707 Scout

By 707 correspondent Heather Irwin. Sign up for the BiteClub Newsletter. The best time to go to the Mendocino Coast? If you ask me, it’s right about now, when crab season is still humming along and you might as well sit inside on a cold, blustery day and watch…

By 707 correspondent Heather Irwin. Sign up for the BiteClub Newsletter. Foie gras has returned to California restaurants after a surprise ruling on Wednesday that overturned the 2012 ban against its sale. At least in theory. In the 48 hours since a federal judge nixed the state statute that banned…

By 707 correspondent Heather Irwin. Sign up for the BiteClub Newsletter. Just off the press, chef Dustin Valette’s new Wine Country project officially has a name: VALETTE. This ain’t about ego, however. We’re wiping a tiny tear from our eyes after Dustin explained that the building (which…

By 707 correspondent Heather Irwin. Sign up for the BiteClub Newsletter. Napa chef Cindy Pawlcyn, who was injured in a car accident earlier this year, is back in action! She and new CINDY’S BACKSTREET KITCHEN chef, Jim Leiken (a Daniel Boulud veteran), have created a new menu for the…

By 707 correspondent Heather Irwin. Sign up for the BiteClub Newsletter. New details on Dry Creek Kitchen chef Dustin Valette’s yet-unnamed restaurant in Healdsburg. Turns out it’s a bro-fest, as Valette is partnering with his brother, Aaron Garzini, a front-of-house vet who has done stints at John Ash…

By 707 correspondent Heather Irwin. Sign up for the BiteClub Newsletter. *Flavor! Napa Valley*, a celebration of food and wine featuring dozens of top chefs and winemakers, will be happening from Wednesday November 19th to Sunday November 23rd. During the five-day festival, hands-on events like Pickling and Preserving with Long…

By 707 correspondent Heather Irwin. Sign up for the BiteClub Newsletter. Upcycling Tomatoes: What do you do when life gives you 1,500 pounds of ripe, slightly bruised tomatoes? Make a whole lot of tomato sauce, Bloody Mary mix, and tomato jam. That’s the idea behind WIND & RYE…

By 707 correspondent Heather Irwin. Sign up for the BiteClub Newsletter. Eat and Drink to the Coast: Far from civilization and high above the fog line is the coastal Fort Ross-Seaview American Viticultural Area, or wine region. Homesteaded by hippies in the 1970s, the remote mountainous area, roughly between Healdsburg…

By 707 correspondent Heather Irwin. Sign up for the BiteClub Newsletter. On a recent tour of SPIRIT WORKS DISTILLERY, BiteClub fell a little bit in love. Partly with owners Timo and Ashby Marshall’s Boston terrier, Bandit, but mostly with their newly released barrel-aged gin. Made from red winter wheat,…

A Wine Country visit and review by Marcia Gagliardi. The next time you’re heading to St. Helena or Calistoga, you should think about stopping off at the newly opened Cairdean Estate on the St. Helena Highway, just at the base of Spring Mountain. The owners, winemaker Stacia and Edwin…