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Monthly Archives: August 2012

A Visit to Della Fattoria in Petaluma

Posted on August 3, 2012 by foodgal 15 comments

I owe my latest carb binge to Chef Adam Mali.

When I was dining recently at his restaurant, Brasserie S&P in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in San Francisco, I’d occasionally come up for air from devouring his dishes only to find myself drawn completely and helplessly to the bread.

Smoky, with a hefty dark crust and a chewy interior full of delightful air holes and developed fermented flavor, I couldn’t stop eating slice after slice.

Of course, I had to ask him where it came from.

When he told me it was baked in wood-fired ovens at Della Fattoria in Petaluma, I knew I had to stop in the next time I was in the vicinity.

So, I did earlier this week.

Bon Appetit magazine has called it one of the Top 10 bread bakeries in America. One taste and you’ll agree.

Michael Pollan In My Backyard

Posted on August 2, 2012 by foodgal 15 comments

Yes, Michael Pollan made a splashy appearance in my backyard recently.

Um, that would be my tomato plant named for the respected food activist, author and journalist, not Mr. Pollan in the flesh, himself.

Of my four tomato seedlings planted this year, it was this one that grew most vigorously and produced not only the first tomatoes of the season, but the most fruit so far, too.

Guess it pays to be named after a man who takes food seriously.

Ice Cream Sandwich Time & Dan Gordon Performs at the San Jose Jazz Fest

Posted on August 1, 2012 by foodgal 6 comments

Ice Cream Sandwiches on the Menu

When the weather heats up, there’s nothing as joyful to enjoy as an ice cream sandwich. It can’t help but bring out the kid in each of us.

Try an “Ice Cream Sammy” at Sift Cupcake & Dessert Bar, the only Bay Area bakery to win the Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars.”

With locations in Napa, Santa Rosa and Cotati, the bakery takes organic gelato and sandwiches in between big cookies. Try the “All for the Cookie” ($4), which features cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream stuffed between two chocolate cookies.

Look for a San Francisco location to open later this summer, too.

San Francisco’s Mozzeria is getting in on the act, too, with peanut butter ice cream sandwiched between two chocolate cookies ($6). It gets even better, too. The sammy is served on a homemade fruit roll-up — with a side of spicy beer nuts. It’s a meal.

Mozzeria is one of the first deaf-owned restaurants in the country. Its global menu features everything from roast duck pizza with hoisin to Japanese pumpkin ravioli.

Dan Gordon — Beer-Maker and Musician

Sure, we all know that the founder of Gordon Biersch Brewing Company knows how to make great beer.

But how many knew that Dan Gordon also is an accomplished musician?