El Dorado Kitchen revisited

I had a sneaky suspicion that El Dorado Kitchen was something really special, so today I was back for a proper dinner...oh man, was it worth it.

Cocktail: Raspberry cosmo charbay raspberry vodka, fresh lime juice, muddled fresh rasberries $9

Starter: Oak hill farm mixed greens mission figs, candied walnuts, la bodega sherry vinaigrette $9

Entree: Sturgeon from the Colombia river on a bed of creamy polenta, fennel and a hog-broth I think. $26 This was a special item not on the menu.

Come to find out- the executive chef, Ryan Fancher was sous chef (second in command) at Napa's French Laundry, the only three star Guide Michelin restaurant on the west coast, now running his own show here. On the way out I saw that "EDK" also had their own Michelin recommendation on the wall. So it wasn't just me who really liked this place.

This was a very enjoyable evening.

Olives, got EVOO?

Olives and olive oil is big business. The three biggest producers being Spain, Italy and Greece. The fierce competition can bring about the worst of human behavior, according to this New Yorker article.

I didn't know that EVOO is now in the Oxford American College Dictionary: Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I got curious when the acronym showed up on the grocery receipt.

Since I have a partial Greek background, and having wholeheartedly enjoyed Greek olives, I decided to be on the lookout for Greek olive varieties in California. I'll admit to being biased. Come to find out it's not easy to find in a place where ancestors from Spain and Italy sets the olive standard.

The cultivation of olive trees in the United States is centered mainly in California, the monk Junipero Serra introduced it in the middle of the 18th century during the founding of the Franciscan missions. The Manzanilla table olive and the Mission variety are some that seem popular for California olive oil. There are some three hundred small artisan olive oil growers and producers in California. The biggest packer of olives in the United States (and second largest in the world) is also based here, Lindsay Olive Co.

For Greek table olives, the standard is the big and black Kalamata olive, and for the very best in greek style olive oil it's the smaller but high oil-yielding Koroneiki olive that is king. It seems to be slowly growing in popularity in California.

The people behind the Olive Press in Sonoma, (Sonoma county's first olive mill) seem to offer a California Koroneiki oil, I would really like to visit them.

Not a local olive oil, but still interesting- I found a Greek dermatologist, Dr. Panagotacos, here in San Francisco, decided not to grow Koroneiki here but rather in his ancestral land on the island of Crete, and sell his Lykovouno brand here in the Bay area. Perhaps I've driven past his olive groves on my visits to Crete...

Here are some links on the subject:

• My current olive oil: McEvoy Ranch -popular flavored oils
• A definitive guide on U.S. olive oil, Oliveoilsource
• "How to taste olive oil" (on 101 cookbooks) -a fun read
  

Roaming around town

Today I just felt like "spying" around the town, the western side to be more precise, an area with fewer roads. No sprawling suburbia. This is where there's lots of farms and ranches. Driving only a few minutes away from our house I saw cattle, goats, chickens and lots of grapevines, how about that. Admittedly I kind of knew that, but I had never given it much thought. Above is a snapshot I took earlier today right beside the road, pretty much right next door to a regular subdivision.

Next to some unused railroad tracks, with a small creek going by, is a long wonderful stretch of wild Blackberry bushes that were until recently big, sweet and ripe. But now they have really shriveled up. (The season is now over, according to my "What's In Season-listing) The berries have been very enjoyable with plain whole milk yogurt. Wikipedia seems to hint that they could perhaps be black Raspberry's? I can't be sure.

The eating local challenge

For the heck of it I took a picture of our lonely Cherry tomato plant that's growing in the back of the house. It keeps loosing its red, ripe fruits finding its way to the salad. We also have a Satsuma Mandarin plant, but it won't be in ripe until later in the winter, I'll just have to be patient.

Today in the local paper was a listing of What's in Season, a hint on what's available when heading down to one of the local Farmers Markets. There's one in just about every town around here. Come to find out, there has been a total explosion of farmers markets:

In 1977, California had four farmers' markets. Today, experts estimate there are nearly 500 (numbers vary depending on the definition of farmers' market), with close to 100 in the Bay Area.

What's in Season -

First in season: Apples, Asian pears, winter squash.

Peak of season: Arugula, basil, carrots, chard, cherry tomato, cilantro, collards, cucumbers, fennel, green onions, green and yellow beans, kale, leaf lettuce, parsley, peppers, radishes, red onions, spinach, summer squash and heirloom tomatoes.

End of season: Blackberries, blueberries, celery, garlic, lemons, nectarines, oranges, peaches, raspberries, strawberries, corn.

Year-round: Almonds, bacon, butter, cheese, dried fruit, eggs, fish, goat cheese, honey, mustard, olive oil, oysters, perennials, sausage, walnuts and cut flowers.

With a little luck, I'll head to Sebastapol Farmers Market, I hope to find Golden Nectar Farm there, they are really close to our home. I stumbled on a nice article about them the other day. I suppose its part of my eating local challenge. I found a funny blog, Food on Food, someone trying hard to take that food challenge, somewhere in New England.

Lastly, I'll just mention that the east coast's Natural Products Expo just started, a big trade show about quality foods, in Baltimore, Maryland. I think some friends of ours in the foods business are there, it would have been interesting to check out.

A trip along Tomales Bay on Highway 1

Today was a fabulous and warm fall day. I got a chance to check out a part of the nearby Pacific coast I had never been to before, just an hour north of San Francisco. Driving south on 101 we exited the freeway by Petaluma and started driving southwest towards the coast, aiming for the town Pt Reyes Station. Really gorgeous scenery on the way, passing McEvoy olive ranch. I'd soon get a nice break at Marin French Cheese Factory. It's a perfect spot for a picnic and they offer a barbecuing area, including a small scenic duck pond as a backdrop. In the back of the shop you can even see them making and package the cheese. Naturally I had to pick up some of their soft-ripened goodies: a Schloss, a garlic version of the Quark-spread, Marin French Blue and Camembert, I excluded the Brie, the girls in the shop said the Cam has more flavor, fine then, into the cooler they go.

The shop had a lot of other goodies and I didn't stop there: the nearby O'Neill Family makes local 100% pure raw honey, I wanted some for my Straus Whole Milk Yogurt. I also saw P.G. Molinari's Salametti Secchi and Dry Salame I hadn't tried it yet. The dry and sweet Secchi is my clear favorite of the two. This is turning out to be a crazy trip, I haven't gotten anywhere and the cooler in the back of the Highlander is already getting crowded...

My next stop was Tomales Bay Foods, a Cowgirl Creamery barn-like shop in the tiny town Pt Reyes Station, at the base of the Tomales Bay. Cowgirl makes all cheeses from organic milk shipped from the Straus Family Creamery in Marshall 10 miles to the north. It was lunch-time so in the deli I picked up a ready-to-go sandwich, "Ham & Tam" containing Niman Ranch Ham, Cowgirl Mt Tam, Frisée and Dijon mustard: $7.75. For a dessert I had an organic Straus Vanilla Ice Cream, nice. It was a given I'd pick up some of their cheeses on the way out: Pierce Pt, Mt Tam (about $22/lb) and a brand new tiny cheese, Inverness, $3.50 not available in any stores. Made with lactic curd, aged 3 weeks, dense and tangy. A cute knowledgeable girl behind the counter was happy to offer samples. The shop was full of other artisan cheeses from close and far away, no factory-made cheeses anywhere. If you want salami, they offer Berkeley's Fra'Mani's, not bad. They also had locally hand-made bread by a danish woman, Anna's Daughter's Rye Bread, from Marshall, the next waterhole north on highway 1, it's was perhaps too juicy and doughy for my taste, but the rest of the family loved it.

The trip went back slightly to catch up again with highway 1 towards Marshall, since I knew that Tomales Bay is the center for northern California oyster farms, the next stop was Tomales Bay Oyster Company. It was quite easy to spot, a long white picket fence and large sign. Since we showed up in the middle of the week, there were few tourists around so the manager on site, Paco, (on the picture), gave us a private view behind the gated area. The Pacific Oysters live in the bay, and these guys sell them by the pound. I sure wanted to try some, but rather in a restaurant of some sort.

The one store that was open along the route and being just superb for a sampling of fresh local Oysters was the Marshall Store. I think most restaurants are only open during the weekends, except for this one. Scruffy looking, but there was nothing wrong with the super fresh oysters. I took a mixed plate with Barbecue and Rockefeller, $10, skipping the raw ones. Great stuff. Right next door they offered kayaking inside the calm Tomales Bay, but that's not for me.

The next and last stop was Dillon Beach, the place where you can look west across the Tomales Bay and see Tomales Point the last northern tip of the triangular Point Reyes National Seashore area. (The top picture)

Now I was done, it was time to head north east, pass the small town of Valley Ford, (unfortunately no time for the interesting restaurant Rocker Oysterfellers) and connect with the 101 freeway and get back home. I can wholeheartedly recommend all of these places for a visit.

A quick and cheesy trip

I just wanted to jot down a few lines about my earlier trip to Sonoma, a visit to Vella Cheese Company. The family-favorite is the really sharp, two year aged and intense, Raw Milk Cheddar. I know we have brought several pounds to friends in Sweden through the years and it's always a "hit". I had visited Vella Cheese factory in the past, but I think I payed alot more attention this time around. I also picked up his soft, mild and creamy Toma.

I knew he carried Laura Chenel's Chevre, (Chevre means goat cheese to us normal people) I knew I had to try it after reading about her. It had a slight goat tangyness and carefully salty. I love it.

Ms Laura Chenel is a cheese maker who has popularized goat cheese in America. In 1979, she developed the American Chevre goat cheese. Hands-down the most commercially successful gourmet goat-cheese venture in the country.

In the Vella fridge display case, it was easy to spot Vellas famous Sonoma Dry Jack Cheese. We got to sample it, it was mild and dry, but I had my mind set on other cheeses at the moment. An 18 month aged, imported Grana Padano, (parmesan-like), for grating, had to be eaten first.

An honorable mention (picture was taken a few days later at Tomales Bay Foods) goes to a smelly, salty and tangy Blue cheese, from Point Reyes Cheese Company. This what I gather their specialty and they got this right. A so called farmstead cheese maker, with their own cows, sitting next door in Marin County.

Buon Gusto!

Local food or not?

I bought a few items at Whole Foods:

Grindstone Bakery is a small artisan bakery, 10 minutes south of me in Santa Rosa, with a label that says they use a wood fired brick oven. I can email "Mario", who's email address is on the label and ask I guess. They produce an organic and sourdough 100% Rye Bread that tastes just like it does in the "old country". A type of bread that is a staple food in Scandinavia or Eastern Europe. Grindstone Bakery got this right, look at this short ingredients list: Whole Rye Flour, Purified Water, Rye Starter, Caraway Seeds, Sea Salt. That's it.
A Finn, Estonian, Russian etc, can't complain. It was actually a challenge to find real rye bread here in the Bay Area, but if you look long enough, (and at lower shelves), you can find just about anything. A loaf was $5.29 and worth every single penny.

Niman Ranch is a "quality label" I think. I was looking out for their beef/pork products. I stumbled on their sausages and bought a 4-pack of Bratwurst and Chorizo. So today at lunch, the Bratwurst "disappeared" I really enjoyed every bite and it was nice together with sauerkraut and a dollop of mustard. Niman Ranch is an Oakland CA label, but admittedly the pork products may not come from here, they include family farms from Iowa and Minnesota as well. Raised with care. No nitrates added, no antibiotics, no hormones, no artificial ingredients.

Heinkes Family Farm, Paradise California - organic Concord Grapes. This was actually a surprise. This North-American variety of grape is very unusual as a table grape. Instead, this grape disappears into grape jelly and juice. It has a very different flavor than your available-everywhere, Thompson Seedless aka Sultana grape. It leaves a deep purple color and tastes like that familiar american Welch's grape-jam, I recall from toast-and-jelly from hotel breakfasts. It contains seeds and the skin is "floppy". Thus, probably a difficult sell to people who are used to Thomson grapes. A tiny sized farm probably.

Lastly, I think I failed again, to pick up a local goat or sheep Feta Cheese. Marin Cheese Company offered I thought both varieties, but I'm now sure its simply repackaged product from "somewhere". Do they even make any cheese or have a website? I want Feta cheese in my Greek salad. The most common "Feta" in stores is Athenos, a Cow-milk based cheese from Wisconsin, that's not what I want. No offense to Wisconsin cheese-makers per se. The above company name was ridiculously close to a local artisan-cheese vendor: Marin French Cheese Company, who's cheeses I'm grabbing very soon.
I do understand that "buying local" can really be difficult. (But, at least I'm having a blast trying...) Here's an interesting blog entry on the subject. (My goat Feta cheese is perhaps from France.)

Sonoma waterhole: El Dorado Kitchen

I can highly recommend El Dorado Kitchen, located at one of the corners of the Sonoma Plaza, a well known park with Sonoma City Hall at its center. I happened to see their executive chef, Ryan Fancher, not too long ago at one of the local public events, Salute to the Arts, where he was showcasing a few of the their abilities. He mentioned that all their organic local vegetables came from Oak Hill Farms in Sonoma. I only had time for a light starter for now, but I'll be back for dinner for sure.

Charcuterie plate - (served two people just fine for a taste)

House made rillettes (meat pâté), artisanal sausages, brie tour de marze, whole grain mustard, house made marmalade $18.00

For a drink I picked a fresh Pomegranate Martini, just right, not too sweet. They have four different cheese plates on their brunch menu, they look wonderful for another visit.

A trip to Berkeley: Berkeley Bowl Market.

I got a chance to go to the quirky and hippie Berkeley to check out Berkeley Bowl, on Oregon Street, a well-stuffed high quality food-outlet. That place was totally packed with people. I'm pretty sure they manage to operate with a lower markup on quality foodstuffs than for example Whole Foods Market. I picked up a local, handmade, Fra'Mani dry salami, Salametto with only natural ingredients, made right here in Berkeley, no less. A twelve inch chub cost me $10.99, worth every penny.

Fra' manis dry salami is a hand tied salami with natural twine, mold ripened, and slowly aged. Seasoned only with sea salt, spices, garlic and wine. No added nitrites.

Surrounded by farmers

I finally took a picture of the farm closest to me, Oluf's Ranch, being less than one mile away. Their field of ever-growing pumpkins and maize-corn grow taller each day. I can come by for a hayride (see the roadside sign) in the first week of October, whee! When I googled, I noticed that they participate in something called Farm Trails, that I assume everyone in Sonoma County already knew about, except for me. It seems like I'm interested in what's referred to as Agritourism, knowing where the heck the food comes from, how it was made and grown - seeing it first hand.

Farm Trails publishes a Farm Trails Map & Guide of Sonoma County, whereby you can visit hundreds of farms, ranchers and so on. I'm told that they pioneered the idea of agritourism in California. When I looked at the Farm Trails map, it also mentions for example Golden Nectar Farm, two miles away from me... Look at that, I had no idea, I'm surrounded by farmers. Local Harvest describes them as having a hundred varieties of organically grown fruit, vegetables, flowers and herbs.

I was actually not so fond of pumpkins, however a year ago a friend of mine's girlfriend decided to make a pumpkin pie from scratch that knocked my socks off - it really was that good. I think the "secret" ingredient was a little Rum...

Scandinavian dinner in San Francisco

A real Scandinavian treat in the Fog City, served up by a Swede, Chef Pelle at one of its oldest institutions (founded in 1898): the Norwegian Club of San Francisco. Dinner consisted of wine-poached Atlantic Salmon, a delightful dill sauce, potato and grilled beans, complete with a shot of real Aquavit, a Scandinavian vodka. Finished off with a swedish Princess Cake for dessert.

The day was started with a delightful lunch at the Cheesecake factory on the top floor of the Macy's building, at Union Square I picked Renee's Special which is a chicken sandwich, homemade soup and salad, $9.95. As usual portions are huge, I only ate about half of it.

Slow food heaven at Ferry Plaza Market

Today I went down to San Francisco, for a quick tourist-trap-visit, including a chance to visit the Ferry Plaza marketplace. I had recently read about it but not actually gone there. This place is packed with fabulous local food-makers. On Tuesdays they also have a Farmers Market when local farmers and ranchers show up with even more organic goodies.

Inside, I particularly wanted to check out the Cowgirl Creamery's Artisan Cheese Shop. They sell their own cheeses, made with Straus milk, they also offer others' artisan cheeses. Lined up in the fridge display case I saw their own Red Hawk, Pierce Pt and Mt. Tam. In my fridge was already their Red Hawk, a brie-like but more stronger flavored, creamy and slightly orange-colored wonderful cheese, very nice. It won Best-In-Show at the American Cheese Society's Annual Conference in 2003. Before I forget, I just want to mention a few local artisan cheese-makers in the shop that I have either bought something from, or that keep appearing in stores that I want to track:

• Laura Chenel's Chevre
• Elk creamery
• Bellwether Farm
• Pug's Leap (hard to find)
• Cypress Grove Chevre
• Redwood Hill Farm
• Pt Reyes
• Vella Cheese Company
• Achadinha Dairy

...many fabulous California goat cheeses are nowadays available, thanks to Ms. Laura Chenel apparently.

Lunch was grabbed at one of the Ferry Plaza shops, San Francisco Fish Company, I picked a Crab Hamburger for $9.50. By the way, San Francisco Bay has a few hundred crab fishermen, but the local season only starts November 15 I'm told. In the fridge display they had local California Halibut in stock, $21.99/lb which is a favorite of mine. I like their message and emphasis on "wild caught" rather than farmed fish.

McEvoy Ranch located in west Petaluma, Sonoma County, also has a shop in the Plaza, I had already bought their organic olive oil, (a gorgeous package and bottle) and in the shop they offered their range of flavored California olive oils. The olive oil is peppery. I'm still on a hunt for greek olive varieties: black Kalamata for eating and Koroneiki olive-oil.

Lastly, Prather Ranch, out of Mt Shasta-area had a shop offering all kinds of organic beef, I sure hope I get a chance to buy some some day. They were also promoting organic no-nitrate hotdogs. How about that, $7 bucks for five upscale hotdogs...

Salami War Won by Italians in California

I went to downtown Sonoma by the historic plaza today , with a friend visting from Sweden. The place is historic because its the birthplace of the state, (the Bear Flag revolt June 14, 1846) and home to California's last mission. While I had my mind set to pick up some local artisan cheeses, (which I did) dairy is not what I'm going to write about. Instead this is about something else I really enjoy: salami. After some googling, I discovered that San Francisco is apparently the home to America's best Italian salami, after a curious salami war 1967-70, according to a 2003 story in the LA Times. According to Wikipedia, the term "Italian Salame" is a protected term for salami made in the United States.

In the back of my mind, I remembered the taste of some some terrific salami, back in Sweden (I don't know what kind); I really wanted to find something similar or hopefully even better. My first local salami-purchase-attempt wasn't anywhere close. Luckily for me, the proprietor to Vella Cheese Company, Mr. Ig Vella, who recognized my stepfather told me to try Colombus Salame Secchi. So of course I bought some from him, (together with three of his cheeses no less). After coming home from some winetasting at Sebastiani and Kunde Wineries, I couldn't wait very long to cut into the salami. (Life is good?)

The verdict? This was just the type of salami I was looking for: a mellow tasting, made the old-fashioned way, beautifully moldy, tied-by-hand and aged in natural casing, a locally hand-crafted salami. This was simply put, a truly wonderful salami "chub" in my opinion. I'll keep my eyes open for other Columbus 'artisan' line of salamis, a few of their common products are not that exciting, but the Secchi Salami was truly a classic match for my tastebuds.

A few other local quality San Francisco salami makers:

• P.G. Molinari


• Fra'Mani


• Fatted Calf

As an example of a cheap made salami I guess is Gallo Salami: "corn syrup and synthetic casings" don't belong in a salami, in my opinion. They are knowadays owned by the huge Sara Lee corporation. Like another blogger said: "they spend very little on the ingredients and a ton of money on advertising".

Where's the great milk?

So, where's the best darn milk? Lo and behold I finally found something great: Straus Family Creamery an organic dairy/creamery only 36 miles (58 km) away from me, in Marshall, Marin County, by the coast. Incidentally, that coastal area, Tomales Bay, is more known for its shellfish farming. I hope to soon sample some Pacific Oysters, Mussels and Clams.

This stuff, Cream-top Whole Milk is as good as it gets. The one attribute that was hard for me to find was unhomogenized, which means that the fat-soluable vitamins gets to stay in the milk. I had gotten used to it in Sweden, Ekologisk Gammaldags mjölk (transl: organic old-fashioned milk). The Straus milk bottle is also better since you can shake it before pouring, the swedish milk comes in a one liter Tetra brick that can't be resealed after it has been opened. I wanted milk the old fashioned, natural way. I don't want my vitamins* added back afterwards, manufactured in a BASF chemistry lab. Now afterwards (of course...) I discover that this wonderful tasting milk is even mentioned in the 'Milk' Wikipedia article, how about that:


"Unhomogenized milk has made a small comeback in a few areas, such as the west coast of the United States where Straus Family Creameries, based originally out of Marin county, sells one line of organic milk with the cream still on top in old-fashioned glass bottles."

Details: $3.79 for a half gallon (~1.9 liters) in a glass bottle, plus a $1.25 bottle deposit, money you get back when you return the bottle. Milk does taste better from a glass bottle, but plastic bottles are also available. After doing the math, the half gallon bottle ends up being 30% cheaper than the single quart size.

Other great tasting Straus products includes their tangy whole-milk yogurt, which I will mix with local honey, just like I did in Greece, and their real butter. All natural, organic and no funky ingredients.

* ) The commercial production of vitamin D3 can be obtained via organic solvent extraction of animal skins (cow, pig or sheep) followed by an extensive purification. Cholesterol typically is extracted from sheep wool and after thorough purification and crystallization can be converted via a laborious chemical synthesis into (pre-vitamin D). The major producers of vitamin D3 used for milk and other food supplementation are the companies F. Hoffman La Roche, Ltd (Switzerland) and BASF (Germany). Source: Dept of Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences. University of California, Riverside