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- Written by: Ross A. Christensen
So I started driving around looking for somewhere to eat, getting hungrier and hungrier. After a while I started getting a feeling of anxiety, like when your gas tank is on empty, and you passed up the last gas station thinking the next one would have better prices, but that was a long time ago and now you’re not sure if you’ll even make it to the next station before your engine sputters out and you’re stranded on a desolate stretch of highway waiting to be rescued ... OK, not quite that anxious.
I finally decided to stop in on Andie’s Hickory Smoked BBQ in the Oaks. I had never been there before but I’d heard good things about it.
It’s a very small place and the menu is quite concise. Ribs, wings, links, cole slaw, potato salad, baked beans, and you can have a couple different combinations of them, but essentially that’s the menu right there. That’s the way I think barbecue ought to be, simplicity at its finest. You know what they say, why guild the lily?
The staff is friendly and was immediately ready to take my order, and the food was ready within a couple of minutes. When I got my food served so quickly, I thought that this is the perfect place to head during a lunch break. You can pop in, get your food and zip back to the office in no time.
I got the combo with a little of everything, but I didn’t select the baked beans. Trust me, you don’t want me to eat baked beans. Avoiding them is my contribution to helping reduce the global carbon footprint. (Hmmm ...was that TMI?)
The ribs, wings and links are all great. The barbcue sauce isn’t one of those ketchupy, thick, artificially smoky, supermarket-type sauces. This is an amazing sauce! And the heat! The spiciness is fantastic and doesn’t stick to your tongue like napalm. This is more like a baseball bat hit: the spiciness whacks you full in the face, but then after a few seconds the burn turns to a tingle and then is gone. Some sauces have a burn that wraps around your tongue and masks any other flavor that comes along for the next fifteen minutes, but not this sauce... You ordered ribs, you get to taste ribs; you ordered wings, and you get to taste wings!
This was true about the smokiness of the food also, it was just right. Too often you eat something that is “smoked” and all you taste is a forest fire. Here it was just enough to accent the overall flavor of the meat. The ribs and chicken wings are tender and pull from the bone nicely with some resistance; they don’t fall off of the bone like they have been over-cooked all day long.
The cole slaw, potato salad and couple of slices of wheat bread included were decent, just the side items you expect to come with barbecue. They weren’t remarkable or exciting, but then again most people aren’t combing the streets looking for a good side order restaurant. “Honey, let’s go out to dinner, I’m really in the mood for cole slaw,” is not an often-repeated sentence in America.
I’m glad my search for someplace new led me to Andie’s. I wonder where I’ll wind up next time.
Ross A. Christensen is an award-winning gardener and gourmet cook. He is the author of "Sushi A to Z, The Ultimate Guide" and is currently working on a new book. He has been a public speaker for many years and enjoys being involved in the community.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Known by many as "the largest catfish derby west of the Mississippi," the event features an Adult Derby and a Kids Derby for those under 16 years old. Barbecues will be held on Saturday and Sunday.
The grand prize winner of the Adult Derby will receive a new boat, motor, and trailer plus cash prizes and the winner of the Kids Derby will receive a four-wheeled ATV.
Derby headquarters will be located at the Clearlake Oaks Fire Station, 12655 East Highway 20, and will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Derby headquarters also will be open for pre-registration from noon to 11 p.m. on Thursday, May 15. No registrations will be accepted after 11 p.m. on Friday.
Registration for the Adult Derby is $45 ($40 for those who pre-register on Thursday). Registration for the Kids Derby is $10.
Barbecues, which are included with registration, will be held both Saturday and Sunday, with a Saturday breakfast planned. Sunday will feature live music.
Proceeds from the event benefit community projects. For applications, call 888-CL-DERBY or 998-1006; for more information, call 998-3795.
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- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Margaret Johnson, 56, is reported to be in stable but critical condition at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Chief Deputy James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office reported Saturday.
Bauman said sheriff's deputies and the Kelseyville Fire District responded to the report of a shooting at the home of 75-year-old Dr. Don Johnson on Highway 29 at about 9:40 p.m. Friday night.
Arriving on scene, the deputies and emergency personnel found Margaret Johnson had been wounded by a single gunshot to the neck, according to Bauman. She was transported from the scene by ambulance and later flown to Santa Rosa for medical treatment.
On Friday afternoon, Margaret Johnson had reportedly been served with a restraining order by her husband, which he told deputies was the result of their ongoing marital troubles, Bauman reported.
The restraining order, Bauman added, had required that Margaret Johnson vacate the residence Friday.
Don Johnson – a dentist with a Lakeport practice – told deputies that he had already gone to bed for the night when, at some point after 9 p.m., a woman screaming outside of the house awakened him, said Bauman.
Bauman said Johnson told officials he took his handgun – which he kept near the bed – and began placing a call to the sheriff's office when he heard the sound of glass breaking near the back door.
Johnson then dropped the phone, according to Bauman's report, and went to the back of the house, where he saw his wife allegedly entering the house carrying a pick ax.
He then fired one shot, striking Margaret Johnson in the neck. Bauman said she fell to the floor into the broken glass from forced entry, and Don Johnson ran back to call 911.
Bauman said sheriff's detectives were called to the scene to assist in conducting a preliminary investigation.
Based on the evidence at the scene, which pointed to Don Johnson acting in defense of his life, deputies did not take him into custody, said Bauman.
Margaret Johnson, however, could face criminal charges, which are pending based on the investigation's outcome, Bauman reported.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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- Details
- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The Lake County Arts Council's First Friday Fling attracted a huge crowd to its Main Street Gallery.
Besides spotlighting the work of several artists, the event gave attention to the Barbara LaForge Memorial Fund, founded by artist Gail Salituri to raise funds for Lake Family Resource Center's domestic violence shelter fund.
Lake Family Resource Center Board member Kathy Fowler and Salituri spoke to the crowd, explaining the background of the effort and recalling LaForge, herself a talented artist who was murdered in her downtown framing shop in October of 2002.
On June 1 Fowler will draw the winner of a raffle for a lithograph of artist John Clarke's watercolor “Golden Gate.” On that date the silent auction for Salituri's original oil “Lake County Hills Spring Bloom,” also will end. On Friday the painting received a bid of $400.
Salituri plans to continue holding raffles and silent auctions for the remainder of the year.
Tickets for the raffle will be available at Inspirations Gallery, 165 N. Main St., Lakeport; Lake Family Resource Center, 896 Lakeport Blvd., Lakeport; and the Lakeport Chamber of Commerce, 875 Lakeport Blvd.
For more information visit Salituri's Web page, www.gailsalituri.com/Memorial.html.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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