table talk / By Bob Doran

Eat food.

(Feb. 1, 2007)  It’s Tuesday morning, deadline day. My wife Amy just left for work; before she took off she saw me staring out the window and asked what I was thinking about. I admitted I was not sure what to write about for this week’s food column.

There was the Art of Wine tasting we went to last weekend at Gabriel’s, where we sampled the new releases from Moonstone Crossing- a truly fine array of fruity reds, by the way but I really want to see David and Sharon’s operation in Moonstone Heights before I tackle that subject. “No, don’t write about that,” said Amy. I’ll save it for later, but I should mention that David and Sharon are hosting a “special tasting” and pouring more of those new releases at Libation this coming Tuesday, Feb. 6, from 5-7 p.m.

Amy didn’t like my next idea either, an examination of something I read Sunday about the American diet. She worries that people know too much about her personal eating habits, which I might throw in. “Don’t write about that either,” she urged me.

Of course there’s plenty of assorted news in the local restaurant business to touch on. I’ve heard they’ve opened Three Foods Café, the new place behind the Arcata Co-op, next door to Rita’s Mexican Grocery, but I haven’t had time to eat there yet, and I’m not even sure what the “three foods” are. The sign on the door says they’re open 5-7 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, with a reservation number: 822-WISH.

I’ve also heard what’s going into the space on 9th St. that Amiga’s Burritos held down oh-so-briefly: It’s called Sushi Spot, and yes, sushi will be on the menu. Before you question the wisdom of opening a sushi place less than a block away from Tomo, one of the most successful Japanese restaurants around, I must tell you who’s opening it: Fukiko Marshall, the owner of Tomo. If you’ve ever tried to get a reservation at her place on a weekend night, you’ll understand how she might want to have a place for the overflow. The plans for the future of the business are actually more complicated than that, but they’ll have to wait for another day. Look for the Spot to open some time in March if all goes according to plan. Does it ever?

Sometimes it does. Construction on Café Brio is near completion. Owner Serge Scherbatskoy tells me the Alchemy team has successfully passed all the major inspections and permitting hurdles and, “We’re looking to start training people in March and hope to open some time that month.” Skilled baristas, bakers and kitchen workers looking for a cool place to work should file an application.

I hung around Muddy’s Hot Cup until closing Saturday night, when The Country Pretenders played, and ended up walking from Northtown to the Jambalaya to see The Rubberneckers with Muddy’s owner Cory Stevens. He’s on the verge of ramping up his lunch menu, which already includes panini, ziti, other quick take-out or eat-there items. I’ll have more on the changes later. BTW, I had one of their “Night Train” mocha shakes that night. Yum. (And the caffeine blast helped with the night on the town.)

I’d arrived at the Hot Cup early, since I knew Fred and Joyce and company would pack the place (they did). Before I sat down I grabbed the front page for Saturday’s New York Times. I did not actually get to read anything but a tiny teaser for an essay that ran Sunday in the NYT Magazine, a 10,000 word think piece by Michael Pollan, arguably the most important food writer du jour, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, a book I have referenced in this space more than once. When I got up Sunday morning, I broke off part of an apple fritter I’d bought the night before at Don’s Donut’s (knowing full well it wasn’t the right thing for me to eat) and I found the article online (probably should have walked up to Wildberries and bought the Sunday Times, but I didn’t).

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