The View from Diamond Mountain

I'm still due for a trip up to Diamond Mountain, although Sonoma is more likely in my near future.

I'm working on all kinds of different projects, and should hopefully deliver something five days per week through the summer. Do stay tuned.

Restaurant Review: B Star Bar, Inner Richmond, SF

Kau Soi: The chicken, noodles, and coconut sauce lurk underneath…

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I’ve had some rotten luck on Clement Street over the last few weeks, thanks mostly to my own poor planning. I’ve definitely fallen into the “closed-on-Monday” trap recently, which can certainly sting when you’ve driven 50 miles from Napa with dim sum on your mind. But, when you make assumptions and simply hit the road on a weekday, it happens (or as we used to say in the Martini House kitchen, “Sh’appens”). Just last week, I attempted to visit Burma Superstar on a [... read more ...]

Restaurant Review: Gussie’s Chicken and Waffles, San Francisco

Note to Gussie: The lettuce leaf and the orange slice have no business in this particular context.

When I was producing a radio show back in my early days in Los Angeles, a stop at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles became a weekly Sunday night ritual. Having Roscoe’s as a late-night option was truly a godsend, especially since the Pico-La Brea location was midway between K-Town and the Westside. With four other locations in Southern California, Roscoe’s is legendary, and rightly so. The place is the model of consistency — always perfect — with devastating fried chicken. The waffles [... read more ...]

Slow Food: The 3rd Annual Harvest Dinner @ Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park

The dining room at Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park

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I spent Saturday evening at the Third Annual Harvest Dinner at the Bale Grist Mill, hosted in conjunction with Slow Food Napa Valley and the Silverado Brewing Company. The event was held to raise money for the mill, which was originally constructed in 1846, and is the only operating mill of its kind west of the Rocky Mountains. The majority of the feast was provided by Number Fourteen, a delicious American mulefoot hog raised locally by chef Michael Fradelizio of the Silverado BrewCo.

[... read more ...]

Napa Restuarant News: Bradley Ogden headed to the Riverfront

Bradley Ogden: Napa bound

Those who have been keeping up with the Thirsty Reader realize that occasionally I’ll do more than offer my humble opinion on food and wine. From time to time, I’ll break legitimate news stories. So, from the person who first leaked the news regarding Masuharu Morimoto coming to Napa, I bring you the latest culinary chapter in Napa’s burgeoning Riverfront development: Bradley Ogden has officially agreed to open a restaurant downtown.

Of course, chef Ogden has been the man behind several successful ventures in the Bay Area, but has also branched out to places [... read more ...]

Book Review: “The Botanist and the Vintner” by Christy Campbell

Much better than my wishy-washy review, but still…

From time to time, I’ve mentioned a few of the “secret handshakes” that can easily distinguish the wine aficionado from the casual drinker. The term “phylloxera” definitely belongs in this category, since few people would ever encounter this word without reading about the history of wine. On the other hand, phylloxera has had such a profound impact on the modern wine industry that it has also become one of the first terms that people learn when they decide to look beyond the bottle and into a book. In author Christy [... read more ...]