We are titled Gastronomique, and have to once in a while live up to the quiet sophistication of haute cuisine. So we went to the Fancy Food Show with great expectations. These were quickly dashed as we realized the Fancy Food emporium happened to be the convention floor of the Moscone center: it is as refined as plucking hair out of your nose. To make things worse, our plan to use a baby stroller as a wheelbarrow to haul out as much free samples as possible, was smashed up in a million little pieces as well: taking samples outside is verboten, and kids are not allowed, please move on to the day care and hand them the toddler and $10/hour.

With our hopes recalibrated to low, we made a quick dash --kiddie meter ticking-- through the stands. Olive oil, more olive oil, and chocolate, and more chocolate: those are the fancy foods of 2006. Who knew that Jelly Belly beans were fancy? The show is meant for producers to meet with distributors, so that for instance Safeway can choose which cake to bake (they come from Bonerts Slice of Pie in Santa Ana). We sampled the Mediterranean crisp at Olive Street Table which is located on orella street in Santa Barbara, go figure. We tried the pesto at Russo Italian Specialty, it was delicious, and the owner, Chi-Cha, was chi-charming. The scones at the San Francisco-based upstart Joanna's come in 12 flavors in a mix for you to bake home. Right now, you can only find them at the Cal Market on California, but hopefully, others picked it up at the show. We were thrown in a taste loop by the O cassis vinegar: not reading the fine prints on the bottle, we thought we were drinking some crème de cassis liquor. Yuck. But as a vinegar, O Olive Oil's (OOO in short? Oooooooh!) is quite okay.