Good Food

I haven't posted any places for good food, so I thought I would start with a combination post. We recently spent a week boondocking in Quartzsite, AZ, with friends from the Northwest. "Q" has a population of about 3500 people, but in January about a half million RVs descend on the vast BLM area around the town during the RV show and the Rock & Mineral show.

There aren't many restaurants in town and most of them are fast food or pizza. But we found one good family place, the Mountain Quail Cafe. It specializes in comfort food. Fried chicken, chicken fried steak, meatloaf, etc. Linda had the chicken fried steak and I had the special, chicken parmesan. Believe it or not, they were both very tasty! Considering where we were, this was a real find:

Mountain Quail Cafe, somewhere in Quartzsite, AZ. (Off on a side street from Main)

The other new find is the restaurant located in the Bristol Farms Grocery store in Palm Desert. Linda and I went to the street fair at the College of the Desert and decided to have a late lunch. We found the small cafe next to the deli in this fine food store. There was a limited menu, but every thing on it was interesting. I had the breakfast Quesadillas special, and Linda had a special chicken salad with pecans, gorgonzola cheese and a raspberry vinaigrette. Everything was excellent. The store had many gourmet items, and large fresh fish department, and a meat department that features prime beef. There might be a store near you, so check the website:

http://www.bristolfarms.com/home.html

The Palm Desert location is at 73101 Country Club Dr. in Palm Desert.

Martin Codax-Ergo Tempranillo 2005

Now that the holidays are over, I'm back reviewing wines and giving you some info and opinions. My first wine of 2008 is a real winner.

Marin Codax Ergo Rioja 2005 is a red wine that's 86% Tempranillo & 14% Mazuelo. It's aged for 8 months in American Oak barrels. The initial bouquet is of oak, red berries & citrus. It has up front fruits with some cocoa, tobacco, and cherry. It has a medium finish with light tannins. It needs some aeration, so decant it before serving.

Tempranillo is the primary grape of Spain's Rioja region. It's also being widely planted in California, so look for some local expressions of this fine red grape. Martin Codax Ergo is $10 to $15 at larger stores, including World Market. It's well worth the money.