Apollo Olive Oil: To your health
FOR CENTURES, OLIVE OIL HAS BEEN prized for its health benefits. It contains antioxidants and polyphenols, proven to improve our health and longevity, according to the California Olive Oil Council. Olive oil also is an important part of the state’s heritage. Olive trees were first brought over by Spanish missionaries. In the past decade, nearly […]
Maria’s in Grass Valley goes outdoors
MARIA’S MEXICAN RESTAURANT in Grass Valley has been serving fresh Mexican food to locals and visitors for a generation. Now Maria Ramos’ loyal following received a new treat: An outdoor patio, round bar and expanded restaurant. “We’re going to make the patio look like Mexico,” says Maria, who learned to cook from her Mexican- born […]
Matteo’s and Old 5 Mile House: Craft beer newcomers
CRAFT BREWS ARE THE NEW “KING OF Beers.” Their sales grew 7 percent last year when other brewers posted a decline. The number of craft brewers also continues to boom. A growing number of restaurants in the foothills and Tahoe/Truckee are well-known for their craft beer selections: Among them, the Auburn Ale House; the Fifty […]
Lone Buffalo Vineyards: Where the buffalo roam
THE FOOTHILLS HERITAGE IS STEEPED IN WINEMAKING, not just gold mining. Vineyards were introduced in Placer County in 1848—the same year gold was discovered. Prohibition shut down this bigger-than-Napa wine industry in 1920. But winemaking made a comeback in the ’70s. Nowhere is the county’s recaptured heritage more visible than at Lone Buffalo Vineyards, a […]
Smith Vineyard’s bustling new tasting room
DESPITE THE RECESSION, WINERIES ARE rushing to open tasting rooms downtown, making a trip to one of the region’s historic towns more worthwhile. In Grass Valley alone, three new tasting rooms have opened recently: Avanguardia Wines has come to town; Sierra Starr Winery has relocated to a bigger location); and Smith Vineyard is opening a […]
Nevada County Historical Society
HISTORICAL NEVADA CITY AND GRASS Valley are the backdrop for the California Preservation Foundation’s annual conference on May 12-15, titled “The Sierra Nevada: Preserving a Sense of Place.” Nowhere is the region’s history better preserved than at the 66-year-old Nevada County Historical Society and its museums, a “must see” for visitors: Historic Firehouse No. 1 […]
Artist profile: John Johnson
“VISION IS THE ART OF SEEING THINGS invisible,” Jonathan Swift said. My “Doublejay Vision” also is the art of seeing the unseen connections. I find various elements, record them with my digital camera and enhance them to make something new. I am a photo illustrator, using my computer screen as my canvas and software as […]
Q&A with new artistic director at Music in Mountains
Sierra FoodWineArt spoke with Gregory Vajda, the new artistic director at Music in the Mountains: What is the philosophy of Music in the Mountains? We believe that enthusiasm is the essential ingredient for any concert- goer—more important than formal dress or music knowledge. We challenge the notion that classical music is stuffy. We present the […]
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