Quan Yin & Buddha starlit still

Quan Yin & Buddha starlit still

They burn fiercely in the night

piercing redwood branches

onyx void lumined 

silver points

blue giants and red dwarfs

schist and quartz

amphibians 

grasshoppers 

meadow birds

percussing wanton chants

on long sustained lines

Kirk's circular breathing

Fox screams heard by huckleberries

In the near distance

I can hear the call of a cat

down the dirt road 

by the pond

From another ridge line

I can hear a cant

Coyote?

No: cock.

Underneath it all

there is no silence

that which presses my cheek

insists on threading the thicket

on nearby peak

There is no doubt

that tiny group of stars

 has looked down on me

all of my nights

but I am not sure

that I've ever noticed

that ring before,

dancing near Orion

Copyright 2016, George Randall Leake III

True Food Kitchen in Walnut Creek

Butternut Squash Pizza at True Food Kitchen.

We heard that two True Food Kitchens, the brainchild of nutritionist Andrew Weil and a team of brilliant chefs, opened up in the Bay Area, one in Palo Alto, and one closer to us in Walnut Creek. The Walnut Creek location is in Broadway Plaza, an outdoor mall that is extremely pedestrian friendly, punctuated at several places with free parking garages. When I first laid eyes on Broadway Plaza a few years ago, I thought it had nothing going for it, just a series of big box stores. However, things are changing fast, partly a result of the gentrification of San Francisco & Oakland. One consequence is the Bay Area suburbs are getting much more interesting, much more ethnically diverse, and with a growing number of cutting edge restaurants. Here's another such example.

Usually I don't notice or care about the decor, but True Food's (I keep wanting to call it True Blood), decor stands out. Dig the Feng Shui above: circles above the straight line planter running from the bar (where we sat) all the way to the open kitchen.

On this wall you can see examples of types of plants: Annuals, Herbs and Perennials. On the facing wall is a giant bee with the word "Positive" above it. Waitrons wore t-shirts with the following words or phrases on them: True, Honest, Shine On, Farmy, & Green Goddess.

So much for the branding aspects, here's the main event. First off, we ordered this tea fruit drink called Medicine Man. Black tea with cranberry, pomegranate, honey and sea buckthorn. Balanced and surprisingly complex.

Red Chili Noodles with chicken, gai lan, zucchini, shiitake mushroom, snow pea, cashew, and, not on the menu, thai holy basil, at least that's what it looked and tasted like. I don't think I've ever eaten at a restaurant before that has done such a stellar job of incorporating herbs.

Here's the real showstopper: Butternut Squash Pizza smoked onion, organic kale, vegan almond ricotta, dried cranberry. Pretty sure there were herbs in here, because I kept tasting oregano and basil. This might be the best vegetarian dish I've ever had at a restaurant, this is so good it is other-worldly and futuristic. I kept noticing all kinds of smart touches with the dishes: everything on this pizza can be prepped and cooked ahead of time, and it won't detract at all. Clearly, they cooked and likely smoked the butternut squash ahead of time. Cutting vegetables on the bias means you can get more surface area and cook them faster. 

Sustainable Seabass with broccolini, sugar snap peas cut on the bias, roasted mushroom, whole grains (mostly quinoa), & umami sauce that resembled and tasted like uni and saffron aioli.

I'm utterly impressed with True Food--it's a bit pricey, especially if you get three entrees like we did. Service was top-notch, the ticket time from the kitchen was negligible, despite the fact we arrived right during the start of the Saturday night dinner rush. If you're thinking about starting a restaurant, some see what these folks are doing right.

http://www.truefoodkitchen.com/

Bear Republic Petaluma

Brewpubs and gastropubs galore in the Bay Area. Above: Bear Republic's standard burger with cheddar, bacon and roasted garlic. Brioche-style bun. Ate the fries with Aioli. Pretty damned good burger, but they've got serious competition, notably Farm Burger.

Salad with steak and avocado. Organic mixed greens. Superb.

Old #38 North Coast Dry Irish Stout. Perfect savory compliment with stuff like steak, burger and fries. Fort Bragg's North Coast Brewery has got to be one of the most under-rated in the region. All their brews are note-perfect.

The best thing at Bear Republic that I know of: Fried Calamari, perfectly tender, with a tomato sauce with green olive slices, parsley and parm. Great calamari dishes abound in the Bay Area (we can get it fresh and cheap here), but here's a fresh approach that pairs well with any of the beers (& probably most of the wines) that Bear Republic has on tap. Without a doubt, Bear Republic is one of the better gastropubs in the area.

Buckhorn BBQ: Westfield Mall, SF & Vacaville

The original Buckhorn is in Winters, CA, and I've heard it's pretty much a steakhouse that everyone raves about. All these satellite restaurants of the local chain used to be called Buckhorn Grill, but since they're calling this BBQ, I've gotta say this is the only BBQ I've had yet in California that gets my full-throated endorsement.

These first two shots are taken at the location in Westfield Mall food court, an upscale mall in downtown San Francisco. Buckhorn's one of the best deals in downtown SF: half pound of juicy medium rare tri-tip, roasted vegetables cooked to perfection, corn muffin, and, the biggest surprise of all, mashed potatoes with gravy made from scratch that actually impressed me (I used to make stuff like this every day from scratch). Oh yeah, and Au Jus. For less than $20.

So we were running errands in Vacaville, about 25 miles north of here, and checked out the Buckhorn there. Got the Feast For Two: the key variation was the vegetable side, the Granny Apple Slaw, along with the tri-tip, mashers and gravy, Au Jus, and Corn Muffins.

Granny Smith apples, raisins, carrots, cabbage. Tasted like it was freshly made.

So good it's sinful.

You know what else is rare? Finding beef this tasty in California. 

Sacramento Food Co-op Grand Opening

October is Co-op Month, and I can think of no better way of celebrating than to lead some rousing cheers for the Sacramento Food Co-op, which just today debuted their new location, mere blocks away from California's State Capitol. 

Let's start with the produce section, definitely the star of the old store, but now with more room to stretch out. Pretty impressive selection of fruit, vegetables, and even some dried items. I got a huge bag of some locally grown (and harvested this morning, judging by the great flavor) arugula, organic Pink Lady apples, organic yellow onions, and some organic Fuyu persimmons. Below: something exotic, organic ginger from Peru?

Killer bulk section, natch.

Dig some of this local honey--Star Thistle?!?!

It doesn't get more Co-op than this. For years, about the only place you could buy White Mountain Yogurt (my friend Brenda Smith started that place with other folks from the Austin Co-op community) was Wheatsville Co-op in Austin, Texas. My first time there, in 1982, I bought a huge (to my mind, at the time) container and some granola on my very first visit to a Food Co-op. It was also the first time I ever tasted something approaching what I would call now "real" yogurt. Definitely not the sugar-laden crap I used to buy at 7-11 in Richardson.

The meat counters are even better, especially the seafood. I'm seriously impressed. 

Fantastic cheese selection. Robin picked out a Sheep's Milk Cheese, slightly similar to Brie, from Portugal, which we ate on a Ciabbatini with arugula. This co-op has elegant, beautiful dining areas, so we tarried there after checking out.

Great wine section. On the shelf in foreground on the right, second shelf from the top, that entire shelf is Sacramento Food Co-op wine! I've never heard of such a thing. I bought a bottle of Cab, and I'll check it out some other night.

Here's the most hilariously over-priced item. 

And here' something exceedingly rare. I've never seen this item in a bulk section before. 

Dried mushrooms in the bulk section? I rest my case.

Emeryville Public Market

Vegetable Bowl at Sorabol Korean in Emeryville Public Market.

Been meaning to check out Emeryville Public Market for quite a while now, but given the maelstrom of traffic congestion nearby known as The Emeryville Horror (where 80, 880, 980, and the Bay Bridge approach coincide), it's been hard to work something out. It's not what I expected at all, which was more like a mall food court. Nah, this is an old industrial building with character, and a bunch of food kiosks that have quite a bit of fabulous fare on offer.

Every one of these places looks great.

I've been to two of Koja's locations. If you eat pork, you gotta try their Pork Koja. Futuristic.

I've just found out from a friend that works nearby that this is his favorite place. Next, I'll for sure try it.

So we ordered a 3 entree plate from this Indian kiosk. Check out all the pots--I believe they're on glass-covered burners. Love the matching pots color-coding. We got a Lamb and Goat Curry, and some nice Okra. I highly recommend the Goat Curry.

OK, so I checked out Sorabol the other day at Westfield Mall, which was most superb (Beef Bulgogi, very tender). However, on this visit we got a Vegetable Bowl, mostly Banchan Pickled Vegetables typically served as a prelude to a Korean meal.

Everything was spot on: Kimchee, Cucumbers, Broccoli, Greens, Chile pickled Daikon & Mushrooms.