Hello Friends & Family,

June is the birthday month in my family. My birthday, John's birthday and Mustards Grill turns 34 years old on June 16.

 

The Honorary Chair's for this year's Auction Napa Valley are some of my favorite local hero's, the Coppola family. Mustards is honored to be one of the 6 local restaurants chosen for the Friday Barrel Auction Wine and Food Pavilion. We're serving duck bratwurst, and ahi tuna with spring vegetables and a rustic walnut and black olive tapenade, served with Napa Valley barrel select Pinot Noir.

 

When I travel, one of my favorite activities is to visit farmers' markets. I love shopping for vine ripe produce, sampling regional specialties and talking to the people who produce the food. I am so lucky to have our local  St. Helena Farmer's Market. I buy the stone fruit from Bera Ranch in Winters, produce from Big Ranch Farms in Napa and fresh chickens from Triple T Ranch of Santa Rosa. There are many other market vendors I love and their offerings change from week to week depending upon what's in season. Jim and I will be there for our annual food demonstration and class on June 23 at 10:30 am. Come say hello.


We had a great time at BottleRock last week. Mustards Grill had two stations serving up favorites; Pulled Pork & Beef Brisket Sandwiches, Lobster Rolls and our Prickly Pear Limeade. On the culinary stage, I got to do a cooking demonstration with the one and only Michael Franti, we made whole salt crusted roast King Salmon tostadas...he was so charming. We both played drums on the Williams-Sonoma drum set (but they were pots!), it was a thrill.  

 

At Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen June is fried chicken month, it's always a favorite. Jim will be making classic Southern, spicy Korean style, Japanese Chicken Katsu and a Latin Pollo Frito - with all the fixins'. Oh my!

Since June is Mustards Grill's birthday month, Michael will be serving all of our classic dishes from 34 years of cooking, on Pour Off Pair Off Friday's. Check out the menus and make your reservation, come celebrate with us.

 

This month's recipe is my Mom's coleslaw. I like to shred the cabbage with my Japanese mandolin. My mom chopped hers with a funny device she bought at the Minnesota State Fair; the kind where you put the cabbage in a cylinder and you push down on a lever to chop-coleslaw was the only thing she used it for. The dressing is a creamy, seedy delight. You can use either poppy or celery seeds or a combination of both. Coleslaw is an easy salad and such a versatile side dish.

 

Happy Summer!