Rocking spandex and battling butterflies, road cyclists by the hundreds will gather in Windsor on April 25 for the 17th edition of Levi’s GranFondo, featuring seven routes of varying difficulty.

Clustered at the front of the bunch—the pointy end of the peloton, in velo-speak—will be elite riders contesting the most daunting of those options, the mountainous, 138-mile sufferfest called “The Growler.” The men’s and women’s winners of that one-day road race will each collect a cool $25,000, courtesy of presenting sponsor Skipstone Winery, and a unique trophy created by a local artist who is also passionate about bicycles, although not in a Lycra-clad, leg-shaving kind of way.

You may not know Klaus Rappensperger’s name, but you’ve almost certainly seen some of his metal work, ubiquitous across the county, including the stainless steel logo with cedar background fronting the MacRostie Winery in Healdsburg, and the plump Northern cardinal atop a corked bottle outside Bird & The Bottle in Santa Rosa.

Those signs are a small fraction of his output, which ranges from sacred geometry tiles and candle pedestals to bath cabinets, sculptural metal sunshades, staircases, and conical flues for gas fireplaces.

Before he evolved into a full-time artist, steel fabricator, and designer specializing in custom-made pieces, Rappensperger went through a “clunker” bicycle phase. A founding member of the now defunct Whiskeydrunk Cycles, a Santa Rosa-based group of bike aficionados, he earned local renown for his prowess at refurbishing vintage two-wheelers.

“I’ve had hundreds of frames,” says Rappensperger, who expressed a preference for pre-World War II Schwinns while guiding a visitor on a tour of his industrial studio, Schnitzkraft Metal Artistry, on Guerneville Road where Santa Rosa’s landscape transitions from urban to rural.

Outside the studio, the tour takes him past a pair of slanted concrete ramps. Art installations, perhaps?

“That’s my skatepark,” explains Rappensperger, who turns 50 in November but still drops in on those ramps, especially on Mondays. “A lot of my buddies are skaters, so we come out Monday night. It’s evolved into a kind of men’s club.”

A certain brand of derring-do—fun, sometimes borderline-dangerous wheeled adventures shared with friends—runs like a leitmotif through Rappensperger’s life. Around 2011, he and other Whiskeydrunk members built the Whiskey-Drome, a steeply banked, 26-foot-wide wooden exhibition track, composed of 215 slats and inspired by early 20th-century photos of a similar contrivance, reminiscent of an oversized barrel. “Centrifugal force keeps you on the side of the wall,” he says.

A popular exhibit at public events, the drome made an appearance at an early Levi’s GranFondo, recalls Carlos Perez, the founder of Bike Monkey, which produces the annual cyclosportive. Long an admirer of Rappensperger’s work, Perez commissioned him in 2024 to make the trophies for the event. He was tapped to create this year’s awards, as well—though at press time the concept and design of those trophies had yet to make their way from his brain to his workbench.

Rappensperger made last year’s trophy from a burl—a gnarled growth from a redwood tree along the Growler course in Cazadero. Using computer-aided design (CAD), he superimposed the profile of the Growler’s highest climb onto the swirling grain of the burl, and with inlaid brass, turned the trophy into a representation of that ascent. Perez gravitates towards Rappensperger’s work, he says, because of the passion the artist pours into his pieces and how he gets “immersed in the little details.”

A career as an artist and metal fabricator is a singular niche, one that was influenced early on by Rappensperger’s father, also named Klaus, who owned a repair shop for high-end German cars. As a boy, Klaus the younger spent much time in the shop, “doing brake jobs from an early age.” His mechanical bent would manifest whenever he got a new bike. “The first thing I would do was go out to the garage, take it apart, and put it back together,” he recalls.

But Rappensperger gives the most credit for his creative success to his mother, Rebecca, whom he says gave him “the tools and space to be an artist and maker” and the encouragement “to think outside the box.”

He admits it took him a few years after his 1994 graduation from Montgomery High School to find his way, noting he was governed at times by “some rebellious blood.”

He worked early on as a carpenter and framer, then “fell into” land surveying for several years. Ready for something new, Rappensperger enrolled in an AutoCAD class at the College of the Redwoods. During this deep dive into 3D computer-aided design (which also found him devouring a yellow copy of “AutoCAD for Dummies”), he purchased his first welder.

“So I’m welding in my garage, I’m doing AutoCAD, and that kind of just morphed into what I do now,” he says.

On this particular day at the shop, a co-worker named Jason was busy finishing a six-foot gate Rappensperger had designed for a client.

While that gate looked finished to a layperson, Rappensberger explained it still awaited brass details and an aluminum insert with routed grooves to achieve a wainscoting effect.

This is where Rappensperger’s singular alchemy takes place. Whether he’s welding or simulating wainscoting or adding a satin patina to a fireplace panel—it looks, when finished, like molten gold—his work often crosses the line from metal fabrication to straight-up artistry.

After moving back to Santa Rosa in 2005, Rappensperger found an outlet for his creativity—and, eventually, a life partner—at a delightfully offbeat annual event called the Great Handcar Regatta.

One day each summer, from 2008 through 2011, Railroad Square was overtaken by revelers in antique costume—steampunk, it was called—cheering and racing fantastical, Seussical machines along the then-unused train tracks.

Rappensperger and the Whiskeydrunk crew hurled themselves into creating “art cars” for the regatta. They would then bring them to the after-school program at Chop’s Teen Club where Robin Stephani, a local architect and fellow regatta racer, was teaching a class on how to build and design a handcar for that quirky event.

Stephani, a former college soccer player who knew Rappensperger from pickup games in Santa Rosa, was struck by his generosity of spirit and creative energy. “I talked him into teaching a welding class, and it really put Chop’s on the map in terms of the summer artists program.”

Watching teens who didn’t consider themselves especially creative at the start of the program develop “and start thinking of themselves as artists,” recalls Stephani, “was such a cool thing. It was amazing.”

To help pay for students’ welding materials, Rappensperger and his Whiskeydrunk associates would throw “epic” bike-themed art shows on the top of parking garages in downtown Santa Rosa. Among the most popular was a mustache competition called “’Staches and Spokes.”

It was during this heady epoch of handcars and steampunk and ’staches that the two became a couple and eventually married. Despite his love of bikes, her husband has never taken the start at a Levi’s GranFondo.

“He’s a huge cyclist advocate,” says Stephani, “but less on the sporty side, more on the whimsical side.”

The post Santa Rosa Industrial Artist Welds Winning Designs appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

When it comes to buying and gifting locally, Willow Peterson is a bona fide expert.

The Sebastopol flower farmer and real estate agent purchased Made Local Marketplace in 2020 to prevent it from closing its doors for good in downtown Santa Rosa. After moving to Montgomery Village later that year, she’s continued to grow and refine the shop that features local artisans and makers and is beloved by shoppers for offering an alternative to mass-produced goods.

A Made Local outpost opened last year in Novato, and in February, the Santa Rosa store relocated within Montgomery Village. Peterson sees the move as an opportunity for growth and plans to add a small section of wine and beer from boutique producers.

424 Farmers Lane, Santa Rosa. 707-583-7667, madelocalmarketplace.com

A believer in using products that are sold at Made Local Marketplace, Peterson keeps chili crisps from Hei Ma (formerly Big Spoon Sauce Co.) in her cupboard at all times. “I make a savory oatmeal in the morning and I use the Kraken Sauce,” she says describing the mild, seaweed-based chili crisp, one of the seasonal specials from Hei Ma’s founder, Lani Chan. “It’s got a fried egg on top and Sriracha sauce and the seaweedy crispiness. It’s amazing. It’s the weirdest breakfast, but it’s so nourishing.” heimamade.co

Peterson has two big dogs — Akbash mixes — including one, named Zeke, who weighs in at 150 pounds. And big dogs need big treats, which is why she heads to Panizzera Meat Co. for their super-sized snacks. “They have bones that are cheap, but very good quality,” she says. “I give my big guy big beef bones so that he doesn’t destroy the house.” 3905 Main St., Occidental. 707-874-9770, panizzerameatco.com

As a busy working mom, finding time to work out can be a challenge. After dropping her daughter off at school, Peterson sometimes heads to Helen Putnam Regional Park to squeeze in a micro-hike on the Panorama Steps. “It’s this long set of stairs that goes to the top of the hill and has this amazing view,” she says of the 123-step climb nicknamed The Stairway to Helen, which she climbs twice. “Then I get back to the car in 20 minutes, huffing and puffing a little bit.” 411 Chileno Valley Road, Petaluma. parks.sonomacounty.ca.gov

Living in Sebastopol, Peterson and her family are all about apples and grow their own. In April, the Apple Blossom Parade and Festival is a long-standing family tradition. “We love to watch the parade. It feels like the unofficial start of spring.” When harvest rolls around a few months later, they take apples from their trees to Slow Food’s community apple press to make cider. Apple Blossom Parade & Festival is April 25-26. appleblossomfest.com; for community apple press, see slowfoodrr.org.

The post Made Local Marketplace Owner Shares Favorite Things in Sonoma County appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Healdsburg’s Dutch Door Donuts (109A Plaza St.) has announced it will close on April 26.

“This is not a goodbye we saw coming. Circumstances beyond our control made it impossible to continue our chapter here, and we are deeply grateful for every single guest who walked through our Dutch Door and tasted our handcrafted, made-to-order donuts,” the social media announcement read.

Dutch Door Donuts was founded in 2021 by a group of friends living in Carmel and co-owners Jill Schlenker and Victoria Bunch partnered with Kirstin Ducommun to expand the business to Healdsburg, opening in September 2025. The original location will not close.

Campanella in Sebastopol (7365 Healdsburg Ave.) will serve its last meal on April 30.

“This restaurant was the realization of a 20-year dream, and bringing it to life has meant more to us than we can fully put into words,” said a social media post announcing the closure.

The Italian-American menu was inspired by owner Tom Rutledge’s memories of his East Coast grandmothers.

The post Dutch Door Donuts, Campanella Closing in Sonoma County This Month appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Santa Rosa is about to get a whole lot spicier.

Sonoma Spice Queen Wind McAlister has announced a second location for her hand-crafted spices, teas and rubs at 404 Mendocino Ave. downtown. And she’s well aware the space’s former tenant was the decidedly spicy Kozy Kar nightclub.

After renovations (and, perhaps, a thorough smudging), she’s aiming for a mid-June opening.

McAlister had been scouting Healdsburg and Sonoma when the Santa Rosa storefront became available. With the city losing both Savory Spice and Penzeys in recent years, she saw an opening for her small-batch blends.

“I figured it was just meant to be,” she said.

McAlister has been grinding whole spices and herbs by hand for more than 13 years and was among the first in Sonoma County to secure a Cottage Food Operator Permit in 2013, allowing nonperishable foods to be produced in a home kitchen. She now works out of a commercial kitchen.

Today, she offers more than 50 single spices — including saffron, paprika and cinnamon — along with dozens of housemade blends and rubs, each ground, mixed, packaged and labeled by hand.

Her bestseller is also the most labor-intensive: vadouvan French curry, a layered blend of nearly a dozen ingredients, including turmeric, ginger, coriander, garlic and curry leaves. Other global mixes include Middle Eastern za’atar, Ethiopian berbere and Lebanese sabah baharat, all available at her Petaluma shop, 9 Fourth St.

“We make everything ourselves, and we’re known for spice blends that are truly authentic,” she said. “It’s not mass-produced somewhere in the Midwest.”

sonomaspicequeen.com

The post Sonoma Spice Queen Will Open a Santa Rosa Store appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Social media has always been a mixed bag for restaurateurs.

Anonymous reviews from questionable “critics” can sink a restaurant overnight, but a few well-placed raves can just as quickly pack a dining room. At Rohnert Park’s Pressed, owner Maen “Eric” Alkfof swears the glowing buzz around his smashburger cafe isn’t the result of a calculated marketing campaign, but of Sonoma County’s food-obsessed social media crowd.

For more than a year, members of the Sonoma County Foodies Facebook group, along with Reddit fans and Instagrammers, have gushed over the $9 smashburgers at this suburban strip mall spot.

“I have never ever ever ever ever had such a good burger. Ever. Seriously,” read one Facebook post, followed by “It lived up to the hype” and “Very generous portions. Very delicious burgers.”

Still, social media can only take you so far. The proof is in the patty.

Pressed sat on my to-do list for months, slipping further down until a text from a friend bumped it back to the top.

“If you want a story about a good, cheap burger, Pressed in Rohnert Park,” he wrote. “I go all the time.”

The words “good, cheap burger” are a dog whistle to a food writer. Immediately my ears perk up and I’m on the hunt.

Simple but satisfying

Like any hidden gem, you sometimes have to look for the sparkle behind vinyl signs and a neighboring liquor store. Pressed isn’t about expensive decor or vibey touches.

Inside, the former Pepper’s Cafe has a restaurant-supply-catalog feel — vinyl booths, laminate tabletops and bright lighting that leans more “efficient” than intentional. A muted “Friends” on loop above the register offers a welcome distraction from doomscrolling or a slow date. From the open kitchen, the fryer occasionally burbles to life as tater tots hit the oil, while pickup orders move out at a brisk clip. It could be any strip mall cafe, anywhere.

What sets Pressed apart from the county’s many neighborhood burger spots are the little touches.

Alkfof makes every sauce in-house. His smash patties are thin with crisp, lacy edges; the buns are soft and squishy; the loaded fries are piled high. Milkshakes are rich and creamy, produce is fresh, and the servers are friendly.

Pressed is solid across the board, with every item I tried well-crafted and satisfying. It’s not trying to be a Michelin-starred restaurant or a once-in-a-lifetime meal, just good food at a good price.

On the side

Alkfof’s busser-to-boss experience is a significant part of the Pressed story. The Jordanian immigrant arrived in 2007 speaking no English and needing work. A cousin in the restaurant business hired him as a dishwasher, and from there he learned the language and mastered the American diner menu. In 2016, he bought his first restaurant, Pepper’s Cafe, a much-loved breakfast and brunch spot. After COVID-19, business slumped. In 2024, he reimagined the space as Pressed, reopening a few months later as a burger and sandwich shop.

Alkfof got the timing right — smashburgers are having a moment, and Pressed struck while the griddle was hot. But trends are fickle. It’s the burgers that bring locals back, along with family-friendly prices that make Pressed an easy after-work dinner, while Rancho Cotate High School and Sonoma State students keep things busy during the day.

Pressed isn’t trying to be a Michelin-starred restaurant or a once-in-a-lifetime meal, just good food at a good price — and sometimes that’s the kind of advertising you can’t buy.

Best bets

The Classic ($7 single/$9 double): I love a deal, especially when you can get fries and a cheeseburger for roughly what you’d pay at In-N-Out ($6.80) or McDonald’s ($8.58). Price-wise, the single is hard to beat, but the double has the better meat-to-bun ratio, with two patties, cheese, pickles, onions and housemade Pressed sauce (a sort of Thousand Island-meets-ranch situation). Keep in mind, this is a smashburger, so the patty is thin, well-done and nicely crisped.

The Original ($12): A half-pound burger with some heft. Cooked to order (I’d recommend medium) with grilled onion, American cheese, lettuce, tomato and sauce.

Reuben ($14): The zippy horseradish aioli is what sets this classic sandwich apart. Made with corned beef, sauerkraut and Swiss on toasted rye. Ask for a side of Pressed sauce for extra sauciness.

French Dip ($14): Skip the tri-tip and substitute in thinner “Philly steak” for a more authentic version. Griddled with red and green peppers and onions on a toasted French roll. The au jus is perfectly salty and dunk-worthy.

Loaded fries, The Classic ($9): Tots (rather than fries) are the best move here, keeping their crispiness while topped with ground beef, melted American cheese, pickles, grilled onions and Pressed sauce. Heat up the leftovers in the air fryer for a late-night snack. Bacon and cheese loaded fries with creamy cheddar sauce are also an excellent choice.

Chocolate and vanilla milkshakes ($6): Happy-making, if not life-altering.

Chicken Ranch ($14): A satisfying sandwich, with a slim but flavorful piece of marinated chicken, thick slices of bacon, avocado, pepper jack cheese and housemade ranch on a ciabatta bun.

If you go

Weekday specials include a chili burger (Tuesday) and Shaka Burger with pineapple bacon jam on Friday. Vegetarian Beyond Burgers are available, gluten-free buns are not currently available, but burgers can be wrapped with lettuce. Beer and wine available. Open 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday; 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

1451 Southwest Blvd., Suite 123, Rohnert Park, 707-992-0067, facebook.com/pressedburger

The post The $9 Smashburgers at Pressed Are Driving Social Media Buzz in Sonoma County appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

A newly built home in Rio Nido brings modern design and sought-after amenities to the Russian River redwoods. The three-bedroom, three-bathroom home is listed for $1,650,000.

The dwelling’s 2,557 square feet of living space extends over three levels. The main level has a great room with a kitchen and dining, lounging and office areas. Plentiful windows and folding glass doors open to views and a substantial patio. 

The top level enjoys tree-top views in the main bedroom, an en suite bathroom, and flexible work and lounging areas. The bottom level includes an apartment with its own entrance. 

The open staircase with windows and skylights connects the levels and provides a well of light and views that emphasize the home’s height alongside the towering trees. 

For more information on this property at 14685 Willow Road in Guerneville, contact listing agent David R. Millar, 707-217-1786; Keller Williams Realty, 707-708-8157. zillow.com/homedetails/14685-Willow-Rd-Guerneville-CA-95446/15810098_zpid

The post Modern Rio Nido Home Among the Redwoods Hits the Market appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

At first glance, it hardly looks like the beginning of a sea-urchin foraging expedition: a circle of 40 people on the grass pretending to be kelp, feet rooted to the ocean floor, swaying from the knees up in the current, arms elastic like stalks, heads bobbing. It could be a flash mob reviving the ’60s dance sensation “The Swim.”

“Wave your kelpy arms all around as your back warms up and your arms warm up,” says teacher Ryn Sullivan, who, along with colleague Ricardo Romero Gianoli, leads curious landlubbers into the ocean for Fork in the Path, a Berkeley-based company that curates wild-food foraging adventures throughout the Bay Area.

It’s a late Thursday afternoon alongside the Fort Ross State Historic Park parking lot, not far from a sheltered cove where briny treasure awaits at low tide. “Now we are sea urchins,” Sullivan beckons, encouraging everyone to squat down on the sea floor of grass.

Earlier, a puzzled park ranger stopped by to take in the scene. “You guys have a pretty big group—what’s going on?” he asked a would-be forager.

They’ve come from miles around—some as far as Connecticut and Los Angeles, others as close as Occidental and Sebastopol—a ragtag band of foragers all in search of the notorious purple sea urchin. Martin Wobig drove over an hour from Santa Rosa to learn to harvest a creature he’s never actually tasted, although he’s seen uni on the menu many times at sushi restaurants. “I’m curious to see what they taste like. I mean, they’re gonads, so that’s the initial thought,” he says, grimacing slightly. “But they’re supposed to be a delicacy.”

There’s something about the spiny, round marine invertebrate that draws people in. Maybe it’s the forbidding exterior or the salty sweet interior that is the roe. Or maybe it’s the hard-to-fathom stories of how this seemingly innocuous little creature is directly responsible for the destruction of more than 95% of the kelp forest along the North Coast. It turns out climate change and the centuries-long mass hunting of sea otters have left the hungry sea urchins without any natural predators. To convey the impact, Sullivan asks people to imagine a similar outcome on land. “What if the redwood forests just disappeared overnight? That’s kind of what happened with the kelp forest. But people can’t see beneath the water, so we’re trying to give them that same kind of scale and understanding.”

The marching orders are clear as Sullivan, who uses gender neutral pronouns, tells everyone, “We can take 35 sea urchins per person today. All together in our 40-person class, that is 1,400 urchins removed from this tidal ecosystem, which takes some pressure off the reef.” Their hope is that starving urchins off the coast, where the kelp once grew, will come in and fill the void, and the next round of foragers will remove them, creating a continuous cycle of population reduction.

On a mission, the harvesters—some decked out in expensive waterproof gear from head to toe, others in jeans and hiking boots—gather their bags and makeshift tools, and off they go, hiking down to a cove where a minus tide has exposed glistening tide pools rich with aquatic life.

Long before the Russians ran aground in this same inlet in the late 1700s, later building Fort Ross trading post in 1812, the Kashia Pomo harvested sea urchin and abalone here for as long as anyone can remember. Their nearby village of Metini moved every few years so they didn’t deplete natural resources in one area. At the time the Russians settled, Metini was a little to the east of the fort, closer to Highway 1.

“For Kashia, we are from the ocean,” says Anthony Macias, Cultural and Tribal Preservation Officer for the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians of the Stewarts Point Rancheria. “We have a lot of contact with the ocean. It’s been with us since the beginning, you know, since Creator made us.”

Most often, they ate sea urchin raw. Occasionally, they would dry it by curing the roe over a fire and saving it for a snack later. They also used urchin roe in fish traps made from willow branches.

But that all changed when the Russians arrived. Driven by greed and an endless demand for hats and coats, fur traders nearly wiped out the entire North Coast population of sea otters by the end of the 19th century. According to tribal lore, the Pomo tried to warn them about driving the sea otter to regional extinction. “To this day, everything we have said has come true,” says Macias.

As a boy he pulled abalone from the sea, many more than a foot long. “Now we can’t hunt our abalone because of what happened to the ocean—how it got depleted, how we lost the kelp forest, how we’re even losing seaweed.”

In 2015, when the Kashia Pomo regained nearly 700 acres of their ancestral land near Stewarts Point, it was the year after what many scientists call “a perfect storm” was set in motion. In 2014, an El Niño heat wave raised water temperatures around 10 degrees above average. Soon after, a lethal bacteria began infecting sea stars—especially the sunflower sea star, the only other major predator of sea urchins after the sea otter. The sea star wasting disease spread quickly, from Mexico to Alaska, destroying around 99% of the sunflower sea star population in Sonoma County. Left unchecked and without predators, purple sea urchin populations exploded, increasing to around 60 times their average number, voraciously devouring more than 95% of the bull kelp forest along the Northern California coast.

Over the past decade, myriad volunteer groups have taken to the ocean to try to curtail the rampant spread of urchins. Sullivan, the Fork in the Path guide, volunteers with the Purple Urchin Removal Project (PURP), free diving to collect and remove urchins in Stillwater Cove, 4 miles north of Fort Ross. And Gianoli is a member of the Caspar Cove Project, a team of divers who have an emergency permit to destroy purple sea urchins in designated waters off the Mendocino coast.

“Diving underwater, all you see is just this barren landscape like Mars or like a deforested plain,” says Maya Munstermann, a marine ecologist working toward her Ph.D. while studying purple sea urchins and kelp forest restoration at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory. “It’s weird because there’s no shade. The bull kelp provided all the shade. Now, under this wide-open bright light, you see urchins all over the ground, all these purple spines and nothing else.”

Urchins typically gnaw away at the kelp’s base, the holdfast that roots its long trunk or stipe (often 100-150 feet long) to the seafloor. Once detached, kelp plants drift away to die, leaving vast urchin barrens covered with starving “zombie urchins,” barely sustained by algae and seaborne nutrients. Without much food, their roe shrivels up—to the point where unlucky harvesters crack open the shell to find hardly any food inside.

But Munstermann is working with fellow marine ecologist Dr. Dan Swezey on an “urchin ranching” project that will hopefully create a rich uni pipeline for restaurants and provide jobs for the Kashia Pomo, a non-gaming tribe. Last year, as part of a grant to restore the kelp forest, the tribe teamed up with commercial divers and several marine science organizations to remove tons of sea urchins off the coast near Shell Beach in The Sea Ranch. A team of Pomo divers is currently in training. For now, they’re turning the high-calcium urchin remains into compost for farmers. But, by next year, they hope to have an aquaculture facility in place to farm both urchins and abalone—a shellfish of great cultural and spiritual importance to the Pomo. Eventually, the goal is for tribal divers to collect tons of empty, starving urchins from kelp forest restoration sites, fatten them up in about two months with a special diet (including kale, carrots, and cabbage), then sell them to local chefs.

“The big vision is for it to support the ocean restoration and to also be that critical piece that’s missing, which is traditional food,” says Swezey, director of oceans and aquaculture for the Kashia Pomo. “This is something that is valuable to the people. If we’re going to be removing tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of urchins year after year to restore kelp forest, the tribe feels a lot better about making use of that resource for food rather than just compost.”

Back in the Fort Ross tide pools, the class of newbie urchin wranglers are trying to do their small part in the restoration process, hoping to reach their limit in the last hour of daylight. Sullivan’s advice to “sneak attack” the urchins and come at them from the side, seems to be working. “You want to twist,” they tell everyone. “You don’t want to pull it off. You want to push to the side. Straight off is how they’ll suction themselves back to the rock.”

Adam De La Montanya, of Healdsburg, makes the most of a stainless steel frosting spatula to pry urchins off the rocks. “I snagged it without my wife knowing,” he says, later explaining how one of his daughters wrote a long letter to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife encouraging them to focus more on reintroducing sea otters along the North Coast.

Nearby, Serena Ingre is using a three-pronged garden rake to claw urchins from the rocks. She drove up from Berkeley with her husband, Sean Gibson, who has memories of melt-in-your-mouth uni in Tokyo sushi bars. But after tasting one mid-harvest, he declares, “It’s best fresh out of the ocean.”

How would he describe it for the uninitiated?

“Silky, a little buttery, but also salty at the same time.”

But Kenny Guay from San Francisco isn’t so sure. “It’s not as strong as I thought it would be coming right out of the ocean,” he says, after cracking open an urchin.

His girlfriend, Jen Goza, seems unfazed. This day has been on her bucket list for years. “Honestly, I started eating more purple sea urchins because of the overpopulation,” she says. Goza is hoping to raise awareness by sharing tales of her adventure. “I’m telling everyone, ‘Look what I did. It’s fresh from the California coast.’ This is a way to be more mindful of our surrounding habitat and how we as humans can try to help.”

It’s the same philosophy that inspired the Mendocino County Purple Urchin Festival. A conscious effort to rebalance the coastal ecosystem is also behind everything from branded Urchinite marbled table- and countertops made from crushed sea urchins to fabric workshops, titled “Help the Kelp: Create Natural Dye with Sea Urchins,” led by artist Margaret Seelie.

Also trying to do their part, local chefs up and down the North Coast often forage for purple sea urchin to bring back to the kitchen, or specifically order purple instead of red urchins from their seafood distributors. Traditionally, the prized uni at sushi restaurants—which can fetch more than $200 for an extravagant uni rice bowl at fish markets in Japan—comes from the red sea urchin, not the purple. But there’s been a push over the past decade to get the purple urchin on local menus. Part of the trick is finding chefs willing to tell the story and come up with creative ways to encourage their guests to try it.

At The Sea Ranch Lodge, not far from Shell Beach where the Kashia Pomo are hauling out urchins by the ton, executive chef Ryan Seal makes a popular uni carbonara with purple sea urchin foam, pancetta, and squid ink pasta sprinkled with katsuobushi (skipjack tuna flakes). The kitchen goes through nearly a pound of uni roe—around 60-80 urchins—every night it’s on the menu.

“We’re not using it because it’s weird. We’re using it because we should and need to, to keep the other sea life around us growing and happy,” says Seal, who foraged for purple urchin when he was cooking at the now-closed Sacred Rock Inn in Elk. A mile down the coast, chef Matthew Kammerer has been known to pluck urchin from local waters for his two-Michelin-starred Harbor House Inn, making tempura-fried maitake mushrooms and fried crispy mustard leaves topped with purple sea urchin roe.

But Seal might win the prize for most creative and unlikely urchin dish: Behold “the Banuni”—a surprise starter with roasted banana sorbet, conjuring notes of caramel, but also slightly savory, similar to a plantain, topped off with what he describes as “the fresh ocean taste” of uni.

At a recent conference in San Francisco, Swezey talked with seafood industry experts about challenges they face marketing purple urchin to new customers. “Many people think it tastes sweeter,” he says. “But the market sort of wants this mango, yellow-orange color and purple urchin roe sometimes looks like that, depending on what they’re eating, but it also looks a little bit different sometimes.”

Purple urchin can display more of a light yellow, he says, and sometimes less desirable “gray twinges” depending on diet. Red urchin are also more meaty and larger in size on average, and hold their shape a little better.

“If we can kind of get over this size thing—like maybe you could combine a couple gonads from a purple urchin and make a bigger piece that is as appealing—the flavor is there,” Swezey says.

When David Hopps, chef and owner of Izakaya Gama in Point Arena, gets a batch of purples with less than perfect roe, he often uses the uni as a thickening agent in pasta sauce, blitzing it down with cream and shallots and serving it over thicker noodles sprinkled with chives.

When he’s not serving it raw as sashimi, Hopps likes to wrap it in a shiso leaf, fry it in tempura batter, and serve it with a dipping sauce. But his favorite uni dish might be layered on top of chawanmushi, a savory egg custard. “It’s the counterbalance of the sweet umami to a really savory umami of the egg custard itself,” says Hopps, who tries to keep purple urchin on the menu about half the year.

The problem with foraging, he says, is the often unpredictable yield. “I’ve had great days where you go out and get like 50 sea urchin and you crack them and they’re all perfect,” says Hopps. On other days he says he can crack 100 and get less than what he could purchase from a seafood purveyor with much smaller investment of time. Occasionally, he wanders down to the Point Arena pier when a dive boat is offloading excess urchins and they’re giving them away.

“When you do get great purple sea urchin, I think it’s just as good, if not better, than the red sea urchin. It’s sweeter,” says Hopps, who often fields questions from tourists curious about the latest news on purple urchin and the local ecosystem.

As night falls on the cove near Fort Ross, the class gathers on the beach beneath the spotlight glow of headlamps to learn how to clean their urchins. Gianoli teaches them to use small scissors to remove the hard five-toothed mouth on the bottom, known as Aristotle’s Lantern, to gain access to precious urchin innards. Then he demonstrates how to run a finger along the inside lip of the shell to dislodge any other teeth gripping the uni flesh. After making a smaller, circular cut around the opening of the shell, and a little more finger prying, he dunks it in a small bath of seawater, then shakes the uni into his hand—something that’s easier said than done.

Under a beach tent, the instructors fire up a hearty miso soup over a gas burner, chopping green onions to sprinkle on top. They offer handrolls of seaweed and rice so guests can top it with fresh uni, and Sullivan explains how to make uni butter at home.

Amid sounds of cracking and grunting, people try their best to wrestle open the brittle shells and unearth the gooey prize. Finally, the moment of truth—the first slurp everyone has been working toward. But not everyone agrees on the taste.

“It’s interesting, but I’m not sure I would go, ‘Wow!’” says Martin Wobig, a first-time harvester and taster from Santa Rosa. He compares it to a soft cheese, more sweet than salty.

A few feet away, Max Aukes is celebrating his 6th birthday with his family. After straining to “take out the mouthpiece” and open the shell, how would he sum up the taste?

“Slimy, yet satisfying,” he says with a big grin.

Another way to size it up: “It’s salty, ocean-flavored butter,” says Keeley Waite, who drove up from Sausalito for the day. “But if you don’t like oysters, you’re not gonna like this.”

No matter what they think about the taste, everyone in the class can agree on one thing: The cautionary tale of the sea urchin, the sea star, and the kelp forest is impossible to ignore. It makes you want to join in and lend a hand, even if it’s just pulling three dozen sea urchins from the millions of spiny invertebrates blanketing the ocean floor.

“It’s nice to engage in a way that doesn’t feel extractive,” says Vanessa Wilbourn. The singer and bass player in the popular folk-rock trio Rainbow Girls is back for her second time, bringing along a friend visiting from Connecticut. “I feel like we’re actually working to bring some measure of balance, or at least that’s what I hope is happening.”

The post Bay Area Locals Are Helping To Save the Coast From Purple Sea Urchins appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Tired of the ritualized sip and swirl? In Sonoma County and Napa Valley, wineries and tasting rooms are rethinking the formula.

As wine consumption evolves, so, too, does the experience around it. Increasingly, vintners are inviting guests to loosen the rules — to treat wine not as something to decode, but something to enjoy alongside whatever happens to be on the plate. The old pairings — Cabernet with steak, Pinot Noir with duck — are giving way to a more playful sensibility. Across Wine Country, tastings now feature unexpected companions: shortbread and s’mores, beignets and elaborate brunch boards.

Here are a few favorites.

Sonoma County

Cookies and Cabernet at Alexander Valley Vineyards

What started as a holiday treat at Alexander Valley Vineyards has turned into a year-round favorite. Each tasting flight arrives with five housemade shortbread cookies, thoughtfully paired with different wines from the estate.

The pairings range from classic to delightfully unexpected: think vanilla bean and sassafras shortbread with Chardonnay, or fig-pistachio with Cabernet Sauvignon. Culinary director Tim Gleadall crafts each cookie in-house, often reaching into the estate gardens for inspiration.

For those skipping alcohol, the kitchen offers a parallel experience of nonalcoholic shrubs — including fig, ginger-hibiscus and sorghum — designed with the same attention to pairing.

$30 per person. Reservations are required and can be made on Tock.

8644 Highway 128, Healdsburg, 707-433-7209, avvwine.com

Weekend Brunch Boards at Anaba Wines

At Anaba Wines, weekends are made for lingering. Guests can add a seasonal brunch board to their tasting — fried chicken and waffles, just-picked strawberries from the Watmaugh stand next door, and Carmody cheese from Bellwether Farms in Petaluma all make an appearance.

The boards change with the seasons, giving you a reason to return. The staff offers pairing suggestions for each pour, making the experience feel more like a leisurely meal than a formal tasting.

Tastings range from $45–$65; brunch boards are $48. Reservations are recommended and can be made on Tock.

62 Bonneau Road, Sonoma, 707-996-4188, anabawines.com

Bubbles and Beignets at J Vineyards & Winery

On select summer days, Sonoma Wine Country gets a taste of The Big Easy. Fresh, pillowy beignets dusted in powdered sugar are served alongside pours from J Vineyards’ sparkling library, with live music setting the mood.

Scheduled for May 17 and July 5. $60 per person. Reservations are recommended and can be made on Tock.

11447 Old Redwood Highway, Healdsburg, 707-431-5430, jwine.com

Napa Valley

Savory S’mores at V. Sattui Winery

At V. Sattui, the campfire staple is reimagined as a savory course. Marshmallows infused with flavors like cherry-thyme or aged Gouda are toasted tableside and layered with housemade crackers and cured meats such as Italian mortadella and bresaola.

Chocolatier and pastry chef Katryana Zide keeps the pairings fresh, but the spirit is always the same: familiar treats, surprising flavors. The s’mores experience is part of the tasting flights at the newly revamped Mercato del Gusto.

$20, plus tasting. Reserve a tasting on CellarPass.

1111 White Lane (at Highway 29), St. Helena, 707-963-7774, vsattui.com

Farm to Brunch at Clif Family Winery & Farm

This multicourse tasting is a love letter to the region’s farms and fields, with ingredients sourced from the estate and neighboring producers.

It starts with Clif Family’s own buttermilk-cheddar biscuits, English muffins from The Model Bakery and Mt. Tam cheese from Cowgirl Creamery. From there, the menu unfolds into seasonal dishes such as charred asparagus with sauce gribiche and fresh herbs; hash browns topped with crème fraiche, caviar and vanilla-cinnamon bacon from Journeyman Meat Co.; and egg yolk ravioli with greens and ricotta in a rich bacon jus.

$125 per person; reservations required. Seatings are at 10 a.m. daily. Vegan pairing menu or mocktail flight available on request. Reserve a tasting on Tock.

1334 Vidovich Lane, St. Helena, 707-968-0625, cliffamily.com

Bacon & Wine Experience at Priest Ranch

If you believe everything is better with bacon, this wine tasting is for you. Four cuts of pork belly, each with its own seasoning, are matched with estate wines in a tasting that leans unabashedly rich. Recent iterations have included strawberry-rhubarb bacon with Merlot and ras el hanout — glazed pork with Zinfandel.

$85 per person. Reservations are required and can be made on Tock.

6490 Washington St., Yountville, 707-944-8200, priestranchwines.com

The post Weird and Wonderful Wine and Food Pairings in Sonoma and Napa appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

One of the year’s most anticipated movies is “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” but the sequel is already a blockbuster in the eyes of Healdsburg’s Gallery Lulo.

The gallery, which specializes in independent jewelry, art, and design, lent 150 pieces of jewelry for the fashion-forward film that reunites cast members Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Emily Blunt.

Gallery Lulo’s co-owner, Anne Kathrine (Katrina) Schjerbeck, has been following social media posts and movie trailers and, so far, has spotted at least 10 of the gallery’s accessories on cast members, including a pair of earrings custom-made for Blunt’s character and a gold chain ring worn by Hathaway’s character from Petaluma-based designer Siri Hansdotter.

Fans and fashionistas will want to save the May 1 movie release date to check out the one-of-a-kind statement pieces, which range in price from approximately $200-$2,400.

“We’ve held them back because we want the originals to be available when the movie comes out,” says Schjerbeck. The devil may wear Prada, but locals get first dibs at Gallery Lulo.

303 Center St., Healdsburg. 707-433-7533, gallerylulo.com

Screen stars

Gallery Lulo and True West Film Center have teamed up for a preview screening of The Devil Wears Prada II at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday, April 30. A ticket includes a small popcorn, bubbles and wine, and a commemorative True West Film Center wine glass. Guests can enjoy a cocktail party from 5:30-7 p.m. in the courtyard, where they can meet some of the artists whose designs are featured in the film and see the jewelry in person modeled by clients of Gallery Lulo. Tickets for the screening are $50 and can be purchased at truewestfilmcenter.org.

The post The Devil Wears Prada — And Jewelry From Gallery Lulo in Healdsburg appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

For years, the unassuming taqueria at Montgomery and Mission was a neighborhood fixture, perfectly wedged between Rincon and Bennett Valley and just steps from Howarth Park. Lepe’s was the go-to for post-hike takeout on a Wednesday night, beloved for its simplicity and affordability. Its closure in early 2026 left a real void for locals.

Restaurateurs Hayley Cutri and Efrain Balmes felt the loss as much as anyone. Balmes, a regular after long bike rides through the park, knew the corner well. When the space became available, they saw the chance to bring back a neighborhood gathering spot, this time with a casual menu of American and Mexican comfort food. After a quick spruce-up, Parkside Eats quietly opened its doors in early April. Locals wasted no time — news spread quickly and so did the appetites.

The vibe

By late Sunday morning, as breakfast blends into brunch, the dining room and bar fill with families and couples easing into the day.

The kitchen hums with activity: chilaquiles, huevos rancheros, birria, pancakes and tres leches French toast filled with cream. Sturdy Mexican clay mugs are filled with coffee, café de olla and Mexican hot chocolate, while the bar pours mimosas and tangy-sweet jamaica.

Colorful butterfly wallpaper brightens the room and an enclosed patio sits ready for sunny days ahead. The staff is friendly, if a little stretched in these early weeks, but it’s clear Parkside Eats is in experienced hands.

Lunch brings a quieter pace, with scrambled eggs making way for burgers and burritos. By dinner, the room fills again for heartier plates: pan-roasted rosemary chicken, wild sea bass in tomato broth, baby back ribs and a rib-eye with white truffle fries.

Door closed, window opened

Parkside Eats was meant to be a second act for Cutri and Balmes, who also ran Sonoma Eats in Agua Caliente. When rising rents shuttered that spot just as Parkside opened, it became an unexpected blessing. Loyal regulars followed them north and new faces quickly filled the seats. With a small but dedicated crew — including Cutri, Balmes and new chef-partner Gerardo Reyes — the restaurant’s reputation grew fast on social media.

Chef Reyes brings serious chops from his time at Michelin-starred Auro in Napa, and it shows. Birria hash arrives neatly pressed in a ring mold; jicama salad is layered with pepitas, little gem lettuce, Tajín vinaigrette and edible flowers. The food isn’t fussy, but there’s clear attention to ingredients, flavor and presentation.

Cutri and Balmes hope to eventually reopen Sonoma Eats, with its focus on Balmes’ Oaxacan recipes intact. In the meantime, a few favorites have made the trip to Santa Rosa.

Best bets

Roasted Brussels Sprouts, $14: These sprouts had a shaky debut, but they’ve found their groove. Tender inside, crisp outside, with a drizzle of Dijon honey and a kick of chorizo.

Ahi Tuna Poke Nachos, $24: Yes, it’s a splurge, but the quality of the tuna and the bright toppings — pickled onions, cucumber, avocado — make it worth the extra dollars. Presentation is spot on.

Jicama Salad, $16: Crisp jicama triangles, orange segments, cucumber, and pineapple are layered in a wreath and topped with leafy lettuce and a Tajín vinaigrette. It’s as refreshing as it looks.

Parkside Cheeseburger, $21: I don’t hand out burger praise lightly, but this one earns it. A half-pound of house-ground Angus, fresh produce, red onions, cheddar, garlic aioli, and a pillowy brioche bun. It’s a two-hander — save the fries for after.

Baja Fish Tacos, $14: Lepe’s fish tacos set the standard, and Parkside’s version rises to the challenge. Beer-battered fish with a sweet kick of chipotle aioli — worthy of the legacy.

Cauliflower Steak, $28: I veered off my usual path for this vegetarian plate. A thick, golden slice of cauliflower sits atop creamy garlic mashed potatoes, brightened with chimichurri and pickled onions. Worth every bite — garlic breath be damned.

Chilaquiles, $16: Huevos rancheros may be the crowd favorite, but the chilaquiles with their bright, tart verde sauce are the sleeper hit. Sautéed tortilla chips, black refried beans, eggs and avocado round out the plate.

Tres Leches French Toast, $16: Sweeter than abuela’s kisses. Croissant slices get a soak in tres leches batter, fried crisp, then filled with whipped cream and berries.

Birria Hash, $22: I’m somewhere between love and obsession with this one. Birria, potatoes, and red peppers are pressed into a tidy ring for a composed plate — not the saucy birria I usually crave, but delicious all the same. Fried goat cheese balls on the side are a bold move. It’s not what you expect, but sometimes that’s the point.

The price

Prices are on par with other casual spots in town, but this is no fast food joint. Starters and salads are $12 to $16, tacos (three per order) are $14, and burgers or sandwiches (with fries or salad) run $18 to $22. Larger plates range from $26 to $28, with the rib-eye at $42. Breakfast is $14 to $21, brunch $16 to $22. There are plenty of gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options. Taco Tuesday is an all-day affair: five tacos for $14, or two tacos and a draft beer for $10.

What to expect

Parkside Eats is already drawing crowds, so expect a wait on weekend mornings and Taco Tuesdays. Parking can be tight in the lot, but there are usually spots in back. Like any new spot, there are still a few kinks to work out. And just to clarify: Parkside Eats is not connected to Dierk’s Parkside Cafe on Santa Rosa Avenue.

Parkside Eats is located at 4323 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa. Instagram.com/meetme_parkside

The post Parkside Eats Brings American and Mexican Comfort Food To Former Santa Rosa Taqueria appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.