Specialties by Request

Cafe Provencal in Thousand Oaks will offer a series of Monday dinner specials beginning next week that will give regular diners a well-rounded sampling of the southern French cuisine that is the restaurant’s specialty.

The series will run at least through the end of April.

Bouillabaisse will be the featured dish the first Monday of the month (beginning in March), with couscous (French by way of Morocco) on the second Monday, a regional dish from the Provencal region of southern France on the third Monday, and either paella (French by way of Spain) or a special chef’s creation on the fourth Monday.

“Some guests have requested these, plus we have had them before and they have been successful,” said Florence Bonnet, who co-owns the restaurant with husband Serge. “Bouillabaisse and couscous you cannot find here very much. But every time somebody goes to Provence, they have bouillabaisse and they love it.”

Bonnet said each of the regional specials will represent teamwork between the Cafe Provencal chefs--Philippe Renggli and Michel Lerond--the owners, and the owners’ mothers.

Florence Bonnet’s mother, Janine Etrillard, a longtime resident of southern France who now lives in Thousand Oaks, will provide suggestions to help keep the food authentic. And Serge Bonnet’s mother, Yvette Richter, who resides in southern France, is sending traditional and modern recipes to her son and daughter-in-law.

“The regional dishes are going to be like our mothers would make,” Florence Bonnet said. “It’s really home cooking, really good.”

All of the Monday specials will include a choice of soup or salad. The bouillabaisse dinner will be priced at $24.95 with the others at $22.75.

Along with the Monday specials, Cafe Provencal next week also will kick off a special express lunch for diners in a rush. For $12.95, guests may order a dish of the day, soup or salad, dessert and coffee.

Cafe Provencal is at 2310 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd.

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It was little more than a year ago that Betsy Clapp and Lynn Merriam, owners of the Full of Beans coffeehouse in Ventura, introduced their Java Frost mocha and latte powders at a coffee trade show in Seattle.

Now the two are so busy taking orders for the product that they’re lucky to find time to make one for themselves.

“We’ve got people in most states ordering it,” Merriam said. “Once somebody tastes it, it pretty much sells itself.”

The Java Frost products are used in blended drinks. Clapp and Merriam manufacture the products in Los Angeles, then distribute them to coffeehouses across the country.

“We have two customers who are probably our biggest, who usually order 1,000 pounds at a time,” Merriam said. “One is in Aspen, Colo., and they’ve done an incredible winter business, and the other is in the Tucson area.”

Not ones to rest on their laurels for long, the coffee mavericks later this month are scheduled to introduce Java Frost at a coffee industry seminar in Calgary, their first venture into Canada. And they are about to launch several new products in the Java Frost line.

“We only started out with a semi-sweet mocha flavor and a latte flavor. Now we’re coming out with milk chocolate and a sugar free,” Merriam said. “The mixes we use now don’t have coffee included, but we’re going to be coming out with one that includes instant coffee.”

Meanwhile, Clapp and Merriam are keeping rather busy at the nearly 2-year-old Full of Beans. They plan to offer nonfat frozen yogurt and fresh carrot juice in the near future and will have a to-go window ready by summer.

Full of Beans is at 1124 S. Seaward Ave.

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The Golden China Restaurant in Ventura on Sunday will celebrate Chinese New Year (Year of the Ox) with a traditional Lion Dance and a Kung Fu Show courtesy of the Camarillo Mi-Tzung Lo-Han Kung-Fu Club.

“This is a cultural activity,” said Gary Cheng, owner of Golden China. “This is what I can do for the people here. This is what Chinese New Year is all about.”

Cheng has hosted a public new year celebration each year he has been in business in Ventura--for a decade near the beach on Seaward Avenue and last year at his current address at 760 S. Seaward Ave.

Golden China will serve from its regular menu for the evening. For reservations call 652-0688 or 652-1188.