"There's a new sheriff in town. She has a smoker and she's not afraid to use it."

So says the Twitter description for B-Side BBQ, an excellent new barbecue restaurant in West Oakland. But the "new sheriff" is already a neighborhood favorite. Chef / owner Tanya Holland is the seasoned veteran of the nearby successful soul food restaurant, Brown Sugar Kitchen, and her new restaurant is the "flip side" to her popular flagship establishment. She and her husband, Phil Surkis, have lived and worked in West Oakland for seven years and are helping to bring more great eats to the community.

My husband and I stopped by three days after their official open to visit the newly renovated space. The former home of Yardie Jerk, B-Side BBQ now has a warm, country-and-western feel with whimsical touches.

Tanya commissioned local artist April Banks to create artworks for the restaurant that will make you do a double-take. Look closely and you'll see Tanya and Phil making cameos in these classic western scenes.

They were already out of their smoked brown sugar rubbed brisket by the time we placed our order, so we chose the pulled pork sandwich ($8) and the St. Louis Ribs ($10 half-order / $18 full order). Sides come separately, and we went for the day's seasonal vegetable (collard greens with garlic, $4) and spicy coleslaw ($4). The "Dark and Stormy" sauce (made with molasses and honey) I chose for my barbecue was a perfect complement to the crunchy coleslaw heaped on my tasty sandwich. The ribs were juicy and hearty; be sure to grab some of the complimentary wet nap towelettes to help clean the smoky, saucy aftermath off of your fingertips (unless you go for the finger-licking route, which I highly recommend.) And definitely try the housemade lemonade ($3) if you're looking for a sweet refresher to accompany your meal.

Tanya and Phil currently split their time between B-Side and Brown Sugar. She was busy in the kitchen and the dining room, with Phil helping her and her staff serve her customers. Stay tuned for the next iteration of B-Side BBQ. More items are on the way for the menu, and they'll increase B-Side's hours over time. Phil also mentioned they'll be expanding the existing space to accommodate more seating and lengthen the bar. We'll definitely be heading back for the brisket and cornbread.

Tanya Holland, Chef / Owner of Brown Sugar Kitchen and B-Side BBQ

B-Side BBQ
Address: map
3303 San Pablo Avenue (at 33rd Street)
Phone: (510) 595-0227
Hours:Tuesday-Saturday 11-4
Facebook: B-Side BBQ
Twitter: @BSideBBQ

Chop Bar's grilled pork bahn mi is a great lunchtime sandwich, although their burger is always a sure bet for satisfaction. Photo by Jenny Oh.

Are you the one in your social circle who's been identified as the "Restaurant Recommendations Resource?” Do you keep tabs on new restaurant openings and have more opinions on eateries than Yelp? With the holiday season fast approaching and company coming into town, you’ll probably find yourself fielding the usual flood of questions: "So my parents will be here this weekend and I want to take them somewhere tasty, but that's not too pricey." "Where do you go for dim sum?"

My brother visited us over Thanksgiving, and I was reminded of the pressure a food aficionado feels with non-native guests. You want the restaurants to be exceptional and unique to the Bay Area, yet not break the bank if you’re going out on a regular basis. So if you’re tired of showing your friends and family tourist attractions and don’t want to fire up the stove for dinner, try this short list of fail-proof places in the East Bay. These are restaurants my husband and I go to if we're feeling too lazy to cook or want to take folks out for a good, reasonably priced meal. It’s tough to find places that please all palates, but these restaurants have been quite successful with a diverse group that ranges from my notoriously picky parents, friends from the city who are unfamiliar with the East Bay and hard-to-impress East Coasters. This list leaves off the fancy, the adventurous, the underground and the usual suspects, and was created to appeal to a pretty wide group of tastes.

Coffee
Blue Bottle, Subrosa, Remedy Coffee and Actual Cafe have sprung up in the past few years to provide primo caffeine to the East Bay. Another place I enjoy, Bica Cafe, is located in the Rockridge neighborhood near Zachary's Pizza. They carry local coffees from De La Paz, Verve and Ritual among others.

Brunch & Burgers
Yes, there's one place that can satisfy your craving for a delicious brunch and deliver an amazing burger. Chop Bar makes my favorite burger in the East Bay and they do a pretty fantastic pig roast in the summer, too. For $12, you get a juicy burger made with Preferred Meats ground chuck with bacon, avocado, tomato & aioli piled on an Acme Kaiser roll. It's served with an arugula salad so you can feel less guilty about the burger. If you're throwing calorie caution to the wind, I also suggest ordering their divine macaroni & cheese as a $7 appetizer to share -- which may be hard to do since it's so unbelievably good. Their breakfast/brunch fare is a solid selection of comfort food like their bacon, egg, & cheese sandwich on an Acme torpedo roll for $7.50.

Burritos
La Calaca Loca is tucked away in a little mini-mall in Temescal across the street from Bakesale Betty's. This great little Mexican restaurant also makes a wonderful breakfasts on weekends (the Huevos a la Mexicana -- scrambled eggs w/ tomato, onion & cilantro, served with pinto beans --- for $6.25 is my favorite.) But their burritos are what bring me back; their Baja Pescado burritos made with fried beer-battered fresh fish (line-caught mahi mahi, baja sauce & cabbage for $6.50 is phenomenally good. And they use meat and chicken from Niman Ranch and Fulton Valley Farms, which is always a plus.

Thai
Solano Avenue in Albany is chock-full of fantastic restaurants, and it's the home of one of our favorite Thai places: Bua Luang. Winter weather makes me crave curries, and I usually go for their pumpkin curry with pumpkin, green pea, bell pepper and sweet basil for $9.75 or the chicken pa nang red curry with lime leaves, ground peanuts, bell pepper, sweet basil for $8.95 with a side of steamed coconut rice.

China Village's orange chicken, sesame bread and seafood and pork delight. Photo by Jenny Oh.

Chinese
China Village is located just down the street from Bua Luang. Don't be daunted by the massive encyclopedic menu they hand you when you sit down; there's plenty to choose from and it'll take you a while to peruse their offerings (and you'll be amused by some of the typos you'll see along the way.) I often go for their dim sum, which they serve anytime and love their steamed pork bao ($4.50), green onion pancake ($3.50) and spicy wonton with hot oil sauce ($5.95). I'm also a big fan of their lamb with cumin for $9.95 and the Kingtu Princess Prawns -- deep-fried shrimp with a spicy ginger-garlic sauce for $11.95.

Italian
If you're lucky enough to get into La Trattoria Siciliana -- there's usually a wait if you don't have a reservation -- then your next dilemma is figuring out what to order. I'm always deliberating between their Rigatoni Cosa Nostra made with their award-winning pesto sauce for $12 or their Gnocchi alla Norma with homemade potato pasta dumplings with fresh tomato sauce, fried eggplant, ricotta salata and basil ($13). And they have several specials every night which makes the decision-making process all the more torturous.

Korean
Telegraph Avenue hosts a number of Korean restaurants, and there are quite a few that are excellent. Casserole House is one at the top of my list and got the nod of approval from my visiting brother who loved their yue gae jang, ($9.95) a spicy beef soup with noodles that will clear your sinuses for several months. Their kimchee ji gae ($9.95) is a savory simmered kimchee stew made with pork and tofu, and I'm partial to their goon mahndu, fried dumplings filled with pork, beef, tofu, vegetables and kimchee for $8.95. They also give you a nice assortment of ban chan, or side dishes, and complimentary barley tea to warm you up as soon as you settle in at your table.

Japanese
Mitama is on the corner of College and Alcatraz Avenues right on the border of Oakland and Berkeley. They have wonderful bento box lunch specials, but we enjoy coming for dinner so we can sit at the bar and order sushi and sashimi directly from the chefs. Their chicken karage for $6.95 is a generous portion of fried chicken goodness if you want a decadent starter to kick off your meal.

Pizza
There's a ton of respectable pizza joints in the East Bay, but Rotten City is not too far from our West Oakland neighborhood and makes top-notch slices using local, sustainably sourced and organic ingredients when possible. You can visit their Facebook page to salivate over photos of their daily specials. And you have to try their terrific meatball sub at least once, and you'll probably try it again after you've sampled it.

Vegetarian
Shangri-La
Manzanita's former digs have been taken over by Shangri-La, another vegan restaurant on the Emeryville-Oakland border. The menu, however, is similar: healthy, organic food that's a good way to detox from all the rich cookies and cakes you might have been eating. Call or check online for the daily menu; you can order their full meal or the simple one. There's usually a soup, grain and an assortment of vegetable dishes with dressings.

Bica Coffeehouse
Address: map
5701 College Ave., Oakland CA
Open Daily 6:30-6:30 PM
Facebook: Bica Coffeehouse
Twitter: @bicacoffeehouse

Chop Bar
Address: map
247 4th Street #111
(4th & Alice)
Phone: 510-834-2467
Facebook: Chop Bar
Twitter: @chopbar

Hours:
Monday-Thursday
Breakfast 7-11AM
Lunch 11-3PM
Dinner 5:30-10:00PM
Friday
Breakfast 7-11AM
Lunch 11-3PM
Dinner 5:30-11PM
Saturday
Brunch 9-3PM
Dinner 5:30-11PM
Sunday
Brunch 9-3PM
Dinner 5:30-10:00PM

La Calaca Loca
Address: map
5199 Telegraph Ave
(between Claremont Ave & 52nd St)
Phone: (510) 601-8226
Hours:
Monday: 11-8PM
Tuesday-Friday: 11-9PM
Saturday: 9-9PM
Sunday: 9-8PM
Facebook: La Calaca Loca

Bua Luang
Address: map
1166 Solano Ave
(between Cornell Ave & Stannage Ave)
Phone: (510) 527-8288
Hours:
Monday & Thursday: 11:30-3PM / 5-9PM
Friday - Saturday: 11:30-10PM
Sunday: Noon-9:30PM

China Village
Address: map
1335 Solano Ave
(between Pomona Ave & Ramona Ave)
Phone: (510) 525-2285
Hours:
Monday-Tuesday, Sunday: 11-9:30PM
Wednesday-Thursday: 11-10PM
Friday-Saturday: 11-11:30PM

La Trattoria Siciliana
Address: map
2993 College Ave
(between Ashby Ave & Webster St)
Phone: (510) 704-1474
Hours:
Monday-Sunday: 5-10PM
Facebook: Trattoria La Siciliana

Casserole House
Address: map
4301 Telegraph Ave
(between 43rd St & 44th St)
Phone: (510) 601-6001
Hours:
Monday-Saturday: 11-10PM
Sunday: 1-10PM
Facebook: Casserole House

Mitama
Address: map
3201 College Ave
(at Alcatraz Ave)
Phone: (510) 652-6157
Hours:
Monday-Thursday: 11:30-9:30PM
Friday: 11:30-10PM
Saturday: 12-10PM
Sunday: 12-9PM
Facebook: Mitama

Rotten City
Address: map
6613 Hollis St
(between 66th St & 67th St)
Phone: (510) 655-2489
Hours:
Monday-Saturday: 11-10PM
Sunday: 12-10PM
Facebook: Rotten City Pizza
Twitter: @rottencitypizza

Shangri-La Vegan
Address: map
4001 Linden St
(between 40th St & 41st St)
Phone: (510) 547-1842
Hours:
Monday-Sunday: 11-3PM
Monday-Sunday: 5:30-9PM
Facebook: Shangri-La Vegan

No need to cross a bridge to go holiday shopping, all you lucky folk in Marin: you've got lots of great gifts right here at your local farmers' markets. Here's a few favorite seasonal treats for sale at the Sebastopol and Marin Civic Center markets this week.

Newcomers Joel and Carleen Weirauch of Weirauch Farm & Creamery are already generating a buzz about their small-batch cow's-milk cheeses. Now, you can serve them in style on the handmade, one-of-a-kind oak cheeseboards they're selling this month. The boards are made from oak salvaged from a 100-year-old Kentucky tobacco barn, finished satiny-smooth with olive oil and beeswax ($35-55). Get to the market early enough, and you might be lucky enough to pick up a block or two of their flower-embossed soap, made from sheep's milk and local olive oil in scents like rose geranium, lemongrass, lavender, and star anise. The Weirauchs are raising a herd of dairy sheep in Petaluma; come next spring, once lambing starts, they'll be making their own farmstead sheep's milk cheeses, too. Find them on Sunday at Sebastopol and Thursday at Marin Civic Center.

Also at the sweet Sebastopol market: Terra Savia's bright, peppery new-crop olive oil, made from organic olives grown along the Mendocino/Sonoma border and pressed just last month at Terra Savia's olive press in Hopland. This luscious olio nuovo is a Tuscan-style treat that's perfect for dipping into with a chunk of fresh, crusty bread. Terra Salvia also offers several single-varietal olive oils as well as wildflower honey, olive-oil soaps and a soothing botanical salve for moisturizing winter-dry skin.

And while you're there, don't miss the snappy, poinsetta-red boxes from Sonoma Chocolatiers, filled with handmade, chocolate-dipped salted caramels ($20). You can also put together a chic assortment of truffles ($2.25 each) in nifty flavors like fig-cardamom, holiday spice, smoky chipotle, and tequila-lime, or pick up a stocking-stuffer bag of crunchy chocolate-covered organic almonds, sugared or cinnamon-spiced.

Feeling a little DIY? Believe it or not, you can still turn out a few gift jars of homemade, local strawberry jam using Tomatero Farm's late-crop, Watsonville-grown organic strawberries ($3.50/pint), sold at the Marin Civic Center market. Or pick up a mix-and-match assortment of low-sugar, big-flavor berry jams made by Swanton Berry Farm, in flavors like tayberry, olallieberry, strawberry, and blackberry ($7-$9). They're all made using the farm's organic, union-grown berries.

Tea drinkers take their brews seriously, but they're often outnumbered by the coffee geeks. Show your tea-drinking friends that you respect their cuppa with a gift from Sky Tea at the Marin Civic Center market. Tea lover Jeni Quigg started her luxury tea company a little over a year ago, travelling around the world to source rare, small-batch, artisan-grown teas--what she calls "legendary teas." Her personally blended masala chai, which she also sells brewed by the cup, has a bright, clean spiciness to it, thanks to cardamon and peppercorns that Quigg picked herself on the Malabar coast. Even decaf drinkers can find something to love here, thanks to several blends made with rooibos or decaffeinated teas, including a rooibos chai and a seductive cinnamon plum sprinkled with saffron, flax seeds, and marigold petals.

Known for their rustic, rough-hewn hearth breads, Della Fattoria bakery also has a popular side line of pastries, including gift bags of biscotti and chocolate-chip cookies ($6) sold at the Marin Civic Center market. This year, they're offering an Italian holiday specialty, panforte ($16). Dense with dried fruits, honey, nuts, and spices, this chewy confection has a history stretching back centuries. "It was the Crusaders' little powerbar," says owner Edmund Weber. It has a deep, winter-spiced taste, lovely with a cup of Sky tea or a glass of dessert wine, the perfect reward for shopping local this season.

A note to shoppers: Both the Sebastopol and Marin Civic Center markets will be operating this Sunday, December 18. The Marin Civic Center market will be operating on Thursday, December 22. Both markets will be closed on Sunday, December 25.

Temescal's Telegraph Avenue in Oakland is becoming quite the coffee-lovers' hot spot. There's a Peet's Coffee, Remedy, Good Bellies, Aunt Mary's Cafe and The Mixing Bowl. And now there's a new cafe on the block, Arbor, which has taken over the former kid-friendly spot SadieDey's as of October.

Arbor is owned by DNA Lounge manager Christopher Marquez. When my husband and I stopped in for brunch on a chilly Sunday morning, we were looking forward to a good hot cup of coffee and a warm breakfast.

The decor reflects the retro-vintage chic that's all the rage right now, with wood floors and mismatched tables and chairs filling up the space. But there's very little artwork up on the walls, so the space doesn't quite have the same warm, lived-in look as its furniture. It would be a great venue for a rotating gallery featuring local artists, so hopefully they'll utilize Arbor's spacious room for small art openings.

The indoor bicycle rack was filled to capacity -- a nice touch to help attract cycling-friendly clientele -- and Arbor brews java from the local Bay Area company Bicycle Coffee as well.

Their daily menu is written up on a chalkboard perched on an easel: granola with yogurt and fruit ($5); egg and cheddar sandwich with salad ($6); poached eggs with toast and salad ($7); prosciutto, poached eggs and toast ($7) and strawberry and Nutella (we're presuming on toast) ($6). There were also an assortment of pastries for sale. They were out of the egg and cheddar sandwich when we arrived just before noon, so my husband ordered coffee while I decided to try their prosciutto special. There were only two friendly staffers behind the counter, so service was a little slow as they prepared the drip coffee and meal. But they were cheerful and attentive, and we didn't mind the wait as they apologized for the fact they're still smoothing out the kinks.

The prosciutto plate was rather plain; two slim slices of buttered baguette were topped with poached eggs and meat, and the accompanying mixed green salad was simply dressed. While the breakfast was a bit on the underwhelming side, I'm hoping Arbor will continue to evolve and expand their offerings. Judging from the number of tables occupied that morning, it's building a loyal community following and is another welcome addition to the neighborhood.

Arbor Cafe
Yelp: Arbor Cafe
4210 Telegraph Ave
(between 42nd St & 43rd St)
Hours:
Tue-Fri 9-5PM
Sat-Sun 10-7PM

June Taylor Fruit Syrups

Summer's peaches and tomatoes may be gone, but the farmers' markets in winter still offers myriad delights. These past few weekends, we've had crisp, nippy mornings and sunny skies giving a bright-blue backdrop to the crazy-colored squashes, brilliant orange persimmons and gold-stemmed chard. So far, the rains have held off but the temperature's finally gotten Bay Area-wintery, making a cup of hot chocolate a festively necessary hand-warmer for strolling from stand to stand.

And this season, while you're buying your pastured chicken and dry-farmed potatoes, spaghetti squash and sourdough bread, you can do your holiday shopping, too. At the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market, there are lots of excellent and delicious treats on hand to provide a wonderful taste of our local terroir for friends and family near and far. And if you can't decide what your local pals would like best--lavender honey or cider syrup? quince cheese or goat cheese?--the market is offering its popular gift coins again. Each wooden "coin" is worth $1, and can be redeemed at any market stall. They're available in any amount, but you can get a cute, ready-to-go brown box filled with $25 worth of coins from the information booth. (A good trick to know if you run out of cash at the market: use a credit card to buy coins instead of waiting in the long ATM lines inside the Ferry Building.)

Is Dad finally upgrading to a new crock pot? Give him a little inspiration with Rancho Gordo's heirloom bean box ($50), a selection of five one-pound bags of organic dry beans (including, naturally, Christmas limas), plus a sturdy fabric totebag and a copy of Heirloom Beans: Great Recipes for Dips and Spreads, Soups and Stews, Salads and Salsas, and Much More from Rancho Gordo. The best stocking stuffer? Forget the Old Spice; grab a sheaf of Fatted Calf's awesome beef jerky instead. Fatted Calf also has a great selection of holiday gift boxes for the carnivores on your list; you can check out their selection on their website or at their retail shops in Hayes Valley and the Oxbow Public Market in Napa. If you want to pick up a gift box at the Ferry Plaza market instead, just give them a call at their Napa store (707-256-3684) to make arrangements.

Salty or sweet? Whichever way your pals' tastes swing, Eatwell Farm has a fragrant seasoning to match. They've expanded beyond their original (and still much-adored) rosemary and lavender salts; now, choose from smoked chili salt, thyme salt, dried heirloom tomato salt, and dried lemon salt ($6, or 5 for $25), all heavenly sprinkled over grilled lamb or steak. Got a sweet tooth? Add a few pinches of smoked chili sugar to fire up your hot chocolate, or make your Christmas cookies a little more grown-up with a sprinkle of citrusy-herbal lemon verbena sugar ($9).

Didn't get around to pickling this summer? Dirty Girl Produce has plenty of dilly beans ($8/jar) on hand, along with summer-bright tomatoes in quart jars. Put the two together, add some Square One organic vodka, and you've got a Bloody Mary brunch kit for your favorite morning-after buddy.

The Apple Farm has a stylish, all-American treat for those of us with Champagne taste but no bucks for French fizz: sparkling hard cider, made from biodynamically farmed apples, priced at just $8.50 a bottle. It's dry rather than soda-sweet, and makes a wonderful aperitif or festive toast.

In the more than a decade that I've been a fan of this wonderful organic apple orchard and kitchen up in the Anderson Valley, I've found any number of uses for their elegantly bottled apple-balsamic vinegar ($16), with its label hand-written in gold ink. To round out a holiday morning breakfast-in-bed basket, pick up a pint jar of rosy Pink Pearl applesauce ($14) and a jug of tart-sweet cider syrup ($16), perfect for pouring over gingerbread pancakes or eggnog French toast.

Jam maker June Taylor is back with her unsurpassed, brandy-soaked English Christmas cakes ($50), along with dense, sliceable, beautifully molded fruit "cheeses" ($18-$24) in quince, quince-rose geranium, Santa Rosa plum, and damson plum, perfect accompaniments to a cheese platter. Taylor also has a shimmering selection of all-natural fruit syrups ($10) great for all the SodaStream fanciers in your life. Boost their bubbles with flavors like raspberry, Summersweet peach-white sage, Dapple Dandy pluot-rosemary, or Meyer lemon-peppermint.

Conveniently for your party planning, the pretty goat, sheep, and cow cheeses of Andante Dairy are right at the next stall; don't miss the Pastoral, rolled in green herbs and topped with pink peppercorns. The only challenge? Getting all (or any) of these treats wrapped and given away before you make rather merry and find a home for them all right in your very own pantry.

Next week, Bay Area Bites heads north to find local food gifts from the Sebastopol and the Marin Civic Center farmers' markets.

With a full contingent of Eastern European ancestors, I haven’t a Scandinavian gene in my body. But after two trips around Denmark and Sweden, I bonded so deeply with the food that I’ve been compelled to feed my addiction to herring, lingonberries and dark rye bread ever since. Mange tak (many thanks) to Berkeley’s Nordic House, for their steady supply of edible treasures from these far northern realms.

On a recent foray to their spacious San Pablo Avenue store, the festive atmosphere was evident, as Scandinavians of all stripes were stocking up on special foods for the holidays. Pia Klausen, whose father, Peter Caroe, started Nordic House in Oakland in 1962, was busily filling the shelves with cans of fish balls and jars of lingonberries. The elder Caroe, now 81, is still at the store helping out his daughter. In 2000, Pia and her husband took over the Oakland shop that shared the block with the now defunct Neldham’s Bakery. Last May, the couple bought and moved into this cheery, light-filled Berkeley space, where they offer made-to-order deli sandwiches, a selection of cheeses, house-made sausages, liver pate, meatballs, pork and lamb roll, as well as scores of imported foods from lefse (a Norwegian potato tortilla) to licorice candy.

Of course, they also carry the infamous lutefisk, the gelatinous, lye-cured, pungent Norwegian staple. DIY lutefisk-ers can even buy their own stockfish at Nordic House to make it at home.

But the friendly crowd of shoppers on this early December afternoon was focused on Christmas-themed comestibles. This basically translates to meat and that meat is most often pork. Each country has a specialty that is enjoyed for Christmas dinner and throughout the season: Norwegian pork ribs, Swedish brined ham and Danish pork with crispy skin. With a book of pre-orders growing longer by the day, Pia has had 100 Swedish hams brining in barrels in her back room since November.

Danish pork with crispy skin

Other traditional meat dishes include Norwegian cured, dried and salted leg of lamb fenalår (akin to prosciutto) that is placed on a table for passersby to cut off a little chunk everyday, and pinnekjøtt – dried, salted lamb ribs that are soaked in water for a day and then steamed over birch twigs.

On this Saturday, Pia’s husband, Arve is in the kitchen with assorted cousins spending the day butchering and tying the special Danish pork roasts which are prized for their crackly skin. Arve, who works for Otis elevator in San Francisco by day, is Norwegian. He and Pia met when his mother worked for Pia’s father at the store in Oakland. He is quick to point out that the wrappings on his fingers are not because they are cut, but to protect him from the effects of hand-tying strings around 100 pork roasts a day. These will be frozen, and then shipped across the country in dry ice to Danes as far away as Florida. In weeks to come, they will produce more pork roasts for local customers to buy fresh.

Pia, who speaks fluent Danish and spent a year in the old country after graduating from school, tells me about one of the most beloved holiday rituals involving the classic Christmas dessert, fluffy rice pudding made with whipped cream and drizzled with warm cherry sauce. While slivered almonds are mixed into the pudding, there is only one whole (blanched) almond hiding somewhere in the serving bowl. The lucky diner whose portion contains the whole almond wins a prize, usually a marzipan pig.

rice pudding photo courtesy of Malene Thyssen, wikimedia commons

Many Nordic House regulars are older, first-generation immigrants, but now younger family members are taking over the cooking responsibilities. Second-generation Dane, Sandra Pedersen, drove in from Concord with her husband, but was on the cell with her father who wanted to make sure she was buying all the necessities, including: brown gravy, liver pate and the rice pudding mix.

“Yes, we always hid the almond in the pudding,” she says smiling. “It was a big game. Everyone in the family would make a show of pretending to find the lucky almond and hide it in their cheek, or try to talk without opening their mouths or feign secreting something in their napkin. This is the first time I am making the dinner for my parents, who are getting older now.”

My last trip to Stockholm was a couple of Decembers ago and I still remember the eerie sensation of the sky going dark around 4pm. But instead of pouring tea, my hosts handed me a cup of another warm libation, with a welcome kick: glögg, spiced mulled wine and other spirits. The hot crimson liquid also holds a handful of raisins and almonds. Glögg (or gløgg in Danish) does not have a single recipe but varies among families, usually containing some combination of cinnamon, ginger, cloves, orange peel and cardamom. The red wine (Pia says not to use your best vintage -- her family poured from a big Gallo jug) can be empowered with the addition of brandy, vodka or aquavit. Heat the liquid, but don’t boil, as you wouldn’t want to lose the “warming powers” of all that alcohol.

To make it easy: Nordic House sells a bottled glögg mix to get you started, and my Danish friend Kim’s secret is to soak the almonds and raisins overnight in a mixture of vodka and port.

Gløgg parties are common throughout Scandinavia during the entire the month of December. In Denmark, the typical snack to accompany gløgg is æbleskiver -- spherical popovers made in a special cast-iron pan with rounded indentations. The moist egg-y orbs are unsweetened and traditionally eaten sprinkled with powdered sugar and dipped in strawberry jam. Nordic House sells both the pan and a packaged dry mix to which you add eggs and milk. Another traditional gløgg accompaniment are thin flower-shaped ginger cookies, sold under the brand-name “Anna.” Wait a minute…maybe I could be related after all.

NORDIC HOUSE
2709 San Pablo Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94702
1-510-705-1932 or
1-800-854-6435

San Francisco's Bi-Rite Market aims to be more than a neighborhood grocery. It's a community hub focused on food and learning about local farms and sustainable eating. The owners have just released a cookbook called "Eat Good Food," and they've recently expanded a space in which they offer food-centric classes and more. KQED's Forum talks with Bi-Rite's owner and produce buyer about how to find the freshest produce and what to cook this season.

Host: Michael Krasny

Guests:
• Sam Mogannam, owner of Bi-Rite Market
• Simon Richard, produce buyer and in-house farmer at Bi-Rite Market

Original Broadcast: Thu, Dec 8, 2011 -- 10:00 AM

Eat Good Food Recipe 1

Eat Good Food Recipe 2

Eat Good Food Recipe 3

Chefs Chad Newton and Grace Nguyen. Photo: Eric Wolfinger

Chefs Grace Nguyen and Chad Newton may be the couple that seem to do everything together: work, live, cook, and create food-related businesses in the Bay Area. Chef Grace Nguyen has numerous years of experience working restaurants in Las Vegas and San Francisco including: Postrio, The Slanted Door and Out The Door, on Bush Street. She currently is a partner and Executive Chef of Asian Box, slated to open its first (of many) stores in Palo Alto next month. Grace likes to run, read, eat, drink wine and bake cupcakes for her friends’ kids, and is lovingly referred to as “snobby cupcake” by her business partners Frank Klein and new husband Chad Newton. The chef has adapted both Newton and Nguyen as her last name, explaining that: “I go by Grace Newton. But for Asian Box, I am known as Grace Nguyen.”

Chef Chad Newton was raised in Mountain View and recently moved with his wife Grace to Redwood City. He has worked at restaurants such as Postrio, Redd, Fish & Farm and Baraka. Chad is currently the Culinary Director and Partner of local restaurant group FK Restaurants & Hospitality and helps operate Café Discovery, American Box and Asian Box with CEO and founder, Frank Klein. Frank and Chad have diverse consulting clients like the JCCSF, District of Columbia Public Schools, Muir Woods Trading Company, and numerous independent restaurant owners. Chad likes to make cocktails, sleep, eat and follow local sports teams in his time away from the restaurants.

How did you meet?
Chad: We met in 2001 when we were working at Postrio.
Gracie: I left to cook in Vegas for 5 years and in 2008 we reconnected in SF at numerous chef events. Chad was the Chef at Baraka and I was at The Slanted Door.
Chad: And then we were pretty much inseparable. We moved in together and decided to get married. It all happened pretty fast and we knew that it was right.

Tell us about the wedding:
Chad: The wedding was great! It was very food/Chef driven. Scott Beattie on the cocktails, the amazing food photographer Eric Wolfinger there to capture it all; and Sandra and John from Estate cooking the food and hosting. Estate in Sonoma is so beautiful! Perfect for a wedding.
Gracie: Our honeymoon was pretty crazy. We went to New York City for a week to eat, and tried out about 10 restaurants a day and had amazing experiences at Eleven Madison Park, Robataya, Ippudo, Eataly, Lupa, and Roberta’s and Fette Sau in Brooklyn.
Chad: Gracie kept trying to find the Big Gay Ice Cream truck. We found it on the day before we left. That made the trip for her I think.

How are things going at Stow Lake?
Chad: Really well. Following our success at Muir Woods and Café Discovery we are helping our client, Ortega Family Enterprises, with providing healthy, sustainable, and affordable food at Stow Lake. It’s fun to be around the boats and lake, and feeds into what we do with the National Parks. My partner, Frank Klein, just spoke at the White House on providing sustainable foods to parks.

How are things going at Asian Box in Palo Alto?
Gracie: Moving right along. We will get through permitting this week, start construction right away and hopefully be up and running in the middle of December. In the meantime, we are just perfecting the recipes, cooking test dinners and making fun You Tube commercials. All I got to say is that our business partner Frank is a very creative and fun man, so watch out for these commercials. They will be very memorable to say the least.
Chad: I’m so excited for this project. There are so many times where we are driving around the Peninsula looking for good food, fast, that is actually fresh and executed well. It just makes me hungry thinking about it.

Any updates on Provision?
Chad: Provision has been a dream of mine as well as Frank's for quite some time and now we are very close to making it happen. We have wanted to bring a Big City caliber restaurant to Palo Alto together to celebrate why we are both in this business -- hospitality. Provision is all about hospitality. I can not talk yet about the actual details of the concept but we will hopefully get to share it soon. We do a monthly Provision pop-up in Palo Alto at Frank’s house. Word has gotten out about how fun they are -- people are doing some interesting things to try and get invited. Frank and I also have plans for a few more restaurants in the Palo Alto area.

What is it like working together?
Gracie: At times it can be a bit of a challenge, but for the most part it is really fun. We share resources, bounce ideas off of each other and team up to tackle large projects and dinners. I have to give Chad beat downs sometimes.
Chad: I have learned so much from Gracie. It has been very rewarding. We feel like such freaks sometimes. We work all day together, then come home and watch food shows on television and read cookbooks -- all together. But, this is our life together, and we love it.

What are your favorite spots to shop for food?
Gracie: New May Wah in the Richmond is always interesting and bustling. I can find anything I would ever need to cook traditional Vietnamese food.
Chad: Nijiya market, to buy different yuzu products, shishito peppers, tofus and shiso. We cook a lot of izakaya style dinners for friends and family at home and I can always find what I need from Nijiya.

Favorite date or off-night spots?
Chad: Tacolicious. Always fun -- and Joe and Telmo are some of the best restaurant people in this city. The chupitos are fun and Chef Telmo’s food is always so fresh and vibrant. We always get the queso and Gracie loves the frozen margaritas. We also enjoy Commonwealth, Mission Chinese Food, and brunch at Absinthe.
Gracie: flour + water for me. Most people don’t know that we got engaged there. Chad arranged it with Thomas and David behind my back and we ended up having a long tasting menu in their Dough Room. Chad proposed at the end and I was so shocked. flour + water will always have a spot in our hearts because of this but also from the amazing food that they do. You can’t go wrong with anything on the menu.

What is your favorite meal to have with your family?
Chad: Now that we have the two families combined which actually is then four families combined there are a lot of dinners we that have been memorable. The Leg of Beast Dinner at Incanto is a great way to eat as a family. Chris Cosentino and Mark Pastore are great hosts. The family style dinner experience there is a great time, and nothing brings a group together like a large tender beef leg with all of the fixings!
Gracie: To get approval for our marriage from my family in Houston, Chad had to cook for my extended family, which turned out to be around 30 people that day. He was so nervous but did a great job. Crispy skin chicken thighs, artichokes, seared broccoli, etc. In addition, my family brought 80 lbs of steamed crawfish and very large platters of BBQ from Goode Co. We will all always remember that dinner.

Any news we should know about?
Gracie: Frank always has something interesting working. Frank and Chad do a lot of traveling so I am sure they will be on the road a lot in the new year.
Chad: We have a lot of projects going on but they are not ready to be announced. It was a big year for FK Restaurants in 2011 and we are ramping up for an even bigger, busier year ahead. Launching Asian Box as a national brand with numerous locations, our return to fine dining, multiple consulting jobs. Should be fun.

Do you have plans for the holidays?
Chad: I think I want to make Posole this year. I don’t know why, I just do.
Gracie: I will probably end up making a croquembouche. Also, my brother is moving up here and staying with us for a bit. He loves to cook, so we will probably have some sort of collaboration. Like last year, we will probably do a lot of canning, pickling and other fun things as gifts -- like Kimchi and Hot Box It, our incredibly super hot sauce from Asian Box.

Guiltiest food pleasure?
Gracie: Flaming Red Hot Cheetos!
Chad: Budweiser cans? I don’t know. Gracie eats everything with aioli though. We were at a nice restaurant in Palo Alto the other day and Gracie asked for ranch dressing with her onion rings. That’s the Houston in her I guess. It was pretty funny.

Roughly one in five San Francisco residents doesn't have enough to eat, leading more than 100,000 per month to rely on the San Francisco Food Bank. A recent study found that even after building supermarkets in poor neighborhoods, many residents continue to rely on fast food restaurants, leading to preventable health problems. KQED's Forum discusses what some advocates are doing to improve the availability of healthy food.

Host: Dave Iverson

Guests:

• Christopher Cook, journalist and author of "Diet for a Dead Planet: Big Business and the Coming Food Crisis"
• Cora E. Lewis, professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Alabama's Comprehensive Diabetes Center
• Lena Miller, founder and co-executive director of Hunter's Point Family, a community-based development organization for at-risk Bayview Hunter's Point families

Original Broadcast: Fri, Dec 2, 2011 -- 9:00 AM

Fruitcake gets a bad rap. You ask anyone from young to old and they’ll turn up their nose, proclaiming that it’s “dry” or “heavy” or that they’re scared of those neon-colored fruits. Well the times have changed and fruitcake, if made well, can be moist, a little bit boozy and incredibly tasty. At least that’s the case at Arizmendi on 9th Avenue in San Francisco.

Happy Arizmendi bakers: Erin Singer, Suet Cheng, Aeri Swendson

While it seems like many of our families avoid fruitcake, it's been around for quite some time. In fact, the name can actually be traced back as far as the Middle Ages with the oldest reference going back to Roman times where they often included pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins. Since the bread is preserved with high levels of booze, crusaders and hunters were rumored to have carried this type of cake to sustain themselves over long periods of time away from home. All of the neon-colored fruits that folks fear today came much later down the line.

At Arizmendi, you won’t see any of those dried fruits either. Instead, you’ll find small warmly-scented loaves packed with dried fruits and nuts from Rainbow Grocery across town. They use currants, lemon zest, orange zest, raisins, papaya, pineapple, apricots, almonds and cherries along with a smattering of spices like cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. If you haven’t yet tried it, this is your year. The 9th Avenue location is doing 400 small loaves and they sell out quickly, so make sure to get down there beginning the first week of December to snag yours. They’ll hold until whenever you’re ready to serve it (the brandy functions as a preserver) -- some of the staff actually hang onto their loaves year after year and come in to re-dip them during the annual fruitcake-dipping process.

The fruitcake-making process at Arizmendi

So what’s the secret? The best fruitcakes are started months in advance and dipped in liquor numerous times to allow the flavors to really mature and develop. Arizmendi began making the fruitcakes well over two months ago and they go through a three-dip cycle in brandy. First, the staff spends time cutting up all of the dried fruits, making the dough, and folding it all together. Suet Cheng says, “It’s mostly fruit and just enough batter to hold it altogether." Baker Erin Singer confirms that it’s almost like a scone dough, packed with so many fruits and nuts that it's really barely held together. After all of the dry ingredients are combined, it’s baked and they allow it to cool for 10-20 minutes. While it’s warm they do the first soak in brandy.

Sneaking a taste of Arizmendi's fruitcake

The first soak is the longest, meaning they allow each loaf to hang out for 4-5 minutes in the tub of brandy. Erin says, “they soak it up like crazy the first time around.” The subsequent soakings are for a shorter amount of time, usually 1-2 minutes. After soaking, the bakers wrap the loaves in cheesecloth and plastic wrap and store them for a month. When it’s time to re-dip, they take off the plastic and re-dip with the cheesecloth still on.

I had the chance to try the fruitcake after its last dipping and it was boozier than it will be when you buy it because it was straight out of the brandy. Chatting with the head baker over a cup of coffee and a small slice, I told her how it was the best fruitcake I'd ever had. In fact, I didn't realize fruitcake could be this good. If you could compare the flavor to a color, it’d be the deepest amber imaginable: intensely warm yet simultaneously dark and boozy and packed with chunks of fruit and nuts. And they’re heavy! With each soaking they take on more and more of the liquid making them incredibly moist and dense but in a wonderful-with-coffee way, not a like-a-rock way.

Sure, people do it differently. And it’s been done for hundreds of years which is why, I think, I’m so drawn to fruitcake. The thought that grandmothers and farm hands were dipping fruitcakes in much the same way that I experienced on this sunny San Francisco morning seems important to me. It’s a continuation of a holiday tradition that holds a lot of meaning for some, and little for others. If it’s not part of your cultural or family tradition, I encourage you to make some changes this year. I sure am.

Get Your Fruitcake:
Fruitcakes will go on sale the first week of December and you can call and order one/reserve or just walk in and pick one up. The earlier, the better; they do sell out. Each fruitcake is $14.

Arizmendi Bakery
1331 9th Avenue (between Irving and Judah)
San Francisco, CA 94122
(415)566-3117

Hours:
Tuesday-Friday: 7am-7pm
Saturday-Sunday: 7:30am-6pm
Monday: CLOSED