BiteClub Eats

Marin’s favorite hamburger is headed for Santa Rosa. A sign on the former Heavenly Hamburger restaurant on Route 12 says that the burger joint will soon open in that spot. Well-loved in counties south, the burgers are giant, juicy monsters that have lines wrapped round the block. Plus, ciabatti burgers, cheesesteak. And fries. Delightful fries. [...]

Adding to its urban-meets-rural cache, Napa’s tony Carneros Inn recently opened its second restaurant, FARM. The popular Boon Fly Cafe, which easily swayed locals with its casual brunches and upscale roadhouse dining, has been open since 2004. Now heading the two kitchens is Executive Chef Kimball Jones, a former sous-chef at SR’s Campton Place with [...]

Thanksgiving hangover? Yeah, me too. But here are some tasty morsels I’ve been saving up. 2 CrowsMichele Jordan and I stumbled on 2 Crows (9890 Bodega Highway, Sebastopol), the re-opened roadhouse between Sebastopol and Bodega Bay just about the same time–as it was opening. She’s got some details here in a recent article she wrote. [...]

You had one job. Bring the pie.And you forgot, didn’t you? Okay, don’t panic. BiteClub is here to help- Best bet: Mom’s Apple PieChance of actually getting one: Dream the impossible dream.For you sorry slackers, Mom is staying up late Wednesday and opening early Thanksgiving morning. And these are, without a doubt, the biggest, baddest, [...]

He smokes. He drinks. He cusses. He once ate a still-beating Cobra heart. And suffice to say that his after 2am antics are, uh, legendary in the foodie world. If ever a chef approached rock-star status, Anthony Bourdain…well, he’d probably give them a good smack down and spit in their food. (Of Jamie Oliver, the [...]

Good judgment can be such a burden. At least that’s what I hear. Unrestrained by such things, my going 30 miles for a crab sandwich seemed like a perfectly sensible thing to do on a Wednesday afternoon……in the beating rain…while I was supposed to be at work…at speeds which may have, at one point or [...]

Need to kick it up a notch this Thanksgiving? Bam! The brand-spankin’ new Popeye’s Chicken in Rohnert Park (ca c’est bon) is offering pre-cooked Cajun fried turkeys (about $49 for a 10.5 pounder) all week. Yep. Fried turkey. Spicier than a busload of sorority girls headed for Mardi Gras, this bird is gay-ron-teed to keep [...]

You could wake up at 4am and stick your hand into the backside of a frozen turkey. You could slave away in the kitchen all day just to have your mother tell you the potatoes are lumpy and the gravy lacks her special touch. And, you mostly likely will find yourself beneath a pile of [...]

Truffle season is here, and with it, some of the strangest antics known to the food world. Like, say, paying $160,000 for a giant white truffle? Reports say an anonymous bidder in Hong Kong coughed up the money for a 3.3 pound whopper at the annual Worldwide Alba White Truffle Auction in Italy this week. [...]

Yak cheese is big news. Having just returned from a week in Italy where he commiserated with thousands of farmers and chefs, local poultry king Jim Reichardt (the Liberty Duck guy) gave BiteClub the download on this year’s big event–which included a plan to boost imports of Tibetan yak’s milk cheese. (Lost in translation? Terra [...]

Recently Sebastopol’s tiny K&L Bistro received a highly coveted Michelin star, along with a handful of other well-known Wine Country haunts. Gasps were heard ’round the North Bay as eager diners saw any hope of immediate seating disappear faster than a cassoulet on a cold winter night. Right? Not necessarily. Despite serious misgivings, Bite Club [...]

Petit fours are quite possibly the cutest food ever invented, making them compulsory for any event involving: Tea Pregnant women Meeting-your-mother-in-law Any combination of the aforementioned. Homemade? Phooey. Get your desserts the old-fashioned way–with a credit card. Conveniently located near the Petaluma Factory Outlet mall, Divine Delights operates a small outlet store from their Petaluma [...]

Unless you have A). A Jewish mother or B). Survived flu season in Manhattan, you may not understand why I have spent the last five hours looking for Matzo ball soup in Santa Rosa. Suffice to say that on a cold, rainy, absolutely miserable Wine Country day, Matzo ball soup (think of it as chicken [...]

Best hamburgers in Sonoma County, Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Petaluma and Wine Country

Recently, BiteClub threw out an all-beef double-patty of a question: Where are the best burgers in the North Bay? Okay, I actually asked you about Santa Rosa, but hey, who can stop a freight train of opinion? You spoke out. Loudly. Clearly there are some strong feelings about the best places to chow down on [...]