Foodie News and Gossip: Sublime to Ridiculous

By biteclub

Coming up this week: Worlds of Flavor at the Culinary Institute

I’ll be spending Friday and Saturday at Greystone, checking out what’s
next on the world culinary stage during their annual Worlds of Flavor
conference. This year’s theme is Mediterranean Flavor, featuring Italy,
Spain, the South of France, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, Lebanon,
ancient Persia, and the other food cultures of the Silk Road that
connected the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East with Asia.

Stay tuned for more details or check out what’s on the plate at the
CIA’s World’s of Flavor Website. The event is sold out, but you know
I’ll keep you up to speed.

Read on for a steal on the elBulli book at Costco, Peanuts Gone Wild and Meadowood’s 12 Days of Christmas extravaganza.
Continue reading “Foodie News and Gossip: Sublime to Ridiculous”

Proposition 2: Why eaters should care

By biteclub

chicken.jpgFirst off, BiteClub is about the least political person on the planet. Except when it comes to basic human decency toward others—and the food I eat.

I’ll keep my philosophies to myself on Prop 8, but I think that all Biteclubbers might want to weigh in on Proposition 2.

Though its received much less press than some other issues on the ballot, Proposition 2 has garnered some strong feelings here in egg country. The proposition, headed up by the Humane Society calls for the elimination of certain types of cages considered by many to be cruel and inhumane to pigs, calves and chickens.

Because California is a huge poultry and egg-producing state (less so for pigs and veal), the crux of the argument, is centered  primarily around penning up chickens in small cages where they have little room to move and can be subjected to some very unpleasant treatment. Very unpleasant.
Continue reading “Proposition 2: Why eaters should care”

Bruno’s on Fourth | Santa Rosa

By biteclub


Bruno’s on Fourth is what Applebee’s can only aspire to: Good eating in the neighborhood.
The tiny 38-seat restaurant is a blip on the local food radar…unless you’re in Bruno’s inner circle.  But start asking around and you’re bound to find a devotee. Ask where to get the best biscuits and gravy in the North Bay and there’s little argument that this brunch-time hotspot is THE place to go.
It may come as little surprise that a restaurant with such a low-profile has a former Bohemian Club chef at its helm. Rick Bruno, who is a constant quiet presence in the small kitchen and dining room has also worked with Gary Danko at Chateau Souverain. His style: New
American comfort food. That translates to a melting pot of culinary genres — from burgers and pulled pork to hoisin ribs, ravioli and crab cakes — that find commonality in their universal homeyness.
The basic menu has remained pretty constant since opening in 2007, giving Bruno’s a comfortable ease with the standards while offering up daily bruschetta, soup and entree specials.
Best bet: Flat Iron steak with blue cheese butter ($16.75) that will have you mopping up the rich pan sauce with anything in sight — including leftover bread, fingers and possibly your neighbor’s tie. It’s that good. BiteClub also gives a thumbs up to the pulled pork and cabbage slaw with jalapeno aioli
($11.95) with a nice squishy bun and the perfect amount of kick. A generous amount of fries make for a hearty lunch.
Also on the menu: Ricky’s hoisin ribs, the wedge BLT salad, crab and shrimp cakes, and a half-pound cheeseburger ($10.95). Dinner includes has many of the same items as lunch, but kicks things up with a daily fish special, goat cheese ravioli, fish and chips, braised lamb shanks and ahi tuna tartare.
Bruno’s really shines for brunch, served only on Sunday from 9am to 2pm, with what BiteClub Jr. says are the best biscuits and gravy he’s ever had. This, from a child who spent the summer in Tennessee eating biscuits and gravy.  The dish is rich beyond words, studded with big chunks of sausage and creamy gravy. Dungeness Crab Benedict ($15.95) is a special splurge with tasty bits of crab swimming in a nicely acidic Hollandaise and perfectly cooked eggs. Homefries are carefully crafted to be crispy outside and soft inside without all the grease.
Insiders know the best table in the house is in the right corner with the window-seat. It’s also fun to sit at the bar and watch what’s happening in the kitchen. With just a handful of tables, however, things can get tight on busy evenings and Sunday mornings
You’ll find that most of the folks inside seem to know their way around the menu and the repeat business speaks volumes to Bruno’s consistency and comfort-appeal as a friendly neighborhood eatery. The kind you actually want to eat at.
Bruno’s on Fourth, 1226 Fourth Street, Santa Rosa, 707.569.8222. Open
for lunch Tues-Friday, 11am to 3pm; dinner Tues-Thurs 5-9pm, Fri-Sat
5-9:30pm, Sunday brunch 9am to 2pm.
Brunos on Urbanspoon

Thai Issan | Sebastopol

By biteclub

CLOSED
Despite a menu that runs for several pages, Thai Issan needs to go back to basics. The recently-opened Sebastopol restaurant may have bitten off a little more than it was ready to chew when it comes to flavorful Thai cooking.
For BiteClub, good Southeast Asian cuisine means fresh flavors punctuated by sweet, salty, sour and spicy — each bite different. Fragrance is key, with whiffs of lemon grass, lime, fish sauce, chili, coconut milk or peanuts.
With so many exotic spices and flavors inherent in the Thai kitchen, it ends up being fairly disappointing when a restaurant like Issan can’t seem to meld them into something harmonious. Or even meet the lowered expectations of two really hungry writers.
Here’s the rundown…
1. Thome Yum: Officially, Tom Yum is more of a broth (rather than Tom Khaa, which includes coconut milk). I’ve gotten both versions as Tom Yum, but Issan’s version is more in the clear, brothy camp. The bad news is that its so overwhelmed by salty fish sauce that it’s almost inedible. Skip it.
2.  Fresh rolls: A chokingly expensive $6 for two skinny rolls filled with lettuce. What appears to be bagged lettuce at that. I’m all for
vegetarian rolls (though I much prefer them with shrimp), but the few sad strings of rice noodles and a leaf or two of mint were all that saved these rolls from being a house salad.
3. Pad Thai, ($8): Nothing particularly bad about it, but nothing particularly memorable. Salty is the one note that Issan hits again and again. No spark of lime or citrus. Absolutely no heat. Anywhere. A big puddle of grease at the bottom.
4. Pumpkin Curry, ($11): Lots of bell pepper, not much pumpkin. Or chicken. Though it was the best of the lot, this red curry-based entree could have fit into Cinderella’s slipper — with a little wiggle room. The portion was surprisingly small and bland. No happy endings here.
Overall: Thai Issan is still waiting for its fairy godmother of flavor to arrive.
Thai Issan: 7503 Healdsburg Ave., Sebastopol, 707.829.8422. Open
Mon-Sat for lunch (11:30-3pm), dinner 5-9:30pm. Sunday dinner from
5-9:30pm.

Backyard Tourist: Napa Valley Wine Train

By biteclub

Meals on wheels, a secret kitchen

railcar.jpgWhen the Napa Valley Wine Train rolled out of the station in the late 1980’s, it wasn’t exactly to a rousing welcome. In its early years pockets of tourist-averse townies railed against the idea of a train bringing hordes of tourists to the valley. A disgruntled Sonoma winemaker held it up and demanded equal pourage for Sonoma wines in a memorable moment. And there was the occasional one-fingered wave at crossings.

Living in a tourist mecca isn’t always easy and the happy little locomotive was a 250-ton target for our ambivalence.

But over its almost 20-year ride through the Napa Valley most of us have come to appreciate it as part of our home–the elegant Pullman cars quietly rumbling along the tracks between Napa and St. Helena, feeding and entertaining hundreds at a time. What few people know, however, is that inside the historic cars are two restaurant kitchens preparing up to four-courses onsite during the three-hour train ride. Meals on wheels, so to speak.

Continue reading “Backyard Tourist: Napa Valley Wine Train”

Syrah takes over Mixx

By biteclub

Syrah owner Josh Silvers has just closed a deal to take over the former Mixx space in Railroad Square. After months of speculation about who might go into the vacant restaurant but Silvers tells BiteClub that construction and renovations have begun. Named Jackson’s Bar & Oven, plans are for affordable dining with a focus on the wood-burning stove — pizza, pasta, burgers, hot dogs, hangar steaks. Of course with Josh’s Cal-Ital-French flair. “We’re even thinking about doing buckets of chicken wings…stuff you just don’t see a lot of in Santa Rosa,” says Josh’s business partner and wife, Regina.

 “We have wanted that space for a long time. It just never made sense before and now it’s falling into place perfectly,” she tells BiteClub. They plan to open the restaurant (named for their son) early next year.

That should be about the time that nearby Jack and Tony’s Restaurant and Whiskey Bar opens for business. Plans were delayed for the opening slated for this fall and owners say it may be December (or so) before they’re officially ready for business.

Juicy news

By biteclub

BiteClub’s finally gotten word on the whereabouts of former General’s Daughter chef Preston Dishman. After hunting around Sonoma and Napa for the right gig without luck, Preston and his wife will be heading to San Mateo. Dishman will be the new executive chef of Viognier, owned by the Draeger family. Though we’re sad to see Wine Country lose such a talent, BiteClub wishes our favorite Southern boy well.

Meanwhile, after a quick rebab of the General’s Daughter, Sondra Bernstein of the Girl & the Fig has opened Estate, a restaurant focused on regional Italian cuisine and festive drinking. Check out the menu here.

Chefs Josh Silvers and Mark Malicki will be headed to Terra Madre in late October. It’s a huge honor for local chefs to be attending this worldwide convention of Slow Food enthusiasts in Torino, Italy. We can’t wait to hear how it goes. Meanwhile, Zin’s Jeff Mall is headed to the Southern Foodways Alliance.

Hopefully Josh will have some big news to announce before his trip. Hopefully.

Finally, if you haven’t been following the drama over at Rendezvous, check out the recent news stories about their fight with the city over garbage. What a stink!

Carlos Country Kitchen

By biteclub

carlos.jpgIn my book, the perfect antidote to early morning activity (ie: a 3k “Fun” Run) has to be home fries and scrambled eggs. WIth a side of bacon and Diet Pepsi.

Now, before you go calling the food police, hear me out. Greasy spoon diners like Carlos’ Country Kitchen are like ice cream and D’Affinois: A sometimes treat when you’ve been very, very good. What could be better than huffing and puffing up a hill for charity at 8am on Sunday morning then rewarding yourself for all that hard work? And don’t say oatmeal.

Continue reading “Carlos Country Kitchen”

Gary’s at the Belvedere

By biteclub

With the facade of a stately Victorian manor and the soul of a chain-smoking, cocktail swirling 20-something, The Belvedere is one of Santa Rosa’s most beloved contradictions. And I mean that with love.
Anchoring the northwest corner of Mendocino Avenue’s Tipsy Triangle (including the 440 Club and Round Robin) the Belvedere looks more like a bed and breakfast than a bar. Which may explain its cache and a weekend hangout.
But ask about the restaurant and you’ll get puzzled looks. “They serve food?” In fact, they do.
It’s been an on-again off-again affair. Several years ago, attempts at a
high-end restaurant failed. Then nothing. Then Gary’s at the Belvedere
reopened with more modest ambitions — burger, salads and sports bar
fare. Steaks. Man-eats for the downstairs crowd.
Served Monday through Friday, the lunch menu is
simple: Burgers, steak sandwiches, Caesar salads and various
adaptations of the aforementioned. Salads with steak. Wraps with salad.
Infinite burger combinations involving bacon, barbecue sauce, mushrooms
and cheese.
Best bet is the burger, though you’ll have to suspend judgment about the puck-shaped disc of grilled chuck and cafeteria-like fries Though I’d lay bets that both
recently did some hard time in the big chiller, the grilled onion blue
cheese burger wasn’t half bad. In fact, it was a lot better than some
bloody awful burgers I’ve recently had the misfortune of eating. No,
the onions weren’t as caramelized as I’d like, but the buns were nicely
toasted and the presentation thoughtful, especially while sitting on
the wrap-around porch watching the world go by. It’s a big, fat meal
for $11.99 (including a drink).
Dinner features some of the same appetizers and salads with the
addition of steaks and pasta. I’ll let you, dear readers, have that
adventure with managed expectations. Featuring 40 beers, a full bar, five pool tables and a smoker-friendly porch you
could do a whole lot worse than an afternoon or evening with front-row
seats to the crossroads of Santa Rosa. And I mean that with love.
Gary’s at the Belvedere, 727 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, 707.542.8705
(restaurant), 707.542.1890 (bar). Open for lunch Mon-Fri from 11am to
2pm, Dinner Mon-Sun, 5pm to 10pm.
PS: After this, no more burgers for a while. Promise. I’m done.