Artisanal food impresarios Zach Davis and Kendra Baker continue their handmade roll through the tastebuds of Santa Cruz. It wasn’t enough that this entrepreneurial duo gave us downtown’s Penny Ice Creamery, and plenty of national coverage for the little shop’s innovative hand-made desserts. They needed to bring us more. Much more. And so there is the delightful, beachfront Picnic Basket, facing the Boardwalk and seaside volleyball courts. Yes, the same Picnic Basket that got yet another shoutout in this month’s Sunset Magazine.
Posts Tagged: PLATED
Michelin Stars and Solar Eclipse at Love Apple Farm
It started with tiny spoon-sized amuse bouches flavored in every shade of delicious, such as beautiful shreds of aged and fermented veggies, tossed with orange, olive oil and raw mild curd. My favorite appetizer spoon contained a bite of poached Monterey abalone encased in chrysanthemum aspic on a dot of sorrel cream. Three layers of luxurious flavors in every mouthful! And that was just the opening salvo of last week’s Iconic Chefs Dinner up at Love Apple Farms.
Sweet Swanton Strawberries at the Farmers Market
These fragrant, succulent strawberries from Swanton Berry Farms are just some of the many indicators of warmer weather and lengthening growing conditions. Our farmers markets are now loaded with strawberries, asparagus—delicious pencil-thin asparagus this week from Hog Farms—young red onions with long slender leaves, broccolini, tiny zucchinis and of course fava beans, the ultimate herald of springtime.
Cabrillo Culinary Students’ End-of-Year Feast
Spring definitely brings out the hunger artist in us all. The opportunities to savor find local food and wine (and beer and ice cream) is too tempting to resist. For example, the food scholars of Cabrillo College’s Culinary Arts Program will present their final dining showcase of the spring semester this week, May 15–17, at the beautiful Pino Alto Restaurant in the historic Sesnon House.
New Chef, New Name, New Flair for Bonny Doon Vineyard Cafe
With the transfiguration of the Cellar Door bistro into Le Cigare Volant, proprietor/winemaker Randall Grahm plays to his strengths, as well as to his sense of play. Named for Bonny Doon Vineyards’ flagship wine, the restaurant simultaneously debuts chef Ryan Shelton, who brings to the cafe’s exhibition kitchen deep experience in the alchemical ways of tres contemporary French cuisine—molecular cookery replete with scented and spiced foams.
La Posta Springs Eternal
The chickens are happy and squawking in their backyard territory. The kitchen herb garden is loaded with fragrance. And chef Katherine Stern’s seasonal menu sprouts beautiful plates of agnolotti with fava leaves and sugar snap peas, shaved asparagus salad with green garlic, and my new favorite—tender potato gnocchi laced with fava beans, green shallots and wild nettles.
‘Dare to Pair’ Makes Foodie Fun Matches
Once again, budding young chefs are looking for vintage inspiration—and that’s because it’s time again for the “Dare to Pair” food and wine challenge, coming up fast on Sunday, April 29. It’s a Westside delight.
The UCSC Student Behind a New Wine Design
Arts student and 2012 Irwin Scholar Louise Leong finds inspiration in her obsession with product design, branding and vintage cartoons. A senior majoring in art at UCSC, Leong recently submitted the design chosen to grace a custom-bottled roussanne white wine made by Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyards.
Gala Offers Sustainable Fish Solutions
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.
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.
