Tasting the California Foodscape

A Fall Agritourism Guide By Cheryl Angelina Koehler  |  Illustrations by Cathy Raingarden   As the throngs flew off to distant destinations in the notorious 2023 summer of revenge travel, artist Cathy Raingarden and I set out into California farm country. Our quest was to find some special spots where readers might have a good…

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Haleluya, Hands Down!

You can place your order in American Sign Language at this popular Ethiopian spot in Fremont Story and photos by Anna Mindess       The pale-yellow walls of Haleluya Ethiopian Gourmet in Fremont are festooned with traditional art, woven baskets, and a chart of the Ethiopian alphabet—familiar symbols to diners who may venture here…

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Bake Sum

Asian-Inspired Pastries for a Watershed Decade By Annie Wang     Back in 2020, when Bake Sum bakery founder Joyce Tang first created the Croissubi—her now-wildly-popular fusion of a croissant with a Hawaiian Spam musubi*—not everyone was familiar with the components. “I would have to explain what Spam was, what a Spam musubi was, and…

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Guide to Good Eats Fall Harvest 2023

From urban sketcher Cathy Raingarden’s sketchbook. Find more @cathyraingarden and cathyraingarden.com.   Alameda Alameda Marketplace Sit down for a meal of wood-oven chicken or pizza, local oysters, house-made bread and pasta, and inventive small dishes, plus more substantial fare at East End. Relax with coffee, pastries, or gelato at the Beanery. Find enticing take-out foods at…

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What’s In Season? Jujubes and Blackberries!

By Barbara Kobsar | Illustrations by Charmaine Koehler-Lodge   Jujubes …  You might be thinking of the candies you snacked on at the movie theater, but jujube, the fresh fruit, has been in cultivation for more than 4,000 years, long before the chewy candy version. Printed recipes for pâté de jujube appear in the early…

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The Moveable Feast

More than Martinis in Martinez Story and photos by Meredith Pakier Roam around the Contra Costa County seat of Martinez and you’ll find a well-preserved historic downtown, train depot, and marina; the home (now museum) of naturalist John Muir; and ample rumors that the martini was born here. Dig a little deeper, and the town’s…

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Editor’s Mixing Bowl

June 24, 2023. Standing on a levee road in the middle of Tulare Lake. Egrets, ibises, stilts, and avocets wade among acres of drowned young pistachio trees as an indie rock band sets up at a stop sign where the road drops down into the water. Its members all hail from Corcoran, and like many…

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Chapter Six Cocktail

  Toast to your fall fig harvest with this recipe from Bull Valley Roadhouse mixologist Tamir Ben-Shalom. We learned he was the first hire when Earl Flewellen, Samuel Spurrier, and David Williams opened the Port Costa restaurant almost 11 years ago, and he’s now the restaurant’s sole owner, having taken over when the founders decided…

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Back To School (On the Farm)

Merritt College Program Whets Appetites for Urban Ag Story by Rachel Trachten | Photos by Kerstin Firmin     Elizabeth Boegel was determined not to be a gardener. “I grew up camping and hiking and gardening whether I wanted to or not,” she says. “My dad had a big garden anywhere he went, and my…

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