Barbecue has gotten a little esoteric. At once secretive and boastful, the macho hype surrounding the grill can make you long for the simple sweetness of pork cooked low and slow without all the fuss. This is a good time to swing into King Salmon for hole-in-the-wall Polynesian barbecue at Sammy’s BBQ & Catering (1125 […]
Food
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Á la Truck
The appeal of a crepe is its delicate nature. Sure, you love the lumberjack-powering stack of flapjacks meant to send you off to either haul timber or drop back into bed like a felled tree. But crepes are the pancake’s refined French cousin, impractical, requiring special pans. Crepes are art for art’s sake. Hum Grown […]
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Southern Comfort
This far northwest, Southern cooking is exotic. Slice of Humboldt Pie (Redwood Acres, 3750 Harris St., Eureka), in its rotating menu of sweets and savories, features a pair of dueling southerners. First there is the Kentucky Derby pie ($20), which is essentially a walnut pie that got drunk on Bourbon at the track. The crust […]
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Duck, Duck, Bacon
Not every business lunch calls for the classic steak and Martinis, and not all of us can return to work after that sort of thing. Choosing where to break bread and make deals can be high pressure. Don’t sweat it — you’ll ruin your suit. (Kidding, Humboldt. Work hoodie, whatever.) The duck B.L.T.A. at Plaza […]
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Crab Invasion
In the same way that pumpkin spiced everything shows up in the fall, in winter legions of crab specialties hit our county like Attack of the Crab Monsters, which maybe you caught during the Crab Festival. The overwhelm — not to mention the underwhelm — is enough to send you straight back to cracking your […]
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Korean Tacos: Geography vs. Destiny
The Bering Strait, scientists speculate, could have once been a land bridge between Asia and North America. Just a hop, skip and a jump across some glaciers, and yet we’ve had to wait thousands of years for that hybrid of Asian and Mexican cuisine, the Korean taco. It’s a schlepp to to the Creamery District […]
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Fried Pie
What could be more American than apple pie? Easy. Deep fried apple pie. And you needn’t wait until summer for some carnie at the fair to snuff out a menthol and drop a wedge of frozen pie into bubbling grease. Aim higher. Slice of Humboldt Pie (3750 Harris St.) makes fried apple pies you can […]
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Playing Chicken
It’s always a gamble, an act of guts. You look at the words “fried chicken” on the menu and you just don’t know. Because what you want is so specific: the crunch, the salt-and-pepper simplicity, the juiciness. You lock eyes with the server, making everybody a little uncomfortable, and ask, “How is the fried chicken?” […]
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Up with the Sunrise
There are some who swear by a greasy breakfast for a hangover. But what if it’s already past the dreaded 11:00 a.m. cutoff by the time you roll out? No worries — you can still catch the sunrise at Surfside Burger Shack (445 Fifth St., Eureka). The Sunrise burger, that is ($7.95). Humboldt grassfed with […]
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Poppin’
A reader emailed a hot tip that sent us to Pachanga (1802 Fifth St., Eureka) for jalapeño poppers ($9.50). Aren’t they all kind of the same? Push away all those unhappy memories of TGI Friday’s and its frozen and fried heartburn bullets. Pachanga’s arrive four-to-a-plate and looking like stunted corn dogs. The thick cornmeal batter […]
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Ringside
Some people can’t even look at food after Thanksgiving. But you’re better than that. There is a lot to distract you at Shamus T Bones (1911 Truesdale St., Eureka), what with the sparking Tesla coil, the judgmental taxidermy and the controversially boiled ribs. Take the advice of another Journal tipster and focus your attention instead […]
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Truck-stop Truck
Toni’s Thai truck is no more. Its cook has returned to Thailand, leaving us bereft of green curry and jasmine rice on wheels. The shiny red truck has been transformed into the Redwood Local, parked at Seventh and I Street in Arcata. Embrace the change and the meta-weirdness of truck stop fare from a truck. […]