Rum, chowder, and Otis Redding: could a Saturday afternoon on the waterfront get any better? It was the first of what we hope will be an annual event, Litquake's Words on the Waves, presenting a walkabout of eight readings presented on a cluster of Sausalito houseboats, followed by an open-air concert, cocktails, tasty eats, and tango dancing on the sunny South 40 Pier.

Originally, said Rachel Lehmann-Haupt, a writer and one of the event's organizers, the idea had been to feature food as well as spoken words on each of the eight houseboat sites. After all, we love books and writers here almost as much as we love our sea-salt caramels. But trying to put writers, houseboat owners, and cooks together proved a little too challenging for the event's first time out, and so food and drinks became part of the pierside party after the readings.

Amy Butcher and Hillair Bell serve up Anchor Out cocktails

As the sun danced between teasing ribbons of fog and longtime musician and houseboat dweller Joe Tate strummed his guitar and spun yarns about Otis Redding (yes, "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" was written here), houseboat dwellers Amy Butcher and organizer Hillair Bell squeezed limes into plastic cups of Anchor Out cocktails, created just for the event. Like a mojito without the mint, the drinks had a strong dark-rum base (what else for a crowd of literary pirates?) sweetened with ginger and kaffir-lime syrup, tarted up with lime juice and fizzed with club soda.

Oyster shucking by Martin Reed of I Love Blue Sea

Behind me, landlubbers and pirates alike slurp down Walker Creek oysters from Washington, adroitly shucked by Martin Reed, Captain of I Love Blue Sea, an online fish company for chefs and consumers. A Bay Area local, Reed moved to Arizona to work as a management consultant, and realized that the rest of the country had nothing like the Bay Area's abundance of fresh-off-the-boat, sustainable seafood. So, a little over a year ago, he started I Love Blue Sea, buying his products directly from fishermen and abiding by the guidelines set forth by the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch. Reed's favorite seafood items right now? Besides this batch of briny, ocean-splashed Walker Creeks, he favors Kumamoto and Kusshi oysters, plus local albacore, black cod, and halibut. And not that we're lacking places to get great fish around here, but locals who order online can skip the shipping charges and pick up their fish at Radius Cafe at 7th and Folsom in Soma.

Jay and Emily Kell of Verge Wine Cellars

Prefer wine to rum? Maria Finn, houseboat dweller, author, and Words on the Waves organizer introduced me to Emily and Jay Kell of Verge Wine Cellars, pouring their 2007 Verge Syrah, made from organic grapes sourced in the Dry Creek Valley. Why Verge? Because they look for grapes grown "on the verge," with room for nature to run wild. When it turns out that the Kells hail from Arkansas, where I spent some very enjoyable months living and cooking at the Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, well, we could chat all day about life in the Ozarks. Only the scent of chowder inspired by Melville can lure me away.

Serving up chowder from Davy Jones Deli

And it's good chowder, too, cod and clam, with milk, potatoes, bacon, bay leaves, perhaps even a little chicken stock in among the seafood--altogether more complex that the simple clam-or-cod soup served up by Mrs. Hussey of the Try Pots Tavern in Melville's classic tome, Moby Dick. This one has been made by David Jones of Davy Jones' Deli, a popular sandwich-and-more joint that operates at the back of the Bait Shop, a nearby convenience store. A little over a year ago, Jones convinced the shop's owner to ditch his microwaved hot dogs and Costco potato salad for handmade, colorful sandwiches stacked high with local, organic ingredients. "We're known for our beef brisket, our pulled pork, and our vegan wraps, all with housemade condiments, including our secret-recipe vegan aioli," says Jones. Once a sea and safari cook who taught environmental science on ships, Jones spied a book about Sausalito's houseboats, and, as he puts it, "For the first time I felt geographic envy. I said to myself, there I could be a landlubber.” He and his wife now live in one of the houseboats he once envied, running the deli and catering special events. His day to day clientele? “Gangsters, yoga moms, and the uber-rich, all rolled into one,” he says.

Sounds like a novel right there.

Guests and host Leslie Sbrocco, having fun taping episode 610 of Check, Please! Bay Area at KQED. Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

Check, Please! Bay Area Season 6: episode 10 airs Thursday October 13 at 7:30pm on KQED TV 9. View other airtimes and channels.

You can watch individual restaurant segments as well as view the entire episode online. The website also provides restaurant information not specified on the show, written reviews from the guests and restaurant recipes. If you have opinions on the restaurants featured please feel free to share your thoughts. This season, Leslie Sbrocco will be sharing wine tips with each episode.

The tenth episode of the season features these restaurants: La Mexicana Restaurant (Oakland), Kabuto Sushi (San Francisco) and Pazzia Restaurant & Pizzeria (San Francisco).

Leslie Sbrocco: Wine Tips -- Making Vinegar from Leftover Wine

Guests and host, Leslie Sbrocco taping episode 609 of Check, Please! Bay Area at KQED. Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

Check, Please! Bay Area Season 6: episode 9 airs Friday October 7 at 1pm and 8:30pm on KQED TV 9. View other airtimes and channels.

You can watch individual restaurant segments as well as view the entire episode online. The website also provides restaurant information not specified on the show, written reviews from the guests and restaurant recipes. If you have opinions on the restaurants featured please feel free to share your thoughts. This season, Leslie Sbrocco will be sharing wine tips with each episode.

The ninth episode of the season features these restaurants: Pork Store Café (San Francisco), Pizzaiolo (Oakland) and Zarzuela (San Francisco).

Leslie Sbrocco: Wine Tips -- What to do with Leftover Wine

Guests and host, Leslie Sbrocco taping episode 608 of Check, Please! Bay Area at KQED. Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

Check, Please! Bay Area Season 6: episode 8 airs Thursday September 29 at 7:30pm on KQED TV 9. View other airtimes and channels.

You can watch individual restaurant segments as well as view the entire episode online. The website also provides restaurant information not specified on the show, written reviews from the guests and restaurant recipes. If you have opinions on the restaurants featured please feel free to share your thoughts. This season, Leslie Sbrocco will be sharing wine tips with each episode.

The eighth episode of the season features these restaurants: DOSA on Fillmore (San Francisco), Sapore Italiano Ristorante (Burlingame) and Gather (Berkeley).

Leslie Sbrocco: Wine Tips -- Alternative Packaging Trends

Guests and host, Leslie Sbrocco taping episode 607 of Check, Please! Bay Area at KQED. Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

Check, Please! Bay Area Season 6: episode 7 airs Thursday September 22 at 7:30pm on KQED TV 9. View other airtimes and channels.

You can watch individual restaurant segments as well as view the entire episode online. The website also provides restaurant information not specified on the show, written reviews from the guests and restaurant recipes. If you have opinions on the restaurants featured please feel free to share your thoughts. This season, Leslie Sbrocco will be sharing wine tips with each episode.

The seventh episode of the season features these restaurants: The Peasant & The Pear (Danville), Spork (San Francisco) and Ristorante Ideale (San Francisco).

Leslie Sbrocco: Wine Tips -- Wine Gadgets

Liquor going down a sewer in NYC. Photo Credit: Library of Congress

Right on the heels of California Wine Month and the beginning of grape harvest, comes Ken Burns' latest documentary, Prohibition. The six hour series, which airs on PBS stations October 2nd, takes us back to an infamous thirteen year time period in our nation’s history when the commercial production and sale of alcohol was banned. For those not glued to the prohibition era TV series Board Walk Empire, the 18th Amendment was passed in 1920 at the urging of the temperance movement.

Prohibition agents. Photo: Library of Congress

California’s wine industry, which had recently rebounded from a major pest infestation and was poised for great things, was devastated by Prohibition. Vineyards were ripped up and a majority of the more than six hundred wineries in the state were shuttered. The few that remained in business did so by producing wine for religious purposes. Beaulieu Vineyard was one of them. Founder Georges de Latour, a Catholic, was a friend of the archbishop of San Francisco. Latour cut a deal to sell wine to all the priests in the diocese.

Prohibition was supposed to curb alcohol consumption, but instead the party went underground, giving rise to a thriving criminal economy run by bootleggers and gangsters. Port cities, like San Francisco, managed to stay pretty wet during those dry years, thanks to illegal liquor brought ashore in the dead of night, carried on ships from Canada. The roaring twenties saw the rise of a new breed of young women, known as "flappers," and while beer, wine and spirits—some bootlegged, some made in basement stills flowed in hundreds of backroom speakeasies.

Flappers in the prohibition era. Photo: ©Scherl / Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo / The Image Works

After years of lawlessness, the 18th Amendment was repealed in 1933. You can still visit remnants of the Prohibition era throughout the Bay Area. Some former San Francisco speakeasies remain and dozens of wineries survived Prohibition.

Called “Ghost Wineries” some have become homes, others used as barns or shopping complexes in Yountville and St. Helena. A handful of wineries have been restored and now have a second life including Freemark Abbey, Far Niente, Hall Wines and Storybook Mountain Vineyards in Calistoga.

Freemark Abbey 1898. Photo courtesy of Freemark Abbey

We’ve come along way since the dry days of Prohibition. In seventy-five years, the state’s award winning wine industry has built itself up to be a world leader, with more than 3,300 bonded wineries. But a new threat looms -- this one from Mother Nature. Research shows that California's prime wine-producing areas could shrink dramatically over the next three decades, due to climate change.

Find out much more about the past and future of California wines at the California Academy of Sciences Prohibition NightLife this Thursday evening. You can purchase tickets online for the event or buy them at the door. KQED's science and environment series, QUEST, will be screening the segment on wine and climate change featured below and serving up wines for warmer temps. Cal Academy will be leading mixology classes and screening a sneak peak of Ken Burns' and Lynn Novick’s new documentary on Prohibition. Can you think of a better way to commemorate the end of the 18th Amendment than with a cocktail party and wine tasting?

QUEST: Napa Wineries Face Global Warming

California Academy of Sciences
Address: Map
55 Music Concourse Drive
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA 94118
(415) 379-8000
Twitter: @calacademy
Facebook: California Academy of Sciences

Check, Please! Bay Area Season 6: episode 6 airs Thursday September 15 at 7:30pm on KQED TV 9. View other airtimes and channels.

You can watch individual restaurant segments as well as view the entire episode online. The website also provides restaurant information not specified on the show, written reviews from the guests and restaurant recipes. If you have opinions on the restaurants featured please feel free to share your thoughts. This season, Leslie Sbrocco will be sharing wine tips with each episode.

The sixth episode of the season features these restaurants: Rhea's Market and Deli (San Francisco), Sauce (San Francisco) and the girl and the fig (Sonoma).

Leslie Sbrocco: Wine Tips -- Think About Texture when Pairing Food + Wine

Stark's Steakhouse. All photos: Lisa Adams Walter.

Santa Rosa chef Mark Stark knows how to satisfy the carnivorous cravings of his diners by serving them seriously good steak. Stark’s selection includes: Certified Angus Beef, in house Dry Aged, local grass fed and Kobe beef. During a recent visit to Starks, located in an upcoming part of old town Santa Rosa, my dinner companions ordered a killer appetizer line up that left little room for entrees. First up was roasted bone marrow served in bones cut lengthwise with short rib marmalade and toast. I had never eaten marrow before and was shocked at how buttery, delicious and simply addictive it was.

Bone marrow with short rib marmalade.

The hand cut steak tartare with truffled miso dressing was as satisfying as the marrow. But the topper was the banh mi Vietnamese steak sandwiches. I’m not much of a meat eater but this food was so tender and flavorful my inner carnivore was clawing to get out.

Banh mi Vietnamese steak sandwiches.

Let me introduce you to the chef. Mark Stark is a charismatic, fun lovin’ guy who cooks crazy good food. You would never know that five months ago he was a heart beat away from a coronary. “I was eating the wrong things late at night and not getting much exercise. I went on the Caveman Diet and the weight just dropped off. It was right for me,” said Stark. The concept of a high protein, low carb diet has been around for awhile but it has come back to life in the form of the Caveman and Paleo Diet which both emphasize meat, vegetables, some fruit and no starches or processed foods. Since the cavemen had to run around a lot hunting and gathering, this type of diet includes a lot of exercise. Stark hit the gym, including dedicated boxing work outs. Says Stark, “I lost 55 pounds but the best part is I have a lot more energy.” He needs that energy to manage four successful restaurants with his wife which includes the very popular Willi's Seafood and Raw Bar in Healdsburg.

Mark Stark, co-owner of Starks Steakhouse

If meat isn’t your thing, the menu at Stark's has other food groups to choose from including fresh seafood like Tamarind BBQ’d wild prawns and Tandoori Salmon. In fact, after five months of dieting, Stark is now planning to include a seafood and raw bar at his Steak House.

Tamarind BBQ'd wild prawns

Stark says the steak house menu is structured with all items a la carte so diners can design their meals to conform to the Paleo diet by ordering a protein dish and a side. The restaurant’s sides include asparagus, spinach, corn, cauliflower gratin and broccoli rabe. Just stay away from the rosemary yam fries if you are trying to drop a few pounds.

Rosemary yam fries.

So enough with all this healthy stuff. I wanted to know if real cavemen drank booze. “My guess is they drank some kind of fermented fruit somewhere. It’s not on the diet but I have not given it up,” admitted Stark. The restaurant pours an array of different cocktails and the wine list is impressive, featuring 60 percent local wines. Stark's focuses on Sonoma County wines and so did my dinner party. We started out with a sparkling J Brut Rose followed by what I thought was an excellent Ramey Chardonnay that was not over oaked. We also had a Lancaster Estate Cabernet off the menu and brought with us a La Follette Pinot Noir.

I was happy to learn that Stark's doesn’t charge corkage fees for the first two bottles. In fact, all the prices at this steak house seem reasonable.

For those interested in Stark’s success with the Paleo/Caveman diet, you can come learn more for yourself. Early next year, the busy restaurateur plans to begin teaching a series of healthy eating classes called, "Caveman Cooking."

Stark's Steakhouse
Location: Map
521 Adams Street
Santa Rosa, CA 95401
Phone: 707.546.5100
Facebook: Stark's Steakhouse

How does San Francisco’s 600 tons of compostable waste become a nutrient-rich material that improves the quality of our local wines? Watch QUEST's Science on the SPOT story, Dark Matter: Inside the Compost Cycle to hear from agronomist Bob Shaffer, Northern California’s “compost guy,” and learn about the composting process.

Photo: Robb McDonough

It's a day that wine growers, wine makers and wine drinkers all look forward to. This year the wait for that day was longer than usual. Cool summer temperatures pushed back the beginning of harvest by nearly two weeks. I visited one of the first wineries in Napa Valley to start picking grapes this year, Mumm Napa Winery. Workers began in the cool, pre-dawn hours at nearby vineyards picking Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris grapes for sparkling wine.

About 9:30am the first trucks rolled in loaded with yellow bins filled with grapes. Once a vineyard starts picking grapes, it's really a flat-out process to get everything off the vines. At Mumm, it was expected that the first day of harvest would bring in more than 60 tons of grapes. Tomorrow, Mumm will ratchet that number up to 180 tons. Workers wore powder blue t-shirts that said "Endless Summer" on the back as a way to describe just how long vintners in both the Napa and Sonoma wine countries have been waiting for harvest to begin.

This year’s crop is light and late and that is because of a wet spring and a long, cool summer. I talked with Mumm’s head winemaker, Ludovic Dervin and he told me that the wet spring meant the crops were uneven, there were big grape clusters and small grape clusters. Also, because the vineyards were so wet, they had to be thinned out. The late summer pushed back harvest as grapes needed more time on the vine to ripen. The good news for consumers is that low yields usually mean high quality. The bad news is small wine crops can sometimes mean pricier wines. We won’t have the full picture until early November when the entire harvest in both Napa and Sonoma is over. Sparkling wine grapes are the first to get picked. In a few weeks grapes for white still wines will be harvested and then red wine grapes will be picked.

In wine regions around the world there is a lot of ceremony involved with harvest time. Mumm Napa is no different. In something out of Napoleon times, winemaker Dervin donned safety goggles and yielded a saber that he used to slice off the top of a magnum of sparkling wine. Dervin then sprayed the contents on a few bins of grapes for good luck. The ceremony, often called "The blessing of the grapes," also involved handing out splits of sparkling wine to all the Mumm workers who ceremoniously popped them in unison and began spraying one another. All this celebration is a way of hoping for good luck for the coming year.

Mumm Napa seems to be doing well. According to management, sales were up more than ten percent last year. In fact, despite the struggling economy, demand for California wines is once again on the rise. According to the San Francisco based Wine Institute, California produces ninety percent of U.S. wine exports. The industry is a huge player in the state's economy with a retail value of more than 18 billion dollars last year.