You don't hear as much about Lake County as you do about neighboring Napa and Sonoma, but it's an up and coming region that produces some wonderful wines. Though wines have been made here since before prohibition, its modern development as a wine region is relatively recent due in part to affordable property values. It's the home to two of the newest American Viticultural Areas (AVA's) designations, High Valley and Red Hills Lake County as well as two of the oldest, Guenoc and Clear Lake.

Red volcanic soils, mountain slopes, extreme temperature swings and winds off the lake result in longer ripening periods, a wide variety of grapes and an amazing range of wines. Varietals include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Sirah, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Barbera, Sangiovese, Syrah, and Cabernet Franc.

One of the pioneers in this area is Jed Steele, the winemaker who was responsible for the first nine vintages at Kendall Jackson. In 1991 he founded Steele and Shooting Star Wines. His whimsically named wines are reasonably priced and range from delicate to bold.

One of my favorite neighborhood restaurants, Luella, is holding it's first winemaker dinner the Steele Wine Dinner on April 3rd with winemaker Jed Steele. This is a great way to try some Lake County wines and hear from the winemaker without heading North. As for the food, you'll taste a number of dishes that Luella does best, crisp pizzettas, deliciously unctuous slow braised meats and sauces and tender homemade pastas.

Steele Wine Dinner
April 3, 2007
6:30 pm

Greet with
Shooting Star Sauvignon Blanc, Lake County, CA, 2005
Pizzetta with fromage blanc and lemon
Pizzetta with wild mushrooms and gremolata

First Course
Shooting Star Aligote, Washington State, 2005
Oysters on the half shell & fried with tarragon nage

Second Course
Steele Pinot Blanc, Santa Barbara, CA, 2005
Rapini ravioli with hazelnuts

Third Course
Writers Block Grenache, Lake County, CA, 2005
Rabbit sugo with papperdelle

Fourth Course
Stymie Merlot, Lake County, CA 2003
Lamb osso buco with chickpea wafers

Fifth Course
Steele Pacini Vineyard Zinfandel, Mendocino, CA 2004
Seared beef filet en croute with bone marrow butter and horseradish

Dessert
Shooting Star Black Bubbles Syrah, Lake County, CA 2003
Chocolate and strawberry shortcake

$75 all inclusive

Contact the restaurant for reservations:

Luella
1896 Hyde St
San Francisco CA
(415) 674-4343

When I was a child growing up in Southern California, we went to a lot of LA Dodgers games. While the game was fun, my sister and I focused on the food. In addition to ballpark food, one of our favorite things about going to the games was the stop at the nearby Philippe, The Original. It is a restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles which has been open since 1908 and is famous for its French Dipped Sandwiches.

When you enter Philippe's, cross the sawdust floor and choose one of ten lines to stand in, each in front of one of the "carvers". The carvers are mostly women, and mostly fairly gruff. "Find one who's smiling," I heard the guy behind me say to a friend. I usually stand back and look for the most efficient one and then stake my claim in that line.

The main reason to go to Philippe's is the French Dipped Sandwich. The restaurant owners claim to have invented the sandwich in 1918 when the owner accidentally dropped a french roll into a roasting pan with juices in it. Though the roll was soggy and ostensibly ruined, the patron said he'd eat it anyway. Then he returned again the next day and ordered it again. Thus the French Dip was born.

In the interest of full disclosure, a restaurant across town -- Cole's Pacific Electric Buffet -- also claims to be the birthplace of the French Dip. I'm not sure who's right, but I'll leave that up to the food historians.

At Philippe's, you can choose between French Dips made of beef, pork, lamb, ham or turkey. I always order mine the same out of a long-held habit: "Beef French Dip, double-dipped, with swiss cheese please. And a pickled egg."

I take from the counter a tray with small paper plates containing a delicious French Dip and a bright, neon purple, pickled egg.

Sitting down at a long, communal table in the large restaurant, I reach for the amazing Philippe's mustard and dress my sandwich. "All around the restaurant you can see nostrils flare when people hit little depth charges of Philippe's hot mustard in their sandwiches," describes Jonathan Gold in his book <a href = "http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312267231/kqedorg-20
">Counter Intelligence. I always have a pot of Philippe's mustard in my refrigerator, ready to put on anything and everything.

Philippe's is a Los Angeles institution that is worth trying when you are in town. It's a great place to get a feel for the real Los Angeles, as you will see a very large cross-section of the community here dining together.

Philippe, The Original
1001 N. Alameda Street
Los Angeles
(213) 628-3781
Open 6 am - 10 pm daily
Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas

My birthday is tomorrow. Depending on whose age you look at in my family I am either not yet approaching middle age or will die in about 20 years. Supposedly this means I am to look at where I've been and where I'm going.

Up until very recently much of who I was, was one thing. Pastry Chef. The title, the position I'd been working for the last fourteen years, although much of the time unbeknownst to me, towards this goal. I identified myself with the restaurant I worked for. Which is a very good thing, because the second question people ask me, after learning how to pronounce my name, is, "Oh really, where do you work?"

I worked as a pastry cook and assistant for almost 8 years when I was given my first pastry chef job. Many of the assistants I worked alongside went on to be famous pastry chefs themselves. And I watched many cooks and sous chefs become chefs of their own restaurants. From my point of view one worked themselves up in the ranks before being given or holding a chef title.

In the last few weeks I have consumed more desserts at restaurants (A16, Campton Place, Rubicon, Two, Delfina.) than I did all last year. And this week I'll be eating more. In part due to birthday dinners, but also as research for a position I'm interviewing for. The object is to find out who is making what in San Francisco. The goal is to assess the palate of the person I may work with, and for him to see what I might make or what sweet things inspire me. We are both looking at where our foggy city, one of the most food and restaurant-centric in The United States, stands on the platform of pastry chef hiring.

I have even called upon the Chowhounders to help me track down the best sugary courses within these forty-nine miles. Sadly, it's been like getting a straight answer out of a lawyer. One dessert here, another there. Some have even been so bold as to tell me about the artificially-flavored butterscotch pudding at Town Hall. (An article about real butterscotch in The Washington Post here.)

I'm not looking for all the sweets to be the same. One dessert at Chez Panisse will be like another at Zuni, Quince or Oliveto. (In fact, if you look at the lineage, these restaurants practically trade pastry chefs like baseball cards.) I want to try the homey American desserts at Salt House as well as Citizen Cake's kooky innovative concoctions or straightforward, simple, seasonal creations like those found at Delfina or Foreign Cinema.

My hope is that I will be eating a pastry chef's creations. I'm not so interested in restaurants that buy their desserts from an outside source. (Think I'm making this up? Read this short article about the disappearing restaurant pastry chefs in NYC.) I'm also a little biased against the chefs who say they're not only the savoury chef of their kitchen, but also the pastry chef. I realize this saves them a lot of money, but I'm really tired of eating warm oozy chocolate cake, creme brulee and tough crusted out-of-season fruit tarts or dishes that look like they just stepped out of the pastry and baking program at CCA.

It sounds like I'm hard to please doesn't it? I'm actually the biggest fan of delicious food you might ever meet. Give me simple, complex, hole-in-the-wall, humble, bold, a quiet ice cream cone, standard traditional fare, technically seamless, fussily plated or a cookie on the go.

Just let me taste the taste of skill, perhaps a dash of inspiration and/or innovation, a love for my craft, tiny sprinkles of deference, whiffs of hope for mastery, half cup of practice, grams upon ounces of question-asking-inquisitiveness, and, although not absolutely necessary: when I close my eyes I'd like to taste that that person's hard work over the years that they've read and worked and asked questions and eaten and tasted helped them land a job where they were taken seriously, and give them the chef title they deserved.

Might you have a favorite pastry chef whose desserts I must have on my extreme dessert-eating spree this week? Any and all suggestions taken into consideration!

Between Meals: SF Chronicle's Michael Bauer blog on desserts in the Bay Area.

In this age of Google and Wikipedia, it's easy to forget the joy of getting lost for hours deep in the stacks of a three-dimensional library. To entice you back to these important anchors of our community, here's a short list of culinary exhibits and events worth adding to your list of food adventures:

READING AMERICA: Reconstructed Books by Mary Marsh

"Snack." Mary Marsh, 2004. Coffee, ink, gouache on found book.

Head to the airy, sunny sixth floor of the San Francisco Main Library to find a wonderful exhibit of new work by artist Mary Marsh. Using comfort food as an analogy, Marsh explores the intersection of eating and reading. Discarded books and old library catalog cards (remember those?!) find new lives with bits of linen tape, layers of gouache and coffee as ink. Marsh explores issues of privacy, consumption and narrative with these evocative creations. Her artwork will be on display at the library galleries though April 5, 2007.

While you're at the top of the SF Main, visit one of my favorite local resources: the Koshland SF History Center. If you can't make it there in person, it's almost as fun browsing their amazing photo collection online. Their "Picture This" series includes a line of serious-minded, long-aproned butchers at the Stadium Market in the Sunset District (1935), a proud baker at Dianda's Bakery in the Mission (1980); and a birthday party in the Western Addition, when Japanese-American families still flourished in the neighborhood (1938).

San Francisco Main Library, 6th Floor
100 Larkin Street, San Francisco
(415) 557-4400

TASTE MATTERS: The Role of Food and Drink in Jewish Culture

Detail of "Pesach" by Mary Thorman

The Magnes Museum, a stately building tucked in the foothills of Berkeley, has launched a series of cross-disciplinary presentations of gastronomic narratives in Jewish culture. These intimate gatherings are open to the public ($8 for nonmembers) and offer a valuable resource both for those attempting to understand their own heritage and those trying to learn more about the history of an important but largely invisible group. Last week's conversation with Eleanor Kaufman from UCLA highlighted Eastern European homesteaders keeping kosher under harsh conditions on the plains and utopian farming communities, such as Petaluma's chicken and egg producers, that succeeded for a brief period in the early to mid-20th century.

On May 31, Alisa Braun from UC Davis will discuss the depiction of Jewish foods in films, and on August 16, Benjamin Wurgaft from UC Berkeley will show how food writers, both Jewish and non-Jewish, shape perception and identity.

In addition to its ceremonial, decorative and modern art collections, the Magnes houses an excellent research library for scholars of Jewish history and culture.

Judah L. Magnes Museum
2911 Russell Street, Berkeley
(510) 549-6950

ALICE STATLER LIBRARY

The menu cover from a 1930s "Bohemian" restaurant near Coit Tower.

To support its stellar culinary arts and hospitality program, City College maintains a reading library of books about food, restaurants and anything remotely related to the history, culture, science, politics and business of cooking and eating. Their periodical collection alone could occupy a dedicated cook for years.

Though nearly everyone in the Statler Library is wearing chef whites, it's open to the public. You're welcome to read for hours whether you're browsing for random discoveries, honing a research topic or filling up on glossy food mags.

You can also enjoy the library's beautiful menu collections online. With their covers and inside pages lovingly scanned, the menus highlight restaurants across the nation as well as concessionaries at the 1939 World's Fair in San Francisco.

Alice Statler Library
City College of San Francisco
Room 10, Statler Wing
50 Phelan Avenue, San Francisco
(415) 239-3460

Spicy Lamb Flatbread, Red Onions, Sumac and Pinenuts

One of my all-time-favorite movies is My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I loved when the crazy aunt with the absorbed twin would hoist her shot glass, shout "OPA!" and slam back the ouzo. I want to be doing that at her age! I wanted to do it last week after my first visit to Nopa. I wanted to stand up and cheer, clap and shout "OPA!" I'd heard the buzz all the way across the ocean and when I realized that the Jeff from Nopa was my friend Jeff from *years* ago in our previous lives as accountants, well that was all I needed to hear.

I gathered up a gang of American expat pals that had lived in Paris and were now back in the US to catch up and see how they were assimilating back to Bay Area life. It's a challenge for me just when I come back for short visits and when I allow such thoughts as moving back to enter my conscious, I immediately start missing my farmers market and my baker and my fishmonger and my butcher and the cobblestone streets and the oh-so-convenient and clean metro and, and, and... So to infuse a little bit of France to this Mediterannean dinner we stuck with French wines. I must say it helped.

Dining at Nopa (which stand for NOrth of the PAnhandle) evokes images of dining alfresco in the Italian countryside with their rustic dishes. Nopa serves what I would call elegant delicious comfort food. Gorgeous creamy polenta, succulet roast chicken with herbs slid inder the skin, a spectacular steelhead that made me want to swim upstream and the vegetables were cooked to a crisp, bright green perfection.

Jeff Hanak, owner and restaurateur extraordinaire

If you didn't pick upon it earlier, and in full fairness and complete disclosure, I know the owner and he took very good care of us as did our server. My only comment that isn't off the scale gushing is the noise level which was pretty high when we arrived at 7pm but by 9pm we could talk without shouting :) There is a big communal table when you walk in which I love. In France, and most of southern Europe, the tables are so close you are practically in your neighbor's lap which at first horrified me but I've come to enjoy it and appreciate the interaction it creates. I give it "four snaps in Z formation". I know, huge nerd...

Voila nos menu...

I love this menu. Simple, elegant, delicious.

JP Dirler "Saering" Grand Cru Muscat 2003, Alsace
Chef EJ Keller picked this perfect start to the evening. A light, crisp, floral Alsatian white wine.

Entrees (Appetizers in French)

Dancer "La Romanee" 1er Cru 2004 Chassagne Montrachet, Burgundy
I'm a sucker for white Burgundy. I have a huge sign on my back whenever I walk into a wine store and an interal radar that shoots the needle to the right when I'm within a hundred feet of this Chardonnay. Light, crisp, earthy, yummy. Can't describe it very well, it just makes me swoon!

Warm Marinated Olives
Great starter, not too salty and served with lemon confit. Had they brought twice or three times as much, we would have eaten them all.

Warm Goat Cheese, Crostini and Pickled Beets

Hearts of Romaine, Grated Serena and Creamy Herb Vinaigrette

Crispy Duck Confit, Baby Greens, Honey-Balsamic and Toasted Walnuts

Wood Baked Giant White Beans, Feta and Oregano
Apologies but I couldn't snap fast enough. Delicious and cooked to perfection!

Spicy Lamb Flatbread, Red Onions, Sumac and Pinenuts
Delicious! Perfectly thin crust, not overloaded with ingredients, beautiful melding of flavors.

Plats

Mas Julien "Les Etats d'Ame" Grenache-Syrah-Cinsault 2003, Languedoc

Braised Lamb Shank, Creamy Polenta, Rapini and Pinenut Gremolata

Rotisserie Herb Chicken, Wilted Escarole and Rosemary Croutons
Apologies again but I tucked into this as soon as the plate landed with a rousing "Bon Appetit!" and I didn't want to post a picture of a mangled, half eaten chicken. Image a succulant, juicy rotisserie chicken with herbs lovingly placed under the skin that has since crisped to perfection on top of wilted, but vibrant green, with a bit of a crunch Escarole and big rosemary croutons that soaked up the jus. Watch out Zuni!

Pan Roasted Steelhead, Farro, Asparagus and Tarragon Butter

Creamy Polenta and Parmesan

Desserts

Grenache "Cuvee Parce Freres" Banyuls 2005 La Rectorie

Shaft Blue Cheese, Dates, Walnuts and Honey
Another one I couldn't snap fast enough.

Espresso Creme Brulee and Cocoa Nib Cookies
I'm not a creme brulee fan but everyone else gave it two thumbs up.

Warm Doughnut Holes and Rum Caramel
My hands down favorite. I had a hard time sharing. Light, airy, sugary dipped in the caramel sauce.

Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake and Whipped Cream
Absolutely delicious, a toss up between this and the donut holes as my favorite. Moist, beautiful spice that wan't overpowering, just delicious.

Chocolate Cake and Vanilla-Stout Swirl Ice Cream

Trio of Citrus Sorbets and Vanilla Cookies
Mango, lemon and I can't remember the third, sorry, but all were smooth, tangy and refreshing, a perfect way to end the meal.

My friend Lyle is mildly obsessed with coffee. If it's daylight outside, there is usually a paper take away cup filled with the black, caffeinated liquid within a two-and-a-half foot radius of him. I haven't measured his wingspan. I'm just telling you it's nearly always within his reach. Or nestled in a cup holder inside his car. The other night at work, he announced he was going to The Blue Bottle Coffee Co. the next day and was taking orders. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I asked what the big deal was. He mentioned that they happened to serve the best frigging coffee in the city. Only I am not certain he used that precise word.

The next afternoon, after a little bit of directional confusion for which I blame my own genetics and short attention span, I found my way to tiny Linden Street, the block known unofficially as The Artists Alley. I saw a crowd of about fifteen people not-too-neatly queued up in front of what looked like a garage. Lyle was there, off to the side reading a magazine; the remnants of something brown and foamy making its way gradually to the bottom of a little glass in front of him. "Order a Gibraltar," he said. That's what he had been drinking while waiting for me. I did as I was told, but I wanted to try their coffee, too. The line wasn't terribly long-- I waited about five minutes for my Gibraltar (which is basically a very short latte with just a titch of foam and, I believe, named after the glass in which it is served) and my cup of drip coffee (one size only, thank you). I threw in a few cookies for good measure and snapped a few photos.

The Gibraltar was good. Very good. I carefully sipped at it a couple of times-- creamy, well balanced and rich. I was happy. I thought about swirling it about in the glass as I one might do wine, but the glass is too small and I worried about the likely coffee stains down my shirt and crotch. I headed back to my apartment with Lyle to drink our drip coffee in relative comfort. By relative, I mean in a chair. By chair, I mean a piece of furniture with four legs and perhaps a bit of padding-- Blue Bottle has one plywood bench that I believe may have at one time been a seventh grader's midterm wood shop project. Such is the Blue Bottle's charm. I can't say I can blame them for not encouraging people to lounge-- the demand for their coffee can be fierce (they regularly sell out of their bags of whole beans)-- especially on weekends.

We sipped at the Bella Donovan en route to my apartment. This is, according to Blue Bottle's website, their most popular blend; "the wool sweater of our blends." I could feel the caffeine taking hold of me. I was feeling a little light-headed when I go out of Lyle's car. By the time we got ourselves into seated position--cookies in hand, I had consumed half my coffee. I felt the end of my nose tingle and my cheeks begin to go numb. This is serious coffee. I don't think I had ever gotten myself this caffeinated before. I hadn't intended on drinking two Charles Atlas-strength coffees on top of my accustomed morning cup-and-a-half. I felt nauseated. I blame myself, of course, but I now see the warning sign so clearly hinted at in the blend's name-- drinking this blend is like snacking on digitalis; my heart raced wildly and, had I thought to look in the mirror, I am certain my pupils would have been enormous. I hope it made me look pretty.

In spite of my caffeine overdose, I find myself in agreement with Lyle-- this coffee is frigging good.

If you are a serious coffee drinker and have not been to Blue Bottle Coffee Company, I suggest you give it a go. In addition to the garage/kiosk at 315 Linden Street, you will find them at the Ferry Building Farmer's Market on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and at the Berkeley Farmer's Market on Saturdays, brewing and selling their wares.

For much more information, visit their website. It's an amusing and informative read:

Blue Bottle Coffee Company

More about Blue Bottle on BAB:
Blue Bottle Coffee Redux: One Giant Step for Coffeekind

Coffee Breakthrough

With a Mayor whose life appears to need the same kind of control his gel exerts over his hair, and killer frogs stalking Golden Gate Park, spring has fully come to San Francisco.

To honor St. Patty's Day, I had to write about my newest out-of-body experience: Guinness Floats.

I know there's a lot of you out there who -- for better or for hate -- have already suckled at the vanilla-y, stout-y, creamy, heavenly goodness that has recently enraptured my small household. However, for those three of you who haven't and have always been curious, please seize this holiday opportunity to satisfy yourselves. All it takes is a pint of Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean -- definitely go whole bean hog on this one, you'll thank me later -- and a six-pack of fully widgeted Guinness cans.

Plop one, two, three, okay, FIVE scoops of ice cream in a pint glass and carefully pour the Guinness over the mound of decadent sensuality. With whorls and dips and swirls, the bitter bite of the Guinness surrounds, melds with, and accentuates the heady vanilla. I know it sounds weird, but it works and it's beyond fantastic.

Are we all on the same page? Ice cream and beer is a taste only drunk angels could have imagined? Okay. Now, let's check in with a brand new beer from Hawaii's Kona Brewing Company that is so brilliant, it should be illegal. Well, hello, Pipeline Porter, what's your story? What's that? You say you're made with 100% KONA COFFEE?! Seriously? Coffee and beer -- another brilliant combination. On its own, Pipeline is smooth, rich, smokey, and definitely filled to the rim with coffee. It's so wonderfully strange, and I can't remember the last time I was so completely taken with a beer that I started thinking in terms of multiple cases. Oh, wait, I can.

Here it becomes time to apply what we learned earlier with ice cream and beer. My brilliant, BRILLIANT husband is the one who pointed out that if we can reach near nirvana with Guinness and ice cream, how far can we go if we match Pipeline Porter with ice cream? So far that I don't think we've yet returned to Earth.

Guinness or Pipeline -- it's up to you, but you'll be sorry if you don't try one of them.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Heidi Swanson the San Francisco blogger behind 101 Cookbooks, has just written her second cookbook, Super Natural Cooking.

1. How does Super Natural Cooking differ from your first book, Cook 1.0?
Super Natural Cooking attempts to convince people that cooking with a palette of minimally processed ingredients can be inspiring, delicious, and better for your health than cooking with processed alternatives. My first book had a lot of recipes that highlighted fresh/farmer's market ingredients, but Super Natural Cooking builds on this and delves into a rich realm of underutilized ingredients by encouraging people to explore whole grains like millet, barley, and wheat berries. I also talk about the benefits of cooking with colorful ingredients, why you should utilize super foods, and how to use natural sweeteners. I did my best to include recipes that even the biggest skeptics might love (or at least like a lot).

2. What was the most fun part of working on this book and what was most challenging?
I work independently on a lot of projects, but producing a book is very different - there are many people involved. The collaborative potential of making a book was exciting to me and I wanted to make the most of it. I knew
I was going to contribute the writing, recipes, and photography, but I wanted the right people around to bounce ideas back and forth and explore all the possibilities on the editorial and creative front. I was fortunate to have Ten Speed Press as my publisher - they're located in Berkeley which meant that all the people working on my book were nearby. We could spend time in person, hang out, get to know each other. It's not always like that in publishing, I lucked out - we had a lot of fun. The most challenging aspect? Constantly running out of room in my refrigerator.

3. What makes something a "super food"?
When I think of "super foods" I think of all-natural, straight from the source ingredients that are brimming with vitamins and minerals. They offer nourishment, health benefits, and protection from disease. Luckily, many delicious whole foods fit this description, I think we just need to remember to keep working them into our daily cooking routine.

4. You use some familiar grains like brown rice and some very esoteric ones. What is mesquite flour and how did you ever discover it?
You know, I read about it long before I actually tasted it. I knew there were people excited about it's nutritional properties (gluten-free, rich in certain nutrients, and low on the GI-index). When I finally came across a jar of it in a natural foods store one afternoon, I was very curious about how it would taste.

To back up a bit, mesquite flour (or mesquite meal as it is sometimes called) comes from ground mesquite pods. If you grew up around California or the Southwest, you might recognize these pods. After the pods are ground up you can use it in a few ways. It adds a wonderfully unique flavor to baked goods, imparting a fragrant, warming, soft-edged spiciness. I use it in cookies, lots of people use it in cornbread, I'll add some to my spice loafs during the holidays next year. You can also sprinkle it over foods as a seasoning.

5. Where are your favorite places to shop in the Bay Area?
On the food and wine front...

Boulettes Larder
I can't get enough of Boulettes. From the handwritten kraft-paper menus, to the aromas spilling out of the open kitchen, the place appeals to every one of my senses. I love to taste what they're doing with the various heirloom grains, rices, and flours they stock. A couple weeks back I went in and they were selling grass peas with chopped olives and parsley. Do you know what grass peas are? Neither did I, but they were delicious and I've been thinking about all the ways I can use them now in my own cooking. For me Boulettes is the best combination of take-out served up with a side order of inspiration.

Farmers Markets:
I pick up fresh fruits and vegetables at the farmer's market -- usually once a week. The Ferry Building is most convenient for me, but I'll occasionally cross the bridge and go to Marin Civic Center on Sundays, particularly if the weather is nice. An added bonus is being able to look at the Frank Lloyd Wright building there.

Rainbow Grocery
My go-to grocery store. They have an amazing spectrum of ingredients - I'm not just talking about the bins full of grains, flours, pastas, and granolas either. They have depth within certain categories that you aren't going to find elsewhere. For example, they carry dozens of honeys (both single-varietals and blends), a whole section of nut butters (I've seen peanut, cashew, pistachio, walnut, almond), there is a nice cheese counter with helpful staff, and their wine section features producers making wine from grapes that have been grown organically or bio-dynamically. The buyers do a great job there and you can feel pretty confident that the food (or ingredients) you are buying aren't packed with hydrogenated oils or GMOs.

Biondivino
Biondivino recently took over the space PRIZE used to occupy at Polk and Green Streets in the Russian Hill neighborhood. It is a fantastic, petite boutique wine shop that focuses on regional Italian wines -- many coming from small producers. Italian wine can be intimidating in part because there are so many different producers producing so many different varietals. Biondivino is a fantastic portal into the world of Italian wines and the owner Ceri Smith is always happy to help customers navigate the selection which includes plenty of quality bottles for under $15-$20.

La Palma Mexicatessan (24th Street in general)
The Mexican grocery stores along 24th street in San Francisco are another fun place to explore. A whole spectrum of chiles, salsas, moles, dried beans, fresh masa and other ingredients awaits you.

To read a review of Super Natural Cooking, head over to Cooking with Amy

Eating local seems to be the focus of the hour, with the Eat Local Challenge blog and the local food movement getting press in Time magazine, Food and Wine, and E Magazine just in the past month. As a person who spends a lot of time thinking and writing about local farmers and local food, it is rewarding to see that the discussion is occurring nationwide. The main thing I'd like to see is that consumers consider the origin of their food before deciding what to buy, and these articles are bound to affect that decision.

The Locavores and the Eat Local Challenge blog will be hosting a nationwide challenge in September asking people to pay attention to eating locally for a month. This year, the focus will be on preserving and putting food up for the winter. Keep an eye on the Eat Local Challenge blog as well, as some of us will be taking part in an exciting challenge toward the end of April.

If you're interested in food issues in general, and like to keep up on food news, there are an astounding number of deep resources that can be found on the web. Samuel Fromartz, the author of Organic, Inc., has started a blog called Chews Wise that has thoughtful and current essays about today's food news. This week, Fromartz dedicates a post to organic food in mainstream grocery stores. We're all aware that Wal-Mart is selling organic food, but what happens if no one buys it? So far, the sales of organic food at Wal-Mart are not as hot as expected, and if that continues it may have far-reaching effects on the organic food industry.

The Ethicurean is a group blog that I read on a daily basis. If you only have five minutes in your day to keep up with the day's food news, check out their daily digest.

Culinate is a beautifully designed and chock-full new website that covers the food world especially as it pertains to food politics and where our food comes from. Their tag line is "eat to your ideal" and with posts on the food-justice movement in Portland, lawsuits against Kraft foods, and Costco selling cage-free eggs, they are helping us do just that.

I heard a rumor from a farmer: we're supposed to have very warm weather all week. Is it possible our government planned an environmental change? To coincide with our new, nice and early Daylight Savings Plan? Hey I'm not being paranoid, if I were them I'd warm things up a bit too. To encourage people to actually spend that new hour outside, picnic-ing, giving the dog more exercise or just basking in a later setting sun.

I love the warm weather. It makes me think I live in sunny California; the one many of us imagined when our plane landed here from coasts with harsher climes.

I'm not fooled. It's not summer. In fact Spring hasn't even truly begun. (I know this because March 20th, the Official First Day Of Spring, is my birthday.) Sure I'll put on shorts and open all my windows. Maybe I'll even tempt our foggy fate and put away my long underwear.

But I'm not about to start buying strawberries. Or any other berries for that matter. I don't care that they're in season a few thousand miles away. The fruit that makes the most sense to me right now is citrus. I had the best time going to Berkeley Bowl last week. Walked down 8 foot displays of yellows, safety-oranges, ochres, deep red-oranges, chartreuses, lime greens and red- blushing pale yellow shoulders of shiny grapefruits. I bought little tangerines with pretty leaves and stems, crinkly skinned large pored seedy mandarins, dusty wax-less outy belly-buttoned Minneolas, and baseball sized navel oranges. I perused, tasted, peeled and nibbled.

Whether fruit appreciation is your own private secret, or you could shout your love from the mountaintops, Berkeley Bowl will not disappoint; it is a temple for fruit worshipping. A church where the fruit prayer is answered. A freshly gilded Mosque dome for paying homage to seeded creatures. An outdoor pagan meadow complete with ancient rocks for free-spirited fruit raves.

And what better way to refresh one's electrolytes and vitamin C cravings, than with these bright and dangerous fruits?

As a citrus afficionado I tend to like sweets that err on the puckery side. If I'm going to eat a Minneola, I'm looking forward to a swift "kapow!" of distinct flavor characteristic as well as a brief, but perceptible jolt, like the volume has been turned up loud for a nano second.

In kind, I offer Lemon Sherbet, a dessert bridging our new gift of warm weather and the fruit that is actually in season. If you don't have an ice cream maker, check out the Glazed Meyer Lemon Cake recipe in the Winter 2007 Edible San Francisco issue.

LEMON SHERBET

1 1/2 Cups Lemon Juice
1 1/2 Cups Whole Milk
1 1/2 Cups Organic Cream (my favorite is Clover)
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
7 each Lemons Each Zested

1. In a food processor fitted with a blade attachment, whir lemon zest and sugar until the lemon scent is powerful.
2. Whisk all ingredients together and let sit overnight in the fridge.
3. Before churning, give liquid a good whisk and pass through a fine meshed sieve.
4. Churn in ice cream maker per manufacturer's instructions.
5. If you are going to make an error in the time it takes to churn Lemon Sherbet, err on the side of being under churned. If you over churn sherbet there is no saving it, as it is not an emulsion the way creme anglaise is for ice cream.
6. Lemon Sherbet is best eaten the day it is made, but like all frozen treats, it will last for an awful long time in the freezer.
7. If it becomes frozen solid, "temper" sherbet back to a scoopable consistency by placing container in the fridge until desired texture. (It's a trick we do in restaurants so that we can make perfect hand spooned quenelles.)

Happy Citrus Celebrating!

If you don't have an ice cream maker and you don't want to bake the cake, head over to Ici where Mary Canales is making some of the best citrus ice creams, sorbets and sherbets in the Bay Area!