The Fremont Diner in Sonoma is truly a diner.  But one with farm-to-table fresh ingredients – and housemade bacon.  I like that their food has a bit of a Southern flair. And the old truck parked outside definitely adds character to the experience. I love the indoor charm, as well. 

On a recent visit, we tried their slow-cooked beef brisket hash with fresh sage and an over-easy egg.  It was perfectly seasoned and the meat was fork-tender and full of flavor. 

Being quite particular about biscuits, I couldn’t wait to try theirs, fully expecting a less than satisfactory experience.  I was dead wrong!  Their biscuits were moist, flaky and tender, with crispy edges.  Pretty perfect – and a great accompaniment to their housemade bacon. 

Slow-roasted pork BBQ is also a Southern treat about which I am particular.  Theirs did not disappoint me.  The sandwich was quite generous in size, and the meat was cooked to perfection – falling apart tender.  And the sauce was good, too.  The bun was slightly thick for me, but overall, it was a great sandwich. 

I topped it off with a dish of collard greens.  Theirs had a nice spiciness and vinegar finish – really good.  

The indoor dining space is small, but there is a huge space for outdoor dining, given good weather conditions. 

The Fremont Diner is located between Sonoma and Napa on Highway 121.

This was a year filled with extraordinary food and beverage adventures.  It was difficult to narrow down a “Best of the Best” list, but here are my picks for 2011:

Best Overall Coffee Experience: Roasting beans and doing a comparative tasting with Scott Miller, owner of Ogeechee River Coffee Company, Savannah, Georgia.

Best new chocolate confection chef: Chris Kollar of Kollar Chocolates in Yountville, California.  Especially love his passion fruit, coconut and peanut butter chocolates.

Best foraging adventure on a farm: La Petraia in Radda in Chianti, Italy, with owner and chef, Susan McKenna Grant.  Foraging was followed by a cooking class and lunch that featured our foraged ingredients!

Best wine harvest experience: Goosecross Cellars, Napa, California. Was such a learning experience to follow Winemaker Geoff Gorsuch during the pressing and crushing of the grapes for their Viognier wine.

Best new chocolate bar: Askinosie Chocolate, Springfield, Missouri.  I absolutely adore their new single-origin bar made with cacao beans from Honduras.

Best organic olive oil discovery: Castelas’ Biologique Olive Oil, Les Baux de Provence, France.  Grassy, aromatic, spicy and delicious.  This is a perfect finishing oil.

Best dish using brussel sprouts: Bottega Restaurant, Napa Valley, California.  Their new crispy brussel sprout salad is phenomenal.  I was upset that they took their shaved brussel sprout salad off the menu but this new salad is truly superior – so full of flavor and crunch!

Best new diner: The Fremont Diner in Sonoma, California.  Farm-to-table, Southern-inspired dishes such as BBQ pork sandwich, collard greens and housemade biscuits.

Best sugar discovery: Wasanban from Shikoku, Japan.  Wasanban is a very fine-grained sugar that is made from a thin sugar cane plant grown in Shikoku.  A friend in Japan sent it to me.  I have been using it to sprinkle on dessert crepes and cookies and to sweeten tea.  I love its delicate texture and sweet flavor.

Best affogato (gelato with a shot of espresso): Poggio in Sausalito, California.  They dress their affogatos up with slices of toasted almonds and candied orange peel.  Exquisite!

Best caramels: Jacques Genin in Paris, France.  These caramels melt in your mouth and dance on your tongue.  The flavors are rich and the texture is perfect.

Best wine education experience: Les Printemps de Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, France.  Was there in April for a tasting of grenache wines from several different soil types and microclimates within the Chateauneuf-du-Pape appellation.

Best new artisanal salt: Jacobsen Hand-Harvested Pure Sea Salt from Netarts Bay, Oregon.  This salt has a wonderful crunch and a bright, clean flavor.  Excellent finishing salt.

Best hamburger in San Francisco: 4505 Meats, San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.  Haven’t tried every hamburger in town yet, but this was my favorite of the ones that I tried this year.

Looking forward to discovering what new “Bests” 2012 will bring!

Note: Top photo taken by Oliver Seidel and Nicky Stich of deliciousdays.com.

Manresa Restaurant in Los Gatos was our choice for my recent birthday celebration.  We had been hearing about the restaurant for years – about the gorgeous and equally delicious food that was being served by Executive Chef David Kinch and his team.  A couple of our friends had been recently and raved about the food and the experience.  The restaurant is located in an alleyway in downtown Los Gatos.

Our overall experience was really amazing – primarily because of the food.  There were a few glitches – primarily a rough start with our server who either misunderstood or did not like our choice of the vegetarian tasting menu.  (We are not vegetarians but with all of the fresh, local, seasonal produce available right now, we just wanted vegetables!)  However, when the food started arriving, we just relaxed and enjoyed the absolutely incredible dishes – 15 of them in total.

We started with a delicate black olive madeline served with an intensely-flavored red pepper gelee.

Our next course was fried kale with parmesan churros.  The kale was finished with a nice sprinkling of fleur-de-sel and the churros had just the right hint of parmesan cheese.

Next we enjoyed a dish of juniper berry soda with sorrel sorbet and meyer lemon.  It was so refreshing!

Following that, we had two mandarin orange slices in a  jasmine tea gelee.

Our first main course was Delta asparagus with white & wild rice, chrysanthemum fronds and sweet rice vinegar.  My husband is not crazy about asparagus and he loved this dish!

Next we had tempura radishes with salsify emulsion and pickled cucumber with dill.  I had not thought about frying radishes before, but this was a wonderful dish – it really brought out the flavor of the radishes.

After that, we were served what they simply called “the vegetable garden”.  It was a brilliant assortment of herbs and vegetables from the garden – all extremely fresh and appealing.

Next we had broccoli with parsnip puree, arugula flowers, capers and olive oil.  I loved this dish!  The parsnip puree was packed with flavor, and the capers were such a nice contrast.

That was followed by a green vegetable veloute served over mustard cream and vegetable purees.  A vibrant dish that had a tangy yet almost sweet taste.

Next we had green pickled strawberries with goat cheese, roasted ramps and sorrel.  I had not thought of using green strawberries before – a very creative dish.

After that, we were served a dish with a potato and green garlic fritter, grilled morel mushrooms, roasted radishes and bulgar in a sorrel puree.  This was a very meaty-tasting dish – very filling.

Next we had Yuzu sorbet with green tea granite and a fresh strawberry.  I love Yuzu and the sorbet was so nicely flavored.  The green tea was intense and was balanced by the sweetness of the ripe strawberry.

Then we had a luscious dish of coffee cream, chocolate caramel mousse and hazelnut ice cream.

That was followed by chocolate madeleines with strawberry gelee.  We loved that we had started with savory madeleines and gelee and finished with sweet ones.

Our final dish was chicory and coffee macarons – a very nice touch!

It is worth noting that the breads – four of them – that were served throughout the evening were outstanding, too – a whole-grain levain, tiny brioches, olive bread and a seeded bread.  I loved that they were served with unsalted butter that had fleur-de-sel on one side only.

After the last dish had been served, they brought us a bag of cookies – chocolate ones and vanilla pistachio ones – to take home with us.

At the door, we were offered salted caramels – made fresh daily.  I took a few for the next morning – so glad I did!  They were exceptional!

We are so happy that we chose the vegetarian tasting menu.  It was exactly what we were hoping for.  This restaurant was an excellent choice for a special occasion.

Manresa is located at 320 Village Lane in Los Gatos.  Visit them at:  http://manresarestaurant.com/.

Lunch at L’Essentiel Restaurant in Avignon was a terrific experience. We were greeted warmly by the charming owner, Dominique Chouviat, and she stopped by throughout the meal to make wine recommendations, to make sure we were happy with our selections and to offer suggestions. You could tell that she was very proud of the food that was being prepared by her husband, Laurent, who is the chef/owner. L’Essential offers set menus, which include a starter, a main course and a dessert, at very reasonable prices.

First of all, the food was excellent – well-prepared, flavorful and artfully-presented. And the Rhone Valley wine that we ordered, a suggestion of the owner, was perfect. We started out with the choice of a rabbit and eggplant terrine served with a wild arugula salad or a dish of baked eggs with brandade (a tasty salt-cod and potato dish). I chose the rabbit terrine and it was so full of flavor. There were several choices for main course – a very flavorful chicken with cream sauce served with olive-oil mashed potatoes, or a roasted fish with olive tappenade and creamy polenta.

For dessert, we ordered up apple tartlets with caramel sauce and fromages blanc with raspberries that had cotton candy on top. The atmosphere was bright and modern and there is a terrace for outdoor dining.

L’Essentiel is located at 2 Rue Petite Fusterie in downtown Avignon.

When I couldn’t take my scheduled flight to Paris this week due to the volcanic ash issue, I did the next best thing – searched for French-style macarons in San Francisco. 

A macaron (not to be confused with the wonderful coconut macaroon that I adore, as well) is a French sandwich cookie that has a flavored filling in the center.  The cookie itself is made from ground almonds, egg whites and sugar.  It is crispy on the very outside and light and chewy within.  Fillings can range from silky chocolate or vanilla to tangy fruit ganaches. 

After trying three different French-style bakeries in the city, I decided that my favorite macarons come from a shop that focuses specifically on macarons – Paulette on Hayes Street.  The macarons from Paulette were just the right texture – lightly crisp and chewy.  Some of the ones that I tried from other bakers were almost gummy.  Paulette had 16 flavors and I am not embarrassed to say that I tried a number of them.   The fillings were intense – you could really taste them.  My favorite flavors were the passion fruit, caramel, toasted coconut, lemon and Jamaican chocolate.  The passion fruit and the lemon fillings really had a nice “punch” to them.  These macarons reminded me of the ones that I get at Laduree in Paris. 

Paulette SF is located at 437 Hayes Street in San Francisco.

Restaurant Le Jardin du Quai is located in the charming village of Isle-sur-la-Sorque in the Provence region of France. The entrance to the restaurant is through a lovely garden that is filled with rustic tables, large plants and beautiful artwork. The restaurant is owned and operated by my friend, Executive Chef Daniel Hebet, who earned a Michelin star at La Mirande in Avignon before moving to Isle-sur-la-Sorgue to open his own restaurant. The inside of the restaurant is stunningly adorned with antique pieces including timepieces and a gorgeous torch chandelier. But the real attraction here is the food.

On a recent visit, Chef Hebet’s team prepared a special truffle lunch for us. We started with poached eggs that were topped with a generous portion of julienned truffles, then wrapped in prosciutto and covered with creme fraiche and a sprinkling of fresh chives. That was followed with a Dover sole that had been roasted whole, then portioned out, topped with truffles and served with a mache salad. The next course was a tender filet mignon served over sliced truffles with with diced, roasted celery root and mushrooms. The meal was exquisite in every way. The courses were paired with wines from the region. On a previous visit, during mushroom season, Chef Hebet served the most incredible-tasting sauteed cepes (porcini-style mushrooms) that I have ever tasted. I can still remember how amazing they were and can’t wait to go back this autumn for more.

Desserts are incredible there, too, but on our last visit we only had room for some decadent French-style marshmallows. Man, were they good!

Le Jardin du Quai
91 avenue Julien Guigue
Isle-sur-la-Sorgue – 84800 Vaucluse – France
tel: 04.90.20.14.98
       .,

One of my favorite treats this time of year is local Dungeness crab. Dungeness crab is the most abundant type of crab in California.  It is found primarily in Northern California.  Dungeness crab has a reddish brown shell with a white underside and white-tipped pincers.   It is one of the largest edible crabs found along the Pacific Coast of America.    

Dungeness crab is meaty and sweet.  I love cracked Dungeness crab – it is so worth the work required to pull the crabmeat out of the shells.  During crab season, I order it at least once a week at Fish Restaurant in Sausalito.  Their crab is the best I have ever tasted, and I don’t like to eat it anywhere else.  In addition to chilled cracked crab, Fish makes an unbelievable crab cioppino and also gingered crab that is served over linguini.  At times, they also have crab tacos (my husband’s favorite) and a crab potpie.   

At Fish, I know that the crab that I order, as well as the fish, are all sustainably-fished.    This is important to me and I’m willing to pay a little more for it.  And I love that the Dungeness crab is sourced locally, as is Fish’s fresh produce.   

Fish Restaurant is located at 350 Harbor Drive in Sausalito, California.  Note that Fish takes cash only and has an ATM machine onsite.

Cibo has become one of our favorite cafes in Sausalito.  I am very picky about espresso drinks and coffee, and Cibo serves Blue Bottle Coffee.  They use two shots of espresso in their coffee drinks so they have a deep, robust coffee flavor.   Cibo features a seasonal menu, and they have specials that change daily.  They serve both breakfast and lunch seven days a week.  Some examples of their breakfast menu include granola with yogurt, toast with housemade conserve, steel cut oats, a seasonal vegetable frittata, and poached eggs with creme fraiche.  For lunch, they serve a variety of seasonal paninis along with soup and salad.  Some of my favorite lunch menu items are their yellow and red beet salad, their dungeness crab panini, the wild mushroom panini and their lentil salad.  Today their specials included a winter vegetable and farro soup, a stuffed artichoke and a meatball sandwich. 

Cibo is owned by the Ancona family of Sausalito, also owners of Angelino Restaurant here in town.  They are open daily from 7am to 5pm. 

Cibo
1201 Bridgeway
Sausalito, CA  94965
(415) 331-2426

I am always looking for new food adventures, and I had many great ones throughout the year.  Here is a list of my top 10 food or food-related discoveries of 2009 (in no particular order):

(1) the red pepper velvet cake at Dirt Candy in NYC
(2) the skillet bacon jam from Skillet Street Food in Seattle
(3) the pechiole al tartufo (truffled wild peaches) from Conti Foods in Florence, Italy
(4) the professional cheese knife from Claudine Vigier of La Fromagerie du Comtat in Provence
(5) the amazing tasting menu and setting at La Petraia, a restored working organic farm and agriturismo in Tuscany
(6) the chilaquiles from Primavera at the Saturday morning SF Ferry Plaza Farmers Market
(7) Cibreo Restaurant in Florence, Italy
(8) The Nibble Bar from Askinosie chocolate, made in Springfield, Missouri using cacao beans from Ecuador
(9) the brussels sprout salad at Bottega Restaurant in Napa Valley
(10) three crushed dried chili peppers from Whole Spice in Oxbow Market in Napa – chili aleppo, chili marash and chili urfa

We love to visit New York in December and were just there for a weekend filled with food, holiday cheer and snow!  We decided to stay in the SoHo area of town to be close to many of the things we wanted to do.  We started our weekend with dinner at one of our favorite restaurants – Dirt Candy in the East Village.  Two of our favorite dishes that night were the warm Pumpkin Salad (which had four types of pumpkin and squash, along with toasted pumpkin seeds and arugula) and the Red Pepper Velvet Cake (just the right amount of red pepper flavor in a very moist cake, topped with cream cheese icing).

On Saturday, we started the morning with coffee at Joe the Art of Coffee on 13th Street.  Our next stop was the Union Square Greenmarket, where we met our friend Christine Kim, from Fresh Local & Best fame.   We shopped at the farmers market and the Christmas Market, had hot cider and marveled at the huge apples and assortment of potatoes.   We went to Max Brenner for hot chocolate to warm ourselves up a bit.  Then we went over to the Chelsea Market, a delightful indoor food market that has a great assortment of breads, seafood, meats, Italian goods and much more.  Next on our list was a visit to Shake Shack for hamburgers.  We loved them but really should have stuck with one each, instead of two!  That evening, we had dinner at Dell’Anima, a charming West Village neighborhood restaurant that specializes in fresh, local ingredients with an Italian flair.  Our favorite dishes there were the half moon-shaped pastas filled with roasted beets, black sesame seeds and ricotta cheese, along with the risotto that was finished with white truffle butter.  After dinner, we went to our favorite bar, Little Branch, for a couple of their hot buttered rums.  It had snowed all afternoon and evening, and we had a wonderful time trekking back through the snow and taking pictures.

On Sunday, we awoke to a very white snow-covered scene outdoors.  We went to The Little Owl for brunch and arrived a bit before the chefs, who were delayed due to the weather.  Our favorite brunch items were the meatball sliders and the french-fried potatoes with brussels sprouts.  After brunch, we took a taxi over to the New Amsterdam Market, located underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.  They were having a special “Winter Wares” market, and we sampled spiced ale and marveled at the beautiful cranberries, pastries, yogurts, lobster bisque and variety of artisanal food items.  Afterward, we made our way to the Southwest corner of Washington Square Park where we participated in a Hot Chocolate Crawl.  There were six destinations for hot chocolate on the map and directions that we were provided.  We made it to only three, but had no hesitation when choosing our favorite hot chocolate, hands down.  It came from Marie Belle in the SoHo area.   That evening, we dined at delicious Prune on the East Side.  We started with their special that night of seared ham with mustard and savoy cabbage.  Then we both had an amazing beef stew – their pot au feu.  It was different than what we have had in France in that it was served with a whole filet mignon steak and a marrow bone in the bowl.  It was tender, juicy and so flavorful.  We concluded our meal with a brandied cherry trifle. 

For a couple of foodies, the weekend could not have been better.