More Morsels: Andronico's Snuffs Out Tobacco Sales

Source from:  By Carolyn Jung Mercury News 02/13/2008 02/14/2008

As of last week, sales of cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products have been extinguished at all eight Andronico's stores in the Bay Area. "It's all part of a rising consciousness at Andronico's," says Bill Andronico, president and chief executive, in a statement. "While tobacco sales are profitable for us, we feel that cigarettes and tobacco products are out of step with our goal of providing sustainable, wholesome, well-crafted products for our customers." Tobacco and related accessories such as lighters accounted for $5.4 billion in supermarket sales nationally in 2006, according to Progressive Grocer magazine. MORE HEALTHFUL PRACTICES: She established the first fine-dining raw foods restaurant in the Bay Area. Now, Roxanne Klein has come up with Roxanne's Fine Cuisine, a line of 34 prepared raw foods products, available at Andronico's, Whole Foods stores, and New Leaf Community Market in Santa Cruz. Founder of the now-shuttered Roxanne's restaurant in Marin County, Klein has created products that are organic, gluten-free, dairy-free and egg-free, and with no refined sugars. Look for pinwheel sandwiches ($7.49), sprouted granolas ($9.99) that are nicely crunchy and less sweet than many granolas, and our favorites of the bunch - three types of Nutmilk Cheeze ($6.99) that are silky smooth and spreadable. Go to www.roxannes.com. Dulse, agar, hijiki, wakame, kombu and arame may not all be familiar ingredients. But you can get more acquainted with them at three dinners featuring these sea vegetables - seaweed and other sea plants from the coasts. The dinners are part of the regular weekly program of vegetarian meals offered by the Peninsula Macrobiotic Community. The sea vegetables will be featured Feb. 25, March 10 and March 24 at the First Baptist Church, 305 N. California Ave. in Palo Alto. Dishes include braised hijiki with carrot and lotus root; and lentil casserole with caramelized leeks, kombu and dulse. Price is $15 per person. Call (650) 599-3320. DUELING CHEFS AT MACY'S: The popular "Battle of the Chefs" event has returned to Macy's Union Square, 170 O'Farrell St. in San Francisco, pitting two Bay Area chefs against one another. They will have 45 minutes to prepare a dish with the night's secret ingredient. Monday, Rick Corbo of Ducca in San Francisco bested Travis Flood of Moose's in San Francisco in "battle pork." March 10, Mark Sullivan, chef-owner of the Village Pub in Woodside and Spruce in San Francisco, and a sometime-contributor to the Mercury News SV Life Food and Wine section, will face off against Mark Denham, chef of Laiola in San Francisco. April 7, Joel Huff of Silks in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in San Francisco will go against Ian Begg of Cafe Majestic in San Francisco. Marisa Churchill, of Bravo TV's "Top Chef" fame and now pastry chef at Yoshi's of San Francisco, provides commentary for each battle. Admission to either 6 p.m. event is $10. For reservations, go to www.rivera-pr.com. PALO ALTO OAKVILLE GROCERY CLOSING: Stanford Shopping Center's Oakville Grocery will close Feb. 29. The gourmet food store, 715 Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, has been a staple at the mall for about 20 years, according to Leo Johnson, the store's floor supervisor. In preparation for the closing, wines are now being marked down by as much as 50 percent. Six years ago, the Oakville Grocery stores in Los Gatos and Walnut Creek also were shuttered as the company decided to concentrate more on its catalog and Web site sales. Two stores remain, one in Oakville and the other in Healdsburg. For information, go to www.oakvillegrocery.com. or call the Stanford store at (650) 328-9000. RESTAURANT HAPPENINGS: The Shadowbrook, which opened in October 1947, has been commemorating its 60th birthday with a three-course dinner for $19.47 on Sunday nights. The special is available through the end of April. The restaurant is at 1750 Wharf Road in Capitola; for reservations, call (831) 475-1511. Shadowbrook co-owner Ted Burke is spending this month serving his country. The National Restaurant Association board member, who served in the U.S. Army Reserves, is part of a team that is touring U.S. Air Force bases in the United States and abroad. They are evaluators for the Hennessy Awards program, which honors excellence in food preparation in the Air Force. Downtown Mountain View's modern Vietnamese restaurant, Xanh, has reopened in a larger space less than two blocks from its original location. The new spot at 110 Castro St., three times larger than the old, features an expanded menu, private dining space and live entertainment on select nights. Go to www.xanhrestaurant.com. or call (650) 964-1888. Before 2008 gets too far underway, it's worth noting the recent openings of three Peninsula restaurants. Former San Francisco chef Yahya Salih opened Yaya Cuisine - Nomad Style at 1108 Burlingame Ave. in Burlingame. Raised in Iraq, Salih cooks distinctive Bedouin-California cuisine, including organic cracked wheat pizza ($6.50) and lamb shank fettuccini ($17). Call (650) 344-2860 or go to www.yayacuisine.com. Burlingame also welcomed Ristorante Brio, 1190 California Drive, by veteran restaurateur Pino Spinoso, who also co-owns Cafe Tiramisu, Belden Taverna and Brindisi Cucina di Mare, all in San Francisco. The restaurant, in the historic railroad station that once housed Pisces Restaurant, serves seasonal Italian cuisine. Call (650) 348-6615. The Mediterranean-inspired Rumi opened at 1179 Laurel St. in San Carlos, serving dishes such as seared petrale sole with toasted farro ($18) and Fulton Valley chicken with curried almond butter ($18). Call (650) 593-8500 or go to www.rumisancarlos.com. Enditem