Shooting Stars of Thought | (beta)

Ok, I took some liberties with “local” this week, when I decided to explore the depths of my freezer and came across two elk ribeye steaks that a friend had given me last summer. The meat comes from his family’s ranch in Minot, North Dakota, and was part of an enormous dry-ice packed cooler that [...]

In anticipation of next week’s show at the orpheum, I’m declaring 6/9-6/13 the Week of Tom Waits. Basically, this involves listening to the entire Tom Waits disography, in order, broken up into about five albums a day. For anyone who wants to partake, here’s Monday’s line up:

Closing Time
The Heart of Saturday Night
Nighthawks at the Diner
Small [...]

This week was the first week of one local summer, and I kicked it off with a classic: steak and potatoes.

Ok, it was a little more involved than just steak and potatoes. Here were the dishes:
Cherry & Vanilla Porter Marinated Tri-Tip with Porter-Glazed Shitake Mushrooms
Grilled Artichokes with Sauteed Grape Tomatoes and Dill
Tri-Color Medley of [...]

It dawned on me the other week that had been almost a year since the start of last year’s One Local Summer. The exercise involved committing to eat one completely local meal just once a week, for each week of the summer. It was amazing, and that is an understatement. I started out knowing [...]

Ok, so I can’t get this beer out of my head. Here’s a bit more information on it:
Hollister is a brewpub located in Goleta, CA, which is just outside of Santa Barbara. Looks like they’ve been open for little over a year, although two of the three owners have backgrounds in brewing (at the Santa [...]

1. Yes, they serve sausages.
tonight there were 6 options:knockwurst, hot italian, linguica, veal bratwurst, a veal/pork brat, and one more i can’t remember. We ordered the linguica (taking up chef dylan’s suggestion), and the pork/veal brat, which were EXCELLENTLY paired with the Hollister “The j” and the Pizza Port Carlsbad Ruby Black, respectively. Lets just [...]

Well folks, the anticipation is over. Tomorrow marks the official launch of Toronado in North Park! I managed to sneak in a couple of times over the weekend, and my, oh, my am I glad the wait is over. While the bar was fairly unfinished (tablecloths were strewn over bar tops, bottoms of booths still [...]

When I get in a non-blogging rut, I always feel the need to enter back into the arena with gusto. This week promises to be filled with it, so here goes.
I’m back, and here’s why this week is shaping up to be a good one:
1. Today marks the first day of American Craft Beer Week. [...]

Smack!
That’s the sound of a virtual high five.  If I see you in person tomorrow, you’ll hear a real one.
Or you could take the satisfaction of hearing a perfectly exchanged high five into your onw hands. Literally. Raise one when you pass by someone tomorrow…something* tells me they may do the same.
*It’s the third Thursday [...]

i’ve been a little silent. Things are settling down, more is coming soon, I promise!!