Score!

Was a perfect Halloween night tonight--cloudy, cool, hint of a breeze that rustled the dead and dying leaves... Perfect weather too for, ummm, walking around. And that we did!

The cowgirl and the zombie bride

That selfish cat!

The Haul

Reese's: SCORE!!!!!!

It's a beautiful thing

Candy Candy Candy

Ah, am still coming down off the Who Makes the Best Pizza in Sonoma County high so now must turn to another sugar staple to get the old blood (sugar) pumping: Halloween candy. For me when talking about Halloween candy, it's ALL about the chocolate bars. And isn't amazing that much of the candy I had as a kid is still around?

Do you have a favorite? I mean, come on: I know you do, so rather the question: Which is your favorite?

Three Musketeers?

Kit Kat? Butterfinger? Almond Joy? Mr. Goodbar? Nestles Crunch?

100 Grand?

Mine is simply Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

There's no better food match than chocolate and peanut butter, IMHO. And here's an EMAF tip (though known by most, I know): to make your Reese's Peanut Butter Cups taste even better, throw them in the freezer for a bit. Ummmmmmm! Good! Anyway, have a safe Halloween. And if you want to have a little fun, check out the Hershey's Chocolate web site; it's pretty cool. And one more thing: Go ahead and splurge by having a candy bar from your childhood. It's O.K. to be a kid again for a few moments...and eating a candy bar (or two) from your Halloween's of past is one way to do that.

And the Award Goes to...

The time has come to hand out the first EMAF Who Makes the Best Pizza in Sonoma County award. Previously we narrowed it down to two contenders, Mombo’s and Pizzio’s, both of whom make a mean pizza pie. Thank you to the EMAF research team and all those who submitted their own suggestions. It’s been a fun process, and I now certainly have a few more places on my pizza radar screen to try out. So without further ado, the award goes to:

MOMBO’S

I love Pizzio’s pizza: great crust, fresh ingredients, and that special pizazz of eating in such a warm, this-is-my-neighborhood place. It’s refined pizza with, as one person commented, little or no grease.

But that’s exactly why the award goes to Mombo’s. Pizza without grease is, well, like beer without cold. To me, in other words, there’s supposed to be some grease. It’s part of the experience of eating pizza. It enhances the tactile pleasures. Yes, pizza should smell great, and of course it should taste great, but eating pizza should also feel great. I mean, let’s get right down to it: pleasurable eating is really about sensuality…which isn’t that far from sexuality. And thus to me, eating pizza is a lot like sex: if you don’t feel like you need to shower afterwards (or at least wash up), perhaps you need to work a little harder at making the experience something, you know, special, if you know what I mean.

So here’s the EMAF thought for today: The next time you have some pizza, smell it, taste it, but most of all, really feel it. You eat pizza with your hands for a reason. Trust me on this: When eating pizza, it’s O.K. to get all greasy and dirty. There…great pizza, a thought for the day, and maybe your sex life will perk up too. Is life at EMAF great or what?

Pizza on My Mind

Ah, the anticipation continues to build for the EMAF Who Makes the Best Pizza in Sonoma County announcement this Thursday. The two contenders are, of course, Mombo's and Pizzio's. Pizza of course has been on the mind's of myself and FROTB. ckd made home-made pizza last Friday, and another FROTB asked me for specific Mombo's directions. And then last Thursday while lunching with JS at Tra Vigne restaurant in St. Helena, I had...of course...their Pizza con Fichi e Gorgonzola: pizza with black mission figs, gorgonzola, basil, and taggiasca olive oil.


The pizza was fantastic. Gorgonzola is one of my favorite cheeses, which complimented perfectly the sweet figs, which I've only recently tried...and learned that I really enjoy.

Ah, only two more days! Until then, sweet (and salty) dreams.

The Thrill of Victory...

...tastes so much better when compared to the agony of defeat. I'm disappointed to report that the St. Rose Fighting Eagles 6th grade girls volleyball team came up short in their quest for the NBCS league championship, losing on Saturday 19-25 and 17-25 to arch-rival St. Helena. Overall I was very proud of the girls for their improvement over the course of the year, how they learned to play well as a team, and for how they handled themselves in defeat (and yes, before the game we did talk about how, win or lose, to act). Mad in particular had a great year. Here's a pic of her with the second place trophy:

The game reminded me of a quote I saw recently on a blog about Soviet champagne posters:

In victory, you deserve champagne;

In defeat, you need it.

Anyway, the Soviet poster blog is pretty cool. Here's an example:

And if you like champagne (or simply want to learn more about it), a great place to visit is Schramsberg in the Napa Valley. Schramsberg's history dates to 1862, when it became the first Napa Valley hillside winery. The grounds are beautiful, the tour is very educational and interesting, and the wines, well, awesome. The tour is a bit pricey--$25 per person--but I would strongly recommend this splurge. (And if nothing else, drive up to the winery and just walk around---the drive up the hillside is strikingly beautiful, among the redwoods and old oak trees.)

The Old Winery

Through the Forest

And Mad: We'll get em next year!

"...and the gloves come off..." (Part 3)

The tension is building, you can cut it with a knife: Not only do the Fighting Eagles play for the championship this coming Saturday at Justin Sienna H.S. in Napa, the results of the EMAF "Who Makes the Best Pizza in Sonoma County" will be announced next week. Ah, the anticipation, the, the, the...drama!

Today, we're going to look at Pizzio's Cucina Italiana. Now Pizzio's is a great opposite of Mombo's. It's...refined. It's a beautiful restaurant in Northwest Santa Rosa with a full menu of pasta dishes. Pizza just happens to be something they do (and do very well), because, well, people EXCEPT an Italian restaurant to serve pizza.



My favorite by far is the #10, the Rosa Pizza. This beautiful pie has pepperoni, fresh tomatoes, tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, fresh garlic, light black pepper, and a generous helping (per the menu) of Romano cheese. The sweetness of the tomatoes balances perfectly with the bit of the pepperoni and pepper and garlic.

I also LOVE their pesto pizza. If you love pesto like I do, you HAVE to try a Pizzio's pesto pizza (#1 Pizza Alla Genoa with Pesto or #11 Pesto & Ricotta).

The Pizzio's pies are much thicker than Mombo's, more dough/bread-like, which brings up an important point: they don't "drip" as much. In fact, someone posted a comment earlier that Pizzio's pizzas don't have much, if any, grease. So right! Again, it's a refined pizza experience with a bread-y base, super-fresh ingredients, and served in a beautiful Big Night-type setting. If you want to impress some friends or settle in to a pie and still feel light enough to go see a movie, you can't beat Pizzio's---particularly if you go with the pesto.

Pizzio's Cucina Italiana
2848 West Third Street in West Santa Rosa, in the Big Oak center
(707) 546-2593

Coming next week: On Thursday Oct. 25, we'll announce the winner of the first annual EMAF best pizza pie award.

"...and the gloves come off..." (Part 2)

Whew, what a day. On my second Red Tail Ale in twenty minutes. Left the house at 7:00 a.m. today for a jaunt into the heart of san fran...and arrived two-and-a-quarter hours later. Had lunch at a fabulous 95-year-old sf lunchery (more on that story later). My beloved Indians are 1.3 games from the WORLD SERIES. And then tonight the Fighting Eagles 6th grade girls volleyball team, led by the stellar serving and overall awesome play of Mad, won a thrilling overtime semi-final match against arch-rival St. A's by the scores of 20-25, 25-20, and 16-14, putting us into the championship match this coming Saturday in Napa at 11:00 a.m. (Tickets go on sale Thursday at 11:00 a.m., for anyone interested.)

But now in this moment of calm, and dark, and quiet, it's time to move to the really important subject at hand: the pizza face-off that has stimulated so much interest and comments among FROTB. Tonight it's all about MOMBO'S PIZZA.

I have to admit, I have a fondness for Mombo's for the simple fact that it's JUST REALLY ONLY ABOUT PIZZA. It's not fancy, in other words. (In fact, I WOULDN'T recommend eating in.) And I like the fact that you can order by-the-slice. I like to try new things, and this is a great way to do so. Their pies come with a thin, oven-baked crust (you can get Sicilian Style, too) that holds the fresh ingredients perfectly. I'm a HUGE pesto fan, and I believe their PESTO PIZZA is some of the best pesto around, period. Some of my favorites in addition to the pesto are:

Marguerita Mombo

fresh tomato, fresh basil, and parmesan cheese

Mondo Mombo

ricotta cheese, Italian sausage, Bermuda onion, fresh garlic, and parmesan cheese

Again, Mombo's isn't fancy, the locations aren't much to look at, and here's another thing: this is greasy pizza. Stuff drips, you need napkins, etc. Now to a lot of people, that's a turn-off. I however, think that that's part of that allure. Pizza, especially pepperoni, SHOULD be greasy; it's part of the tactile fun of eating pizza.

Anyway, Mombo's has two locations:

1880 B Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa (528-3278)

560 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol (823-7492)

Check em out sometime.

Coming Thursday: Pizzio's

"...and the gloves come off..." (Part 1)

My brother, Toby, loves hockey. We speak two or three times a week by phone, and during hockey season Toby keeps me regularly updated on all the important hockey-related topics, including which teams are playing well (and thus, at least for the moment anyway, looking particularly cup-worthy), which goalies are making the acrobatic saves, who is the league’s hot new phenom (of late, one Sidney Crosby), and that magical question which intrigues and fascinates hockey fans to no end: Who is the league’s fastest player (the fascination stems from the sheer God-given talent; you can teach hockey fundamentals such as stick handling and cross-checking, but you can’t teach speed).

Invariably, our conversation turns to Toby’s favorite hockey topic: the fights. Now hockey fights are as old as the game itself, and still have a huge following today. (There's even a web site devoted to everything hockey fight-related). They all start basically the same way. The Really Good player on team A scores a goal. The Goon on team B then gives Really Good player a cheap shot, enraging the Goon on team A and setting up a Goon A vs. Good B showdown. Toby was friends with a hockey player once, and Toby swears that the player told him that 98% of the hockey fights start this way:

Goon A: Wanna go?
Goon B: O.K.

“When they drop the sticks and the gloves come off,” Toby likes to say with that particular anticipation in his voice, “it’s time to do the man-dance.”

I think that time has come for this blog regarding a topic of critical important to Sonoma Country eaters: Which Sonoma County restaurant makes the best pizza?

Now granted, this is a huge topic, one which, if given its proper treatment, might take years to research and cost several million dollars (and maybe a life or two along the way). To save that time and potential loss of life, EMAF has been diligently studying this topic for the past six months. Our researchers have been canvassing the pizza joints throughout this fine county, conducting random eater polls, even combing through grease-coated menus studying styles, ingredients, and names.

The results? We’ve narrowed this challenge down to two contenders: Mombo’s Pizza and Pizzio’s Cucina Italiana.

This week, we’re going to provide an in-depth look at both. Feel free to comment, vote, even offer other contenders. Then on Friday, we’ll announce the Every Meal A Feast Pizza Grand Prize Winner. It’s surely—surely—something not to be missed.

Iron Chef Incanto-Style

Just a quick note that Incanto restaurant chef Chris Cosentino is a contestant on the Food Network's "The Next Iron Chef" show, which airs Sunday evenings at 9:00 p.m. This is an eight-part series in which one of the contestants will be named, of course, the next IRON CHEF. Good luck, chef Chris!

The cast from The Next Iron Chef:

(These people play all day with fire and knives.... Is is cool to be a chef, or what???)

Who's Your (Sugar) Daddy?

The benefits to FROTB just keep coming: all, here's an invitation to help support the Sonoma County Public Library Foundation by tasting chocolate and watching a great old-time movie. See why you should never miss an EMAF posting?!? I mean, come on: does it get much better than that?

The SC Public Library Foundation's annual Chocolate Tasting at the Rialto takes place October 17. The tasting begins at 6:00 p.m., followed by the movie Singin' in the Rain at 7:30 p.m. Needless to say, there will be a huge and fascinating assortment of chocolate from places like Michelle Marie's Patisserie, Powell's Sweet Shoppe (AWESOME web site--check it out), Dinner's Ready Catering, and Petaluma's Water Street Bistro. Tickets are just $30 per person or $50 per couple. All proceeds benefit the Library Foundation. NOTE: This event sold out last year, so don't delay. To purchase tickets or to receive more information (or if you can't go and still want to make a donation), contact Melissa Kelley, who is President of the Library Foundation, at:
mkelley@sonic.net
(707) 537-8783

To get you in the chocolat mood (as if that's ever an issue, right?), you might want to rent the movie Chocolat or check out La Maison du Chocolat in Paris.

Anyway, I hope to see you at the Rialto on the 17th, and remember, this charity event is for the kids!

Hello Darkness My Old Friend...

October has arrived with its cooler days and growing darkness. Dinner last night was chili and cornbread (smeared, of course, with butter), definite fall comfort food for a., mad, and myself. I'm starting to gear up for some fall/winter foods, including homemade chicken soup, a crock pot with a pot roast and veggies, my sweet potato casserole, and so on. And, of course, one of my favorite desserts: pumpkin pie.

Here's a pic of mad at the pumpkin patch, taken last year.

It's one of my favorite pics of her, with that look on her face which I know all too well and the uncontrollable urge (like her dad) to sometimes bite off more than she chew. I have to admit, I have a certain nostalgia about a lot of things, but thankfully I'm losing my desire to visit pumpkin patches. It's always like 90 degrees, there's NO shade, it's dusty as heck, and there's no beer or wine. Anyway, enough of that. Stayed tune later this month for my pumpkin pie recipe.

Napa Valley Everyday: Part 2

Man, how time flies! Back in July (see my post of July 4: Napa Valley Everyday: Part 1), I began the first of a three-part series on "Napa Valley Everyday" restaurants--small, off-the-beaten path places I love for lunches while in the northern part of the Napa Valley, on Highway 29 stretching from St. Helena north to Calistoga. Now, finally, it's time to move to Part 2: Buster's Southern Barbecue and Bakery.

Buster's is located at the main stoplight in Calistoga, at Highway 29 and Lincoln Avenue. It's a low-slung building with neon signs and, best of all, an outdoor barbecue pit. I love to drive by in the early morning on my way to a meeting and see brisket and chicken and pork smoking on the grill...and just knowing that I'm going to be hitting there at lunchtime.

Sandwiches basically fall into four categories: tri-tip, pork, chicken, and hot links. I love to get a chicken sandwich slathered in their awesome bar-b-que sauce (I go for mild; and fyi, yes, hot means HOT) with a couple of sides, usually chili beans and cole slaw. And of course I wash everything down with a Black Diamond Amber Ale. Ahhhhhh. Buster's also serves homemade desserts, including cookies, muffins, and my favorite: sweet potato pie.

It doesn't get much better than this:

Ahhhhh:

Buster's is great home-made food made with care by real people (yes, there really is a Buster--I see him all the time). Anyway, check it out sometime.