Category Archives: Great Finds

“To Lahaina, With Love”

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A simple and delicious recipe from Chef Lee Anne Wong, who lost her restaurant in the devastating Lahaina fires.
A simple and delicious recipe from Chef Lee Anne Wong, who lost her restaurant in the devastating Lahaina fires.

In times of natural disasters or catastrophic world events, not only do firefighters and paramedics immediately mobilize to help, but so do chefs, cooks, and others in the hospitality industry.

After all, they know better than anyone the power of food to comfort, nourish, and heal.

As I watched the news accounts of the gut-wrenching destruction wrought by the Southern California wildfires, it reminded me eerily of the 2023 firestorm that obliterated the town of Lahaina on the island of Maui.

In each case, restaurateurs and their employees — including some whose establishment or homes had been ravaged by flames — turned up in droves to cook meals for anyone in need, despite their own dire circumstances.

Wildfires may be growing more severe nowadays due to climate change. But it’s heartening to witness the indefatigable resilience, resourcefulness, and compassion of a community rising to meet it.

“To Lahaina, With Love” exemplifies that. Proceeds from this cookbook, which debuted last month, benefit Fresh Help Maui, a non-profit that provides meals and locally-caught fresh fish to those impacted by the Maui fires.

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Sweet On Big Picture Farm Caramels

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Discover Big Picture Farm caramels made by a family farm in Vermont.
Discover Big Picture Farm caramels made by a family farm in Vermont.

They are creamy, sticky, buttery, redolent of caramelized sugar, and come in some surprising flavors.

Big Picture Farm caramels, of which I received a sample, are made by a family farm in southern Vermont using milk from their herd of adorable goats.

The farm is completely solar-powered. Its 100 acres are grazed by the goats on a rotational basis to maintain soil health. The caramels also make use of local ingredients from their fellow farmers.

Owners Louisa Conrad is a photographer and mixed-media artist, and her husband Lucas Farrell is a writer and poet. And it shows.

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Chef Jeremy Fox’s Yellow Eye Soup with Rancho Gordo Heirloom Beans

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Yes, there's a lot of garlic in this veggie-bean soup, but you'll welcome it, I promise.
Yes, there’s a lot of garlic in this veggie-bean soup, but you’ll welcome it, I promise.

If I told you this soup takes more than two heads of garlic to make, would you balk?

Fear not, though, because that copious amount won’t result in a dish (or home-cook) that reeks. The garlic taste is prominent to be sure, but it’s not aggressively sharp or overwhelming pungent. Instead, it gives this vegan bean and veggie soup a deep, delicious flavor that you taste and feel all the way to your core. In other words, the kind of soup your body craves especially at this time of year.

“Jeremy Fox’s Yellow Eye Soup” is from the new “The Bean Book” (Ten Speed Press, 2014), of which I received a review copy.

It was written by Steve Sando, the founder of Napa’s Rancho Gordo, a specialty food company known for growing and sourcing heirloom beans prized by discriminating chefs and home-cooks around the country; and Julia Newberry, general manager of Rancho Gordo.

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Dining at Violetto at the Alila Napa Valley

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Smoked sturgeon and cauliflower rillettes with caviar at Violetto at the Alila resort.
Smoked sturgeon and cauliflower rillettes with caviar at Violetto at the Alila resort.

The resort now known as Alila Napa Valley (formerly Los Alcabas) has always been one of my favorite properties in St. Helena for its striking juxtaposition between old and new.

In 2021, the Alila hotel group took over the property with its oversized, minimalist, gray-toned rooms with spectacular vineyard views, with the vines so close to the ground-floor rooms that you could walk out your terrace to touch them.

In May 2024, it completed its transition by debuting its new restaurant, Violetto, housed in the property’s beautifully ornate 1907 mansion.

Chef Thomas Lents serves a French-Italian menu with thoughtful options for a 7-course tasting menu ($145) with optional wine pairing ($85), four-course prix fixe ($105) with optional wine pairing ($65), or a la carte. There are also supplemental items you can choose to add.

Violetto is housed in a 1907 mansion.
Violetto is housed in a 1907 mansion.
The main dining room.
The main dining room.
The bar-lounge area.
The bar-lounge area.

Recently, I was invited as a guest of the property and restaurant to stay overnight and to experience the new menu.

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