Studio 707 Blog
June 12, 2009
10 Minutes, $10
Pony Express Ride
Pony Express Ride
Locals Only Licensed to Ride Pony Express
A California driver’s license affirming Napa County residency is a ticket to ride the “Pony Express,” at the Bounty Hunter Smokin’ BBQ this season. General Manager Will Wright announced this week that his $10 lunch will be served within 10 minutes after orders are placed at Bounty Hunter’s sidewalk or indoor tables through the Spring and Summer months. For those who just can’t leave their work place or mid-day meetings, takeout orders are encouraged.
True to Bounty Hunter’s Western persona, Will has dubbed his lunch special the “Pony Express,” and serves it in the downtown eatery’s trademark lavish portions. Locals may choose from an array of tasty options including a pulled pork sandwich, a luscious Reuben and Shredded BBQ Chicken, among other nifty nibbles and an array of sides that range from grilled seasonal vegetables to potato salad and coleslaw.
Naturally, every plate includes Guss’ Half Sour Pickles from New York, and Bounty Hunter’s selection of three homemade barbecue sauces. A couple of those details that have earned Bounty Hunter Mark Pope’s carefully honed wine bar and restaurant Award - Winning status Each Pony Express lunch arrives with the diner's choice of non-alcoholic drinks including iced tea, lemonade, ginger ale and root beer. So generous are the portions that those with modest appetites may be content to share their order with a friend.
Located at 975 First Street, near Main, in downtown Napa, Bounty Hunter serves lunch 7 days a week. The Pony Express offer is available Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The wine bar opens every day at 11 a.m., serving food all day through 10 p.m. The restaurant, wine bar and retail shop stocks 400 carefully selected wines of the world for consumption on premise or to be purchased and taken away. Some 40 wines are offered in flights and by the glass from the restaurant wine list. To see more of the Pony Express and other menu and wine details, visit: www.bountyhunterwinebar.com
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May 28, 2009
America's First Lady of Champagne Honored June 6
Saturday, June 6 when wine enthusiasts from around the world assemble at Meadowood for an annual celebration of Napa Valley, America’s first lady of bubbly will be honored by her many friends. With her husband Jack, the late Jamie Davies arrived in the wine country in 1965 and immediately launched the year’s long revival of the historic Schramsberg estate on Diamond Mountain, the twenty-second winery in Napa Valley to reopen its doors following the repeal of prohibition. Jamie and her husband joined a group of enthusiastic, visionary vintners who together transformed the Napa wine industry, elevating the world’s passion for wine to new heights in the process. Upon Jack’s passing in 1998, Jamie, with her inspired legion of friends and employees, carried their collective mission forward.
In February 2008, the valley and the wine community at large lost Jamie as well. Her infectious spirit and energy will live on for generations to come, and with this special lot 24, we offer a tribute to that dream that has captured us all.
I count myself among 25 of Jamie's dearest women friends and who have come together in her honor with a landmark Auction Napa Valley lot. Included are fifty Napa Valley magnums from our collective cellars These wonderful women will join the winning bidder and 24 guests at a tribute luncheon in Jack & Jamie's Grove amongst the J. Davies Vineyards on the Schramsberg Diamond Mountain property. Tentatively scheduled for May 2010, the afternoon will be a celebration “Jamie Style” amongst the vines and trees of her favorite place along with her closest friends in the Napa Valley. Napa chef Holly Peterson will prepare an al fresco feast paired with a selection of Schramsberg's and J. Davies’ finest vintages
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May 22, 2009
Wine God at Stagecoach Tasting
How I Tasted 95 "2008" Wines From Stagecoach Vineyard and Lived To Tell The Tale
by Roy Piper, eRobertparker.com
I remember back before I moved to Napa, on one of my excursions here, I found my way up to Stagecoach Vineyard above Oakville East. I had read all about the development of the property in the excellent book “The Winemaker’s Dance” and wanted to see the place for myself. I remember thinking when I got there that there is no way one would ever really get a handle on the massive estate and that it would be near impossible to figure out if there was any thread of “somewhere-ness” or terroir that one could sense on such an unwieldy property.
Little did I know that owner Jan Krupp has been holding annual winemaker tastings for eight years, where most of the winemakers who source fruit every year get together at Coles Chop House in Napa to pour their wines and compare notes. I was fortunate to be invited to this years gathering, held over two consecutive Thursdays. The first was all non-Cabernet varietals and the second Thursday was an all-Cab affair.
In total, I tried 95 wines from the 2008 vintage from probably close to 20 producers, each with their own winemaking style, goals and methods. After each flight of 5-8 wines, each winemaker would comment on what they thought, how they made the wine, thoughts about their block and then field questions. It was a fascinating experience, both hedonistically and intellectually.
THE VINEYARD
The property itself is East and slightly South of Prichard Hill and Oakville East. It shares similar soils overall with those regions but is slightly cooler. This is a generalization though, as in listening to the various winemakers present, soil and orientation can vary one block to the next and have enormous impact. A few spots can get really hot and others are more like Atlas Peak in their coolness. This kind of mystery is one any Pinot lover or vineyard geek would enjoy, as figuring out the best little pockets to plant and how vineyards blocks can vary one step fall to the next is part of the fun. There are over 500 acres planted on the 1200-acre property and they are not done! Using Google Earth I calculated the planted area to be two miles in length by .85 miles in width. This is almost the distance from Mustards in Yountville to Mondavi winery in length and from Mondavi to the Mayacamas Mountains in width. All this between 900-1700 foot altitudes on extremely rocky soil. A sight to behold. Although Cabernet is the mainstay, the vineyard also has all the other Bordeaux varietals as well as Viognier, Marsanne, Syrah, Petite and Zin.
THE WINES
There is no way I could reprint all 95 tasting notes, but here are my favorites, categorized by producer. Each producer gets their own block or blocks and makes their own call on picking time.
Continue reading "Wine God at Stagecoach Tasting"
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May 19, 2009
Look for Napa Valley's Newest Hotel
In Time's Green Design 100
Bardessono Napa Valley, Calif.
It may be small — just 62 rooms — but from the vertical garden in the entry to 82 geothermal fields for heating and cooling to 100,000 sq. ft. of reclaimed wood, this hotel packs a lot of green for the punch. www.bardessono.com
Link: Bardessono,Time's Green Design 100
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May 6, 2009
Salumeria, A Beard Week Discovery
In New York for the high-spirited, food world love fest, The Beard Awards, I was delighted to find some time with Tuscan chef Cesare Casella who has opened the new Salumeria Rosi Parmacotto at 73rd and Amsterdam. Casella’s pure Tuscan heritage, closeness to the earth, talent and enthusiasm bring quality and heart to his new venture.
I first met Casella at Arlene Feltman Sailhac’s De Gustabus about 16 years ago when he’d just moved from Lucca to chef at Coco Pazzo. In town to pour Stags Leap Petite Syrah for Wine Experience, I was lamenting that it was truffle season in Alba (Italy), yet nearly impossible to replicate the intoxicatingly delicious fungi I’ve savored in Monforte Alba. Casella insisted that to correct this notion we must come to his dining room later that night.
We arrived to lines of guests qued up for the last seating whom we were spirited past and led to a corner table for two. There, unfolded a euphoric white truffle dining experience unlike any other. When Casella appeared in the dining room to check our reactions, he was clearly jubilant about what was going on in the kitchen and confident he’d find expressions of pure pleasure on our faces.
Now at his tiny West Side salumeria, his involvement with farms and partnerships with Parmacotto and, I’m told, American salume producers, has produced an authentic and sumptuous menu, particularly for lunch and late night repast. Casella’s love of food and friends is as powerful and evident as ever. With three restaurants open in Manhattan, he manages to confirm my lunch reservation personally by e-mail in the wee hours of the morning; make us feel that he’s in his dining room while he is, in fact, across town honoring the 50 best chefs in the world (including Thomas Keller) with S. Pellegrino and return just as lunch is ending to see how we fared.
At midnight, we walked by Salumeria Rosi on our way home from the Beard Awards to see Casella hosting a private party. Again, personally.
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March 17, 2009
Art and Justice
“Give what you have to give and receive what has been given honestly and generously.” – Justice Albie Sachs, Constitutional Court of South Africa
So rare is real humility that until a few weeks ago, I’d almost forgotten what it looks like. It looks like Justice Albie Sachs, who sees more of the world from his one good eye than most of us do with two. Exiled from South Africa in 1966, targeted as a “race traitor” by the former apartheid regime, and nearly assassinated by a car bomb planted by South African agents, the Johannesburg-born Sachs sacrificed an eye, an arm and so much more to the fight against apartheid and for justice in his home land.
Long a behind-the-scenes orchestrator for change, Sachs has stepped forth quietly and surely when needed.. When Nelson Mandela became the first democratically elected President of South Africa in 1994, Sachs played an integral role in negotiations for the new constitution and the language of its revolutionary Bill of Rights. And, in many ways, he has become the gentle but firm “face” of the new South African government.
Now one of the most powerful voices on human rights, equality, dignity and freedom, Justice Albie Sachs is the original architect of the new constitution of South Africa. Two weeks ago, I was among a few hundred privileged guests of Chief Justice Ronald George, and Barbara George when Justice Sachs spoke in the, “Purpose of Justice,” series underwritten by Ralph and Shirley Shapiro of Los Angeles. That night Sachs spoke openly about apartheid, redefining systems of justice, and the inspiring role art and architecture have played in creating South Africa’s new Constitutional Court building.
Justice Sachs also gave us a preview of his new film, Light on a Hill, which has been submitted to the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. In it, Sachs takes viewers on an intimate and moving tour of the new Constitutional Court building, the most important physical structure in post-Apartheid South Africa. Built on the site of the Old Fort Prison in Johannesburg (once the “cage” for Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela), the new Constitutional Court now houses a diverse, light-filled art collection that simultaneously memorializes South Africa’s history and offers a rainbow colored vision for the country’s future.
To view this film is to walk alongside Justice Sachs through a building that is literally and symbolically filled with light – and with hope. Certainly everyone left the lecture hall that night with a buoyed spirit. And I was reminded…that the power of positive energy burns like a laser through grim surroundings. It’s a great message for all Americans, and for the world, at this present time and in this seemingly light-less economy. We should all be so fortunate as to have something to burn for so brightly. And so selflessly.
Although Light on a Hill has not yet been released to the public, you can find equally vibrant inspiration in Sachs’ books. I have already decided to pick up one of his autobriographies, The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter, re-issued by the University of California Press. His most recent book, Art and Justice: The Art of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, is a full-color showcase of the complexly beautiful artworks and interior design that make up “the most important building in post-Apartheid South Africa.”
** Justice Sachs was unofficially traveling with Facing History and Ourselves, an international educational and development organization whose mission is to engage students of diverse backgrounds in an examination of racism, prejudice, genocide and antisemitism in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citizenry. If you’d like to learn more about this dynamic organization, please go to www.facinghistory.org. More than 1,400 educators and an estimated 150,000 students in the Bay Area have benefited from Facing History’s programs, and their reach is expanding. In partnership with the Cape Town Holocaust Centre and the Western Cape Department of Education, Facing History has created a project called Facing the Past, a 9th grade curriculum focusing on the Holocaust and apartheid, which is taught in 25 schools in the Cape Town province.
Posted by Pamela at 10:32 AM | Comments (0) | Share on Facebook | Art Education, Books
Pictured (left) with older brother Pete, Steve has been walking Yountville since boyhood.
January 14, 2009
Discovering the Wine Country's Walking Village
By Brooke Cheshier
"Yountville is a walking village.”
Revolutionary words? Maybe not in the sense that they are going to start an uprising. But in the sense that they transformed the way I view the tiny Napa Valley town – excuse me, village – that I have come to know and love in this past year?
Absolutely.
Yountville has always commanded media attention for Thomas Keller and his Michelin-starred restaurants as well as for the pretty strip of shops lining Washington Street. I’ve lived here a year, and I still read about Ad Hoc’s fried chicken night at least once a week. And out-of-towners continue to go into Bouchon specifically for the saffron mussels and French fries (because even though they haven’t been on the menu for over six months, the scented bivalves are so beloved by guests the kitchen keeps the ingredients on hand…just in case).
Locals know these things, but they also know a different Yountville. They know the shaded walking path behind Vintage Inn, and the shortcut through V Marketplace to get to it. They know how delicious it is to stop at NapaStyle for picnic materials – a bottle of vino, some sandwiches and cheeses – and then follow the trail to the tiny park at the north end of town.
Locals know all about the series of interconnected – though slightly fractured – walking paths that make this town beautifully, windingly pedestrian friendly. But, I personally had never read nor heard about them until last week.
Which is why, today, I recruited Pat Bardessono, the author of the aforementioned quote and the woman responsible for my thought metamorphosis, along with her husband Steve to take me on a walking tour of their charming burg.
“You know that this town is just a small village surrounded by an agricultural preserve,” Steve tells me; it’s a sunny, cloud speckled winter day. I look left and see the majestic Mayacamas in the distance. I look right and see the lolling eastern hills of Stags’ Leap. And nearly all of it – north, south, east and west – is blanketed in vineyards.
We are standing on Yount Street in front of the original Bardessono property, which was purchased by Steve’s ancestors in 1926 and is now the home of the soon-to-open Bardessono resort and spa. This property also happens to be, according to Steve, Yountville’s geographic center. It is a lovely starting point for our adventure.
To begin, we head east, away from the commercial heart and toward residential Yountville; a few steps in the other direction would put us in the Hurley’s parking lot. As we walk, Steve tells me about eco-developer Phil Sherburne’s passionate environmental vision for the Bardessono and points out the future site of a small park at the corner of the historic six-acre property.
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December 19, 2008
The Very Last Minute Holiday Gift Guide Part 2
by guest writer, Brooke Cheshier
Unless you plan to make it a Very Wal-Mart Christmas, you only have six shopping days left. Seven maybe, but you’re re-heally pushing it. Before you panic and start stuffing your sweetheart’s stocking with those mini bottles of airplane liquor you stashed away for a “special” occasion, we have a few more gifts for you to consider. Because trust us, your honey deserves more than a holiday cheese ball and a hangover.
Get Cultured: As in bacterial cultures and cheese curds. The premiere issue of Culture: The Word on Cheese landed on my doorstep this month. Since its arrival, I have been dreaming blue cheese and barley wine dreams.
This new magazine from cheese aficionados Lassa Skinner (Oxbow Cheese Merchant) and Kate Arding will introduce your friends and family to cheesemongers around the world. They will learn how to store, serve and even eat cheese. They’ll also increase their cheese IQs and meet a few happy Normande cows (whose rich, rich milk is a delectable favorite among cheessmakers). Cheese pros and renowned authors like Janet Fletcher and Laura Werlin are contributors to this new, protein-rich magazine.
This magazine isn’t just about making and eating cheese. It’s also about tradition and culture and embracing a richer way of living (cheesy pun intended). After reading one issue I wanted to drown myself in triple-crème and truffles. And have an Irish cheddar affair.
- Take a sneak peak at Culture’s inaugural issue at www.culturecheesemag.com. Once you’re hooked by the rich, creamy prose, simply click on the Subscribe link and fill out the form. If you want to order an extra copy for yourself, I won’t tell anyone.
Feed Your Inner Literati: People think everything we do out here in wine country centers around eating and drinking. It’s a common misconception, and it doesn’t hurt our feelings. Really. You should know, however, that in between all the fabulous imbibing (and it’s all fabulous), we find plenty of time to feed our minds and souls, too.
That’s where The Threepenny Review comes in. This large format, newspaper style magazine has it all: criticism, fiction, poetry and that not-yet-lost art form, the essay. Some of the literary world’s best authors use this quarterly journal as a creative outlet.
This holiday season, give someone you love a collection of beautiful words. A pastoral from Louise Gluck may be one of the most underrated gifts of the season, but it won’t be underappreciated. The editors and authors of this nonprofit publication will appreciate your contribution, too.
Max Beerbohm once wrote that, “To give and not feel that one has given is the very best of all ways of giving.” He’s a little verbose, but you get the idea. Give something that gives back. You won’t regret it.
- To subscribe to The Threepenny Review, go to www.threepennyreview.com. Take the concept of “giving back” a step further by making a donation to this unique publication. A hundred dollars makes you one of the nonprofit’s beloved Silver Bells. Five hundred grants you entrée into the prestigious league of The Golden Bowl.
Engage in a Little Frivolity: Doug Biederbeck’s philosophy in restaurants and in life has always been high-low. The owner of San Francisco’s Bix restaurant has never believed in doing anything lukewarm. Which is why Bixology, a sexy, leather-bound guide to cocktail culture and the good life is such an intoxicating gift.
In Bay Area circles, Doug is known as the ultimate guy’s guy, but Bixology isn’t just for the boys. In fact, this alcoholic version of Schott’s Miscellany will appeal to anyone who believes, “If it doesn’t taste like alcohol it’s not a proper cocktail.”
This slim, 156-page volume is about more than just getting a bit gin-y. It’s about embracing life with style. It’s about polish and class and not just “doin’ it well,” but doing it right. Don’t worry you’ll still learn how to shake – and strain – a genuine, honest-to-God Martini. And raise your glass in a proper toast.
Bixology is a contagiously fun read (don’t skip the chapter on Five Essential Jazz Albums). But don’t worry. As Beerbohm also once wrote, “Nobody ever died of laughter.”
- Bixology will be available through normal channels (i.e. Amazon and national booksellers) in March. Until then, you can order your copy on the Bix Restaurant website, www.bixrestaurant.com. Secrets for great living for only $16.95? It’s the ultimate bargain gift. You might even have enough left over to buy a copy for yourself, too.
Brooke Cheshier spends most weekends watching SEC Football and stealing blackberries from the neighbors. She is the wine correspondent for G -The Magazine of Greenville, where she makes heavenly matches between southern eats and the world of drinks. Visit her blog at: http://aficionada.squarespace.com.
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December 18, 2008
The Very Last Minute Holiday Gift Guide
by guest writer, Brooke Cheshier
Maybe you didn't know your brother was bringing his fiance home for the holidays. Or maybe, like me, you looked up from your overstuffed desk and realized - oh s#@$! - it's December 18th. Before you rush out and spend your hard earned money on a dozen iTunes gift cards, check out our last minute gift ideas. Not only do they seem thoughtful. they actually are.
Re-Consider the Catalog. All I want for Christmas is ANYTHING from Corti Brothers but, especially the rare shoyus (soy sauces) and deep sea salts. And the stamped pasta cutters, the Luxardo Box of Cherry Delights and the 750 mL bottle of Hayman’s Old Tom Gin…
If this were Japan, Darrell Corti would be a living national treasure.
He is also a walking encyclopedia when it comes to culinary culture, which is why every item in Corti’s food and drink web catalogue will engage your senses and please your palate. Darrell seeks out only the very best producers. As longtime customer Pam Hunter says, “You can order any product from this catalog knowing you will come to love it.” Food Blogger Elise Bauer of SimplyRecipes.com says her father has made daily pilgrimages to Corti Bros, for as long as she can remember.
If your holiday budget took a hit this year, don’t underestimate the value of a Corti Brothers newsletter subscription (It’s FREE!). The prose alone is enough to make your mouth water, although I’m personally dreaming about a stocking stuffed with sherries from Garvey Sacristia’s bodega in Jerez. Just In case anyone was wondering.
- For subscription and ordering information – and to pick up the recipe for the Martinez Cocktail (the ancestor to the martini and a classic Old Tom Gin concoction)– go to www.cortibros.biz.
Give the Gift of Knowledge. Everyone’s got to eat, right? Now everyone –well, everyone you love in NoCal– can know how and where to fill their bellies with the Bay Area’s juiciest brisket, beefiest meatballs, and leafiest vegetarian cuisine. All you have to do is give them a subscription to "Unterman on Food."
Patricia Unterman has been publishing her bi-monthly newsletter on food, wine, dining and travel for five years. It is safe to say that the restaurant reviewer for the San Francisco Examiner and chef/co-owner of Hayes Street Grill knows a thing or two about eating and drinking. And where to go to do the best of both.
With Unterman as their guide, your friends and family will find real joy at Five Happiness (where a banquet for 10 could cost less than $200) and superior pisco cocktails at the Embarcadero’s La Mar Cebicheria Peruana. Unterman is also an expert on where to find the best West Coast version of an East Coast crab shack, the cheapest 7-course beef Vietnamese beef dinner and the most comforting fusion of Indian, Chinese and Southeast Asian flavors.
This is one of those gifts you send out that comes back to you threefold. Karma, baby. Karma.
- A subscription runs about $32. Send checks to Unterman on Food, c/o Hayes Street Grill, 320 Hayes Street, San Francisco, CA 94102. Unterman is also the author of the San Francisco Fooder Lover’s Pocket Guide, which makes a sweet little stocking stuffer.
Go to http://www.hayesstreetgrill.com/uof-newsletter.html.
Embrace The Pleasure Principle: If there’s one wine that will spice up your life, it is petite syrah. It’s important to remember, however, that not every petite syrah is created equal. On a bad day, it’s baggy, flabby and way out-of-proportion. But on a good day – and with a great winemaker behind it, every day is a good day– it’s rich and voluptuous, even slightly zaftig.
That’s right, we said zaftig. As in erotically ripe and round. Think Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, Elizabeth Taylor at her peak ripeness, or Quixote Winery’s 2004 Petite Sirah and you’re on the right track.
The Doumani family has always believed in making wine with both structure and personality. At first glance, this petite syrah from Napa Valley’s Stags’ Leap Ranch Vineyard is a hedonists’ dream. It’s all satin and silk, blackberry brambles and earth-covered fruit. And yet, it possesses a robust tannin structure and enough acid for some quality aging.
In other words, a bottle (or a case) of the ’04 Petite Syrah has the potential to keep on giving for years to come. Since Quixote made less than a thousand cases of this wine, the gift has the added allure of being precious and rare. It tastes mighty fine, too.
- To order the 2004 Quixote Petite Syrah, visit www.quixotewinery.com and click on “Purchase Wine.” If you love the flavor and patina of older red wines but don’t have the patience (or the cellar) to wait for them to properly age, Quixote’ also has an incredible selection of library wines. They sell out quickly, however, so don’t hesitate too long to scoop up some of these juicy treasures.
Brooke Cheshier spends most weekends watching SEC Football and stealing blackberries from the neighbors. She is the wine correspondent for G -The Magazine of Greenville, making heavenly matches between southern eats and the world of drinks. Visit her blog at: http://aficionada.squarespace.com.
Posted by Pamela at 8:13 AM | Comments (0) | Share on Facebook | Books
December 15, 2008
SF Urban Holiday 2008
by guest writer, Brooke Cheshier
Book Review; Seeing Through The Fog: A Gateway to San Francisco
What to do When the Fog Clears
Forget Citywalks. If you want a real San Francisco experience this holiday season, let the 72 voices of this inspirational anthology guide you through the beloved Bay Area metropolis known as Fog City.
Pulitzer Prize finalist, ace raconteur, accidental parent, and the man behind McSweeney’s. Over the last decade the many, slightly manic, personae of Dave Eggers have manifested themselves for readers through personal works like A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and magazines like The Believer.
Now meet Dave Eggers, the tutor and mentor to high school kids in San Francisco and across the nation. The founder of a nonprofit writing and teaching organization called 826 Valencia, he is the man behind this combination city guide, historic chronicle and inspirational memoir. Well, he and three high school teachers, 82 tutors and 72 high school students.
>A collection of essays written by seniors from Gateway High School, Seeing Through the Fog is one of several books created by 826’s Young Author’s Book Series, an annual project that allows students to serve as both editors and authors as they learn the ropes of the publishing industry. The results of the series are timely anthologies like Seeing Through the Fog, one of the most original and moving San Francisco “travel guides” in the market to date.
Comprised of 72 surprisingly astute perspectives on life, travel and passion in the Bay Area, these essays will lure you off the beaten path and introduce you to some of the city’s most delicious pleasures. We’re not just talking about the pink popcorn at Stow Lake. Although it is a treat.
This holiday season, why don’t you let the kids of Gateway High be your guide through the neighborhoods, bridges and back alleys of San Francisco. Set off on madcap adventures through Chinatown’s Pacific Fish Market, take archery lessons in Golden Gate Park and learn to survive in the Mission on just $22 a day. You won’t want to miss Conor Murphy-Hoffman’s poignant take on the neighborhood's gentrification.
Of course, seeing the city from these young, animated perspectives may just inspire you to look at San Francisco with fresh eyes. Once you feel steady, you can take off the training wheels and do some creative merry-making of your own.
Christmas Bonus: You can find copies of Seeing Through the Fog on Amazon.com and on Valencia.org , but don’t buy it used! Proceeds from the sale of new books go toward free student programming at 826 Valencia, an educational nonprofit serving the Bay Area and with satellites across the U.S. For more information go to www.826valencia.org. Remember, giving to others is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself.
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November 19, 2008
Gold Alley Delights
by guest writer, Brooke Cheshier
Like the snaking streets and bridges of Venice, San Francisco’s cross-hatching of alley streets makes the idea of getting a little – or terrifically – lost seem truly promising. Last week, I took a day to get intimate with Gold Alley, one of the most delicious cobbled back ways in North Beach.
Tucked behind Montgomery Street and just below Broadway – the strip that’s home to Little Darlings, The Condor Club and the Roaring 20s – Gold Alley is a neighborhood within a neighborhood. Reminiscent of the glamour of the 1930s (minus the unsanitary row and slum housing of the alleys of the same decade), it is the yang to Broadway’s “ladies of the night” yin. Here, amid the exposed red brick and mortar, fresh new galleries and luxury boutiques bump up against restaurants and shops that have had their doors open for over 30 years.
I was instantly smitten with this diverse micro-community. Gold Alley isn’t big, and I had no idea so many goodies could be folded into such a tiny space. Bix Restaurant, Hedge Gallery, William Stout Books, and Japonesque are the alley’s mainstays, along with the neighborhood’s youngest addition, Carrots. With its artist’s soul and aesthetic, it’s a community worth getting to know. Here are a few highlight’s…
William Stout Books: You don’t have to be an architecture buff to fall in love with Stout Books, which has been a Montgomery Street bastion for over 30 years. This jewel box bookstore flanking Gold Alley smells like printed paper and dust-covered book jackets (although there’s hardly a speck of dust in sight) and is full of towering metal shelves dedicated to rare, out-of-print books and current releases in architecture, urban planning, interior and graphic design, landscaping, and fine and decorative arts.
The airy, two-story space holds over 20,000 hardbacks and paperbacks, including a collection of graphic design volumes which were, to me, the visual equivalent of a Shakespearean sonnet or a Miller Williams sestina. In other words, pure poetry. Since I had set a budget for the day’s adventure, I resigned myself to a single purchase – a beautiful anthology of Jazz Album cover designs – and then beat a hasty retreat before I changed my mind and bought the entire section.
804 Montgomery Street 415.989.2341
www.stoutbooks.com
Mon- Fri
10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Saturday
10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Japonesque: I found refuge at Japonesque, a unique, soul-renewing gallery and the other entryway “flank” to Gold Alley. Spending a few minutes at this Zen-like gallery was as mentally and emotionally revitalizing as a day spent at Japantown’s Kabuki Springs.
Proprietor Koicha Hara loves art that seems to breathe, and every piece on Japonesque’s gallery floor, from the graphite wall panels by Hiromichi Iwashita to the glazed porcelain by Masamichi Yoshikawa, seems to possess movement and life. That’s because Hara serves as both curator and artist at Japonesque, and he works hard to maintain a harmony between his own works and those of the artists his gallery represents.
As an artist, Hara often combines recycled materials with freshly plucked organic matter. As a curator, Hara travels to Japan twice a year and hand selects woodwork, ceramic sculpture, shaped paintings, glazed porcelain, Japanese calligraphy and other pieces by artists like Masatoshi Izumi and Morino Hiroaki Taimei to showcase alongside some of his own pieces at his deceptively large, two-story showroom.
824 Montgomery Street
415.391.8860
Tues – Fri
10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Saturday
11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Continue reading "Gold Alley Delights"
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November 3, 2008
Napa's Pro Attitude Director Announces Spring Release of New Book, Mystic Cool
Human performance expert and author Don Goewey’s new book, “Mystic Cool,” will be published by Simon and Schuster / Beyond Words in April of 2009. Goewey heads the Napa based office of ProAttitude, which he established in 2006 with Bonny Meyer, co-founder of Silver Oak Cellars. ProAttitude is a corporate training and coaching service helping businesses and individuals discover the transformational power of “neuroplasticity.” Neuroplasticity is the scientific term for the brain’s ability to rewire in ways that allow us to fully tap our creative intelligence. He can be reached at: 866.448.1001 at don@proattitude.com
Mystic Cool shows us how we can rewire our brain to make us immune to stress, gaining higher brain function to turn work into the joy of excelling. It shows us how to change our brains to sustain more enthusiasm, resilience, and positive emotion at every level of life. All these qualities are actually neurological properties activated by a dynamic shift in attitude. As we make this shift our brain wires to generate the new experience. Mystic Cool is the first to provide a proven approach to actualizing this enormous power. It is simpler than most of us might think.
Don Goewey’s career has focused on the innate potential in human beings to transform their lives. He has worked with pre-eminent leaders in the field of human potential including Carl Rogers, Ph.D. and Gerald Jampolsky, M.D., and helped advance a school of psychology based on attitude. Currently, Don is president of ProAttitude, a human performance firm with the mission of ending stress in the workplace.
Links :
ProAttitude website
To pre-order Mystic Cool
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Art and Wine in Yorkville Highlands
One of California’s last and most lovely frontiers can be found off Hwy. 101 between Cloverdale and the Mendocino Coast. It is Yorkville Highlands where several very nice wines are being made including Matt and Karen Meyer’s Meyer Family Cellars Syrah. There is also a diverse art community that includes glassblower Ferdinand Thieriot and Antoinette von Grone, among others. Have a look at Fernand’s propeller-inspired decanter and glass, an interesting gift idea for the season.
Links:
To purchase this holiday special.
To visit Meyer Family Cellars and Yorkville Highlands.
Posted by Pamela at 9:52 AM | Comments (0) | Share on Facebook | Meyer Family Cellars
Ron Wornick, pictured here with winemaker Aaron Pott, travels to NY this week for Wine Spectator's California Wine Experience.
October 14, 2008
Wornick’s Seven Stones Named Rising Star
Ron and Anita Wornick, of St. Helena and San Francisco, traveled to New York today for the California Wine Experience where their inaugural release from Seven Stones Winery, a 2005 cabernet sauvignon, is being featured by Wine Spectator editors James Laube and Harvey Steiman, on a program entitled, “Rising Stars.”
Seven Stones was chosen among just five California wineries deemed by Laube and Steiman to be among the hottest properties on the West Coast. Seven Stones 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon was awarded 94 points by James Laube. The entire 2005 production was sold to the mailing list in just under five hours on release day late this summer.
Rising Stars Tasting. A tasting from some of the hottest new wineries on the West Coast—five from California, three from Washington and two from Oregon. Onstage, James Laube, senior editor, Wine Spectator and Harvey Steiman, editor at large, Wine Spectator, lead the tasting with the winemakers and/or owners. The wines are:
* Linne Calodo Problem Child Paso Robles 2006 (95 points)
* Londer Pinot Noir Anderson Valley Londer Estate Grown 2005 (92 points)
* Relic Syrah Mendocino County Alder Springs Vineyard 2006 (NYR)
* Saxum Paso Robles Booker Vineyard2005 (95 points)
* Seven Stones Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2005 (94 points)
* Côte Bonneville DuBrul Vineyard Yakima Valley 2005 (NYR)
* Gorman Syrah-Cabernet Sauvignon The Evil Twin 2005 (95 points)
* ZanZibar Sandra Horse Heaven Hills 2005 (93 points)
* Penner-Ash Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Shea Vineyard 2006 (93 points
* Roco Pinot Noir Chehalem Mountains Private Stash 2006 (94 points)
Link to the Seven Stones winery information summary.
Link to Ron Wornick's biography.
Link to Aaron Pott's biography.
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September 22, 2008
Serial Entrepreneur Launches Napa Wine
AOL-TIME WARNER FORMER CEO, BARRY SCHULER,
ADDS NAPA WINE TO ENTREPRENEURIAL PANOPLY
Barry Schuler has worn his reputation for pioneering new territory from his alma mater, Rutgers, to Silicon Valley. So, last week when he proudly announced the inaugural release of his 2005 Meteor Vineyard Estate and Special Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, no one was surprised to learn that his 22-acre vineyard was located in the lesser known southeastern hills of Napa County.
Planted in 1998, Meteor's highly sought after fruit has sold to a handful of high-profile properties including: Arietta, Etude, Lail, Favia and Vineyard 29. Rocky soils, Meteor's undulating topography and the cooling influences of nearby San Pablo Bay give Meteor fruit slow, even ripening in the most challenging of years.
Meteor's first offering is being sold principally through the mailing list with a small allocation reserved for restaurants frequented by the globe-trotting Barry and Tracy Strong Schuler. To purchase 2005 Meteor Vineyard Estate Cabernet Sauvignon or the 2005 Meteor Vineyard Special Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, call 707-258-2900 or email info@meteorvineyard.com.
Continue reading "Serial Entrepreneur Launches Napa Wine"
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