So good, it should be illegal

Let them eat faux gras
When chefs in Chicago were banned from using foie gras in their restaurant, they got creative. Instead of prized duck liver (the animals are force-fed to artificially enlarge the liver), they're using everything from chicken livers to garbanzo beans to approximate the taste and texture. A recipe for chicken liver faux gras can be found in Michel Richard's Happy in the Kitchen Cookbook (or here) . So far, Spiaggia's chef Tony Mantuano hasn't divulged his secret for vegetarian faux gras, though he says it includes garbanzo beans, vin santo and lots of butter. Listen to his discussion of faux gras on NPR.

Moonshinin'
I have a rule. If I hear about something three times in three days, then it's probably a trend to pay attention to. Moonshine has popped onto my radar countless times in the last few weeks. Enough times, in fact, that I'm headed to SR's Beverage People to check out a New Zealand book called The Compleat Distiller. Though running your own still remains illegal in the US (yes, illegal kids-one bad batch and you can go blind), I'm saying here and now that home-brewed spirits are my pick for DIY-trend of the year. Anyone for Meyer Lemon-infused hootch? And hey, if the whole moonshine thing doesn't work out, you can always use your still to make your own gasoline. Read the distilling FAQ

Cheese so stinky it's illegal
Epoisse is an artisinal French cheese from Burgundy that's so incredibly odoriferous that it's banned on the Paris metro. It also happens to be banned in the US (at least in its original raw-milk form) because, well, a handful of people died from a food-borne illness associated with unpasteurized milk cheeses. Sheesh. More people have died from tainted hamburgers than stinky cheese, folks. I've been obsessing about this washed-rind cheese since reading about it in The Devil's Picnic: Around the World in Pursuit of Forbidden Fruit by Taras Grescoe. Though I hear its not nearly as stinky or delightful (or deadly), you can buy pasteurized Epoisse at Oliver's for between $6 and $8 per slice. Just don't try to take it on the Metro.

So sinful it SHOULD be illegal
The final buzz of the week is about Bacon Salt. Despite the fact that some naysayers in New York have declared that the whole artisinal bacon trend has "jumped the shark", there are those among us that will never, ever, EVER grow tired of the world's most delightful food. Bacon, that is. And though I'd rather eat glass than put a Baco-Bit in my mouth ever again, the idea of Bacon Salt (basically bacon-flavored, uh, salt) has its appeal. Sprinkle it on your hamburger, your grilled cheese, your ice cream or, well, even your bacon. Because everything really should taste like bacon.

General's Daughter: The Comeback Kid?

Everyone loves a comeback story. All the better when it involves Kobe beef.

After years of lurking in the shadows as a solid, but not particularly innovative Sonoma institution, the General's Daughter has been reinvented as one of the most consistently impressive restaurants in Wine Country. No easy task.

Because the only thing more difficult than opening a restaurant is trying to change the public's perception of an existing eatery--especially when that perception is one of bridge club luncheons and wedding rehearsal dinners. (I held mine there 10 years ago.)

But with quiet perseverance over the last two years, Chef Preston Dishman has been winning over the hearts, minds and stomachs of locals with his southern take on California classics. Backed by the restaurant's new owners, Floridians Jim and Bettie Hall, Dishman's been given free reign over the menu, marrying southern ingredients like andouille sausage with local tomatoes, Dungeness crab cakes with creole mustard butter or goat cheese beignets. He is, after all, a Southern boy.

Dishman stops, however, well short of making the whole thing feel hokey and forced. Calling his food New American with a distinct Southern drawl, Dishman's obvious mastery of classic French techniques serve as a solid platform for his experimentation in Cal-Ital-Lowcountry cooking.

Bottom line: This ain't just collard greens and grits. Think foie gras with roasted peaches; heirloom tomatoes with spicy rock shrimp and basil vinaigrette; buttermilk panna cotta with blueberry gelee, brown sugar streusel and blueberry sorbet; venison with harissa spiced carrots. And, okay, West Coast shrimp & grits with andouille and Tabasco butter. (See a sample menu)

It took a plate of Dishman's slow braised American Kobe short ribs at a recent winemaker dinner, however, to seal the deal. Swoon-inducing, the ribs were melt-in-your-mouth bits of meat and sweet sauce piled on a potato puree (more butter than potatoes, Dishman admits with a smirk) with baby spinach. Professional courtesy was all that kept me from a gushing bear hug of thanks.

Maybe next time. This comeback story still has plenty of chapters waiting to be written.

If you go: Dishman's menu is arranged by courses, with diners selecting three ($49), four ($61) or five ($73). All menu items are available a la carte, however, should you (and you will) want to share a few extra dishes. "Beginnings" range from salads to oysters; "The Deep Blue" showcase Preston's skill with seafood (sea scallops with Israeli couscous, Maine lobster with potato gnocchi, tomato and mascarpone cream); "Field and Forest" (lamp chops, beef with polenta, duck breast), a cheese course and dessert (fig tart, buttermilk panna cotta, Meyer lemon crème brulee). The menu change up depending on what's fresh and seasonal, and Dishman likes to use fresh produce from his chef's garden at Benziger Winery.

General's Daughter, 400 West Spain Street, Sonoma, 707.938.4004

Ferrari tastes on a Volkswagen budget

Get your bubble on: Domaine Chandon's usually staid etoile restaurant is attracting some hipsters on a budget during Bubble Hour, featuring half off Chandon wine and $5 sparkling cocktails from 6-7 pm. Thursday nights throughout August, they'll be offering swing dance lessons for just $10 from 7 to 8pm and a live DJ. One California Drive, Yountville.

All you can eat sushi? Sonoma foodie Kathleen Hill reports in the Sonoma Sun that Shiso Restaurant will offer an all-you-can-eat dinner every Wednesday night from 6pm to 9pm. For $30, you've got one hour to cram as much food into your piehole as you'd like (though there is a limited menu). At an upscale sushi house like Ed Metcalfe's (who plans to open a steakhouse at the SoCo airport this month), that's quite a deal. 522 Broadway, Sonoma.

Locals night at Dry Creek Kitchen: Charlie Palmer's Healdsburg outpost offers up a three course tasting menu Monday through Thursday for $30, $45 with wine. 25 Matheson St, Healdsburg.

Applewood Inn, which received a recent Michelin nod, serves up high-end Cal-Ital dishes from Chef Brian Anderson Tuesday through Thursday on their bistro menu. Frequented by romance-seeking tourists on the weekend, the Guerneville spa/hideaway is a nice little getaway for us locals during the busy workweek. Reservations recommended 13555 Highway 116, Guerneville.

Plus...
Seems Santa Rosa wasn't quite ready for Nirvana's high-concept Indian fusion. The restaurant has reportedly closed. Though BiteClub was initially enthusiastic about the food, continued problems with service and consistency--as well some fairly rabid counter-advertising by nearby Sizzling Tandoor--seem to have doomed the restaurant.

Do duck testicles make you green?

The next time Incanto's Chris Cosentino asks me if I want to watch him break down a whole pig--nose-to-tail--I swear I'm going to take him up on it. One of my biggest foodie regrets, in fact, was passing by the chance to see this offalist at work, elbow-deep in hog.

Because while most of us are a bit squeamish about the seemingly nasty bits of animal left behind after the prime bits of meat have been cut away, Cosentino doesn't flinch. In fact, SF's Manic Organ-ic prizes every usable bit of the animal, sautéing, frying and steaming blood, brains, and, uh, even duck testicles in ways not often seen in the US (at least in the last 75 years or so).

Call it gross. Call it brilliant. Call it a whole new take on sustainability.

And, call it recognized. Cosentino, along with fellow offal-lover Fergus Henderson (sometimes hailed as the father of the organ meats resurgence) of London's St. John Restaurant and were both recognized as top Green Chefs by the environmentally-conscious blog, Grist.com.

It's also a bit of a radical change in thinking. Serious carnivores are rarely hailed by the mostly veggie-centric ecorati. To their defense, animals do take a serious bit of resources to raise, slaughter and process. But when sustainability is part of the total equation--from birth to table--even many hard-core vegetarians are rethinking their stance. In fact, it has recently been reported that flexitarianism "former vegetarians who eat the occasional sausage or hamburger "is a new trend among the formerly meatless. Some credit the influx of more organic, sustainable, humane practices into meat processing for the change.

So, while Alice Waters, Dan Barber and notable French vegetable enthusiast Alain Passard remain usual suspects on "green chef" lists, it's refreshing to see folks like Cosentino and Henderson's commitment to waste-less meat eating lauded.

Even if it isn't your cup of blood pudding.

Check out the other Green Chefs, including Pacific Grove's Ted Walter and Manresa's David Kinch, were nominated by Grist.org

In other news: Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations kicks off its new season tonight (7/30) on the Travel Channel.

SolBar: Spa-side dining

There’s nothing like watching thin, rich, tan people frolicking poolside from your dinner table to inspire a little caloric restraint.

Then again, if you’re anything like me, the sight of all that taut skin inspires an order of beef short ribs with polenta, a peach tart, some flatbread and a strawberry mojito. Oh, and uh, how is that potato gnocchi, anyway?

But SolBar isn’t here to be judgmental about your food choices. Tucked inside the new Solage spa compound in Calistoga, this ultra-trendy, ultra-minimalist (think Press, FARM and pretty much anything built in Napa in the last three years) restaurant features a menu politely divided into two parts: A Continental Divide, so to speak, of healthy, calorie-conscious spa food on the left and the hearty, carb and fat-loaded stuff on the right. You know, your choice.

Hey wait a minute. I feel judged.

Best bet is to wander back and forth over the chasm. Though the menu changes up according to season and availability, a summer favorite is the chilled carrot ginger soup with radish, avocado and spearmint ($7), which despite its glow is a cold snap of refreshing, sweet carrots and crunchy radishes from the healthy left side of the menu. If you’re in a sharing mood, the hearth-baked sea salt flat bread served with three dips: Tzatziki (yogurt and cucumber sauce), a pesto-like salsa verde (lemon, basil, cilantro) and a brilliant red olive tapenade ($8, sorry not from the healthy side though I’ll give you a pass on this. Come on its yogurt.). Also worth a peek are the char sui bao, barbequed pork buns ($10, nope fattening).

Entrees range from shrimp and vegetable salad with water chestnuts, fennel and orange ginger vinaigrette to chicken breast with brown rice, ajo blanco and red grapes (yes, you’re so good!) to Petrale sole with lemon garlic risotto, a double cheeseburger with fried pickles (what’s with fried pickles all the sudden?) and beef short ribs with organic polenta, watercress and thyme-roasted onions (from the husky side of the menu). Yeah. Live a little and experience what may be some of the best polenta I’ve ever had. In other words, it actually had flavor--and lots of it. The ribs are marinated for two days and fall apart at the sight of a fork. I could have done without the goofy green watercress, however. Leave it for the salad eaters.

For dessert, the Frog Hollow Farms peach galette with sour cherries and lavender honey mascarpone ($8) was a warm after dinner hug (though the heavy-handed crust was left behind.) Valrhona chocolate pudding with toasted marshmallows and graham crackers is a cute nod to s’mores—best enjoyed by the open fireplace or flaming fountain outside.

Trying to manage the ying-yang desires of the spa-set is a tall order for Chef Brandon Sharp, a former sous chef at SF’s Gary Danko and French Laundry alum. And aside from some lackluster plating and distracted service Sharp’s clearly working hard to attain a sense of inner balance and harmony on both sides of the menu. It’s up to you to decide where your true bliss lies.

If you go: Don’t miss a poolside seat with exotic signature cocktails like the Strawberry Ginger Mojito (rum, strawberry puree, mint and fresh ginger); Brasilian (Oronoco oak aged-rum and fresh lime juice) or blood orange Sidecar with Martell Cognac, blood orange puree and fresh lemon juice ($11).

SolBar at Solage: Open to the public daily for lunch and dinner. 755 Silverado Trail, Calistoga, 866-942 7442.

Meet the Bourbonians

It's not often you meet a Kentucky Colonel. Let alone three at one sitting--and not a bucket of fried chicken in sight.

Gathered at the behest of local bourbon connoisseur and Straightbourbon.com webmaster Jim Butler, folks from around the globe (and closer to home) trek to Santa Rosa each year to meet up with similarly passionate drinkers to talk bourbon, share bourbon, sip bourbon, admire bourbon, smoke a stogie or two and then get back to all things bourbon. These are serious bourbonians. Including--I kid you not--several who've been tapped as real-life Kentucky Colonels for their dedication to the state's righteous brew. (Most wear t-shirts and jeans instead of white suits, however.)

Turns out this was the weekend for the big meet up in Santa Rosa and the bourbon crew counted some 15 states and several countries among those represented at the Bourbon Fest. And somehow BiteClub got invited. Mostly because I accidentally crashed their pre-party on Friday night while making a beeline for a Jack and Coke.

Now in case, like me, you're a little rusty on the difference between whisky and bourbon, the kindly StraightBourbon.com folks are happy to explain it while you try not to cough and choke on your first shot of 141 proof bourbon. Unlike whisky, there are some rather stringent requirements on what can and can't be labeled bourbon. Though they share some similar qualities, bourbon must be made with a minimum of 51 percent corn (most distillers use 65 to 75 percent corn, according to the website) and bourbon must be aged for a minimum of two years in new, white oak barrels that have been charred. Nothing can be added at bottling to enhance flavor, add sweetness or alter color.

A few other interesting facts gleaned while hobnobbing with the Bourbons: Bourbon is a uniquely American drink and no other country has license to create "bourbon" "kind of like the whole flap about sparkling wine makers not using the term "champagne". In addition, Bourbon doesn't really change or age (like wine) after it's bottled. So at the party, there were more than a few bottles that dated back 20 or 30 years "a real treat to crack open those old time tax tabs.

So, here's the big question: Is Jack Daniel's bourbon? Nope, though the process is similar, Daniel's uses a special process of filtering that makes it straight-up whisky. Not that anyone's complaining. It just isn't bourbon. But mention Scotch and you'd think I'd just brought a bottle of Hearty Burgundy to a dinner with Robert Parker Jr. Apparently there's no love-loss between Scotch-drinkers and Bourbonians.

To find out why, check out Jim's website,straighbourbon.com for a FAQ, forums and plenty of discussion about all thinks mashed, filtered, distilled and sipped. Just don't mention Scotch.

BOURBON FOR WINE DRINKERS: Bourbon drinkers from Wine Country were excited about a new Woodford Reserve Bourbon that is "finished" for several months in Chardonnay barrels from Sonoma Cutrer winery after aging in new oak. The bourbon, which is rumored to be released shortly will retail for $89.99 and only 900 cases are being produced.

Odyssey: Hidden Windsor spot won't stay secret long

Chefs are a notoriously fickle bunch to feed. Anyone worth their whites can sniff out undercooked pasta at 100 yards and won't hesitate to dress down a fellow cook (usually behind their back) with devastating candor if the fries are frozen or the spinach wilted. Suffice to say it's not just their knives that are razor sharp.

So, when word gets out that local toques have been frequenting Windsor's new Odyssey Restaurant after-hours, my foodie feelers start tingling. When I find out that the chef, Rudy Mihall, cut his teeth at Gramercy Tavern, spent two years in Italy and, according to an email from Jeff Mall "won't be under the radar much longer", my wheels are pretty much smoking in the rush to get there.

Nestled into the tiny space formerly occupied by L'Assiette, Odyssey has just 10 tables and a long, glowing bar that dominates the space. There's little room to maneuver, but proximity can have its benefits--like the ability to chum up to your neighbors and pilfer a little nibble from their plate. Not that I'm suggesting you do this uninvited. But when a ridiculously huge foie gras burger comes to the table, the urge is, well, irresistible.

In the six weeks since opening, Odyssey has breezed past the nervous tension and bungling that are the hallmark of first-timers and settled comfortably into wowing the locals. Mihall has clearly mastered the confines of his small kitchen (allowing more time for his creative coiffures) while friend and SF restaurateur Tom Gordon manages the front of the house.

The menu changes up daily, with house favorites like the pizza, burger and beet tartare as staples. Despite not having a wood-fired oven, Mihall cranks out impossibly thin and crispy pizzas, topped with arugula, pancetta and fresh mozzarella ($13-$15). And no, he won't tell you the secret to how he makes them. Starters show off Mihall's flair for the dramatic: Beet tartare ($10) with sunflower greens is a jewel-toned vision almost too pretty to eat and chilled pea soup with poached lobster (with, get this, pickled ramps) is packed with bits of meat that make its $12 price tag seem a bargain.

Capping off the food frenzy, you'll want to check out the foie gras burger ($21), if just to say you've done it. It's a layer upon layer of flavor (and cholesterol): black truffles, braised short ribs and foie gras encased by beef sirloin. It's not an easy thing to pull off--keeping the exterior from drying out completely, while making sure the inside isn't blood raw. Mihall gets it as close to right as anyone possibly could, searing the outside and finishing the whole affair in the oven. Roasted tomatoes and a brioche bun just add to the dedadence. Thing is, the burger's far too large to actually fit in your mouth, so just split one round the table. I don't want to be responsible for any of you keeling over in coronary arrest if you brave it alone.

Dessert hasn't quite worked itself out yet. Considering the sweet teeth of local clientele and late(ish) hours, we'll look forward to some creativity in this department to cap off the meal. No worries. Just ask the chef sitting at the end of the bar for a few ideas.

If you go: The spot is a little hard to find, hidden in a far corner of the Town Green and signage is minimal. Considering the buzz, you may want to call ahead for reservations. The restaurant has a considerable wine list featuring many local wines, in addition to a large selection of Italian reds and whites.

Odyssey Restaurant, 426 Emily Rose, Circle, Windsor, 707.836.7600. Open Tuesday through Thursday, 5pm to 10pm; Friday and Saturday, 5pm to 11pm.