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Mac and cheese tacos, other comfort foods coming to Turlock with new national chain

in Food/Food & Drinks

Do you love macaroni and cheese? Stupid question, let me rephrase that. How much do you love mac and cheese?

So much that you’d eat it in a sandwich? Or maybe in a taco?

Because both those versions, plus a variety of regular mac and cheese bowls and other cheesy comfort food offerings, will be served at the new and aptly named I Heart Mac & Cheese. The national chain is coming to Turlock to open its first location in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.

Based in Florida, the franchise has expanded in recent years. Now it has a location planned along West Monte Vista Avenue, across Crowell Road from Stanislaus State University. The new restaurant will go between the existing Domino’s Pizza and Sourdough & Co. in the Warrior Crossing retail strip shared with Dutch Bros Coffee. The company also has locations under development in Fresno and Sacramento.

Continue Reading on The Modesto Bee

Decanting Digest: Fire up the grill and enjoy these California wines

in Food & Drinks

In Canada, we know all too well that summer deserves our appreciation. After months of cold-weather hibernation, it’s liberating to return to balmy afternoons, dockside sessions at the cottage, and delicious meals enjoyed in the great outdoors.

Firing up the grill is part of many summer rituals, and a great grilled meal calls for great wine. There are plenty of refreshing patio sippers out there, but when dinner is on the table, it’s time to pull out the bottles with enough depth to stand up to the complexity of textures and seasonings created on the barbecue.

Here’s a pair of California wines special enough for honoured guests yet approachable enough to serve alongside a variety of dishes on your favourite private patio.

Continue Reading on Modern Mississauga

Cheesecake business booms in first weeks of operation

in business/Food/Food & Drinks

Three weeks ago, Turlock’s Jessica Hostetter took her baking skills and love of cheesecake to officially launch her new business, Sweet Cheeks Cheesecakes. While the business is still new, she is already busy fulfilling orders from multiple customers.

Hostetter began baking three years ago and explained why she chose to focus on the cheesecakes over any other type of baked good.

Continue Reading in Turlock Journal

West Coast Wines: Still Big, Still Bold After All These Years

in Food & Drinks

Back in the 1980s a California writer for Wine Spectator, for which I was also writing at the time, accused me of having an “East Coast palate,” by which he meant I was so used to drinking French and Italian wines that I could not appreciate the wines of California for their regional distinctions. To say that I preferred European wines back then, as I do now, had nothing to do with bias but to a well-founded assessment that at the time, when California wines were in fast ascendency in the wine press, far too many of them were deliberately made to be what were called “blockbusters,” high in alcohol and terribly over-oaked.

Chardonnays lacking acid tasted more like vanilla caramel than wine, which is easy enough to accomplish with a grape that is fairly neutral on its own. The reds were usually made from a single varietal like Cabernet Sauvignon, which produced wines one wine steward in Colorado said would “blow your doors off”—not a quality I look for in a wine. Zinfandels tended to be heavy and dull, Pinot Noirs tasted like fruit bombs, Sauvignon Blancs like fruit punch and Rieslings were flabby.

Continue Reading on Forbes

California’s ‘most loved all star’ restaurants on DoorDash

in Food/Food & Drinks

SAN DIEGO — It’s a good day for California residents who like to get food delivered!

On Monday, DoorDash released its list of the “Most Loved All Star” restaurants in the U.S., which included 31 restaurants and eateries located in The Golden State.

“For restaurants, creating a top-notch customer experience is no small feat — it’s not just about food quality, it’s also about service, reliability, and the overall experience. The Most Loved program recognizes restaurants that excel in all of these areas,” DoorDash says on its website.

Continue Reading on FOX5 San Diego

Sugar Bowl Bakery Madeleines Inspire A Twist On Summer Shortcake

in Food/Food & Drinks

If you are a lover of French Madeleines, you may know Sugar Bowl Bakery. Sugar Bowl bakes five-million madeleines a day in their California and Georgia facilities, and ships them across the USA. I love the classic vanilla recipe with just a hint of lemon flavor.

But if you like flavors, they also make seasonal variations like pumpkin spice in the fall and lemon in the spring and the exotic summer guava madeleines.

Guava may sound like an unusual flavor choice but if you know the family behind Sugar Bowl Bakery, it makes sense. As Kevin Ly, pastry chef and director of research and development told me, “they have always been about quality ingredients, consistency and listening to both their wholesale and retail customers.” Their Pacific Northwest customers asked them to create a guava flavor because it has become so popular, and they worked it into their seasonal/summer madeleine line.

Continue Reading on Forbes

This Is The Most Beautiful Restaurant In California

in Food/Food & Drinks

It is only customary for the most beautiful restaurant in all of California to feature some of the most beautiful beach views, and; you can't get much closer to the ocean than this.

According to a list put together by Trips To Discover, the most beautiful restaurant in all of California is The Marine Room located in La Jolla. The Marine Room is for lovers. The whole restaurant gives off a romantic aura and provides top-notch ocean views from every angle. The restaurant was built right on the sand, and the seafood is extremely fresh. If you are planning your next date night at The Marine Room, be sure to wear your best attire.

Continue Reading on iHeart

The California Chefs Showcasing the Diversity of Native American Cuisine

in Food/Food & Drinks

BISON MEATBALLS BATHED IN BLUEBERRY sauce. Roasted fiddlehead ferns. Acorn crêpes topped with maple cream. These are just a few examples of what Indigenous chefs are serving at restaurants across California. Three spots in particular are dedicated to championing Native foods and culture in the state. Their chefs cite the same formative experience: growing up wondering why every other culture had a restaurant featuring its cuisine, but seeing none that reflected their own Native foodways.

Cafe Ohlone, the first Indigenous restaurant in California, opened in 2018 on the back patio of a Berkeley bookstore. Founders Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino rooted their restaurant in the cuisine and traditions of their Ohlone people and their ancestral homeland of Northern California. But despite accolades for their meals of locally gathered ingredients, the pandemic forced the closure of their cozy pop-up spot in 2020.

Continue Reading on Atlas Obscura

How One California Winemaker Shaped America’s Love for Cabernet Sauvignon

in Food & Drinks

Drop into the new Splash Wine Bar at San Francisco’s Chase Center on a quest for Cabernet, and you’ll find the most prominent version offered under custom labels designed specifically for the Golden State Warriors. When the NBA team was ready for a wine partner to join them in their new home, it was iconic Silver Oak they turned to, and the commemorative bottles celebrate the collaboration. It was no random choice—Coach Steve Kerr reportedly calls the wine his “girlfriend.” And he’s not alone in the world of athletes and celebs. LeBron James tweets about Silver Oak; Peyton Manning gives out cases; Oprah calls it her fave. We even have it on the best authority that Carlos Santana and Matthew McConaughey are super fans.

Continue Reading on Robb Report

Uber Will Now Deliver Orders From Over 70 Grocery Outlet Stores

in Food/Food & Drinks/technology

Uber continues its push into on-demand and scheduled grocery delivery. Starting Thursday, West Coast customers can use Uber and Uber Eats to order sundries from more than 70 Grocery Outlet locations in California, Oregon and Washington state.

The goal of the pilot partnership "is to provide a reliable and affordable grocery delivery option that works for everyone, no matter your budget," said Oskar Hjertonsson, Uber's head of grocery, in a statement.

Continue Reading on CNET

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