Gastronomie

A simply perfect summer dinner

Everytime I catch myself complaining about the Bay Area -- the traffic, the cost of living, the ridiculously early-ending public transit -- I only need to head to the Ferry Plaza for an hour to remind myself how blessed I am.

I alternated slices of Capay Farms' gorgeous Purple Cherokee and Orange Brandywine tomatoes  with Mozzarella di Bufala from Cowgirl Creamery, and topped them with a chiffonade of basil from our planter box (you can just see it in background of the photo above),

All were drizzled with a first-press olive oil from Bariani, fresh ground black pepper and Maldon sea salt.

I mounded a small pile of prosciutto purchased at GB Ratto's in the center. And on the side, a whole Epi loaf from Acme, along with olive oil and a drop of aged balsamic vinegar for dipping.

This, along with a bottle of easy-drinking Chianti, was our dinner last Saturday night.

When people ask why we put up with the outrageous cost of living here? A meal like this is all I need to point to.

A Late, Lazy Lunch at Tra Vigne

It's been a few years since I last ate at Tra Vigne in St. Helena. The first time I ate there, maybe 6 or so years ago, it was very, very good. I returned with excitement 2 or 3 years later, and found it lackluster at best. My experience was echoed on food sites across the web. Sadly, the consensus was that Michael Chiarello had just spread himself too thin with his many ventures.

At any rate, I was in no hurry to return. But yesterday, after a private barrel tasting at Sullivan Vineyards (watch this space next Sunday for more on that), my companions and I were famished and a mere mile away from Tra Vigne. Should we risk it? We agreed that we weren't in the mood for sandwiches from Dean & Deluca, and were too hungry to properly research any new places, so off we went to Tra Vigne (which, incidentally, is no longer an M. Chiarello restaurant).

As we perused the menu, a plate of chewy white bread was brought to our table along with a dish of warm olives and caper berries in beautiful peridot-colored olive oil.

In true food-lover form, we decided to order several smaller dishes and half-orders and share amongst the table.

How do you Croissant?

Croissants are kind of like Reese's Peanut Butter cups... now, stay with me here.

Everyone has their own method of eating PB Cups; I mean, even the advertising people took note, and made a whole series of commercial highlighting the fact that everyone eats a Reese's their own way.

Well, that's how I feel about croissants. From a purely mechanical point of view, some people eat the ends first. Others tear off an end and bite the rest of the way. Still others use their hands to tear off chunks all the way through.

Then there's the whole issue of accoutrements. Some (like yours truly) are croissant purists -- if it's good enough to eat, it's good enough not to fool with. For others, a croissant is simply not complete without a bit of butter and jam.

And of course, we musn't forget those who take a bite of delicious bittersweet chocolate with their warm croissant. What, you mean that's just me?

So, tell me, how do you croissant?

Brunch at Luka's was GREAT!

Well, I gave y'all a heads up. And as I suspected, Chef Alioto takes traditional southern breakfasts and puts a modern, urban twist on them, creating dishes that are at once comforting and refined.

As we perused the menu, we ordered a couple of brunch cocktails -- C and his best friend G had Mimosas ($7), while I uncharacteristically ordered a Pimm's Royale ($7) to enjoy while we nibbled on the housemade cornbread (which, I hate to say it, was merely ok. It was a bit too dry.)

We started with an order of Beignets with Blackberry Coulis ($5) to share amongst the three of us. The beignets were perfect, but the coulis was a bit too tart to work well; it was almost unbearably puckery with the powdered sugar sweetness of the beignets. Regardless, because the beignets were so good, it was easy to forget the sauce. These were served with three perfect bites of Scharffenberger bittersweet chocolate, one of whom had gotten a bit oozy from the heat of the beignet.

The menu offers up everything from the infamous hamburger ($9-11.50) to a Fried Poussin with Collard Green Gratin & Hash Browns or Grits ($18) -- the priciest item on the menu, and probably enough food for two. We settled on three dishes to share.

Biscuits & Sausage Gravy ($8) were beautiful. The biscuit was denser and chewier than traditional ones, and had an enormous cap -- and isn't that the best part? The gravy was silky and flavorful, with loads of crumbly, sagey sausage.