If you savor sustainability in the way of choice seafood and want to sample exciting fish dishes created by celebrity chefs from around the country, mark your calendar for May 18-20 and the latest Monterey Bay Aquarium Cooking For Solutions. It promises to be three days of foodie fish-lover’s heaven.
Articles by Christina Waters
515: A Great Rainy Day Getaway
Funky elegance, laid-back glamor and serious libations are among the many charms of downtown’s 515 Kitchen & Cocktails, located at 515 Cedar Street, as my colleagues and I found out last Friday. Happily ensconced on some of the soft cushions in the downstairs lounge, we enjoyed the wet afternoon from afar.
Fathers and Sons: Dano Trumps De Niro in ‘Being Flynn’
Two men, father and son, share the name, Flynn. And as we meet them in Being Flynn, father Jonathan (Robert De Niro) and son Nick (Paul Dano) also appear to share a life trajectory—downhill. Jonathan, a self-styled “great” writer, is already well down the road to ruin, his loser status well in progress, whereas twentysomething Nick’s decline is still a rough draft. Paul Weitz’ script and direction tell a familiar tale: loser father abandons wife (Julianne Moore) and son, goes to prison and disappears, sending letters to son claiming to be finishing up the great American novel.
Coming Soon: Kalefest
Do you sometimes skip dessert just so you an have another serving of kale salad? Me too! Kale is truly an astonishing member of the brassica family, beloved for its deep green (sometimes purple) color and its wealth of antioxidants and healthy minerals. Its distinctive bitter flavor makes it a hit with savvy chefs all over the world. And it loves to grow right here on our windswept, fog-kissed coast.
Bagelry Hits the Spot
For decades this home of utterly firm, toothsome bagels and laid-back ambiance has provided instant shelter from the usual storms of economic chaos, relationship entanglements and social justice meltdown. In other words, it’s a place where the reliable, the cozy and the bagel all reign together.
New Leaf Serves Up Fresh Cooking Tips
Are you as addicted to New Leaf as I am? Outstanding fresh coffee, vigorous green health drinks bursting with minerals that slap your immune system into shape, custom-made sandwiches and that life-saving dinner alternative, turkey chili. All this plus a butcher section and a bracing selection of local premium wines? It’s safe to say New Leaf offers everything (except perhaps a parking lot large enough for cars powered by gasoline).
‘W.E.’ A Feast For The Eyes
Wielding her obsession with übercelebrity Wallis Simpson like a wand of Maybelline extra black mascara, Madonna has made a better film than we expected.
The New Santa Cruz Mountain Winemakers: Kenny Likitprakong
Everything about Kenny Likitprakong’s story is filled with independent attitude. Growing up in Healdsburg of Thai, Chinese and Jewish ancestry, he exercised his passions for skateboarding and snowboarding in tandem with plenty of world travel. His umbrella Hobo Wines group is named partly in homage to songwriter/vagabond Woody Guthrie and the free spirit of wandering.
Soquel Shaman Brant Secunda’s Chocolate Quest
Shaman Organic Chocolate bars are the total package. Delicious, organic chocolate, every $3 bite of which goes to help maintain the endangered indigenous lifestyles and traditions of the Huichol Indians of Mexico.
Vinocruz Pouring it On
With the boldly colorful acrylic artwork by W.M. Vinci currently adorning two walls and hundreds of wine bottles providing the rest of the visuals, Vinocruz offers more sensory bombardment than ever. Steve Principe, who with partner Jennifer Walker re-opened the popular downtown wine tasting depot in late August, is still fine-tuning many attractive new features.
