Walnut Creek: A surprising foodie mecca

It may not be the same as a few Michelin stars, a feature in Gourmet  magazine (oops! That magazine went away!)  or even a few crumbs of a mention  from the San Francisco  Chronicle’s Michael Bauer. But Walnut Creek’s food scene has just scored in the top 10 of another national measure. This is a ranking of 10 Undiscovered Restaurant Towns put out by the lifestyle website, Livability.com.

Livability.com, based in Nashville, says that Walnut Creek, while located next door to other San Francisco Bay Area foodie meccas, has “enough culinary heft to stand on its own.”

Take that Mr. Bauer! (Sorry, I was just mildly amused by the lack of imagination he and the Chronicle used with their latest Top 100 Bay Area restaurants list,  relying on their usual East–of-the-Caldecott standbys, Va De Vi and the Chows in Lafayette and Danville. Don’t get me wrong. I like those three restaurants but it’s ever more clear that the Chronicle--me-ow--is not interested in putting many resources into getting to know anything about life in our neck of the woods.)

Rant against Bauer done. Back to Livability.com’s  list of surprising restaurant towns.

Walnut Creek is No. 5 behind  Traverse City, MI, (Now, that’s surprising!), Asheville, NC, Boulder, CO, and Kansas City, Mo. The Creek is ahead of Pueblo, CO, Witchita, Alburquerque, and Eugene.

“Foodies worth their sea salt know metropolitan cities like Paris, New York City and San Francisco are considered food meccas. But diverse dining offerings and a deep-rooted food culture can be uncovered in smaller towns and cities, too,” Livablity.com says in its announcement of its new ranking. The website  is geared to the 35 million Americans who relocate each year, and its content is produced by a staff journalists.

Here’s what Livability.com says about the Creek.

“Its annual Art and Wine Festival, recognized by the Contra Costa Times as East Bay’s Best Outdoor Festival, draws 100,000 visitors to sample award-winning local and regional wines and microbrews and delicacies from dozens of local restaurants. Some eateries worth more than just a taste include the back-to-basics bakery Walnut Creek Baking Co., tapas favorite Va De Vi and the Zagat-rated Italian mainstay Prima, which features one of the most extensive and distinguished wine collections in the world. Walnut Creek dining also boasts a bit of star power – guitarist Carlos Santana is a partner at Maria Maria, the regional Mexican restaurant chain that began here and is named for the musician's 1999 hit song.”

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.”