Boon Eat + Drink, Guerneville

When a restaurant decides to make their own ketchup and aioli, use Gleason Ranch beef from 5^th generation rancher Nancy Prebilich, hand cut local potatoes, and serve only local beer we’re not talking just any burger, fries, and a beer, we’re talking real attention to detail, local ingredients, and scratch cooking.

 

Additionally, cauliflower flash fried with pine nuts, golden raisins, and arugula with fresh lemon was delicious, well salted, and a perfect appetizer. The lovely tomato soup with freshly toasted baguette; another winner.  

 

However, service was awfully confused during my second visit. A busy lunch service with a 30 minute wait on my appetizer and then a cold mac and cheese for re-fire 10 minutes later. To their credit, they wrote off my beer and my mac and cheese. The chef and both staff members working the floor apologized to me personally for the foul ups. 

So I’m torn. The food, without the rush at lunch was quite good, but the service function combined with kitchen coordination was below average. It may be an issue of not accepting reservations and allowing any walk-up to simply check in with the server to see if there is an open table. There needs to be better communication with front and back of house as to the volume of patrons being seated and the expectations of being served in a timely manner.

Everyone wants a full restaurant, just not all at once. I have to wonder with the summer season coming up, if they get their game face on and execute better. I'll let you know.

The Cured Ham makes Vinegar

I started this little vinegar project back in April and I'm excited that it's starting to smell like it supposed to. We'll see what happens in about 6 more weeks, along with another project utilizing the same original material...wine.

Dick's Smoke Wagon, Big Pine, CA

 

Dick’s Smoke Wagon, Big Pine. While I didn’t get a chance to head to the East Side of California over the summer, I was lucky enough to break away during the winter. However, that means going “around the horn” through Mojave. There are benefits to this route, one being the Indian Wells Brewery in Inyokern the second includes driving through the towns of Lone Pine, Independence, Big Pine and Bishop.

Big Pine, gateway to the Palisades Mountain Range and the Ancient Bristlecone Forest is home to one more local treasure, Dick’s Smoke Wagon. Driving North, on the East Side of Main Street in Big Pine is a large mobile trailer parked on a concrete slab. The trailer is familiar to me, but it’s out of place. This trailer has been parked in Bishop for as long as I can remember. So why is it parked here in Big Pine and why is it parked next to what appears to be a renovated commercial kitchen?

 

I approach the trailer, walk up the ramp and talk with the sole occupant. After a ‘hello’ the man in the trailer rolls right into telling me the finishing times of each of the things he’s smoking, ribs, ribs, ribs; all several hours away from tender completion. Not good for my time schedule. “But if you’re here for lunch, I’ve got all my sandwiches ready, along with beans, coleslaw, and home-made jalapeno poppers.” Oh yes, I’m ready for lunch.

 

I proceed to order the bbq pulled pork sandwich with bbq baked beans and a vinegar based coleslaw. But is this a sandwich? The bottom of a small white dinner roll is placed in the middle of the center island of the take-away container and covered with a heaping portion of pork, bbq sauce, and topped with simple slivered cabbage. The top of the bun is laid to rest on the mass of pork. It is as though Dali has influenced the construction and inspiration for the surreal pork sandwich. The perfect unblemished little bun riding on top of pork carnage, underneath, the bun’s other half, immersed in a sea of bbq sauce and pork. Technically a sandwich, meat sandwiched in between two pieces of bread, yet unworkable as a sandwich eaten with your hands. Adding to the total experience and scene, a converted mobile trailer with smoke billowing from the front, parked on an industrial concrete slab, with a view of the snowcapped Sierra Nevada range. A surreal masterpiece!

Normally, people get lazy when they pull pork and allow large hunks of fat to mix in with pure meat. Not at Dick’s Smoke Wagon. Pure meat in my sandwich. The sauce is tangy, not too sweet, with nice spice notes. It’s a balance moment, all the aspects of great sauce. The beans and slaw were very tasty. The coleslaw had more vinegar than mayo, crispy, well integrated and offered a bit of cutting acid to the sweet bbq sauce and the richness of the pork.

 

I chatted with the pit master a bit after eating my sandwich. We discussed who made the Smoke Wagon, the development of the commercial kitchen, and the upcoming trout season. Before I continued my drive, I figured I’d ask if I could take a bottle of his BBQ sauce.

“Excuse me. Do you bottle your sauce?”

“No, just make it fresh each day depending on what I think I need. If I bottle it, it wouldn’t be fresh would it?”

Now how can I disagree with that?! I hope my readers can make it to Big Pine and try Dick’s Smoke Wagon. They are also on FACEBOOK.

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Three Home-Cooked Meals

While I've recently had a flurry of restaurant dining experiences, I've also had four remarkable home-cooked experiences that match any night out. While I rarely detail the experiences or the food of friends and relatives (I like be invited over for dinner as a friend, not a critic), I want to recognize great cooks, great meals, and great friends.

Dinner on The East Side: My friends and climbing partners, Lyra and Dave, hosted me for Dave’s birthday party. The menu included salmon, braised kale, various cheeses, salad and included a homemade Hollandaise and homemade vanilla ice cream. I haven’t had homemade Hollandaise in years and it’s not an easy sauce to make. Even though Lyra is a full time rock climber, she was joking about being “gripped” after using the whisk to make the sauce. Pretty funny to hear from someone who can pull herself up a rock wall with her fingertips. Bravo. I think I was a little selfish with the braised kale and the salmon that the Hollandaise paired with. And who can resist homemade ice cream? Check David and Lyra out at California Alpine Guides.

Dinner in The City: I was down in San Francisco recently with long-time friends, Emi, Bob, and Lee for a casual dinner party over several bottles of wine. Emi was in charge of the kitchen this round and put together a simple and delicious caldo starter and braised chicken. Well incorporated and complimentary flavors typical of the region where Emi was born, Acapulco. This is the continuation of the dining roundtable I hosted a couple months ago. Looks like we're coming to your house next Lee!

Dinner in Wine Country: A little closer to home, the famous crab feed, hosted by Ray Lewand of The Camellia Inn, was served along with butternut squash soup and bacon wrapped asparagus. An all-star meal to be sure. But rewind to the start of the evening; three simple but remarkable focaccias were introduced when guests arrived. Prepared by Christina, Ray’s daughter, these herb and seeded focaccias were brilliant. I could have easily eaten focaccia, cheese, and wine for the entire night.  I think I’ve got an idea for my next dinner party: Christina’s Focaccia and Red Wine.

Dinner at The Super Bowl: My childhood friend John hosts an annual Super Bowl party in Fresno. It’s a chance to catch up with old friends, drink some beer, and collaborate on food.  There is usually a heavy food and beverage industry crowd at John’s house, so there is also a little friendly competition. I think there were three secret family recipes for salsa available that day, a quarter wheel of Parmesan, two grilled tenderloins of beef, bacon wrapped prawns, a killer 7-Layer dip, a pizza bread with bacon, fresh fried chicken, and probably 8 different craft and premium beers. Even better, there was leftover tenderloin for sandwiches the following night.

Thanks to everyone over the last several weeks. I appreciate the meals, the conversation, and the friendships.

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T.L.'s Metal Fabrication Shop, Fresno

Nothing says Thanksgiving like a brand new BBQ. Well, from the metal fabrication shop in Fresno comes T.L.'s latest backyard creation. What used to hold bulk grape juice from L&P (and shipped to Healdsburg no less) has been transformed into a multi-use BBQ / Smoker / Grill. The tube on your left can smoke or grill with the ability to hang meat from a sharp metal rod off the roof of the canister. The Cured Ham was part of the early stage design and fabrication. This sweet baby gets a full workout this weekend when I cook for 80 people at a 40th birthday party in the wine country. Pork will be BBQ'd for about 16 hours over a variety of woods.

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