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July, 2011

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Cafe Delmarette • Santa Cruz

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

Cafe Delmarette, located in downtown Santa Cruz on Pacific (next to the Delmar Theater, get it, Delmarette), is THE place to meet friends for lunch OR to take out of town friends for lunch, coffee, house made teas (such as house made caramelized pear tea), homemade scones (Bacon, chive, & cheddar Scones, Fig goat cheese Scones, Strawberry Scones etc…), sandwiches, salads, and soup.  This is an order at the counter cafe with limited indoor and outdoor seating. The casualness to the setting makes eating Delmarette’s local, tasty food quite wonderful.

Delmarette serves seasonal foods from a variety of pressed sandwiches to a great salad, daily soup special, and even a grain salad special which is always delicious too (such as Ta-Boo-Lee = Bulgur, Carrot, Red Onion, Cucumber, Cherry Tomato, Kale, Parsley & Dill).  They serve VERVE coffee, another one of my Santa Cruz favorites, and they put frozen coffee ice cubes in their Iced Coffee (see photo above)!  Their little cupcakes are delicious too – Blenheim Apricot Buttercream Frosting w/ fruit topping.  My brother says it is the only place he eats lunch in downtown Santa Cruz and I have to credit him with introducing me to it as I walked by it so often and thought it was just another coffee shop.  The atmosphere could be described as ‘cozy’ (not warm cozy like a diner or lodge in the winter, but small cozy). I would say that it is very much like a cafe you would find in Berkeley with local, homemade and seasonal foods for lunch with lots of folks strolling in and out.  You order at the counter and can sit among cool little art inside or sit outside on the street on a little patio and people watch.

CLOSED TUESDAYS

Mon: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm
Wed – Sat: 9:00 am - 7:00 pm
Sun: 9:00 am - 6:00

http://www.facebook.com/cafedelmarette

Cafe Delmarette
1126 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz, CA 95060

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Favorite Summer Drinks – Cause’ what do you have to do tomorrow?

Friday, July 15th, 2011

One of my favorite things is to ask people about their own personal favorite foods and drinks.  So I decided to poll friends all over the country about their favorite Summer Drinks, or Dranks as we call em’ if they are in Big Gulps.  Well, unfortunately for summer drinks(ing), the older we get, the more we have to do (not referring to drinking of course, but real stuff), tomorrow! BUT it’s summer time and we all need to kick back a bit and as my friend Ryan would say, “What do you have to do tomorrow?”

When we were out to dinner recently, a friend asked me, “So do you ever order anything without asking the server a question about their favorite?” Well, no, I typically like to find out the house specialties, it backfires occasionally and more often than not, lands me a great meal or something I wouldn’t have normally tried.  It is the same thing for traveling to new territories and finding the good spots to eat.  You have to talk to people. It’s part of the adventure of travel and food too.  I learned that one from my Dad, so I guess I’m proud of talkin’ to peeps about their favorites!

Here, we are talking (or emailing) our way to the best summer drink favorites, thanks guys!

Favorite Summer Drinks, From East to the West:

Ryan, New Hampshire

  • Smuttynose IPA is ridiculously crisp and nicely hopped it goes well with steak, burgers, hot dogs, cereal, strawberries and of course more beer. They are like Lay’s potato chips, no one can have just one. They are the local Portsmouth NH brewery who are making amazing award winning beers. A staple in any NH home.
  • Wolfer Estate, Long Island, NY Rose Table Wine 2010 @ Lodge in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY – I really enjoy their crispness and bright fruit characteristics.
  • Vis Gris de Cigare, Bonny Doon- Light, crisp and refreshing with tons of summer fruit. And of course, who could go wrong with this bottle!

Chad, Ohio

Kirk & Suzy, Texas

Kelly, Washington

Sangria from Cook’s Illustrated with Kelly’s Suggestions

  • 2 oranges, washed and sliced
  • 1 lemon, washed and sliced
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup triple sec
  • 1 bottle, chilled red table wine (Kelly suggests Spanish table wine – Recipe suggest Merlot)
  • +Add apples (I know they probably don’t add much flavor but I like how they absorb the wine and make a yummy snack at the end)

Let your Sangria sit for 1 day for best results (at least two hours). Use juicy fruit.

Grace, California

Strawberry Basil Vodka Lemonade

Makes 2 quarts – 8 Servings

  • 3 cups of strawberries (approx. 1.5 cup of blended strawberries in Food Processor)
  • Lemons
  • 3 cups of lemonade (use 2 cups of Countrytime Lemonade to start the base + 1 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice)
  • Basil Leaves
  • 1 cup of Vodka (How to make your own Strawberry Vodka in Mason Jars)

Squeeze a cup of lemon juice and mix well with Countrytime lemonade mixture or your own lemonade concoction. Add 1 cup of Strawberry or Citrus flavored Smirnoff Vodka, strawberry-mash blend.

Anne, California

Al, California

  • Paulaner Weissbier or Hefe-Weisse
  • Franziskaner/Spaten Weissbier or Hefe-Weisse -These are two of my favorites.  I equally like both the ‘weissbier’ and the ‘hefe-weisse from these two brewers. Weissbier has the suspended yeast filtered out and hefe-weiss (usually cloudy) is unfiltered. In Germany the hefe-weisse beers have a lot of sediment which is full of B vitimins. Hence, the common reference to the beer in Germany as food.

Jessica, California

  • Summer Wine Spritzer – In a glass pour 2/3 white wine, 1/3 Sparkling Lemonade + 1 raspberry per glass

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The Naglee Park Garage • San Jose

Sunday, July 10th, 2011

The Naglee Park Garage is the kind of neighborhood restaurant that you want located a short bike ride down the street from your house.  There is a small interior space with a few bar stools and some tables with the kitchen wide open and the grill right there.  In any case it is located very close to San Jose State University, hence the 7-11 right next door.  It was featured on Triple D’s, which is how we found out about it, but I’m not sure that it is a typical Triple D’s pick, it is maybe a bit on the hip divey side, so OK, it works for that.  You order your food and a beer (Allagash White – A traditional Belgian Wheat Beer on Draft) at the counter and can grab a seat inside or if it is nice enough you can sit out back at a picnic table in the beer garden.  The menu is not what you would expect from an order at the counter joint.  The fare includes interesting seasonal California foods such as salads including their classic Picnic Salad with beets, blue cheese, and bacon or a seasonal salad with apples, pears, endive, and goat cheese as well as tasty burgers and interesting main dishes (Ribs, Trout, Lamb Meatballs).  My choice for tastiness (and a great date night place to sit at the bar) is to split the burger and order a small salad and an interesting side … oh, as well as what I would consider the best item on the menu, their Chocolate Bread Pudding with whip cream and candied pecans (or vanilla too) for dessert.

I’ve been to Naglee Park Garage at least five times now and my friends from out of town dig it.  They do have breakfast (mmm… tri-tip hash), although I’ve never tried it and they also cater local backyard family-style events which sounds interesting and you can check that out on their website.

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