shortbreads don’t keep well, however, and after a day or so, I think they lose a lot of their charm.

Best Standard: Betty’s Chocolate Chip
Sometimes really great cookies get a bit overlooked because they’re such classics. We love the novelty of something different. But my own family *insisted* we give a shout out to these, mostly since they all got to eat them directly out of the oven. Still warm and gooey. This is the BEST chocolate chip recipe I’ve ever made, and you’ll get plenty of ooohs and ahhs if you bake these up fresh for friends.

Hey, why wasn’t my cookie included? 
It can be disappointing not to see your cookie included, but with more than 60 entries, it just isn’t possible for one person (namely me) to test them all. My process is to print out every recipe, and then suss out the ones I really want to try. Sometimes I toss out recipes for the mere fact that we’ve already done something very similar in past years (unless it is a classic like a chocolate chip or molasses cookie). I also exclude recipes that have really complicated ingredients, if they won’t keep well, if they include too many “processed” ingredients (like cake mixes or margarine) or they aren’t really cookies, but a dessert (ie: I loved the baklava recipe, but it didn’t really fit the category). Finally, I may have tested your recipe and found it either didn’t work, I couldn’t find an ingredient (yeast cakes, where does one get those?) or the cookies didn’t turn out well enough to photograph (which was a problem with one delicious recipe that just ended up looking appalling). Try again next year!

Paddington Tea coming to Santa Rosa

By biteclub

UPDATE: The name of the teahouse is being changed due to another Paddington Tea already in existence in LA, but owner Angela Grant is still hoping to open this spring.

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You know what traditional English tea rooms are missing? Singing waitresses. That is, until now.

Liverpudlian-turned-Santa Rosan Angela Grant isn’t content just to open a cozy English tea room in the former Sawyer’s News space in downtown. This winter, she’s mixing it up with a combination teahouse, theatrical experience and cafe that’s, in her words, “a place for people to go, feel special and have a laugh,” she says with a cheery British accent.

Grant makes no bones about the fact that clotted cream, bone china, scones and pinkies-up teas are definitely aimed at the gals. “The guys will probably hit the brewpub next door,” she says, hoping to attract bridal parties, baby showers, book clubbers and the ladies-who-lunch-set.

Inspired by a trip back to Merry Old England recently, Grant knew the teahouse was her destiny, adding the idea of waitresses breaking into 40s and 50s-style crooning for special events and, well, whenever the time feels right. “Paddington Tea Room will be a place where women can go and truly be comfortable,” she says, anticipating a February April open.

Guys are, of course, welcome. Provided they know how to properly use a napkin and don’t muss the doilies.

Seaside Metal coming to Guerneville

By biteclub
From the Bar Crudo website, barcrudo.com
From the Bar Crudo website, barcrudo.com
From the Bar Crudo website, barcrudo.com

Tim Selvera of SF’s Bar Crudo is opening a new seafood and oyster bar in downtown Guerneville in spring 2013. 

According to reports, the restaurant will be called Seaside Metal in reference to rusting boats on the nearby coast, and will feature oysters, a raw bar, fish stews and other briny goodness. Apparently the story broke in an article in Food and Wine about America’s Best Little Food Towns, which said the restaurant will also feature beers from local craft breweries.

Guerneville has been booming lately, with the addition of Whitetail Winebar, Boon Eat + Drink, Big Bottom Market and the forthcoming pop-up Korean restaurant, Hi Five.

More from Stephen Gross, the PD’s Guerneville Towns correspondent.

 

Hi Five Pops up in Guerneville

By biteclub

David Blomster and an alum from Boon  Eat + Drink is opening a temporary Korean-American Diner beginning December 1, 2012. The pop-up will operate inside Pat’s Restaurant, a breakfast and lunch spot.

Here are some further details from David:

Hours:
5pm – 10pm

Friday and Saturday
5pm – 11pm

closed Monday

I wanted to create a name and concept that would present a cohesive package. Hi Five is a Korean/American Diner with an emphasis on playful and eclectic combinations, sometimes bordering on silly. The Menu is broken down into 5 categories with 5 items in each. There are 5 menu items called Hi Five X 1 = $5 and 5 menu items called Hi Five X 2 = $10 and so on up to Hi Five x 5 = $25 with only one in that category and it is the Hi Five Surprise (weekly special). The atmosphere is very casual, the music will be slightly loud, the servers will wear what they want and the menu items will be thoroughly accessible yet deceptively sophisticated.

Our location is a Pat’s. A restaurant that has been there for about 60 years. They will continue serving breakfast and lunch and Hi Five will be serving dinner. It is an authentic Northern California “50’s” Diner that seats about 70 people. The front has a stainless steel wall and spinning counter stools with four booths. The back has the feeling of a forgotten lodge with wood sided walls, a fireplace and painted antique saws hung without a care for design. Also, connected to the restaurant is a “dive” bar in all of its authenticity. Although I come from an art and design background, this particular restaurant is not a space I could have designed. Which is why I love it so much. There are many quirky “non-designed” aesthetic decisions that have been made over the 60+ years the restaurant has existed and I feel that leaving them all in place supports our concept in a way I never dreamed of. The aesthetic contrasts are as bountiful as the contrasts on our Menu.

My Chef and business partner is Eugene Birdsall. While I more or less curated the menu to fit the concept, it is Eugene’s creation. Eugene has been cooking in Sonoma County and Baltimore for the past decade and grew up cooking traditional korean dishes with his Mother. We met next door at boon eat + drink where I had been the manager for the past 3.5 years and Eugene was the Chef for a couple of those years.

A few menu items:

Fried Sonoma Brinery Pickles with Sausalito Springs watercress + Kimchi aioli

Kimchi pierogies with potato, house made kimchi, cotija and pluot plum sauce

A selection of noodle bowls with market vegetables a choice of stock and a choice of tofu, pork belly, OB beer battered shrimp, KFC or hot dog

Korean Fried Crack (the other KFC) with vanilla slaw and buttered bread

Hi Five Bo Ssam with house made kimchi, butchered garlic, chili peppers, rice, butter leaf lettuce and Ssamjang with a choice of tofu, pork belly, KFC, LA kalbi or Kurobuta spicy pork

16236 Main St., Guerneville.

Fresh Choice Closes in Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park

By biteclub
Where’d Fresh Choice go?

The Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa locations of Fresh Choice restaurant have closed — it seems permanently, after the parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

Though a sign at the Santa Rosa Plaza location states that the restaurant is temporarily closed, Kim Hall, area marketing director for Simon Malls says the space has been closed since November 13, 2012. She said there were no plans for the restaurant to reopen as a Fresh Choice.

“We are looking for a new tenant there.It’s a great location with the new renovation,” she said. She said there was very little notice to employees and most of the equipment remains in the restaurant.

No word on the Rohnert Park location, but the restaurant has been closed for more than a week. The freshchoice.com website is no longer working and the phones in the Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park locations are not being answered.

Fresh Choice restaurants have quietly been closing throughout Northern California throughout 2012, in Novato, Concord and Corte Madera.

The casual buffet-style salad bars, based in Emeryville, operated throughout California, Texas and Washington state. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2004, but emerged in 2007 with a new owner.

What’s strange is that except for a few emails from concerned diners, no one seemed to notice and there’s precious little chatter on the web. Can a chain really disappear without anyone noticing? Hmmmm…..

Pub Republic Opens

By biteclub
Brussels Sprouts tacos at Pub Republic in Petaluma

New brewpub and eatery, Pub Republic has opened off Lakeville Hwy. in a space that’s revolved several times, most recently as Zocolos Mexican Grill.

It’s an airy-open space with about a dozen brews on tap including Hop Stoopid double IPA from Lagunitas, a smoked porter from Stone Brewing and Honey Saison from Almanac.

The menu’s standard pub fare that includes fish and chips, burgers and plenty of fried appetizers along with some meatier entrees for dinner. Though our first trip left a bit to be desired on the food end (locals say things are improving), we were intrigued by the Brussels Sprout Tacos ($8) — the sprouts were sauteed with lots of garlic then mixed with lime, cheese and avocado. Not for everyone, but certainly something unique.

3120 Lakeville Hwy, Petaluma, 707.PUB.9090, pubrepublicusa.com.

Truffled Fries at Pub Republic in Petaluma.

Hopmonk Novato opens

By biteclub

The massive space briefly occupied by Southern Pacific Smokehouse in Novato has re-opened as the third Hopmonk Tavern in the North Bay. 

The location, at 224 Vintage Way inside the Vintage Oaks Shopping Center is extra-large, seating 145 inside and an additional 80 in the outdoor beer garden. The Novato location will also be home to “The Session Room”, a stage for live music and open mic nights. Sonoma County’s Pete Stringfellow is among the first acts, appearing Dec. 1 at 7:30p.m.

Look for 15 different beers on tap including Unfiltered Kellerbier and Dunkleweizen plus more than 85 bottled beers a the Tavern Bar. The menu will follow the same format as the other two restaurants.

Seems third time’s a charm for the Dean Biersch project.

Open daily at 11a.m. with Hoppy Hour Mon-Thurs from 3-6p.m. 

Traverso’s Ravioli for the Holidays

By biteclub

Bill and Deb’s Downtown Deli (621 Fourth St., Santa Rosa) are bringing back a Santa Rosa tradition: Traverso’s Ravioli.

The couple, who are former Traverso’s employees, are selling the beef raviolis that became a local favorite at the holidays for $5.99 a box. They will also have the Bolognese meat sauce for the raviolis available for $5.99 per 12-ounce container.

Available for Christmas: Cheese, chicken and primavera raviolis.

To order call 636-2200 or email billanddebsdeli@aol.com.

Front Porch Farm: Locally grown wheat in Healdsburg

By biteclub

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It required a determined vision to rip out acres of valuable Russian River Valley vineyards. But replacing that land with wheat, heirloom vegetables and grazing area for heritage breed pigs? That required not only vision, but capital and chutzpah.

Front Porch Farm, owned by environmentalist, philanthropist and former Esprit-Europe CEO Peter Buckley and his wife, Mimi, is a 120-acre experiment in biodynamic farming at an idyllic spot called Diggers Bend, about 10 minutes east of Healdsburg. Well-known winemaker Matt Taylor (formerly of Araujo Estate Wines) has been tapped to manage the farm, starting with growing one of the few crops absent in the San Francisco/Bay Area foodshed, wheat.

“Grains on this small of a scale don’t make money,” says Sam Bilbro, who serves as the farm’s tour guide, marketing director and farmhand. “But local grains are really important,” he adds.  I met him one afternoon at the Sebastopol Grange as he was delivering buckets of milled grains to a pop-up CSA project run by FEED Sonoma and Spiral Foods.

For legions of locavores, the addition of local wheat is like, well, finding out there’s a coffee plantation in your backyard. Or a foie gras tree. Suffice to say its a Big Deal (especially when folks like Michael Pollan, Craig Ponsford and Harold McGee are paying attention).

Why does the foodshed matter?

The Bay Area is a cornucopia of produce, dairy and meat, but could we sustain ourselves entirely with what is produced within 100 miles of the Golden Gate bridge? A study in 2008 found that the answer was a qualified “yes” with a few exceptions.

“Some basic commodities like wheat, for example, are not produced in abundance in the region, mainly because other crops like fruits and vegetables yield higher economic returns to growers,” said the American Farmland Trust report.

As we become increasingly interested in lowering our carbon footprint and supporting local farms, it becomes increasingly important to diversity our food system and support a wider variety of crops.

“People talk a lot about eating locally,” said Bilbro, stomping through mud and dirt around the farm as tractors and heavy equipment puttered away in the background. “But you can literally eat an entire meal from this farm.

According to the Front Porch Farm website: “We initially planted heritage wheat varieties just because we love the beauty of a ripe field. Soon we discovered that scattered about in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties there were other contrarians planting wheat for the same reason but also to make their local foodsheds more resilient.”

The first grains harvested and milled at Front Porch include durum and rare Italian Bolero as well as farro, rye and barley. The grains are milled in Mendocino by Doug Mosel, who began the Mendocino Grain project in 2010 to revive local grain production. Bilbro expects to begin milling at SHED, a Healdsburg food and farming project that’s expected to open in February 2013. They plan to have a total of 18 acres devoted to grains next year. All that grain also means the possibility of locally-produced whiskey. “It’s the future for the majority of our grain program,” said Taylor.

Walking through the property’s newly constructed sheds, sheafs of dried wheat hang from the ceilings. “We could literally sell those for more than the milled wheat,” says Bilbro. It’s a money-losing proposition for sure, but something the Buckley’s are dedicated to supporting. Taylor adds that it isn’t really about losing money, but trying to do something right for the community. “We feel we have an obligation,” he said. Already, Bay Area restaurants like Oliveto in Oakland and Community Grains, makers of organic pastas are supporting and buying the locally grown wheat.

In addition to the wheat, which is actually a small portion of the land, the biodynamic farm (a style of land-management that aims to not only sustain the land but integrate animals, healing “teas” and natural cycles of the earth into farming practices and eschews monoculture) also sustains a produce garden that’s been supplying Healdsburg restaurants like Ari Rosen’s Scopa and Campo Fina.

The farm also has the country’s only breeding stock of Cinta Senese pigs, a rare and ancient Italian breed prized for their fat, which is high in omega 3 and 6.  Four “families”, a total of 21 pigs with distinct bloodlines arrived in the U.S. in June after extensive quarantines. As the animals breed, subsequent stock will be moved to a 2,000-acre ranch in Yorkville for harvest. Expect a collective whoop by local salumists when that day comes.

Cinta Sonoma from Oliveto Community on Vimeo.

It wouldn’t be fair, however, not to mention the farm’s vineyards, which take up about twelve acres. Taylor has already bottled Front Porch’s first vintage of mostly Rhone blends.

“We want to do good. We want to restore the beauty of this place,” says Bilbro, nuzzling up to the 300-pound pigs who root and grunt at our feet, practically knocking us over with their exuberance. “We are growing the soil. It’s a dream,” he says.

Good Food Hour Axed at KSRO

By biteclub
Garner and Ash in a photo from the KSRO website

SHOCKER! After 25 years, Good Food Hour radio program has been cancelled by KSRO.

It was one of several budgetary cuts made at the Santa Rosa radio station, owned by Maverick Media this week.

The long-running show featured Chef John Ash and Steve Garner as hosts each Saturday morning. Also eliminated: Garden Talk and KSRO Morning News Anchor Curtiss Kim. Garden Talk and The Good Food Hour were the longest running garden and food shows in California, according to KSRO.

This morning lines lit up with confused callers when Good Food Hour was replaced by a syndicated radio program. Insiders say that Ash and the others were informed late this week.  The KSRO website no longer lists the Good Food Hour or Garden Talk.

“We were totally shocked,” said Ash, reached Saturday. He stated that it was an especially tough blow for Garner, who worked on both shows for decades. “It’s a real loss of local broadcasting that was part of the local community.”

While the food community was taken aback at the unceremonious cancellation, its not without precedent. In 2010, Steve Jaxon’s “The Drive” was cancelled on KSRO but returned several weeks later with its own lineup of sponsors. In San Francisco, KGO cut Dining Around with Gene Burns (along with a number of other shows) in 2011.

Apparently the cuts at KSRO were made for purely budgetary reason, but BiteClub hopes that Good Food Hour might be able follow a similar model to Jaxon’s and possible reach a new audience through Podcasting and the Internet.

Because that kind of experience in our local food scene, along with Garner and Ash’s insight, humor and wit would be a pretty tragic loss to the community.

Can we find a way to bring Good Food Hour back? Let’s hope so.