Slobbering over the recent Dean and Deluca catalog? BiteClub found out the
gourmet grocer is sourcing it's ridiculously cute purse cake from local bakery,
Patisserie Angelica. Here's the great news. You can order the tasty tote for
$65 at the shop compared to the $180 D&D is charging in the catalog. Score!
6821 Laguna Park Way, Sebastopol, 707.827.7998.
Slobbering over the recent Dean and Deluca catalog? BiteClub found out the
gourmet grocer is sourcing it's ridiculously cute purse cake from local bakery,
Patisserie Angelica. Here's the great news. You can order the tasty tote for
$65 at the shop compared to the $180 D&D is charging in the catalog. Score!
6821 Laguna Park Way, Sebastopol, 707.827.7998.
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Channel your inner czarina at the new Vodika Lounge in Petaluma, NorCal's first 28-degree premium vodka tasting room. As in it's actually 28 degrees inside (four degrees below freezing). The lounge-within-a-bar-within-a-restaurant accommodates eight sippers at a go, part of the revamped bar scene at Graziano's Ristorante. On opening day (Nov. 21, 2008), Charbay distiller Marco Karakasedic will be on hand from 7 to 10pm talking vodka and pouring.
Why the deep freeze? Sonia Perozzi of the restaurant says that 28 degrees is the only proper temperature to serve vodka. Hey, why not.
Faux fur hats and jackets are provided for your comfort. Bring your own tiara.
In addition to the new chill room, Graziano's has also redesigned their bar lounge to include designer martinis, Italian small plates (piatti piccoli), caviar and oysters. The bar is open until 2am.
170 Petaluma Blvd. North, Petaluma, 707.762.5997.
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How does a restaurant last two decades? And not just last, but thrive. What keeps people coming back year after year, Friday night after Friday night, season after season? What brings in families, couples and seniors in equal number?It's not flashy décor or advertising. It's not a swanky location or hip cocktails. It's not a celebrity chef or fancy ingredients. It's so much more ridiculously simple than that.
It's word-of-mouth. According to a recent Nielsen study, 78 percent of respondents said that one of their biggest influencers are other consumers - both positive and negative. In fact, negative comments seem to sway folks even more than positive ones. Don't I know it.
- Continue reading China Room: Still solid>>>
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- So, the news is in...COPIA will likely be selling off its 12-acre property which is struggling with a staggering amount of debt and move operations into San Francisco. Word is that the food/arts center may try to lease back part of the building to stay maintain its Napa presence, but that's still up in the air.
From day one, Napa's luxe food, arts and wine center, COPIA, has struggled to find its raison d'etre. Pretty much anyone who's been there says the same thing to me: "It's a really great idea, but I don't really get it."
Winemaking philanthropist, Robert Mondavi's grand vision of a home where food, wine and art intersected was a noble idea that turned quickly turned quixotic. But in the booming 1990s, excess and passionately indulgent ideas could be passed off as quirky and interesting. We might not get it, but who cared. It was art. And food. And wine. In Napa.
As bank-accounts dwindle, however, excess seems less amusing. COPIA tried to reinvent itself numerous times, cutting back on the bizarro art, adding more approachable classes, reaching out the community. Recently they asked Tyler Florence, the nice-guy Food Network chef who lives in Marin (and is working on an SF restaurant) to front its culinary program. This is the guy who shilled for Applebees. How everyday can you get?
Things seem to be continuing to digress, however. There are rumors that the building will be sold, that Julia's Kitchen is in hot water and the natives seem restless (as evidenced by recent comments to turn the building into a go-cart racing center).
And though it would be easy to jump on the bandwagon of hostility toward this multi-million dollar fiasco, the whole thing is actually pretty discouraging. I have always loved the idea of COPIA. I'm proud to live in a place that had the gumption to support it for this long. I have been absolutely enamored of the Taste3 conferences held there each year, bringing together some of the greatest visionaries in food, wine and art. The sale also doesn't bode well for the Oxbow Market, which has faced its own struggles but seemed inexorably tied to the food-focus of COPIA.
Is COPIA a lofty idea that's out of touch with the current economic climate? Or did it ever stand a chance. Sound off...
- Snark from SF.Eater.com
- The PD article
- Napa Valley Register readers suggest what should be done with the building...now for sale.
Heir apparent to the troubled Club Seven Ultra-lounge (now liquor-free until mid-December 2008) is Santa Rosa's newest entrant into the nightclub scene, Casbar. As in bar. Not the Clash song.
Here, you'll have to do your rockin' off the Santa Rosa strip rather than downtown. The two-room club is located on Santa Rosa Avenue inside the Days Inn--as in the place you drop off your mom to take the airporter to Oakland. Just a stone's throw from the Santa Rosa Adult Superstore. Not far from The Mighty Quinn Smoke Shop and other grown-up goings-on along the boulevard.
Oh, to be a parking lot video camera at this cultural crossroads.
Weekends are thumpin' DJ-driven hip-hop and house jams, while the rest of the week offers up live bands and theme nights (like Thursday's queer-friendly Glam night). The space offers pool tables, electronic darts and two full bars as well.
Like Seven, Casbar has a "strict" upscale dress-code, though what exactly that means is anyone's guess. I'd err on the safe side and avoid jeans, sweatpants or anything with your kid's picture on it. Gang colors, not so much.
So, uh, when do the bubble parties start? I'm just asking.
Casbar, 3345 Santa Rosa Ave., Santa Rosa, (707)568-1011
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Wine Country dining. Drive-through sensibility. Heather Irwin’s dish on Sonoma, Napa and the North Bay's best restaurant bets—short, sweet and just what you need to know.
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