On a recent BiteClub blog about the woes at COPIA, a reader reported that Julia’s Kitchen had been closed rather unceremoniously. BiteClub called the restaurant to find out what was up and got a recorded message that says the restaurant is “closed temporarily” and will not be taking reservations at this time.
The recording directs people to get further information on the COPIA website, which oddly enough, returns a PAGE NOT FOUND.
Channel your inner czarina at the new Vodika Lounge in Petaluma, NorCal’s first 28-degree premium vodka tasting room. As in it’s actually 28 degrees inside (four degrees below freezing).
The lounge-within-a-bar-within-a-restaurant accommodates eight sippers at a go, part of the revamped bar scene at Graziano’s Ristorante. On opening day (Nov. 21, 2008), Charbay distiller Marco Karakasedic will be on hand from 7 to 10pm talking vodka and pouring.
Why the deep freeze? Sonia Perozzi of the restaurant says that 28 degrees is the only proper temperature to serve vodka. Hey, why not.
Faux fur hats and jackets are provided for your comfort. Bring your own tiara.
In addition to the new chill room, Graziano’s has also redesigned their bar lounge to include designer martinis, Italian small plates (piatti piccoli), caviar and oysters. The bar is open until 2am.
170 Petaluma Blvd. North, Petaluma, 707.762.5997.
How does a restaurant last two decades? And not just last, but thrive. What keeps people coming back year after year, Friday night after Friday night, season after season? What brings in families, couples and seniors in equal number?
It’s not flashy décor or advertising. It’s not a swanky location or hip cocktails. It’s not a celebrity chef or fancy ingredients. It’s so much more ridiculously simple than that.
It’s word-of-mouth. According to a recent Nielsen study, 78 percent of respondents said that one of their biggest influencers are other consumers – both positive and negative. In fact, negative comments seem to sway folks even more than positive ones. Don’t I know it.
So when BiteClub wanders into a spot like the 20-year-old China Room, all but hidden in the back of a Rincon Valley mini-mall, during some seriously tough economic times and the place is packed to the hilt, it makes me wonder exactly what they’re doing right.
It’s not the décor or the swanky location or a celebrity chef. It’s the regulars. It’s word of mouth.
Despite a ho-hum interior, the menu is extensive, with standard Chinese-American fare with Sweet & Sour everything, Moo shu, fried rice, walnut prawns, General Tso chicken, orange beef, hot pots as well as more intriguing daily specials featuring with seasonal veggies, curries and seafood.
What China Room gets spot-on are the flavors. Details like Rocky Chicken, seasonal veggies and a handle on the salt and oil make all the difference. Orange beef is studded with bits of orange peel, walnut prawns have crunchy walnuts, fried rice is gently seasoned and comes out more of a tan color than a lacquered brown. This is a good thing. Especially when you’ve got a craving for comfort Chinese.
There’s not mistaking that this ain’t haute Asian fusion cuisine. Clearly the dishes are aimed at American palates. Sweet is the operative word on many sauces.
The service can be a bit off, especially for a large group, when dishes come out one-at-a-time rather than all together. Portions are generous and prices are reasonable. But it’s food that’s approachable, consistent and good.
Don’t take my word, though. Ask a regular.
China Room, 500 Mission Blvd, Santa Rosa, (707) 539-5570
UPDATE: The owner of Saigon Bistro claims the restaurant is NOT for sale as previously reported by BiteClub. In an email to PD sales staff (phone calls and emails to BiteClub have not be returned at this time), Kim Ngo says that the information obtained by BiteClub about the 4-month old restaurant being for sale is incorrect.
What’s the hubub about? A recent online posting on a local classified site stated, “Our beautiful downtown Santa Rosa restaurant is for sale. The owner is retiring from the business. Please check out our website www.saigonbistrosr.com.” Who posted the ad is still a mystery. The downtown restaurant is the fourth tennant to occupy the space in the last two years, preceeded by Vivere, Nirvana and Tahini Grill. BiteClub stands by the information available at the time of the posting.
Also listed on Craigslist for sale is Trisha’s Lumpia which relocated from Petaluma to Santa Rosa last spring. On two recent trips to the restaurant during business hours, the lights were off and the door locked. Also posted on the online classified site is the popular 50’s diner, the Stony Point Grill.
So, the news is in…COPIA will likely be selling off its 12-acre property which is struggling with a staggering amount of debt and move operations into San Francisco. Word is that the food/arts center may try to lease back part of the building to stay maintain its Napa presence, but that’s still up in the air.
From day one, Napa’s luxe food, arts and wine center, COPIA, has struggled to find its raison d’etre. Pretty much anyone who’s been there says the same thing to me: “It’s a really great idea, but I don’t really get it.”
Winemaking philanthropist, Robert Mondavi’s grand vision of a home where food, wine and art intersected was a noble idea that turned quickly turned quixotic. But in the booming 1990s, excess and passionately indulgent ideas could be passed off as quirky and interesting. We might not get it, but who cared. It was art. And food. And wine. In Napa.
As bank-accounts dwindle, however, excess seems less amusing. COPIA tried to reinvent itself numerous times, cutting back on the bizarro art, adding more approachable classes, reaching out the community. Recently they asked Tyler Florence, the nice-guy Food Network chef who lives in Marin (and is working on an SF restaurant) to front its culinary program. This is the guy who shilled for Applebees. How everyday can you get?
Things seem to be continuing to digress, however. There are rumors that the building will be sold, that Julia’s Kitchen is in hot water and the natives seem restless (as evidenced by recent comments to turn the building into a go-cart racing center).
And though it would be easy to jump on the bandwagon of hostility toward this multi-million dollar fiasco, the whole thing is actually pretty discouraging. I have always loved the idea of COPIA. I’m proud to live in a place that had the gumption to support it for this long. I have been absolutely enamored of the Taste3 conferences held there each year, bringing together some of the greatest visionaries in food, wine and art. The sale also doesn’t bode well for the Oxbow Market, which has faced its own struggles but seemed inexorably tied to the food-focus of COPIA.
Is COPIA a lofty idea that’s out of touch with the current economic climate? Or did it ever stand a chance. Sound off…
– Snark from SF.Eater.com
– The PD article
– Napa Valley Register readers suggest what should be done with the building…now for sale.
A lot of folks have been asking me about this one…
The second of two downtown Santa Rosa restaurants slated to open before the end of the year is looking for a chef. GG’s Earth and Surf, located in the former Worth Our Weight Space, has put out a call for a chef/kitchen manager to help with opening menus for their anticipated Dec. 2008 launch.
The restaurant will focus on vegetarian and sustainable seafood and will be fronted by former Lisa Hemenway collaborator Suzan Fleissner.
If you’ve been to Cyrus, you’ve no doubt tried Scott Beattie’s amazing cocktails – painstakingly-made drinks that include everything from dried lotus root to jasmine blossoms and egg foam. They’ve got names like Hot Indian Date, Rhubarbarella and Huck Yu.
Now a celebrated author with a new book, Artisanal Cocktails: Drinks inspired by the seasons from the bar at Cyrus, you might think Beattie would be on top of the world. And he is. Just not at Cyrus.
Beattie actually left Cyrus’ official employ early last summer and is currently waiting tables at nearby Scopa restaurant. Wait. Whhhhhaaaaat?
“I just needed a break. I’m not an incredibly ambitious person,” says Beattie. The depature, he assure BiteClub, was totally amicable and Beattie still consults for his pals at Cyrus, runs a cocktail catering biz, teaches at Relish and the CIA and waits tables four nights a week for his pal, chef-owner Ari Rosen.
It’s a bit surprising for anyone who’s seen Beattie work the bar at Cyrus to hear that he’s no longer rockin’ the Les Mars. Hand-picked to craft Cyrus’ renowned cocktail program, the Healdsburger’s intense devotion to detail — BiteClub once watched him cook simple syrup behind the bar — is legendary. Drying lotus root and pickling fennel isn’t exactly the domain of unambitious folks.
In fact, when I asked Beattie about grabbing a recipe from the book, he stiffened a bit, saying that the recipes really needed to be transcribed exactly. In detail, with accompanying syrup, pickling and preparation recipes. This is Thomas Keller-level cocktail making.
But with all the national media attention showered on Beattie and the Cyrus staff over the last couple of years, who can blame a guy for wanting a little time off to hang with his friends, drink a little wine and hide from the limelight. Even if it is flavored with Rangpur and egg foam.
Artisanal Cocktails, $24.95 from Ten Speed Press.
Oh, and if you’re worried that the cocktails at Cyrus might not be the same, have no fear. Beattie personally trained all of them to his exacting standards. So sip your Pimm’s Cup or Pomiranian with confidence.
Lynn Athavimol, who opened Lynn’s Thai Restaurant in Cotati in November 2008 is the former owner and founder of the Thai House in Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa. She sold the business in 2004 and has spent the past four years in Thailand. You can taste it in her food.
Crab Rolls with lime sauce ($9.95), given a white-tablecloth presentation set the bar high, making everyday spring rolls seem downright dull. The sharp acid of the lime, along with lots of garlic and cilantro is well-executed but can slightly overwhelm the delicate crab. Minor stuff. She also does duck rolls with sweet black plum sauce.
Lynn’s Tom Kha — coconut milk soup with galangal, kaffir lime, lemon grass and mushrooms is ridiculously fragrant and delicate. It steers clear of the ham-handed tendency to add too much lime or fish sauce.
A rainbow of curries, from yellow to red, green, Panang, brown and pumpkin, kicks out the flavor with a larder-emptying mix of veggies and spices. The sauce stands up to a spoon rather than puddling in fear. Even the rice is light and fragrant. WIth a price tag of $8.95 for lunch (including soup) or $9.95 for dinner, it’s a hearty value as well.
Other entrees include familiar players like honey pork ($8.95/$9.25), cashew chicken ($8.95/$9.25), Pad Thai, and fried rice. But there are also some surprises: Noodles with roasted duck and a marinated duck egg (?), grilled salmon with red curry and tilapia with sweet and sour lime sauce.
Lynn does a killer creme brulee infused with lemon grass. She’s still tinkering with the recipe (which could use a little more of the perfume-y herb), but it’s a solid effort.
With her delicate touch in the kitchen and constant-presence in the dining room, it’s a welcome relief to have another reasonably priced go-to Thai in town. Call it your appetite stimulus plan.
Lynn’s Thai Restaurant, 8492 Gravenstein Hwy, Suite M, Cotati, 707.793.9300
What happens when hundreds of chefs, culinary professionals and journalists descend on Napa’s Culinary Institute for three days of intense discussion, demonstrations, food-trend forecasting and eating? You’ve got the annual World’s of Flavor Conference.
This year focuses on the Mediterranean cooking — Italy, Spain, Greece and the fascinating flavors of the Middle East. I’ll be blogging throughout the day today (Friday) and Saturday. See what the food world is talking about here in Napa…
Admittedly we’re at Food Nerd Level 9 here. This is hard-core gourmet heaven. As usual I’ll break it down to just what you need to know.(Not your cup of tea? Stay tuned for a dispatch on Lynn’s Thai, a new restaurant in Cotati).
SATURDAY
Spent the morning with local cookbook author and legend Paula Wolfert whose decades-long affair with Middle Eastern cuisine, specifically that of Morocco, has helped to bring tangines (clay pot dishes) and preserved lemons to the American palate. Wolfert and SF chef Mourad Lahlou of Aziza created a Moroccan lamb tanjia cooked over hot coals for eight hours.
Says Wolfert, “Nothing is coddled more than a Moroccan dish made by men for men.”
What you need to know: Tajine are clay vessels that are often passed through generations that are used to cook stew-like dishes (often my the men) that simmer and cook overnight in hot coals. The food is packed in — often root veggies, lamb, exotic spices (cumin, saffron, a special blend called Rass el Hanout), aged butter (called Smen) and garlic. The result is a rich, thick, melt-in-your mouth dish that sticks to your ribs.
Want to try it: Mourad is one of America’s rising young chefs, bringing the flavors of his Moroccan heritage San Francisco. Check out the menus at Aziza.
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Before leaving (BiteClub can only take so much deliciousness, afterall), I checked out the Worlds of Flavor Marketplace. Designed to look like a Middle Eastern market, attendees got to wander around to dozens of stations serving up everything from cold blue seafood soup (from Spain, of course, and colored with cabbage) to couscous, a whole suckling pig, prosciutoo, tapas, lamb, lentils, pasta and more wine than should be legal. I’m in a food coma. Top Chef Cat Cora was the celeb of the moment, pimping American catfish. She’s a whole lot tinier than you’d think, but the girl can cook.
Next year’s theme is Street and Comfort Food. I’ll be there.
Continue reading “Worlds of Flavor Conference: Flavors of the Mediterranean”
Railroad Square’s Wine Spectrum Wine Bar has closed its kitchens. The revamped space will now focus only on wine tasting and sales. The wine bar closed for several days and re-opens Nov. 4, 2008. Hours are: Tuesday-Saturday 11am-7pm.
Closed for good is the bakery and candy shop at Mendocino and Fifth St. Blogger Jeremy Hay talked to the owner about why things went south — and most of the blame was on the sagging economy. And though tough economic times certainly didn’t help things, BiteClub had a couple of confusing visits to the shop which never seemed to quite gel. It was open. It was closed. It was open again. They sold candy. Then they sold a handful of baked goods and cakes. It was a much-needed concept (a tasty bakery downtown! ice cream!) with a nice-as-pie owner who faced a serious uphill battle with revamping the location, non-existent parking and really nailing the downtown demographic. Bummer.
