Winter Holidays 2023-24 Issue

  Features Editor’s Mixing Bowl 1,000 Tamales at Cactus Taqueria What’s in Season? Root Vegetables! A review of Chími Nu’am: Native California Foodways for the Contemporary Kitchen by Sara Calvosa Olsen The Moveable Feast: A Low-to-No-ABV Night on the Town Floral Duets: The Art of Barnali Ghosh Diversity on Local Bottle Shop Shelves The Birdie…

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The Moveable Feast: A Low-to-No-ABV Night on the Town

Story & Photo by Meredith Pakier   On beyond seltzer and lime! Bars and restaurants all over are pouring creativity into their low-to-no-alcohol beverage programs to satisfy a growing crowd of abstainer palates. Here’s a short list of places where I’ve gone for lifted spirits without the spirits. Order the Lambruscno at Tupper & Reed…

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Editor’s Mixing Bowl

I love making things … always have. As a child, it was games, jewelry, cookies, doll clothes … by high school, it was purses, sandals, bread, jam, pizza, and all my own clothing. Early career, it was costumes, dances, and furniture, and more recently, it’s been stories, maps, guides, and magazines like Edible East Bay.…

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Diversity on Local Bottle Shop Shelves

By Mary Orlin How do you shop for wine, beer, and other libations? These days more of us are looking for labels that align with our values. Whether it be a focus on the environment, equality, transparency, or social justice, we want to put our money towards products that contribute to more than just a…

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The Winter Table

A Gathering of Local Makers Hosted by Bombera Bombera is … … a firewoman. … a full-service restaurant where chef Dominica Rice-Cisneros and historian Carlos Manuel Salomon turn lessons from ancestors and elders into a loving place for family, friends, and community. … where the culinary ways of Mexico and California intersect with the environmental…

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The Birdie Cake

A Celebration of friendship, kumquats, and the olive harvest Recipe by Alice Medrich | Photos by Scott Peterson   What brings a chef to extend her career into a sixth decade when peers all around have retired? If you ask Berkeley-based baking expert and James Beard Award–winning cookbook author Alice Medrich, the delights inherent in…

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1,000 Tamales

Photos by Scott Peterson     Photographer Scott Peterson was more than a little enthusiastic when we called him to document the great Christmas tamale-making operation at Cactus Taquería last December. “I didn’t know Cactus made tamales,” he said, eyes wide and stomach rumbling. As we wedged ourselves into the tiny storeroom behind the main…

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What’s in Season? Root Vegetables!

By Barbara Kobsar | Illustrations by Charmaine Koehler-Lodge     Among winter’s host of warm, hearty, nutritious, and satisfying recipes are many that rely on seven favorite root vegetables. A broad term for parts of plants that grow underground, “roots” can mean true roots like beets and carrots, bulbs (onions and garlic), and rhizomes (ginger…

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Floral Duets: The Art of Barnali Ghosh

  By Rachel Trachten  |  Photos by Barnali Ghosh   “Wisteria Hysteria” by Barnali Ghosh                      “Happy Poppy” by Barnali Ghosh                            “Hound’s Tongue” by Barnali Ghosh   As many did early on in…

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Business as Usual

What happens when a Starbucks shutters? An independent coffee shop might move in. In the East Bay, local business owners are giving new life to storefronts abandoned by the ubiquitous corporate coffee chain. Story and design by Bri James   Grace Shen never intended to transition her boba delivery business into a brick-and-mortar tea shop.…

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Guide to Good Eats Winter 2023-24

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 Greens & Grains, Sushi King, or Tahina Fresh Mediterranean. 1650 Park St…

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At Galvan’s Market

How a Boy Grew Up to Realize His Shopkeeper Dream By M Molloy Basso  |  Photos by Steve Thomasberger Through his 17 long years in the corporate world, Jason Burnett counted a few accomplishments. Most notable was working his way up from middle management at Target to a store manager, responsible for 300 employees. “Corporate…

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