Global Cocktails and Small Plates Restaurant Coming to Healdsburg

Burdock, from the owners of Duke’s Spirited Cocktails, is opening in the former Brass Rabbit space.


We are so chomping at the bit for Burdock, a new food and cocktail spot about to open in Healdsburg. Headed by the Duke’s Spirited Cocktails team, the restaurant will featuring a tasty lineup of small plates from around the globe and 10 rotating specialty drinks.

The opening menu will focus on Cuba, with dishes like baked oysters with roasted Serrano ham, Gruyere and mustard butter; wild scallop crudo with passion fruit and black mint and Ropa Vieja, a flat sausage with beef short rib, Calabrian chili, plantains and orange, from Chef Sean Kelley (formerly of Underwood Bar & Bistro).

Expect Havana-inspired cocktails like Grita de Yara with pisco, bell pepper, mango, vermouth, saffron and lemon; a new-school Daiquiri with rum, key lime, bergamot and coconut tincture or a power-packed rum and gin drink with honeysuckle, chamomile, wildflower honey and lemon called the Canchachara.

“The team designed the menu as an evolving sensory journey, rotating each season to evoke a specific world region or time period which has influenced how we eat and drink today,” said the news release.

Duke’s Spirited Cocktails has become a popular local watering hole but attracts a well-heeled crowd from the Bay Area and beyond. It was founded by four friends and Sonoma County industry veterans Tara Heffernon, Laura Sanfilippo, Cappy Sorentino and Steven Maduro. The restaurant is slated to open in April, but check the website at burdockbar.com for latest details.  109A Plaza St., Healsdburg, @burdockhealdsburg

Boozy Cans: Duke’s Cappy Sorrentino recently launched a line of canned cocktails called Cappy Shakes. Trust us, they’re not like anything like those sickly sweet, headache-inducers you’ve had before. We tried the Cucumber Cooler made with vodka, cucumber, yuzu and seltzer that was crisp, light and refreshing with a gentle buzz (each can has two servings). Other flavors include Gin + Tonic with lemongrass, lemon, lime and tonic or Fool’s Paradise, a dangerously delicious-sounding sipper with tequila, clarified passion fruit, eucalyptus and blanc vermouth. Available at Wilibees, 700 Third St., Santa Rosa, 707-978-3779 or Duke’s Spirited Cocktails, 111 Plaza St., Healdsburg.