So, do you have a Negroni in your hand right now? Or maybe a Negroni marshmallow? A Doughgroni from Mr. Holmes? It is Negroni Week, after all. This Thursday is gonna be all about Negroni ice cream at Humphry Slocombe…and for those of you on the tablehopper Negroni Week North Beach tour, you’ll have a variety of Negronis in your hands. Looking forward to seeing you, have fun out there.
My weekend was definitely not lacking in fun. It started with checking out the updated menu (and cocktails) by chef Steve Walker at Rose Pistola (associate editor Dana Eastland and I were celebrating three years of toiling, excuse me, working together on this column), and then early Saturday morning I hopped on the party shuttle to the sold-out BottleRock, which was definitely the way to travel (I found a last-minute bus ticket on Craigslist, woohoo).
The day was full of sun (yes!), laughs with friends, plenty of cocktails and Cali wine (not cheap, but at least it was good stuff!), Neapolitan pizza from Ca’Momi, and the highlight was seeing Robert freakin’ Plant, who showed us all how to rock it at 66. I can’t believe how many Led Zep tracks he performed (check out the set list)—it was definitely a lifetime highlight for this music lover to see rock ‘n’ roll royalty perform. If you want to jump on tickets for 2016, a limited number of tickets are on sale now—BottleRock 2016 will be on Memorial Day weekend (May 27th-29th).
Sunday I had to wake up early again (this time to get the other kind of lead out) since my dad was picking me up early to hit the Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival. The event for us is usually about the Alfa Romeos, although I have to say the picnic spread my dad packs is my other favorite part of the day: he makes bonkers-good sandwiches (we used to own a delicatessen, go figure), brought fresh fava beans from the family garden to snack on with a chunk of goat cheese, a couple of beers, fruit (always), and the clincher is the chilled espresso (made with beans from his friend’s company, Caffè Bona). I can confidently say we had the best lunch at the races (and I had the cutest date).
Just a quick reminder that this Friday is Summertini, an event that benefits CHEFS, the outstanding local program that fights poverty and homelessness through job training and placement in the food industry. There’s also a live auction (check out these prizes!) and a silent auction too—be prepared to be inspired to bid! I really hope you’ll join me at the elegant Bently Reserve—you’ll find some fantastic food and cocktails too. Don’t forget: tablehopper readers can get $15 off general admission tickets with code “tablehopper” at checkout.
Oh, and one more thing, in case you missed it: yesterday, the World’s 50 Best Restaurants released their list of global (well, kind of) winners (you can check it out here). Take it with many grains of Maldon salt (you can read more on why in this NY Times piece). Because really now, any list that doesn’t include Benu or Atelier Crenn in their top 100 is suspect in my book.
Enjoy our blue skies (while they last). June gloom, unfortunately, is a thing. Marcia Gagliardi
Housemade fettucelle with veal bolognese and pecorino at Rose Pistola. Yay, carbs! Photo: © tablehopper.com.View tablehopper Newsletter from Tuesday, Jun 2 2015
