In the early 20th century, the area now known as Old Oakland was the commercial nerve center of the East Bay. Today, after a few decades in the shadows, the blocks bordered by 8th, 10th, Clay, and Washington streets are bustling once again.

Exploring the area may only take an afternoon, but the charm of the neighborhood will draw you back time and time again. And, undoubtedly, as Oakland's tarnished reputation begins to shine again, Old Oakland will continue to flourish as well.

The best day to visit is a Friday, when the bustling Farmer's Market (voted the best by East Bay Express) is operating. Open from 8am - 2pm every Friday year round, you'll find everything from Asian produce to live oysters and other fish to all manner of flowers and potted plants.

Wander the streets, marveling at the gorgeous brickwork and Victorian architecture, then head to GB Ratto's, an Italian market that's been in continuous operation since 1897. The current site (827 Washington St.) includes a wonderful deli and cheese counter, along with all manner of pantry staples in bulk and specialty items from Europe.

By now you'll want a bite to eat. Caffe 817 at 817 Washington Street) serves up wonderful breakfasts, sandwiches, and salads (all made with organic ingredients) in a charming Tuscan-inspired atmosphere punctuated by artwork from local artists. Don't miss their perfect lattes and espressos, best enjoyed at a sidewalk table watching the world go by.

Continuing down Washington St., head to the Housewives Market (between 9th & 10th streets), housed in the former Swan's Marketplace building is an old-fashioned market with several vendors including a fishmonger, two butchers, a sausage-maker and liquor/wine shop.

The Swan's building also houses the Museum of Children's Art, or MOCHA. Founded in 1988, MOCHAs mission is to "ensure that the arts are a fundamental part of the lives of all children." This adorable urban museum is a great way to keep the kids entertained for a couple of hours--don't miss the drop-in workshops.

Spend the rest of the afternoon perusing the shops and galleries tucked away all over this little gem of a neighborhood. Don't miss A-1 Fish Market (which isn't really a fish market at all, but a store for anglers!).

As the day winds down, head over to Pacific Coast Brewing Company for a sampler of their tasty brews (I love their Imperial Stout, brewed in the style of the Russian Czars).

Dinner is at the newly-opened Tamarindo Antojeria Mexicana, a delightful small-plate restaurant showcasing the regional flavors of Mexico. Don't pass up the Cajeta Crepe for dessert.
And thus your day in Old Oakland comes to an end. Hopefully, you'll have a sense of the history that Oakland bears witness to, and you'll understand that the analogy that Oakland is to San Francisco as Brooklyn is to Manhattan really does apply.

posted by Fatemeh Khatibloo-McClure

I've stolen my neighbors waffle iron. Okay, it's not as bad as it sounds. Let me explain myself. They're out of town. For two weeks. And we're taking care of their house and watching their dog. Well, the dog is at our house and we like to refer to it as a "dog party" but really it's just a pack of wolves that have taken over our house. So I'm making up for the extra dirt and insanity by making waffles. Lots of waffles.

My neighbor and very good friend, Anne, is a master waffle maker. For some reason, even though I follow her tried and true recipe, they are never the same when I make them at our house. Perhaps it's the fact that, at her house, there are children joyously jumping up and down for WAFFLES! Perhaps it's the delicious sausages that she serves with the waffles. Maybe it's the early morning weekend luxury of getting a phone call while you are still in bed wondering what to do about breakfast and having it all done for you (except dragging ourselves out of bed and up the street).

Nevertheless, I have a cookbook called Waffles, written by Dorie Greenspan. But I've yet to use it. So I figured...now is my chance!

After making Anne's recipe, which was great but not as good as her magic touch, I decided to try some new recipes. My first attempt were the Blueberry-Yogurt Waffles. Unfortunately it's a bit difficult to get the tiny Maine blueberries that Dorie seems to have used in the recipe, so mine were fairly large. And yes, you are meant to stir them into the batter. I had my doubts, with images of oozing berry juice supergluing my tender little waffle to the iron. Sure enough, I did have to pry them away from the iron, and they weren't so pretty, but damn were they good. I think they are now my new favorite waffle (sorry Anne).

After much scrubbing and cursing and vowing never to make the blueberry waffle recipe again (unless I use my own waffle iron), I tried another recipe: Cottage Cheese Waffles with Peach Compote. Well, that's not really the name of the recipe, it's actually Creamy Cottage Cheese Waffles which are served with a Peach-Honey Pour. But my peaches demanded a bit of slow simmering with a sprinkle of brown sugar. I again had my doubts about cottage cheese in a waffle, but Dorie assured me that the texture became meltingly smooth once the waffles had cooked to a crisp. Sure enough, they were spectacular, once I pried them from the waffle iron.

For my third and final act, I decided to make simple buttermilk waffles. Even with the impressive variety of waffles in the Waffles cookbook--from Zucchini-Cheddar Waffles to Basil-Parmesan Waffle Chips to Tiramisu Waffles--there were very few basic waffle recipes. I would have preferred 3 or 4 different basic batters to some of Dorie's more outlandish creations, like Creamed Spinach and Rice Waffles with Scallops or Curried Waffle Club Sandwiches.

So, left to my own devices (there was no buttermilk waffle recipe in the book), I made up my own recipe. Drizzled with warm maple syrup and a scattering of tart blackberries, these ended up being one of my new favorites. I might even have to get Anne to make them!

Buttermilk Waffles

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the waffle iron. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, maple syrup, and vanilla. Quickly stir the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture just until combined, then stir in the melted butter. Cook in your waffle iron (each waffle iron is different, so you might need to experiment with the amount to add and the length of time it takes to cook each waffle). Serve with warm maple syrup and fresh berries. Yum!

When it is scorching hot and the air is heavy, my culinary inspiration level usually hovers around zero. And as I mentioned before, pastry is not my forte but at the end of the meal most people are expecting dessert. Go figure. So on such a day baking a dessert, or anything really, is out and there are just so many times I can serve sorbet or fresh fruit splashed with Grand Marnier. Enter: Melon Soup. In addition to dessert, this can also double as a cool starter on a steamy summer day. My version of this recipe is about as simple as you can get. I don’t add a lot of ingredients because I prefer my melon soup to taste like, oh I don't know, melon! Serve them in bright colored bowls for a casual meal or try a martini glass for a more elegant, formal setting.

The melons I found here were simply called Melon Jaune d'Espagne or yellow melon from Spain. They resembled Crenshaw melons though not as sweet. The Crenshaw, one of my favorites, is a hybrid between the casaba and Persian melon. A yellowish-green skin protects it's pink-salmon-ish flesh and can grow to ten pounds. They are in season from July thru October but peak in August and September. I recommend giving your melons a quick rinse before cutting them so no dirt or such gets on the flesh.

• 2 melons
• 1 tbsp honey
• squeeze of lemon or lime
• 20+ mint leaves (or however many you like for your taste)
• sugar to taste

1. wash melons, cut in half, scoop out seeds. slice into wedges and cut of skin. cut into cubes.

2. place cubes in blender, add honey, lemon or lime juice, and mint and puree. taste.

3. if you want it to be sweeter, add sugar a teaspoon at a time until you reach the taste you want.

4. chill and serve.

Some recipes include yogurt to give it a creamier texture. Others call for grappa (Michael Chiarello), apple juice (Emeril Lagasse), white wine (Nick Nairn), and one I found that claims to hail from the South of France includes cinnamon, cloves, ginger and a vanilla bean! So I guess the message is "go crazy, add what ever you want, what ever strikes your fancy, what ever you're in the mood for." Bon appetit.

Before venturing forth to San Diego, I canvassed many Bay Area friends for food recommendations. Be it restaurants, cafes, farmers markets, or drive-thrus, I wanted to be armed with lots of places to eat.

At the top of the list was Saffron Noodles and Saté, which came highly recommended by a designer friend who knows and likes her food. Not only did she give me the name and address of the place but she was even ready with specific dish advice. Also, her art background compelled her to tell me that the owner, Su-Mei Yu, is friends with Dale Chihuly and that the place is packed full of his stunning glass creations.

Last night, a group of us descended on the unassuming and tucked away Saffron and not one person left unhappy or hungry. Acting on the given advice, I ordered the Vegetarian Drunken Noodles (which had five chili peppers next to its listing on the menu, so Mark was quite happily sweating as he ate), the Pad Thai (because I can't resist it in any restaurant that offers it), and two ginormous chicken satés.

Our patient friends -- who had arrived well ahead of us due to our getting completely lost thanks to some TOTALLY erroneous directions from Mapquest via the restaurant's website that had us down by the WATERFRONT instead of in the Mission Hills neighborhood -- were nice enough to order us a plate of vegetarian egg rolls to keep us conscious until our order was up. The menu at Saffron calls these "Fantastic Egg Rolls" and they were. There was something stuffed deep down in there that made them taste unlike any other egg roll I've ever had. It was very subtle and unexpected -- a spice of some sort, like cinnamon or cloves. Damn tasty.

The Drunken Noodles with tofu were spicy and savory with vegetables so fresh, it's hard to believe there isn't a burgeoning garden out back of the restaurant. Normally, tofu scares the hell out of me, but the light, garlicky sauce was so yum that I actually sought out all the firm tofu bits in this dish. There wasn't much tofu left for Mark when we exchanged plates midway through our meal. Although it was served with a little container of fresh, minced green Thai chiles, the Pad Thai was plenty spicy for our seasoned palates but not so hot that it overwhelmed the dish. What I appreciated most about our two dishes was that the noodles were neither overcooked and mushy, nor were they clumped together in big sticky knots. They were loose, perfectly cooked and not made heavy by too much oil or sauce on either dish.

Saffron Noodles and Saté has another place right next door called Thai Grilled Chicken that's more food stand than restaurant. This is where you can order, among other things, Cambodian salad and grilled chicken with a choice of six dipping sauces. I'm so tickled by their menu offerings of "Rainy day half chicken" and "Monday Night Football whole chicken" that we're going to go out of our way to go back to Mission Hills (not the WATERFRONT) and sample their reportedly tasty bird bits. Hey, at $5.89 for half a chicken or $2.50 for "Rainy day chicken soup," who in their hungry mind could resist?

Saffron Noodles and Sate
3737 India Street
San Diego, CA 92103

Title: Founder Fudge Is My Life, Chocolate Taster
Hometown: Los Angeles, lived in the Bay Area since attending grad school, at Berkeley

1. How did you get started making chocolate sauce?
On the weekend of Nov 22nd 1963, JFK was shot and we had plans to throw an engagement party for some friends. We decided to go ahead with it and all day while everyone was glued to the TV I was in the kitchen trying to figure out what to put on the profiteroles for dessert and I began experimenting with chocolate sauce. From then on I'd always have it on hand for entertaining, for friends and I'd donate it to the schools for fundraisers.

One day my son's school called me and they said they were planning a benefit concert at the home of a prestigious socialite and we asked her what we could give her--this was someone like a Trump, what do you give them? And she said "you know that lady who sells her fudge sauce at the track meet every year, I'd love a case of that!" so I figured if it's good enough for her I'm going to put it on the market one day.

2. How did you come up with the name "Fudge Is My Life"?
One night my son and daughter and I were having dinner and my son had just finished doing the soundtrack for a documentary about the Tokyo fish market called "Fish is my life" and he said "why not call it Fudge Is My Life?" and that was it.

3. What's your favorite thing to do with chocolate sauce?
Eat it out of the jar when it's still warm when I've just made it. At night, a few hours after dinner, I put it on fruit, cake, ice cream...

4. What was the first thing you learned to cook?
Probably cheese blintzes. I didn't make them I rolled them. My mother taught me how to roll them. Before I could even crack eggs I learned to make waffles for Sunday morning breakfast. I'd have to wake my older sister to crack the eggs and separate them then she'd go back to bed and I'd have waffles ready when everybody woke up.

5. What's your favorite food movie?
I love Babette's Feast. I loved seeing Tampopo in San Francisco and going out to eat Japanese noodles afterwards. I don't know what I would have done if I had seen it somewhere I couldn't have done that!

On a visit to Provence many years ago I was introduced to the omelet as a dinner item. Visiting friends one deliciously lazy summer evening, we watched the sun sink lower in the sky and the pleasure craft return to the harbor over glasses of wine until we decided that we all could do with something to eat. Our host happily obliged by preparing a round of omelets filled with fresh herbs from his garden and just enough goat cheese to round out the flavor of the dish. Served up piping hot as the fragrant twilight of Southern France closed in around us, it has endured as one of my most pleasurable gastronomic memories from that trip.
Happily, upon returning home I discovered that the meal was one of those rare ones which can taste as good at home as they did while I was traveling. Ok, almost as good. There's just something about Provence.
There are two fun things about having omelets as a dinner item. First, you can fill them with just about anything you like. Sausage, sauteed vegetables, salmon -- you name it. I tend to lean towards the herb and cheese kind, like the herbed gruyere and tarragon, chive and goat cheese omelets found at epicurious.com. Omelets don't really even need a recipe, though -- whatever you have on hand to put in them will work. That's all my friend in Provence used: herbs from his garden and some leftover goat cheese.
The second fun thing about omelets at dinner is that they pair quite well with red wine. The wines of Provence matched quite well with my omelet, and can be interesting on their own as well. Made from grapes such as Mourvedre, Cinsault, Carignan, Grenache, and Syrah, they tend to be rustic with good fruit and ample tannins. Following this line of thought, wines from both the northern and southern Rhone would be good choices, as would bottles from the Languedoc-Roussilon further west along France's Mediterranean coastline. Just over the border into Spain, the Priorat region's best wines are produced from ancient Carignan and Grenache vines, and would be happy to accompany your omelet. In fact, most of Spain's red wines -- especially those made from the Tempranillo grape -- would be a good choice.
If you'd rather buy something made closer to home, look for any of the varieties listed above. Wines from the Sierra Foothills offer an interesting alternative to the ubitquous Napa bottlings. The Foothills region produces wines with a quality unique to that area -- terroir, if you will -- which is to me evocative of the distinctiveness of Provencal wines. Plus, their prices are typically very good.
If you come across a particularly interesting omelet/wine combination, let me know. I'm always looking for another excuse to have omelets in the evening.

Since so many San Francisco residents are from other states and cities, among any group of friends we all have to deal with someone saying that where they come from the ______ (fill in the blank) is better. From New Yorkers you get the pizza and bagel jibes and from Pacific Northwesterners, you will always hear the heavy sighs about coffee.

Now there's a new complaint. The espresso at one very special place in the Mission is so good that it makes the above average coffee of Oregon and Washington a little less worth traveling there for.

Enter Ritual coffee roasters on Valencia between 21st and 22nd streets. Experiencing the sudden busyness that Delfina and Tartine experienced upon opening, Ritual has hit the local café scene with an unexpected gusto and fan base. Taking over the former space of one of my favorite stores, Home Remedies, in a space the size and shape of a dairy barn, this newcomer looks nothing like the dark grotto style coffee shops that inhabit the neighborhood. Equipped with free WiFi access, Ritual can sometimes look like a café for laptops and their humans.

Owner Jeremy Tooker, an energetic 26-year-old fellow with disarming boyish features and a passion for coffee self admittedly bordering on obsession, and partner Eileen Hassi, opened Ritual less than three months ago. Tooker wanted to open Ritual in part to protest the fact that Starbucks had just purchased the company he had moved here to manage. A native Portlander, Tooker used to live around the corner from Portland-based Stumptown coffee roasters, where, although he worked for Torrafazzione, he used to pick up his espresso before heading off to work!

Owner Jeremy Tooker (right) and Gabe, a medal winning espresso maker (left)

The first time I went to Ritual I was meeting my friend A.Z.O. whom I credit for teaching me how to appreciate espresso. A. comes from Seattle and took me to the temple of coffee beans and perfect, beautiful, creamy, decorated foam--Vivace--where I had a life-altering cappuccino. The irony is that caffeine has never been to me what it is to seemingly everyone I know. {A lanky boy with the metabolism of a hummingbird, I am the person hung-over cooks have always detested, especially at 6am.} Coffee has never been my lover, savior, or my nemesis. Never having been one of my addictions, I just like the taste. A. and I were meeting there because it was the new place in town but strangely enough when we stepped up to the counter to order the drink we would share, I recognized the name on the small sign behind the espresso machine. "Stumptown!" I exclaimed, "I just heard about it in Portland!" But neither of us could prepare for the smoove, delicious elixir from under the shade trees that stopped us in our tracks as we headed for Dolores Park.

After my first visit I couldn't stay away. Ritual's coffee is the beverage you don't want to finish. Like a good novel the last sip is bittersweet. And like a men's barber shop, who is pulling your shot makes all the difference.
When I tried to find information on Ritual all I could find was an uber nerdy chat site about coffee and the people who are passionate about all the fetishistic details, in lingo I couldn't understand. After spending hours talking to Jeremy and Brent Fortune, the owner of Crema in Portland (another café owner dedicated to using Stumptown's beans), I began to glean the impenetrable foreign language.

Here is the 411:

Stumptown has requirements for the cafés that use their coffee. The beans are roasted to order, overnight drop-shipped by Fed Ex, and expected to be used within ten days. Jeremy said, "In some places, whose name I won't mention, coffee is made with beans that have been sitting in storage for over a year." Different coffees de-gas at different rates and basing a business around a singular product means that it has to be the freshest, most aromatic it can be. Jeremy plans to install a small 5-kilo roaster when he has a minute to breathe. He plans on apprenticing and working closely with Duane, the owner of Stumptown, to learn how to roast green beans.

Ritual is Stumptown's first customer in San Francisco. Both Jeremy and Brent emphasized that they go out of their way to support this small and conscientious company even though it makes their profit margins tighter.

During my day of interviewing, listening, photographing, drinking, and savoring I realized that singular ingredient driven industries--wine, chocolate, cheese, olive oil, etc.--have tiny finesses and similarities that make understanding why certain brands stand out. At Ritual, Jeremy is paying attention to the temperature and pressure of the water and the gram weight in a 'dose' of espresso. He is aware that he and other workers vary slightly so that alterations are made accordingly, and he's mixing different beans that have been roasted at different temperatures to create particular flavor profiles for the drinks. He has specifically picked Clover dairy for a perfect marriage. Although I took in more information than I could possibly include here, what I came away with was how seriously the people at Ritual take their craft, and that always attracts me.

I may be naive in thinking this, but those of us who work with organic and perishable products must have a reverence for it that humbles us and, in turn, helps us to treat it with care and respect. That, to me, is the essence of craft. And in the end, an incredible cup of warm delicious espresso can be savored at Ritual, in the presence of a passion so grand, you don't have to fly away to experience it.

Do you ever get the urge for a big, juicy, over-the-top piece of beef? Last week my girlfriend and I donated blood and decided to rejuvenate ourselves by indulging in a meal at Cole's Chop House in the city of Napa. Several of my friends have dined there and highly recommended it to me, and I'd been waiting for the right occasion to dine there. Of particular interest were their signature 21-day dry aged beef and a wine list that has received high marks from various wine publications.
Normally I'm happy to have a multi-course meal with entrees, a salad, and plat du fond, but we decided to skip the warm-ups and get right to the main event. I opted for the 16 ounce dry-aged cut, and my partner selected a veal chop. From the selection of sides served family-style we chose creamed spinach and asparagus in hollandaise. A perusal of the wine list revealed a broad selection of wines from different regions, with prices from reasonable to fantastic. There is even a small stable of half bottles, much to my delight, and I opted for a JC Cellars Ventana Vineyard Syrah from this section.

Our meal was, in a word, wonderful. The vegetable sides were well-prepared and fresh. The wine was excellent, all I had hoped for in a cool-climate Syrah: intriguingly complex aromas of black tea and white pepper, and good structure and roundness on the palate. Not just a good pairing for our fare, but a solid wine in its own right. I'll keep on the lookout for more of this for my cellar.
And the meat? The veal was well balanced, finding a way to be both rich and light at the same time. Hints of lemon and pepper were evident in the preparation somewhere, but they stayed in supporting roles and didn't overpower the sensual veal flavor. My dry-aged steak was.... well. Hmm. Let's see. This was one of the best steaks I've ever had. Just intoxicating. Wonderfully rich flavor, perfect texture, expertly prepared. Heavenly. My only problem was with its size. At 16 ounces, it was far more than I could eat, and I'm sure that reheating such a noble piece of beef wouldn't do it justice the next day. Well, let me take that back -- I don't have a problem with the size of the steak. The steak was wonderful! The problem was with my appetite.
So, the next time you need a red meat fix, consider taking a drive up to Napa to visit Cole's Chop House. And if you try the salads or the delicious-sounding appetizers, let me know how they are. Just save room for the beef.

Cole's Chop House
1122 Main St
Napa, CA 94559
Tel: (707) 224-6328

After some initial mass confusion which involved my insisting that Enoteca was actually this huge wine bar that seemingly existed only in my head and in North Carolina, we grabbed a bottle of Piedmontese Barbera d'Asti and settled back to watch my first sunset in San Diego on the deck of Del Mar Plaza. Well, as I've been here for two weeks, of course it wasn't my first but it was the first I got to see sink into the ocean. Unfortunately the final slide was obscured by cloud cover on the horizon and that prevented us from seeing the mythical "green flash" as well.

The scene at Enoteca del Fornaio was crazy. There was more plastic and silicone on that deck than in a kid's toystore. What got me was not so much the women with their raisin complexions, padded chins, and breasts that defied gravity -- what got me was the men. The predatory, waxed-eyebrow, billowy-pant-wearing men. It was just odd. I've never seen men so obviously vain. Anyway, that's not so much food as it is food for thought.

The food came in when we tripped on over to Pacifica Del Mar for dinner. Mark had been there in his first week in San Diego and could already recommend the calamari (See? Sampling calamari wherever we go!) because of the amazing dipping sauces. Well, the amazing dipping sauce. The red pepper aïoli was tasty, to be sure, but it wasn't anything special. What was special was the Vietnamese fish sauce that was also offered up for squid dunking pleasure. I don't think that was any run-of-the-mill nuac mam -- there was definitely a hint of coconut oil in there and Mark swears something else was in there ticking his tongue. Whatever it was, it was an awesome idea for a dipping sauce. The calamari itself was also pretty good. I'm not saying it was salt-fried Bocadillos good, but it wasn't overly battered, greasy, or tough.

Our other starter was the Chinese Five-Spiced Ahi Tuna with arugula, pickled shiitake, and a Meyer lemon emulsion. That? Was amazing. The tuna was just beautiful, like shards from a garnet prism, and succulent. The whisper-thin spice crust on the edges of the tuna was neither overpowering nor non-existent -- it was perfect. The garnish was inspired. I loved the pickled shiitake and the Meyer lemon emulsion went deliciously with the spiced tuna. I'd go back for that alone. Hell, I'd go back and order several plates of it and make it a main course.

We were less enthused by our main courses. Well, we were less enthused with one of the main courses. Being fair-minded foodies, we always agree to share our starters, mains, and dessert fifty-fifty. As soon as we saw that they were offering Sauteed Pacific Snapper with Maine lobster-red potato hash, shiitake mushrooms, and haricots verts as a special, we both leapt on it. However, to order two of the same is just something we can't do, so we also agreed on the sauteed Northern Halibut with asparagus, shimeji mushrooms, udon noodles, and onion-miso marmalade. It wasn't a special. Oh boy, was it NOT special. We both agreed that the snapper was delicious, perfect, succulent, lovely, and a whole bunch more adjectives. The haricots verts were done to a perfect crispness that even I liked.

The halibut was just...meh. The only flavorful part of the dish was the onion-miso marmalade and they just didn't give enough of it to really matter.

Ah well, 3 for 4 is pretty good for our first night out.

Pacifica Del Mar
1555 Camino Del Mar
Del Mar, CA 92014
858.792.0465

Title: Wine Director and Sommelier for PlumpJack Group
Hometown: Tulsa, Oklahoma, now San Francisco

1. Was it a challenge to put together a wine list for Jack Falstaff that featured biodynamic and organic wines?
Some of the wines in my career that have moved me the most have been biodynamic for 10 years or so. I did a lot of research. We're still not 100% and that's ok. We don't want to cut out the usual suspects that people are looking for, the big Napa Valley Cabernets, etc. But you can have a well-balanced list with organic and biodynamic wines.

2. What are biodynamic wines?
Biodynamic viticulture is a process that is "back to the land" using an astrologic calendar to plow, winter prune--taking into consideration gravity flow, waxing and waning of the moon to create an approach that is more at one with nature. It was a science developed for farming and was adopted by vintners. Nurturing the soil. It's a more organic approach. It's similar to organic but can be even more labor intensive.

3. How did you come to wine as a profession?
I was a fine arts major, dancing in a modern dance company. My first job was at the Rainbow Room and the wine sommelier there took me to wine tastings. One of the first was Grand Cru Burgundy with Patrick Séré the burgundy expert for Joseph Drouhin. Then I took classes. Wine made my job so much more fun then just asking people how they wanted their steak cooked.

4. What's your philosophy on the pairing of food and wine?
I wish people would think outside the box a little bit more, but that's really what we're here for. I start with the basic premise of thinking like for like. Never trying to have a dish outweigh a wine or vice versa. Then I factor in preparations and sauces to determine what works best. But ultimately you should drink what you want to drink. Unless you're having shellfish with Cabernet!

5. How do wine drinkers in the Bay Area differ from those in Santa Barbara or NYC where you've also worked?
Bay Area drinkers are more like New Yorkers. Odd funky wines are much more popular here. There are a lot of California centric drinkers and in general more sophistication in ordering of wine.

On this side of town we sell more Syrah than at PlumpJack Cafe in the Marina. Here the area is saturated with 30-somethings that aren't married and don't have kids but that have good income that travel and like to eat and drink well. I find much more adventurous diners South of Market than in the Marina. PlumpJack is Chardonay and Cabernet and here it is Pinot, Syrah and everything else.