Food & Wine April 2020

A Golden State of Mind IT WAS A SIMPLE PLAN. Take the kids to California. Show them Santa Barbara, drive up the coast to Big Sur and the Bay Area, and wrap up with friends in Napa and family in Lake Tahoe. They would fall in love with the state by the time we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, just as I did at age 10. Then we’d return every summer thereafter. I need not have planned so much—at least where their hearts were concerned. On the first night of vacation at The Alisal Guest Ranch, with a happy belly full of Santa Maria–style beef ribs and ice cream sandwiches, my 8-year-old daughter, Frances, looked up from under the brim of a straw cowgirl hat. “Dad,” she said. “I love California.” Me, too,…

LAST NOVEMBER, F&W convened an industry panel in Napa Valley. The topic: What is the future of Napa Valley Cabernet? I moderated the discussion; in attendance were 45 winemakers, winery owners, marketers, and journalists. The quotes below give a glimpse of the far-ranging discussion. For a more in-depth version, visit foodandwine.com/napa-future. ON PRICES “When Hess went into Pope Valley in the late 1990s, people thought, ‘Pope Valley? There’s a tire shop. You can’t even get a cup of coffee.’ But it’s technically part of Napa Valley, and now Hess is producing 80,000 cases of a $35 Napa Cabernet from there.”—NICOLE CARTER, MERRY EDWARDS WINERY “In 2007, Cabernet pricing was half of what it is now.” [In 2007, grapes were $4,299 per ton.]—JOSH PHELPS, GROUNDED WINE CO. ON TOURISM “The thing that excites me most about…

THE VAST MAJORITY OF OLIVE OIL in the U.S. is imported from Europe, but California-grown varieties are revolutionizing the industry in both taste and style. Since California’s soil is so versatile, nearly any kind of olive can grow there; this makes the blending options nearly boundless and the finished products diverse and unique. Golden State olive oils now make up 5% of American olive oil consumption, and that number is expected to keep growing. We turned to Nicholas Coleman, cofounder of the premium olive oil subscription service Grove and Vine and previously the chief oleologist at Eataly, to help us evaluate 11 new California olive oils. At right, we share our top five. THE DISRUPTER Brightland’s Awake, an olive oil made with handpicked heirloom Coratina olives, has a peppery kick—great drizzled into…

THE UNOFFICIAL INSTAGRAM rulebook states that you haven’t truly arrived on a California vacation until you’ve posted a shot of a Double-Double Animal Style from In-N-Out Burger. Hey, I’ve posted that photo, too. But for my money, the real burger to travel for is at Gott’s Roadside in St. Helena. And after that Niman Ranch burger dripping with secret sauce on a squishy egg bun? I’m going back again with friends for Crab Louie if it’s in season. Or maybe Vietnamese chicken salad. Or a seared ahi tuna burger. That’s the thing about Gott’s: Everything on the menu is craveable. Everything is fresh. And everyone who works there is really nice. Those are but a few of the reasons why you’ll find local Napa Valley winemakers waiting in line with tourists. Owner…

IN THE WHITE-KNUCKLE DAYS of the Great Recession, I wasn’t so much cutting corners on my spending as taking a Microplane to the splintered places in my budget where I’d already lopped off whole branches. No restaurants, no new clothes or shoes or material frills of any sort, countless hours in the grocery store determining which brand of pasta cost a fraction of a cent less per ounce than another. And yet I kept forgetting to cancel my Distinctive Esoteric Wine Network subscription. Fine: If I’m being brutally honest with myself, I didn’t forget. Opting into a purchase that will pay off later, whether it’s a concert ticket, vegetable seeds, or a cultish wine club, is a pure act of optimism—an investment in the pleasure of future you—and Randall Grahm’s…

CALIFORNIA BOWLS WHILE THE CALIFORNIA SUSHI ROLL remains forever popular, Takuya Umeda, chef-owner of Umeda in Los Angeles, loves a different format for showcasing the classic combination of rice, seaweed, avocado, and crab: wappa meshi, a dish that originated in either the Niigata or Fukushima prefecture. (Japan’s highest-quality rice is grown in Fukushima.) For Umeda’s version, California-grown rice is first cooked in a rice cooker with dashi, sake, sea salt, and ginger water, then topped with crab and avocado before steaming in a cedar basket that infuses the rice with the wood’s aroma (see below). Garnished with briny roe, nori, cucumber, and sesame seeds, it’s a dish that celebrates Californian ingredients through the Japanese lens of washoku, a traditional way of cooking that emphasizes harmony and the passing of the seasons.…