“You don’t think you’re going to make much of a sweat working at a museum but moving things around really gets you there,” says Josh Buck, executive director-curator of the Clarke Historical Museum. Looking at the behemoth of an iron stove hauled into the main hall from the backroom of the Samoa Cookhouse, it’s easy […]
Eat + Drink
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Wildwood Waffles Heads North
The sweet smell of Wildwood Waffles has left Rio Dell. After a final weekend of waffling, owner Harry Smith has packed up his irons for Gig Harbor, Washington, where another branch is already in business. “This isn’t my choice to leave that place,” says Smith, nor did he want to leave Rio Dell. But after […]
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Sushi Spot’s Tipping Point
The social media response to Sushi Spot posting its new policy regarding gratuities was swift and nuclear, with Facebook posters and commenters largely deriding the announcement, some even swearing off patronizing the business for good. But the plan itself, the automatic addition of an 18-percent “equity fee” for dine-in and 10 percent for takeout to […]
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Alchemy’s Pop-up Magic
Less than an hour before sunset, the Alchemy Distillery (330 S. G St., Arcata) gives off the glow and thrum of a party through the large open window counter, where patrons sit inside and out, bustling bar traffic on one side, overhead heat lamps cutting the chill on the other. There’s still a line of […]
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Mazzotti’s Shuts its Doors
On Thursday, Jan. 11, Joe Mazzotti says he had nobody to cook at Mazzotti’s, so he didn’t open the iconic Arcata Plaza restaurant. “December was probably one of the toughest financial Decembers I’ve had to face,” he says, explaining the restaurant was only pulling in about half of its usual $5,000 per night. “My money […]
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Spreading Vegetable Joy
It’s January and “Eat more vegetables” is in the air. There are variations, of course. Fruits are mentioned as well, the Mediterranean diet makes frequent appearances, the gut microbiome may also be invoked. The core message from many voices remains the same: Eat more vegetables. The path to implementing that resonant piece of advice must […]
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Jersey Boys
Yellow neon letters curl in the window above bright café chairs outside Jersey Scoops in Loleta (348 Main St.). Inside, there are more rainbow-colored chairs and barstools, shelves and refrigerators packed with local jams and snacks, and a refrigerator case stuffed with beef and eggs from Ferndale’s Foggy Bottoms Boys Farm. On a barnwood wall […]
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What’s Good
La Flor Mixteca grows in Freshwater Driving in the early dark past Three Corners Market at the intersection of Freshwater Road and Myrtle Avenue (5945 Myrtle Ave., Eureka), the brightly lit logo of the Flor Mixteca truck glows like a winter mirage. Since the name references a region in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, […]
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Classic Oatmeal Cookies Revisited
Winter has arrived, so far carrying buckets of rain. Spreading a sweet aroma around the house by baking cookies is an excellent antidote to seasonal claustrophobia, when I start feeling caged within the walls of short, wet days. Guided on one hand by my Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies (“What-if Cookies,” Jan. 13, 2022) and […]
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A Second Chance at Wok In Wok Out
On April 18, the day before his wife, Kommaly’s birthday, Ronnie Worasen, then owner and chef at Hunan Restaurant, was driving his sister-in-law and 4-year-old son to Safeway in Eureka to buy a cake. At the intersection of Harris and Dolbeer streets, a speeding red Ford truck ran them into a telephone pole and sent […]
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Benedicts at the Burger Joint
When T’s Café North closed up shop, Arcata’s roster of brunch spots took a blow. Not to worry. Since August, the stacks of stuffed French toast and the roster of champagne cocktails served in Mason jars have migrated the few blocks to Burger Joint, run by the same owner, Halleh Paymard. Happily, you needn’t wait […]
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Fieldbrook Market Closes … for Now
When Lisa Springer approached her neighbors Ross and Kelly Costa about the Fieldbrook Market & Eatery three years ago, it was to rent space for making ramen. Springer had tried the Japanese take on Chinese noodle soup in San Francisco and gotten hooked. “Every city I go to, the first thing I do is look […]