Rowan's Creek Bourbon

Tonight's after-dinner drink is Rowan's Creek bourbon by Kentucky Bourbon Distillers. I'm having it neat, with a small bar of 72% cacao chocolate.

The aroma is very light and mellow, just a whisper in the glass. The flavor is smooth and sweet, with butter and cinnamon that just drawls. Delicious.

Into The Dragon's Den/Drake's Glen Chocolate

Tonight for dessert I'm digging into my Christmas presents.

Spicy Dark Bar by Drake's Glen Creations of Humboldt County, California. I have paired the bar with a shot of Bulleit Bourbon, neat.

Drake's Glen is an artisan chocolatier, distributing their numerous treats around Humboldt County and online. I was given three of their bars for Christmas, and being a lover of dark chocolate, I went straight for the richest bar.

If the gold foil wrapper is a symbol of riches, the drake is right to guard this hoard. Spicy Dark has 72% cocoa solids, and is seeded with tiny pieces of crystallized ginger. The chocolate is smooth and dry, right in my sweet spot of taste. I have a very modest relationship with ginger, but the ginger here gives just a hint of spice and citrus to keep you from succumbing completely to the darkness. I do recommend taking a chaser of your preference, to get the full impact of each bite.

I plan to give the two milk chocolate bars their due very soon. One has cranberries and almonds!

Bear Foot In The Kitchen

During the week I don't devote much of my morning time to breakfast. Sleep and reading the news usually takes precedence. On weekends I celebrate the morning on its own terms. Recently, I felt that such a morning demanded focus on one of my favorite honeys, which I pushed to a showcase position.

Breakfast: poached eggs with sea salt and black pepper over baby spinach, whole-wheat toast with butter and Bear Foot creamed chai honey, paired with black coffee.

Since visiting the Santa Rosa Harvest Fair '09 I've had a special love for chai-infused honey. Bear Foot's was not my first, but it's worth close attention. Observe:




















Bear Foot's creamed chai honey is a delightful blend of sweet and spices for those who love cinnamon toast, but would be interested in taking things to the next level.

On the whole, the company's operation is pretty remarkable. Everything is delicious, but their devotion to unique, artisan honey is the essence of Low-Hanging Fruit. For Christmas, I gave jars of their Raw Knap Fire and Raw Mint-Thistle honeys. I would have given the chai, but it was sold out in even the smallest of quantities. These two honeys are beautiful freaks of nature. They are born of wildfire, and the serendipitous consummation of otherwise strange pollens. They literally will never be tasted again in quite the same way.

I have a bad habit of saving things and never using them. I used to horde Halloween candy until it spoiled. I've saved honey until it turned to crystal. The lesson I can learn from Bear Foot honey is that if something goes unused, it loses whatever wonderful potential it had. You have to break the jar's seal to enjoy its contents, and even if something you love is, by its nature, limited, something else will surely come along. Enjoy life's fruits while they're ripe, and more will come in time.

Gnawin's, Part 1

A few weeks ago I set out to Louisiana with little notice and only the vaguest notions of where I would wind up. The lucky thing is I've received numerous suggestions from some of the natives on where to go and what to eat in New Orleans. I was excited, but really had no idea of how hard I would fall for this town. Despite the usual expectations that surround the infamous Bourbon Street, I enjoy the casual, upbeat atmosphere around the French Quarter. I could easily spend a week or two here, eating the city, if my trip allowed it. Unfortunately due to my schedule I've had to make some hard choices about where to spend my time. So I've opted to seek out the best.

Last Saturday night I dropped into the Bourbon House. They pride themselves on delicious seafood and a broad selection of choice bourbon. Work had me in the mood to treat myself, so I knew this dinner would be no-holds-barred.

Appetizer:

Raw oysters on the half-shell, bourbon and soda.

What do I really need to say here? Rich, tasty morsels from beneath the waves, with sides of ketchup, horseradish, and lemon, with Tabasco at the bar. You either love them, or you're eating somewhere else.

Main Course:

Seafood Boulibase.

Shrimp, squid, mussels, and scallops mingling with creole tomatoes in a lovely saffron broth. I usually try not to make a big scene while I'm peeling my shrimp, but this is honestly wonderful stuff.

Dessert:

Chocolate-stuffed bread pudding, Eagle Rare 10-year bourbon neat.

This finisher had me floored. A layer of rich, dark chocolate nestles itself into the syrupy pastry. The Eagle Rare was the restaurant's bourbon of the month, and it's warm strength helped open up my taste buds even wider. I could easily forgive being served this in a foam take-out box; I think it was late and the dishwasher wanted to go home.

Aram's Cafe

FOOD ALERT!!! I'm issuing an immediate alert to everyone who enjoys good food. Aram's Cafe in Petaluma offers a delightful variety of Mediterranean and Armenian specialties, enough for three healthy, hearty meals a day, nestled in a cozy cafe setting in the heart of downtown Petaluma. The bad news is despite these charms, Aram's is on the verge of closing down. This is not a matter if "if," but "how soon." I'm ashamed that I let this fruit whither on the vine when I should have been savoring it through all seasons, and I worry that this rich cultural niche may be left unfulfilled for a while, at least to the same level of quality and care.

Appetizer:

Falafel, baba ganoush, hummus, and dolma.

Main course:

Lamb shawarma

Dessert:
"Bird's nest" baklava with pistachio, lemon cheesecake

I'll admit, the shawarma is a bit of a safe choice, but delicious nonetheless. Aram's menu, full of lamb, eggplant, and pomegranate chicken has enough intriguing choices for anyone. I'm looking forward to this Saturday, when I'll return for their weekend brunch as a pre-game to the Petaluma Farmer's Market.

Ferry Building Farmer's Market/A Springtime Lunch Tour

Last Thursday I was in Alameda on business, and I decided to call up Molly Mayhem for a lunch companion (always a good idea.) She guided me to the Ferry Building Plaza Farmer's Market, and its broad variety of treats. We got a burger with some very special sauce, Korean tacos (grilled beef, kimchee, rice, and shrimp in a nori wrap,) and...okonomiyaki.


Okonomiyaki is sometimes referred to in the west as Japanese pizza. It hit me a little more like stuffed crepes. The name loosely translates to "whatever you like, grilled." This food riot you see balanced on my knees is filled with kimchee and covered with onions, soy sauce, and mayonnaise, and it was delicious. Carving into it with chopsticks is a struggle, but however you get this into your mouth, it's worth it.

Fortified for the afternoon, we did some running around for groceries. Molly brought us to a specialty store where I was lucky enough to find a snack I'd been seeking for a while: raw chocolate. As I'd read, the concept behind raw chocolate is that minimally processed cacao in high density is a great health food. Here the focus is not so much on the flavor but the nutrition in raw chocolate.

This is just such a chocolate bar, the Righteously Raw Goji Cacao Bar. The slim, rectangular bar is 90% raw cacao solids encasing a patty of thick goji berry paste. You read me right: 90% cacao solids. Snapping off the first bite, the bitterness of the chocolate is...significant. Pronounced. I think it dried out my tongue a bit. The bar's label declares no refined sugar and I believe it completely. I struggled through it with little comfort from 8 amino acids, 21 trace minerals, and immune-stimulating polysaccharides. This was a unique, healthy experience that I doubt I'll revisit.

Ending the day, Molly taught me how to poach an egg before sending me home with some fresh local spinach and sweet potatoes, and a couple wedges of cheese. For better presentation, I have included one of those cheeses in a salami sandwich:


Molly pointed out the distinct grassy flavor of this cheese, and she was dead-on. The grass cheese (forgot its real name) isn't exactly like faceplanting in a meadow, but there is a hint of vegetation, and it's actually quite pleasant. At room temperature the stuff spreads like butter, and I like to imagine that it's how the cow would have intended:

"It should taste just as it came from the Earth, moo."

Tequila

It's no mystery that smells have a powerful effect on the brain, quickly bringing back memories. Last night, at another tasting dinner put together by Myrtlewood Liquors, the smell of fine tequila took me over. From 2005 to 2009 I spent about half my time traveling, and much of that was around Central and South America: Panama, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Honduras all stamped my passport. The bars in that area tend to share a few characteristics, like spicy grilled meats, outdoor carts selling ice cream and bags of chili-spiced mango slices, cilantro-spiked seafood, and wooden tables seasoned over the years with dribbles of lime juice and tequila. Even a blonde-haired gringo can triple the quality of his service just by stringing together a coherent sentence in Spanish.

Tequila took me back to just such a place, those hot beaches, those alleyway bars, those carnitas y tostones. Three distilleries, three varieties each: Corazón, Pepe Zevada, and Tequila Ocho; blanco, reposado, and añejo. Dejame a mostrarlas.

First course:
Avocado and Mango Salad with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds and Crumbled Queso Fresco.

This simple, no nonsense salad was a cool starter. Balance it right on your fork and each bite cuts a broad swath of textures and flavors, from creamy to crunchy, salty and sweet. It paired nicely with our blancos. I especially liked the full, sweet flavor of the Tequila Ocho Plata '08.

Second Course:
Ceviche Mixto.

Once again, I was thrown deeply back into my Latin American travels. I hadn't eaten a ceviche in about a year. I had it first in...I want to say Panama, but it could have been Ecuador. Here we have squid, scallops, onion, tomato, and cilantro, in tomato juice. Every ceviche is different, and there will be regional preferences wherever you go. I prefer mine heavier on the citrus, but this was still pretty good.

This course rounded out the blancos, and took us well into the reposados, my favorite of which being the Pepe Zevada. I loved the sweet, fruity aroma of grape, apple, and sugar; the Z just opened up with big, bright flavor, like ripe summer fruits and flowers, finishing with a mild spice. I may have been the oddball of my table, but Pepe Z was my distillery of the night, and this was my favorite tequila. It may not be straight-up traditional, and I wouldn't reach for it to make margaritas, but if I were back at the hotel gardens in Santa Rosa, watching the boaters on Lago Atitlan, this is the tequila I'd sip on.

Main Course:

Spiced and Skewered Chicken over Cabbage Cole Slaw.

These skewers came with the 19-month aged Pepe Zevada Añejo. I was lured in with a sweet vanilla aroma, and then given a nice little spank from this surprisingly forward and spicy tequila. It finishes with a lingering warmth, nicely complimenting the chicken. This was followed by the Tequila Ocho Añejo: with a more classic "tequila" aroma, the Ocho's bold, fruity flavor really made it stand out.

Dessert:


Roasted Plantains with Goat's Milk Caramel.

A perfect menu selection. Plantains are a classic Mexican dessert, one that I first found in Guatemala. I've tried to make them myself a couple times, and it takes some effort to get the starchiness out of the plantain and make it into something palatable (hint: it's not a banana, so don't treat it like one.) This came with a shot of Reserva del Señor Almendrado, an almond-infused dessert tequila, sort of like Amaretto. The rich, syrupy taste of cherry and chocolate was just decadent. I drank some, and poured the rest on my plantains, and promptly went insane from the amazing sweetness.

As the night went on, I was amused at how much the restaurant started to resemble a Mexican bar. All the smells of the tequila and the rowdiness of the diners came together just as they should. Vaya, corazón.