Trevor Morris is a lot like any other Bay Area foodie. When he tastes something great, he can't wait to use it, share it, and think about how it could become part of his culinary repertoire. But as the co-founder of Gelateria Naia, his first thought upon tasting anything particularly delicious is, Could I make gelato out of this?

As anyone who's watched the original Japanese Iron Chef knows, just about anything can be made into something resembling a frozen dessert. (Tasting the buttered lobster ice cream sold at a popular ice-cream shop in Bar Harbor, Maine remains a low point of my tongue's career.) Even as simple a flavor as coffee can be trickier to perfect than one might assume.

The company's years of dedication have paid off. Naia now has 4 gelato shops around the Bay Area, and freestanding counters in numerous Whole Foods stores throughout Northern California.

But it wasn't until last week's Fancy Food Show in San Francisco that I tasted gelati that transported me from the fluorescent-lit Moscone Center to the arched pergolas of a Bologna side street, to where I spent many a euro (and lazy afternoon) at La Sorbetteria Castiglione, that gastronomic city's best gelateria. And it wasn't in the Italian-food aisle, but California-made at Gelateria Naia.

What set these gelati apart was their purity and depth of flavor. Not too sweet, they were satiny smooth, pillowy and cool on the tongue, nipping right from the tongue straight to the brain's joy button. There was a deep, mellow coffee, rich but unbitter, made with Blue Bottle beans. There was a lovely, perfumey Earl Gray tea gelato steeped with a Numi Organic blend. A St. George Spirits single-malt gelato called out to be drenched with a shot of whiskey like a grown-up affogato. Chocolate was suave and mellow, the raw material provided by Tcho.

What was the one thing all these flavors had in common? They were all locally inspired, featuring some of the best artisanal products from around the Bay Area.

Part of the reasoning is, of course, a dedication to staying local. The company already gets many of its ingredients from nearby farms and producers, listing the day's sources on chalkboards in each of its stores. Yogurt from Pavel's, honey from Palamino Farms, fruits and nuts from Fiddyment Farms and B&B Ranch, among others, have become an integral part of Naia's offerings. As Morris notes,

"We opened our first store in 2002 and a year later decided to stop using the semi-finished ingredients we were importing from Italy. They tasted fine but it was a silly way to make gelato. Why buy chocolate from Italy when Guittard is right down the road? Why import pistachios when we can call and discuss different roasts with the grower in Roseville? And why would you ever use coffee flavoring when you can just use coffee beans?

But there's also the undeniable business sense of cross-branding with a company that already has its dedicated fans, as Blue Bottle does. Most important, though, said Trevor as he handed me yet another spoonful to taste, is the brainstorming and resource-sharing that happens when obsessive geniuses get together.

Instead of trying to learn everything about coffee in order to make a superlative coffee gelato, you go to a guy like Blue Bottle founder James Freeman, a man who probably spends most of his waking hours thinking about coffee. (Who needs sleep, when there's espresso?) And you sit down and talk, and by the time you get up from the table, you've hashed out a new cold-brewing method of getting big-bean flavor into your product without astringency or bitterness. Or you come back to the test kitchen with dozens of Numi teas, thinking you'll make one, two, maybe three tea flavors at the most. And then you taste tea after tea, each remarkable, each stunningly original, and you realize that you want to make a gelato out of almost every tea.

Same went with Tcho chocolate; to avoid the cloying heaviness that can weigh down some chocolate gelato, Naia gets pure chocolate liquor, without cocoa butter, for use in its version. Making gelato with high-proof alcohol is a dicey undertaking, since it resists freezing, but since their success with St. George's single-malt whiskey, they're now working on a similar gelato made with the company's popular Absinthe Verte.

Plans for other partnerships are in the works (Morris is already working with chocolate star Michael Ricchiuti on a few possibilities), and the new local flavors should be available in Naia's shops in early February. But those who can't wait can attend Naia's upcoming Pre-Release Gelato Tasting Benefit on Feb. 4, held from 6-9pm at the Berkeley store at 2106 Shattuck Ave. (The $5 fee goes to Doctors Without Borders.)

There will more than 20 brand-new flavors available featuring ingredients from TCHO Chocolate (TCHO Nutty, TCHO Chocolatey), Numi Tea (Earl Grey, Green Tea, Jasmine, Golden Chai, Rooibos), Blue Bottle Coffee (Bella Donovan, Hayes Valley Espresso, Sidamo), St George Spirits (absinthe, eau de vie) and Recchiuti Chocolate.

Get more information and buy tickets

The Winter Fancy Food Show is here in San Francisco through Tuesday, sprawling through the windowless, blue-carpeted acres of the Moscone Center. It's huge, filling both the North and South Halls on either side of Howard Street, over 2000 vendors on display, all here to make deals, talk shop, taste, schmooze, scope out the competition, see which way the market is moving. It's the biggest food-product show in the country, attracting all levels of the industry from big distributors with furry-suited mascots to small cheesemakers. The sleek Italians are here, promoting the wines of Sardinia, just a few aisles away from the guys touting a line of wine-bottle carriers and gift bags.

So what's on display? Everything. It's both cheering and depressing at once. Everyone seems to have the utmost faith in their product, a shiny white-teeth optimism that of course America needs bacon-flavored microwave popcorn that's also vegetarian and kosher, or applesauce in astronaut-style squeeze bags. Would you like to try a glass of water shipped from Siberia? Wouldn't you like to fancy up your dessert presentations with chocolate-truffle foam, now in a handy squirt can? Goji berries are good for you, you know. Here, you can eat them in cookies.

Everyone has a gimmick. These truffles are vegan and aligned with Indian ayurvedic practice, stamped with what could be the logo of a yoga studio and filled with coconut ginger-lemongrass ganache. These crunchy little cheese straws are made by real buttery-accented Southern ladies handing them out as if at a United Daughters of the Confederacy tea.

Tabletop wedding fountains spout ginger-haberno barbecue glaze as an entire Hyatt's worth of men in dark blue suits crunch spreadsheet numbers behind brightly lit cheese displays. Pisco sours are being poured in the Peruvian aisle (a good thing), Lincolnshire elderflower soda in the British one. All the chocolate is decadent, all the cakes indulgent but guilt-free. And everyone is still smiling, smiling, under the fluorescent lights, snapping up samples and trading shop talk about warehouses and brokers, reps and prices. All the packaging is bright, brighter, brightest. Hand-sanitizing stations are set up at the end of every few aisles, even as it's impossible to estimate how many fingers have dug into the big bowls of loose nuts on display at this table, or scooped into that oozing wedge of Brie. One uses a toothpick, looks for untouched edges or single-serving cups, and hopes for the best.

So what was worth trying? The new whole-milk ricotta at West Marin's Bellwether Farms, creamily rich and lusciously smooth, the product of months of experimentation by artisanal-dairy matriarch Cindy Callahan and her son Liam. Unlike their Jersey and sheep's-milk ricottas, made the traditional way from the leftover whey pressed out of their other cheeses, this ricotta starts with full-fat milk that's cultured, like yogurt, then left to coagulate and ripen.

The company's sheep herd is expanding, with lambing happening year-round now. This means more milk, which means the rest of the country will finally get the chance to breakfast on Bellwether's excellent sheep's-milk yogurt, as the company finally begins distribution beyond California. Callahan is upbeat; 2009 was a very good year for her sheep's-milk products. Down the road, she hopes, might be a Bellweather blue.

Representing the green hills of Vermont, the Grafton Village Cheese Company is looking back to the roots of its popular Cheddar. Tasty, wax-sealed blocks of easy-to-love New England cheddar made be Grafton's stock in trade, but right now they're most excited about their old English-style wheels of bandage-wrapped cheddar.

Raw milk from their two best farms goes straight from the milking parlors into the cheese-making rooms. Once the cheeses are formed and cloth-wrapped, they're sent over the Cellars at Jasper Hill, a custom aging facility built by the small-batch cheesemakers of Jasper Hill. The cloth wrapping lets the cheese breathe as it ages, collecting more flavor-inducing bacteria and developing an alluring bovine funk over 16 months in the caves. It's not quite up to the grand complexity of a great English cheddars like Montgomery, but it's closer than most. So far, the company is selling it by the wheel to a small number of cheese stores and high-end supermarkets.

Sauerkraut hasn't hit the scene yet, although it feels like a safe bet that it will by next year. Instead, there's the palate-cleansing, corpse-reviving blast of Mother-in-Law's Kimchi neatly balanced between crunch and bite, heat and ferment.

Putting her mother and aunt to work serving up samples is company founder Lauryn Chun, who got the idea after hauling jars of her mother's homemade kimchi home to New York City following every visit home. Friends devoured the spicy condiment and begged for more. Now, she sells her Mason jars of fermented cabbage in fancy New York gourmet shops like Dean & Deluca as well at Bay Area-based online retailer Foodzie. While Chun organizes kimchi-and-wine pairings in Manhattan, her mother stands by a more traditional approach. "Koreans eat it three times a day," she tells curious customers at her daughter's stand. "If we don't have kimchi, we can't eat."

Something to drink? There's lemon-ginger and berry-hibiscus kombucha, ready to retail at $3.50 a pop over at the Honest Tea booth. It tastes like kombucha does, like diluted cider vinegar with a hint of fruit. It will be rolling out nationally in March, and already the spokespeople at the booth can hear the happy hippie ka-ching at the registers of Whole Foods and elsewhere.

More alluring are the Edwardian English-summer drinks from Belvoir: a lightly herbal elderflower pressé the color of pale champagne, a vigorous, not-too-sweet ginger beer. Lovely on their own, they'd also make wonderful bases for summer cocktails, if San Francisco's bartenders ever look up from their current hot-and-heavy with absinthe and bitters. What could be more ladylike than a double-elderflower whammy with the ubiquitous St. Germain elderflower liqueur?

And then, of course, comes chocolate. Chocolate is everywhere. It's still decadent, still indulgent, saving the world through fair-trade sourcing, scouring out those annoying free radicals, filled with everything from red wine to lemongrass. The cream of the crop, though, is elegant Valrhona, still clad in French Vogue-editor matte black. But the doors to the chateau have been eased open slowly, as the company launches an expanded line of baking chocolates geared towards the serious home cook, along with more single-origin bars and bonbon assortments. A box of 52 squares, each a single bite, is divvied up between 4 levels of cocoa percentage (from a 33% milk to a 70% dark) and 4 places of origin. It's the size of a small jewelry box, and much more of a sure thing, especially for the ladies on your list.

Ginger continues its ascendancy, in both sweet and savory alike. But never better than in the teeth-sticking chewies of the Ginger People, who clearly know just what this sample-weary audience needs.

San Rafael's Sol Food: Puerto Rican food done right

By the time this post is published, I will have packed up a 14-food U-haul, probably strained my lower back, and sweated up and down five flights of stairs (no mom, there's no elevator) as I schlep my life's belongings into a little apartment in Alamo Square Park. I'm unspeakably excited about moving from San Rafael to the city; truthfully, this was all supposed to happen a year ago. But you know how things don't always go as planned. So as folks were busy making New Years resolutions and goals for the coming year ahead, I've been taking a moment to reflect on living in Marin and what I'll miss.

Now there's a big part of me that feels like this list is quite small. I'll be honest: I haven't been the most vocal member of Marin's fan club. In fact, I never even joined. Socially, I'm generally the youngest one at any given location by a good twenty years. I'm not raising kids, and I'm in a pretty darn low tax bracket so that makes me the exception. And heck, I often like to eat dinner after 9 p.m. Suffice it to say, I've learned to eat earlier. Not only can you not get a decent burger after the sun sets, you can barely get a gallon of milk or sack of flour. The place shuts down. However, San Rafael has a lot going for it, too. I loved getting to know all of the hiking trails with my mom's two dogs. West Marin is a quick, awesome getaway where life feels slower and somehow more conscious and deliberate. It's generally easy to park in Marin, I love my consignment store, and can't get enough of the Fairfax Scoop in the summers. And of course, you can get the best Puerto Rican food in the Bay Area. I'll miss all of those things, especially the latter.

If you haven't been to Sol Food, it's owned by Sol Hernandez, an enterprising San Rafael native who decided to bring Puerto Rican food to Marin. She lived on the island for quite awhile with her boyfriend and his mother and spent her free time learning how to cook the local dishes. The original Sol Food is a tiny little outpost on the corner of 4th and Lincoln in San Rafael. There aren't any formal indoor tables although there are stools by the window and up by the counter. When I first started hitting up the authentic eatery, I could just stroll in, order, and be on my way. Now I rarely go to this location because it's always obscenely crowded, and I can usually find seating at the other location right away. Locals differentiate between the two in size, calling the original location on 4th Street "the small one" and the newer location on Lincoln Avenue "the big one."

Regardless of which one you choose, Sol has successfully created two restaurant spaces that look and feel like Puerto Rico: colorful shutters and chairs, green plantains holding down stacks of napkins, and big leafy plants gracing every inch of usable counter space. Loud, lively music streams throughout the bustling cafe, and one of the things I love the most are the communal tables (at the larger location). Here, you may be seated next to a teacher grading papers, an older man reading the paper, gossipy college students, and tattoo artists from down the street. There aren't a lot of places around Marin where young and old, conservative and raucous, come together and chat over pink beans and rice.

Two of Sol Food's signatures: their infamous housemade hot sauce and decorative shuttered interior

Now, the food: Everything on the menu is delicious, from the Maduros (sweet fried yellow plantains) to the Bistec or Cubano sandwiches. I was a vegetarian for the first few years that I lived in San Rafael and I'd come to Sol Food often to get a side of beans. It's the best deal in town, and still my go-to meal when I'm in a hurry or want a light lunch. For a mere $3.95, you get a generous portion of pink beans, half an avocado, and a plantain of your choosing. It's delicious, it's cheap, and it's made with local and organic ingredients. Can't beat that.

My favorite Sol Food dish, Pollo Al Horno

Today though, I generally rely on the Pollo Al Horno: boneless, skinless organic chicken thighs marinated with oregano and lots of garlic. It's served with an organic salad, plantains, and rice and beans. If someone could teach me how to make chicken this juicy and flavorful, I'm not sure I'd eat anything else. Ever again. Their daily specials are something to organize your week around (check online for information). Mondays are my day of choice with the Arroz Con Picadillo, seasoned ground beef over rice served with beans, fresh avocado, fried plantain, and greens. Picadillo is a traditional dish in many Latin American countries and is often served with rice or used as a filling in tacos or empanadas. It sounds basic--kind of like you could whip it up at home. But you can't. I assure you. The beef is spicy and has a kick of vinegar, garlic and onion. Head over on a Monday and you can see what I mean. Order a Fizzie Lizzie, their Cafe Helado (sweetened iced espresso with milk served in a mason jar), or a coconut water to wash it all down.

So while I can't wait to live in a neighborhood where I can get a slice of pizza into the wee hours and where there will be more than two other people my age walking down the street (I'm kidding...sort of), I'm grateful that San Rafael's just a skip away. My mom lives here, so I'll come back to hike with her dogs, throw in load of laundry every now and then, catch up on Dexter, and get my fill of pink beans and rice.

Sol Food Restaurant (Small One/Original)
732 4th Street
San Rafael, CA 94901
(415) 451-4765
Hours: Sun.-Thurs. 7am-12am; Fri. 7am-2am; Sat. 8am-2am

Sol Food Restaurant (Big One)
901 Lincoln Avenue
San Rafael, CA 94901
(415) 451-4765 (same number as above)
Hours: Daily from 11am-10pm

The Calistoga Roastery: best choice for a morning fuel stop

As a kid, this time of year always brought about great vacations. When my sisters and I were in school, my parents would load us into the Volvo station wagon and we'd usually go up to Tahoe to ski (that was major when you think about navigating small kids, ski rental lines, and the occasional blizzard). If not Tahoe, we'd travel to Florida to visit relatives. But now, my sisters and I are grown adults and we all have busy lives and differing schedules, so it's tough to get everyone home with enough time to get out of Dodge even for a few days. But this year we were lucky. Zoe's home from college. Rachael flew in from Seattle. And my mom whisked us all up to Calistoga for a weekend at Solage where we ate and drank our way through town.

Calistoga is a small, sleepy town in the Napa Valley that literally sits on top of thermal hot springs, so its famous for its mineral waters and fortified mud (and thus, many resorts and spas have cropped up around the area). I hadn't been to Calistoga and was pleasantly surprised that a lot of the pretension of restaurants and wineries in the Napa Valley is noticeably absent. In many ways, if you look past the tourists, it's still very much a small, humble town. The downtown consists of a few bars and restaurants, a bank and a coffee shop, and a smattering of small retail shops. Then of course, there's Indian Springs and a few other resorts. After exploring downtown (it won’t take you long), take a drive (or hop on your bike like we did) and you can experience a great deal of what the town has to offer. As we headed home, we took a survey and decided on our "best of" list. So here are the Gordon sister's favorite places to grab a bite while in Calistoga and--if you're anything like us--in between glasses of wine.

Fueling up for the day: Calistoga Roastery

Downtown Calistoga's favorite spot for a cup of strong coffee

This is the local coffee shop in Calistoga. Owners Clive Richardson and Jack Martin opened Calistoga Roastery in the summer of 1999 after Clive left the corporate coffee world in San Francisco looking for something smaller and more independent. They roast their own beans, and supply coffee to many of the local resorts. And after tasting a cup, you can tell why. I noticed many of the locals stopping in to sit and have one of the bottomless cups of strong drip coffee. But they do a wide variety of espresso drinks and teas as well, and offer freshly baked muffins, scones, and housemade granola. We rode over one morning after a late dinner at Bouchon, so no one was feeling much like food but we nursed our lattes on the benches outside and took in the downtown sites for a good hour or so (great people-watching). Inside, there were tables of locals talking about their Christmas holidays and what they were up to for New Year's Eve. A group of eight older men were seated at the big communal table by the window reading the paper and gossiping about their wives. There's definitely an old-timeyness about the place with its big open space, no-nonsense baristas, welcoming wooden bar with stools, and locals moseying in wearing cowboy hats. If you're a fan of caramel frou-frou drinks from Starbucks, this may not be your place. But if you actually like to taste the espresso in your latte, don't miss it.
Calistoga Roastery
1426 Lincoln Avenue
Calistoga, CA 94515
(707) 942- 5757
Hours: Daily 6:30am–6pm

Lunch (or rolling breakfast): Café Sarafornia

Checking out the large morning menu at Café Sarafornia

Sam Brannan was the man touted for originally discovering the town of Calistoga. The story goes a little something like this: Brannan bought the geyser lands in the 1860s, promoting it as the "Saratoga of California" (after Saratoga, Springs in New York). One evening after having a few too many, he declared instead, "I will make this place the Calistoga of Sarafornia." Thus the name of the town, and thus the name of this quaint, old-fashioned diner. Now let's be honest about Café Sarafornia. Is it the best food you've ever had? No, no it's not. But they've got some things going for them, and I'll definitely be back next time I'm in town. First, they serve breakfast all day long (we'd originally gone for lunch but couldn't help ordering from the breakfast menu--as were many of the tables), which will score you points in my book. It's decent, reliable diner food with booths situated around a wide circular bar where locals saddle up and chat with the curt yet efficient waitresses. I had the Wildcat Scrambler with chicken apple sausage, mushrooms, and Swiss cheese and some delightfully greasy (and salty) hash browns. My sister Rachael went big with the chicken-fried steak, and my mom got the 2+2+2 (2 pancakes or French toast + 2 eggs + 2 bacon or sausage links)--kind of the perfect meal and one I don't often see on breakfast menus any more. So go knowing you won't get waited on hand and foot nor will you find artisan or organic ingredients on the menu. But go knowing it truly is the perfect spot to fill up on some hearty sustenance before heading out to the wineries--after all, you need a little something to soak up those tannins.
Café Sarafornia
1413 Lincoln Avenue
Calistoga, CA 94515
(707) 942-0555
Hours: Daily 7am-2:30pm (lunch starting at 11am)

Dinner: SolBar at Solage Resort

The inviting entrance leading up to SolBar

I'll admit it: I was hesitant when my mom told me she made reservations at the hotel restaurant. In my experience, that never bodes well. Believe me when I tell you I'll never, ever have those thoughts again. Our dinner at SolBar was the best meal I've had in a very long time--and I've done a lot of eating out this holiday season. Let me start by saying the meal wasn't inexpensive: you've got to save your pennies...or bring your mom.

Now it's obviously winter, but I've vowed to come back in the summer when we can sit outside on the outdoor patio and enjoy the oversized fire pit, bocce ball courts, and little lights strung throughout the trees. The dining room was inviting with its high ceilings, lovely big fire, and roomy tables with little Heath vases and local flowers. Knowing that SolBar had received their first Michelin Star, we were all expecting it to be a bit stuffy. But it was actually the most comfortable, laid-back fine dining experience. The servers seemed to always know when you needed something and anticipated questions and pairing advice, but were never pesky or overbearing. The menu is organized around the seasons with organic, local ingredients. I started with the Winter Squash Veloute, a creamy soup with crispy sage leaves and granny smith apples. Then I chose the Preserved Lemon and Chickpea Stew with braised kale, roasted garlic, tomato confit, and harissa. Looking back, I'm not sure why I went the vegetarian route, as the menu boasts other dishes including a delicate cod, beef short ribs with polenta, and their infamous "Lucky Pig," a dish meant for two comprised of slow roasted pork shoulder served with black sesame crepes, pickled pineapple, mongolian peanuts, and lettuce cups. For dessert, we shared the well-regarded warm donut holes (you must try these!) and a spice cake with candied persimmon. Lingering over Irish Coffees, conversation had come to a bit of a halt and it was getting late, but no one wanted to leave. We didn't want the experience to end, so we sat staring at the fire--and ordered another round of coffees. Then, we were back the next morning for breakfast.
SolBar at Solage Resort
755 Silverado Trail
Calistoga, CA 94515
(707) 226-0850
Hours: Breakfast: 7 am-11am; Lunch 11:30 am-3pm
Dinner: 5:30 pm-9pm; Lounge 11am-11pm; Sunday brunch 11:30 am-3 pm.

Small Local Wineries to Love:

Lava Vine, a sweet little family-run winery with incredible Chardonnay and Zinfandel

Lava Vine: 965 Silverado Trail in Calistoga CA 94515; (707) 942-9500
August Briggs: 333 Silverado Trail in Calistoga, CA 94515; (707) 942-4912

Other Great Calistoga Food Destinations:
Brannan's Grill: 1374 Lincoln Avenue in Calistoga, CA 94515; (707) 942-2233
Calistoga Inn and Brewery: 1250 Lincoln Avenue in Calistoga, CA 94515; (707) 942-4101
Wappo Bar and Bistro: 1226 Washington Street in Calistoga, CA 94515; (707) 942-4712
Jole: 1457 Lincoln Avenue in Calistoga, CA 94515; (707) 942-5938
Palisades Deli: 1458 Lincoln Avenue in Calistoga, CA 94515; (707) 942-0145

Evvia -- sister to Kokkari in San Francisco -- is one of our favorite of the favorites down here. Evvia serves wonderfully classic Greek fare along with dishes they describe as "local interpretations of many traditional Hellenic favorites." Because of a minor kitchen fire, Evvia had to close for a few weeks this fall and my husband and I were clutching our stomachs in fear that they would never reopen. Lucky for us and for Palo Alto, they did.

For us, It's all about the octopus. I mean, I suppose you COULD order the succulent lamb chops, or the piping hot gigantes beans with herbed feta, or even the eggplant and artichoke saganaki with the huge drift of Greek yogurt that needs to be spread over everything I eat for the rest of my life. But really, Evvia is all about the octopus.

On the menu, it's listed as "Octapadaki tou Yiorgou" and described as "traditional grilled octopus with lemon, oregano, and olive oil." Like the best things in life, this dish is simple. No foam, no gelees, no essences of boiled-down essences. All it takes is four ingredients -- five, really, if you count the wood fire grill needed to edge the chopped cephalopod with charred, smoky goodness -- for that dish to wend its tentacled way into my hungry, waking moments.

Though normally quite generous with one another when it comes to food, my husband and I now have to put in a double order, because where Evvia's octopus is concerned, we're way too greedy to share a single.

Of course, as much as we'd like to, diner can not live on octopus alone, and we do have other standard favorites at Evvia. The gigantes beans are the legume equivalent of a hot bath. Simmered in a rich marinara sauce with molten feta and oregano oil, Evvia's beans keep me from missing my favorite wood-baked beans at Nopa. They're definitely a must-order for us. When tomatoes are in season the Horiatiki salad is another winner. Crisp and refreshing with shavings of sweet purple onion, dusky olives, cucumber chunks, and salty squares of feta, it's the best classic Greek salad I've ever had.

For me, eating Greek almost always means that the meal is incomplete without lamb of some sort. Evvia's simple lamb chops are perfectly cooked and served with a lemon half and crackly, roasted potatoes. They're lovely. I've also become very fond of the loukanika -- plump lengths of mesquite-grilled lamb sausage -- which beg to be dragged through their cucumber-yogurt side sauce.

In a way, it's unfortunate that we have such firm favorites, because while Evvia has so many other things I'd like to try, I'm not willing to sacrifice one of our usuals to do so. Maybe some day we'll have a large enough party that we'll have to order more food and then I'll finally get to try the moussaka with yogurt béchamel. Or the braised goat with tomatoes and orzo. Oooh, or the egg-lemon soup!

You now, it was really quite stupid of me to write this post on an empty stomach because I'm putting all my dinner plans back in the fridge, and we're getting Evvia in.

Evvia Estiatorio
420 Emerson Street (at Lytton)
Palo Alto, CA 94301
(650)326-0983

Hours
Monday-Thurday: 11:30am-2:00pm (lunch)
Monday-Thursday: 5:30pm-10:00pm (dinner)
Friday: 5:30pm-11:00pm (dinner)
Saturday: 5:00pm-11:00pm (dinner)
Sunday: 5:00pm-9:00pm (dinner)

The Pancake Breakfast Cupcake at Cups and Cakes Bakery

If your family is anything like mine, Christmas brings about time spent together, slightly annoying and repetitive Christmas music, cookie baking, festive cocktails, and lots of treats. There are meals out, and time to meet up with old friends and extended family. And of course: the fudge and requisite boxes of See's Candy. So on the Monday following Christmas weekend, the last thing you may want to read about is a post highlighting more sweets and treats. But I couldn't resist. I discovered something that warmed my sugar-loving heart last week and I'm dying to share it with you. Here, my friends, is a really good, somewhat socially acceptable excuse to eat cupcakes for breakfast.

Now, San Francisco has its fair share of cupcake spots and most folks have already established their favorites. Whether it’s Kara's, That Takes the Cake, or the minis over at DeLessio Market and Bakery, a variety of shapes and flavors abound. However, Jennifer Emerson’s new SOMA cupcake shop, Cups and Cakes, is shaking things up a bit.

The charming and hard-to-miss pink exterior

With innovative flavors like the Art House (a ginger-beet cake with ginger cream cheese frosting and candied ginger) or the Pucker-up Pink Lemonade (tart pink lemonade cake with pink lemonade butter cream and rainbow sprinkles), there's something to inspire even the most staunch cupcake skeptic. Now often when people try and get creative with an already-good thing, the product isn't always successful. Not so with Cups and Cakes. The cupcakes are uber-moist, the cream cheese frosting is perfectly creamy and slightly tart, and the shop is cute as a button. The pink exterior lights up the rather industrial stretch of SOMA's 9th St., and inside you'll step into a bustling, pastel workshop.

Inside the open-kitchen at Cups and Cakes

But the reason I made the trip was for the Pancake Breakfast Cupcake I'd been hearing so much about. First things first: the cupcake has bacon baked right into it. That's right: you heard me correctly. I'm not talking about a mere topper; there are strips of perfectly cooked bacon throughout the actual cupcake.

Check out the small strips of bacon throughout the cupcake itself!

Technically, it's made of a maple bacon cake with a maple butter cream and topped with bits of crisp bacon. Now while I'm not so certain Jennifer designed it to actually be eaten for breakfast, I say go at it. We all have a few days yet until New Year's resolutions start and people begin flocking back to the gym and dusting off their bikes.

If you're not down with bacon in your cupcake, Jennifer stocks vanilla, chocolate and red velvet each day along with at least three additional flavors and a vegan and gluten free choice. She also uses local and organic eggs, butter, sugar, flour, and produce. Check out her menu of flavor offerings and specialty choices. And if you don't love any of the choices online (and I challenge you to not find something that strikes your fancy), Jennifer is happy to customize something to fit your personal tastes).

Cups and Cakes Bakery
451 9th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 437-CUPS (2877)
Hours: Mon., Wed.-Fri. 10am-6:30pm; closed Tuesday; Sat.-Sun: 12 pm-5pm
Twitter: @CupsCakesBakery

Note: Check website for special holiday and New Years hours.

Fig chutney with cheese, crackers, and cashews. Photo by Scott Hawkins

Did you like your presents? Although I was hoping for cashmere socks, the funniest, etsy-est thing I got this year was a little poster from my sister, printed in block type, that read, "Today I will be happier than a bird with a French fry." Words to live by, my friends!

And what else do you have, in the holiday aftermath? The days after Christmas are often the best part, when the stress-inducing members of the family have gone up to the Wharf or down to Disneyland, and you're left with the fun sibs, the leftover booze, and a fridge full of leftover cold turkey and ham.

What's better than a stiff drink and a ham-and-turkey sandwich with people you never have to impress? I'll tell you: a ham-and-turkey sandwich dolloped with chutney, that's what. And not just any common-or-garden chutney, no sirree Bob, but McQuade's Celtic Chutney, made by red-headed Scotswoman Alison McQuade in small, aromatic batches, just like you would at home, if you were lucky enough to come from chutney-making people.

Hailing from Glasgow, McQuade comes by the Celtic appellation honestly, but her chutneys have a distinct California twist, thanks to the spark of heat and spice that zaps each one. Habanero and apple, fig and ginger (made with dried figs), and spiced apple are her mainstays, with other varieties rotated in depending on what's in season.

Walking through the darkened downtown San Francisco restaurant where McQuade rents kitchen space in the off hours, I could smell the sharp, sweet zip of spice and vinegar the moment I stepped in from the street. Back in the small, fluorescent-lit kitchen, McQuade and an assistant are stirring two pots on the stove, each half-full chopped figs, cider vinegar, brown sugar, raisins, apples, lemon zest and a plum pudding's worth of spices—nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cloves, cinnamon—all cooking down to a rich and fragrant gloss.

On the counter are boxes of fresh Fuyu persimmons, a backyard gift from the owners of the Hidden Vine wine bar nearby, a favorite hangout of McQuade's. They'll go into a new winter favorite, persimmon-habanero chutney. At the cozy Farm:Table cafe just a few blocks away (where McQuade often starts her day), jars of ruby cranberry-mandarin Christmas chutney are stacked up by the cash register. For McQuade, the chutney business is as much about building relationships and forging community as it is about filling jars.

Much of McQuade's ingredients are sourced locally, from farms like Torey's Farms, which she loves for their top-quality stone fruit and citrus. Cooking in small quantities (each batch usually fills about 30 7-oz jars) allows for a lot of flexibility. If something good turns up—fresh spring rhubarb, those backyard persimmons, a great deal on bananas or pineapple—she can adjust (or invent) a recipe on the spot, tossing the new variety into her ever-evolving product line.

Like many small-scale food artisans, McQuade had a long professional career first, working for the British Consulate and at law firms in both New York and Los Angeles. Missing the chutneys her grandmother had made while she was growing up in Scotland, she set to making a few jars for family and friends, bringing them to parties and giving it as gifts. Her hairdresser happened to try some, and a few days later called her from the salon. Get down here now with your chutney, she demanded. There's someone here who needs to try it. McQuade, mystified but intrigued, grabbed a few jars and headed over. The woman in question took a taste and asked for 60 cases on the spot.

She turned out to be Peggy Smith, one of the founders of Cowgirl Creamery, whose cheese shops have remained one of McQuade's best customers. That was 5 years ago, and now McQuade's chutneys are available in shops throughout the Bay Area, including Bi-Rite, Falletti's, Tomales Bay Foods, Whole Foods, Cheese Plus, and more. Restaurant and bars like Range, Hidden Vine, and the St. Francis Hotel's Clock Bar have found uses for her sweet-spicy-tangy spreads, adding it to cheese plates, even putting it into cocktails themselves.

Lately, she's been exploring more savory ways of using her chutneys, like shrimp stir-fry made with habanero chutney, or pork roast glazed with fig. Scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese, blue cheese, just about any kind of cold meat or sandwich: they're all the better for a smear of chutney to keep out the cold. Even peanut butter's better for a chutney hookup: the late (and much-loved) novelist and food writer Laurie Colwin often waxed rhapsodic about chutney, fondly recalling a tiny, perfect peanut butter-and-chutney sandwich she'd been served once at a cocktail party.

For next year, McQuade is working on a line of savory shortbreads flavored with fresh herbs like thyme and rosemary. Will they go with chutney? Did you even have to ask?

Opening of Golden Orb Piroshki Shop

I first stumbled across Golden Orb as I was routinely stalking Arizmendi Bakery, trying to figure out when their San Rafael location is finally going to open. Ah yes, disappointed yet again (it's been so long). But yesterday morning, my disappointment waned when I discovered a new red and gold sign had popped up further down the street. I parked, did some exploring, and found the smiling faces of managers and adept piroshki purveyors, Ashley De Rutte and her fiancé Breeze Kinsey bustling about the Golden Orb. Ashley's father, David Daunell, is the owner--you may remember his name from Moosetta's up in Sonoma, the popular piroshki shop that his mother Caroline ran with her husband, Chef Marvin Joyce until the late 1990s.

Shop Managers Breeze Kinsey and Ashley de Rutte

Now if you're new to piroshki, they're not a light food. However, they're perfect for this time of year when the rains and gray winter days are looming. Their origin is actually difficult to trace, with Poles, Russians, Latvians, and Czechs all claiming them as their own. Regardless, the piroshki's you'll try at Golden Orb are a traditional Russian hand pie stuffed with a variety of savory fillings. While the beef or the cabbage vermicelli are certainly the most traditional, they've added more contemporary flavors such as chicken potpie and spinach parmesan--all for less than the price of a grande latte. Ashley and Breeze also offer a few salads and a small but lovely selection of baked goods, fair trade coffee beverages, and teas.

Menu Offerings at Golden Orb

I tried the two biggest sellers, according to Breeze: the beef, onion, and dill along with the cabbage, vermicelli, carrot and caraway seed. They were each placed in little bags, warm, and perfectly golden on top. The dough was much chewier than I'd expected and much less greasy. After everything I'd heard about piroshki, I was expecting a major gut bomb. And don't get me wrong: they're certainly filling, but not in a 'I need a nap' sort of way, but more in a 'wow, I just had a satisfying meal all contained in a little bread pocket' kind of way. The filling-to-dough ratio was perfect, and I obviously couldn't finish both in one setting so I reheated half of the beef piroshki later in the day and it was just as good the second time around.

Piroshki breakfast...and lunch

I wasn't planning on writing about piroshki for this week's post. But after eating at Golden Orb and talking to Breeze and Ashley, I couldn't stop thinking about the quaint and inviting space or those warm savory pies. And I'm not sure that's because they were so delicious (although they were) or because they were a new-to-me food. Even if piroshki aren't part of your cultural tradition, there's something about them that feels familiar--something you can't quite stop thinking about. At Golden Orb, Caroline's granddaughter is keeping the family legacy alive in a small but tangible way, something we should all celebrate in this season of mass consumption and big box stores.

I've vowed not to step into a mall for any of my holiday shopping this year (so far, so good), and over the past few days I've made another vow: more piroshki. Many more piroshki.

Golden Orb
811 4th Street
San Rafael, CA 94901
(415) 454-8692
Hours: 8am–6pm

Bernalites sure eat well there up on the hill. Dawdling along a rolling 8-block strip of commerce, you could go from Avedano's killer Cuban sandwich (and impressive local/sustainable meat selection) to Moki's sushi or Vino Rosso's salume. Or you could nibble Peruvian bolitas de yuca at Piqueo's or momo at Little Nepal, then finish up with ice cream at Maggie Mudd (including non-dairy versions made with soy or coconut milk). There's coffee and bagels at Martha's, eggs and toast at Moonshine, iced tea and wraps on the shady back deck at Progressive Grounds.

All good, but where, where were our Paris-perfect pains au chocolat? Our savory swirls of fluffy bread filled with miso, scallion, and sesame seeds? The Ritual Roasters coffee painstakingly dripped cup by cup? We Hill dwellers may be very busy walking our dogs or itsy-bitsy-spidering our charming offspring, but we have our standards, and our needs. (As well as no patience for schlepping down to the Mission to make our antsy toddlers wait in that endless Tartine line.)

Which makes the arrival of Sandbox Bakery, after months of window-peering, a reason for rejoicing up here. Chowhound buzz promised a summer opening; permit processes being what they are, the bakery opened on Cortland on December 7. Charcoal-walled without, white-tiled within, the bakery is sleek, almost a little stark for now, with no seating. But all the better to focus on the pastries, arranged in a glass-fronted case facing the whooshing automatic doors.

Prices, for now, are very reasonable: croissants $2 to $2.50, scones $2, filled buns $2.25 to $3, cookies .75 cents, muffins $2. Warm pastries come out of the oven in waves. Longing for something flaky and croissant-ish mid-morning, we were sorry to see only rolls, muffins, and scones on offer. But no worries: a few minutes later, owner/pastry chef Mutsumi Takehara emerged from the back with a platter of oven-hot raisin swirls and sweet cheese croissants.

It's worth hanging around for these; the raisin swirl we tried was ethereally light and barely sweet, shards of a dream that disappeared like snowflakes. A strawberry scone was more earthbound but still light and easy to crumble into mouthfuls, and well larded with sweet fruit.

Beyond croissants, scones, and muffins, Takehara's workhorse is a light, eggy yeast dough, like an airy challah, that she uses to make her version of kashi-pan, the filled buns popular in Japanese bakeries. On the savory side, the dough is rounded into a fat doughnut shape and filled with corn kernels and a splash of creamy bechamel, creating a perfect accompaniment to tomato soup. (You'll have to make your own soup, though, since Sandbox does only pastries for now.) It's braided around an unexpected but rewarding (for you savory-breakfast types) smear of miso and sesame. It's flattened and topped with a tangy, bittersweet gloss of yuzu marmalade.

Takehara has the deft touch of a pro, one who's happy to being doing her own thing at last after years of working around town. Her impressive pastry resume includes stints at La Farine, Chez Panisse, Rubicon, and, for the past 10 years, Slanted Door. These are pastries of delicacy and light, subtle rather than sweet. And for all you groggy new parents starting the day at dawn (they don't call this Maternal Hill for nothing), Sandbox opens at 6am on weekdays, 7am on Saturdays.

Sandbox Bakery, 833 Cortland Ave., San Francisco, CA. (415) 642-8580. Mon-Fri, 6am-3pm; Sat 7am-3pm.
Follow on Twitter: @SandboxBakery

Photos copyright Sandbox Bakery

Gingerbread men from Noe Valley Bakery

According to The Journal of Antiques, Gingerbread has been around for centuries, first appearing when the Medieval Crusaders returned from the Middle East bringing back spices, sugar, and citrus fruits. Then, Catholic monks started adapting the ingredients into themed cakes and carved cookie boards. Today, the ingredients and method are much the same, although the shape and presentation obviously differ. For this post, I visited many of my favorite local bakeries to check in and see how they'll be adapting the seasonal favorite this year. From the standard to the standout, here are a few treats that I'm pretty sure will warm your spirits in the weeks to come.

Noe Valley Bakery: A Simple Man

If you're looking for a good, standard gingerbread man, Noe Valley Bakery has you covered. Since 1995, they've been supplying Noe Valley and environs with holiday treats including housemade pies, profiteroles and their unbelievable stollen. And of course, those gingerbread cookies. What I love about their gingerbread men is the flavor and size. They don't shy away from the spice: the clove and molasses flavors shine through immediately and they're a mere couple of inches--perfect for a cup of tea in the afternoon. The men are simply decorated with a few white buttons and a smiley face--and even better, they're affordable at $1.50/each.

Welcoming storefront of Noe Valley Bakery

Noe Valley Bakery
4073 24th Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
(415) 550-1405
Hours: Weekdays 7am-7pm, Weekends 7am-6pm

Citizen Cake: The Maverick Men

Elizabeth Falkner and team don't disappoint when it comes to less-than-traditional desserts. And the holiday season is no exception. They're offering Bikini Gingerbread Joes and Janes (they were sold out of Joe's both times I went, so I settled on a tasty Jane) handpainted in festive bikini attire. The guys and gals are larger in size than others I sampled and they're certainly pricier at $4/each. But they're nice in that they feel light--often gingerbread cookies can seem more like dressed up bricks rather than edible delights. So Citizen Cake offers a fun, refreshing take on a holiday classic. If that's your thing, go grab a few (they go fast).

Gingerbread Jane from Citizen Cake

Citizen Cake Patisserie

Citizen Cake
399 Grove Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 861-2228
Hours: Tues.-Fri. 8am-10pm, Sat. 10am-10pm, Sun. 10am-6pm.

Tartine: Old World Tiles

Glazed gingerbread tiles ($3.50) are a favorite at this much-beloved Mission bakery. The tiles are a bit more cake than cookie, rolled out with a decorative rolling pin, and lightly iced. Aesthetically, there's something very traditional and old-fashioned about them until you take a bite: that's when you're hit with notes of cocoa and even black pepper. The tiles are beautiful, substantial, and have an interesting taste composition making them one of my new favorite holiday treats. I do recommend having them warm if you can--this allows the crumb to relax a bit and the flavors to really come through. If you don't have time to enjoy your gingerbread tile inside the bustling café, take a few home. They travel incredibly well (and freeze nicely, too).

Tartine Frosted Gingerbread Tile

Tartine
600 Guerrero Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
Cafe Hours: Mon. 8am-7pm, Tues.-Wed. 7:30am-7pm, Thurs.-Fri. 7:30am-8pm, Sat. 8am-8pm, Sun. 9am-8pm

Sweet Things: The Traditional Cake

Bikini-clad men and tiles aside, gingerbread really originated in cake form and no one's doing a nicer one this year than Sweet Things Bakery in Tiburon (they also have a location inside Cal-Mart at 3585 California St. in San Francisco). The cake to ask for is the seasonal Gingerbread Star Cake. It's a dense bundt ginger cake made with the usual suspects: ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and molasses. It's topped with a modest glaze and then sprinkled with crystallized ginger. I've long been a fan of the cakes at Sweet Things (have you tried their lemon cake?!), and this is a truly authentic representation of a holiday favorite. You can pick up a whole cake or just a slice ($2.75)

Spiced Gingerbread Star Cake at Sweet Things

Sweet Things
1 Blackfield Drive
Tiburon, CA 94920
(415) 388-8583
Hours: Mon.-Fri. 7:30am-6pm, Sat. 8:30am-6pm, Sun. 9:30am-5pm

Miette: An Update...with Frosting

If you haven't yet heard, Miette is closing two of their retail locations at the end of this month. The utterly delightful, original candy shop in Hayes Valley will soon be no more. I always loved how the confections seemed like delicate jewels on display--like objects worthy of spending a little extra money on and savoring. Thankfully, the shop in the Ferry Building and their new space in Oakland will remain open. Once I heard the news, I decided I must visit the Octavia St. location often, while I still could. Good excuse, right? So I've had three of their gingerbread cupcakes this past week. In my humble opinion, it's one of the more perfect cupcakes I've had in a very long time. They're incredibly light and moist while still relaying that dark molasses flavor balanced with the subtle sweetness of the cream cheese icing: genuine gingerbread with a modern twist.

Hayes Valley's Miette sweetshop & the lovely Gingerbread Cupcake

Miette
449 Octavia Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 626-6221
Hours: Mon.-Sun. 11am-7pm