The current adventure actually started ten years ago, when our friend Sylvia learned we were about to leave on a trip to Paris. She pressed $50 into my hand, begging, “You have to get me two kilos of vanille des îles at Thé Mariage Frères.” Sensing my hesitation at possibly transporting a couple of kilos of some unknown (controlled?) substance, she whispered, “Try some yourself, you’ll love it.”

Turned out my friend’s drug of choice was an intensely flavored black tea infused with incomparable vanilla from Madagascar. And to procure it, my family wandered the winding streets of the Marais district of Paris to a quaint teashop with an elegant tea salon that served swoon-worthy pastries. Our then 9-year old daughter, Lila, fell completely under the spell of Thé Mariage Frères, as did my husband and I.

Thanks to a recent work assignment of my husband’s, the three of us are back again in Paris for a week. But this time—because of Bay Area Bites—I have an appointment to interview Monsieur Loris Thibaud, the man in charge of Thè Mariage Frères, in my role as journaliste amèricaine, and 19-year old Lila (a college sophomore and art major) will be my photographer.

When we enter, the teashop is abuzz with last minute shoppers. The walls are lined with hundreds of large timeworn tins labeled with mysterious names like fleur de désir, thé des impressionnistes and rose de porcelaine, from which white-suited clerks scoop and weigh the aromatic mixtures on ancient scales.

Monsieur Thibaud greets us and leads us up the narrow staircase to the little museum where we can talk tea in relative quiet among antique pots, canisters and baskets. He shares a little history:

As the oldest beverage in the world, tea began its reign in China 5000 years ago and moved on to Japan, Persia, the Islamic world, Russia and then to Europe in the seventeenth century. In 1665, after King Louis XIV‘s doctors told him tea would benefit his digestion, the King sent brothers Nicholas and Peter Mariage to Persia and Madagascar, respectively, to sign trade agreements and gather up the magical stuff.

Several generations of Mariages stayed true to the trade of tea importing and finally in 1854, Henri and Edouard Mariage commenced wholesaling to the restaurants and hotels of Paris. But despite the venerable looking, colonial design of the tea counter, this charming retail shop only opened in 1984 and currently, there are no more Mariage family members in the business.

The French take their tea as they take their wine: quite seriously and Thè Mariage Frères prints up a list of essential rules to make their tea correctly, which might actually come in handy since their collection of teas include black, white and green varieties from over 30 countries. But their specialty is fragrant blends, created much like perfume, by combining aromas and tastes, selecting from hundreds of scents: including the leaves, flowers, bark, seeds, roots, leaf-oil and fruit of an entire arboretum of plants.

After a bit of a wait in line, Lila and I are seated in the elegant tea salon, with its custard yellow walls and potted plants, surrounded by stylish patrons and their tea-fueled chatter. We order sandwiches first: melted cheese with smoked salmon and a smoked chicken with creamy spread, both served on greenish matcha tea bread.

In fact, Mariage Frères has pioneered the art of cooking with tea and every dish on their menu incorporates some form of tea, from tea flavored jelly, to tea infused rice and vinaigrette to a tart topped with pears poached in hibiscus tea, and a chocolate cream pie featuring bergamot, the essence of Earl Grey.

Each table sports a few of their exclusively designed teapots, which encase the black or white porcelain in a silver shell to help keep the tea warm (without need for a British tea cozy). Over the years, I’ve enjoyed a number of their teas, (especially black teas with fruit, like peach, mango or black currant.) But today, Lila and I return to our first love, the intoxicating vanille des îles.

The next morning, we are up early, exploring vintage clothing shops in the cobblestoned Montmartre neighborhood where we are staying. Lila notices the welcoming window of an adorable tea spot called MILK, which stands for “Mum in her Little Kitchen.”

No way we’re going to pass that up. So we head in for a mid-morning tea and toast that eventually leads to a decadent pistachio and chocolate fondant. The table is set with pots of homemade jam in flavors like strawberry mint or spiced clementine, plus a banana, date and coconut spread. The cozy space feels exactly like we’re sitting in someone’s 1960s kitchen, with Formica dinette sets in crayola colors and flowered dishes. Owner, Deborah Habib makes all the goodies daily in her kitchen in the back of the room. Her father is our server. Habib also sells cute accessories, arranged in niches around the room, which include a motley collection of paisley aprons, mushroom magnets and kitchen elves. Luckily, Lila has her camera along to capture the photogenic bric-a-brac.

I thought this story was just going to be about Mariage Frères, but it seems to be expanding. So I tell Lila, “If we’re going do more than one tea salon, we need to do three or four.” Tea parties have actually been a recurrent theme in our lives. A china cabinet holding my grandmother’s collection of English bone china teacups and saucers resides in a treasured corner of my dining room. When she was little, Lila loved giving tea parties, first for her teddy bears and then for her friends. Sometimes, in the more turbulent teen years, a shared cup of tea from a flowery teapot could call a momentary truce on eye-rolling or nagging. Now that she is away at college in Canada most of the year, our tea sharing opportunities have dwindled. What could be better than a mutual quest for unique Parisian tea salons?

Lana, a Paris native and family friend, who is the same age as Lila, suggests our next destination, La Fourmi Ailée. The robin’s egg-blue exterior of this intimate restaurant stands out amidst the historic buildings nestled in the shadow of Nôtre Dame. Its interior resembles something out of a fairy tale, with a whimsical painted ceiling of clouds, plenty of book-lined shelves, and a row of pre-loved teapots along the windowsill. Although a full lunch menu is available, we arrive after the kitchen has closed. The tea is good, but I find the pastries a bit odd: apple streudel with mushrooms?! It’s a sweet, funky place to sit and sip tea, especially if you are in your twenties, but my taste in Parisian tea salons runs more to gracious elegance.

We end the week in style, with a visit to a glorious tea salon in the spacious dining room of a 19th century mansion that is now a museum—Musée Jacquemart-André. Nélie Jacquemart and Edouard André were avid Italian art collectors as well as husband and wife. The opulent rooms of their former residence, filled with exquisite paintings, sculptures and furnishings, provide an intimate opportunity for visitors to engage with the works of art.

In their former dining room, the walls are hung with tapestries and the space is dotted by huge flower-filled, burgundy vases, that match the floor-length drapery and thick carpet. When we are seated, the tea service is polite and refined.

I pick a luscious wedge of plum pie and Lila chooses a decadent raspberry cream tart. We drink Ceylon tea, perfumed with aromas of strawberry, cherry, raspberry and redcurrant. Outside the windows, massive stone lions guard the manicured garden. The tea is fragrant, the pastry perfect. Lila and I sigh contentedly. This is a moment to savor.

(All photos, except this one, by Lila Volkas)

Yams, red beans, creamed corn, white fungus, grass jelly, black glutinous rice. Perhaps these ingredients don’t immediately conjure up images of tempting sweet treats, but in steamy Singapore—with the addition of shaved ice, fresh fruit, palm sugar, colorful syrups, coconut milk and other goodies—they morph into a medley of exotic desserts.

I’m in Singapore for a week, tagging along with my husband, who is presenting at a conference. I couldn’t miss a trip to this unabashedly food-obsessed city, where you really can’t walk two steps without bumping into tantalizing aromas emanating from cafes, food stands and hawker centers (organized street food vendors). In this modern multi-cultural society, where impossibly high angular skyscrapers tower over warrens of ethnic neighborhood shops, Chinese, Indian, Malay residents and foreign visitors all join in a tireless search for the best grub the city has to offer—in local parlance: “die-die-must-try.”

Singaporean specialties abound, like chili-crab, fish-head curry, oyster omelet, chicken rice and a multitude of variations on spicy noodles. But for my few days here, I need a quest with a smaller focus, so why not a sweet one, sampling as many desserts as I can? (Actually “desserts” is somewhat of a misnomer, as these sweet treats are more often consumed as afternoon or late night snacks.)

Straddling the equator, with temperatures often in the 90s and the air thick with tropical humidity, icy treats offer natural refreshment in Singapore’s year-round heat wave. Although many have roots in neighboring cultures, the fantastical shapes and colors of these cooling combinations make them Singaporean classics.

Ice Kachang provides a refreshing pyramid of pleasure

Ice Kachang -- the quintessential Singaporean dessert takes a mountain of shaved ice, douses it with a rainbow of syrups and sprinkles on toppings such as soft red beans and creamed corn. I order mine with a dusting of chopped peanuts for an extra dimension of crunch.

creamy, chewy, icy Chendol

Chendol -- the key ingredient in this icy treat is the jelly-like green noodles flavored with pandan leaf, layered with cooked red beans, chewy palm seeds, coconut milk and a sweet brown syrup.

Every Singapore resident I ask offers encouragement and advice on my sweet-seeking journey. They also caution me not to eat too many treats with creamy, coconut milk. (“Not good for the tummy.”) Luckily, there is a profusion of more delicate sweet dishes to choose from.

Slippery sweet Ice Jelly

Ice Jelly -- utterly light and refreshing: shaved ice with cold translucent jelly globules. I have mine topped with mango.

Double steamed papaya in syrup

Steamed Papaya with Snow Fungus and Almond -- served in light syrup. The snow fungus adds the texture of a dainty, frilly sponge. I enjoy it cold, but it also comes hot, as do several other desserts with a hot/cold option.

When the sky turns black and hurls lighting bolts, thunderclaps and pounding rain, it’s an invitation to duck into a cheerful neon-bordered café for a warm bowl of comfort, such as sweet black glutinous rice cooked into a velvety pudding, drizzled with a swirl of coconut milk.

Other warming choices:

comforting and chewy Bubor Cha Cha

Bubor Cha Cha -- chunks of cooked yam and sweet potato with colored bits of chewy coconut jelly swimming in warm coconut milk.

Peanut soup or Black sesame soup – topped with almond cream.

Chinese culture often cites the health benefits of certain foods to balance one’s yin/yang, for specific ailments or populations (e.g. pregnant women). A sign in Food Republic’s Ice Shop proclaims Red Beans with Lotus seeds “great for getting rid of dark circles under the eyes,” so there is no way I can pass that up.

The places where I sample these treats vary as much as the flavors and forms they take. From fancy food courts in high-rise shopping meccas, like Wisma Atria’s Food Republic to beloved, old-fashioned, open-air Hawker Centres (Maxwell Road in Chinatown, Tekka Center in Little India and Lau Pa Sat in the financial district).

A visit to the National Museum of Singapore’s vibrant Living Gallery of Food provides the back-story to the city’s obsession with street food. Itinerant street vendors have always played an important role in this multi-cultural city. Since the 19th century, they traveled door-to-door preparing and peddling their wares or setting up carts and stands on the riverside. In the 1980s, as part of a project to clean up the river, Prime Minister Lee mandated that hawkers leave the riverside and take their places in designated hawker centers.

Scores of hawker centers, which are wildly popular with locals, are scattered around the city, each features vendors from various cultures, side by side, selling freshly made dishes at rock-bottom prices. You can have some Indian roti with your Malaysian beef rendang and finish off with sweet Chinese ah bolin (glutinous rice balls filled with yam, bean or sesame seed paste).

After spending an hour immersed in the museum’s videos, oral histories and food artifacts, I gain an appreciation for the context of Singapore’s food focus. As one hawker interviewed in a museum video explains, “Food makes us all equal, rich and poor, people of all races.”

Even though, I've tasted a dozen of Singapore’s sweet treats, there are many more to sample on my next visit…

Hello, sunshine! Foggy August is winding down, with sunnier September right around the corner, just in time for the kids to be back in school and the doldrums of summer’s cut-out-early-Fridays to slip away. So grab these last couple of weekends before Labor Day, sling your sandals and beach towels in the back of the car, and get out of the city in search of sunnier climes.

From Oakland or San Francisco, my vacation compass always points north. Yes, the delights of Pacifica, Pescadero, Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Luis Obispo on down to Los Angeles are many, and I’d happily return for a second slice of olallieberry pie at Duarte’s, or another view of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s undulating kelp forest and huge, prehistoric-looking sunfish. But what always lures me to the back roads is the sea-tinged scent of eucalyptus and coastal scrub, and the small farms, quirky towns, and rolling sheep-dotted hills of West Marin. So, 101 North, what have you to offer for the casual daytripper?

For starters, get out of town early, before the bridges and highway are clogged with the rest of the vacationing hordes. A promise of really excellent doughnuts and a superior cappuccino is usually enough to rouse even the most sluggish of un-morning people. A decade or so ago, I was working on a round-up of doughnut shops in the Bay Area for a local magazine. Not a single chocolate-glazed was worth getting up for until my friend Liz, born and bred in Marin, turned me on to her favorite high school hangout, Donut Alley in Larkspur. (The exit was Paradise Drive, easy to remember, for what is paradise but a morning that starts with a perfect doughnut?) I went there and fell in love.

The same guy had been running the place for years. They opened at 6:30am and closed when they ran out of doughnuts, usually before noon. There were no maple-bacon or vegan plum-cardamom doughnuts, just good old old-fashioned old fashioneds, your buttermilk bars and apple fritters and cute, tender, just-sweet-enough cake doughnuts, chocolate-iced, cinnamon-sugared, or pink-sprinkled. Parents came in with their kids for a bag to go; old guys sat around a few Formica tables scattered with copies of the Marin I-J and drank paper cups of coffee from the help-yourself Bun-o-matic machine. And while a recent visit revealed the place to be a little spiffed up (the coffee is organic now, the tables dark wood, and a new blueberry doughnut, made with dried berries, is selling fast), the spirit and doughnuts are exactly the same. Polite kids still point and ask, “Can my little brother have that chocolate one, please?” while their baby sisters squeal for sprinkles and chocolate milk.

And while the drip coffee on offer is perfectly fine, you Sightglass-spoiled city folk probably need a more potent eye-opener. Head across the street to the marble counters of Emporio Rulli and order your Rome-worthy latte or cappuccino. Sip it at one of the sidewalk tables, or take it to go and stroll over to Dolliver Park, at the corner of Magnolia Ave and Madrone St. Sit under a redwood tree and breathe the green forest smells while you lick the sugar off your fingers.

Double back to 101, but not for long. It’s time to get onto the meandering Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. It winds, stop and start, through the posh Marin towns, San Anselmo, Greenbrae, Ross, and Fairfax. Soon, though, the countryside opens up and the road slides under towering redwood trees and bark-shredded eucalyptus, swinging past the forested campgrounds of Samuel P. Taylor State Park, through the one-block town of Olema, epicenter of the 1906 earthquake, and into the (by comparison) bustling little town of Point Reyes Station. During the week in wintertime, Point Reyes Station is a very mellow place. On a sunny summer weekend, however, it’s up and lively, thronged with bicyclists and birders.

The Saturday morning Point Reyes Farmers' Market, in front of Toby’s Feed Barn and next to the town’s sweet community garden plots, has just a few farmers—Paradise Valley Produce, Fresh Run Farm, Wild Blue Farm—but they’re well stocked and doing a bang-up business in lettuce and kale, cukes and squash, bundles of herbs, freshly dug onions and potatoes, bright carrots and brighter bouquets. A glance through a wooden crate of new-crop Gravenstein apples from Paradise Valley reveals a couple of ringers: none other than the elusive, rarely seen Pink Pearls, a tart early apple whose cream-colored skin masks its fantastic, hot-pink flesh.

Stop by the Brickmaiden stall to pick up one of Celine Underwood's tangy sourdough loaves, baked in a wood-fired oven in a little unmarked cottage just across the street. It’s the same cottage where Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Pruiett of Tartine got their start in 1994, baking bread and pastries for small stores and farmers markets in the area under the name Bay Village Bread. Next to the bread stall is Wild West Ferments, offering handmade sauerkraut along with canning jars full of wonderfully fruity, lacto-fermented “sodas” in flavors like nectarine-vanilla and plum.

Osteria Stellina's GBD Grilled Cheese serves up three kinds of grilled cheese: a basic one with Valley Ford Estero Gold cheese on Stellina's own crusty bread; sharp cheddar with a griddled egg; and “The Bill from Bo,” Bill Niman’s slow-roasted brisket with Estero Gold. The Marshall Store, from across Tomales Bay, is serving up oysters to go, on the half shell or barbecued.

Not in the mood for oysters or cheese? Well, there’s always what might just be the best burger in West Marin, served right on the way out of town at Marin Sun Farms’ butcher shop and café. (Their beef jerky is perfect trail food, too.) Otherwise, fill out your picnic menu at Tomales Bay Foods, home of Cowgirl Creamery, and take your pick of perfect picnic spots. Families with children can head to the placid shoreline of Hearts Desire beach along Tomales Bay near Inverness. Too full of sunbathers and kayakers? Take the short, shady hike through the mossy, Hobbit-y trees to nearby Shell Beach, generally a little less populated. Or go exploring among the numerous ocean beaches, lagoons, and estuaries of the Point Reyes National Seashore itself.

On the way home, sand in your shoes, cell phones ignored, you can keep the beachy feeling going by snagging an outdoor table overlooking the marina at Sausalito’s Bar Bocce, ordering a pitcher of beer or a glass of white sangria while you wait for your crisp-crusted calamari pizza to arrive, dribbled with lemon oil, flecked with chiles. The best seat in the house isn’t actually in the restaurant; it’s the bench down on the beach, shaded by a big umbrella, where you can dig your toes into the sand and toast your very, very good fortune at having all this bounty in your backyard.

Margo True, the food editor for Sunset, will be demonstrating recipes from the magazine's latest cookbook,The One-Block Feast, at the Point Reyes Farmers' Market at 10am on Saturday, August 27.

Gleaning with Farm to Pantry. Photo: The Perennial Plate

The Perennial Plate: Adventurous and Sustainable Eating - Episode 64: California Gleaning
Northern California is a bountiful area. So bountiful that there are often leftovers. This is usually the case with most farms. In order to make way for bad yields, bad weather, and unexpected disasters, (or just to make sure they have enough to satisfy their customers), most farms will end up with more than they can sell. What happens to all that extra produce? In the case of Healdsburg California, an organization called Farm to Pantry picks it, packs it up and delivers it to various locations "in need." It’s selfless, necessary and wonderful. Watch this video to follow the food from harvest to rehab center.

Tartine Afterhours menu from The Perennial Plate dinner. Photo: The Perennial Plate

Daniel Klein, creator of The Perennial Plate, an online weekly documentary series dedicated to socially responsible and adventurous eating, shares some thoughts about his new Bay Area episode. Under the guidance of Chef Samin Nostrat they visited three local farms, gathered stories, harvested food and then created a Tartine Afterhours dinner at the Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. Watch the episode about the farm visits and event.

From your experience traveling across country what qualities are unique to the Bay Area with regard to food awareness and food community?

The first part of our trip was in the South where local food appears to be more along the lines of "the way things are" -- unless, of course, there is nothing -- food deserts are also often the case down south. But in the Bay Area it is a way of life in the sense that people are passionate about it -- where food comes from is important. And beyond that, California is where so much food is grown. In other parts of the country we say "oh that's from California" -- but here, well, it's all from California.

When you were putting this episode together what were the key points you wanted to communicate to your audience:

...about sustainable eating in the Bay Area?

I didn't really want to convey a message about sustainable eating, I wanted to share the story of our dinner at Tartine and the farmers that let us visit and harvest their crops. There isn't an intended message, more a hope that people will enjoy the spirit of the dinner and days proceeding.

...about the Bay Area farms you visited?

Riverdog Farm -- What an incredible farm. It seems they have held on to their ideals while expanding into a large and very professional operation. In my limited experience it seems to be a great example of what a slightly larger organic farm can be. Diverse and with incredibly pristine product. Really refreshing -- so many farms we visit are small, so it was cool to have the perspective of Riverdog (by industrial ag standards, its still tiny of course). We wanted to convey that it was larger, but also the spirit of its founder Tim Mueller.

Sunny Slope Orchard -- Bill is passionate about his stone fruit. He farms for the joy of it. But more than the farm, I wanted to share how delicious his fruit was. That plum and those apricots were like nothing I've ever had before. Truly eye opening/mouth opening? experiences.

Pluck and Feather Farm -- We were rushed at Pluck and Feather, the dinner was approaching and we needed herbs. Esperanza was there for us. We wanted to get something from an urban garden, and this place was perfect, especially with the giant McDonalds sign looming overhead.

...about the process of creating a pop-up dinner experience?

I wanted to convey that we didn't know the menu until the day of, that it was collaborative and just really fun. We chose some over the top music to drive home the culmination of two serious days of traveling, harvesting and cooking.

Preparing the Perennial Plate dinner in the Tartine Bakery kitchen. Photo: The Perennial Plate

How did you decide on the menu for the Tartine dinner?

We decided the day of based on what we had. Samin and I just shot ideas at each other and came up with simple but delicious food. Samin had made pasta a few days earlier, so we knew that was going to happen, other than that, it was just trying things out.

Cherry Tomatoes with Pluck and Feather Farm Oregano. Photo: The Perennial Plate

I know you worked together with Tartine Afterhours chef Samin Nosrat on this dinner. How did you connect with her to make this all happen?

We connected through our mutual friend Alex of 4SP Films, he suggested Samin as a story and then through a phone conversation we decided that doing a dinner together would be awesome. I could tell it would work as Samin is so lighthearted and fun.

What went into making this event a reality?

I had come out to SF for a meeting and I met with Samin. We hit it off, although I think she hits it off with everyone she meets. It was really just a matter of arranging a date. Samin in turn decided on which farms to visit. I think these were places that she really wanted to check out, so it was win win.

Trio of Daniel's Salads: New Potato, Roasted Beets and Shaved Summer Squash. Photo: The Perennial Plate

Were you able to make money from the event to help fund your project?

No, we look at the event as an opportunity to share our food and stories, not to make money. A lot of the work was on the staff, Samin and Tartine, so we were just happy to be a part of it.

I know you enjoyed a meal at Gather in Berkeley. What else did you and Mirra experience in the Bay Area that was memorable?

We went to Ubuntu in Napa which is similar to Gather in that it makes use of vegetables in unique ways. I don't know if Manresa is considered the Bay Area, but we ate there as well. All three of these restaurants represent a new wave of cooking that loves the vegetable as much as the protein, I think it's the future of cooking, so it was fun to try these three restaurants -- each has a very different take but I think a similar spirit in their dishes.

Sunny Slope Orchard's apricots al cartoccio. Photo: The Perennial Plate

It's summertime, and we might just be the one place in the country actually enjoying itself, rather than wilting under an onslaught of brain-melting heat and humidity. So get out of the house! Some of our favorite bloggers have already told you where to eat outside this summer. Still, maybe you'd like to find yourself some green, rather than spending it. Forget the food trucks for a minute; let's go hang out with the farmers!

Getting on the electronic mailing list for Marin Organic, promoters and advocates for sustainable agriculture in Marin, is a great way to keep on top of tours, talks, and special events happening just across the bridge. Coming up next month are a dairy tour of Straus Family Creamery, an orchard walk through the olive groves of McEvoy Ranch, and a discussion with bakers Chad Robertson (Tartine Bread), Celine Underwood (Brickmaiden Bakery), and David Muller (Outerlands) about their adventures in sourdough. You can also go to Sonoma Farm Trails to downloads maps and farm guides and plan your own tour of that area's rich agricultural offerings.

CUESA, the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture, is best known for running the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market, but they also organize periodic tours of local farms and producers. On August 10, you can join CUESA for an Organic Greens & Blue Cheese Tour featuring County Line Harvest, growers of excellent lettuces, strawberries, and more, and the family-run Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company.

Chez Panisse is planning a series of pricey fundraisers for the Edible Schoolyard in conjunction with its 40th birthday next month, but there is one free, family-friendly OPENeducation event happening on August 27 at the Berkeley Art Museum. (Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance.) The day is planned as a series of "interactive cooking installations" between museum-goers and a posse of farmers, educators, and artists, using corn, beans, and squash planted in the outdoor spaces of the museum.

And speaking of family fun, devoted Bay Area Bites readers may know Devil's Gulch Ranch as one of our favorite sources for locally produced rabbit, but they're more than just bunnies. They also host a ranch camp for kids, with three more weeklong sessions remaining.

Apples in August? For anyone born and bred on the East Coast, where apples mean autumn, the idea of this can seem a little bizarre. However, our California-grown heirloom apple, the Gravenstein, is a early ripener, ready for pie by mid-August. Celebrate its yellow-and-red striped delights at Sebastopol's down-home Gravenstein Apple Fair on August 13 and 14. You can even go up against this one-time grand champion in the Apple Pie Contest.

Most small producers have their hands full just getting their day-to-day chores done, especially when there are animals in the mix--which means your favorite cheesemaker or farmer is rarely available for drop-in visits. On August 7, Bay Area Green Tours is planning a daylong "Tomatoes, Peaches, Corn, and More" tour of Brentwood, with stops at Frog Hollow Farm, Dwelley Farm, and Smith Family Farm. (Don't forget your sunscreen and sun hat, as Brentwood bakes in the summertime. Good for the peaches and tomatoes, a little shocking to fog-dwelling San Franciscans.) On August 18, take a One Valley, Three Milks tour and get a behind-the-scenes peek of Bellwether Farms (sheep), Two Rock Valley Cheese (goat), and Valley Ford Cheese Company (cow).

You can also sign up (for free) as a member of Weirauch Farm, a small sheep dairy and creamery, and save the date for their next members-only tour on Aug. 13. The setting, in the rolling hills of Petaluma, is beautiful, and the sheep (pictured above) are as friendly and inquisitive as puppies. While owners Joel and Carleen Weirauch finish up their sheep-milking parlor (they're hoping to have it completed in time for next spring's milking season), they're making some delectable cows' milk cheeses, available after the tour for tasting and purchase.

But what if you want to stay closer to home, enjoying the flavor of local farms without getting mud on your shoes? Then head over to Potrero Hill's sweet, sunny Plow. Look for the metal pig hanging outside, or the many happy diners inside, all grooving on lemon-ricotta pancakes or (my favorite) dreamy French toast gobbed with mascarpone and topped with thick wedges of brown sugar-and-butter roasted Summer Zee peaches from Blossom Bluff Orchards.

The menu shifts daily, but a recent meal included breakfast and lunch offerings like a soft scramble with lambs quarter greens, mushrooms, and goat cheese; housemade yogurt and granola with fruit and Potrero Hill honey; cucumber-buttermilk gazpacho; green bean and Sungold tomato salad with purslane and fresh mozzarella; and a BLT stacked with Nueske bacon and glowing, gorgeous heirloom tomato slices. Farms, orchards, ranchers, bakers, and producers are thanked in four lines of small type at the bottom of the menu, name-checking all the purveyors we know from markets around the Bay Area: Mariquita Farms, Dirty Girl Produce, County Line Harvest, Hamada Farms, Frog Hollow, Straus Family Creamery, Marin Sun Farms, Acme Bread, and more. Happy summer!

Very Prairie Pie-on-a-Stick

When bone-chilling, spit-freezing winter starts on Halloween and continues til Easter, as it often does in the northern reaches of the Upper Midwest, who could blame Minnesotans for going a little crazy when summer comes? Hibernating like bears (if bears had hockey, beer, and NPR) for six months of the year, Minnesotans follow their Scandinavian forebearers and swim, run, dance, bike, party, picnic, dine, and promenade like mad during their precious summer months, soaking up day after sunny, scorching day and basking through bath-warm twilights that linger long past dinnertime.

According to my 11-year-old niece, who has lived in a suburb of Minneapolis since 2006, "everyone" has a cabin on a lake, or at least a townhouse or condo-share with lake-splashing, dock-sunning privileges. Still, it seems like plenty of people have stuck around during this Fourth of July week in the Twin Cities, where I've been having a long-overdue family visit with my sister Amy and my nephew and nieces. I pick up a copy of Minnesota Monthly magazine at the Linden Hills Co-Op, a kind of miniaturized Berkeley Bowl of the prairie, where we go to pump our own Minnesota maple syrup out of a tall stainless-steel vat and pick up a few glass bottles of Cedar Summit's organic, pastured milk. Not surprisingly, the magazine's cover story is a round-up of the best in local foods, 146 of them, in fact, from Kalona sour cream and Birch Berry Wild Rice to Surly's Darkness Stout, along with dozens of other pickles, relishes, jams, butters, chocolates, yogurt, breads, syrups, meats, and beers chosen by longtime Minneapolis writer Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl. Elsewhere in the magazine, local NPR personality and Splendid Table host Lynne Rossetto Kasper writes with pride that in her opinion, only California can compete with Minnesota when it comes to making and supporting high-quality, locally-sourced and -inspired food and drink.

My nephew, age 13, is a big fan of the octopus and frogs' legs at the tiny, quirky, molecular-gastronomy-influenced Travail Kitchen and Amusements, run by the kind of mustachioed, nose-ringed cool kids you'd see behind the bar at Alembic or in the kitchen at Nopa. Alas, it must be that all the cool kids have cabins, too, because Travail has shut down for the entire month of July, presumably for some lakeside R&R. (The fact that the un-air-conditioned restaurant is mostly a counter facing an open kitchen may have also encouraged a summertime shutdown.)

So my sister and I head to the more traditional Meritage (rhymes with heritage) in St. Paul, a spacious French brasserie with a white-tiled oyster bar (still a bit of a novelty in a city ringed with lakes but far, far away from any salt water) on one side and a crepe cart out front. We take a table on the sidewalk, the better to listen to the live music drifting over from a nearby plaza, where couples in everything from cowboy boots to flip-flops are dipping and two-stepping to Kevin Anthony and the Twin City Playboys, part of the Ordway Summer Dance series.

Our server, with a lavishly waxed and twirled mustache straight off the sign at Tommy's Joynt, hands us a stack of menus: cocktail and beer list, wine list, bar menu, dinner menu. At the top of the dinner menu are a handful of two-bite, $3 starters, including a demitasse of excellent chilled gazpacho, crunchy with minutely diced raw onion and peppers; a wee fresh-tuna taco; and a pyramid of "compressed watermelon," vividly pink, which turns out to have been cryovaced to reduce its volume by two-thirds, condensing its cool, sweet wateriness into the essence of what Henry James called the two most beautiful words in the English language, summer afternoon.

We follow our gazpacho with a martini glass of cool, jellied lobster consomme studded with a few chunks of lobster, veiled with a creamy layer of corn puree, and topped with a boutonniere of tiny basil leaves. Corn, lobster, basil: if I weren't already sitting outside, sipping white wine in a shoulder-baring sundress, one taste of these flavors would leave me no doubt that summer's in full swing. Peach and arugula salad sounds pleasant but predictable--what California-cuisine menu doesn't have a stone-fruit salad on offer right now?--but the execution is a delicious surprise. The peach slices, thin as coins and round as the moon, have been cooked sous-vide with vanilla and Muscat to a melting tenderness that would be heaven in a peach Melba with vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of raspberry coulis. But they're pretty fantastic just like this, under a tangle of snappy arugula scattered with toasted pistachios and shards of Parmesan.

Wild sea bass, with a texture caught between ceviche and crudo, is scattered with "essence of celery," diced and juiced, adding a green, woodsy note to the supple fish. The $3 bites return on the dessert menu, and so we sample a macaron of the day, lavender-hued and stuffed with chewy-sweet fig, and a satiny espresso pot de creme topped with Valrhona chocolate-crunch beads and a dab of whipped cream.

The next morning, even with thunderclouds threatening overhead, I can't resist a trip to the Mill City Farmers Market, one of the Twin Cities' largest and most popular open-air markets. As befitting its name, and Minnesota's history as a grain-producing and grain-milling center, there are several producers selling their own locally grown wheat, corn, rye, and oats. I buy a bag of organic, coarse-grained corn grits from Sunrise Flour Mill, then another bag of Prairie Hollow Farm's high-protein whole-wheat bread flour, milled from kulm, a rare heritage strain of wheat. Prairie Hollow's Pam Benike tells me that she farms organically on land that has been cultivated by her family for generations. She raises a little of everything: wheat, dairy cattle, vegetables, fruits, even what you might call gourmet weeds, very popular with her restaurant clients. For $2, I get a big bag of offbeat greens, including nettles, purslane, chickweed, plantain, and lambs' quarters. Nearby, Very Prairie is selling "prairievore" granola, excellent rhubarb ketchup, and a very state-fair-ready treat, pie on a stick.

When you can't start planting until late April, July is still spring, and so despite the 90-degree heat, the produce on offer is mostly still green: lettuce, kale, chard, peas, lots of kohlrabi and tons of garlic scapes, plus new potatoes, beets, and carrots.

Garlic scapes, I'm told by one of the workers at Swede Lake Farms, are the curly shoots and buds of hardneck garlic, which grow best in cold climates, leaving California more prone to the mild-climate softneck types. No plums or peaches yet, but there's plenty of rhubarb for pie, plus raspberries, strawberries, and black caps, similar to black raspberries but seedier and less sweet.

The prepared foods are eclectic: pedal-powered fruit smoothies, made by Erica of Foxy Falafel in a bike-powered blender; herring sandwiches and bacon-beer bratwursts from the Chef Shack truck; Himalayan momo dumplings across from puffy Swedish ebelskiver pancakes. Hmong families set up shop next to Mennonites and tattooed young farmers. Little kids lick ice cream cones from Sonny's (don't miss the black-currant sorbet) and dance to the perky tunes of Potluck and the Hot Dishes. It's all so very Minneapolis.

Chef Shack truck signage

Meritage
Address: 410 St Peter St, St Paul, MN 55102
Phone: (651) 222-5670
Facebook: Meritage St Paul
Twitter: @meritage_stpaul

Mill City Farmers Market
Address: 704 S 2nd St, Minneapolis, MN 55415
Phone (612) 341-7580
Facebook: Mill City Farmers Market
Twitter: @mcfarmersmkt

Pulled Pork BBQ plate from Sweet Auburn BBQ truck

I'd never been to Atlanta, but I've always heard great things: the Southern hospitality, the quaint neighborhoods, and the fabulous food. After experiencing it for myself, I'm happy to say that all three points hold very true.

After traveling there for the BlogHer Food Conference in May, I got the opportunity during my brief downtime to hunt down a few raved about eateries. I got my barbecue fix from the Sweet Auburn BBQ food truck. After tasting their Asian Pear Coleslaw and Pulled Pork, I realized that, unfortunately, nothing in the Bay Area could possibly compare.

I visited a restaurant called, Wisteria, in the picturesque Inman Park area of town. They served classic yet modernized Southern dishes like Fried Catfish with Succotash, Crab Cakes, and some of the best Macaroni and Cheese I've ever had (with braised greens!).

Various doughnuts from "Sublime Doughnuts" in Atlanta

I also had my morning sugar rush thanks to the folks at Sublime Doughnuts. Their sugary varieties included red velvet, chocolate coconut, white chocolate peach, s'mores and mocha cream. Dunkin' Donuts had nothin' on these guys.

But my favorite eatery had to be Empire State South. With its bocce ball court outside, casual settings and service, and playful yet sophisticated take on Southern classics, it was the best meal I’d had in Atlanta.

They start your meal with some good old housemade yeast rolls and grilled sourdough (perhaps a nod to Top Chef Master and Owner, Hugh Acheson's time as a sous chef at Gary Danko in the late 90s?). The yeast rolls were so sweet, soft, and classically Southern. They were so good it took everything in me not to ask for more. I knew we had a lot of good eats to come so I was pacing myself.

Soft Poached Egg from "Empire State South" (Photo courtesy of Beth Lee of OMGYummy.net)

We ordered a variety of appetizers and entrees for the table, including the Soft Poached Egg with wild nettles and grits; Crisp Pork Belly with kimchi grits; Wild Ramps with corned beef tongue and field peas served in a mini cast iron skillet; and the Ramp Orecchiette with carrots, peas and some beautiful fiddlehead ferns.

Everything we had was exceptional. The whole "farm to table" movement is really gaining steam there, and the freshness and imaginative use of all that wonderful produce was proof of that. The eggs and grits were rich and creamy, and the pasta was fresh, light and bright. All the combinations on each plate were inventive, classically southern (plenty of butter and bold flavors), but sophisticated. There was even a touch of Asian fusion in some of the dishes (the pork belly definitely had some soy sauce flavors going on).

But boy were we glad we ordered an extra helping of those amazing Kimchi Rice Grits. It was simply one of the most memorable dishes I've ever tasted...anywhere. The texture was like a thicker rice porridge or congee, but with more flavor and less soupy. And the kimchi gave the dish so much punch and flavor but never overpowered. I wish someone would replicate it in the Bay Area!

Peanuts and Coke Soft Serve w/Funnel Cake from "Empire State South" (Photo courtesy of Beth Lee of OMGYummy.net)

Before we ordered our Peanuts and Coke Soft Serve with Funnel Cake for dessert, Owner and Top Chef Master contestant, Chef Hugh Acheson came over to pay our table a visit and even sat down for a nice long chat with us. After he realized I was from the Bay Area, he talked about his time working for the now shuttered Mecca restaurant, and as opening sous-chef for Gary Danko back in the 90s. "I learned a lot while I was there, but he was a tyrant. He'd be the first to admit it, though," he said of Danko.

I also got to experience Chef Acheson's wickedly dry sense of humor, which unfortunately didn’t get enough airtime on Top Chef Master. He'll be the first to mention what he calls his "monobrow," which he's been getting known for since the show started. "Somebody on Twitter told me I should shave my monobrow. They don't even know me! Maybe they should focus on my food." But he'll be the first to laugh at himself, even mentioning what he calls "The Monobrow Preservation Society" frequently on his Twitter account.

My experience meeting Chef Acheson was indicative of my time in Atlanta. People there are ready to sit down and chat, have a good time, and take pride in all their city has to offer. I love San Francisco and it's always been home, but I miss my taste of Southern hospitality.

Sweet Auburn BBQ truck
Facebook: Sweet Auburn BBQ
Twitter: @SweetAuburnBBQ
Various hours & locations

Sublime Doughnuts
Address: 535 Tenth Street Northwest, Atlanta, GA 30318
Phone: (404) 897-1801
Facebook:Sublime Doughnuts
Twitter: @SublimeDoughnut

Wisteria
Address: 471 North Highland Ave., Atlanta, GA. 30307
Phone: (404) 525-3363
Facebook: Wisteria Restaurant
Twitter: @wisteriaatlanta

Empire State South
Address: 999 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30309
Phone: (404) 541-1105
Facebook: Empire State South
Twitter: @ESSouth

M. Wells, Long Island City

I'm guilty of outer-borough-itis: fear or reluctance of traveling out of Manhattan (also see "laziness").

Over the 4 years I lived in New York, I could probably count on one hand the number of times I traveled out of borough to hang out. But what about all the amazing food in Brooklyn! The killer Chinese in Flushing?! Indian in Jackson Heights??! I know…I'm ashamed I didn't take full advantage of how close I was to so many ethnic enclaves, rich with culture and good eats. On my last visit to NYC, I decided to make up for my younger self's shortcomings and said yes to waking up early (gasp, the horror) and trekking out to Long Island City (that is in Queens, people) for brunch at M. Wells.

All's well at M. Wells

If the 7 train is running normally, it's actually a pretty straightforward shot from the city -- the Hunters Point stop lets you out right at the corner where the diner is. However, if you're dealing with an abnormal weekend service schedule, and not paying attention because you're too busy yammering away with an old friend…it may take you a bit longer to get to your destination. A few detours and a shuttle bus ride later, we arrived at M. Wells, a gleaming "gastrodiner" that is swiftly curing Manhattanites of outer-borough-itis with its quirky charm and food so good not even threat of a burning building could tear New York Times restaurant critic Sam Sifton away from his plate of Escargot & Bone Marrow.

The "M" in M. Wells stands for magasin, which means "store" in French. Wells is the middle name of co-owner Sarah Obraitis.

Hugue Dufour is the man behind creative gourmet comfort dishes like Seafood Cobbler with bechamel, gruyere, and biscuits, Pickled Pork Tongue, and soup du jour served with foie gras. Prior to opening M. Wells with his wife, Sarah Obraitis, Dufour cooked at Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal. His food reflects an influence of Québécois cuisine…and a love of flavorful animal fat.

M. Wells Diner

The vibe of the place is foodie-hipster meets the Peach Pit. The food is homey and full of soul.

Biscuit and Rhubarb Jam

We started with a side of homemade Biscuits slathered with sweet-tart Rhubarb Jam. The buttery biscuits tasted like someone's Southern grandma made them that morning.

Egg-Sausage Sandwich

We had a hard time deciding what to get -- everything sounded so good. Our server sold us on the Egg-Sausage Sandwich, topped with cheddar, tomato, and house-pickled jalapeno, all squished inside a fatty English muffin. The sausage had some nice seasoning it, but the English muffin was a bit dense. Next time, I'd try one of the more out-there items on the menu.

Gravlax Pie

The Gravlax Pie on the other hand…total WIN. A flaky, butter-rich pot pie filled with cubes of roasted potatoes, draped with a thick blanket of gravlax and smothered in crème fraiche. Spoonfuls of salmon roe sat glittering on top, spilling over into gorgeous pools of salmon-ness around the plate. An artful drizzle of pale green parsley oil, bits of dill, and pretty purple chive blossoms decorated the dish.

Banana Cream Pie

Mercifully devoid of any hint of Jell-O Pudding, the Banana Cream Pie was sweet and simple. Slices of ripe banana, freshly whipped cream, and homemade crust. While were waiting for our table, we actually watched the pie crusts being made. Based on the insanely mouthwatering scent of baking butter coming out of that oven, we had high expectations for the pie. We wished the crust was as divine as that of the pastry from the Gravlax Pie…alas, not so. It was on the tough side, and oddly, didn't have that rich butter flavor we were expecting. Sad times.

5 Pointz, Queens

After our meal, we decided to make the most of our field trip and swung by 5 Pointz, which is just a few blocks away (down the street from MoMA PS1). If you haven't been there before, 5 Pointz is absolutely worth checking out. It's a 200,000 square foot warehouse that has been turned into a legal graffiti building/outdoor art space. Street artist from around the world have painted the walls here. It's a cool scene, especially on a nice day when you can watch artists doing their thing and maybe even stage an early 80's style hip hop photo shoot of your own.

M. Wells
21-17 49th Ave
Long Island City, NY 11101
(718) 425-6917

5 Pointz
46-23 Crane Street
Long Island City, NY 11101

Komi Restaurant

I had been dying to eat at Komi ever since Ruth Reichl named it as her most recent "wow" dining experience. She recounted a Cromesquis of Caesar Salad she had, a small breaded and fried square containing the elements of a Caesar salad that burst in a flood of creaminess and a slight crunch of lettuce.

When we found ourselves in DC, we asked friends and locals where we should eat, and Komi was at the top of every list we received. Chef/owner Johnny Monis has created something great here, a premier dining destination for food lovers that is refined and playful at the same time. There is no printed menu at Komi, and photos of the food are not allowed (to maintain the element of surprise for future diners). After I got over the distress of not being able to take pictures of my food, it was all quite liberating.

The dishes change from day to day, depending on what is in season, or what Monis feels like making for you. For the set price of $135, you can expect a flurry of Mediterranean/Greek-inspired small tastings that start with light, fresh crudo and build up to heartier flavors, pastas, and a family-style meat entrée, followed by a cheese course and desserts. There is also an optional wine pairing for $70 that they allow you to split, which is nice.

The restaurant is built in a Dupont Circle rowhouse, so the dining room is small and the décor is pretty sparse (simple white tablecloths, warm yellow walls and a few candlelit sconces). I can only imagine the buzz about the place when the Obamas had their date night here last year.

The overall vibe of the place is pretty laid back and comfortable. Our servers were friendly, super knowledgeable, and enthusiastically chatted with us about the food when we engaged them with questions.

The key to the house cellar

Now is right about when I happily packed away the camera and settled in for my taste buds to be delighted over the next 3 hours. Here's what we had:

TARAMOSALATA
The first amuse bouche was a doll-sized steamed brioche, topped with a dollop of Greek yogurt and fire orange trout roe that burst delicately on my tongue.

SEA URCHIN
Next came a thin slice of Hiramasa New Zealand kingfish sashimi topped with Alaskan sea urchin. Fresh and appetite inducing.

SCALLOP
Scallop crudo two ways. A thin disk of scallop sashimi arrived, laid inside a large pearly white shell the size of my hand, garnished with a slice of rhubarb and a sprinkle of lemon salt. Next to it was a spoonful of scallop tartar, diced into a fine brunoise, combined with thick coconut milk mixed with caramelized coconut. A tiny purple chive blossom graced the top of the mound. I loved the luxurious texture, slippery and rich, perfumed with coconut and finished with an herbaceous oniony punch.

SALMON
This bite reminded me of a perfect salmon bialy. A slice of house-cured Scottish salmon on top of black squid ink toast, garnished with tatsoi microgreens and red-veined sorrel leaf. A little bit sweet, a little bit crunchy…a lovely bite.

ASPARAGUS
Burrata was served with asparagus so lightly grilled it was almost still raw. The fresh crunch of it played well with the cool, creamy cheese, and a sprinkle of garlicky, lemony breadcrumbs on top added a nice dimension to the dish.

SPANAKOPITA
Ah-ha! The dish that wooed Ruth Reichl! Although a different version (she had a "Caesar salad" cube, we got a "spanakopita" cube), the concept was the same. Our server came, bearing two small deep-fried, breaded cubes. We were instructed to eat it in one bite. As I bit into it, a warm gush of emulsified spinach and feta cream flooded my mouth. What a stunner. One little square, full of spinach-feta-yogurt-dill-ness, crafted just so, poised and ready to explode in your mouth. What kind of voodoo is Monis working back there, hmm?

EGG
Our first pasta dish was a beautiful, perfectly round raviolo filled with a runny yolk inside. Smoked tuna shavings (like bonito) danced on top, the residual heat making it eerily wave back and forth over the butter sauce and accompanying ramps.

HALF SMOKE
One of Komi's signature dishes in which they pay homage to a DC staple -- the half-smoke. Similar to a hot dog, but meatier and spicier, the half-smoke is traditionally made with half pork, half beef. Komi's version is all pork, and is cut to the size of about a quarter of a dog, so I guess technically it's a quarter-smoke. It is butterflied, nestled into a buttered, grilled bun, and topped with tomato jam and an Old Bay-dusted chicharrone. You really can't enjoy a hot dog without a beer, so the kind folks at Komi serve this bite with a glass of Hitachino Nest Ale.

FOIE GRAS
From hot dogs to foie gras, next up was a house-cured and smoked foie gras terrine. Pink, buttery, and smooth as silk, it was served over sautéed mushrooms, slices of kumquat and peashoots.

DATES
A little intermezzo before we moved onto the heftier courses, we had a sweet taste of roasted dates filled with mascarpone cheese, generously dusted with coarse sea salt, and drizzled with olive oil.

GNOCCHI
Yukon gold potato gnocchi in sea urchin butter sauce –- I had heard whisperings of this divine dish and had my fingers crossed that it would grace our table this evening. Apparently it had been off the menu for awhile, but lucky for us, the dish has been brought back! The uni butter was as heavenly as I had imagined, and infused the gnocchi with a rich sweetness of the sea. A confetti of chives decorated the dish, and a little bit of habanero spiked the sauce, bringing a soft glow to the back of my throat.

TAGLIATELLE
A small tangled nest of house-made tagliatelle came next, served with salt cod, thin shavings of flash-fried nutty caper berries, tiny currants, and pine nuts in a tomato sauce -- sweet, salty, tangy...so good!! The crispy disks of caper berry added some briny crisp to the mix, and the sauce had a pleasant vinegary twang to it. A touch of chili here also piggybacked well off the lingering glow of the habanero in the prior dish.

KATSIKAKI
The pièce de résistance of the meal was the Katsikaki -- a massive serving of an entire bone-in leg of baby goat, slow roasted for four hours. We were blown away by the depth of flavor and range of texture in this hunk of lovin'. The entire outer surface had a crazy crispy sear, the meat was juicy and tender as can be--the texture of pulled pork--and there was a bit of rich stickiness from what I guess was melted cartilage. I'm pretty sensitive to gamier meats, so when this came out, I was a bit apprehensive. But there was zero gaminess. Just pure awesomeness. The meat was served with homemade pita and a whole plate of condiments, creating a DIY gyro station at our fingertips! Accoutrement included preserved lemon sea salt, red onion mustard, slightly pickled Fresno peppers, homemade tzatziki, and delicate translucent slices of baby radishes.

MYZITHRA
Next came what looked like a macaron but was in fact a teeny tiny biscuit sandwich of sheep's milk myzithra cheese garnished with candied fennel. The curd comes from a local farm and the cheese is made in-house. It was the one dish of the meal I didn't care for -- the cheese was really pungent and presented a bit of a challenge for me.

OLIVE OIL
A creative take on some classic flavor pairings, our first dessert consisted of strawberry segments tossed in balsamic vinegar, topped with a quenelle of olive oil gelato, and a thin cracker-like piece of lemon shortbread that shattered at the poke of a spoon.

CHOCOLATE
And since no meal is complete without a little chocolate, our meal wound down with a square of dark chocolate ganache and salted caramel layered over a crust of peanut butter crunchies/praline. Both the chocolate and caramel were surprisingly light and melted away without the slightest effort in spite of how full I was. Alongside the chocolate-caramel square was a bit of roasted banana crowned with coconut ice cream and a sprinkle of curry.

LOLLIPOPS
Our parting gift was a pair of elderberry lollipops. A member of the honeysuckle family, elderberries have an intriguing floral-grapey flavor.

After our meal, we were invited to peek into the kitchen and shake the hand of the mastermind behind our fantastic meal. Arlington native, Johnny Monis opened Komi at the ripe age of 24. Seven years later, it's clear he has more than hit his stride, creating food that is not only impeccably executed but full of personality and a little attitude.

Johnny was kind enough to handwrite our menu for the evening as a keepsake.

Komi
1509 17th Street
(between P & Q Streets)
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 332-9200