As much as I adore, worship, and revere Region restaurant, Cafe Chloe in downtown San Diego sent me into a culinary tizzy.

Decorated to its Victorian hilt in glossy licorice ebony and cool white marble, Cafe Chloe completes its Parisian portrait with surrealistic sprinklings of Man Ray photographs on the walls.

Arriving in plenty of time for Sunday brunch, we perched on high spindly chairs at a towering marble-topped table and looked around at the chalkboard announcing their cheeses of the day (very respectable collection of Epoisses, a Basque sheep, and a cave-aged Gruyère), their glistening case burgeoning with flakey pastries, and many guests enjoying their food and one another. Before I even took a bite or a sip it hit me, I was in love. The atmosphere itself was an amuse bouche. Happily, the food delivered what the decor promised. Sheer heaven.

Poached Eggs with Mushrooms and Sage-Truffle Beurre Blanc

Smoked Trout and Apple Salad with Roasted Fingerlings and Almonds

Mushroom and Bleu d'Auvergne Tarte with Popcorn Shoots

Nothing makes a brunch so sublime as when you haven't indulged in eggy, buttery things for quite some time. After sharing a blue cheese and mushroom tarte (could cut that crust with the edge of a fork, perfect!) with my husband, I sunk into my poached egg with mushrooms and sage-truffle beurre blanc. Whenever I eat poached eggs, I play a little game of meticulously gobbling up the fragments of soft white surrounding the bubble of yolk before finally breaking into the quivering hump with a tine and allowing the yolk to seep slowly out in a burnished river. My husband's smoked trout salad was delicious. The quietly kippered fish and the crisp green apples introduced themselves to mealy, creamy roasted potatoes and had a party in my mouth.

Though we were getting pretty near to the brim, we had to try one of the pastries that had been staring us down all morning. Although I am not really a melon person, I was very intrigued by the idea of a honeydew and nectarine tartine, so we tried it. A snowball of homemade vanilla bean ice cream slightly moistened the semi-puffed edge of the pastry, and I discovered that when you pair melon with buttery, flaky pastry I turn into a melon person after all.

Our host was affable and genial. He was excited to answer all our questions and quick to compliment our choice of food and wine, but earnestly and not in an oily or obsequious way. To extend the experience, there's even a boîte of a giftshop tucked into one of the corners of the cafe. I spent a few yearning moments browsing among soaps, porcelain dishes, and stiff straw vintage wine totes before securing myself of a little piece of Cafe Chloe to bear home as a thank-you gift for our pastry-making, cheesemongering cat sitter.

Cafe Chloe
721 Ninth Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101
619.232.3242

Monday 11am-10pm
Tuesday to Friday 7am-10pm
Saturday 8am-10pm
Sunday 9am-9pm

Anyone who has eaten out lately will have discovered that sake is not just for sushi bars anymore. Sake menus have gotten longer and longer at Japanese restaurants but other restauranteurs have found that sake also pairs well with eclectic offerings from barbeque to pasta. If you want to learn more about sake, in addition to the book Sake, A Modern Guide which we reviewed earlier in the year, a sake tasting is the way to go.

So how do you taste sake? Like most tastings you can easily get overwhelmed without a strategy. First and foremost, all the typical things you do at a wine tasting apply, notice how the sake pours, look at it, smell it and taste it. It's helpful to drink sakes in a specific order, Beau Timken, owner of the only sake store in the country, True Sake suggests starting with the least polished sakes, junmai/honjozo 70% and moving on to the most milled sakes, dai ginjo 50%. Try the unfiltered style nigori, taru or cedar sake and aged sakes last. What are the categories of sake from least polished to most polished? Junmai, junmai ginjo, junmai dai ginjo, honjozo, dai ginjo.

Sake can be divided into several categories, fragrant, light and smooth, rich and finally aged and mature. Consider determining which of these categories you enjoy the most so you can focus on it.

The Joy of Sake event takes place tomorrow, at Moscone West from 6 - 8:30 pm. It is a premier opportunity to taste and enjoy sake. Over 250 sakes will be featured and there will be appetizers from 16 local restaurants such as Hog Island Oyster, Memphis Minnie's and Roy's. Tickets are $70 and are available online. Next week we will share highlights of the tasting.

Hoffman Farms, a hidden gem in the crown of Northern California's most famous wine grape growing region, is about sixty miles from the Bay Area. John and Margaret Hoffman have owned the twenty-three acre orchard located on Silverado Trail since 1949. U-Pick for over twenty-five years, the land is a study in small farming that has all but disappeared in a region once known for eating as well as luxury fruit.

I met John Hoffman in 1998 when I was working for Thomas Keller at Bouchon. Attracted to the intriguing walnut trees first from a photographer's perspective, I came to eat and use a sampling of what his farm has to offer. Originally a pear orchard, the Hoffmans began planting French Prune and Sugar Plums to sell to Sunsweet, then based in Napa.

Needing to take a job away from the farm for a number of years, John and Margaret happily returned to Napa in the mid 60's and, after consulting with George Slinson, a fellow farmer and neighbor, started learning about and planting the Hartley varietal of English Walnut trees. Having started, grown and grafted each tree by hand, the walnut trees are a study in graphic individuality.

Walking through them, whatever season you choose to visit, is an enchanting experience. Some trees stand mightily, or are caught mid-dance, some grafts sit low, others grow sideways with abandon, mimicking a grand Banyan tree and tempting you to climb or sit, hiding under the lush layered canopy.

Not feeling agile enough to pick your own fruit and nuts? Hoffman Farms offers what's ripe, at the peak of its season in a little open garage outfitted with a hanging scale and paper bags. What you might find on any given day: whole walnuts, peaches, three different varieties of persimmons, Sugar, Mariposa or French Prune plums, Pineapple guavas, Bartlett or cooking pears, quince, and five or six kinds of apples. Not to mention the wild blackberries growing on the banks of the Napa River in summer.

Or maybe you're fascinated with Bonsai? John Hoffman, Bonsai tree enthusiast and arborist, has a fantastic collection of the elegant little trees he's trained. Not for sale, John said he sits among the trees for relaxation. If you love trees as much as he and I do, you may want to ask him about the book he wrote called Trees of Napa. According to Margaret, "he loves talking about himself!"

I love visiting Hoffman Farms and having time enough on my hands for a visit with John. If I make it in at the right time Margaret might be baking a walnut inspired baked good and putting on water for tea. Speaking with them about the fruits and trees has been a priceless education for me and those I have brought to this hidden place.

Sadly, there's a chance when the Hoffmans die, their farm will too. Hoffman Farms has been land marked by The Landmark Society of Napa, but in absentia it may only mean that the land may be not be used for non-agricultural use. In Napa language it means trees are torn out to make room for more grapes.

When ever you plan to visit, or for what ever reason, I hope this introduction leads you to a farm you will cherish as much as I do.

HOFFMAN FARM
2125 Silverado Trail, Napa 94558
Telephone: (707) 226-8938
Hours: Aug-Dec 7; Daily 9-5

Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks

It's not often that over 50 food bloggers get together. Crowded under a shady bay laurel tree, hiding from the hot Lafayette sun, Bay Area foodies sampled each others best at the 2nd Annual SF Food Blogger's picnic. Dishes like spicy steak salad, smoked pork, pate de campagne, local cheeses, thai noodles, quinoa-mango salad, nectarine-blueberry cobbler, little almond cakes, and so much more were gobbled up.

Pate de campagne made by Derrick of An Obsession with Food

Pim! Who made addictive little crispy rice cakes topped with a Thai pork and shrimp delight. Chez Pim

Succulent almond and jam cake-tart made by Sam of Becks & Posh

Cheesy deliciousness.

Spicy Steak Salad made by the lovely Davina Baum, of CHOW fame.
*recipe from Chow.com, which is rolling out it's beta site this week!

For the tomato vinaigrette
1 cup cherry or pear-shaped tomatoes
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon grapeseed or other neutral oil
1 medium clove garlic, coarsely chopped
1 medium shallot, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley or chives

Grilled flank steak, cut into cubes
Yellow, red, and green bell pepper, seeded and cut into slivers
2 ears corn, kernels cut from the cobb
Italian parsley, for garnish

Heat 1 tablespoon of the grapeseed oil in a small fry pan over high Heat until hot. Add the tomatoes and sear until the skins pucker and begin to color, about 2 minutes. (Be careful: when the tomatoes get hot, some might burst.) Add the garlic and shallot and cook until slightly softened, about 1 minute more.

Transfer to a small, deep mixing bowl, add the vinegar, and purée with an immersion blender. Slowly add the remaining grapeseed and olive oils in a thin, steady stream, blending constantly with the immersion blender, until smooth. Season with salt and freshly-ground black pepper and add the herbs.

Add the grilled flank steak, yellow, red, and green peppers, and corn. Stir to combine. Garnish with parsley leaves and serve.

Nectarine-Blueberry CrackClafoutisCobbler
*adapted from Nancy Silverton's delicious "everyone's mother's berry cobber"

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 vanilla bean
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup whole plain yogurt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 cups blueberries
3 cups nectarines, cut into chunks
3 tablespoons demerara sugar

Preheat oven to 375F. In a saucepan, melt the butter. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and use the tip of the knife to scrape out the vanilla bean seeds. Add the pod and the seeds to the butter. Cook the butter over medium heat, swirling occasionally, until browned, about 4 minutes. Pour into a large 9x13-inch baking dish.

Sift together the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the sugar with a whisk. Add the buttermilk, yogurt, and vanilla extract and stir just until combined. Spread the batter in the pan on top of the browned butter. Scatter the fruit over the top of the batter. Sprinkle with the demerara sugar.

Bake until the fruit is bubbling and the cake is cooked through when checked with a toothpick, about 1 hour. Eat.

Thanks Wendy for taking all the pictures!

Bill Owens made his mark on the art world in the 1970s with "Suburbia," a collection of photographs that documented suburban life in Livermore, California. After giving up photography in the 1980s, Owens turned to teaching as well as a variety of odd jobs and business enterprises to make ends meet. He even sold his cameras to raise some extra money.

Hot Dog or Sausage with Mustard...Party Food

When he discovered that his new digital cameras could also be used to make short videos, Owens began exploring the possibilities of motion pictures, and he returned to a subject that was conspicuous in his earlier series in the 1970s -- food. BAB recently caught up with him to ask a few questions:

What type of cameras have you been using lately?
I am using a Sony digital camera and an Sony HDV Handicam digital film camera.

What tips do you have for shooting food?
My style is untouched. I do not use a stylist, but I photograph it as it appears on my plate and my friends' plates.

What food item keeps you coming back for more?
I've been photographing large chunks of meat as I want to do a poster showing tri-tip, porter house, loin chops, pork loin roast, leg of lamb etc...

What is your favorite Bay Area restaurant?
Any taco cart in the Bay Area.

Carrots and Greens...Whole Foods

Be sure to catch SPARK this week as we follow Owens to the Berkeley Bowl market, where he collects images for a photo essay and new book dedicated to what and how we eat.

Eggs and Biscuits...Breakfast, San Antonio, TX

View the SPARK video segment on Bill Owens.

Pig Ears...Basket of Pig Ears

Hamburger...Dairy Queen

SPARK, KQED's weekly series on the Bay Area's art scene, airs every Wednesday at 7:30pm, Fridays at 11pm and Sunday at 11:30pm.

posted by Marie K. Lee

As a San Franciscan, when I say "California Burrito," what do you think? If you're like me -- not a native Californian, but one who has come to her current lifestyle by happy happenstance -- you may have learned that a California Burrito is stuffed full of healthy deliciousness. My first experience of a California Burrito was at Boca Grande in Cambridge, MA. (Stop laughing, good burritos CAN be found on the East Coast! Sometimes.) That particular burrito had me blissfully chewing through fresh-scented sprouts, velvety avocado, melty cheese, and the usual rice, beans, salsa, and lettuce. No meat.

However, in San Diego, at a choose-your-own-location Roberto's, a California Burrito is a carne asada (steak) burrito with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and...FRENCH FRIES! Seriously, french fries. Somehow, this just doesn't strike me as a California type of thing. It's, like, the polar opposite of all the fountain-of-youth-giving good fats/antioxidents/superfreak foods that one might expect to find in a stereotyped California burrito.

Roberto's California Burrito puts me in delirious mind of the Brit après pub special of Chip Butty. For the uninitiated, a Chip Butty is exactly what you want on your way home from a lagered up night. It's chips (fries) stuffed in a pita, slathered with mayonnaise, and doused with fruity HP Brown Sauce. It's crazy, it's artery clogging, but it's so disgustingly good when you have a belly full of booze. Of course, if you're feeling healthy, you might opt for the yogurt-based tzaziki over the mayo. I frequently did and staggered home feeling quite virtuous.

Title: Publisher of Culinary Muse and Cocoa Tutor
Hometown: San Leandro, CA

1. What happens on your Chocolate & Knitting tour?
We start off at a knitting store and take a lesson that lasts about an hour, then we have a lesson on how to taste chocolate, then we go for lunch. After lunch we stop at some gourmet shops that happen to sell really nice chocolate then we visit another knitting store and the afternoon ends at the Ferry Building where we visit Recchiuti and Scharffen Berger.

I try to book a minimum of two people, often a group of friends sign up together, or knitting groups, it's always people who are able to take an afternoon off since the tour doesn't run on the weekends. So far only women have signed up but men make some of the best knitters so I think it's only a matter of time before they start coming along too.

2. How did you come up with the combination of chocolate and knitting?
I was getting this wonderful feeling from knitting, a meditative state, not quite euphoria but it reminded me of the feeling I got when I would eat really great chocolate. And I realized they were both things that people were absolutely passionate about and there was a way to marry the two.

3. How would you recommend that someone tastes chocolate?
I would suggest going to someplace like Cost Plus and getting a 60 or 65% chocolate from three different manufacturers and tasting each one, maybe El Rey, Guittard, Scharffen Berger or Valrhona. That way you can learn what you like.

4. What are your favorite chocolates and places to shop for chocolate?
I like Charles Chocolates, they do an amazing Mojito chocolate. I also really enjoy Guittard Bittersweet 72% bar. I buy chocolate at Cheese Plus on Polk St and also at Chocolate Covered on 24th St. When it comes to pairing chocolate and wine, I like Essensia with Green & Black's white chocolate, or a good quality dark chocolate with a fruity pinot noir.

5. What's next for the tours?
Neighborhood culinary tours, including gourmet cheese shops, wine shops, a neighborhood restaurant that only locals know about, some bargain shops, and tasting at each place along the way, of course. I'll also be teaching a chocolate and port pairing class at the Cheese School of San Francisco in October.

In an area where we have one of the world's renowned farmers' markets, it is easy to overlook neighborhood markets. But the truth is that often we don't have the time or the will to elbow through the crowds at the Ferry Building. On the weeks when you'd like to avoid the weekend farmers' market crush, or you'd simply like some drama-free shopping at markets that will provide you with many of your necessities, consider one of the Bay Area's neighborhood markets.

The Temescal Farmers Market in Oakland is one of the Bay Area's newest farmers' markets. It opened this summer, and is already a bustling and busy market. It is set up in the DMV parking lot, and is very close to the shopping area of the Temescal district. The market is largely organic, and is well represented by vendors who have a solid reputation for providing quality products.

I could easily do all my shopping for the week at this market, as most major food products are covered: fruits and vegetables, soy products, fish, eggs, and baked goods. I didn't see cheese or meat/poultry vendors. The only negative of this market is that there is not a bathroom facility, and to use a restroom one must walk several blocks to the Walgreen's.

I was really pleased to be able to try Bakesale Betty's products, as I had been reading about them for a while. They were handing out an entire vanilla shortcake as a sample, which was delicious and thoroughly enjoyable. Ella Bella Farm was another happy surprise. Ella Bella attends the Saturday Ferry Plaza market, but it was nice to see them at a smaller market as well.

When I attended the market on August 20, the following vendors were in attendance:

Bakesale Betty (Oakland). Baked items.
Bay Bread (San Francisco).
Big Paw Grub. Oils, Vinegars.
Blossom Bluff Orchard (Parlier). Stone fruit.
Blue Bottle Coffee Company.
Borba Farm (Aromas). Vegetables, berries, peppers.
Brentwood Corn (Brentwood).
Donna's Tamales.
East/West Afghan (Martinez). Prepared Afghan Food.
EGB Farms (Ripon). Stone fruit.
Ella Bella Farm (Santa Cruz). Berries, dry-farmed tomatoes, vegetables.
Feel Good Bakery (Alameda).
Glaum Egg Ranch (Aptos). Eggs.
Hamada Farm (Kingsburg). Stone fruit.
Happy Boy Farms (Freedom). Vegetables, melons, tomatoes.
Happy Girl Foods (Freedom). Pickled, canned items.
Hodo Soy (San Jose). Tofu products.
Kashiwase (Winton). Stone fruit.
Kettle Corn.
Laloo's Ice Cream (Sonoma County). Goat milk ice cream.
Little Bug Organic. Baby Food.
Lucero Organic (Lodi). Tomatoes, strawberries, squashes.
MacDonald's Organic Farm (Sebastopol). Apples.
Mt. Moriah Farms. Stone fruit, grapes.
Olio Olinda (Happy Valley). Olive oil.
Pinnacle Organic Produce (San Juan Bautista). Vegetables, tomatoes, corn.
Pot Pie Paradise. Pot pies to take home.
Sterntaler Bakery (San Carlos). German baked goods.
The Pasta Shop (Oakland). Fresh pasta.
VB Organic (Watsonville). Berries, snow peas.
Wild King Salmon.
Various prepared food vendors: crepes, Thai food, Filipino Food.

You can visit the Temescal Farmers' Market on Sundays from 9 am to 1 pm. It is located at the Oakland DMV, 5300 Claremont Ave (near Telegraph). You can park in the neighborhoods near the market or in the DMV parking lot. This is a year round, rain or shine market.

One late summer night a few years ago my friend Athen and I set out to what might have been a bold take on salsa. We started out with some amazingly aromatic mangos, cilantro, a few different pieces of stone fruit, various particularly great specimens of melon, and of course we had to get cucumbers for their cooling qualities, and spicy peppers for a hot kick.

What we ended up producing came to be known as Melon Gazpacho and I used it as a dessert at Citizen Cake as well as Aziza. Topped with seasonal sorbet, either a rare or delicate stone fruit or an heirloom tomato, the concept made an extremely refreshing, low sugar option for the sweet disinclined or the savoury experimentalist.

This recipe is as exact as the rules for 52 Pick-Up. Whether you use it as a salsa or a soup, I guarantee it's the best way to eat all these fruits together without cooking them.

MELON GAZPACHO

1 ea. Cucumber
3 ea. 1/2 Melons**
6 ea. Tomatoes*
1/2 bunch Cilantro
2 ea. Limes
1 ea. Jalapeno or Serrano
1-2 ea. Peaches
1-2 ea. Nectarines
1-2 ea. Pluots***
1 ea. Mango, very ripe!

1. In a very large non-reactive bowl squeeze juice of 2 limes.
2. Prep all fruit into varying examples of small to bite-sized pieces, and toss in bowl, mixing with spatula to combine and intermingle with citrus juice.
3. Wash cilantro, shake dry, and chop repetitively until very small. Mix with fruit.
4. Carefully seed hot pepper while wearing latex gloves. Cut pepper into tiny pieces. Taste one piece by itself to decide how much of it you will want in your gazpacho. Season with the pepper accordingly.
4. When you're done prepping mango flesh, squeeze pit juices into bowl.

Let "marinate" for at least one hour before serving. Gazpacho may be kept upwards of three days in a covered, non-reactive container refrigerated.

* The more colors and flavors of tomatoes you can acquire, the better your soup will look and each bite will deliver something new. If you know how to peel Sweet 100's/Cherry Tomatoes, these make a fantastic impression in the mouth as well as the hearts of the guests lucky enough to be served this delightful touch.
** I like to use melons of different colors and textures. Jeff McAravy of Short Night Farms has a way with watermelons, The Peach Farm grows the effervescent H'Aogen as well as some other lesser known melons at the peak of their season. (Both farms can be found at the Saturday Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market.)
*** Blossom Bluff grows the broadest array of plum-apricot mixes. As well as at Ferry Plaza, they can be found at both the Tuesday and the Saturday Berkeley Farmer's Market.

I thought I would share the most recent California Connected newsletter with you...this week is all about organic farming and the benefits of organic food.

California Connected is a TV news magazine produced through a collaboration of four PBS stations: KCET-Los Angeles, KPBS-San Diego, KQED-San Francisco and KVIE-Sacramento.

The show airs on KQED TV9 Friday at 8:30pm and is rebroadcast Sunday at 4:30pm. You can watch video clips of the program online and there are also links to local resources.

CORPORATE GREENS
As organic farming goes mainstream there is a debate as to what
it really means to be organic. Is it the traditional definition
of only applying natural products to the land, or is it more
about a holistic approach to farming?

FIRST PERSON: JOHN SWARTZBERG
Organic farming might be better for the land, but is it better
for our health? We sat down with Dr. John Swartzberg, head of
the Wellness Letter Editorial Board, to find out whether or not
our bodies care if we eat organic.

EXTENDED INTERVIEW
Dr. Swartzberg's discussion continues on the health benefits of
organic food in this extended interview.