When the restaurant opens in late spring, you will still be able to get a chili dog or a hamburger griddled to a dark sear on the flat top grill. But you can also order a hot dog called a “Catalina wine mixer”: chicken based and topped with kale, avocado and pungent garlic-anchovy mayonnaise. 

Go by the business that recently opened in the former home of Waffle Square Country Kitchen and there are still some remnants from what was there before, such as the brown pleather booths. Otherwise, though, something very different is going on here.

Just as meat alternatives have expanded, so have the eating patterns of people interested in plant-based food. A diverse set of diners are embracing plant-based restaurants, thanks to the proliferation of less restrictive plant-based diets.

From Japanese, omakase translates roughly to “I leave it up to you.” It is a covenant in which the diner cedes all decision-making power to the chef.

These days, Lake Tahoe’s south shore has enough breweries for a full tasting tour, giving explorers more reason to drive into the mountains.

A trend that helped many restaurants stay afloat during the pandemic has become a burgeoning new business model.

Northern California’s agave pioneers are helping to evolve the crop from a novelty to a force of stability within California’s changing bread basket.  

In 2007, genetic researchers in Madrid used new DNA techniques to identify the origin-point of mission vines. What they found was that the mission grape’s backstory involved more travel, travail and endurance than anyone guessed.  

In a year of rising costs, farmers have quality as an advantage. Still, farmers market vendors and shoppers are struggling to stretch their dollars.

Both the Davis and Sacramento food co-ops have expanded exponentially since their inception in the early 1970s, when they primarily served ”the hippie population.” Fifty years later, has the spirit of 1972 held up?