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When visiting the venerable Carpe Vino, the nationally renowned four-star restaurant in the heart of Old Town Auburn, check your preconceptions at the door. Fine dining in what owner Gary Moffat calls the Friendly Confines isn’t confined to small, pretty plates at nosebleed prices. While the menu is elegant and the service impeccable, a hungry visitor can get a delicious, substantial meal without breaking the bank. “We want to be a lot of different things to different people,” the intense, soft-spoken Executive Chef Eric Alexander explains before a recent weekday dinner shift. Chef Eric, as he’s known, has presided over all things culinary for 11 years at Carpe Vino. “We want to have dishes on the menu at all times that are approachable.” That may be a revved-up but affordable tavern-style dinner of tomato soup and grilled cheese – but made with locally sourced ingredients, taken to a new level with herbs and gourmet cheese and artisanal bread. This isn’t your grandmother’s comfort food. And from there, the menu options EVERYTHING HAS ITS SEASON only grow more and more refined. But for Moffat, partner and son Drew and Alexander, the culinary alchemy isn’t just about ingredients and technique. It’s about the sense of place – where we are, in Placer County – and about the season. Indeed, that sense of place is so important to the Culinary Institute of America-trained chef that he and his family have put down roots in the area – literally. With wife Courtney McDonald, who’s the pastry chef at CV, Eric runs Four Tines Farm in Auburn, where they grow much of the produce that Carpe Vino incorporates in its appetizers, entrees, sauces and desserts. “Our style of cooking is about that sense of place,” says Chef Eric, who for the last 11 years has overseen all things culinary at the restaurant. “A sense of place is important to Carpe Vino itself. We’re in a smaller town, Auburn. We have a smaller feel to the restaurant. The kitchen itself is small.” But living and working in a farm-tofork paradise, with Auburn’s “above the fog, below the snow” weather and a sophisticated, appreciative clientele -- isn’t the only secret to CV’s success. Timing – what Eric calls “seasonality” – also plays a huge role in what ends up on the plate. “I can be at my farm and pick baby fava beans. You can’t get that anywhere else – I’m picking them, and I know when the time is just right,” he says. “We’re very sensitive to that. We grow edible flowers. We have chickens, and with the color of the yolks, you can see how fresh they are.” “Getting the best ingredients comes with the territory,” he says. “Seasonality is everything.” With this area’s mild winters and summers, cooking seasonal cuisine might seem to be a piece of cake. Not necessarily. “The biggest challenge is the transition from winter to spring,” Eric explains. “Some things are ready; some are not.” In addition to capitalizing on seasonality, part of the chef’s satisfaction comes from “elevating the mundane.” For instance, instead of simply serving steamed snap peas, he’ll leave them unshelled, jackets on, and shave the pods razor-thin, then dress or sauce them in an unexpected way. “I like that refinement.” 14
A salad of shaved snow peas is served in a tangle of Monterey squid, pineapple, red chile, peanuts, Vietnamese herbs and crispy shallots. Executive Chef Eric Alexander. Photos by Jeremy Burke, Auburn Magazine 15
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Page 5 and 6: contents P.25 P.26 P.28 P.29 Choppe
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Page 12 and 13: E at Alaskan Halibut is served with
Page 16 and 17: 16 Carpe Vino owner Gary Moffat enj
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Page 20 and 21: VISIT US AT THE AUBURN HOME SHOW -
Page 22 and 23: And although the physical location
Page 24 and 25: Eco friendly full service salon Jan
Page 26 and 27: Local Heroes 1120 High St Auburn, C
Page 28 and 29: ON THE HEALTHY SIDE Healthy Habit o
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Page 32 and 33: 32 Jacquelyn Twardus Zach Hersh per
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Page 37: STELLA+PARKER REVIVAL MAKING HISTOR
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Page 53: MENTION THIS AD TO RECEIVE 20% OFF
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Page 58 and 59: FEATURED EVENT JUNE 16, 2017 PARTY
Page 60: 916.596.9000 WELCOME TO YOUR NEW AU

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