Archive | July, 2007

Ferrari tastes on a Volkswagon budget

The BuzzSeems Santa Rosa wasn’t quite ready for Nirvana’s high-concept Indian fusion. The restaurant has reportedly closed. Though BiteClub was initially enthusiastic about the food, continued problems with service and consistency–as well some fairly rabid counter-advertising by nearby Sizzling Tandoor–seem to have doomed the restaurant.The TightwadFerrari tastes on a Volkswagon budget? BiteClub gets it. Get [...]

Do duck testicles make you green?

The next time Incanto’s Chris Cosentino asks me if I want to watch him break down a whole pig–nose-to-tail–I swear I’m going to take him up on it. One of my biggest foodie regrets, in fact, was passing by the chance to see this offalist at work, elbow-deep in hog. Because while most of us [...]

Mai Vietnamese | Cotati

Excellent pho and family touches make this Cotati Vietnamese restaurant sing

Toad in the Hole Pub opens

After months of anticipation, Railroad Square’s Toad in the Hole pub will open at the auspicious hour of 4:20pm Friday, July 27. If you don’t get the significance, uh, ask your kids. The English style bar and eatery will offer Bangers & Mash, fish and chips, meat pies and other tasty Brit fare from former [...]

Food obsessed

Back by popular demand: Fatt Hos at Della Fattoria. Think homemade Ho Hos–those delightful little rolled sponge cakes layered with pastry cream and drenched in chocolate. Della Fattoria, 141 Petaluma Blvd. N. (bet. Washington St. & Western Ave.), Petaluma, 707.763.0161. Ubuntu almost open: Napa’s new restaurant/yoga studio has attracted top Bay Area toques (most notably [...]

SolBar

There’s nothing like watching thin, rich, tan people frolicking poolside from your dinner table to inspire a little caloric restraint. Then again, if you’re anything like me, the sight of all that taut skin inspires an order of beef short ribs with polenta, a peach tart, some flatbread and a strawberry mojito. Oh, and uh, [...]

Meet the Bourbonians

It’s not often you meet a Kentucky Colonel. Let alone three at one sitting–and not a bucket of fried chicken in sight. Gathered at the behest of local bourbon connoisseur and Straightbourbon.com webmaster Jim Butler, folks from around the globe (and closer to home) trek to Santa Rosa each year to meet up with similarly [...]

Pamposh Indian | Santa Rosa

Pamposh is great Indian cuisine in Santa Rosa.

Franzi's Swiss Italian Deli

I feel so wrong. So very, very wrong. Wafts of my lunch chastise me at regular intervals from the patchwork of drips and stains covering my clothes. My sated stomach gurgles. My conscience is troubled. Without a second thought or even a napkin, I have scarfed down a sandwich the size of Cleveland–beef brisket covered [...]

Get buzzed

Just in time for a mass bee die-off, honey has become the hottest alcohol flavoring of the year. Seems whatever apiaries are left will be putting in some serious overtime. No longer relegated to Renaissance Fairs, mead (an ancient recipe for wine made with honey instead of grapes) is among the most popular bee brews, [...]

Battle of the Chefs

If you’ve ever watched Iron Chef, you’ll pretty much get the premise of the recent Steel Chef cook-off during Sonoma Showcase last weekend–throw a good-natured group of chefs into an impossibly stressful cooking situation in front of an audience; keep the key ingredients a mystery until the last second; set the timer for 30 minutes [...]

Truffle Pigs

Snuggled against the base of a sheer limestone mountain, the town of Field, British Columbia is just about the quaintest place on earth. The hamlet of 200 is little more than a way-station for summer vacationers who have the inside track on the popular eight-table bistro, The Truffle Pigs, who serve happily sweating diners beef [...]

Sonoma Coast Dining: Tomales, Point Reyes, Marshall

Where to eat in Tomales, Point Reyes, Marshall and along the Sonoma Coast

Fro Yo a Go Go

Along with ballet slipper flats and safety pin fashion, frozen yogurt has resurfaced as one of the summer’s hottest recycled ’80s trends. Like totally. But hold onto your mall bangs, sister, we’ve evolved way beyond TCBY. Enter Pinkberry. Raging through SoCal like an acidophilus-fueled wildfire, Pinkberry has elevated fro-yo to an art form by, well, [...]

Odyssey

Chefs are a notoriously fickle bunch to feed. Anyone worth their whites can sniff out undercooked pasta at 100 yards and won’t hesitate to dress down a fellow cook (usually behind their back) with devastating candor if the fries are frozen or the spinach wilted. Suffice to say it’s not just their knives that are [...]

Fast Food Nation

When a friend recently told me he never eats fast food, I couldn’t help the look of shock and horror that came over my face. I called him a liar. Because in the year 2007 if you have any sort of normal life, hitting the drive-through at 11pm after everything else closes is pretty much [...]

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