Enjoy the flavors of Nantucket without having to fly to the East Coast.
Menlo Park’s Marche restaurant brings the impeccable seafood of that region to you for a special dinner on March 20. This will be the restaurant’s sixth annual “Taste of Nantucket” soiree.
Nantucket fisherman Stephen Bender will be flying directly from Nantucket with just-harvested Nantucket Bay scallops, Polpis Harbor oysters, freshly dug clams, and a wealth of other fish and seafood.
Sit down at your favorite sushi bar to order mirugai, bonito, hotate or akame.
Chances are that you’re not really sure what you’re always eating, given that the seafood names are in Japanese. Moreover, chances are even greater that you’re unsure whether what you’re eating is sustainable or being over-fished to extinction.
You may remember my post last year about three new sustainable sushi guides by three environmental organizations. Now, on the heels of those, comes “Sustainable Sushi” (North Atlantic Books) by Casson Trenor, a sustainable seafood expert who’s also a consultant to Tataki Sake and Sushi Bar in San Francisco, the first sustainable sushi restaurant in North America.
At 110 pages, this book is a more in-depth look at 39 species found on sushi menus. Trenor includes information on such crucial issues as mercury levels, dredging, and crowded fish farms. The species are color-coded so that you can tell from just a glance whether it’s sustainable, unsustainable, or one that you should proceed with caution about. It’s a must-read for any sushi aficionado.
Face it, not many of us can sport six-pack abs.
But the Highlands Inn in Carmel can give you “Super Abs” — for a price.
That’s short for abalone that’s farm-raised in a sustainable manner by the Monterey Abalone Company. And these particular ones are ”super” because the red abalone (the most common type raised off California waters) are being cultivated wtih a new method that results in faster growth, a brighter color, and apparently more flavor. (Yours truly has only tasted the “regular” Monterey Abalone Company abalones. And those are mighty fantastic already.)
The abalone company is working in conjunction with Moss Landing Marine Laboratories to do this. Highlands Inn has exclusive rights to all of the “Super Abs” now available to be harvested.
Would you buy a Dungeness crab from this man?
Well, you should, because Executive Chef James Chan of Bistro Boudin, 160 Jefferson St., 160 Jefferson St. near Pier 43 1/2 in San Francisco, has got a deal for you.
Through March, the restaurant will serve a once-a-week Crab Feast on Thursdays. You get one crab per person, linguine with slow-cooked tomato sauce, Caesar salad, and of course, Boudin’s sourdough bread.
Prices for the feast are $25 for one person; $49.50 for two; and $89.95 for four.
OK, the Niners might not have made it to the Super Bowl. ‘Nuf said.
But you can catch 49ers team members in another competition, the 7th annual Celebrity Crab Festival. They’ll be digging into bowls of Dungeness crab, noon to 3 p.m. Feb. 28 at San Francisco’s Union Square, to demonstrate the fine art of cracking the Bay Area’s premier crustacean. That will be followed by a timed crab cracking contest to see who can crack the most crab.
Wine lovers will want to head to the Dry Creek, Russian River, and Alexander valleys in Sonoma, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 17-18, when bottles will be uncorked for exclusive tastes.
The 17th annual Winter Wineland event will have more than 100 winery owners opening their cellar doors for a post-holiday celebration that will allow guests to taste limited production vintages, both old and new. Food pairings and tours also will be offered. Look for special discounts on bottles and cases, too.
Among the wineries to visit are De La Montanya, De Loach Vineyards, Siduri Wines, and Korbel.
Price is $40 for both days; $30 for Sunday only; and $10 for designated drivers. To purchase tickets and to see a list of participating wineries, click here or call (888) 251-0560.
If you want to enjoy some crab with all that wine, you won’t want to miss Mendocino County’s Wine & Crab Days at Brewery Gulch Inn in Mendocino, Jan. 30-31.