"Sunday Brunch and Other Discoveries at the Cachagua General Store" by Food Blog

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Sunday Brunch and Other Discoveries at the Cachagua General Store

June 29, 2011

“I heard about a server who was fired because she ‘didn’t approve of the restaurant’s management style,’” Chef Michael Jones (center) once told me. “With me, if you do approve of my management style, then you’re f**king fired.”

I don't work for him, but I sure as hell approve. This is a guy who once snapped a patron's plate in half with a halibut backbone because the cat questioned its local providence (then Jones called the cops and reported a trespasser). This is a dude that makes roast baby beet salad so tasty it's a delicacy, at prices that make commoners like me feel like I can afford royalty. This is a chef who uses access to his store as an incentive to help local bums clean up their act.

Besides, it’s that style and the food it ultimately creates that draws me to distant Cachagua General Store (659-1857) like a hyena to a carcass. And it’s that style that creates the context for the live Grateful Dead banjo, BYO wine possibilities and things like the mesquite-grilled pork ribs in Cachagua pumpkin-seed mole ($16) and rabbit five ways (above, $22) that have long made CGS’s juggernaut Monday night dinners hot like a Penelope Cruz-stuffed piquillo pepper. (For the record, the five ways are fried, sauteed, bacon-wrapped, stewed and terrine.)

The rogue Michael and son Brendan Jones show only gets hotter as summer allows for more daylight to travel by and warmer temps for more outdoor action, whether that’s dining al fresco, bocce ball or castanet dancing from local, loveable lech Grant Risdon.

The other night I took some New York family out there and gems like the Chesapeake oysters with roasted porcini cream ($8.50), Micah’s pizza with house-cultured mascarapone and Corralitos ham ($8 or $14), Mike’s best smoked salmon ($8.50) and Valrhona chocolate crema ($6) left them dizzy with satisfaction.

Not long after, some sun-toasted solstice celebrators and I surfaced for the lesser-known-but-no-less-savory Monday night sibling, Sunday brunch, and the rich bacon Benedict didn't dissappoint, especially at the $12.50 sticker, which includes Santa Cruz Organic mango juice and lil’ fatty dollar pancakes. That's also the same price for everything else on the menu, including the lip-smacking goat-cheese-and-veggie omelet.

A there-is-hope-for-the-food-industry discovery that came with the excursions: the renegade CGS and Jones are the lone trend-setting Peninsula participants on a website that hopefully finds some serious traction (I extracted a promise that they’ll bring aboard some top NorCal spots in the coming months). It's called Real Time Farms (650-814-7796) and its young forward-thinking Bay Area flavormakers provide smart-sourcing restaurants the resources and slick platforms to link diners to progressive chefs like Patrick Connelly (Bobo) and Alex Young (Zingermans Roadhouse) all of the various high-quality purveyors that places like CGS, L.A.’s Melisse and the White House use to stock their recipes—and the full confidence in the providence of their produce and meats that comes with that.

They also allow diners to search local farms and markets and generally ferret out those tending to their plots with wisdom and consciousness, and recommend restaurants who would dig it.

Jones says Cal Stamenov and Bernardus might join up next.

One final style note: Check out Mike's most recent blog post, one of my favorites from 2011 to date, on his Cachuagua Store Blogspot hub for "much vicious gossip."

I am not the only one who thinks that 'Hell's Kitchen' was truly based on Michael Jones and the way he treats his guests and staff. Lucky for him, his psychotic m.o. is only matched by his genius in the kitchen. Disappointing that he has to lose patrons in the process.

Wow after following you for years with you many fine recs, you finally blew it! Have you ever looked at the comments this dump gets on yelp? Here's a sample-Kent L "Huge disappointment"; Adam B-"Slow service, questionable billing, rude waiters,overrated food, long drive"; Aileen P- "Rude, hostile,rice overcooked,disagreeable experience"; Samantha P-"Gone down hill, rude, bill padding, save the gas". Or the all time favorite where after Zabs group asks for separate checks, Jones pursues her to her Facebook account to write a filthy diatribe about "c#$nts" and dosen't bother with the #$. Mark- please be more careful, your readers shouldn't be steered into a thoroughly disagreeable experience, from a slick marketer.
Your average restaurant patron may experience a very different experience than the restaurant critic who is seen coming by a slick marketer. Also you won't have your bill padded. Jean

In response to the recent post by Jean; I invite you to experience the establishment before you pass judgement. It is evident that you have based your scathing remarks on hearsay at best. An informed responsible opinion cannot be drawn, much less published, in a subjective matter such as this without first having at least listened to the music and basked in the aroma of the kitchen while enjoying a glass of local wine at least once. Mike can be eccentric, sometimes more than at others. However that is what makes Michael Jones the irreverent Michael Jones that most of us appreciate.

Take a evening, burn some fuel, enjoy a meal, and come to your own, now informed, conclusions. You will be surprised.

As for bill padding; I am more than simply positive that Mike has comp'ed more meals than the one he graciously forgave us last week during our last attendance. Just poll any Chachagua resident.

In all of the years we have been attending Monday night dinners, never once have we experienced any of Jean's denouncements or even witnessed an incident for that matter. Mike greets his guests frequently with a real bear hug, most often with some manner of irreverent well intended greeting one we would expect from a close family member.

There is nothing "slick' about Mike. He is what he is; and what he is, is humble and generous, most of the time at least.

Do yourself a favor and withdraw you post. Most importantly because you have not experienced the place yourself, and secondly, your sources are grossly mistaken. WJG