Depending on the day you’ve had, a cocktail may or may not cover it — even if it comes with “intention,” like those on the bar menu full of essential oil-spiked concoctions at the Griffin (937 10th St., Arcata). Might they be where the room’s pleasantly herbal fragrance is coming from? In any case, despite the […]
What’s Good
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Boardroom Decisions
Somewhere in Los Angeles, a restaurant owner is poring over reclaimed barn wood samples and polishing the hell out of a concrete floor to achieve a rustic farm vibe to go with his or her artisanal meats. Godspeed. No such staging required at The Boardroom (3750 Harris St., Eureka), though the redwood slab counters don’t […]
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La Vie en Duck Fat
When the erstwhile bistro Zoe’s newly installed wood fire oven went cold, it seemed that once again you could find anything in Henderson Center (coffee, bike repairs, mole, a haircut, a drink, Japanese kitchen gadgets, Lao rice cakes) except a starched white tablecloth. Then Le Monde (2850 F St., Eureka), a French venture by chef Alex Begovic […]
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All That and a Pile of Gaufrettes
Maybe you are among the economically wise and self-disciplined folks who bring lunch to work. Even you, my fiscally responsible friend, will slip eventually — oversleeping, running out of bread, spending more than your usual 15 minutes gazing into the existential abyss of your closet — and head out without your brown bag/reusable beeswax cloth […]
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Welcome to the Neighborhood
Let us pause to appreciate the neighborhood taco truck. True, the trucks parked beside your favorite watering holes are doing the Lord’s work, putting tasty, blessedly absorbent food in our bellies when most we need it. But get caught up in yard work past lunch or come home from work to a crisper full of […]
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Meet Me Out Back
If you’re looking for some industrial realness, the narrow lot behind Redwood Curtain Brewery (550 S G St, Arcata) is primed for your Instagram feed. There you’ll find palettes stacked with malt sucks, hulking silver brewing tanks and the fire engine-red Loco Fish Co. truck. The truck parks there seven days a week from roughly […]
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Summer Checklist
We need a term for the sudden panic at the start of August when we realize summer is finite and we have not yet had all the fun. It was this wave of recreational anxiety that led us to Lighthouse Plaza (180 Lupin Drive, Arcata) for mini golf in the shadow of a Bunyon-esque lumberjack. […]
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Doughnuts Rising
Sit-down doughnut options are too few and far between. And yet the doughnut should be a legitimate breakfast option alongside bacon and eggs, pancakes and waffles. Drive-thru doughnut shops are necessary because sometimes time is of the essence, people. But can we not give this glorious, unifying food that crosses all social and political boundaries […]
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Naughty
Let’s not pretend names don’t matter. This week Ferndale’s favorite foodie son Guy Fieri revealed that his trademark Donkey Sauce — principal export of Flavortown — is just aioli. It’s hard to know whether we should feel duped or just relieved on behalf of donkeys. And did aioli really need rebranding? Naming is a tricky business, […]
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Meltdown
Artisanal toast hasn’t yet made its way past the Redwood Curtain but expect it soon. Just wait. Until then, you can work on grilled cheese. The Artisan Cheese Factory, née Loleta Cheese Factory (252 Loleta Drive, Loleta), upped the ante on its bevy of samples when it opened the Queso Kings grilled cheese bar in […]
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Mussel Bound
Put away your clam diggers — domoic acid has put the local clam digging party on hold and mid-calf pants are hard to pull off anyway. But this is not to say shellfish is off the table. In fact, let’s take a moment to appreciate the other mollusks that are so often overshadowed by our […]
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The Upside Down
In the 1950s and 1960s, sweeping into a dining room or a backyard barbecue with a cinched waist and pineapple upside down cake for company was the height of suburban hostessing. The magazine clippings and index cards bearing recipes for America’s own version of tart tartine could have built a land bridge to Hawaii. But […]