Walnut Creek’s best bites--and drinks to sip

What are your favorite things to eat and drink at Walnut Creek bars and restaurants or to pick up from  take-out restaurants and grocery stores? What are your favorite appetizers, dishes, drinks, or desserts? It can be a rare treat, or a regular standby, that one thing you crave after a hard day or that you know your whole family, including picky young eaters, will enjoy.

Here are a few of mine. This list is by no means exhaustive, and I’ll probably add as I remember more. I’m sure some readers will have strong feelings and good recommendations about certain menu items, notably burgers, pizza and burritos.

--The vegetarian burrito at Sunrise Bistro: Filled with the usual black beans and rice and cheese, as well as lots of veggies: broccoli, zucchini, and spinach. It comes with salsa and guacamole. It’s big and satisfying, but, like other Sunrise Bistro fare, it feels healthy. A vegan version is also available with tofu replacing cheese.

--Le Cheval's shrimp rolls (steamed prawns, mint leaves, wrapped in rice paper) and vermicelli salad and grilled chicken kebabs served with lettuce, mint, cilantro, nuts, and nuoc nam.

--Strawberry smoothie and imperial rolls from Pho Saigon Noodle House

--Tamale pancake, shredded barbecue chicken, avacado salad and tortilla strips, Lark Creek Walnut Creek

--Burger with Danish blue cheese, on a honey wheat bun, at The Counter. www.thecounterburger.com

--The Napa Salad--spring greens topped with grilled rosemary chicken, toasted sugar walnuts, fresh field berries, and feta cheese. Tossed as you watch. At Lettuce on Locust Street. Eat in or take out. 925-933-5600.

--Four Cheese Margherita pizza from Rocco’s Ristorante Pizzeria. I always love just a basic cheese pizza. This one has a blend of Mozzarella, Provolone, Fontina and Gorgonzola with basil and a sauce made from the restaurant’s own marinated diced tomatoes.

--Macaroni and cheese from Whole Foods: Comfort food at the Soccer Mom home. You’ll know why if you read these ingredients: pasta slathered, tossed and baked with a buttery white sauce, heavy cream,  Jack cheddar cheese and parmesan. Whole Foods was running out when I snapped this photo. 

--UPDATE: L'Orange Pomegranate martini, Sasa. Tastes like a nice icy glass of pomegranate juice, with a splash of lime and ginger. You could just drink it down--like juice--but there is the matter of the L'Orange Grey Goose vodka that would make you lose your designated driver status.

--Chocolate crackle cookies and Gingeroos (soft ginger cookies) from the Walnut Creek Baking Company. The crackle cookies are like chewy brownies in cookie form. 

--Dark chocolate almonds sprinkled with sea salt and turbino sugar. From Trader Joe's. Actually, Trader Joe's is a chocolate lovers' dream--or downfall.

Top local restaurants and wineries unite Sunday to hold benefit for Haiti

Want a chance to sample food from some of our best restaurants in our ‘burbs? You can on Sunday afternoon in a tent at the Walnut Creek Yacht Club.  You can taste food from this restaurant, as well as from other favorites, such as Lark Creek Walnut Creek, Prima, Va de Vi, and Walnut Creek Yacht in Walnut Creek, and from Bridges in Danville and Postino in Danville. You can also enjoy sweet treats from Walnut Creek Baking Company or Leonidas chocolate.

Working with Boston-based Partners in Health, these restaurants will host an afternoon, from 1 to 5 p.m., of great food, drink, and music. The tunes will be provided by noted winemaker Robert Foley and his Robert Foley Band.

This is the second major effort by local eateries to raise money to help victims of the January 12, 7.0 earthquake in Haiti, which has left as many as 300,000 dead. Back in January, Rocco’s Ristorante Pizzeria held a three-day fundraiser, in which the family-owned restaurant pledged 25 percent of earnings from lunch and dinner to go to the Red Cross.

Money raised at Sunday’s event will benefit Partners in Health, a 501-(c) 3 that has been working on the ground in Haiti for over 20 years.

A press release about Sunday’s event says that tax deductible tickets, which include one raffle ticket, are $100 per person, and are available at the participating restaurants.  Raffle tickets are $10 each and are also available at participating restaurants.

“PIH works to bring modern medical care to poor communities in 12 countries around the world. The work of PIH has three goals: to care for their patients, to alleviate the root causes of disease in their communities, and to share lessons learned around the world.

Based in Boston, PIH employs more than 11,000 people worldwide, including doctors, nurses and community health workers. The vast majority of PIH staff are local nationals based in the communities that they serve.”

Lark Creek and Pizza Antica owners among semi-finalists for James Beard Award

Some notable East Bay suburban restaurants made the cut for consideration for James Beard Foundation Awards. For foodies, the James Beard Awards are like the Oscars. "These awards confer prestige on recipients, inspire neophytes, and draw attention to food innovation across the country," writes Jennifer Dawson on the Diablo magazine website.

Michael Dellar of the Lark Creek Restaurant, which owns Lark Creek Walnut Creek and other eateries, and Tim Stannard of the management group that owns Lafayette's Pizza Antica, are on the shortlist to receive an outstanding restaurateur award. Lark Creek happens to be a a date night favorite for my husband and me. It's an easy place to go, casual but sophisticated enough to feel special. I've never tried its famous pot roast, but have appreciated the bacon-wrapped meatloaf for the comfort food it is. Another favorite is the shredded chicken tamale pancake, an appetizer that can also be enjoyed as a main course.

Usually, I love to get whatever fish is on the menu. And, through February 28, it is featuring its annual Dungeness Crab Festival, with, crab cakes and flatbread, wood-oven baked with crab.

It's been a while since I've been to Pizza Antica, the upscale but family-friendly pizza which tends to be one of the few restaurants, east of the Caldecott Tunnel, that receives much notice from the San Francisco Chronicle's venerated critic Michael Bauer. Well, I did have an amazing pizza there a few years ago--an unusual pizza that I remember mixed, yes, lemon with possibly tarragon (?) and possibly leeks.  On the other hand, my son's basic cheese pizza came with black char on its crust.  Sorry, Mr. Bauer, but was that supposed to be a sign of something incredibly gourmet?

(OK, my swipe at Bauer. Think his reviews are mostly a pain to get through--foodie porn is what a friend calls it--but I happened to like his dishy, news-y blog.)

Back to those James Beard Awards: The finalists will be announced on March 22 in New Orleans, with the honorees to be awarded on May 2 and 3.