Page 621 – Sonoma Magazine

In Search of Mac-n-Cheese Perfection, v2.0

October 2010

By biteclub

Home-made Kraft-style mac-n-cheese — An orange cube of cheesy goodness

In our earlier skirmish with this thread, we waxed philosophical on the gustatory wonder and sundry therapeutic benefits of a classic macaroni and cheese, but made precious little headway toward the dish itself. On our next pass, we thought about actually making the dish, and wondered about the the appropriateness of breadcrumb toppings, cheeses other than cheddar, and the optimal pasta shape. While the end result – ziti baked in a sauce of bechamel, provolone and parmigiano – was good, maybe even satisfying, it nevertheless fell short of transporting. And a truly classic mac-n-cheese must, above all else, transport us somewhere: Perhaps to a time when we were younger, or in circumstances more care-free, or maybe precisely where we are now, but with softer edges, the carbohydrate equivalent of a Snuggly.
With this schmaltzy sentiment firmly ensconced, I decided to try a riff on the undeniably classic, if not particularly gourmet, version from 1937 known simply as Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (or, if you’re Canadian, Kraft Dinner). What could be more iconic than a lifeboat-orange, rib-gluing plate of Kraft? The problem, of course, is Kraft from a box basically tastes like crap. Which is not surprising, considering you could probably whip up a box from the original 1937 production run and eat it without getting sick. Hey, give credit where it’s due: I’ve fed it to my kids, more than once, and I invariably sneak a bite, but it’s not exactly a badge of honor here in the Proximal Kitchen. So what I’m after today is the essence of Kraft – a thick, creamy sauce; a blazing orange so rarely found in nature – but with the taste of real cheese, minus the food colorings, some texture to the pasta, and ideally a consistency a bit less like Elmer’s Glue. (The recipe resides on the last page, feel free to skip ahead.)
Right off the bat, I knew the color would be tricky, because even with loads of sharp cheddar, it’s going to be a very pale orange by the time you melt it into the bechamel, and in any case I don’t like how cheddar melts, too grainy. No substitute for primary research, so I took a quick trip down the cheese aisle, and lucked out: Mimolette. Mimolette – the hard, aged, dark-orange French version of Edam – is not one of my favorite cheeses; uninspiring on a cheese plate, and not my favorite texture, a bit too waxy for my palate. However, for our purposes here, it seemed like an ideal candidate: Lots of color (naturally produced using annatto, by the way), a sharp tang not unlike an aged cheddar, and, hopefully, melting properties inherited from its Dutch cousin.
I was worried about its melting properties, but figured to solve that by tempering it into the bechamel and rounding out the sauce with – insert horrified gasp here – processed “American” cheese. (How sad is it, by the way, that the only cheese whose proper name contains “American” is a “processed cheese product”. No wonder the French send us all their Beaujolais Nouveau and wheels of unripened brie.) It turns out that the processed cheese – e.g., “American cheese” – offers some distinct technical advantages to the aspiring builder of a great mac-n-cheese, because processed cheese has been emulsified (with water, whey, and/or milk, typically) and thus melts smoothly without breaking. Try to melt an aged, orange cheddar on its own and see what happens: Fats and solids separate, the melted cheese gets grainy, it’s just plain nasty, and has no place in my mac-n-cheese. Still, I didn’t want to serve a Cheese Whiz casserole, so I kept the proportions 2:1 in favor of the French.
For all this talk of Kraft, I still wanted to dress up the final product, to end up with an all-grown-up homage to the iconic childhood classic that resides in our collective cheesy consciousness, a dish for the 40-something toddler that lurks just beneath the surface of well-adjusted adults everywhere. To that end, I added a few bells and whistles, some of which you could probably do an end-around and not miss too much, but which, when taken together, help raise the humble, baked casserole into a deeply complex, satisfying plate of pasta. And, while it’s certainly several branches removed from where we started – the blue cardboard box on the mac-n-cheese family tree – I think you’ll agree that the family resemblance remains unmistakable. .
Mac-n-Cheese II

Turn on the oven and set a large pot of salted water for the pasta to boil, and make an onion brulee (for the life of me, I can’t find a link to a simple description, so here’s my own: To make onion brulee, split an onion in half, stud it with several cloves, and make a slit into which you slot a bay leaf. Drizzle with a little oil and put under a broiler until the onion begins to char. That’s it.). As long as you’re working under a broiler, quickly toast several thick-cut slices of sourdough bread. While the onion is in the oven, whisk together 1/2C (each of flour and butter) into a blonde roux.When the onion and the toast are out of the oven, set the temperature to 350F.
Scald two cups of whole milk with the onion brulee and cook the pasta (I used cavatappi in order to get the classic “elbow shape”, but you could certainly use classic elbows; really, any tube-style pasta will do, it just depends how Kraft-like you want the final look and how you want it to set up for service. Don’t overcook the pasta! If you’re using a basic Italian boxed pasta like Barilla or De Cecco, take the lower end of their suggested cooking range, and subtract 1 minute. Pull the pasta – it will be slightly too tough still – and drain.
Make the sauce, beginning with a bechamel. This is the key to this particular recipe – it is all about this sauce. Remove the onion and whisk the hot milk into the roux. Bring to a very low simmer and, while it cooks, prep the cheeses: 1lb of Mimolette, coursely grated, and 1/2lb of Kraft yellow American cheese, either cut in strips or grated, depending on the form in which you buy it. Season the bechamel with salt and freshly ground nutmeg and white pepper and add the cheese in batches. Once all the cheese has been incorporated, whisk in 1/4C of beer, 1 tablespoon of dry, ground mustard, 1 teaspoon of paprika (use a decent quality paprika – nice and deep red – or the color will be off), a few dashes of Tabasco sauce (you don’t want a spicy sauce, this is just a background note), and – the other secret weapon for color – a small pinch of saffron threads, ground between your fingers. The saffron is really just there to bring up the yellow in the sauce which, together with the dark red of the paprika and the orange of the Mimolette, will result in an almost impossibly bright and Kraft-like orange. While the sauce comes together, chop the toast slices, whiz them in a food processor until they are a uniform bread-crumb consistency, and gently saute them with some butter, salt and pepper. Remove from the heat, cool, and toss with a handful of finely grated Parmigiano or Romano cheese. Check the sauce for seasoning and adjust – it should be pretty sharp and a little salty, remember it has to flavor all that pasta. It will be very thick – that is fine, and what you want.
Fold the pasta and the sauce together gently. You may have too much sauce, so reserve a cup or so until you know. The pasta should all be thickly slathered. Pour into a buttered 9×12 (-ish) casserole dish, or pie plate or crock pot or whatever you like, of similar volume. Press down gently to pack it together and get rid of air between noodles. Pour the breadcrumbs over the top, cover with foil, and place in the 350F oven for 20-25 minutes, until it’s bubbling and just starting to brown at the edges. Remove the foil and return to the oven until the top is a deep golden brown and the bread crumbs are nice and crunch, taking care not to burn – 5, maybe 10 minutes tops.
Let is set for at least 10 minutes and cut in slices. Enjoy!

Corn Salsa Even My Kids Will Eat (Recipe)

October 2010

By biteclub

Like the 49ers staring at a 4th-and-20, last Friday’s post ended with a whimper, a don’t think/just-punt sort of moment, as my employer’s requirement for some actual work and the post’s rapidly escalating word count dictated a hasty retreat from a recipe that I had the poor form to advertise and picture, but not to supply. So, think of today as a reprieve from the instant-replay booth – not exactly lucky, but fortuitous nevertheless.
The provenance of this seriously good and kid-approved corn sauce? First, as is my wont, an inventory of leftovers: Some trim off a previously fileted side of wild salmon, too scrappy to cook on their own; a few Wyeth Acres eggs, lonely in the far corner of last week’s carton; some stale bread; lots of gorgeous garlic from Bernier Farms, both Rocambole and Rose du Lautrec (the former richly spiced, the latter delicate and aromatic without too much heat); our Serrano chili bush, after last week’s heat spell alight like a Christmas tree in the middle of our little thicket of garden, its branches suddenly heavy with bright red fruit; and – critically – a bottle of Bob Pellegrini’s Olivet Lane Pinot Noir, inexplicably undrunk from my previous foray down the Costco wine aisle. Throw the lot if together, dredged in Panko and shallow-fried, and you have Crispy Salmon Cakes (a seasoned mixture of rough chopped salmon, bread soaked in milk, a beaten egg, and the chilis finely minced). Add the requisite starch (my kitchen is the Antarctica to Dr. Atkins’ Magnetic North), maybe another vegetable that the kids won’t touch, and wash it all down with Bob’s youthfully red Pinot, laced with cherries and raspberries, a perfect counterpoint to the mildly spicy, richly flavored salmon. (If you ever need to disprove a misconception about red wine and fish, grill some Copper River salmon and serve it with a soft, fruity RRV Pinot. QED.)
Plans were laid for a quick stop by the Tuesday market: Some freshly-dug potatoes, maybe some of that garlic roasted in the oven, chopped chives… it all seemed obvious, kid-friendly, easy, and cheap. Except, No Potatoes, and Enter Corn: I’m embarrassed to say I don’t know the name of the farm, but somebody had these big, beautiful, bright-green ears of corn from the far end of Dry Creek, picked less than two hours earlier. Salmon… chiles… corn. No brainer, really, and I’d get to serve a starch and a vegetable. The more I thought about, the more I realized that corn was the better option, by half. If only the kids would eat it.
Kid-Approved Corn Salsa (adapted from The Professional Chef by the CIA)

Cut off the silk, wet 4 ears of fresh corn, and roast them in a 350F oven for 15-20 minutes. Husk the corn (be sure to remove all the silk), cut off the kernels, and reserve the kernels, and return the cobs to the oven and broil them, turning once, until well-roasted and browned (but not burnt!).
While the corn is cooking, dice an onion and sweat it in a saucepan with some olive oil until lightly browned. Deglaze with a cup of dry wine to match the final dish (e.g., Pinot for this one, but you could use a lighter white or a heavier red, Zin say, depending on what you’re serving it with) and cook until nearly dry.Meanwhile, mince a few Serrano chiles (2-4, depending on heat and size), and 1-2 cloves of garlic – all told, about a tablespoon of chili and a teaspoon of garlic.
Add two cups of stock (this will work fine in vegetarian form, and better water than a bullion cube; but chicken stock will be more flavorful, and a white beef or veal stock best of all, with all the added body), along with a bay leaf, a sprig of fresh thyme, and a few whole peppercorns, and the roasted cobs, cut in half. Simmer gently until reduced by at least half, strain it out, and adjust the seasoning.
Wipe out the pan, melt a knob of butter, and add the chilis, garlic, and the corn kernels, a teaspoon or so of cumin, and sautee gently over medium-low heat until they just start to soften.
Add the sauce back and simmer until the corn is cooked through, but just, and still retains some tooth. Adjust the seasoning and serve at once. (The longer you have to hold this sauce, the more conservative you want to be about the corn, or it will overcook. However, you could do it all ahead of time, secept for this step, and add the sauce to the vegetables at the very end.)
While the sauce is simmering, remove the corn from the oven, husk it (take care to get rid of all the silk), and cut off and reserve the kernels. Return the cobs to the oven and turn the heat up to a broil. Watch the cobs, turning them once – you want them roasted and browned, but never burnt.

My 8yo daughter went nuts for this stuff: The Serranos and garlic become very mild, the corn nicely sweet, the cumin a background note. It paired perfectly with the crispy salmon cakes, but it was so good, you could make a large quantity and serve it on its own; or as a sauce to just about anything that pairs well with corn.

How organic are your eggs?

October 2010

By biteclub

UDPATE: I had an opportunity to speak with Petaluma Poultry’s Steve Marht about the study. A third-generation chicken farmer, Marht was obviously pained by the conclusion. You can read his response to the study on the website. But I thought this quote kind of summed things up. “I was really saddened that these guys slammed me. It took five years to break even (financially) with organic. (Marht claims to be the first producer of organic eggs in California and has been in business locally for 27 years). My farm is kind of like my backyard. I don’t sleep at night because (this kind of thing) bugs me so bad. We are trying to do it right. Organics should be for the many, and not the few. And I want everyone to have our organic eggs to we keep them as affordable as we can.”
Marht spoke at length to BiteClub about his operation, which is considered medium-sized at about 250,000 birds. By comparison, NuCal Foods, in Ripon, Ca., which processes eggs for a number of major grocers and private labels, handles approximately 7.5 million eggs from 11 farms and 7 plants per day. Smaller producers may have up to 1,00 birds, but often less than a few hundred.
In the end, making a choice about eggs comes down to being an informed consumer and purchasing with your conscience. Check out this article for more details on labeling and processing.
+++++++++++++++++
The Cornucopia Institute has released it’s “Organic Egg Scorecard” rating 70 egg producers around the country. With the recent salmonella outbreak, customers are increasingly wary of factory-farmed eggs, and many are looking for more sustainable, organic choices. But be wary of those labels, because funky cardboard packaging and promises of happy chickens don’t always mean well-bred eggs.
The Institute looked for small-to-medium sized family farms raising pastured chickens sold under the farm’s name or to natural grocery stores for it’s highest score of “Exemplary”. At the bottom were large-scale farms that don’t allow for outdoor access.
A few caveats which bear mentioning, however. This study is primarily focused on outdoor access and pasturing for hens, which in my mind isn’t the total picture. Having talked to many poultry producers in the area, I can tell you that raising poultry in pastures is a logistically and financially intensive enterprise, even for the most ethical of producers and near-impossible for large-scale operations. Poultry producers and organic standards boards themselves argue about outdoor access for the birds, as to what is meaningful and natural for the animals versus the economics of creating outdoor access, threats of disease and predators. Organic certification doesn’t necessarily mean that birds must have outdoor access, and often “access” simply means a door or two that the birds often don’t use. It’s hard to argue that chickens that live in small outdoor henhouses and peck and scratch at the dirt and eat bugs are probably more “natural”, but at what cost?
Boutique organic eggs can cost upwards of $5 to $7 a dozen (which is what I paid this week at the farmer’s market), whereas conventional eggs range froom $1.99 to $2.99 and “organic eggs” around $4-$5. I don’t know about you, but at $7 a dozen, I’m not making omelets for breakfast. I actually purchased “organic” grocery eggs to supplement our egg use.
The Takeaway: While small-scale family operations which allow for pasturing are obviously ideal, it’s not always possible to achieve that highest standard. Best bets are to buy eggs at local farm markets or eggs that are pasture raised, but a good bet is to find eggs from hens raised in humane conditions (cage-free) that are fed a vegetarian diet and not treated with hormones or antibiotics.
Here’s the Institute’s Scoreboard for NoCal Organic Eggs…
5-eggs (Beyond Exemplary)
Alexandre Kids, Cresent City
Elkhorn Organics, Prunedale
Vital Farms (from Austin, but available at Whole Foods Markets)
St. John Family Farm, Orland
4-eggs (Excellent)
no local producers
3-eggs (Very Good)
Clover Stornetta, Petaluma
Wilcox Farms (from Washington, but distributed on the West Coast)
2-eggs (Fair)
no local producers
1-egg (“Ethically Deficient”)
Judy’s Family Farm (Petaluma Farms), Petaluma
The study argues that this large-scale operation (which is family-owned) does not provide outdoor access. The farm’s organic certifying agent (Oregon Tilth) has granted them permanent exeption based on the threat of avian influenza. Petaluma Farms, a large‐scale egg producer in Petaluma, CA, produces both organic and conventional cage‐free eggs for sale under several brand names, which include Judy’s Family Farm, Rock Island, Uncle Eddie’s Wild Hen Farm and Gold Circle. They also produce eggs for the 365 label owned by Whole Foods and Organic Valley for Western US markets.
Petaluma Farms’ hens are, according to its owners, are “cage free, raised with no antibiotics, fed an all vegetarian diet (no animal by-products in their food), raised at the same location near the Pacific Ocean in Northern California, and raised with water, air and housing standards equal to OCIA organic standards.”
Also receiving 1 egg were national egg producers Horizon Organic, Land O’Lakes and Eggland’s Best.
Read the Cornucopia Institute’s full report (fascinating).
What’s your take? Is all the fuss a crack-up, or is there something to be said for outdoor access for chickens?

Fondo-licious: Edible Gran Fondo

October 2010

By biteclub

The Fondo’s are about to descend. This weekend (October 8-9, 2010) thousands of bicyclists converge on Santa Rosa for Levi Leipheimer’s annual King Ridge Gran Fondo, a trio of challenging rides that invite everyone from families to hard-core enthusiasts to test their mettle against the big boys of the cyclo-circuit.
And while not everyone enjoys wearing perilously thin spandex over their trouble zones and pedaling their own body weight up 65 degree slopes, food is the common denominator here. Because where there are muscle-bound athletes, there’s bound to be some serious noshing. Not to mention the fact that quite a few local chefs are serious cyclists.
So whether you’re carbo-loading before getting in the saddle on Saturday, or merely snickering at those of us dim enough to think we can ride 32, 65 or 100 miles across Sonoma County, here’s where to get your eat on…
(And PS, yes…I’ll be doing the Piccolo Fondo on Saturday morning and I better not hear one snicker about my thighs in bike shorts. Seriously.)
Friday:
Gran La Fonda: This unofficial event on the Fondo lineup is for hardcore cycling nerds who drool and squeal over the very excellent craft of hand built bikes. A prestige group of 16 DIY frame builders (Sycip, Inglis/Retrotec, Rebolledo, Soulcraft, etc) will gathering in Railroad Square around 5pm. Bikes will be on display with builders eager to talk tig-welded custom forks, and head tubes until your eyeballs fall out.
Eats: Fork catering, Lagunitas beer, Noci gelato
Downtown Santa Rosa Pub Crawl: Fondo-riders get a pre-ride fete with a self-guided pub/grub crawl from 5 to 9pm. Street Food: In a surprise nod to mobile food trucks (more, please, more!), the street in front of Courthouse Square will be closed off and the gals from Street-Eatz and La Texanita will be serving up grab-n-go eats. We’re hoping this will become a regular tradition with more trucks joining the fray.
Restaurants: Participating with specials are Franco’s, Mary’s Pizza Shack, El Coqui, Nonni’s, Jack & Tony’s, La Vera PIzza, Bistro 29, Brasserie and Sushi to Dai for.
Saturday
Fondo Festival: Whether you’re in spandex shorts or not, everyone’s invited to the FondoFestival at the Finley Center where riders start and finish. There’s an entire food court with the likes of Fork Catering, Gerard’s Paella, Harvey’s Mini Donuts, Kashaya’s Brick Oven Pizza, Pica Pica, Lata’s Indian Cuisine, Salt Side Down Chocolates, Sift Cupcakery, and drinks from New Belgium Brewing, D’Argenzio and St. Francis wineries, Revive and Vibranz.

And on the downlow:
– It’s not secret that Riviera Ristorante is one of Levi’s favorite eateries. They’ll be hosting a special fundraising dinner on Thursday at St. Francis, but chances are the restaurant will be host to many a rider throughout the weekend.
– Occidental-bound:

Do you know a cool food/bike event happening in Sonoma County? Let me know!

Two new Wine Country Food trucks

October 2010

By biteclub

The gals from Fork Catering — The gals from Fork

Rolling up on the mobile food scene are two newcomers: Fork and Dim Sum Charlie’s, adding to Wine Country’s evolving food truck convoy.
Fork, run by caterer Sarah Piccolo out of Sebastopol, embraces the local farm-to-table vibe, serving up Stornetta beef burgers on whole wheat buns; a quinoa garbanzo bean burger, green chili mac and cheese, and salads bursting with veggies plucked from local patches.
The converted Mother’s cookie truck has been outfitted with a impressive kitchen and espresso set-up. You can find Sarah and her truck at a variety of public and private events (she recently was at the Handcar Regatta), including stints at the Occidental Farmer’s market and Dutton-Goldfield winery, though she prefers to stay within 90 miles of her home turf in Sebastopol.
For the latest updates, visit Fork’s Facebook page
(UPDATE: Dim Sum Charlies says Sonoma is “in the works”). In Napa, the buzz is about Dim Sum Charlie’s — a converted airstream serving up dumplings and dim sum near the Oxbow market. The truck’s still in it’s early stages, officially opening in early October, but already the lines are long. Dim Sum Charlie’s is open Wednesday and Thursday from 5:30pm until around midnight. On Friday and Saturday they’re open from 11:30am to 1:30am and Sunday from 11:30am to 10pm.

Buyer for Les Mars?

October 2010

By biteclub

UPDATE: Douglas Keane, Chef and Co-Owner of Cyrus, Healdsburg’s two Michelin star restaurant, issued the following statement on the recent sale of Les Mars Hotel to winery owner Bill Foley.
“Cyrus has and continues to be a stand-alone restaurant, entirely independent of Les Mars Hotel. While the new ownership structure may be a positive change for the hotel, it will not affect our business, or the Cyrus experience, in any way.”
+++++++++
BiteClub’s got word that the Healdsburg’s Les Mars Hotel — best known for being home to Michelin two-starred Cyrus Restaurant — may have a buyer. The hotel has quietly been for sale for several months, and is listed by Paramount Lodgings as “available well below development cost.”
Insiders say billionaire Bill Foley is the wallet behind the sale — the insurance magnate who’s been snapping up Sonoma wineries left and right. He’s already purchased Chalk Hill, Sebastiani Vineyards and has told reporters he’s continuing to seek high-profile Wine Country properties. And players close to the sale claim “it’s a done deal.”
Cyrus has a long-term lease on the space, however, and it is unlikely that the sale would have any impact on the restaurant.

Corn Salsa Even My Kids Will Eat

October 2010

By biteclub

Salmon Corn Cakes, Corn Serrano Chile Salsa, Padron Peppers — Crispy Salmon-Corn Cakes, Fresh Corn Salsa

Coaching basketball at the professional level, commanding a United Nations peace-keeping mission, and getting kids to eat something for the first time – the latter a category generally construed to mean anything with so much as a splinter of family tree in Kingdom Vegetable, but often including everything not already vetted and approved via previous personal experience (a logical circularity seemingly lost on my own children) – all present management challenges worthy of the cheesy gurus atop airport book store best-seller racks. They also share a fundamental common thread, in that they all depend at least as much on the application of politics as they do of force: The ego out of all proportion to stature, the sheer and petty zealotry, the general perspective of world-as-sandbox… all demand a balance between the firm hand of leadership, the futility of negotiating with toddlers, and the imperative of coming out on top when the final score is tallied.
In seeking out such a balance, I really do try, insofar as there exists a common factor to our family’s 5 discrete sets of capricious preferences (actually, only 4 sets, because I’ll eat just about anything, and my tastes don’t count as capricious, because I’m the one doing the cooking), to engage the kids in the process of building a menu, and one of my favorite, if not uniformly successful, strategies for acquiring homestead rights in the ensuing debate is to shop together at our local farmer’s market: I point out what I like and why, they remind of their favorite stalls, and we eat the various samples as we talk to the farmers who produced them. And we try to let the market dictate the menu, rather than the other way around, because this, too, constitutes bedrock for the proximal cook, the respect for soil and season over cookbook and whim, and I sincerely hope that my kids will grow up with some appreciation for the many connections between fresh and good.
(This thread actually is going somewhere – hopefully to the recipe for the advertised salsa – despite all evidence to the contrary but, as our editor correctly reminds me, I have a tendency to try my readers’ patience. I also have to show up to my day job from time to time. So I’m going to put up the rest of this little missive, including our family assault on the farmer’s market and the ensuing recipe for a damn good corn sauce, in my next post. And, as ever, thanks for your patience.)

SoCo’s Pork Princess on the Next Iron Chef

October 2010

By biteclub

UPDATE: Duskie made it through to next week. Stay tuned.
Despite the mega-watt grin, makeup and pigtails, Duskie Estes isn’t a chef to be messed with. Which is exactly what Alton Brown and her fellow contestants find out on the premiere of The Next Iron Chef (Food Network, Sunday @ 8pm). Oh, boy do they find out.
After screening the premiere (minus the elimination), let’s just say Duskie made a serious impression. There are some roller-coaster highs and lows for the SoCo chef, but I’m putting my money on Duskie making it through to the next round.
Her pigs will never forgive her if she doesn’t.
We can’t tell you everything, but we can say that a whole suckling pig, a large cleaver, homemade sausage and lots of sand were involved. There were also some tense moments with Mr. Brown and her fellow chefs.
“I’m very competitive” she said while cooking up a harvest luncheon yesterday at Michel-Schlumberger. Duskie’s keeping mum on the details (spilling anything has major legal ramifications) and Estes said that even her husband doesn’t know the outcome. The usually mellow Estes said she worried a bit about how she’d come off after having a pointed exchange with host Alton Brown, but hey, the camera adds few extra pounds of, uh, intensity to us all, right?
The real sourpuss of the show, however, is lemon-faced judge Donatella Arpaia. You just want to hate her for tirelessly kvetching about her “palate”, making all sorts of dramatic coughing and gagging, being “bored” with the food and generally having anything to do with the show. Can we vote her off?
Estes will be screening the show on Sunday at Zazu as a benefit for the Ceres project and no doubt telling a few pre-approved anecdotes about her time on-set for the show. Just don’t ask her about the pineapple.

Zazu restaurant + farm hosts dinner and a showing of the premiere of The Next Iron chef (featuring Duskie, natch) this Sunday at 5:30pm. All proceeds go to the Ceres Project. $97 for dinner, wine & viewing, $39 for wine, viewing and popcorn at 8pm. 3535 Guerneville Rd, Santa Rosa, 523-4814.

Rosso expanding to Petaluma?

September 2010

By biteclub

Big news: Santa Rosa’s beloved Rosso Pizzeria and Wine Bar is hoping to expand to a second location in Petaluma. Co-owner and partner Kevin Cronin confirms that they’re eager to find a new audience and that he’s “talking to people” in Petaluma.
But that’s not all. Cronin said he’s also looking at spaces for a raw bar and grill in Santa Rosa that would be dedicated to sustainable seafood in Santa Rosa. “Think Swan Oyster Depot meets Sam’s,” he said. The concept would be casual and neighborhoody, he said, while serious about good seafood.
So far, nothing’s been inked, but Cronin’s optimistic about finding just the right space for Rosso’s expanding empire.

Sonoma chef needs your vote

September 2010

By biteclub

Local chef Tiffany Friedman, who runs Butterroot Personal Chef Services, is one of 24 chefs competing in the Sears Chef Challenge — a nationwide talent search featuring some of the country’s best young culinary talents.
And she needs your help.
As part of the months-long contest, each chef raises money for food banks around the country, and Tiffany’s choice is Sonoma County’s Food For Thought. Depending on the number of rounds she wins (which depend on user votes), she could win up to $20,000 for the organization.
Friedman, a young mother who lives in Cotati, lost her father to AIDS several years ago and felt a connection to the Forestville-based food center that supports people with HIV and AIDS. Her introduction to cooking was at her father’s New York restaurant, and she has worked at Plumpjack in Lake Tahoe, The Village Pub and the Lark Creek Inn.
So far Friedman has participated in a number of video demonstrations for Sears and her continued success in the contest is dependent on the number of votes she gets from visitors to the site. That’s where we come in…
To vote for Tiffany and to follow her quest on the Sears Chef Challenge, cast your vote (there’s no fee involved, just a mouse click) at the Sears Chef Challenge site (searschefchallenge.com) and click on the VOTE NOW button. Tiffany’s in the LA crew. Voting for Round 2 ends October 9.
It’s a win-win for all of us. Said Tiffany: “It has been hard work, lots of burns, some harassment and tons of fun. It is a journey that never ends and always grows. When you keep the fire burning the flame will continue to blaze.”