Foothill Flavors

Four Years of Fab Food

By Antoinette May Herndon

Ralph Alldredge is one gutsy guy. It takes lots of nerve to start a business—most particularly a newspaper, for heaven’s sake!— when all about you other publications are folding, left, right and center. Most anyone would have agreed four years ago that founding and publishing an entertainment weekly was a dicey thing to do.

Maybe that’s what drew me in. I’m a bit of risk taker myself. I didn’t know Ralph then, but had written a few features for Buzz Eggleston, Ralph’s colleague at the Enterprise.

When I approached Buzz, asking if there was a place for me on the Lodestar’s rapidly forming staff, his reply nearly knocked me on my bottom.

“How about writing a dining column?”

“What? What!” I sputtered. (I’d imagined myself doing history, travel, possibly even commentary.) “You’ve been to my house,” I reminded him. “You know I can’t cook.”

He didn’t argue the point, but remonstrated: “You don’t have to cook yourself to know good food when you taste it. How is this different from any other kind of reporting?”

I thought it sorta was, however Buzz was managing editor and that was the job offered me four years ago. Take it or leave it.

I took it.

Once I succeeded in wrapping my mind around the idea, I began to think of a kind of format. Writers are always being told to write about what they know best. I started with myself.

Four years ago I sat down and wrote about my very favourite restaurant: Frank’s Café in Mokelumne Hill. (8085 Highway 26 at Highway 49, Phone: 286-1448.)

In San Francisco, Sacramento or even Stockton a coffee shop may seem hohum, but in Mok, it was—and remains—a big deal.

Frank’s success

secret isn’t about prices or even excellent food. It’s about people and service. It’s about noticing customers and wanting to please them. I sit down at Frank’s and barely get my coat and scarf off before a tall glass of ice tea magically appears before me. Some of us are odd, we like ice tea even in the midst of winter. The wait staff at Frank’s recognized and catered to such weirdness from my second visit. You can imagine how welcome I feel, but so do all the customers.

The summers when owners Frank and Angie Giourousis take themselves off to Greece for a vacation are pretty devastating. Even if Frank’s wasn’t the only cafe for miles around, it would still be the best. The biscuits and gravy are fresh every day. The food is made to order with nothing frozen or pre-cooked. Everything is homemade, TLC evident in every bite.

I say that now, after having written some 200 dining columns.

The Hotel Leger, also in Mok, continues as a favorite. The two main men in my life, husband, Charles, and Lodestar editor, Mike Taylor, both accuse me of writing about the Leger every time the staff changes the toilet paper.

What can I say? The hotel has a tumultuous on-going history and ghosts in the dining room are only part of it.

Chuck Swisher is a top flight chef who does divine things to salmon. Really. Desirae Noland, the head server, is a trendy whizz kid with a photographic memory. Drop by on Martini Thursday and catch her in action. (8304 Main St., Mokelumne Hill. Phone: 286-1401.)

Another continuing draw is the Pickle Patch (577 St. Charles St., San Andreas. Phone: 754- 1978.) What attracted me first was the vintage 1930s architecture, but what brings me back again and again is the excellent food

and classy, competent service.

Why, the Pickle Patch could be in San Anselmo, Orinda, or one of those darling little places out on the avenues. Lucky for us it’s not. Owner-proprietor Gretel Allen Tiscornia really knows her stuff.

Breakfast at Thomi’s Coffee and Eatery (40 Hanford, Sutter Creek. Phone: 267-1108) is a fab way to start the day. While sipping a latte, one can enjoy life as it is while imagining what Sutter Creek must have been with all those gold barons, fancy ladies, gamblers, dudes and desperados. The pace is easy at Thomi Renfrew’s bistro, perfect for people watching or daydreaming. Sutter Creek’s cozy window on the world is meant for lingering. One could write a novel there. Who knows, maybe someone will.

Even in the early BC’s (that’s Before Charles), I was drawn to Jamestown’s two great restaurants, the Willow Steakhouse (18723 Main St. Phone: 984-3998) and the National Hotel (18183 Main St. (Phone: 984-3446)

A ghost chaser from way back, I’ve returned many times since first investigating them for “Haunted Houses of California” in 1990. That book has never been out of print. But then, who doesn’t love a good ghost story?

Now, I’m happy to add yet another National Hotel to the rave list. Stan Lukowicz has poured big bucks into Jackson’s National Hotel. (2 Water St. Phone: 223-0500.) The art and antiques are museum quality. The food is outstanding. It’s my new favorite restaurant.

Hello, out there: please keep sharing your favorites. I’m eager to follow up on your suggestions. And, for those who have asked who pays for my column, it’s the Lodestar—not (repeat not) the restaurants.

Thank you, Ralph, Buzz and particularly Mike. It’s been a great four years.