Page 569 – Sonoma Magazine

Closed Restaurant Gift Certificates: Out of Luck?

May 2011

By biteclub

closed — Downtown Restaurant Closed | PD Beth Schlanker

Like clockwork, every time a restaurant closes I get a little flurry of emails from folks left holding unused gift certificates often worth a hundred dollars or more.

Panicked, they ask, “What can I do? Can I get my money back?”

Long story short: Probably not.

Given as gifts or purchased in hopes of redeeming at a later date, restaurant gift certificates and cards represent an $18 billion industry nationally and are often a boon for local restaurateurs, especially during the holiday season.

But when a local, family-run restaurant shutters without warning, those same gift certificates become collateral damage. With phones turned off, owners MIA and bankruptcy courts paying out higher priority claims, gift certificate purchasers are usually left holding a worthless piece of paper with little recourse.

That doesn’t mean there are no options, however. Nor does it mean you shouldn’t ever purchase a restaurant gift certificate. Here’s the breakdown.

If you have a gift certificate to a closed restaurant
Depending on your comfort level with lawsuits, in most situations customers can bring a civil action against the owner in small claims court to recoup their losses. According to Matt Cheever, Deputy District Attorney for Sonoma County you can also file a claim as a creditor if the restaurant is in bankruptcy.

Keep in mind that secured claims are paid first — meaning interests who hold a lien or mortgage — followed by employee wages and benefits, vendors and other prioritized debts. Gift certificate debts are lower priority.

Cheever adds that if the certificate was purchased with a credit card, you may have some recourse with the credit card company if they’re willing to cover your loss.

One last resort is to hold onto the gift certificate. It is not uncommon for the restaurant owners to reorganize and re-open at a later date and honor the gift certificates out of good will (they are not required to). New restaurants sometimes honor gift certificates from a previous tenant (again, out of good will) or may have worked a financial deal out with the previous owner to honor those certificates. It’s always worth asking, though keep in mind that new businesses have no obligation to do this.

If you’re giving a gift certificate
Consider how long the restaurant has been in business (though even that’s not always a good gauge) and use a credit card to purchase. Ask around if the restaurant is popular and seems crowded. Usually locals have a pretty good sense of restaurants that are struggling. Try to give certificates to reputable, well-known eateries and make sure the certificate looks legit. If it’s scribbled on a piece of paper and doesn’t have a signature or some kind of tracking number, chances are the restaurant may not have a good accounting process. Trust your gut.

Instead of a gift certificate
If you’re not sure, why not tell the recipient of your intent and tell them you’ll have the certificate waiting for them at the restaurant. You can purchase it that day or simply offer to pay a portion of the bill via credit card. You can also give a pre-paid American Express or Visa gift card that can be used anywhere if you’re worried about restaurant gift cards.

If you get a gift certificate
Don’t hoard your certificate, use it! Otherwise, you could end up eating the cost, rather than a tasty meal.

Banh Mi: Malaysian Mei

May 2011

By biteclub

Mei Ibach always seems to have something cooking. From her involvement with last year’s market hit, Hot Cheese (with friend John Ash) to dim-sum and tea pairings, teaching at SRJC or working on new recipes, Ibach is a culinary whirlwind.

But her newest project may be the closest to her southeast Asian heritage: Banh Mi sandwiches and Asian sauces and curries.

Mei has already set up shop in Windsor at the Sunday farm market where she launched Malaysian Mei green and red curries, pineapple chutney and a peanut sauce recipe cultivated after tasting dozens of sauces in Singapore. Made with nuts she roasts herself, it’s slightly chunky, with hints of kefir lime leaves, fish sauce, chilies and lemongrass — not the peanut-butter sauce often served at Thai restaurants. “I begged and pleaded with a chef in Singapore to give me the recipe. I said, ‘I’ll make you famous!'” So what’s his name. “I’d have to look that up,” she laughs. Good enough to eat straight from the container, they’re $5 and $6 each.

Starting on Thursday nights in Windsor, along with alternative Saturdays at the Santa Rosa Veteran’s Hall Market, she’ll also be selling the coveted Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches from her stall as well. Stuffed with pulled pork, lemongrass chicken or five-spice tofu, they’re crunchy hoagie rolls with layered with mushroom pate, spiced homemade mayo, carrots, daikon, jalapenos, cilantro and cucumbers. Each gets a dousing with one of her curries or peanut sauce as well. For $6 they’re a steal with the culinary stamp of approval of several local chefs (John Ash and Roger Praplan from La Gare were early testers, along with several food writers).

Where to get Malaysian Mei sauces and banh mi…

Sauces only:
– 5/1 to Dec 18 – Sunday Windsor Farmer’s Market
– 2nd/Fourth Saturdays: Healdsburg Farmer’s Market

Sauces & Banh Mi:
– 6/16 through 8/24: Thursday Night Windsor Farmer’s Market
– Starting in June, first and third Saturdays: Santa Rosa Farmer’s Market (veteran’s building)

Wednesday Night Market Closed Tonight

May 2011

By biteclub

From the Board…

SANTA ROSA,CA-The downtown Santa Rosa Wednesday Night Market will be canceled today, May 25th, 2011, due to inclement weather. The Board was hoping the rain would would subside, but decided to cancel this week’s Market after weather reports signaled the late in the season winter like weather could continue for the remainder of the day.

Next week, June 1st, the Wednesday Night Market will return to Downtown Santa Rosa and will feature Ellington Hall on our main stage alongside another series of amazing wineries pouring in our Wine Tasting Garden.

Wine Country Events | Summer 2011

May 2011

By biteclub

Before your dance card fills up this summer, there are dozens of food and wine-centric events you definitely don’t want to miss. Starting this weekend and going well into the end of September, Sonoma County’s bounty is on display at festivals, fairs, barbecues, revivals, expositions and off-beat “only in the North Bay” activities your neighbors will be buzzing about.

So get out your calendar. We’ve hand-picked some of the most promising of the season.

May 29: OysterPalooza
Celebrate the Bay Area’s favorite bivalve at the fourth annual showcase of local oysters and musical talent. Oyster & Shrimp Po’ Boys, BBQ Tomales Bay oysters, boiled crayfish, seafood gumbo, Texas style brisket, Hurricanes, margaritas and fresh squeezed lemonade along with Lagunitas on draft. Six bands on two stages rock Rocker Oysterfeller’s throughout the day. $12, kids under 10 free, noon to 9pm, rocker Oysterfeller’s Kitchen and the Valley Ford Hotel, 14415 Coast Highway 1, Valley Ford, 876-1983.

June 4: Beerfest
Love beer? You’re in the right place. More than 40 of Northern California’s best microbreweries along with food purveyors and coffee companies get together for a sudsy good time at the Wells Fargo Center. It’s a bacchanal with heart, benefitting Face to Face, the Sonoma County AIDS Network. $45, 1-5pm, Wells Fargo Center for the Arts. Tickets online at f2f.org.

June 4: Sonoma Country Music BBQ
Sure, there’s boot-kicking music (Dierks bentley, Kellie Pickler, John Nichols and SoCo’s own Pete Stringfellow and McKenna Faith), but it’s the BBQ that’s really got us smoking. Local ‘q-ers Big Jim’s, Smokehouse, Siam BBQ, Big Boy’s BBQ and El Brinquito serve up hundreds of pounds of rib, brisket, chicken and tri-tip with plenty of cold brews. Sonoma County Fairgrounds, $45 in advance, $55 at the door. Doors open at 2pm, family-friendly. Tickets at sonomacountrymusicbbq.com.

June 13: Taste of Mendocino
Though it may seem a bit counter-intuitive to head south to San Francisco to experience the flavors of our northern neighbors, dozens of wineries, restaurants and purveyors will showcase the best of Mendocino County at the Fort Mason Center’s Festival Pavillion from 5-8pm, tickets $35. TasteofMendo.com.

June 22 – 26: Sonoma Marin Fair
Rides, Ugliest Dog Contest and first-of-the-season fair food. Get your fried Twinkies, funnel cake and garlic-fry fix. This year’s theme: Preserving the Tradition. Sonoma_Marin Fairgrounds, Petaluma, Sonoma-Marinfair.org.

Saturday, June 25: Days of Wine and Lavender
Stroll through Sonoma County’s most perfumed acre — 4500 lavender plants in full bloom at Matanzas Creek Winery. To celebrate the purple harvest, the winery features a buffet of lavender-infused dishes, spa products made from their crop, cheese tastings, a bocce ball contest, live music, wine tastings and strolls through the lavender barn. $75 per person, , 12-4pm. 6097 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa, 571-0156. Tickets, MatanzasCreek.com.

June 25, 26: Sonoma Lavender Festival
It’s a lavender-scented weekend in Kenwood as the Sonoma Lavender Barn opens to the public. Stroll through lavender fields, learn lavender cooking tip from local Chef Mary Bergin, and tastes lavender cuisine from Fresh’s Lisa Hemenway. Wine tasting, lavender products and spa product sampling. $5 per person, 8537 Sonoma Hwy, Kenwood, 523-4411, sonomalavender.com.

July 9: CigarBQ
Cigars + BBQ + golf + wine, beer and whiskey. This dude-friendly event raises money for local charities, with this year’s recipient the Guy Fieri Foundation for Inspiration & Imagination. $150, Saralee’s Vineyard, 4-8pm. CigarBQ.com.

July 16: Rootstock
Food trucks meet live music, wine tasting and local food purveyors at Santa Rosa Vintner’s Square for this urban Wine Country event. Mobile kitchens from around the Bay will face-off to see who reigns supreme, including SoCo’s Mateo Granados, Street-Eatz, La Texanita and Bay Laurel Culinary’s GastroShack, Larry Vito’s Smokehouse BBQ; Napa’s Dim Sum Charlie’s, and SF’s Le Truc bus-terauant. A host of singer-songwriters add to the summertime fun, along with wines from D’Argenzio, Kurtz, Sheldon, MJ Lords, and Shone Farms. $35-$45, 1301 Cleveland Ave., Santa Rosa, rootstockfestival.com. (BiteClub will host the Best Bites Contest)

July 23, 24: Gloria Ferrer 25th Anniversary Catalan Festival
Paying homage to their Spanish homeland, the winery features flamenco dancers, Spanish food and plenty of bubbly throughout the day. $50, 11am-4pm, Gloria Ferrer, 23555 Hwy Carneros Hwy (121), Sonoma, 996-7256. gloriaferrer.com/catalan-festival

July 27-August 14: Sonoma County Fair
Think Fair Food is just ho-hum? From barbecue and Willie Bird turkey legs to all manner of things fried, the Sonoma County Fair is tops for midway munchies. Stay tuned for the annual Fair Food Scramble on BiteClub in late July. Sonoma County Fairgrounds, 528-3247.

July 30: Rivertown Revival
Petaluma’s Rivertown past comes alive in parade of art boats and curious creations floating down the Petaluma River. Historic accuracy isn’t nearly as important as creativity, fun and a deep-rooted sense of imagination. Expect plenty of turn-of-the-century inspired costumes, handlebar mustaches and gee-whiz moments. Music, food, and $5 revival weddings. 11:30a,-6pm, McNear Penninsula, Petaluma, rivertownrevival.com. (BiteClub will be a Pie Hole Girl selling pies)

August 5-7 West of the West Wine Festival
Some of Sonoma’s most celebrated small-production Coastal wineries (Lioco, Flowers, Wind Gap, Littorai, Martinelli, Peay and many others) gather in Occidental for seminars, tasting and winery dinners. Whole Hog Feast and live music on Saturday. Tickets available a la carte for various events ($125-$350). 888-878-9645 for tickets or westsonomacoast.com.

August 13-14: Gravenstein Apple Fair
Sweeter than apple pie, this family-friendly event celebrates all things apple, most notably the local Gravenstein. Music, kids crafts, demonstrations and lots and lots pie. Ragle Ranch Park, Sebastopol. gravensteinapplefair.com

Sept 2-4 Wine Country Weekend
This is the Holy Grail of Wine Country events, with three full days of eat, drink, repeat. Winemaker lunches and dinners kick off on Friday, followed by the 32nd annual Taste of Sonoma at MacMurray Ranch )11am to 4pm — a full day of exploring hundreds of Sonoma County wineries and food purveyors. Veterans know to pace carefully and hydrate often at this massive showcase of SoCo’s bounty. on Sunday, the Sonoma Valley Harvest Wine Auction raises funds for local charities. (BiteClub will be a Judge and is a media sponsor)

Mark your calendars now
Sept. 10: Kendall Jackson Heirloom Tomato Festival
Red, green, black or zebra-striped, Kendall Jackson fetes all things tomato at this exceptionally delicious event. Top Bay Area (and national) chefs compete, dozens of restaurants serve up tomato-inspired dishes and more than 130 heirloom tomatoes are on display (for tasting). 11am-4pm, $65 per person, Kendall Jackson Wine Center, 5007 Fulton Road, kj.com for tickets. (BiteClub will be a Judge and is attending)

Sept. 13, 14,15: National Heirloom Expo
Petaluma’s Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds puts on an ambitious national event promising to be the largest heirloom event ever. Hosted at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, it brings together growers, gardeners, purveyors, food celebs and food journalists for three days of tastings, learning and discussion about what we eat. theheirloomexpo.com (BiteClub is hoping to be involved, still in planning stages)

Sept. 25: Handcar Regatta
Erasmus P. Kitty hosts the region’s most innovative and ingenious events, The Great West End & Railroad Square Handcar Regatta and Exposition of Mechanical and Artistic Wonders for the fourth year. Wacky inventors race artistic creations along the tracks, usually dressed in all manor of retro-fab garb. Attracting upwards of 12,000 people, this year will be the first that charges admission, though $5-$8 seems a bargain for the wow-factor of witnessing all that goes on. handcar-regatta.com. (BiteClub Food Circus Returns, and will be bigger and better, with a front-and-center location, live animals and tons of amazing food fun).

Best Wine Country Coffee Houses

May 2011

By biteclub

The best place to get work done while simultaneously jolting your brain into alertness. Comfy seats, the smell of roasting beans, that funky guy in the corner playing guitar — resistance is futile.

Aqus Cafe: Foundry Wharf’s coffee and croissant clatch goes way beyond simple morning fuel. The Petaluma arts community calls this packed little cafe its home away from home, with live music, art, film and a passionate community folk gathered round its tables. Open for dinner until 9pm Thursday and Friday, until 10pm Saturday. Board games for kids and adults each Wednesday from 2:30 to 4:30pm. 189 H Street, Petaluma CA (707) 778-6060.

Coffee Catz: Kitschy faux-Victorian boudoir style only adds to the Sebastopolian groove of this long-time coffeehouse/open mike
night/acoustic jam spot. WiFi-enabled. Hours vary depending on the day, but they’re usually open until 6pm or so. 6761 Sebastopol Ave, Sebastopol. (707) 829-6600

Flying Goat Coffee: “The Goat” on the square (324 Center St., (707) 433-3599) is Healdsburg’s defacto meet-up spot, where you’re almost guaranteed to spot neighbors and co-workers sipping lattes over the latest gossip. Open Monday through Sunday until 7pm. The Santa Rosa location in the old Western Hotel (10 Fourth St., 575-1202) is also a local haunt, and according to Jeff Dwyer of the Ghost Hunter’s Guide to California’s Wine Country, home to a resident spirit.

Blue Label at the Belvedere: After several months of success as a dinner-only spot, Blue Label at the Belvedere’s funky kitchen crew have opened for breakfast. Utilizing the old bar as cafe central, there’s both grab and go counter service with made-to-order espresso drinks (the Stuffed Buffalo is a winner with ginger syrup, milk and espresso), house made pastries (fresh donuts on Mondays only, muffins, breakfast burritos, rolls and daily coffee cakes the rest of the week) but you’re also welcome to grab a seat and savor Stuffed French Toast, quiche, egg strata, oatmeal or a plate of the best Biscuits and Gravy you’ll ever taste. And I made sure to try it twice just to make sure. The crew mix things up from day to day to keep it interesting, kind of like your mama would. So just eat what they’re serving and say thank you. The sunny side porch is as inviting a spot as you’ll find in Sonoma County to fill your tummy with scratch-baked comfort cuisine. Good food makes for a good morning. Open 8am to 2:30pm (they’re doing lunch now, too!) 727 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa, 542-8705.

A’roma Roasters: It’s often a challenge to find an open seat at this eclectic Railroad Square roastery/ice cream shop. Writers, artists, students and the bohemian-set commingle happily, sating munchies, catching rays outside and regulating caffeine deficiencies. Wifi, open mic and live music. Open late. 95 5th Street, Santa Rosa, 707-576-7765.

Holy Roast: Though the spot seemed to be a longshot when it opened, Holy Roast has become my living room away from, well, my living room. Opened in 2007 by Wayne Conley, this cozy java joint has a daily lineup of regulars ranging from Highway Patrol officers to bleary-eyed Press Democrat reporters, orange-vested city employees and, well, pretty much anyone who works north of Fifth Street in downtown Santa Rosa. Friendly and competent baristas, fresh morning pastries and solid noon-time salads and sandwiches from Pearson & Co. make for repeat biz. Clearly someone upstairs is looking out for Holy Roast because the coffee and the company is divine. 490 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, 707.523.3137

My Friend Joe: One of the friendliest and most fun coffeehouses in Sonoma County, My Friend Joe is a SRJC hangout, open mic performance space, breakfast mecca (try the Nutella and bacon panning) and jumping java joint. It’s easy to cruise past the strip mall space, but seek and ye shall be rewarded. 1810 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa.

Coffee Bazaar: A cozy local java joint with an attached used book shop? Pinch me, I’m dreamin. Wifi & open mic nights. 14045 Armstrong Woods, Guerneville, (707) 869-9706. Northlight Books & Cafe, 550 E. Cotati Ave., Cotati, 792-4300.

A’roma Roasters

May 2011

By biteclub

It’s often a challenge to find an open seat at A’roma Roasters, an eclectic Railroad Square roastery/ice cream shop. Writers, artists, students and the bohemian-set commingle happily, sating munchies, catching rays outside and regulating caffeine deficiencies.

Fair trade coffee, onsite roastery, tea and breakfast and lunch nibbles, including salads.

Wifi, open mic and live music. Open late. 95 5th Street, Santa Rosa, 707-576-7765.

;

Aqus Cafe | Petaluma

May 2011

By biteclub

Nestled along the Petaluma River, Aqus Cafe is a kaffeeklatsch that goes way beyond simple morning fuel. The Petaluma arts community calls this packed Foundry Wharf’s cafe its home away from home, with live music, art, film and a passionate community folk gathered round its tables from morning to night.

Owner John Crowley is an Irishman who never forgets a name and always has a hearty handshake or hug for friends old and new. Having “grown up in a pub”, Crowley wanted to create a stateside watering hole where adults could have a glass of wine or coffee comfortably with kids, friends could meet and the community could connect. Mission accomplished.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner menu until 9pm Thursday and Friday, until 10pm Saturday. A jam-packed monthly schedule is available at the website and includes everything from Men’s Groups to open mic nights, family trivia, live jazz, county and Celtic music, speed networking and town hall meetings with the Petaluma mayor.

Aqus Cafe: 189 H Street, Petaluma CA (707) 778-6060.

Put Your Roots Down

May 2011

By biteclub

Soda Rock Farms Heirloom Tomatoes — Soda Rock Farms, Late Summer Edition

I’m calling it: tomato season is on. Not for eating, mind you – that’s still a solid month or two out, persnickety kiss of the summer sun dependent – but for planting. I’m touchy about this because my tomato-growing career has been about as inspiring as David Hasselhoff’s empty-pool swan dive into the music business.

It might be that I’m a slow learner. I’d like to think that slow learners would also be gradual learners, that the rate at which we assimilate knowledge might be in some sense proportional to the time it takes for the process to complete, and that I’d figure it out as I went along. You might think that too, but unfortunately, we’d both be wrong. No, by far the more common experience consists of long, futile periods of floundering, punctuated by the occasional, if profound, moment of clarity, in which the spurious drone dies down, cause and effect delineate, and logical patterns finally emerge.

Certainly, that has been my experience, as applicable to high school calculus or professional management as tomatoes, and watching my youngest daughter learn to ride a bicycle, I wonder if that isn’t the same pattern, too: when you learn to ride a bike, Isaac Newton’s in charge, and he says that you are either riding the thing, or you are falling down. Whether my daughter’s scrapes and bruises represent an inherited flaw or an immutable law of human nature remains an open question, but ultimately makes no difference: the important thing, the only thing – and this, I have learned, is at least as true of growing tomatoes as it is of basic physics – is simply to get it.

I know, I’m meandering, and I’m sorry; I promised a post on growing tomatoes, and said post you shall have. The climate zone (14) in which I live should, by all rights, be tomato mecca: cool nights and mornings, lots of sunshine during the day, great soils, all in all a welcoming home to most Mediterranean plants. So, each May for several years, I dutifully plant a few tomato seedlings – classic beefsteaks for burgers, Romas for sauce, yadda yadda yadda. And in each of those years, I’ve grown mediocre tomatoes. Like, really mediocre, as in, often not worth eating.

To add insult to injury, the best tomatoes I have ever in my life eaten grow just across the valley from me, by Dan Magnuson of Soda Rock Farms, so you’d think the odds were stacked my way. But the years go by; each successive crop as fundamentally disappointing as its predecessor; I run downtown to buy tomatoes from Dan; I learn nothing.

So last year, finally, I tried something different: I spent a little more money and bought the best rootstock I could, from the guy that I know, with absolute certainty, grows great tomatoes – I bought big, beautiful, heirloom tomato seedlings from Dan the Man. You might think that that was an obvious solution and you may well be right; but you’d be forgetting that I’m a slow and episodic learner. And last year, as any resident of the (707) will recall, was awful for growing fruit, as bad as it has ever been; unusually cool and excessively foggy, Sonoma County in 2010 was like Mark Twain’s summer in San Francisco. But despite all of that, lo and behold, miracle of miracles, my tomatoes rocked. They weren’t just good, they are frigging awesome. I still get excited when I think about the first crop to ripen – a gorgeous Purple Cherokee, followed by Lemon Boys, and finally a chartreuse avalanche of little Green Zebras – and the way our whole garden bed just smelled like ripe tomato.

Like I said, I’m a slow learner, but I occasionally get there in the end – I’m pretty sure the moral of the story is, the quality of your rootstock matters. This may not, exactly, be news; it certainly doesn’t strike me as particularly insightful. And yet, for years, despite all the accumulating evidence, I persisted in my belief that all this sunshine, all this great soil, would inevitably produce great tomatoes, and I went on planting mediocre seedlings, with predictably mediocre results. So my suggestion is, do what I finally did: go see Dan, and don’t think too hard.

This year, when I paint my masterpiece, surely things will be different. Right?

Torta Patatas (Tater’s Pancake) | Recipe

May 2011

By biteclub

torta potata recipe — Torta potata recipe from Yayo

Loaded with eggs, these are a cross between a potato pancake and an omelet, and are great warm or cold. We stacked them up for serving, and the kids couldn’t get enough. Make sure to do a small dice on the potatoes so they cook quickly. Slightly caramelized onions and garlic make for a sweet, savory dish you’ll be hard-pressed to pass up.

To spice them up, add fresh produce (or leftover vegetables from dinner) in a fine dice along with chopped bacon for extra flavor.

“Torta Patatas” (Tater’s Pancake)

From yayo

1 large sized baking potato
5 large size or 6 medium size farm fresh eggs
1 medium onions, chopped finely
4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper
1 stalk green onions, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil for sauteeing, and 3 or more tbsp oil for the torta
ketchup or tabasco, sriracha for dipping
bread from local bakery – Full Circle, Costeaux, Village to name a few
Spring Hill butter (the best in the universe)

Variation for meat lovers: Add some chopped bacon, cooked, or your favorite chopped sausages, or ham (Then the recipe is called Torta Patatas w/ Meat)

Peel and slice potato into a small dice. Separate egg yolks and whites in two bowls.

Using a non-stick pan, eat olive oil medium heat. Add the onion and stir fry until they are almost clear or slightly caramelized, then add garlic and the prepared potatoes. Stir until the potatoes are done (they are done when easily poke with fork or I add a tbsp water and cover to cook it fast- that’s the trick) and light brown in color. Remove from heat and set aside.

To prepare eggs: Beat the whites until foamy and then add the yolks, beat for a minute. Add the prepared potatoes and green onion on the bowl and mix together.

Wipe the non stick saucepan with paper towel. Then drop some oil and cook the mixture pancake style, 1/2 to 3/4 cup batch at a time with equal amount of egg and potatoes. Turn on the other side until done. Do not overcook. Drop an oil each time you cook a batch. Drain in paper towel and dish in a small plate.

Serve with catsup or for some heat dash tabasco, sriracha for dipping. Side with local toasted bread and the delish Spring Hill butter of course, I get mine from the farmers market. Yum!

Pecan Caramel French Toast Recipe

May 2011

By biteclub

To say this French Toast sealed the deal with my longtime sweetie might be overstating things a bit. But not by much. His mom, Pam Stanbrough, is an innkeeper at The Gables Wine Country Inn and makes some of the most insanely decadent breakfasts in all of Wine Country. Out of all of them, this is by far my favorite. The mix of butter caramel, custardy bread and crispy crusts just can’t be beat on a lazy Sunday morning.

(On the West Coast, pecans can be a little hard to come by, not to mention expensive. You can use walnuts in a pinch, though pecans are definitely better/)

Pam’s Pecan Caramel French Toast Recipe

Everyone has a favorite oven baked french toast – we added the pecans as a twist and also swirl some heavy whipping cream over the top to serve! By Pam Stanbrough

8 slices of local Artisan french bread, at least 1″ thick
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons maple syrup
Generous amount of coarsely chopped pecans
6 local free ranch eggs
1 1/2 cups half & half
1 teaspoon vanilla
small amount of heavy cream for garnish

Grease 9×13 pan. Melt brown sugar, butter, and syrup over low flame until bubbly, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Pour evening into prepared pan. Top with pecans. Place bread slices on top of caramel mixture. In blender, whip eggs, half & half, and vanilla thoroughly and pour evenly over the bread. Cover with foil and let stand at least one hour, or make the night before and refrigerate. Bake room temperature pan at 375 for 40 – 45 minutes. Very carefully, invert onto baking sheet and gently separate into pieces. Serve with drizzle of heavy cream. Yum!!!