The Bay Area culinary scene is known for its dedication to local and organic sourcing, but sometimes Nor Cal foodies can get a little delusional in thinking it all started with Alice Waters. In fact, Main St. Garden’s executive chef Chris Caloni and a local farmer also played a pivotal roll.
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Kitchen Gardens: Oak Tree Ristorante
The Oak Tree Ristorante in Felton is nestled in tall Redwood trees that are over 1,000 years old. Growing next to them are fruit trees just starting their lives. Owners George and Kathy Topusidis opened the restaurant three years ago, and initiated the improvements on the land, and chef Sebastian Nobile has been working with them to plant the fruit trees and make garden beds for herbs, berries and artichokes.
Kitchen Gardens: Le Cigare Volant
Last week, Le Cigare Volant chef Ryan Shelton drew from the restaurant’s bio-dynamic gardens in San Juan Bautista to create dish after dazzling dish of seasonal creativity. Dry-farmed green and crimson tomatoes, honeydew melon and shell beans converged in Shelton’s sparkling salad course. Grilled corn and squashes adorned a platter piled high with roasted suckling pig. And into vast platters of paella, perfumed by smoked paprika and local shellfish, came more of the fresh herbs and vegetables from the chef’s in-house garden.
Amino Acids May Restore Balance
These days, doctors aren’t just writing more prescriptions, they’re piling them on. In a 2010 study by Dr. Ramin Mojitabai, doctors were found to prescribe two or more medicines during a single office visit 60 percent of the time—a 20 percent increase since 2000.
Letters to the Editor, Oct. 3–9
Readers voice options against Safeway, in favor of Eric Hammer, and query options for obtaining local farmland.
What’s Next for Former Cemex Land?
Santa Cruz’s “Great Park” is finally coming together, but not the way most people expected. Instead, the purchase of 8,532 acres of undeveloped land near Davenport from Cemex, owners of the nearby closed-down cement plant, represents a whole new era of land conservation—one no longer in the hands of the state.
Tannery Arts Center Debuts New Studios
The Santa Cruz County Visitors Council recently showed journalists around the Tannery’s second phase, a series of work studios that opened earlier this year. The Tannery’s first phase, a group of subsidized housing units, finished in 2009, and a third phase, a performing arts studio, is in the fundraising stages.
Kendra Baker Offers Ice Cream Course
Lots of events erupting at this busy wine store in downtown Santa Cruz. A Wargin Wines pouring on Sept. 29 for example. Mikael Wargin is a Soquel native who majored in biochemistry at UCSC.
Letters to the Editor: Sep 26-Oct 2
Mayor Don Lane responds to a “provocative” letter about desalination. “Letters that reveal secrets,” Lane writes, “even if those secrets are factually incorrect—usually do get folks excited.”
New Book Tackles America’s Sleep Problems
People spend roughly a third of their lives sleeping—about 26 years, based on the average life expectancy. So why are we so tired? And as we reach for coffee, energy drinks and pills to counter our restlessness and insomnia, how much do we really know about those eightish hours between night and day?
