Precious moments: We told you Food Gal was inviting readers to submit essays recalling their favorite wine-drinking memories. The winners sure didn't skimp on narrative, though, frankly, we couldn't manage more than a skim -- except for first-place winner Wotten 1, who has a flair for prose worthy of a bodice-ripper. With the testosterone surging through my veins like rubber rafts bouncing in white water rapids, I knew what my immediate mission was. Touch the poetry at Food Gal.
The kind of shit you say when you're high: Line Cook offers a whiff from his latest roundtable podcast featuring chefs Eddie Lau and Ryan Farr. Not sayin' anyone was high, mind you, since, well, that'd be breaking the law, and chefs are consummate professionals. We merely offer up this snippet from Farr: Just follow your stomach, and trust your instincts ... and lean on your experience and knowledge. And that's why it doesn't matter if it's TGI Fridays or French Laundry. Word.
| Cupcake cars from Acme Muffineering |
The East Bay has many contenders to burger immortality: Barney's, Café Rouge, Christopher's, Wood Tavern. But comparisons are tricky, since each operates in burger genres whose differences range from slight to whopping. There's gourmet, fast-food, and the most popular, a kind of hybrid. Elmwood District burger joint Flame has gourmet aspirations, but a recent visit revealed it to be squarely in the hybrid camp: Whatever points Flame racked up for using only grass-fed beef, it lost them to prefab freezer fries. (If you can abide a burger without fries, skip them altogether, especially since you have to pay extra.) Weirdly, in an era obsessed with sources, no one at the restaurant knew where the beef came from. Pressed, a manager said only that it was local. Pressed further, she revealed it was from Piater in Petaluma, producer we've never heard of). Whatever the source, grass-fed beef is lower in fat than grain-fed, which becomes obvious when you try to grill it medium-rare (it cooks unevenly and dries out fast). But Flame succeeded, while also getting a slight char on the outside. In fact, the meat turned out to be too juicy for its lightweight sesame bun, whose bottom quickly sogged out. True, the burgers here might not be as glamorous as the ones down the street at Wood Tavern, but grass-fed beef makes them guilt-free. Well, as guiltless as a carnivore can get in Berkeley.
The restaurant empire that Gavin Newsom used to run is hitting hard times. PlumpJack Cafe is closed now. I don't know what they plan to do, but they've got a sign up that says, "Restaurant available" -- right down to the dishes. Jack Falstaff is closed as well.
Turns out Slick Willie got it wrong, or half wrong. Yup, Jack Falstaff is closed, but PlumpJack (3127 Fillmore at Filbert) is shuttered pending a major retooling (there's no sign in PJ's window advertising its availability). PlumpJack Group prez Hilary Newsom confirmed Willie's error with SFoodie this morning. "If we're fortunate, we'll be able to reopen PlumpJack late this year or maybe early next," she said. Oops -- Willie's bad.
Meanwhile, Newsom said PlumpJack executive chef Jeff Jake is still talking with ex-Falstaff chef Jonnatan Leiva about taking over the ranges at FARM, the group's mod-American eatery in Sonoma. Still nothing to report, according to Newsom.
The most prevalent white grape in the region is Žilavka, which makes up 90 percent of this week's cheap wine (Bena, a blending grape, accounts for the other 10 percent). It comes from Mostar, the region's fifth largest city and also a wine appellation, immortalized when its famous bridge was destroyed in 1993 during the war.
The wine is sophisticated, stony, slightly lemony, and lightly acidic -- it's great as a summer aperitif or with fish, oysters, or shrimp. Just as nice? It's only 10 bucks at Vintage Berkeley (2113 Vine at Walnut and 2949 College at Ashby, Berkeley).
