BiteClub Eats

Simply Vietnam in Santa Rosa: Great pho, bbq pork sprig rolls and lemongrass beef are tops

Fire it upToques off to the fall crew of the Santa Rosa Junior College Culinary Café, which re-opened on Wednesday. With their every move on display in the open teaching kitchen and fishbowl bakery, the heat is on these eager chefs-to-be from day one. The debut menu includes a variety of seasonal dishes–from spiced carrot [...]

Chinese food needs a good agent these days. After years as the reigning exotic starlet of the American palate, she’s really let herself go–appearing regularly in freezer sections and mall fast food courts. She’s licensed her name to abominations like orange chicken (which tastes like neither) and spongey egg rolls and tasteless fried rice studded [...]

After a rather horrifying incident with yak butter tea a few years ago, I pretty much swore off any further experiences with Tibetan food. Yak can do that to a person. A recent shout-out by a BiteClubber over my noticeable lack of Indian coverage, however, prompted me to take another look at Shangri-La, a Himalayan [...]

Shangri-La Himalayan and Tibetan Food

Napa’s long-awaited new restaurant and yoga studio, Ubuntu, officially opened last Thursday. Curious crowds packed into the restored 19th century building to get a glimpse, quickly overwhelming the kitchen. In fact, BiteClub couldn’t find a single morsel to be nibble on, leaving the opening party hungry and well-jostled. The menu will lean heavily on the [...]

Located in the hinterlands of south Santa Rosa Avenue, Na Thong is too good a secret not to let BiteClubbers in on. Sandwiched between a coffee/BBQ shop and a tattoo parlor in, er, a rather colorful part of town the month-old restaurant is serving up some solid Laotian and Thai cuisine to those intrepid enough [...]

Tomatoes. Fresh peaches. Corn on the cob. Pretty much anything on the grill. What are your favorite summer foods? You know, the stuff you dream about all winter. The stuff you buy in bulk when August hits. From insalata Caprese to peach pie and potato salad, tell BiteClub what you’re jonesin’ for. And, don’t forget [...]

Leave it to Francis Ford Coppola to set a scene. Fade in on the director posed like a seersucker Santa waiting for Christmas. Three! Two! One! The crowd cheers and with a hearty tug, Coppola reveals the name of his new winery: Rosso & Bianco. On cue, the letters buzz to life in a red, [...]

Taste of Havana? BiteClub was recently tipped off that a Cuban restaurant is in the works in Sebastopol. Details are still sketchy, but word is that the spot will open sometime in October. I’m already getting itchy for a pressed sandwich. Stay tuned. 707′s Randy Lewis returns(ish)It’s an understatement to say that Santa Rosa never [...]

UPDATE 6/18/2008: With regard to some twittering I’ve been hearing about Sky Lounge at the Sonoma County Airport, here’s the scoop straight from owner Jim Goff. He tells BiteClub that Ed Metcalfe (of Shisho in Sonoma) who had a hand in the opening has not been part of the restaurant since early on. In addition, [...]

Santa Rosa’s airport restaurant isn’t quite ready for takeoff

Is that a hint of Clear Lake I’m detecting in my wine? Could be. If you’re drinking some of Napa and Sonoma’s most popular wines you may be getting more than just a whiff of Lake County grapes. With its hot summer days, accelerated growing season and cheap land (by northern California standards, at least), [...]

Let them eat faux grasWhen chefs in Chicago were banned from using foie gras in their restaurant, they got creative. Instead of prized duck liver (the animals are force-fed to artificially enlarge the liver), they’re using everything from chicken livers to garbanzo beans to approximate the taste and texture. A recipe for chicken liver faux [...]

A quiet Italian eatery in the midst of vineyards, Cafe Citti is a locals hangout with top notch eats

Big changes for the Carneros Inn’s FARM restaurant. Opening chef Kimball Jones, formerly of Campton Place has departed. Jeff Jake, who recently jumped ship after opening Bar Vino in Calistoga (while doing double duty as Brannan’s exec. chef) has been named as executive chef for the Inn (which includes Boon Fly Cafe, FARM and the [...]

Everyone loves a comeback story. All the better when it involves Kobe beef. After years of lurking in the shadows as a solid, but not particularly innovative Sonoma institution, the General’s Daughter has been reinvented as one of the most consistently impressive restaurants in Wine Country. No easy task. Because the only thing more difficult [...]