BiteClubEats

Chefs' Thanksgiving in Wine County: Recipes

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:15:57 -0800

Put down the canned mushroom soup and jellied cranberry sauce, this is a Chef Intervention. Because while your family recipes may be adequate, there are trained professionals from throughout Wine Country ready and willing to turn over their tried-and-true recipes to you.

From paper bag roasted turkey to drop-dead delicious mashed potatoes, these are home-friendly dishes from a dozen (there are many more online) top toques have culled from their restaurants and personal recipe files (chefs have to cook Thanksgiving too). But more than that, they're recipes that these chefs think they've got down cold.

So get inspired, steal them freely and take all the credit. We won't tell.

Roast Turkey in a Bag: Jeff Mall, Zin Restaurant, Healdsburg

The king of cozy comfort food, this Healdsburg farmer/chef is a natural for Thanksgiving's showpiece, turkey. But rather than trying to glam up the pedestrian bird with brining and complicated cooking methods, Mall roasts the turkey in a paper bag, a tried and true method he learned in high school. "I think that most brined turkey really just tastes like the brine and not much else," Mall said. To close the deal, Jeff glazes the turkey with a finger-lickin' mix of butter, ginger, chives and maple syrup. But Mall's masterpiece isn't complete without this Southern boy's other signature holiday dish, Drunken Cranberry sauce, made extra-festive with a heavy dose of Marsala wine, Triple Sec and bitters.

Thanksgiving 2009: The Guide

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:25:21 -0800

Though this year, many folks are looking toward tradition and the comforts of home, the idea of spending hundreds of dollars and several days in the kitchen just doesn't always make sense. Especially if you're a crummy cook. Take the stress out of the holidays by letting someone else do the work.

BiteClub dishes on where to go and what to eat...

Quick Links...

RESTAURANTS
Heritage Turkeys
Last Minute Shopping
Desserts
Pick-Up Dinners
5K Turkey Trot

Have a favorite holiday tradition or spot I've missed? Add your thoughts below.

RESTAURANTS

BEST VALUE
Stark's Steakhouse: Roast Willie Bird Turkey, Chef Mark's Andouille Sausage & Wild Mushroom Stuffing, Traditional Giblet Gravy and Pomegranate-Cranberry Relish for just $18, or the usual steakhouse menu (except burgers and entree Caesar salads) from 3 to 7pm. No corkage on the holiday. Thirsty? Three new fall cocktails are on the menu: Bootlegger's Breakfast, The Warm Up, and Moroccan 75 (a refreshing fave of BiteClub). 521 Adams St (at 7th St.), Santa Rosa, 546-5100.

Estate: Chef Sondra Bernstein's new family-style Italian restaurant in the former General's Daughter offers a 3-course menu w. optional wine pairing ($50/adult; $20/child under 10). 2-7 pm. Menu includes prosciutto and pumpkin soup, Blue crab spaghetti, sugar pie pumpkin ravioli with sage butter, roasted turkey, pumpkin cheesecake. FULL MENU (PDF). 400 West Spain Street
Sonoma, 933-3663.

Rancho Nicasio Thanksgiving Dinner: Three course dinner from 12 to 7pm, reservations recommended. Menu includes homemade clam chowder, turkey, ham, salmon Wellington with champagne sauce, prime rib, pumpkin, apple or pecan pie. $34.95pp, 29.95 65+, kids under 10, $24.95. Three course vegetarian option available by reservation. FULL MENU. On The Town Square, Nicasio, 415-662-2219.

Worst Thanksgiving Disaster?

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:31:31 -0800

From frozen-in-the-middle turkey to the family dog eating the pie, we've all had no-so-spectacular moments in the Thanksgiving annals.

Tell me yours and you could win two tickets to Kendall Jackson Chef Justin Wangler's Thanksgiving How-To (plus a sit-down feast) November 14, 2009 at the winery.

Recently featured in an 8-page spread in Better Homes and Gardens, Wangler walks everyday home cooks through a tasty, but approachable do-ahead feast that will leave you time to socialize. Or at least keep an eye on the dog.

Can't go? Check out a Thanksgiving cornucopia of info including video, recipes, wine pairings and lots more from JW at the KJ website. (Hint: The Pumpkin Cornbread will be gracing BiteClub's table.)

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The details: One winner will be randomly selected from comment entries. Want the full details? Click here.

Mushroom Madness: It's Funghi Season

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:43:56 -0800

They may not be the beauty queens of the food world, but beneath their other-worldly exteriors there's a lot to love about mushrooms.

Here in California, there are hundreds of edible species of funky fungi (some tastier than others). As fall's first rains hit, the madness sets in with local foragers hunting for golden chanterelles, porcini, black trumpets and candy caps in the damp forests of the coast.

Mushroom Madness
Head to the forums to chat about your favorite mushroom dishes.

With a prime season in the late fall and into the spring, chefs look forward to back-door visits from trusted foragers bringing whatever bounty they've found. But it's not all up to chance: Here in Sonoma County we're fortunate enough to have one of the largest and best organic mushroom growers in the world, Gourmet Mushrooms Inc., offering seven varieties of mushrooms year-round. Not the white button mushrooms you've probably learned to hate, but more exotic fare. A favorite of chefs since the late 1970s(and credited with being the first company to grow shiitakes in the US, GMI has a large organic cultivation facility in Sebastopol with seven specialized varieties, many of which are now available at higher-end grocers under the Mycopia label.

Feeling the 'shroom love? Here's where to get 'em...

A Wine and Food Affair: Win Tix to Tasting Along the Wine Road

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:55:27 -0800

Like learning the metric system or flossing daily, pairing wine with food is one of those things you know you should do, but it just seems hard. And tiring. And confusing. I mean, what kind of food do you pair something with notes of pencil shavings and eau de barnyard?

Which is why you leave such things to the professionals. Really, take the stress off.

Win Two Tickets for A Wine & Food Affair

Enter for a chance to win by telling Biteclub your favorite wine and food pairing in the comments below (feel free to get creative!) Or, stump us with an impossible pairing...

CONTEST CLOSED: Congratulations Cynthia!

This weekend, dozens of wineries throughout Dry Creek, Russian River, Green Valley, Alexander Valley, Chalk Hill and Rockpile (aka the collected wineries of the Wine Road) host two days of eating and drinking in perfect synchronicity, aka A Wine and Food Affair, Nov. 7 and 8, 2009 from 11am to 4pm.

Top chefs from around the county are matched up with wineries to create delish dishes served up with wines that you'd think are their long-lost soul mates. Like Zinfandel-braised duck and mascarpone polenta with Carol Shelton's Karma Zinfandel, braised lamb stew at Locals; Braised Short Ribs at the Kendall Jackson Wine Center or Pumpkin soup at Camellia Cellars. See a full list of wineries and what they're serving (PDF).

Exactly which chefs have been paired with which wineries remains a closely-guarded secret until the last minute, when the annual cookbook "Tasting Along the Wine Road" is released in conjunction with the event. And this year's a doozy, with nearly 100 recipes from many of Wine Country's Top Toques. But you'll need to carefully plan your attack, whether you're going for the whole weekend or just on Sunday.

Wanna go? Tell me you perfect pairing...no worries if its not sommelier-worthy. Just a food you love to eat with a favorite wine. Or, stump us with your most challenging food to pair wine with. Your comment gets you entered to win.

Not that hard, right? Now go floss your teeth.

Copia to become Food Network West?

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:49:45 -0800

From the Totally Unconfirmed But It Would Make Sense Department:

Rumors are buzzing around that that the Food Network is putting out feelers on turning the defunct Copia into a West Coast studio. Sunset magazine shot out the gossip in this month's magazine and Napa insiders have been buzzing for a while.

With the imminent arrival of Iron Chef Morimoto, Marin's nice-guy chef, Tyler Florence opening ventures all over Northern California, Michael Chiarello's Bottega and Napa Style empire in Yountville and FN Golden Boy Guy Fieri all hanging out in Wine Country, it seems like a no-brainer. A friend of Fieri told BiteClub upon hearing the gossip that it would totally make sense for the coast-hopping chef/family-man to be able to tape a little closer to home.

Now if we could just get one of them to sponsor Taste3 again.

A second rumor is that the Culinary Institute at Greystone may also be looking at the luxe space as an annex to their St. Helena digs.

With all the hubub, it seems there may be a tasty reincarnation of Robert Mondavi's dream culinary destination yet. Stay tuned...

Cookbooks That Cook: Ad Hoc, Get Cooking & more...

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:02:46 -0800

Ladies and gentlemen, start your burners. The cooking season has begun.

The good news: Whether you're a seasoned pro or breaking in your first set of pans, a new crop of cookbooks (just in time for the holidays) are designed to help you navigate the stormy seas of at-home cooking.

Because as much as we all may love watching the Food Network, buying chef-quality kitchen gear (we'll never use) and drooling over glossy food porn magazines, decent cooks are a dying breed. Blame it on take-out menus, overworked moms and the lack of home-ec questions on standardized tests, but for people obsessed with food, most of us draw a blank when it comes to scratch cooking.

So dust off those whisks, strap on an apron and vow to put an end to boxed, prepared or even half-homemade dining. The truth is, anyone can cook if they've got a good teacher and a little inspiration. Here are three books to get you started...

Top Chef contestants close Cyrus?

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:35:21 -0800

WARNING: SOME OF YOU SEEM TO THINK THERE IS A SPOILER HERE. I DISAGREE, BUT READ WITH CAUTION IF YOU'RE SENSITIVE ABOUT SUCH THINGS.

Healdsburg is abuzz with the news that Cyrus restaurant was temporarily closed last Thursday and Friday to accommodate Season 6 "Top Chef" contestants staying at the Le Mars Hotel along with Padma and Tom.

No word on exactly what they were doing, but locals said there were television trucks parked around the building and that the Michelin-starred eatery may have been the site of a post-Las Vegas taping.

Several cast members were also reportedly seen at Brix in Yountville last week bussing their own dishes? What's that about...

Atlanta-based finalists Eli Kirshtein and Kevin Gillespie return to Wine Country this Saturday to do some collective back-patting with fellow southerner Hardy Wallace, (Murphy-Goode Winery's dream job winner). The three are old friends who've recently found their 15 minutes of fame in the culinary world. They'll do a meet and greet Sunday, then cook for local big-wigs on Monday and Tuesday.

Media have been warned, however, that the chefs will not be doing official interviews since the Bravo show still has several episodes left to air before the winner is revealed.

Who's your money on?

Halloween Candy Bar Pie

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:54:22 -0800

There comes a time when fun-sized candies aren't so fun anymore.

Come November 2, after everyone in the family has finished the crazed, wake-up-with-wrappers-in-your-bed post-Halloween candy rush, those tiny leftover candy bars just seem annoying. Too small to be seriously satisfying, but too tasty to toss.

Recycle them into something sure to get your holiday pudge started off on the right foot: Candy Bar Pie. Using handfuls of chocolate minis, its a crafty reuse of all that free loot in a pillowy bed of marshmallows and whipped cream.

Now that's fun.

Trick or Treats

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:58:49 -0800

A few of my favorite Halloween treats for 2009...

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (Santa Rosa Plaza): Creepy eyeballs, Heathbar and caramel apples so gourmet you'll scream with delight. Plus chocolate-covered Twinkies.

Michelle Marie's Patisserie: Hand-painted sugar cookies in holiday shapes, pumpkin whoopie pies and ghastly ghost cakes. 2404 Magowan Dr
Santa Rosa, 575-1214.

Zit-Poppers: Pimple-themed candies. Oh my. Powell's Sweet Shoppe, 720 McClelland Dr. Windsor, (707) 836-0808.

Botany of Desire: Pollan Documentary

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:18:52 -0800

If you aren't among the millions who've read one of Michael Pollan's food manifestos In Defense of Food, The Omnivore's Dilemma or Botany of Desire, you've probably heard him on television, radio or read his editorials in the New York Times. The guru of food espouses knowing what we're eating, breaking free from industrialized food and re-engaging with the natural world.

The guy is so everywhere that even my mother is dictating to me that I should consider a plant-based diet. Sheesh.

Now he's really bringing it to the masses with a 2-hour documentary version of his book Botany of Desire, which explores man's co-evolution with four plants: marijuana, potatoes, apples and tulips. The documentary airs Wed., October 28 at 8pm on KQED. The show will be recast several times in case you missed it...see showtimes.

Suffice to say more than a few households will be fighting over the tv tonight.

Botany of Desire website...

Halloween: Spooky Eats & Events

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:05:30 -0800

It's not often that the spookiest night of the year falls on a weekend...so make the most of it. Here are some of BiteClub's picks for fun and tasty Halloween entertainment.

EATS
Humble Pie
Halloween Night dinner with reserve seating and Miriam's incredible pies. "We thought about taking the night off, but the Black Cat Building is just about as spooky as you can get! So how could be pass up such a good reason to cook, eat and party?" says the owner. 10045 Main St., Penngrove, 664.8779

Masalajack's
Celebrate Halloween Tandoori Style at the Cotati Indian eatery. 7981 Old Redwood Hwy, Cotati, 707.795.2251.

El Coqui
Halloween festivities on Saturday evening. 400 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, 542-8868.

Russian River Brewing Company
"Hopped Up For The Cure":At the Russian River Brewing Company brewpub in Santa Rosa, all of October -- Breast Cancer Awareness Month -- is a major fund-raising event. It ends Saturday night (Oct. 31) with a free Halloween party, featuring live music by St. Peterbilt and Diesel Billy from 9 p.m to midnight. And since pink is the official color for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, there'll be a raffle drawing for a pink Vespa. 725 Fourth St., Santa Rosa. 545-2337, russianriverbrewing.com.

Michelle Marie's Patisserie
Halloween cakes, cookies and pastry. Advance reservations recommended. 2404 Magowan Dr., Santa Rosa, 575-1214

Roy's Chicago Doggery: Win $25 Gift Certificate

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:51:12 -0800

Okay, here's the challenge. If BiteClub was a hot dog, what would it be? Tell me and you could win a $25 gift certificate to Roy's Chicago Doggery, plus the respect of a whole lot of eaters.

Petaluma wiener palace, Roy's Chicago Doggery tout's such all-beef masterpieces as the Homewrecker, Under Dog Chili Dog, Farfen Dog (kraut & spicy mustard), and Junk Yard Dog (a Vienna dog with mustard, mayo, ketchup, relish, onions, kraut, cheese, tomatoes and a pickle).

But they haven't even imagined what the BiteClub dog could be...So I volunteered you.

Dream up a dog. Something you'd actually like to eat, please. Be creative with the toppings. Spread the love in the comments below.

INVENT THE BITECLUB HOTDOG!
Tell me what a BiteClub Dog would have on it and you could win a $25 gift certificate to Roy's Chicago Doggery...

Full contest rules here...

My favorite dog will be featured at the restaurant and the winner gets $25 to spent at Roy's in whatever manner they please. (Though I'd suggest a BiteClub Dog, chili fries, a shake and a piece of homemade pie.)

Let the BiteClub Doggery begin...

Roy's Chicago Dogs: 84 Corona Road (the old Mike's at the Yard), Petaluma, 774-1574.

(More Hot Dog Adventures here >>)

Risibisi Italian Restaurant: New Chef

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 09:43:32 -0800

On the heels of their recent 2010 Bib Gourmet accolade, Risibisi has announced the arrival of a new Executive Chef, Giuliana Valesi.

From owner Marco Palmieri: Giuliana is from Massa Carrara, Tuscany and she started cooking alongside her mother and grandmother at the age of nine.

She came to San Francisco in 1986 and began working as a Chef at Allegro in Nob Hill as then at Firenze Restaurant in North Beach before moving to Santa Rosa in 1989. In the North Bay she was the Executive Chef at Villa Restaurant in Santa Rosa from 1989 to 1998 and at Roberto's Italian Restaurant on Sonoma Highway from 1998 to 2009. Her cooking style is based on using fresh/organic and local ingredients to produce wholesome traditional Italian dishes just like her mother and grandmother used to make.

The Great Pumpkin Pie Quest

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:06:07 -0800

Poor Linus. Since 1966 the poor kid's been waiting for an imaginary flying pumpkin. Maybe its just an elaborate ruse to hang out in the dark with Sally, but after 40 years I'd be ready for some serious Peanut-style justice -- like heading out to the patch with a fork and a can of whipped cream.

What he never fully grasped: Pie is what pumpkins do best (along with ravioli, soup, cheesecake and truffles). Not flying around at night.

In honor of the ever-optimistic blanketed-one, BiteClub's sussed out squashy goodness around SoCo. Filled with health-giving beta-carotene and vitamins, pumpkin is the good-for-you veggie that's one of the best things about fall. Something Linus always knew.