Page 35 - 2014 Travel Guide to California

THE SEAFOOD CART makes the rounds
at State Bird Provisions in San Francisco,
right; fruit and vegetable truck at Casa de
Fruta, Gilroy, above.
Shop in South Lake Tahoe nourishes with
banana waffles cloaked in whipped cream.
Corned beef hash and fresh muffins
beckon customers back to Nat’s Early Bite
Coffee Shop in LA. A diner’s highest praise
often comes from the left hand—patrons
swoon over the eggs benedict at Egghead’s
Restaurant in Fort Bragg after calling it a
hole in the wall.
Those Pumpkins Can Really Party
Large-scale food and wine festivals fea-
turing celebrity chefs dot the California
map. Attendees at the glitzy Los Angeles
Food & Wine Festival, held in August,
could participate in cooking demonstra-
tions with Food Network star Giada De
Laurentiis or share a four-course dinner
under the stars with none other than Cali-
fornia cuisine godfather Wolfgang Puck.
Lest the garlic, eggplant, raisins and
asparagus feel slighted, they and all their
produce friends have local celebrations
too. The Gilroy Garlic Festival has been
serving up vampire repellents such as
garlic ice cream with cantaloupe for 35
years. A bean run, bean queen and chili
cookoff headline Tracy’s Dry Bean Festival,
and the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival
in October has really come of age, with
pumpkin microbrew and its own app.
Consumers’ awareness of fresh, local,
organic food has given farmers markets a
newfound popularity. The farm stand,
once relegated to a booth at the church fair,
has become a happening place to buy a bag
of purple carrots and a bunch of lemon
thyme for the marinade, listen to live
music, maybe take home an herb-roasted
chicken fresh off the spit. From San Diego,
with at least 20 year-round markets, to
Placerville in the Sierra foothills to Chico
in Northern California, the Golden State’s
agricultural scene is sexy and it knows it.
Despite all this, alfalfa sprouts and avo-
cados haven’t been bumped from the
sandwich. On the contrary—arugula, apple
wood smoked bacon and heirloom toma-
toes have climbed aboard with them.
Considering California’s superlative
variety of meat and produce, it’s easy to see
how people who love food, from newbie
cooks to accomplished chefs like Alice
Waters, get their energy and inspiration.
Call it “fusion” or “California cuisine” or
“diner,” but the only easy definition for the
Golden State’s food is “phenomenal.”
» FIND YOUR
NEXT MEAL
frenchlaundry.com
manresarestaurant.com
chezpanisse.com
babysbadassburgers.com
themelt.com
itstopscoffeeshop.com
redhutcafe.com
natsearlybite.com
eggheadsrestaurant.com
lafw.com
gilroygarlicfestival.com
tracybeanfestival.com
statebirdsf.com
solvangbakery.com
cafarmersmarkets.com
Good Food News
americanfarmtotable.com
foodtrucktalk.com
chowhound.com
seriouseats.com
2014 T R AV E L G U I D E T O C A L I F O R N I A 33