Culinary Adventures with Camilla

If you're reading my blog, you know that I love food. I love adventures. And I especially adore any adventure that involves food.  I became a food tour convert after writing this piece for Edible Monterey Bay years ago - Local Food on Foot: Two Unexpectedly Intriguing and Delicious Adventures . Since then, we've done a Walking Chocolate Tour in San Francisco , the North Beach-Chinatown Food Tour that included a Tea Tasting in Chinatown , and many, many more. Food tours are both tasty and informative.  So, when the  Rockridge Food Tour  entered my radar, I scooped up four tickets and looked for a good weekend to head up to the East Bay. This past weekend was it. Here's my silly crew... I enjoy how each tour guide infuses his or her own personality and interests into the talk. Claire ran the tour yesterday and shared fun stories about the historical players in the Rockridge area, including architect and first female civil engineer Julia Morga...

We love cheese. It's not just a summer fling. It's a persistent, passionate affair. So, when I saw the Market Hall was on the Rockridge Food Tour , we were more than a little excited. My Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf, who adores cheese almost as much as I do, squealed, "Do you think they'll let me try some bleu cheeses?" I'm sure you can , I assured him Market Hall is Rockridge's version of a French marché . Like European markets, it's a veritable feast for the senses. Things are open and aromas waft through the air. It's colorful and chaotic very unlike our staid American markets. I love it! You can get libations from Paul Marcus Wines, beans from Highwire Coffee Roasters, fresh seafood from Hapuku Fish Market, and so much more. But our stop - for the tour - was the Pasta Shop. Pasta and cheese. You know we were in culinary bliss. Cheesemonger Jane Lyon spoke to us and had us try several different cheeses. Lyon was one of the top ten fin...

Another stop on the Rockridge Food Tour was La Farine — Boulangerie Patisserie. We crowded around a table and sampled their morning buns. Think buttery croissant dough rolled thin and spread with brown sugar and cinnamon, then baked in muffin pans for a portable decadent bite. Yes, it was as delicious as it sounds! And, yes, I will be trying to replicate it as soon as possible. Almost as old as my husband - I'm allowed to write that because I'm older than he is! - La Farine was on an undeveloped part of College Avenue, had only a handful of employees, and served mostly people who lived in the neighborhood. Now there are three locations and nearly 100 employees. But, La Farine's roots remain. They serve high-quality French baked goods. And, in keeping with their commitment to the neighborhood, La Farine donates leftover products to area food banks and senior centers. Amazing baked goods with a generous spirit. You can't beat that.

First stop on our Rockridge Food Tour :  A16. Named for Autostrada 16 - the motorway connecting Naples to Puglia through southern Campania - the chef explained that they had recently achieved VPN certification. Intrigued! I take pizza - real Italian pizza - very seriously. And, to be honest, there are very few pizzas in America that I think are worthwhile to eat. VPN is the acronym for Verace Pizza Napoletana, meaning "true Neapolitan pizza." What does the VPN certification mean? There is actually a lengthy list of requirements that you can read at the VPN Americas website, but the highlights are... Must use a wood burning oven. R used their infrared temperature gun to read the temperature of the oven which was about 700 degrees F. A16 uses almond wood. I asked. Must use 'proper' ingredients. Here's where the specificity seems almost laughable - to me. I would prefer the requirement of fresh oregano than that it has to be  Origanum vulga...

Zachary's Chicago Pizza was one of the stops on the Rockridge Food Tour and I haven't been there since I graduated from Cal almost 20 years ago. A friend of mine had his graduation lunch there, so that was probably the last time I was there. I think you are either a thin crust pizza kinda person or a thick crust pizza kinda person; I am definitely in the former camp. But it was fun to be there with Jake and the boys this weekend. Zachary's Chicago Pizza literally stuffs  each pizza cheese and toppings, then covers it with zesty, chunky tomato and bakes it till the crust is golden brown. We had the spinach and mushroom stuffed pizza. And I was surprised to discover that my husband - with whom I've been eating pizza for almost 17 and a half years - likes Chicago-style pizza. Whaaaat?!? While pizza wouldn't have been my choice of food for the 90+ degree day, I'm glad we went. Now I know that I have to attempt a Chicago-style pizza in our own kitc...

This hard cider from Golden State Cider was not officially part of the Rockridge Food Tour, but our tour guide Claire's day-job is as a sales rep for them and she mentioned that the restaurant we were in carried it. So a few of us were curious and ordered some to try.  "No added water. No added sugar. No concentrates. No gluten. No bad juju." Thoughts: This was an ideal sip for the 90+ degree weather we were walking through. Straw-hued and clear, one other guest likened it to a dry white wine. Interesting, but true. One thing I usually dislike about hard ciders is they can verge on the sweet. This was, as labeled, 'mighty dry' and I thoroughly enjoyed every last drop. Now I just need to see where I can get my hands on some on this bay. And it went really well with the spinach and mushroom stuffed pizza at Zachary's Chicago Pizza .