Back in the late 1970s there was a Maxwell’s Restaurant in Redding. Femme de Joie’s memory is a bit fuzzy on this, but she recalls it being on the corner of Market and Sacramento, where Vintage Wine Bar sits now.… Continue Reading
Long ago – long ago being relative, of course – there was a Mexican restaurant in Hamilton City which was apparently the bee’s knees to Hamilton City diners. The exact name of it escapes Femme de Joie just now, and… Continue Reading
Ever since the Cascade Theater reopened gloriously in 2004 with that sublime Mark O’Connor concert, there’s been a certain mumbling and rumbling from patrons: why isn’t there anywhere to go downtown after a show? Well, there’s Spoon Me… and… Bombay’s…. aaaannnnd…. uh….… Continue Reading
Long, long ago, in a space of time after dirt was discovered but before Interstate 5, there were only two-lane roads. Incredible, yes, yet it’s true. Femme de Joie saw it with her own two eyes. She traveled those roads… Continue Reading
Up on North Market Street just at the western foot of Sulphur Creek Hill stands a now-empty building. For years it housed El Papagayo, then another restaurant that escapes Femme de Joie’s memory just now, followed by Catanio’s. M. de… Continue Reading
The blue cinder-block building on South Market Street that now houses Rose Garden was once home to a liquor store (name long forgotten), then an Asian market, then a series of restaurants including The Experience (which came and went before… Continue Reading
There’s been a small concrete block building on Placer Street near downtown for well over 40 years. It housed Jan’s Frost Shop, run by a cheerful round man with stunningly hairy arms who called everyone sweetheart and dished up memorably… Continue Reading
The phrase “tote-bag hell” was first coined during the 1970s for those interminable weeks when public television programming was interrupted every six minutes to beg the viewers to pledge money. In exchange, the pledger received a “token of appreciation” –… Continue Reading
Bruciante, adj, Italian, m/f. .che brucia, accesa, acceso, brillante. English: Burning, fired, lit up, blazing, on fire. Verb, to scorch, to sear, to burn, to burn up Though there have been ovens as long as people have been cooking (any covered vessel or firepit containing… Continue Reading
In “Square Meals,” their love letter to American suburban cuisine, the very tongue-in-cheek food & pop culture writers Jane and Michael Stern have this to say about Hawaiian food: “There is no cuisine more adventurous, or more totally spurious, than that… Continue Reading
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