Brunch is the most social of meals, built for leisure and stretching out the day. It may be the most challenging to eat alone, though I’ve done it happily. (When you focus on your French toast completely, it’s a different experience, and eavesdropping on the next table is juicier after a night out.) Now that […]
On the Table
Posted inOn the Table
A Dream Realized at Powers Creek Brewery
I’m sitting across a bar table from Dylan Schatz, chief cook and kettle washer at Powers Creek Brewery. He’s recounting a time he talked his way into some event at the revered and now lamented Anchor Brewing Co. He told his host about the bottling line he worked on at Mad River Brewing Co., which […]
Posted inOn the Table
Matcha Pavlova, A Delicate Drama Queen
Who doesn’t love a dramatic dessert? Pirouetting near the top tier of the over-the-top dinner finales, just below things that are set aflame, is the Pavlova. There is dispute over the birthplace of this airy, fruit-laden miracle, just as rumor surrounded the birth of the Russian prima ballerina, choreographer and ballet company founder for which […]
Posted inOn the Table
Oyster Fest in Photos
The Arcata Plaza was once again thronged with shellfish aficionados, day drinkers and music lovers for the 36th annual Oyster Fest. While the crowds reveled at the zero-waste party in the sunshine, judges, including yours truly, held their bivalve conclave, emerging to declare Mainely Lobster winner of both Best Oyster and Best Raw with a […]
Posted inOn the Table
Brews for a Cause at the Homebrew Festival
In the years before the pandemic, the festival filled Arcata’s other, much larger, community center. This felt intimate and back-to-basics with maybe 20 brewers, several dozen brews of various kinds, with hard-driving band The Mojovators performing multiple sets. It’s like the difference between a recent Platinum Edition Ford pickup and an F100 from back in […]
Posted inOn the Table
A Cauliflower Dish for Spring and Beyond
While spending Holy Week in Italy, I encountered hard-boiled eggs at several tables and was reminded of the Easter breakfasts of my childhood. Every year my father recalled his childhood’s version of the meal which included eggs blessed at the church before consumption. My mother made hard-boiled eggs regularly and I often asked to […]
Posted inOn the Table
Greghini’s Brings Philly to the Wild Hare
In the Wild Hare Tavern’s windowfront kitchen, the flat-top grill hisses against a layered rectangle of mortadella, Genoa salami and capicola (or “gabagool,” as the cured pork neck and shoulder is known among Sopranos fans and spanning the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border). Flipped onto a split Amoroso roll with mayo and circles of provolone, shredded lettuce, […]
Posted inOn the Table
Decolonize Your Palate
Knowing your ingredients goes further than familiarity, says Crystal Wahpepah. The Three Sisters Cake she’s teaching Cal Poly Humboldt students to bake in the stainless-steel kitchen of the Rou Dalagurr Food Sovereignty Lab today makes a solid example. The Three Sisters, as the North American Indigenous staples corn, beans and squash are called, are all […]
Posted inOn the Table
Hmong-Japanese Fusion Magic at Alchemy
On Thursday before her three-day pop-up dinner weekend at Alchemy Distillery, Pangnou Vang had plenty to do but only one worry: mustard green pickles. “I’ve been pickling it since Tuesday,” she said, a process that normally takes three or four days, depending on the weather. “I’m just hoping and praying it turns out like I’m […]
Posted inOn the Table
Mi Rinconcito Pupuseria Salvadoreño Pulls into Tasty Hub
Joaquina Imelda Quintanilla’s granddaughter peers just over the ledge of the red Mi Rinconcito Pupuseria Salvadoreño truck. It’s an echo of how Quintanilla grew up in El Salvador, tagging along after school to the restaurant kitchen where her Aunt Lilian worked. By 12, she was able to help her aunt prep and cook a little, […]
Posted inEat + Drink
What’s Good? Luxury Fries
Fries, so often a throwaway side, at least in their preparation, deserve attention and appreciation. The potato from the Americas, julienned and immersed in a riot of bubbling fat in France or Belgium — I am not taking the side of one colonizer over another — is in itself an indulgence and, when served truly […]
Posted inEat + Drink
Where’s the Catch?
Not all of us are ready to catch our own crab like a sport-fishing kayaker, a seasoned commercial fisher or a wily otter. But at last, after stormy weeks and a spate of delays, the sun shines on the docks and, after some price negotiation, Humboldt crabbers are hauling their catches to market. Many of […]