The Culinary Timeline is a side-project that I've been working on since October. I'm hoping to have most of it complete by the end of January, with any luck. Until then, updates around here will be weekly, rather than twice weekly. Do stay tuned.
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The yolk is the sauce.
My regular readers may have been wondering why I haven’t been my prolific self this past month, and there’s a few reasons: (a) I’ve been golfing quite a bit lately, (b) cooking professionally has limited how much I dine out, and (c) I’ve been putting almost all of my mental energy into my new project, the Culinary Timeline (the site is still a definite work-in-progress, and not quite ready for prime time). Since returning to work in the kitchen earlier this year, I’ve not only expanded my culinary horizons in the present (étoile [... read more ...]
The dining area outside Ehlers Estate.
Slow Food Napa Valley hosted a pig roast and potluck on Sunday, September 11th, in conjunction with Ehlers Estate in St. Helena. The following photos highlight the event, which provided a forum for SFNV members to discuss the future of SFNV, and how they can help to increase interest and awareness of the Slow Food movement. Naturally, the brunch was amazing. Please click on any photo for a full-screen view.
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Pig cracklins, up close.
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CIA instructor Patrick Clark carves the [... read more ...]
Gateway Market, Emeryville: Adorned with a fantastic mural alongside its parking lot, the Gateway Market is tough to miss on San Pablo Blvd. The artwork has a definite graffiti vibe, but the details are fantastic. Luckily, it hasn't been tagged over. The "W" in Gateway is pictured above (each letter has its own theme). Click on the photo to reveal all of the great flourishes.
Most of these pictures have never appeared on this site, although a couple did appear a few years ago, long before I sharpened my photo-editing skills. Many readers have emailed me about my [... read more ...]
Try a Little Tenderness: The Back Rib Sandwich @ Solbar, Calistoga.
I’ve cooked plenty of baby back ribs in my day. When I worked at Houston’s Santa Monica (many moons ago), I prepped the restaurant’s pork ribs on a nightly basis. It went something like this: At the end of the night, the ribs were rubbed down with a mixture of sugar, Kosher salt, and spices, before spending about eight or 10 hours in a 250°F Alto-Shaam. In the morning, the now-tender ribs would be carefully dipped in bacon fat and wrapped in plastic. At this point, the [... read more ...]
Al Pastor Tacos @ La Luna Market, Rutherford.
When I was working as a wine educator in Rutherford and Oakville, quick lunch options were unusually scarce. Aside from an occasional Dean & DeLuca sandwich, Mexican food was the only feasible option up valley — not that I ever complained all that much. Being a native of California, Mexican food will always be a staple for me, and the tacos on this page represent literally hundreds of past lunches, especially the tacos al pastor at La Luna Market, pictured above. Conservatively, I’ve eaten over one thousand tacos at La [... read more ...]
The Torta Cubana @ That's It Market: Chorizo and Egg, Breaded Beef, Hot Dogs, Bacon, Ham, Queso Fresco, Lettuce, Tomato, Pickled Jalapeño, Guacamole, and enough Mayo to bring it all together.
A couple summers ago, Anthony Bourdain profiled That’s It Market on “No Reservations,” a culinary endorsement that must have provided an amazing windfall to the tiny corner store (no doubt, the “No Reservations” logo still appears on the market’s menus). Two years later, That’s It continues to earn high marks for its well-known torta cubana, a catch-all sandwich of profound proportions. Being in the mood for this [... read more ...]
Always mustard, never ketchup: The Cajun Corn Dog @ Uncle Bill's Gourmet Corn Dogs, Sonoma Square Farmers Market.
The best things in life are fried: I learned this simple mantra very early on, when I used to work the fryer station at K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen in New Orleans. We fried lots of delicious foods at K-Paul’s, including oysters, shrimp, soft-shelled crab, green tomatoes, duck skins, and of course, plenty of potatoes (K-Paul’s didn’t serve french fries, however. Instead, our potatoes were baked, halved, and then scooped. Once prepped, the skins and the “meat” were fried separately, with the [... read more ...]
Roast Duck Banh Mi Dip @ The Kitchen Door, Oxbow Market, Napa.
Having worked at Martini House back in 2007, it would be impossible for me to offer an unbiased opinion of the newly-opened Kitchen Door at Oxbow Market — truthfully, I know too many of the staff, and in some cases, I already know the food (a handful of the Kitchen Door dishes, including the mushroom soup, are vestiges of chef Todd Humphries’ former Martini House menu). That said, it’s worth leading off this most recent photo purge with a snapshot of the Kitchen Door’s [... read more ...]
The family-style seating area at the Kitchen Door. Two-tops and four-tops are located on either side, along with some bar-style seating.
If you were ever a fan of Martini House in St. Helena, the first thing you need to know about the Kitchen Door at Oxbow is that the mushroom soup is back. Good thing, too. I developed a lasting taste for that very soup when I used to cook at the Martini House — in those days, I ate a little mushroom soup almost every night, ladling the last remainders over cubes of left-over walnut bread, which [... read more ...]
Breakfast Sandwich @ The Fremont Diner.
Working nights in the kitchen can have its perks, such as being able to go out for breakfast any day of the week. With an old college buddy visiting the Napa Valley recently, a morning session at the Fremont Diner presented the obvious choice. Personally, I’ve already covered most of the Fremont Diner’s menu over the past couple of years, but it’s always fun to see someone marvel at all of the restaurant’s great, down-home selections. Besides that, I hadn’t been to the Fremont Diner in a while, so I was actually [... read more ...]
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