Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Every Meal A Feast (ah, that selfish cat!)...

Bistro Blues

I'm a positive kind of guy; the purpose of Every Meal A Feast certainly isn't to pan people or places. Still, if something quacks like a duck and walks like a duck... I gotta call it a duck.

Case in point: Dinner Saturday night at K&L Bistro, in downtown Sebastopol. Now O.K., I get it that it's modeled after a French bistro, meaning small, tight, cramped, great 'everyday' food, and a somewhat, shall we say, indifferent attitude regarding service. And I get it that last year K&L earned a Michelin star, putting it on the map and meaning that the place is always packed and that, well, they don't really need you to come to dinner, thank you very much. Still, would it hurt to try just a little harder?

We showed up at 7:00 p.m. for our, well, 7:00 p.m. reservations. The place was packed. And no free table. So we had to wait... for a good 15-20 minutes. Plus, no one suggested we have a drink at the bar (let alone offer us a complimentary glass of something, to tied us over). After we were seated came another wait for the waitress to find us. By the time it was 7:38, and we hadn't even ordered, I had G and I on a two-minute alert: I was two minutes away from getting up and walking out. (Not that anyone would've cared.)

But the waitress did find us a minute or so later, and low and behold, we were ultimately given wine and then, later, food. And it was great. G. had the steak frites (I'm not a ribeye fan; too fatty for me), while I had the house made boudin blanc sausages. They were very good. I also had a wonderful warm chocolate torte for dessert.

So... Good food, a little cramped and loud, and indifferent, at best service -- THIS is a one-star joint? Not in my book. I realize we hit them right at the Saturday night rush. Still, I want to go where I feel welcome. K&L simply doesn't need you -- no web site; the head chef and owner, Lucas Martin, cooks in a t-shirt and jeans; the wait staff is, in my opinion, marginal at best (though she did apologize for bringing my espresso after I had finished my dessert -- gee, I am the only one who's ever ordered coffee with dessert???). Anyway, glad I went once, won't go again. (Not that they care.)

Notes from the Vineyard_Part 2

In my last post, Every Meal A Feast shared how much grapes, and ultimately wine, an acre of vineyards typically produces. So want to grow your own grapes? Here's a typical planting cycle, courtesy of my friends at Nord Vineyards.

Year 1: Plant

Year 2: Grown

Year 3: Harvest 1 ton/acre

Year 4: Harvest 2 tons/acre

Year 5: Harvest 3.5 tons/acre

Year 6: Full production

The beauty, of course, is that with the proper care, grapevines can produce for 50+ years. Anyway, with a little patience...

Notes from the Vineyard_Part 1

With the 2008 Napa Valley grape harvest and 2008 Sonoma County grape harvest winding down, I thought I'd share some fun vineyard-grape-wine facts and figures, courtesy of my friends at Nord Vineyards.

* A typical acre of vines produces about 4 tons per acre.

* A ton of grapes produces 160 gallons of wine.

* A barrel holds 59 gallons of wine, or, at 2.5 gallons per case, about 25 cases of wine.

* Thus, 4 tons makes 640 gallons of wine, which is about 250 cases per acre.

Now let's take this one step further. Say a wine has a retail price of $20 per bottle. That's $240 per case. So each acre of grapes produces a total of $60,000 worth of wine -- $240 times 250 cases. Wow!

Calistoga Inn

Ahhhh, yes, the food and wine business can be BRUTAL at times. I mean, absolutely BRUTAL. Check this out. My friends and I at the Wine Country Inn are already busy preparing for several holiday get-togethers (including the Ode to the Olive celebration in November and a return guest reunion in January and February). Dinners are involved, and because it'll be the holidays, we want to splurge a bit, so that means musical entertainment of the soothing and cool type. So yours truly had -- and I mean had -- to go check out a certain guitar player last week who was playing at the Calistoga Inn.

O.k., so I get there at about six p.m. ... and learn that he doesn't start until 6:30 p.m. I had already ordered a glass of wine (come on!), so I couldn't sit there drinking on an empty stomach, right? So dinner became, as they say, involved. And that meant six oysters on the half-shell with a delicious Moscatel-shallot vinaigrette (Moscatel is primarily a Spanish wine made from the Muscat grape), and then a wonderful risotto with -- check this out -- field mushrooms. If there's a more enticing two-word combination in the English language than field mushrooms, I don't know what it is.

Anyway, the meal was fantastic, and the outdoor patio with lights and music simply spectacular. (Come to think of it, I never did make it inside the Inn, which apparently was built in 1882, and now has a brewery on site, too.) Anyway, check out the Calistoga Inn sometime. Sit on the outdoor patio. Enjoy a delicious meal.

And oh, yes -- listen the music.

Ah, Breakfast...Eye-Openers

Still thinking about Saveur's October all-breakfast issue. Of course, they talk about eye-openers, including Ernest Hemingway's favorite dubbed "Death in the Afternoon": part absinthe, part champagne. My favorite morning drink (besides coffee, of course): a mimosa, which (to my taste) is half orange juice, half champagne. Of course, now with the gardens bursting forth (see pic), perhaps we need a Bloody Mary, with some Charbay (of course) vodka. Ciao.

Ah, Breakfast

O.K., time for another food confession (albeit, a mild one): while I love dinner, I really, really love breakfast. There's nothing better to me than a big, leisurely Sunday brunch with great eggs, some potatoes, an English muffin, and great coffee. Yes!

I've been thinking about breakfast a lot of late, as it's the featured item in the October issue of Saveur magazine. One thing did pop out. I love peanut butter. But Nutella? Apparently, according to Saveur, this was introduced to the world in the 1940's by Italian pastry maker Pietro Ferrero. It was inspired by gianduja, a paste-like confection of chocolate and hazelnuts native to Italy's Piedmont region. Anyway, I'm now on a quest: to track down some Nutella, try it, and see if I like it more than peanut butter. I know, I know, not the most exciting thing to ever happen in Every Meal A Feast land. But this is about breakfast, man, and thus this becomes a worthwhile, even noble, quest. Stay tuned.

Holiday Happenings

Yes, Fall has arrived, and at Every Meal A Feast we want to savor every delicious moment: the cooler weather, the leaves turning and on the ground, the last of the heirloom tomatoes... But we also can't help thinking about the coming holiday season. Here are two events we'll be attending to celebrate... well, all that's good about life. Both events take place at the Wine Country Inn, in the Napa Valley.

Ode to the Olive

Ode to the Olive runs November 12-15. This will be a fun time with various olive oil tastings, cooking demonstrations, olive oil producer tours, and more. The Ode to the Olive will culminate on Saturday, November 15, with a cocktail party (complete with stuffed olives!) and an olive oil tasting competition. In addition to the bragging rights, the winning olive oil will become the Wine Country Inn's featured olive oil for 2009. Check out the Inn's web site for more information.

New Year's Eve Party

What? A New Year's Eve Party that's... complimentary? Oh, wait--they simply raise the room rates, right? Wrong! On December 31, the Wine Country Inn will be throwing a complimentary (for Inn guests that night) New Year's Eve party in the Inn's cozy (real fire!) common room. Goodies will include cocktails, wine, a midnight champagne toast, and a dessert bar. It'll be an excellent -- and safe -- way to celebrate the New Year. We plan on going out to a nice -- and early -- dinner, then celebrating in the cozy confines of the Inn's common room. And then it'll be a simple walk back to our room. Nice! Anyway, for more info click here; for reservations, call the Inn toll-free at 1-888-465-4608 or visit their web site. Ciao!

Liquid Gold

Olive Oil: Liquid Gold for the Heart and Soul

Every Meal A Feast had a wonderful time recently visiting Rachael Casey (see pic) at her home in the mountains above St. Helena where she and her husband Bill make their own premium extra virgin olive oil under the Poplar Hill label. It was wonderful not only to see Rachael's wonderful home and gardens and tour the olive trees, but also -- of course! -- taste their olive oil.

I learned several cool facts about olive oils, including that at olive oil tastings, judges use blue glasses to hide the color of the oil, because the color has nothing to do with its taste or quality, and that an olive oil should be used within two years of bottling, and ideally one year.

Anyway, check out their web site for other info, recipes, and of course info on how to visit or buy.

P.S. And stay tuned for a BIG announcement. (Want a hint? O.K. -- Ode to the Olive)