When Alexander Yang moved to Humboldt County amid the pandemic lockdown in 2020, he hoped to build his relationship with his mother More Yang, who goes by Wendy and had moved north from Fresno 15 years earlier. For the past couple of years, their plans for Kogiri, a Korean barbecue spot in Arcata, have stalled […]
Eat + Drink
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Chili Town: A Look Back at Fieri’s Fair Cook-off
Coming from his sold-out meet and greet, dressed in snakeskin boots and smoking a cigar, Guy Fieri took the stage to announce the winners of Humboldt County Fair’s Chili Cook-off, calling it “some of the best chili” he has ever seen. The grandstands were the epicenter of a flavor explosion on Aug. 21, as 12 […]
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Summer Abundance
I have a pretty good sense of how much produce I can eat, which usually prevents me from going overboard, but sometimes doesn’t, particularly in the summer. When market stalls and farmstands overflow with an abundance of colorful, flavorful vegetables and fruit, restraint remains parked outside. I often have a surfeit of zucchini or summer […]
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Twenty-nine Pies
Given our collective scientific knowledge and culinary skill — and here I mean the “we” of humanity — should we not have adjusted our flour and fat ratios, balanced our spices, determined the proper slice dimensions and cooking temperature to have already, some 700 years into baking variations of it, arrived at The Apple Pie? […]
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Rolling Out a Carrot Cake
I’m a sucker for sweet treats, such as homemade cakes, tarts, and pies. If I want to whip up something new, I practice until my brain surrenders. Lately, l have been on a mission to perfect my carrot cake and l finally succeeded. For years, carrot cake was not on my list of favorites. The […]
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What’s Good: Ice Cream Sandwich Edition
I have had some good days playing hooky. An easy top-five entry is the afternoon I spent with a dear friend on a park bench facing the water, eating vanilla ice cream sandwiches, the wax wrappers moving gently in the breeze. In the last summers of the 1800s, some genius in New York City swapped […]
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Meals and Bloodmobiles
Traci Palmer always knew giving blood was important; her father has been a lifelong donor, topping out at 14 gallons. But it wasn’t until her sister Tiffany Armstrong, director of donor services at the Northern California Community Blood Bank (NCCBB), gave her a tour of the Eureka facility that the reality of blood shortages hit […]
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Kokoro Ramen Opens with Comfort
A feathery betta fish painted by muralist Kyle Sanders drifts above the red door to Kokoro Ramen in Eureka’s Old Town (409 Opera Alley). Owner Joe Tan, who can look down at it from nearby Rooftop, where he’s behind the sushi counter most days, has been looking for a place to open a traditional Japanese […]
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What’s Good at Friday Night Market
Eureka’s Friday Night Market festivities are in full swing on the blocked-off streets of Old Town each week (but for the July 4 break). As you weave through the musicians, vendors and performers, here are a few new food stalls to check out. Summer ceviche Arcata Pizza and Deli (APD) has lately branched out with […]
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Oyster Winners, Contenders and Could-have-beens
By 10 a.m., the 10 judges whom organizer Jessica Silva (a Journal contributor) had asked to arrive by 9:30 a.m. were finally assembled around the long table on the stage at the rear of the Wild Hare Tavern. Entries for the Arcata Bay Oyster Festival’s annual Best Oyster competition were trickling in on paper plates […]
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Humboldt Dockside Market Sells Out of Fish in 30 Minutes
Despite reported poor weather over the past few weeks, the Humboldt Dockside Market debuted in Eureka’s Madaket Plaza on Saturday, June 7, at 9 a.m., selling out of fish within the first 30 minutes. Megan Kenney, director of the North Coast Growers Association’s Harvest Hub, said the market opened with fewer fishers participating than expected […]
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A Ranking of Snack Shack Eats at the Arcata Ball Park
Trips to the concessions stand are part of the baseball experience — central to it, for some of us. At the Arcata Ball Park, the tab is surprisingly inexpensive, with food items topping out at $9, a pittance compared to big stadiums. This leaves you with a little extra to earn a “Tip, tip, hooray!” […]