By Rachel Levin, Sunset senior editor

I was happy to see an ode to Sunset’s favorite little Apple Farm in the Times magazine last Sunday, as part of its series on Slow Food. With a scattering of cozy-quiet cabins, acres of heirloom apple orchards, hands-on cooking classes, and a roadside stand that operates on the honor system, the Apple Farm, in Northern California's Mendocino County, was the haycation before haycations were cool.

You can read about our favorite farm weekends in our November issue, now on newsstands. (Yes, our article includes the Apple Farm, too.)

Book it: Cottages are $175/night midweek; $250 on weekends, including breakfast. Cooking classes are booked for the rest of the season, but start up again in February. Call now to reserve.

Plan your trip to the Anderson Valley

By Rachel Levin, Sunset senior editor

We’ve been so busy putting out our recent print issues, we’ve been abandoning our poor little travel blog. But, fear not dear readers (we do still have readers, right? Hello… Anybody out there?) we are BACK!

And we aim to be better than ever with a new focus: We'll be reporting on places where we are literally just back from. And, of course, being the busy travel editors that we are, where we are headed next. We'll give you the honest scoop on everything from glamping in Montana to kayaking in Las Vegas of all places to our favorite apres-work restaurants in San Francisco.

Lets start with something simple. Like, where I’m going… tonight: To Nopa, one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants in SF, for the cocktail I’m craving now:

The Wash House. It’s a pretty, late-summer sip made with organic rye vodka from Square One, fresh basil, and squeezed-to-order lime and adorned with a delicate sprig of thyme. Sounds easy enough to mix up at home, doesn’t it? (Maybe I’ll try it this weekend). In the meantime, I’ll happily pony up $9 for one this eve. Maybe even two.

by the Sunset editorial staff

Joey Altman, Traci Des Jardins,
and Michael Mina? They'll be there too.

I want to be with all the biggest chefs and most devout cooks in the West, who will be converging at Union Square Thursday through Sunday for SF Chefs. Food. Wine. The well-punctuated name pretty much says it all, but I might add this elaboration: Parties. Tastings. Classes.

The heirloom tomato cookoff between Joanne Weir and Gary Danko and hosted by Sunset’s food editor, Margo True, is sold out, alas. But you can still get into a head-spinning array of events, from a Friday morning shuck-and-sip pairing of wines and oysters to Saturday night’s urban barbecue on the square, where the band members are chefs you might recognize from around town. 

When: August 6–9, 2009
Where: Union Square and surrounding hotel and retail spaces as well as restaurants throughout the city.
Expected guests: 1,500 attendees per day
Tickets: One-day passes are $150, which includes the midday Grand Tasting, as well as a morning and afternoon class. Children free at Sunday family activities.

By Margo True, Sunset food editor

by Harriot Manley, Sunset contributor

Oakland, California’s Fentons Creamery and Restaurant, celebrating 115 years of making ice cream this month, might just be the oldest movie star since Old Rose got teary-eyed in Titanic. The venerable ice cream parlor has a small but significant role in Disney/Pixar’s Up. Apparently, folks at the Emeryville animation studio celebrate completed deadlines by heading up the road to the Oakland classic, and they honored it in the film.

All through July, National Ice Cream Month, bring a same-day Up ticket stub into the Oakland or Vacaville locations and get a free scoop of ice cream. Also check fentonscreamery.com for news for big birthday celebrations at all locations, slated for July 18.

4226 Piedmont Ave., Oakland, (510) 658-7000
At the Nut Tree, 1669 East Monte Vista Ave., Vacaville, (707) 469-7200

Back in Paia, Hawaii eating just-caught ono

By Rachel Levin, Sunset senior editor

I was on Maui a few weeks ago. We were supposed to be in Punta Mita, Mexico, but then the swine flu hit and with three six-month-old babies in our group we, uh, decided not to risk it. So an oceanfront condo in sprawling Kapalua Bay it was! At a rock-bottom rate to boot. Not too shabby for a last-minute Plan B. (Ah, the brightside of a bad economy!)

Anyway, my favorite thing we did all week (beside sip freshly-muddled grapefruit mojitos at the Ritz-Carlton’s J.T. Fleming Beach) was a daytrip to the little surfer-hippie town of Paia.

Here, the Top Five things I love about Paia:

1.    The locals beach. About a mile or so from town, where the scene is quirky, the coconuts fall, and the waves are fierce—and where I was absolutely mesmerized watching these skinny 10-year-old boys absolutely kill it on the boogie board. I mean, we’re talking headstands. (What did I grow up doing after school? Wandering the mall. Depressing.)

2.    The grocery store. Mana Foods. It’s right there on the main drag, with its creaky wooden floors, commitment to all-organic-local everything, and the smiley, supertanned, slooowly-moving locals who were wearing more faded, fringed, acid-washed jean shorts than I’ve seen since said mall.

3.    The pizza To be honest, we didn’t actually eat here (we had other dinner plans, see Reason #4 below), but I just love pizza— and I love that this town has an American Flatbread Pizza. Vermont; Los Alamos, California; Paia. Who knew?


4.    Mama’s Fish House. Yeah, yeah, I know. This is not the locals hangout and wildly popular among toursits—not to mention wildly expensive—, but I don’t care. I  loved my meal (ono “caught by Alan Cadiz trolling off the cliffs near Molokai); I loved the on-the-ball service (only with-it waiters we met all week—yes, even poolside at the Ritz); I loved the Hawaii kitsch (I mean traditional Hawaiian décor); and I loved, loved, loved the way the restaurant’s open-air windows framed the picturesque, pristine beach just steps away for an after-dinner stroll.

Skip dessert at Mama's and hit Ono Gelato Company back in town, for seasonal scoops of kula strawberry or pineapple, made with local fruit—of course.

5.    The new Paia Inn. No pool, no pampering. Just five rooms and access to a little private beach. Still, next trip, I want to stay here.

By Christine Richard

Sure, a lot of people go to Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California for recreation — hiking, biking, horseback riding. This map is full of trails for those fit types, but I’ve invented my own trail for an activity I love: oyster-eating.

Plus, January and February are the months to go raw (in the summer, opt for barbecue) along the coast of this wild region approximately an hour north of San Francisco.

Oyster stop 1: Coast Café

Where: Bolinas

Atmosphere: California neo-hippie beachy eclectic with a nice wine list.

Oysters: Drake's Bay oysters and chips. FYI: the restaurant advertises mesquite barbecued oysters on the porch on summer weekends.

Price: $13 for Drake's Bay oysters and chips (this was a special).

Outcome: Upsetting. After 25 minutes of waiting for my order to be taken, I finally asked the server (who was doing paperwork at the cash register for the full 25 minutes) if I could have my bill for my soda.

Would I go back? Since I turned my back on these oysters, I’ve been thinking about them. I’d love to go back. The manager comped my coke and apologized.

Oyster stop 2: Farm House Restaurant

Where: Olema

Atmosphere: Roadhouse-y with more panache. Built in 1865. Bar/dining area has a window that overlooks a portion of wee Olema.

Oysters: Drake's Bay served raw, grilled with herbs and garlic, and grilled with citrus barbecue sauce.

Price: 6 oysters for $9.50. One oyster is like the size of a small fish, though, so you get a lot of meat for the price.

Pairing: Lost Coast’s Great White (I LOVE this beer).

Outcome: Raw rules and these were fresh. More creamy than briny, perhaps because of its size. This particular Drake’s Bay oyster variety was big. Really big. I’m not convinced that I want an oyster to be this big. If I wanted this much oyster, I’d order an oyster steak. Nice selection of salads and local cheeses on the menu. Comfortable place to slurp. How can you not like a Victorian wooden storefront with a white picket fence (and oysters)?

Non shellfish diversion: Inverness

After leaving Olema and heading north, take a left at Bear Valley Road. Stop in at the Visitors Center for trail maps, area maps, books on birds, a quick walk on the earthquake trail, etc. There are also wildlife exhibits. A visitors center so interesting that you almost could spend the day indoors here.

Continue on Bear Valley to Sir Francis Drake (follow the signs to the lighthouse). You’ll drive through Inverness, a town that is on the west shores of Tomales Bay and backed by forest, criss crossed by trails. I like it here: houses are on stilts over the bay and others are wood-shingled hidden in the forest. Stop in at Spirit Matters and the oddly geographically located Vladimir’s Czech Restaurant. Barnaby’s restaurant is down the road a couple miles and has oysters but I’ve yet to check it out (closed when I went).

Oyster stop 3: Station House Restaurant

Where: Point Reyes Station

Atmosphere: The after-6 town hall of PRS. I met the musician, the general manager, the weekend clammer (dirty fingernails gave him away), the walker/author (planetwalker).

Oysters: raw, barbecued or fried (and oyster stew), from Drake's Bay and Tomales.

Price: $23 for a dozen on the half shell.

Pairing: Chardonnay and, again, Great White. 

Outcome: Concentrate on the oysters. The popovers are interesting and tasty and corn-y. The sourdough bread is great, and the cheese board, with Point Reyes cheeses, is delicious, albeit expensive ($14.95) for the meager portion (seems to be the way with cheese boards these days). It also has Tomales Bay clams and mussels. Skip the calamari (bland) and the dessert (mine was freezer burned).

Non shellfish diversion: Point Reyes Vineyard

About a five-minute car ride north of Point Reyes Station is Point Reyes Vineyard, where your first look won’t be of vines but of cows grazing on the grass. Taste three sparkling wines for $5. The tasting room is only open on weekends.

Shellfish PICNIC: Tomales Bay Company and Hog Island

Both of these oyster farms, located north of Point Reyes Station on Highway 1 between Tomales Bay State Park and Marshall, sell directly to eaters with large shucking knives.

I stopped in to see what was going on but didn’t participate. Here’s what happens: You buy raw oysters in quantity, shuck them yourself, then eat them raw or grill them (or you can carry them away).

Both places provide shucking equipment, grills and picnic tables. This could be loads of fun with more than four people. I was traveling alone. It would have been sad. Reservations are needed in the summer for the grills, I'm told. 

ALSO: Tony’s Seafood

Facing Tomales Bay before you come to The Marshall Store (if you’re traveling north). Unfortunately, Tony’s was closed most of December. Next time.

**OYSTER-OBSESSED AUTHOR'S FAVORITE
Oyster stop 4 The Marshall Store (Frankly, I’m disappointed they have a Web site; makes it feel like less of a find.)

Where: Marshall

Atmosphere: This is where a true oyster eater eats—right in the environment, overlooking Tomales Bay, sailboats and a gorgeous slice of landscape (yes, it looks cloudy but so?). There are absolutely no pretenses here. If you don’t like it, don’t let the screen door hit you in the ...

Oysters: raw, barbecued or Rockefeller.

Price: a magnificent $8 for a half dozen.

Pairing: Get down on your knees and drink the wonderful water of Tomales Bay that breeds these beautiful shellfish. Then, order a beer.

Outcome: I'm a purist. Raw wins. The barbecue had too much cocktail sauce on it, which masks the flavor of the oyster. The Marshall Store also has serve-yourself Tomales Bay clam chowder in three sizes, Tall, Venti, Grande … not really. I wish I could buy the place next door and eat oysters for breakfast. These oysters were the bomb.

Oyster stop 5: Nick’s Cove

Where: Marshall

Atmosphere: Like a lake/forest lodge that was hand-built by your great grandfather to hang all his trophy catches, including those deer and moose. Then, maybe he decided to add an upscale oyster bar. Don't know if white linen is the norm but when I went (Christmas Eve) it was in full force; there are also cabins where you can stay overnight.

Oysters: Tomales Bay and Drake's Bay, and rotating other provenances, served raw, barbecued, cornmeal fried.

Price: $2 per on the half shell; $13 for half dozen barbecued and for cornmeal fried.

Pairing: Blanc de Blancs Point Reyes Vineyard sparkling (plus about a dozen other Marin County wines on the list).

Outcome: Switcheroo. I ordered two each of the Preston Point, Kumamotos, Marin Miyagi, Hog Island Sweetwaters, Drake’s Bay Estero, intending to eliminate and appoint my favorite oyster the king of all. Unfortunately, the bartender, along with a random server, and the shucker seemed to keep giving me the runaround on which oyster I was eating. (The regular shucker was out). I had fun nonetheless. And the Drake’s Bay here were MUCH smaller than the ones at Olema (and tastier). Oyster occasions can be dress down affairs or dress up. This is for the dressed up occasion: you know, bubbles, oysters, trophy deer heads. 

By Samantha Schoech, Sunset senior editor

Superstar chef Thomas Keller was in the kitchen.  His French Laundry staff glided among the Picassos and Mirós like ballerinas serving course after dazzling course.  The wine—including the first ever tasting of the new Continuum from the Mondavi family—flowed.  Next to me, the venerable Robert Mondavi, father of the Napa Valley wine culture, presided silently from his wheelchair.  Down a wide staircase, an indoor swimming pool glowed turquoise.

Just another Monday night dinner at the Mondavi home on Wappo Hill?  Not exactly (although I suspect such evenings are less rare for them than they are for me). 

This was the kick-off press dinner for the first annual Pebble Beach Food & Wine event coming this March.  And if the dinner—intimate, flawless, and buzzing with warmth and hospitality—was any indication, it’s going to be a doozy of a food festival.

It would be hard to go wrong.  They’ve invited the best chefs in the country—Thomas Keller, Gary Danko, Charlie Trotter, Charles Phan, Jacques Pepin, Alain Passard and about 30 others-—to one of the West's most beautiful stretches of coast.  They’ve added 200 of the world’s best wineries, a dozen or so sommeliers, and a generous helping of that passion for all things gastronomical and enological that seems to flow in the veins of many Californians. It's four days of demonstrations, sit-down meals, tastings, pairings, wine debuts, and parties. Think of it as a fantasy camp for foodies.

But this kind of thing doesn’t come cheap.  Tickets for individual events start at $165.  If you want the ultimate experience, with VIP access to all events, lodging at Pebble Beach Resorts and invites to after-hours parties where you can hob-knob with the rock stars of foie gras and Fume Blanc, it will cost you 12,400 clams.   A pretty penny for a taste of the good life.

By Peter Fish, Sunset editor-at-large

Sunset readers know that Paso Robles has gone from California ranch town to one of the most interesting wine regions in the world. (For a full view of this transformation, not to mention tips on how best to tour it, check out our article in last March's Sunset.) But even seasoned Paso visitors may not know that one of the nicer restaurants in the area has one of the more improbable settings.

Matthews At The Airport is, yes, at the Paso Robles airport, a smallish regional airfield that mostly serves private and corporate planes. As it happens, I like little airports and I like little airport restaurants—usually for eggs over easy in the morning or burgers at noon.

But Matthew’s, with its ambitious menu (lobster flan, osso buco) and good list of local wines is in a class by itself. Which is why private pilots regularly fly in from the Bay Area and Los Angeles just to have lunch here. It’s worth a detour if you’re in the vicinity, whether you flown in on your own jet or driven up on Highway 101.

By Peter Fish, Sunset editor-at-large

October is the glory month in San Francisco.

All summer, the city has been taunting tourists and residents both with foggy day after unrelenting foggy day. July? Don’t think shorts, think Polar fleece. August? Forget the backyard barbecue, how about some nice hot soup. Even September can be iffy, swiveling between sunlit and grim.

But in October San Francisco shimmers, sparkles, gleams like a Technicolor version of itself.

Of the venues where you can bask in San Francisco’s October surprise--i.e.sunshine and views-- one tops them all: a small patch of green, in the northwest corner of the city,  called Sutro Heights Park.

The park is named for  Adolf Sutro. The German-born “King of the Comstock,” he made a pile of money as a mining engineer in the Gold Rush, then parlayed his wealth into a San Francisco career as politician (he became mayor in 1894) and philanthropist. In the 1880s he built a large Victorian mansion on this promontory overlooking Land’s End and invited the public to enjoy its gardens. The house fell into disrepair after Sutro’s death and was eventually demolished, but the park is still there, now managed by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

The bits of remaining statuary (stone lions,  Diana the huntress) and the ruins of Sutro’s belvedere should give the place a mournful air. But the lawns are too green, the romping dogs and children are too happy, and the views—across Land’s End and out to the vast Pacific—too astonishing to inspire brooding.

San Francisco is of course a city famous for its views. But most of these views are of San Francisco looking at itself.  Twin Peaks looks down on the Castro, Pacific Heights looks down on the Marina, and Nob Hill looks down on everybody. This helps nurture the city’s deserved reputation for narcissistic self-regard. At Sutro Heights Park you look out across blue ocean to the very edge of the world. It’s pretty damn exhilarating.

Afterwards, follow a dirt path down to another landmark in this part of the city, Louis’ Cafe. This brick-fronted shack perched over Land’s End has been serving All-American breakfasts and lunches (I like breakfasts best) for decades. It has cheery uniformed waitresses, fake wood Formica tables, and views almost as good as you get at Sutro Heights Park, but this time with eggs and coffee.