Au Midi chef Muriel Loubiere is doing a special menu every Wednesday. Photo by Chip Scheuer.
Chef Muriel Loubiere at Aptos' intimate Au Midi has begun celebrating summer with some Mediterranean specials on her proveçal menu. Every Wednesday look for paella with gazpacho. And every Thursday, the special entree will be bouillabaisse with mozzarella terrine. These special meals are priced at $23.50—another reason to stop and share the festive French authenticity of Au Midi, located behind the Aptos Cinema at 7960 Soquel Drive in Aptos. 831 685-2600.
Summer Pinot: Winemaker Jennifer Pandol, came to Santa Cruz for UCSC's Agroecology program. She continued on to the UC Davis Viticulture and Enology Program. I'm telling you this because Pandol's latest 2009 Pinot Noir—made from our appellation's Regan Vineyard grapes—is a delightful 14% alc. creation of earth tones, mint, dark plums, and spice. It drinks like a much more expensive wine than it actually is—a modest $22 @ New Leaf. We enjoyed Pando pinot last night with wild local King salmon. That's a combination that really cannot be beat.
Lovin' Love Apple: Okay so it's too late for reservations for the June 1 Farm Dinner up at verdant Love Apple Farm—growers for Michelin two star Manresa—but you should seriously consider making a play for the September 14 outdoor dining event. This special experience benefits the Museums of Los Gatos (which means the multi-course meal, including accompanying wines, tax, gratuity and farm tour for $195, is tax deductible).
Check the web site for details and reservations. A matchless experience.
Burma Superstar Cooking: If you're in the neighborhood of Alameda, San Francisco, or Oakland—and it's lunchtime—you have to try the complex, utterly addictive menu at Burma Superstar, a trio of restaurants devoted to re-branding the entire concept of southeast asian cookery. I shared three dishes last week at the Alameda location, housed in a high-ceilinged Victorian on Alameda's Park Street main drag. A tossed salad of chopped romaine, peanuts, fried garlic, tomatoes, jalapeño, and fermented shrimp dressed with fermented tea leaf sauce (yeow!), a batter-fried Salt and Pepper Calamari with sweet/spicy sauce, and stir fried, chili glazed lamb with basil. All to kill for. All freshly made and beautifully presented. Bright, undulant flavors. Especially the house signature Tea Leaf Salad. Along with coconut rice, it offered texture fireworks.
Outstanding Outdoors: I joined one hundred other serious gastronomes on Memorial Day to tour the splendidly pastoral acres of Fogline Farms, pet the very sweet enormous pigs, admire the inquisitive chickens and feast on mesquite grilled appetizers before sitting down for a three-hour “Outstanding in the Field” dinner. Passed appetizers of nori-wrapped spiced winter melon, and crispy anchovies dusted with Meyer lemon zest went well with minerally Chardonnay poured by Christine Slatter from Hunter Hill (the vineyard a few feet away from Fogline). Chef Santos Majano from Soif was one of the participants at this dinner, probably taking some notes for his own “Outstanding” event coming up at Everett Family Farm on June 16. There are still some seats—check them out here. My favorite dish of the evening was a celestial entree of whole trout from Mt. Shasta's MacFarland Farms—buttery sweet pink flesh, that had been grilled over mesquite and the farm's own applewood, and encrusted with green garlic sweet miso vinaigrette. Utterly dreamy—kudos to the evening's chef Greg Dunmore from Nojo in the City. Great to meet the host farmers John Wilson and Caleb Farron, and see OITF founder Jim Denevan back on our coast once more.
CSA from the Farm-on-the-Hill: Tuesday afternoons at 817 Swift Street the smart home chefs who signed up for this season's CSA shares can begin picking up their weekly box of freshly picked organic produce from the Farm. Full share $560 (for weekly box through Nov. 1); eleven week-long late season share $280. For details call 831.459-3240.
