hilaria

I had a truly great dinner at April's in the Newport/Nye Beach area last Thursday night. The food is sophisticated and beautifully prepared. They have top-notch waitstaff, too. You can't go wrong there!

Hey Judy: Actually Kimberly was the ballet dancer and Vitaly was/is the piano player! His food and the restaurant really ARE good. And just so you know, there are a few places left for the Cooks & Books Visiting Chef Series dinner at Paley's Place for the Mark Bittman dinner on May 12th. I know I will see you there....

The lineup for the winter/spring cooks and books is shaping up. First up is Bill Granger, acclaimed Aussie chef of bill's in Sydney. In Portland he will be at Noble Rot on February 2. Dinner will be prepared by Leather Storrs and will be paired with Australian wines selected by Andrew Thomas of Merchant di Vino. Cost is $75 per person and includes a copy of "Bill's open kitchen" Chef Granger will be on hand to autograph books and visit with diners. Call Noble Rot for reservations before it is sold out! He will also be doing a dinner up in Seattle. Dates of the other dinners in Seattle and Portland are being finalized. Dinners will include Mark Bittman, Deborah Madision, Susan Herrman Loomis and others. These dinners have been wonderful....great food well prepared by the local chefs, thoroughly enjoyable socializing with the visiitng chefs, excellent wine. Check kimricketts.com for the finalized schedule soon.

The Nye Beach area has a variety of places that i noticed on my last trip. I haven't tried most of them, but I will at some point. If you find the Sylvia Beach Hotel, there are several restaurants in the surrounding area that look good according to what you desire. The whole area around Sylvia beach is worth poking around in. That neighborhood used to be an Italian neighborhood and there is a good Italian bakery, several upscale restaurants, a teahouse, several seafood places, and others if my memory serves me corectly. I have heard that dinner at the Sylvia beach hotel is a nice experience. When I was at Nye Beach last summer, I met some nice locals on the beach who told us about a fundraiser for a restaurant located across form the Italian bakery. It turns out that this very popular place served food from a trailer... and was the hangout for a lot of local artists, kids, and an eclectic group of other folks. The restaurant had been ordered by the city to build an indoor kitchen and could not afford to do so. The locals loved this place so much they were holding a benefit to help raise money to build the kitchen! We went that night and there was music, good food, donated art for auction from the artists who frequented this place. What a great neighborhood! Ihope you go and find that they have built their kitchen. Have fun and happy birthday.

The new schedule for the winter/early spring is just being finalized now. I don't think that he is on the list for Winter, but once all is set we will let you know. There will be an e-gullet table (the community table - 6:30 pm) at the portland/clarklewis/Joyce Goldstein dinner on December 1. Let the restaurant know that is the one you want when you call in. Her book (Italian Slow and Savory) is just beautiful and the food should be great!