first off, and a little late, i couldn’t agree more with bruni’s review of freeman’s. particularly liked the line comparing the hostess to cujo. ha. and i never agree with him about much … anyway, my dear reader, spooning will be posting from beautiful barcelona from now until december…i’ll be sure and pepper my postings with words like ’sabroso’ and ‘rico.’ adios!

i used to have a favorite restaurant in LA–it was called 5 dudley, which was also its address, in venice, a dinner roll’s toss from the beach. it was homey and unpretentious, and very small. it felt like a semi-upscale brooklyn place, which is probably why i loved it. the kitchen was open and seemingly in the middle of the tiny dining room, the bathroom was covered in tres-venice graffiti, the servers seemed like they really liked food…i rarely had a bite of disappointing food there, and always had fun. anyway, for this reason or that, it closed, as restaurants do…an italian place (groan) called piccolo opened in its place. i’ve banned it on principle, out of loyalty, and because i never go out for italian in LA. turns out, the piccolo people scooped up 5 dudley’s chef, michael wilson, and together they opened a new place this summer: wilson, in culver city. Read on… »

spent about 5 days in the bay area, where the profferings are almost overwhelming. here are some highlights:

*sweet potato fries en route from LA, at big sky cafe in san luis obisbo…
*french roast & tamales in the morning fog at the santa cruz flea market…
*acme bread, in berkeley (look at those golden loaves!)…
*cafe latte next door from acme, at alice waters’ cafe fanny…
*spanish-style croissant for breakfast with masha, from a paneteria on 24th street in san franscisco…
*learning about sparkling gamay at the slanted door in SF’s ferry market…
*kumamotos (& a sea worm!) at the hog island oyster bar…

i guess i would say it’s all about carbs & coffee in the bay area…they’ve got the best around. i attribute that to the fog…