Food

Childhood obesity in Contra Costa on the rise

Sugar-sweetened drinks and street violence have contributed to a rise in childhood obesity across low-income areas of Contra Costa County, according to county health officials who worked closely on a statewide study released Wednesday.

Richmond’s first food policy council meets

At Richmond’s first food policy council meeting Tuesday night at City Hall, Urban Tilth Executive Director Doria Robinson instructed the carefully chosen participants to catalog the city’s most pressing food-related problems. The session started off quickly. As the participants introduced themselves, they cited their biggest concerns while Robinson took notes on a dry-erase board in front of the group. “We are trying to make a list, to really get a sense of the scope of all different issues that are…

Hotel Mac Restaurant and Bar celebrates 100 years

Hotel Mac Restaurant and Bar is celebrating 100 years of business, since its original opening in 1911. First built to serve Standard Oil workers in the early twentieth century, Hotel Mac, then called the Colonial Hotel, was a supreme dining establishment. After a mid-century decline and a fire that destroyed the building in 1971, the restaurant was rebuilt by current owners Bill Burnett and Griff Brazil in 1978. Now restored to its original splendor, Hotel Mac hosts a typically professional…

Environmental inequalities are hot topic at Richmond sustainability conference

When Luz Gomez, the deputy chief of staff for County Supervisor John Gioia, tried to establish a small deli on a corner in North Richmond, even with help from the County, had to overcome more zoning code, development agency and operator obstacles then she anticipated. Though she says that she feels close to opening the neighborhood’s only restaurant, it has been a battle that has lasted years. “I can’t tell you the kinds of barriers we have encountered along this…

The Lunch Special

Whether it’s burgers and fries or crab cakes and cognac, Richmond has a restaurant for just about everyone. Maggie Beidelman takes you to three quintessential Richmond establishments — Casper’s Hot Dogs on Macdonald Ave., the Boiler House at the Craneway, and Hotel Mac in Point Richmond — to find out who’s there, and what’s cooking.

New Brazilian café: from family crisis to family business

Three years ago Angelica Lima started getting sick. So sick that the 24-year-old single mother suddenly found herself in a wheelchair. Her condition left her doctors stumped, and after a few months they suggested she seek a second opinion in Brazil, her native country.

Shoreline Festival brings out hundreds and raises awareness about shoreline conservation

Fred Casanares got to Point Pinole Park a little before 8 a.m. on Saturday. He fired up the grill at 10 a.m. with almond wood, because it burns cleaner than charcoal. For the next five hours, Casanares cooked hundreds of pounds of burgers, hot dogs, quesadillas, and skirt steak, while smoke wafted around the festival and the persistent long lines in front of the grill. “I can’t even calculate how many people I’ve fed,” he said, wiping the trails of…

Waking up in Richmond to Catahoula Coffee

Coffee fanatics from around the Bay Area have been requesting Richmond’s Catahoula Coffee since the shop’s opening in 2008. The clientele remains loyal, but owner “Timber” Manhart has begun to feel the strain of rising coffee bean prices while running a small business in Richmond’s North & East neighborhood.

Richmond bans the sale of live chickens

The City Council voted Tuesday to prohibit the sale of live chickens at the Richmond’s Certified Farmer’s Market, igniting an eruption of cheers from animal rights supporters who filled City Hall. The crowd, which consisted mostly of visitors to Richmond, was there on a larger animal-rights agenda, fueled by a recent victory in banning live chicken sales at the Heart of the City Farmer’s Market in San Francisco. Despite the determination of supporters, the ban will affect only one vendor…