Food & Wine

The Sacramento Jazz Festival & Jubilee has a new name – the Sacramento Music Festival – and some new sounds. We checked in with the man who knows the festival menu the best – Crawford Paton, the festival's food and beverage manager who recruits and oversees the 18 vendors.

Tracy Mihas, district director of state and local government affairs at Kraft Foods, has been elected 2012-13 chairwoman of the Sacramento-based California League of Food Processors.

Restaurant owner Sonny Mayugba was given an offer he almost could not refuse two weeks ago.

We last spoke with Aziz Fattahi some years ago, when we'd first encountered his marvelous Village Bakery in Davis, across from the train station.

Dickey's Barbecue Pit will open a new restaurant today in Folsom.

Restaurateur Patrick Mulvaney got a shock a few weeks ago when he contacted a client, the Sacramento Kings, to discuss last-minute details for a banquet at his midtown eatery.

For artichoke lovers, life is sweet with a slightly nutty flavor.

In a word-association game, "cabernet sauvignon" just might prompt a response of "merlot" as quickly as it would "Bordeaux" or "Napa Valley." By history, tradition, culture and color, the two grape varieties are that closely identified. Many of the world's more esteemed wines involve both.

It's time to think beyond the bear bottle.

Maybe it's in the way one cook browns meat, or another views dessert. Or it may be in the moments when a harried chef seeks perspective in the well-worn pages of "The Way To Cook."

The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Sixties Cookbook: More than 100 Retro Recipes for the Modern Cook

Ever since you were a little kid, you loved foods with holes, bubbles, nooks and crannies.

The Mailbox recently featured information on freezing lemon juice. Elinor Kniffin of Ripon thanked us for the instructions and had some questions: Will this method work for Meyer lemons? Can juice be stored in ice cube trays?

The sushi craze in America has led to a wider interest in Japanese flavors. Tataki, beef or fish that has been seared, thinly sliced, chilled and served with a dipping sauce, is a recent addition to the menu. A traditional tataki accompaniment is grated daikon (white radish).

Enjoy a fusion of food and wine at Raley's Grape Escape, featuring 60 regional wineries and 40 local restaurants, plus entertainment and a celebrity chef cook-off.

Here's a recipe for dinner in 35 minutes. It's rich-tasting and just right for working in the slender asparagus of the season. Serve with a salad of peppery greens.

A Year in Wine probes pinot gris from New Zealand. So why does pinot gris from New Zealand seem to be quickly but quietly developing a following?

One medium artichoke contains 64 calories. They're about 40 percent dietary fiber with virtually no fat.

A member of the thistle family and a relative of sunflowers, artichokes are an ancient food native to the Mediterranean.

Sacto MoFo 5, the local mobile food festival, has been announced for July 21 at Eighth and W streets, with a day of mobile food, live music, a beer garden and arts and crafts.

Sunrise Boulevard is the center of the action in a tussle for burger supremacy that has national chains opening sites left and right.

Union City-based Chevys Fresh Mex is rolling out a digital media system that enables customers to hook up with entertainment and manage restaurant service at their tables.

Camron King, formerly vice president of state government relations at the California Association of Winegrape Growers in Sacramento, has been named the new executive director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission.

Whether you're in the mood for an ice-cold brewski or looking to celebrate local Asian culture, plenty of good times are on tap this weekend. The sixth annual Raley Field Brewfest kicks off tonight, while Sunday marks the 20th anniversary of the Pacific Rim Street Fest.

The former Cosmo Cafe at 10th and K streets has given way to a fourth location for Cafe Bernardo.

Spring remains a favorite season for local chefs and devoted home cooks. Farmers markets around the region begin to bustle with shoppers looking for fresh bounty, from fava beans and green garlic to ripe strawberries and asparagus.

Milkshakes are gloriously frosty, creamy, sweet concoctions made from ice cream, syrups and other empty calorie delights.

Admittedly, steamed fish doesn't exactly scream "mouthwatering." But what it lacks in excitement it more than makes up for in health cred.

Undercover Caterer shares tips for preparing spring chicken dinners:

Lodi's wine country received a big marketing push last year with LoCA, a campaign designed to increase awareness about that area's wineries – especially with tasters in their 20s and 30s.

Carrot cake with macadamia nuts and white chocolate cream cheese frosting

With practice, patience and prayer, the monks of the Abbey of New Clairvaux look to be succeeding where Leland Stanford saw rare failure

Stir-fry and salsa aren't traditional companions on the plate, but that doesn't mean there can't be a little common ground.

An eclectic compilation of food, market and festival news.

No broccoli. No cabbage. No fish, eggs, curry or stinky takeout. Absolutely no burned popcorn.

The first farmers market of the season at Cesar Chavez Plaza brims with spring bounty. Firm stalks of asparagus and succulent strawberries, fragrant Asian cilantro and fava beans – they're all ready to be transformed into dishes for lunch and dinner.

Down a sleepy alley off 20th Street in midtown, in a nondescript brick building, the Pachamama Coffee Cooperative is radically changing the way 140,000 coffee farmers from Peru to Ethiopia bring their beans to market.

Gonul Blum is opening a new restaurant called Trio on Eighth and J streets.

Harley White Jr. Orchestra and headlining band McNasty will perform as part of the Old Hwy 99 Festival Concert Series.

OK, so we won't let it slip how "The Avengers" ends, but what's happening after the blockbuster is over?

Freebirds World Burrito will open its third Sacramento-area restaurant Tuesday in Elk Grove.

Nestled within the city limits, minutes from shopping centers and freeways, Feeding Crane Farms could soon play a role in elevating Sacramento's culinary reputation.

Fresh out of UC Davis with a bachelor's degree in fermentation science, Sacramento native Rob Davis signed on as an intern at a brand new winery just outside of Healdsburg in northern Sonoma County, Jordan Vineyard & Winery.

We've just about landed on Mother's Day, and Wine Buzz has mimosas on the mind.

Christian Huot, for years the wine steward at The Fifth Grill in Toronto, emailed me with a growing concern: "It's time we stop using 'Champagne' for every wine with bubbles in it."

It is no secret that I love cooking in the kitchen with my children. There are few other things that I think are more important than teaching your children how to cook.

Bring a picnic and celebrate the season with Lucero Olive Oil at its Spring Bloom Event, featuring a wine garden, guided mill tours, olive oil tasting, artisan food vendors, kid zone and olive grove tours.

Does anyone have recipes for bakery icings? I am looking for maple for maple bars and chocolate for chocolate bars.

Raley's and its unionized employees announced Tuesday evening they have agreed to enter into mediation in hopes of ending a seven-month contract dispute.

This rural Central Coast town of 30,000, a half-hour's scenic drive from seaside Cambria and 42 miles from Hearst Castle, draws a continuous stream of visitors lured by its striking countryside, laid-back vibe and neighborliness.