J'aime Cette Nourriture*

Hmmmm.... Every once in a while, life actually seems to imitate fiction. Case in point: a new acquaintance of mine -- one Isabelle, who, along with her husband Awad own Chez Pierre restaurant in Novato -- has come to me asking for my marketing help. In short, they need more diners.

Isabelle and Awad are authentically French. Their menu alone makes my mouth water: tartine au jambon, smoked duck salad, magret de canard au poivre vert, and, of course, crème brulèe. Their prices are, in my opinion, very reasonably priced. And they are very centrally located, just a short jaunt from Highway 101 and only minutes from Novato's Old Town.

Oh, yes (as they say) there is one TINY little challenge: being authentically French, and hence not fully understanding American culture, the lease I&A secured for Chez Pierre happens to be a building which formally housed a... Denny's. Hmmmm.... Now there is a saying that if something LOOKS like a duck and QUACKS like a duck, it's probably a duck. Despite the fantastic job I&A have done remodeling the INSIDE of the restaurant, the outside still sort of -- O.K., does -- look like a Denny's.

My mind is racing. Candles have been lit. I'm about to do a Tarot reading, for guidance and inspiration. Pray tell, do any of you FROTB have any ideas on how I&A can attract more customers? (I can only eat so much boeuf bourguignon.) Please let me know your thoughts. This is "Big Night" all over again -- strangers to America, trying to make a restaurant a success, struggling and on the verge of... well, on the verge. In "Big Night", the brothers' struggles continued. But they didn't have me. Or you.

*I love this food.

Thought for the Day

Pic title: Working Lunch

I met my friend rh the other day to talk biz, and, somehow (!) the conversation turned to food and wine. Turns out r is a big Every Meal A Feast fan. In fact, she said something that pretty much made my head spin around not once, but twice: that Every Meal A Feast should become a movement, much like the slow food and other "quality of life" movements. Hmmmm. I'm still thinking on that one, digesting it, if you will, but I also know that, in the words of Gertude Stein, there's something there there. Much more on this later.... Thanks r, for the kind words and inspiration (and yes all -- EMAF has its SECOND groupie; Jimmy Z though is still No. 1, always and forever).

In the meantime, enjoy this little morsel to begin your week (unfortunately, I've temporarily misplaced the author's name):

Nothing should be taken more seriously than pleasure.

Amen to that.

You Ladies are EXPENSIVE!

Brrrrr -- it's been cold of late in the mornings! And that means potential frost damage to -- be still your heart -- our grapes. Yesterday I was on my way to that awesome Napa Valley lodging site, The Wine Country Inn, when I saw all the various keep-the-vines-frost-free "things" going: big fans whirring away (to circulate air), sprinklers spitting, portable pots puffing out warm smoke, etc. Later, talking to my friends at Nord Vineyards, who own or manage 900 Napa Valley vineyard acres, I learned several things, including:

* The Nords believe they've lost about 10% (or 90 acres) of grapevine buds

* Spring frost can't kill the grapevines, it can only damage the new growth, and thus make those vines not produce any grapes that year

Foreground, warming pots; background, sprinklers

Well, 90 acres doesn't sound like a whole lot, does it? But I did the math: you get approximately 4 tons of grapes per acre, which translates into about 250 cases of wine per acre. Say each bottle is $25, that's $300 per case. So each acre produces about $76,800 of wine. Multiple that by 90 acres... and that's $6,912,000 in lost revenue to wineries, grape growers, etc. Ouch! Mother Nature (one of the "Ladies" referred to in the title) can be humbling, and expensive, force! Anyway, keep warm this weekend, and know that the vineyard management folks are working hard to keep the vineyards warm, too.

No Kitchen = FRESH

Back late today from an all-day conference in San Fran on marketing, in which I learned many new things, including, IMHO, the two keys things to moving from surviving to thriving in life and in biz, when, on the way home, I (of course--come on!) stopped at one of my fav San Fran haunts: Swan Oyster Depot. Now let me say this: you just GOTTA love a restaurant that doesn't advertise, doesn't have a web site, and doesn't even have a kitchen! No kitchen, man, that seafood BETTER be fresh!

Much more on The Swan later, but suffice to say: awesome, colorful, homey, and full of that word you know I love -- character.

Ciao for now.

Swan Oyster Depot

1517 Polk Street, at California

San Francisco, CA 94109

M-Sat 8:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

My 'Quanto Basto'

My friend Monica suggested that, if I wasn't already familiar with it, I should get on the mailing list for VIVA: the Culinary Institute of Florence and the Italian Cultural Center. (O.K., she said that this just 'screams' me, so there.) I checked it out and wow, too cool for school! Apparently VIVA, located in our own tiny Sebastopol, puts on cooking classes and demonstrations for all things Italian. I was browsing their list of upcoming classes, and the one on May 15, I Sughi (sauces) really caught my eye. Here's a description straight from the VIVA email blurb:

Italian sauces are simple and to the point. Sauces can be spooned on top of pasta, tossed with it, baked with it, or served separately. But not so fast, here is the really tricky part: All Italian sauce preparation calls upon the measurement, technique, and all-around philosophy of life known as quanto basto -- literally, "the amount that is enough" or "the right amount." The philosopher-cook must always know and use precisely quanto basto.

Very cool, huh? We can all use the philosophy of quanto basto in our life, from the amount of wine we drink (not too much) to the amount of marketing we do for our business (not too little).

Anyway, the class will be taught by Chef Veronica Case Thur May 15 from 11:30-2:30 p.m. (don't people have JOBS?). Cost is $80. I'm gonna try my best to get there. Hope to see you, too. For info and to register, visit their web site. Ciao.

P.S. The pic is of the pasta puttanesca, at Pizzio's.

Smooth P

Ya gotta love a place that advertises right from the get-go "Piping Hot Polenta" and "Ice Cold Beer on Tap"... which is the case at Willow Wood Market-Cafe in Graton, in West Sonoma County. I had lunch with g. there the other day, and it was, as usual, fab. For me, Willow Wood is all about the "P" -- polenta. They have several on their menu, including my favorite: polenta with goat cheese. It's a wonderful homey, creamy, stomach-warming concoction. And what makes their polenta so, well, different is that it's so smoothhhhhh. Nice! The polenta with goat cheese comes topped with roasted red onions and house-made pesto. Your taste buds with thank you.

And the place is fun, too, with all kinds of eclectic (even for West Sonoma County) little gifts and knick-nacks. Anyway, check em out sometime. Their web site is pretty basic... but the food is great!

The Night My Poker Buddies ATE Very Well

You FROTB will remember the time last June when my poker buddies drank very well (long story short, I took the EXPENSIVE bottle of Conn Valley wine when I thought that I had grabbed the EVERYDAY bottle). Anyway, we played again Friday night, was my turn to host, so I splurged, hiring my friend monica s. who's a certified natural chef and caterer to cook for the guys. WOW! SCORE! Check out this menu:

~ Fresh pineapple and fresh strawberry salsa... with plantain chips

~ Turkey and two-bean chili... with m's spice blend

~ Cornbread with serranos... hot but not hot-hot

~ Spicy lime slaw

~ And m's killer brownies

Awesome! We all loved the chili and cornbread, and Jimmy Z went to town on the slaw, but the real head-spinners-arounders for the night were the salsa and the brownies. m even let me in on her secret brownie ingredient, which is... well, I'm not gonna tell. Not only was the food great and the meal truly a feast, I learned some new things too, such as:

~ m cooked the beans with Kombu seaweed, which helps pre-digest the beans, making them easier for us humans to digest, and

~ m's focus is on "SOUL" food: Seasonal, Organic, Unrefined, and Local.

So all in all, an AWESOME time, and the guys were quite happy. (Robert, was it REALLY necessary though to knee me in the groin, to get to the head of the line? There was PLENTY of food for everyone.) Anyway, give m. a call next time that you want to do something special for a group... or for your family. Contact monica at: (707) 495-4682, or sallouti@sonic.net.

P.S. And do you wanna know the icing on the cake, to use a trite term? Look, ma--NO DISHES!

P.S. And oh, yeah, the Really Important Stuff: yours truly quite held his own and then some in our two poker tournaments as part of our 19-month, winner-goes-to-Vegas-to-play-in-a-World-Series-of-Poker-event tournament, finishing second and second, for a total of 18 points, which was tops for the night. The reason for the high finishes? Well, my usual solid play... and NOT getting out-drawn by one Mr. Jimmy Z (who, seated to my right, once ran into my AA and another time into my KK--ouch!). It's such a nice feeling to be ahead in the hand... and actually win. (James, I hate to say it, but your fate in the two tournies was determined before the first hand, when you picked your seat position and ended up on my right. Oh, well, better LUCK next time....)

New Logo: Part 2

O.K., my buddy Jimmy Z has made somewhat disparaging remarks about my new Every Meal A Feast logo. In fact, apparently the new logo set off such a negative reaction, he even came up with his own version.

Whadday think?

P.S. My poker buddies, including Jimmy Z, are going to eat VERY WELL tonight. As I write this, certified natural chef Monica Sallouti is in my kitchen cooking away, for our poker feast tonight.

I won't give away the entire menu, but let's just say we'll end the meal with M's famous -- she assures me -- brownies. (And hopefully a nice port, too.) Can YOU say butter and chocolate?

New Logo!

Hey, I've been playing with ideas for Every Meal A Feast. Here's the new (i.e., first!) logo:


Whaddayah think? Can't you see this on coffee mugs... t-shirts... aprons... and so on, and so on.... I can! And of course, wheels-are-in-motion re: all those things, more info to come soon.
Coming Friday: My French adventures, with a twist!

P.S. Thanks to Lisa D. of redbone creative for the cool logo. I like!

Cover Crop Cropper

As I've mentioned earlier, vineyard folks around the Napa Valley and Sonoma County are busy cutting the cover crops between vineyard rows (now that the buds are starting to break on the vines, you don't want the cover crops sucking up the water/nutrients that could be going to the vines). Anyway, on my dallies around the Napa Valley, I saw not a tractor but these fine cover crop croppers in action. The place: The Napa Valley Reserve. (Check em out: great web site, awesome concept... IF you've got $160,000 to invest.) Ciao.

Sad Saal be in Saal-ha*

O.K., so as I mentioned in my previous post, I participated in a rather unique (for me, at least) celebration the other day: my friend Susan B. is half-Persian, so we celebrated the Persian New Year, or Nowruz, during a get-together of friends. What fun! Great food, learned some things about a different culture...and of course everyone was 'loose and easy' cause not only did we share wine, we all were doing vodka shots. Huh? WTF with vodka? Well, turns out, Iran borders Russia, so over the (many) centuries, vodka shots have become an important part of the Nowruz festivities. Who'd a thought.

Anyway, you can read online all about the Persian New Year, which is quite fascinating. It's always celebrated on the Vernal (spring) Equinox, on or around March 20, and Nowruz -- of which there are about 150 different spelling variations -- loosely translated means "New Day." It's the biggest and most important Persian holiday, signifying, as in my other cultures with the advent of spring and the new year, a new beginning, or rebirth.

So good food prepared by Susan B and Susan N, including apples stuffed with lamb and rice, white rice with saffron, and a wonderful Persian dish with parsley and all kinds of goodies, gorma sahbzi. And fun times with great friends. Wonderful, wonderful.

And perhaps the best part? No hangovers the next morning from the vodka. What gives? No WONDER the Russians can pound the stuff. Anyway, Happy (belated) Nowruz, and mark your calendars for next year's big day: the big event happens March 20, 2009.

*Wishing you 100 more Happy New Years

April One

Huh? Stoli shots to celebrate the what New Year?

Plus my story about buttered egg noodles tres bien....

No, no April Fool's jokes here; just some "quiet time" before I share.... Soon. In the meantime, Happy...well, you'll find out.