Humpday Hootch: Free Tasting at Residual

Lamborn family tree from their fbook page. Awesome, right?

I've been absent. Are you tired of hearing that yet? I'm playing catch up from a very busy Thurs-Sun. Excuses excuses. Speaking of which, here's your excuse to drink in the middle of the week.

Residual Sugar (I swear they don't pay me! I just love them that much. They should really give me swag so I can pimp them out...) will be hosting a free tasting of Napa Valley's Lamborn Family Vineyards. Did I mention it was free? It's free. The owner of the winery, Brian Lamborn, will be pouring free samples of their 2006 and 2007 Cabernet and the 2008 Zinfandel, as well as a smattering of his Howell Mountain cult Cab.

Residual Sugar
1684 Locust St., Walnut Creek
website
Lamborn Family Vineyards

Humpday Hootch: Downtown Wine Walk

I covered Walnut Creek's last Downtown Wine Walk here, but if you need more information or are too lazy to click on that link, here's a refresher.

First, even if you don't plan on attending it's always good to remember the event is going on, if only to understand that traffic will be slow throughout downtown Walnut Creek as parental-looking types meander in and out of stores with wine glasses in hand.

Secondly, if you've never been, this is how it works: You start at Pro Home Systems, either to pickup or purchase tickets (tip: bring cash to breeze through the line). Organizers will outfit you with a map of participating businesses (this time around there are over 45) and a souvenir wine glass, and then it's up to you to plot a way to hit as many local businesses as possible, all of which are pouring varying varietals from different wineries. Many also offer food, in the form of cheese and crackers spreads, but some places get real fancy with chocolate fountains (the post office store really did it up in spring).

It really is a pretty good time if you don't mind bumping into numerous people from high school and college, feel no obligation to pretend to be interested in whatever the store is selling, and don't lose patience in crowds and lines. For $35 you could do worse than have potentially over 45 tastes of wine. That's 15 businesses an hour, which works out to about 2.7 bottles of wine over the night (assuming 2oz pours). Not too shabby...

6–9pm
$35
Presale is closed, but you can buy tickets at Pro Home Systems before the event
website

Snaps From JC Cellars Beach Party (7/14)

I went to the JC Cellars Open House ages ago (July 14) and had a fantastic time. It's taken me forever to upload these photos, and they were all taken on my iPhone so...there's that. But I'd definitely encourage anyone who has a chance to attend next year to jump on it.










I clearly started with the food spread. Ok, I didn't actually start with the food spread, I started with the wine, but I didn't want to be obnoxiously snapping pictures of the people as they poured, so I took snaps of the food instead. It was a good line-up. Fancy cheeses and bread (I've provided a close-up just in case you wanted to know more about the cheese), grapes, salami, and these amazing little freshly made pizzas by Casey's Pizza. There were a couple of people devoted just to keeping the pizza stocked, and it had this fantastic charred crust. The pizza crew would walk around with the pie, offering slices to you, so no matter how lazy you were you'd get pizza in yo face.There was also zinfandel ice cream from Tucker's! Which I forgot to try, but there was a small child thoroughly enjoying it. I approve of that parenting.

The beach-theme was in full effect, with beach balls, Hawaiian shirts, beach towels, and a few random parrots. A DJ named Brett provided the tunes, and numerous stations were set up with a couple of wines at each for sampling, running from light to dark to dessert.

Just for the party, JC Cellars pre-released their 2009 Zinfandel line-up, many of which were my favorites of the wines I tasted (and I tasted them all). The Zins included grapes from Landy Sweetwater Springs, Iron Hill Vineyard, Dusi Vineyard & St. Peter’s Church Vineyard.

And below is JC (Jeff Cohn), clearly hiding from me (Hawaiian shirt behind the Hawaiian shirt). He was an amazing host, telling us about how he sources grapes (from all over the state), and the inspiration behind naming a white blend of Roussanne and Marsanne "First Date." While it doesn't look like the winery has any events planned in the warehouse yet, you can check out their website for a list of events where they'll be pouring their wines. At least take the time to try their zin.

55 4th St., Oakland

website

What to Do This Weekend: 8/5–8/7

Look at all this stuff (“isn’t it neat?)! It’s because I love you guys, and also between my job, this blog, and preparing for my interview today I’ve been working close to 11-hour days. Enjoy the fruits of my gradual slip into insanity. I also had coffee today, so there’s that…Oh, and I know that SFChefs is going on, but I can’t afford that shit and neither can you (probably), so go google it on your own time or buy me a ticket already.

Friday, August 5:

Dishcrawl during Art Murmur: Like every First Friday, the galleries in Oakland are open late and throngs of people shuffle in and out, pretending to admire the art. The Dishcrawl sold out, but you can be really creepy (they only give out the locations to people who buy tickets a day or two in advance) and follow around any group of people snapping pictures of food and throwing around the term “foodie” and mentioning how they “tucked in” to a dessert. They’re starting at Uptown Place Homes at 6pm and at least one stop includes steak sandwiches. If you just want to check out the art and try and get full off of wine and cheese, Art Murmur runs from 6-9pm and includes galleries from 22^nd to 26^th street and along the Broadway/Telegraph corridors.  

Dishcrawl

Art Murmur

from girl journalist's Flickr account

Saturday, August 6:

Urban Wine Xperience: You’re in luck! Due to some glitch, tickets that were supposed to have gone up to $60 on Monday are still $40 until tomorrow, when they’ll be $60 at the door. I already did a write-up for this for the job that pays me, so I’m blatantly copying and pasting that for you. 2-6pm

Website

Paddle and Picnic: Dragon boat rides, live music, and an ice sculptor. The boats are solely people-powered, so get ready to paddle and get along with your boat buddies, since getting the boat going is a group effort. Free. 12–4pm.

Website

[Source: Berkeleyside]

ImpactCon: Fantastic Comics (over in Berkeley) invites you to celebrate nerddom with them. You get a sneak peek at Impact Theatre’s upcoming production of Cameron McNary’s D&D (Dungeons & Dragons, yo) play “Of Dice and Men.” I know I’m getting really nerdy on you right now, but I know some of you are into this shit. And maybe into meeting some cosplay celebrities and winning vintage Star Wars and Star Trek shit. 8–11pm.

Facebook Event Page

Martinez Beaver Festival: Aside from the unfortunate connotations of the event name, this event sounds kinda really boring. Something about a civic uprising. There will be live music, wildlife festivities, and something called “paint your own tail” where you get to compete in a fashion show/contest. …I think if you’re a child. Anyway, if you’re into beavers (get it? Get it?), check it out.

11am–4pm.

Website

[Source: Claycord]

Saturday, August 6–Sunday, August 7:

Fenestra Winery 35^th Anniversary: Out in Livermore, Fenestra Winery is throwing a celebration in honor of their 35^th anniversary. They got ghosts! Or “an appearance by ‘the ghost’ of Mrs. True.” If that isn’t enticing (who are you?) they’ll also have live music, tri-tip sandwiches, and a special release of the 2006 Conjugation, which I’m hoping is a wine and not a sex tape. 12–5pm.

Website 

[Source: The Merc]

Sunday, August 7:

Cinnaholic One-Year Anniversary: You guys, Shannon is like, the most adorable thing ever and runs a kick-ass cinnamon roll shop over in Berkeley. They’re celebrating their one-year anniversary (with one of the best flyers I’ve seen in a long time) by offering up $1 Old Skool Rolls from 12–4pm. Get at it! I need to get at it, since she kindly gifted my work (bartending gig) with some rolls and someone (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE) left them out in our hot sweaty bar, rendering them inedible. You’re lucky I love you, mystery destroyer of delicious goodies.

Website 

Reviews:

Foodhoe, in addition to running a much classier East Bay blog [foodhoe.com] that probably doesn’t include words like “spunk” and “buttload,” went and checked out the new Home of Chicken and Waffles in Walnut Creek. Check out her review here. I’m going to try and get there this weekend, hopefully around 3am when I get off work and can see the finest specimens Walnut Creek has to offer as they’re released from the bars.

Opening:

The Fig Tree (Pleasant Hill): the website isn’t very helpful, so here’s The Merc’s thoughts. 

Closed:

SR-24 (Oakland). According to Tablehopper (via Chowhound and the restaurant’s Facebook page), they closed last Saturday for good.

Misc.:

Judging from a rundown of local police reports, more people are getting arrested downtown for drunk in publics, and the po po even nabbed a guy on a bike for a BUI. While I don’t think the police are going all Isla Vista Foot Patrol on us, it’s long been assumed that the WCPD are bored and looking for excuses to bring in easy money, so do as I say and not as I do and either checkity check yo selves or call a cab.

Tuesday Newsday: 8/2

July was busy, August is shaping up to be busier, blah blah blah here's your news:

Fernet: Always wondered what Fernet is? I generally try not to question the exact composition of my favorite things, but Camper English over at Alcademics looked into the long ingredient list and pulled out some gems like saffron and a stinky tree mushroom at one time called spunk. Oh, and it's also been used as a laxative and hangover cure. Still a fan.
[source: Alcademics]


Fancy Bagels in the East Bay: Apparently, the bagels I eat in the morning are crap. Spot Bagels has begun wholesaling their version to Saul's and Berkeley Bowl West, with the original Berkeley Bowl stocking them soon. While I've been pretty okay with bagels these days, I guess Spot improves upon the norm with smaller sizes, denser consistency, and increased chewiness—which is never something I was really hoping for more of, but what do I know?
[source: EBX]


Wine Taste in the Dark: Francis Ford Coppola winery is taking a trend I swear I've seen before in dining (or at least on CSI) and turning it towards wine by hosting Tasting in the Dark, a Sunday series where guests are blindfolded and led on a tasting of four wines by blind graduate student Hoby Wedler. There's only three of these left, so get on it.
[source: Inside Scoop/SFGate]


LovEvolution Headed to Oakland: In kinda (ok really) old news, after last year's cancelled events and failure to get approval for the event this year from the city, LovEvolution is being moved to Oracle Arena. My favorite quote of the article: "Attendees certainly wouldn’t be more of a challenge to handle than Raiders fans." Those unfamiliar with the event probably don't own day-glo fishnets, furry boots, or pacifiers, and I'd like to congratulate you.
[Source: SF Examiner]

Mission Missed Connections: I'll admit it. I love reading missed connections. Guilty pleasure. The only thing that could have possibly made it better is getting rid of all the old weirdos making rants about their exes and instead focusing it exclusively on the area in the city that I drink. That's exactly what i Spy is. I'm on the first page and I already see posts mentioning Make Out Room, Latin American Club, and Zeitgeist. Enjoy not working, friends!

[Source: I can't remember, here's the website]

Tuesday Newsday: 7/19

If I somehow pull of the impossible and post this in the next 30 minutes, this will truly be a Tuesday Newsday. Otherwise, I’m going to use food poisoning and a busy weekend as excuses for why this showed up on a Wednesday and you can’t stop me. No, literally, you can’t, I need an excuse to sample Bloody Marys and have D keep our team afloat as we try and track down the best trivia night. Oh, and this is all about Oakland. Sorry!

Linden Street Brewery Expands: In an interview, owner and beer badass Adam Lamoreaux shared that Oakland-based Linden Street Brewery is experiencing mad growth rates and hopefully looking to open up a tasting room sometime in the near future. According to their Facebook page, Adam and Co. met with the planning commission earlier in this month, and the word along the rumor mill is that they’re looking at a September 1 open date. Also, Adam’s a big fan of Death and Taxes. Now you know. For now, you can find them at Heinhold’s, The Missouri Lounge, and others like Boot and Shoe Service, which brings me to my next point…

[Source: Eater]

95 Linden St. Suite 7/8, Oakland

website

Boot and Shoe Service Also Expands: Contrary to any assumptions I formed due to the bum making camp in front of their restaurant, Boot and Shoe service has opened their café space next door. They broke in the space last Tuesday and have been dishing out normal café fare, like coffee (fancy Sightglass coffee) and granola, but none of the hot stuff yet. I really tried to stop by, but they’re closed on Monday and that’s the only night nearby bar The Alley has trivia. 7am–2pm.

[Source: Inside Scoop]

3308 Grand Ave., Oakland

website

Awaken Café is Back! (sorta): Until their full café, beer, and wine bar opens in October, Awaken Café will be running a cart weekday mornings and show nights over at The Fox. They rolled it out last Friday. Monday–Friday, 8–10pm.

[Source: Oakland Living]

1429 Broadway at 15^th, Oakland

website

Also: The Chronicle sullies itself with boxed wines and picks out the best, which conveniently enough is the readily available Wine Cube, sold at Target. And Dishcrawl, the pub crawl for foodies (to put it in terms I understand) originally based in the South Bay, is finally bringing its discerning palate over our way. They’re doing a preview during First Friday (August 5) and only dishing the starting location two days before the event, granted you bought a $26 ticket. Hope you like surprises!

Half-Off Bottles of Wine at Lark Creek

All through July, Lark Creek Restaurant Group will be offering half-off bottles of wine during brunch, lunch and dinner. Every bottle on the lists will be half off, no exceptions for the fancy schmancy shiz they don't want to blow through. This deal is good at both the Lark Creek in Walnut Creek as well as Yankee Pier in Lafayette, as far as East Bay locations go. I know about jack and shit about good wine, so I can't give you any pointers. Except I already gave you one! To go get a bottle of wine from one of the Lark Creek Restaurant Group's restaurants. You're welcome. If you see a blonde with purple teeth hanging out, come say hi.
Lark Creek
1360 Locust St., Walnut Creek
website
Yankee Pier
3593 Mount Diablo Blvd., Lafayette
website

What to Do This Weekend: 6/24-6/26

It's Pride Weekend! Weeeeee!! I'm a big fan of all things gay, a rabid fan of all things drag, and have never really turned down an opportunity to day drink, so I'll start this roundup with some Pride activities, and finish it up with other things to do this weekend if you don't feel like making it out to the city or seeing a few socks on penises. Sorry, I know the offerings are a little scant this week, but I'm going to try and roundup a list of places near the start of the parade where you can drink, and I also need to focus my efforts on making this Sunday up to D, who I promised a nice leisurely brunch.

PRIDE:
The official SF Pride website has a whole list of official pride events. Today/Tonight:  The 33rd annual Pride Concert, 12 hour dance marathon Ghettodisco at the Endup, and SF Trans March (3:30pm). Tomorrow: Mamas and Papas Pride Potluck Brunch (all families welcome), The San Francisco Men's Spanking Party over at the Power Exchange (boys only!), Sundance Saloon Pre-Pride Dance (yee-haw), Go Bang! Go Pride! disco party at Deco Lounge (free before 10pm, $2 PBR and $3.75 vodka crans). Sunday: Massive Dance Party for big and bear men at Mist Ultra Lounge. I had no idea how many random clubs and lounges there were until I looked at this list.
website

Sunday, June 26:
Pride Parade: starts at 10:30am at Market Street and Beale and ends at Market and 8th Street. The theme this year is "In Pride We Trust." I'm trying to figure out a way to incorporate my afro wig into the celebration.
website
Hard French's "Los Homos": An all day celebration, with live music on two stages from 2-10pm. At Public Works.
website
Juanita More! Pride Party: 12 hours of DJ and performer entertainment. At Chambers Eat + Drink.
website
Misc: if you buy a half dozen cupcakes from That Takes the Cake you will not only save $11, but also help raise money for Pride.

EVERYTHING ELSE:
Residual Sugar Anniversary (All Weekend): My all-time favorite wine bar (aka the only wine bar in WC) is celebrating its one year anniversary this entire weekend. Expect live music, wine raffles, and a $10 anniversary special that will land you a glass of wine, sampling of cheese and charcuterie, tasting of port, and a cupcake. Not too shabby...
website

Oakland Zoo Walk in the Wild (Saturday): This is the zoo's biggest fundraising event of the year, which I guess explains the $150 price tag. Sections of the zoo are set up with tables from over 100 Bay Area vendors, where you can sample different food, wine, and beer from 5–8pm. Oliveto, Plum, and local brewery Ale Industries are some of the vendors to expect. Head over to Flamingo Plaza after gorging yourself to do a little dancing until 10pm, when it's presumably bedtime for everyone who can afford to go.
website

Get Out On a Wednesday

just insert some drunk people here and you'll get the picture

Spring Wine Walk: Tonight is Walnut Creek's Wine Walk, which is helpful to know so you aren't confused about all of the middle-aged people stumbling along downtown with wine glasses in their hands. I was all jazzed on going to this event until I spent all my money on a cab ride and extra cocktail tickets at the martini competition this week and realized it was $30/$35 dollars at the door. For those of you who don't blow your money on trivial things, you can try around 45 different wines, which sounded like a dubious claim until I realized Residual Sugar was included. There are an absolute ton of businesses participating as well as live music from local people, so check out their website for the full list as well as starting place (either Residual or Stanfords, depending on how you got your ticket). I'm actually a little sad I'm not going. 6-9pm.
website 

Off the Grid: Despite some minor snafu's concerning some drastic underestimation on the number of people who were going to attend last week, Off the Grid is back in the Gourmet Ghetto, long lines and food shortages be damned. This week both the carts and the organizers should be more prepared. Check out our original coverage here for an idea of some of the carts to expect.
5-9pm
Shattuck and Rose St., Berkeley
website

What to Do This Weekend: 6/3–6/5

Is anyone else still hurting from Memorial Day Weekend? I feel like I took years from my life and doing nothing sounds amazing, but I have an uber packed next few days, so I'm making you feel my pain by sharing all of the events that'll make you feel obligated to drag your sorry butt off the couch and into the world.

Saturday, June 4th:

3rd Annual California Extra Virgin Olive Oil Festival: While plain ol' olive oil may sound boring, more than a dozen of the state's best olive oil producers preparing tastings and food pairings spices things up a bit. There will also be samples fo' free and snacks for sale, including olive oil challah, orange olive oil cake, and an ice cream/olive oil hybrid, which you know you have to try to say you did it.

The Pasta Shop on 4th St. 

1786 Fourth St., Berkeley

website

Ash Cicada by Tera Levin

Chocolate & Chalk Art Festival: You can watch people create chalk art without any of that guilt the whole "them wanting money for it" gives you, because witnessing chalkwork is free during this day of chalky and chocolatey goodness. If you want to get in on that chocolate action, throwing down ten bones will get you a packet of tickets you can spend on chocolate ganache cupcakes, savory chocolate ricotta pizza, or a chocolate foot massage, if you're into that (you weirdo). There will also be music, but they are advertising CLOWN LAUGHTER filling the air so you can count me out. Braver souls may venture and I wish you godspeed.

North Shattuck Ave., Berkeley

website
POSTPONED TO JUNE 11TH DUE TO RAIN

Saturday, June 4th–Sunday, June 5th:

from Walnut Creek Chamber

Walnut Creek Art & Wine Festival: The festival is Mardi Gras themed this year, and I could tell you all about the 200 artists and their pottery, paintings, photography, sculpture, and jewelry, but I know most of you are cheap bastards (rightfully so). Instead, go to enjoy free music and try your hand at smushing out your aggression at the Grape Stomp Competition, where you may be able to rub shoulders or purple feet with a celebrity guest (which is a relative term in Walnut Creek). 

11 a.m. to 7 p.m. (6 p.m. Sunday)

Heather Farms Park

website

from event website

Art & Music in the Gardens: This reads and looks like an event your memaw or pepaw would love, if you were a good grandchild, but it looks like a snoozefest to me due to the lack of booze or people under 40. Check it out if you like bonsai clippings and straw hats. To be fair, the gardens do look really beautiful and romantic, so I'll give them that. 10am-6pm.
Gardens at Lake Merritt and Lakeside Park Garden Center
666 Bellevue Ave., Oakland 
website