Redefining Chicken and Beer

My aunt and I found ourselves in the Napa/Sonoma area this weekend and decided to try out a place in Downtown Napa called The Bounty Hunter. A friend had raved about and after reading a review online I was intrigued by the idea of place that served chicken cooked on a beer can.

This place actually began as a highly specialized vendor of fine wines. Apparently they could find any wine for anyone, anywhere. Their wine list is so extensive in fact that it is actually a wine catalogue.

Quite a leap from a wine catalogue to chicken impaled on a beer can, you say? It actually makes perfect sense when you consider that their kitchen is the size of a bathroom and that most of their cooking is done outside on a grill.

After nibbling on surprisingly delicious duck rillette and various salads, the chicken was delivered to our table as you see it above, in all its beer can glory. Consuming such a dish requires one to ditch common table manners and literally tear into it with hands and teeth. The carving knife is quickly discarded as one gives into temptation to pick and pull off the meat with bare and burnt fingers, coating them with the spicy and flavorful Cajun rub that saturates the skin, making it completely irresistible (even to an anti-chicken skin girl such as myself). Basically, its not a place to take a date one is trying to impress, unless your definition of impressing is to be a total slob in public.

Final verdict - good, not mind-blowing.

Just a typical little Sunday dinner

I walked into the kitchen last night and found the preparations for a gourmet feast under way. My roommate had been struck by some inspirational cooking whim whilst shopping at Diablo Foods and came home with the makings of a bevvy of delights.

By the time we sat down to eat he had on the table the following:

- Broiled lamb chops seasoned with olive oil, sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.

- Fresh asparagus stalks sauteed with red pepper flakes in peperocino infused olive oil. Crunchy perfection with just a bit of a kick.

- Thick, juicy scallops browned in butter and olive oil. Two each was not enough...

- Sand Dabs also sauteed in butter and olive oil and served with a white wine caper sauce.

- Arugula and mixed green salad tossed with olive oil, fresh lemon and coarse ground black pepper, topped by shavings of hard Spanish sheep cheese and with a smudge of anchovy paste round the rim.

- A Diablo Foods lentil and capsicum salad completed the feast.

This incredible array of dishes was supplemented with two extraordinary, finger-lickin' good sauces. Stonewall Kitchen provided us with a sweet Fig and Vidalia Onion sauce that went with everything. It was intended for the lamb chops but in the end we dipped it all - even the Milka hazelnut milk chocolate we had for desert. Supplementing this divine ambrosia was Dulcet's Madras Curry Sauce and Marinade - a flavor explosion that was killer with the lamb, incredible with the scallops and delish with the two salads.

And to top it all off we guzzled Wente Brut Reserve sparkling wine - ultimately decimating three entire bottles. My head is feeling it this morning but it was well worth it!

Best Sandwich in Sonoma County

My sister Jenna and I drove up to Sonoma County this weekend to visit our sister Katelyn in event of her birthday. She in turn introduced us to the most delicious sandwich I have had in quite some time, at a place called - originally and simply enough - the Sandwich Spot.

This Spot boasts a long menu of "specialty sandwiches" that seem to be a result of long experimentation on the part of the owner as to what ingredients pair best with others. Their research has paid off because me-oh-my the sandwich I had was DELISH.

Just a classic combo of turkey, avocado, bacon, cheese and all the fixin's on a Dutch Crunch roll but what really set this sandwich above and beyond the rest were the details. The turkey was warm, the avocado thick and perfectly ripe, the Dutch crunch crunchy but not so much so that it left my mouth lacerated. But the real secret is the killer, garlicky, AMAZING secret sauce that they slather on all of their sandwiches. It gives you rank burps later on but is well worth it.

So, for all those who find themselves in Rohnert Park, near Sonoma State, take a little side trip and grab lunch at the Sandwich Spot because it is GOOD.

(7285 Snyder #B, Rohnert Park, CA 94928)

The Beginning

So I have been living in what most would consider Foodie Heaven with my aunt and various roommates and have decided to combine said culinary bliss with my propensity for food photography and create a blog! It really was my roommate's idea, actually, I am just implementing it.

This Foodie Heaven is a product of my aunt, cousin, roommate and my own love of and devotion to food and its preparation in all forms. Since each of us enjoys cooking so much, and since none of us have to do it every night and therefore are able to put extra effort into our meals we are constantly feasting. While this is not necessarily all that good for the waistline, it is very good for the soul = ).

I would like to use this forum to share with you some of the more delicious and delightful meals we have created and consumed. However, I shan't be restricting it to just home cooking. As a resident of the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area I have at my fingertips every kind of ethnic cuisine a foodie could ever desire. Thus I shall be sharing the evidence of my culinary adventures here as well. AND - as an addicted traveller I will also post my international experiences as well.

So that's my manifesto.

I have a bit of backlog so there will likely be a glut of posts at first which I promise will taper off.