With a legendary coastline stretching 840 miles, California has long been the sunny home for beachcombers and surfer dudes. But beaches don’t always lie on the coast, as Travel + Leisure reminds in a recent article listing nine of the best beach towns in California, where Guerneville ranked No. 3.

“The forested hamlet of Guerneville — a longtime haunt for hippies, artists, and the LGBTQ+ community — is located on the Russian River, a slow-moving waterway intermittently lined with beaches,” the Travel + Leisure article stated.

Guerneville’s varied storefronts reflect the layers of the region’s recent history, from timber town to hippie haven to gay-friendly retreat and upscale weekend getaway. Close to the beach and with a downtown full of great places to eat and drink, it is a perfect spot to relax and soak up the sun on hot days.

Where to play

Johnson’s Beach: The popular Russian River spot offers paddleboarding, picnicking, tubing, and swimming. The beach has a snack bar with refreshments and offers camping or vintage cabins. King’s Sport & Tackle (16258 Main St.) can help you get set up with water sports gear and offer advice. 16215 and 16217 First St., johnsonsbeach.com

Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve: Quiet trails lead through 800 acres of old-growth redwoods just a short distance from downtown. 17000 Armstrong Woods Road, 707-869-2015, parks.ca.gov

Where to eat

Piknik Town Market: Though Big Bottom Market was sold and reopened in 2023 as Piknik Town Market, new owner Margaret van der Veen assured fans that the Market’s world-famous biscuits are still baked daily. The spot also offers salads, sandwiches, gourmet groceries and picnic provisions, including to-go picnic boxes. 16228 Main St., 707-604-7295, pikniktownmarket.com

Boon Eat + Drink: Chef Crista Luedtke of Food Network fame lives in Guerneville and her restaurant anchors the downtown strip. Boon is a classic California farm-to-table bistro, with locally sourced dishes such as beet salad with goat cheese, mac and cheese with Mycopia mushrooms, Niman Ranch burger on brioche and the fan-favorite polenta lasagna on a bed of rainbow chard. 16248 Main St., 707-869-0780, eatatboon.com

Guerneville Taco Truck: It may seem odd to claim that a Safeway parking lot is home to the best Mexican food in Guerneville, but most locals would agree. A mainstay for over three decades, the Guerneville Taco Truck offers the best tacos, tortas and burritos this side of the Russian River. 16405 Highway 116, 707-869-1821, guernevilletacotruck.com

Where to sip

Stumptown Brewery: The main draw here is an expansive deck overlooking the river, with kayakers and tubers floating by. Spend the afternoon there with a beer sampler or the seasonal Donkey Punch, a refreshing hoppy lager. 15045 River Road, 707-869-0705, stumptown.com

Rainbow Cattle Co.: “The Rainbow,” as locals call it, has been a Guerneville fixture since the late 1970s. The LGBTQ+ community gathering spot is one of only a few Sonoma County bars that remain open until early morning hours, closing at 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. 16220 Main St., 707-869-0206, queersteer.com

Korbel Champagne Cellars: As the only Champagne producer in the Bay Area since the late 1800s, Korbel has earned a reputation in the county for its old-world charm and first-class bubbles. The winery’s Champagne even made it to the table at former president Barack Obama’s inaugural luncheon, a Korbel tradition for presidential inaugurations dating back to the 1980s. Korbel offers free walking tours of its historic museum and cellars, which include a complimentary Champagne tasting. 13250 River Road, 707-824-7000, korbel.com

Where to stay

AutoCamp Sonoma: Guests stay in custom Airstream trailers or luxury tent cabins at this mid-century modern glamping destination. 14120 Old Cazadero Road, 855-942-0792, autocamp.com/location/sonoma

Dawn Ranch: This classic river resort reopened after a luxury revamp in 2023 and includes 86 lodging accommodations, a world-class restaurant and rejuvenating spa facilities. 16467 Highway 116, 707-869-0656, dawnranch.com

Maci Martell contributed to this article.

The post 10 Best Things to Do in Guerneville appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Iconic 20th-century thinkers Ray and Charles Eames never lived in Sonoma County. The couple, married for almost four decades, are most associated with Los Angeles, where they built their famous Case Study home and ran the Eames Office, which applied their unique way of looking at the world to everything from furniture to museum exhibitions to educational films. Their classic documentary “Powers of Ten,” created in the 1970s for IBM, is still shown in many high-school science classes, and the supremely comfortable Eames lounge chair and ottoman anchor living spaces all over the world.

For many design fans, this is well-trodden history. But the part of the story less widely known is the Eames family’s deep connection to Sonoma County. In the early 1990s, Charles’s daughter, Lucia, bought 27 acres in west Petaluma’s rural San Antonio Valley. Over a lifetime of visiting Charles and Ray at their place of work, Lucia had absorbed their creative principles and became an accomplished sculptor and designer.

After purchasing the ranch, Lucia Eames hired a family friend, Sea Ranch architect William Turnbull, to design a home. The board-and-batten cluster of farm buildings he created is classic Sonoma County, with an internal courtyard protected from the wind and views that frame the rolling hills of the San Antonio Valley. Lucia Eames, who passed away in 2014, left the care of the ranch to her daughter—Ray and Charles’s granddaughter—Llisa Demetrios, who raised her two children there.

Demetrios, a bronze sculptor and museum curator who chairs the board of the Petaluma Arts Center, is now reenvisioning her grandparents’ legacy with a new Sonoma-based nonprofit. The imaginatively named Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity, launched last year, aims to shed light on Charles and Ray Eames’s playful approach to design and offer fans new ways to connect with their work through an online journal and digital exhibitions. Hand in hand with that effort, the Petaluma property is undergoing a series of renovations to allow for better public access and position the ranch as a think tank for sustainable farming practices.

“This is a case study in a whole new way,” Demetrios says. “It’s the case study of applying my grandparents’ design thinking to the outdoor landscape. We want to create these moments of understanding, these moments of connection. And then from here, we want it to take an even broader view.”

On moving part of the Eames archives to Sonoma

“When Ray passed away in 1988, we knew that most of the two-dimensional archives from the Eames Office were going to the Library of Congress. But, as my mom liked to say, she walked back in after they’d picked up everything, and it looked like nothing had been taken. So we moved the rest to San Francisco.

Then, after the earthquake in 1989, my mother built this place. But what we have here today is still only about 5% of the collection. We’re still inventorying their work, 40 years later.”

A connection to the land

“What’s very special about this place is that this is agricultural land. And I don’t know if as many people know this about my grandparents’ work, but they always thought sustainably. They saved everything and discontinued materials like plastic and fiberglass when they learned they were bad for the environment. And I had a mom who wanted composting toilets, to gather water from the rooftops, solar panels. Today, we can do all that and more.”

The evolution of ideas

“My mom always called this place the ‘dry run.’ It was a place to try out ideas. What you see here is design both with a lowercase “d” and with a capital “D.” And what I mean by that is the process of how Ray and Charles got to the home runs. That was always my mom’s favorite part of the story, the iterative process: Showing how an idea evolved to make it successful and how Ray and Charles were always testing out ideas.”

Design for a lifetime

“My grandparents were known for making scale models—they wanted to work directly with the materials as early as possible. You couldn’t just sketch on a piece of paper, you had to be able to look at it and be hands-on. And they were always mending systems as opposed to replacing them. When they were asked to design airport seating, for example, they didn’t just talk to the person who was buying it, but also the person who would be maintaining it. And then in talking with the maintenance teams, they identified problems and made adjustments.”

Growing up Eames

“I thought everyone’s grandparents made three-screen slideshows for them, or movies like “Powers of Ten.” When I would visit them in Los Angeles, Ray would pick me up at the airport in her Jaguar and sweep me off to the office to spend time with her.”

Learning by asking questions

“One time we went out to dinner, and Charles asked me if I had liked the borscht. I was quite young, and I said I didn’t like it very much. And without missing a beat, Charles said, ‘How would you have done things differently?’ Which means, if you’re going to complain about something, you need to have a better option.

And we talked about what I could have done instead, and all the vegetables at the farmers market, and how maybe borscht was the chef’s favorite food. We had this whole conversation about it for the three blocks back to the office… We were learning just by being around them. And that’s why I say that as cool as they were as designers, they were even more cool as grandparents.”

The joy of discovery 

“What’s fun is watching the delight and surprise of someone realizing that Ray and Charles not only designed the ottoman that they’re familiar with, but that they also made short films or graphics or museum exhibits that they saw. I consider it an immersive experience when you come here. It’s always been exciting to me. I love watching people have an ‘aha’ moment—to look at how Ray and Charles solved problems and faced challenges, but also applying those ideas to today. This whole enterprise is about looking forward, not back.”

The future of the Eames Ranch

A three-year remodel will make buildings more accessible and launch a laboratory of sustainable farming, applying Ray and Charles Eames’s design principles to the outdoor landscape. When complete, the family hopes to offer short retreats for makers and craftspeople and to open the ranch’s design archives to small groups for educational visits.

“There’s such a rich history of design in Sonoma and west Marin, and I love thinking about how this place can usher in the next generation of makers and people who use the land,” says Sydnor Elkins, the architect overseeing the renovation. New solar and geothermal arrays will power the home, barns, and a new greenhouse. The farm’s cattle are already part of research into rotational pasture management using virtual geo-fences. And over a mile of creek running through the property is being restored as habitat for steelhead trout.

The new Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity, based in Petaluma, has robust online exhibits that illuminate the stories behind finds from the Eames archive. The institute also publishes Kazam! Magazine, a digital-only journal offering essays and interviews from a diverse group of design thinkers. eamesinstitute.org

The post Petaluma’s Eames Institute Offers New Ways to Explore Famous Design Duo’s Work appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

We asked the chefs and restaurateurs behind some of the best new restaurants in Sonoma County to share their favorite places to dine out. Here’s what they said. Click through the above gallery for some favorite dishes.

Nick Peyton

Owner Cyrus, Geyserville 

DATE NIGHT PICK

The Shuckery in Petaluma. It’s the complete package of ambience, food, and attitude, all cleverly created with a modest budget.

WITH OUT-OF-TOWN GUESTS

Diavola in Geyserville. It’s got such great food, even beyond the signature pizzas. I love the ambience created from nearly nothing— the charming clothes hanging on lines across the alley leading to their back patio.

THAT’S SO SONOMA

We are not a monoculture. It is the reason I love living here. There’s such range, from the regional Mexican food at Mitote Food Park, to Spud Point Crab Company in Bodega Bay, to Canevari’s Delicatessen in Santa Rosa.

FOOD TRUCK PICK

I lived in Philadelphia for a while, so sometimes I jones for a cheesesteak, and nobody does them like Streetside Asian Grill. It’s a half-pound of grilled steak, lots of onions and peppers, and melty white American cheese on an Amoroso soft Italian roll.

Jennifer McMurry

Chef Bloom Carneros, Sonoma

FOR A BIRTHDAY

The upscale Table Culture Provisions in Petaluma. I’m super excited about what chefowner Stéphane Saint Louis is doing to change the culinary scene in Sonoma County.

DATE NIGHT

Ramen Gaijin in Sebastopol is always delicious, and their vegan ramen with shiitake miso is one of my absolute favorites.

THAT’S SO SONOMA

Try grilled oysters at Handline in Sebastopol. It’s a great space, with a fun indoor-outdoor open flow.

CHEAP EATS

I love Kathmandu Cafe & Grill, in the old train station in downtown Sebastopol. They serve authentic, traditional Indian food.

Maud Jean-Baptiste

Chef-owner Maison Porcella, Windsor

WITH FAMILY

Marla Bakery. They keep this French girl well-fed with delicious croissants. We love and sell their bread, and our son Henri is always so happy with a chocolate brownie!

WITH OUT-OF-TOWN GUESTS

In Bodega Bay, Spud Point and Fisherman’s Cove are right next to each other. We love the chowder and fresh whole crabs. After, we get Rocky Road ice cream at Captain Davey’s coffee shop and head to the trails to look for whales.

FOR BREAKFAST

I have serious breakfast needs—no plain bagel with cream cheese for me. I get a jalapeño bagel with egg, bacon, and cheese, with Drew’s spicy mayo. Ta-da!

ON A BIRTHDAY

Willi’s Wine Bar! The staff are always smiling and remember my order. I love the duck confit and creamy polenta. Be sure to treat yourself to the delicious butterscotch crème brûlée.

Michael Richardson

Owner Kapu, Petaluma

FOOD TRUCK PICK

There is a really good taco truck that parks at the end of Dry Creek during harvest called Los Plebes. You can’t beat it.

DATE NIGHT

Glen Ellen Star has a really decent wine list. You’re sitting outside, and it’s wonderful.

TAKE THE KIDS

There’s a little fish and chips spot in Bodega called The Birds Cafe. The kids love it out there. They get corn dogs and chicken fingers.

WITH OUT-OF-TOWN GUESTS

Diavola in Geyserville. It’s just good honest food. The flavor combos are great, and it’s right by the Geyserville Gun Club, a locals bar.

Domenico and Taylor De Angelis

Chefs-owners L’Oro di Napoli, Santa Rosa

BEST BREAKFAST

Mac’s Deli, across from the restaurant has quickly become a go-to and has the best pancakes around, Taylor says. “They are the sweetest people, and the service is always amazing.”

FOOD TRUCK FAVE

Delicias Elenita on Sebastopol Road. The elote (street corn), quesadillas, and champurrado are favorites.

DATE NIGHT

Riviera Ristorante in Santa Rosa for pasta and the charcuterie platter. The bike-themed décor is a bonus.

Jenny Phan

Chef-owner Second Staff, Various Locations 

ON HER BIRTHDAY

I’m a big fan of Tomi Thai in Windsor. They have a really intimate kitchen, like 200 square feet. And they just don’t hold back on the flavors. I always get everything Thai spicy.

LATE-NIGHT PICK 

I love going to this little Chinese place called Fantasy Restaurant in Petaluma. The owners, Vincent and Joanne Wu, are very friendly—like, my parents kind of friendly. You’ll get there at 9, and before you know it, you’re staying until midnight, chatting and talking.

AT THE FARMERS MARKET

I always detour to the mushrooms. I just like picking things up and smelling them, seeing if they’re earthier or meatier. And if it’s something I haven’t tried before, I’ll always buy it. Duncan’s Mushrooms, which sells at Windsor and Sebastopol markets in the spring and summer, is my favorite.

Octavio Díaz

Owner Mitote Food Park, Santa Rosa 

FOR A BIRTHDAY 

Sazón, the Peruvian restaurant in Santa Rosa. I really like the ceviche– there are a half-dozen choices. And the owner, José Navarro, is so interesting. He’s always running around like crazy, like he’s wearing three different hats at the same time. It reminds me of me.

DATE NIGHT 

My wife and I like Union Hotel in Santa Rosa. It’s got a great ambiance and it serves a really nice rotisserie- roasted Mary’s chicken, with lots of Italian spices, lemon, and fresh garlic.

THE DISH I ORDER AGAIN AND AGAIN

Mole de Oaxaca. It’s a celebration of the spices in life, so when I eat it, it reminds me of celebrating my own life and bringing my family together. The mole Oaxaqueño from El Gallo Negro in Windsor is made with more than 20 ingredients.

DINING WITH KIDS 

My sons are 15 and 16, and they’re pretty involved in our family restaurant businesses, but they also like to play soccer. After a game, we often go to Caffe Giostra in Petaluma for Italian food.

Jake Rand

Chef-owner Oyster, Sebastopol

TAKE THE KIDS

We like to go to Rosso Pizzeria for pizza and spaghetti, plus they get to make their own breadsticks!

WITH OUT-OF-TOWN GUESTS

It depends on how much they want to spend, but I think SingleThread is a terrific choice for visitors, with fantastic hospitality. It’s a really special experience.

FOOD TRUCK PICK

Delicias Elenita taco truck. I always get their tacos and they’re consistently juicy and delicious.

CHEAP EATS

East West Cafe on Summerfield Road in Santa Rosa is convenient and inexpensive, and their turkey burger is great.

Jeff Berlin

Owner Piala, Sebastopol

WITH OUT OF TOWN GUESTS

The Marshall Store in Marshall. We like to kayak to Point Reyes and back, sit outside by the water, eat everything on the menu (Tomales Bay Oyster Company oysters!) and put a serious dent in their beer inventory.

THE DISH I ORDER AGAIN AND AGAIN

The mofongo relleno de camarones from Sol Food in Petaluma. So much fl avor, perfectly balanced with mashed green plantain and avocado. I load it up with their spicy vinegar sauce and have a Mason jar full of housemade fruit punch, and then I take a nice fat nap with a huge smile on my face.

FOOD TRUCK PICK

Anything from Mitote Food Park. Order something from every truck, and mezcal cocktails from the bar. I really like cochinita pibil tacos with pickled habaneros from Yuca Mami.

DINE WITH KIDS

Fisherman’s Cove in Bodega Bay. My boys love seeing the anglers unload their catch and bring it right across the street to the cafes. It’s the best place for the freshest seafood possible.

Leith Leiser-Miller

Chef-owner Psychic Pie, Sebastopol 

FOR A BIRTHDAY 

The gift we always give each other is a fancy dinner out. This year, we went to Troubadour in Healdsburg and had their prix fixe. It was incredible, and it was also interesting to see how they transform their service from a bakery to a brasserie.

WITH OUT-OF-TOWN GUESTS

Jam’s Joy Bungalow in Sebastopol. I love the flavors that Jamilah Nixon-Mathis makes—she really pushes the boundaries.

FOOD TRUCK PICK

Galvan’s Eatery. They make awesome tacos. I love the crispy shrimp. I even get them for breakfast. I don’t bother with a breakfast burrito—I just go straight for the tacos.

AT THE FARMERS MARKET

We go to the Sebastopol market for cheeses, produce, and pantry goods. I always love Radical Family Farms— they grow a breadth of things that are harder to fi nd, like traditional Asian greens.

Geneva Melby

Chef-owner The Redwood, Sebastopol

FOOD TRUCK

After hours, I like to grab a torta or tacos from El Roy’s. Lengua is usually my meat of choice.

DATE NIGHT

We love sitting at the bar for Wednesday burger night at Spinster Sisters in Santa Rosa.

THE PLACES I GO TO AGAIN AND AGAIN

Too much good food! On our days off, not a ton is open, but I love dim sum so we’ll go to Hang Ah in Santa Rosa. And then when I’m craving larb or pad kee mao, I hit up Khom Loi in Sebastopol. And also PizzaLeah in Windsor for the square pie with hot honey and peppers. Breakfast at Willow Wood in Graton for a scramble and a cappucino. Or El Molino Central in Boyes Hot Springs, especially when they have lamb tacos.

Ephrain Balmes

Chef-owner Sonoma Eats, Sonoma

LATE NIGHT

I go to Palooza in Kenwood. I like their hamburgers; they’re the best. You don’t need to dress up, and they have a really good selection of beers that they make right there.

DATE NIGHT

Salt & Stone in Kenwood, because I like the menu. They change it up a lot, so it’s not the same boring things over and over. I also really like the cocktails. It’s a great ambiance to relax in.

FOOD TRUCK

El Roy’s in Petaluma. I can just go on my way and grab a quick lunch, and I can eat it in my car. Plus they have a good selection of tacos that are different than mine.

BREAKFAST FAVORITE

I go to Sunflower Caffe every week. They have a really good breakfast. I get avocado toast, a latte, and a mimosa and always eat outside on summer mornings.

James Byus

Chef-owner Vine Burger, Santa Rosa

DATE NIGHT

We like Guiso Latin Fusion (in Healdsburg). We pretty much always get the paella and house salad. My wife loves the passion fruit vinaigrette because she’s from Colombia. His paella is unique and different. I could bathe in the (paella) broth it’s so good.

THAT’S SO SONOMA

I’m originally from the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, so I lean towards places on the water. In Bodega Bay, I really like Fishetarian’s fish tacos and clam chowder.

CHEAP EATS

Zoftig in Santa Rosa is my go-to for a burrito or falafel wrap. It’s delicious, quick, and high quality.

WITH OUT-OF-TOWN GUESTS

Ca’Bianca is our favorite. It’s in a beautiful Victorian home in Santa Rosa. They have a great wine list with Italian wines, and everything is housemade and traditional. They hit on all cylinders every time we go in.

Melissa Yanc

Chef-owner Troubadour, Healdsburg

TAKE THE KIDS

Psychic Pie is our favorite, the food is like bakers made it, like a person who understands the physical science made it. The locally sourced ingredients and interesting desserts seal the deal for our family.

FOOD TRUCK

Delicias Elenita. The food is so solid and for the price point, a lot of seating is available on site, and it feels like you’re somewhere else.

GOODIES AT LOCAL FARMERS MARKETS

Herbs! They’re so potent, no matter the vendor. It’s the purest of pure flavor.

WITH OUT-OF-TOWN GUESTS

Lo & Behold in Healdsburg is a great one, especially in warmer seasons when you can sit on the patio. It’s also kid friendly and good for groups.

The post Where Chefs Eat in Sonoma County appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Feeling like dining is finally fun again? We are, too. Underground pop-ups, food-centric wine bars, and farm-to-table favorites are gathering all kinds of momentum this summer.

For this list, our team focused on spots that have opened since 2022. We defined “restaurant” loosely — as in, “any place where you can get great food”– canvassing food trucks, popups, and takeout spots as well as more traditional establishments. And just for fun, we’ve asked each of our winners to share where they like to dine out with their own loved ones. The result: A snapshot of favorites you’ll return to again and again. Click through the above gallery for a few top dishes.

Cyrus

This is Cyrus 2.0, really, since the Healdsburg original closed a decade ago, then reopened last September as a dramatically reinvented concept in a former Sunsweet prune packing plant. It’s elegance perfected, as guests are guided through a Champagne and canapes reception, elaborate hors d’oeuvres at an interactive chef’s table in the kitchen, entrées in the main dining room, and finally, dessert in room of chocolate with a molten candy fountain.

Chef-owner Douglas Keane has brought back many from his original team, and a few signature dishes, including a gorgeous Billi Bi soup of slow-cooked mussels in a silky broth of heavy cream, butter, fennel, and saffron.

The 20-course, $295 per person feast showcases Cal-Asian creations that embrace the five essential flavors: sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami. That can mean delicate squares of raw shima aji (horse mackerel) set atop compressed watermelon radishes and sliced kumquat with sorrel, finger lime, ice lettuce, and shio koji. Or a silky oval of Hudson Valley foie gras drizzled in peach syrup-an already over-the-top rich dish elevated with warm steamed buns and salty-sweet white miso butter.

Cyrus’s Bubble Lounge is open for walk-ins, offering wine and à la carte bites. 275 Hwy. 128, Geyserville. 707-7235999, cyrusrestaurant.com

Bloom Carneros

Owner Jordan Kivelstadt recently decided the former Kivelstadt Cellars WineGarten & Eatery needed its own name, just in time for summer. So welcome to this newly rebranded, garden-centric destination on Highway 12/121. The creative, Cal-Med menu from chef Jennifer McMurry, is so expertly crafted that it can be hard for newbie customers to score a seat amid all the regulars flocking in. Previously open only for lunch, Bloom Carneros now serves dinner, too.

Kivelstadt scored a coup in landing chef McMurry, a Sonoma County native. She works magic with simple, seasonal, local ingredients in playful recipes that burst with upscale flavor. Chill out with clever mortadella corn dogs or fried chicken bites dolloped in whipped Bellwether Farms ricotta and house-made Calabrian chile jam. Or fancy things up with burrata and pea shoot pesto over arugula, followed by a bowl of glazed pork belly with grilled Hen of the Woods mushrooms, pistachio pesto, burrata, radicchio salsa verde and nasturtium flowers.

Bring your kids and puppies, too. The garden is a perfect playland and offers a kid menu. And-how cool is this-the kitchen treats canines like royalty, with their own menu of rice, veggies, and chicken.

22910 Broadway, Sonoma. 707-412-0438, bloomcarneros.com

Farmstand

Most people equate the posh Farmhouse Inn with the equally posh Farmhouse Restaurant. But last summer, owners and siblings Joe and Catherine Bartolomei opened a casual sister restaurant on-site, offering à la carte meals.

Under the direction of chef Seamus Guevara, the eatery operates out of a corrugated-metal-roofed shed that houses a mobile kitchen and a freestanding wood-burning oven. Guevara makes his own sourdough pizza doughs, breads, and pastas, including a towering, crisp-edged lasagna layered with chunky meat sauce and four types of cheese, or a wood-fired pizza topped in pork guanciale (the insanely tender and fatty cheek that sings with umami richness and a salty, velvety back note) and spicy Calabrian chiles.

Relaxing poolside next to the inn’s gardens feels almost like glamping, especially when we tuck into luxuries like local roasted trout dressed with chewy fregola pasta pearls, tart olives, and peppery arugula and French fries dolled up with porcini mushrooms, truffle oil, and a flurry of Parmesan cheese. It actually feels more decadent to eat such finery in a more rustic setting. And here’s a bonus for our ever-busy lives: we eat fine food, but we also can be in and out in an hour.

7871 River Rd., Forestville. 707-887-3300, farmhouseinn.com

Maison Porcella

This charming family-run gourmet shop and wine bar recently started offering lunch during the week with golden croque madame sandwiches, pâtés and French bread, and other gourmet treats. They’re also pouring on the elegance in the evenings with regular soirées featuring chef Marc-Henri Jean-Baptiste’s housecured salmon, duck pâte, and other delicacies.

Everything feels sparkly and special, especially with warm hospitality from Marc-Henri’s wife, Maud Jean-Baptiste. The couple, who met when Marc-Henri was working at a high-end restaurant along the French Côte d’Azur, have poured their heart into the business, a former catering kitchen transformed with French antiques (including Maud’s grandmother’s oak armoire and kitchen tools), shiny copper cases brimming with prepared foods to take home, and a thoughtful selection of French and local natural wines.

The bar is becoming a regular hangout for the winemaker set, many of whom have been taken, as are we, with Marc-Henri and Maud’s earnest passion for their work and their shared love of French food-both delicacies and rustic luxuries like country pâté and pickles.

More winemaker dinners are scheduled in the months to come, and the couple hope to expand their hours in summer. 8499 Old Redwood Hwy., Windsor. 707-955-5611, maisonporcella.com

Kapu

First and foremost, Kapu is a tiki bar. You know, the kind with little grass huts as seating areas, island iconography, and fruit-forward rum drinks that will knock you on your caboose if you’re not careful.

Kapu mixes and matches midcentury modern and pinup culture with island nostalgia, pirate booty, and tacky tiki elements everywhere. A large rectangular bar has open seating for a better view of the bartenders at work on their mysterious concoctions — the Fink Bomb, Tropical Itch, classic Mai Tai or Missionary’s Downfall.

If you know tiki, you likely know Kapu owner/manager Michael Richardson. He came to Sonoma County in 2020 to oversee the beverage program at Burdock Bar in Healdsburg, where he wowed locals with outlandish tiki drinks he first created for the famous Frankie’s Tiki Room in Las Vegas.

Chef Mike Lutz’s Hawaiian-inspired comfort food is ono-licious. After spending more than 20 years on the islands, he knows his grindz. Moody lighting makes it a little challenging to see the beauty of the food, but the flavors speak loud and clear. Poke nachos, fried noodles, and a tasty stuffed rockfish with sweet kabayaki Hollandaise are top picks. And the garlic chicken is a must-order, with crispy nuggets double-fried, bathed in shoyu, and sprinkled with furikake and crispy garlic.

132 Keller St., Petaluma. 707-559-3665, kapubar.com

L’oro di Napoli

Opening a new restaurant is never easy, but the launch of this family restaurant on downtown’s Fourth Street was a little bumpier than owners Domenico and Taylor De Angelis would have liked. L’Oro di Napoli opened quietly last summer but closed for a few weeks in fall for a quick reset with a new business partner. It reopened in late November with a fresh ambience, complete with art of a Naples street scene, and a renewed focus on Domenico De Angelis’s ingredient-driven pizza menu.

The Naples-born chef knows what makes authentic Neapolitan pie, and he’s nailing it, night after night. The crust, blistered from a wood-fired oven, is puffy and crisp with an irresistible, slightly stretchy chew. The classic Margherita, topped with San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil is a great place to start. Elsewhere on the menu, De Angelis takes some creative license with toppings but keeps the puz y, crispy, chewy crust.

There’s always an of-the-moment salad, and De Angelis plans to add regular pastas as well. If it’s on special, don’t miss the mile-high lasagna, with sheets of housemade noodles layered in tomato sauce and béchamel-a dish as exciting as the pizza.

629 Fourth St., Santa Rosa. 707-293-9540, lorodinapolisr.com

Second Staff

When Sean Quan and Jenny Phan moved to Sonoma in early 2021 for Quan to take a job at SingleThread, the couple realized they missed late-night socializing with other industry professionals.

“We needed to find a way to hang out with people,” says Phan, “so we thought, ‘What the hell, we’ll just do it ourselves.'”

And so Second Staff was born, with a core group of six friends and a stable of different, cheeky pop-up concepts, including RageCage fried chicken, Space Balls boba and street snacks, and Small Men, with sandwiches named after different trim models of the Honda Civic.

Several friends have fine dining experience, so they recently launched a small-plates spinoff called FNCY + PNTS. Quan’s younger brother, Emmett, who is helping out in the kitchen while spending a gap year in Sonoma, calls FNCY + PNTS “the anti-tasting menu.” Diners carry cafeteria-style trays and choose dishes directly from the chefs. Nothing is over $15, and most dishes are less than that. It all feels very underground and understated-a food lover’s freestyle mix-tape of a meal.

“Restaurants should be a reflection of the communities they are part of,” says Quan. “But they should also matter and provide an insight into the community that you wouldn’t normally see.”

Various locations. second-staff.com

Mitote Food Park

Years in the making, this 7½-acre culinary paradise fully opened just last summer. Set in the heart of the predominantly Latino community of Roseland, a gathering of food trucks entices with tastes of Oaxaca, Jalisco, Michoacan, Yucatán, and Mexico City. There’s also a vibrant al fresco bar, live music, and an adjacent craft market.

Mitote is an incubator for Latino-owned businesses, giving entrepreneurs like the food truck owners support to establish success. Crowds throng to some 10 trucks, including Lucha Sabina (fabulous wild mushroom tlayudas and molotes), La Victoria (brilliant zucchini and pumpkin-blossom quesadillas on housemade tortillas), Maria Machetes (wildly good griddled hot dog draped with bacon, mayonnaise and queso), and Gio y Los Magos (decadent enchiladas Michoacánas served with roast chicken and potatoes).

Colorful papel picado banners decorate the picnic tables, and savvy diners load up with bites from several different vendors and always share plates to uncover flavors like huaraches loaded with cactus and chiles or quesadillas stuffed with huitlacoche, an earthy, savory mushroom-like delicacy.

For a sweet finish, hit up La Churroteka, for impossibly light, crispy churros stued with chocolate, caramel, or creamy condensed milk.

665 Sebastopol Rd., Santa Rosa. mitotefoodpark.com

Oyster

Who knows seafood better than a sushi chef? Chef Jake Rand, owner and sushi master at the popular Sushi Kosho at The Barlow in Sebastopol, opened a sister restaurant across the street last November. The Parisian-style oyster bar and seafood spot has beautiful outdoor patio seating and recently expanded into a larger indoor space next door.

Oysters are, not surprisingly, a highlight of the menu. They’re served raw, baked, and fried. The rest of the menu leans on sustainable shellfish, fish, prawns and octopus, all named “best choices” by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch. Rand brings awareness to aquafarmed seafood-controlled cultivation of fish and bivalves in water. He also promotes the eating of filter feeders like oysters, mussels, and clams, which help keep ocean water clean, sequester carbon, and can protect shores from erosion.

Sustainability doesn’t always mean deliciousness, but here, you don’t have to compromise. Rand’s chile-dusted calamari with a kicked-up rémoulade sauce, a hearty oyster po’boy sandwich with a creamy lemon slaw, and seared scallops with brown butter are familiar yet luxurious. He makes his own aioli and cocktail sauce and has added fish and chips with duck-fat fries to the menu. Be sure to grab a bottle of bubbly to go with those oysters.

6751 McKinley St., Sebastopol. Instagram.com/oyster_sebastopol

Piala

The tiny, rustic hideaway holds a secret, serving Georgian cuisine from the Eastern European republic, alongside rare Georgian and European wines. Owner Jeff Berlin has created a casual, cozy place that invites you to hang out and play, though he takes his work very seriously. That’s him behind the bar, sharing his love of the region with anyone who wants to listen.

Before opening, he flew in a consulting chef from Georgia to teach his full-time chef how to make the unfamiliar-sounding dishes as authentically as possible. It’s hard to resist a clay crock of steaming-hot chashushuli, a soulful, aromatic stew of lamb head and neck with potatoes, tomatoes, chickpeas, and lots of spices and herbs.

Try the classic Georgian dumplings, too, stuffed with spiced beef and pork, kale and ricotta. And chvishtari, crisp-edged golden corn cakes oozing melted cheese, served with a side of lobio, a fragrant, garlicky bean stew for dunking.

Note: Berlin’s business partner is restaurateur Lowell Sheldon, who in 2021 was accused of sexual harassment by six former employees and, in one instance, of sexual assault. As a condition of the restaurant’s alcohol permit, Sheldon is not allowed to work at Piala nor enter the space when employees are present.

7233 Healdsburg Ave., Sebastopol. 707-861-9186, pialanaturalwine.com

Psychic Pie

These chewy, crispy, double-baked, rectangular Roman-style pizzas first captured our heart as a pandemic takeout offering, and we were over the moon when a brick-and-mortar location opened in Sebastopol. The menu here changes weekly, with options dreamed up by husband-wife owners Nicholi Ludlow and Leith Leiser-Miller that celebrate the season.

Farm-fresh toppings include chèvre with fresh lemon and herbs; potato with chile oil, mozzarella, and crème fraîche; and hot coppa with Estero Gold cheese, mozzarella and hot honey. There’s always one vegan selection, several vegetarian choices and a couple of meaty slices. The pizzas are sold by weight (order by the finger width-three fingers wide is a good small slice and runs about $7) and trying different options is encouraged.

“We’re a slice house, and we want people to have fun, just have a little levity. We want them to come eat good food, hang out, chill and maybe have a drink and just be happy,” Ludlow says. “We’re not fine dining, and we’re not looking to make anyone intimidated.”

The couple launched Psychic Pie as a side hustle while working full time at San Francisco’s Del Popolo pizzeria, perfecting their recipe for a chewy-crispy, naturally fermented sourdough crust. They sold out completely by word of mouth and a business was born.

So why the name Psychic Pie? The couple aren’t psychics or mystics. Ludlow studied to be a podiatrist, and Leiser-Miller is a former field researcher with a Ph.D. in the biology of bats. Both walked away from academics for a life in food, using all their brainpower to obsess about things like dough and where to get seasonal tomatoes or sustainable meats while raising their young family in Sonoma (the couple are expecting their second child just as this issue hits newsstands).

“We want to be a mom-and-pop and focus on this community,” Ludlow says. “Everyone is warm and fun, and we want to continue to support the people here.”

980 Gravenstein Hwy. S., Sebastopol. 707-827-6032, psychicpie.com

The Redwood

Young restaurateurs and bar owners in Sebastopol are contributing to a forward-thinking food scene unlike any other, and that includes the city’s newest spot, a natural wine bar with excellent food called The Redwood. Owners Geneva Melby and Ryan Miller (both alums of local Thai standout Khom Loi) know exactly what the next generation of wine drinkers want in their glasses.

These new-school sippers are, in simple terms, an un-futzed-around-with style of wine that stands in contrast to the helicopter-parent winemaking of Napa and Sonoma. They’re food-friendly and often remain unfiltered, giving them an often funky, un-wine-like quality.

Melby is an excellent chef, whipping up stunning nibbles as well as bigger entrées for dinner. The menu is divided into snacks, small plates, big plates, and desserts and guests are welcome to eat, drink or both.

The Redwood’s Route One Pita and Dips include a lineup of smoky baba ghanoush, hummus, and herbed labneh that you’ll crave for days afterwards. Dishes like scallop crudo tart with slices of kumquat, fennel, and drips of fennel frond sauce is chef’s-kiss good. The menu changes seasonally, but will continue to include snacky tinned fish with potato chips and pickles, and heartier, vegetable-forward dishes and risottos.

234 S. Main St., Sebastopol. 707-861-9730, theredwoodwine.com

Sonoma Eats

Sonoma Eats owner Efrain Balmes arrived in Sonoma County in 2007 with nothing but a dream and a drive to make something of himself. Though it’s a worn archetype, it exemplifies the vineyard-worker-to-business-owner hopes of many in the Agua Caliente community. Working multiple jobs, he saved up to buy a $29,000 mobile home shared with multiple roommates. In 2017, he sold the home for three times its original price and used the proceeds to purchase a food truck he parked at the Barking Dog Roasters.

Balmes’s Oaxacan eatery serves up elevated basics like a mole enchilada with intense flavors –chocolate, roasted chiles, nuts and potent herbs-mixed into an almost black sauce and cooked slowly over several days. Simple shrimp tacos are served with a light aioli studded with juicy tomatoes. This dish is restrained rather than over-seasoned and drowning in toppings to mask cheap ingredients. Generous beer-battered Baja fish tacos made with catfish beats the pants oz more traditional cod, while Balmes’s chipotle aioli lends sweet heat.

Vegan mushroom tacos are so much more than a concession to the moment, elevated with avocado and salsa verde. They’re also great in the mix with other à la carte tacos, including carne asada, chicken, carnitas, al pastor, chorizo and nopales.

At Barking Dog Roasters, 18133 Sonoma Hwy., Sonoma. 707-939-1905; sonomaeatsmex.com

Vine Burgers

When James Byus III swung open the doors of Vine Burgers last March, his mission was to make the best burgers in town. Those in the know seek out the unassuming strip mall location tucked behind a weedy field that was the K-Mart before the Tubbs fire. It’s a gritty landscape that belies the quality food that Byus and his small team turn out each day.

There’s a burger here for everyone, from basic beef to feta-topped lamb with meat sourced from Sonoma County Meat Co. A selection of seafood sandwiches, including lump crab cakes and a Cajun tuna burger, are made in- house from scratch with seafood from local purveyors. All burgers are served on toasted brioche bun.

This is a burger joint even vegetarians can feel good about, with a veggie burger, several salads, and a robust list of vegetarian sides including mayo-slathered street corn and housemade fried pickles.

Regulars know to order a side of fried cheese curds from the “secret” menu, a once-in-a-while special that was so over-the-top good that Byus made it a permanent addition-dine-in only, though.

It was a wine sales job that drew the Maryland-born Byus to Sonoma County in the first place, so it’s no surprise that he offers a succinct but super-appealing globe-spanning wine list. There’s also a rotating list of craft beer on tap so burgers can be washed down the way they were meant to be-with a cold pint of suds.

3579 Industrial Dr., Santa Rosa. 707-536-9654, vineburgers.com

Troubadour

This pop-up dinner restaurant is refreshingly single-minded in its vision of elevated French bistro cuisine. A side project of chef Sean McGaughey, the intimate, multi-course dinner is served five nights a week in the same space as the nibble-size bakery he and wife Melissa Yanc founded in 2021. The couple is also behind the buzzy Quail & Condor bakery that opened locally in 2020 and a yet-to-open spot in the former Campo Fina. Yep, that’s four concepts in less than two years for the SingleThread alums.

The menu isn’t Cal-French or Mediterranean-French or another fusion. It’s just French, with all the unpronounceable but delicious sauces that have been perfected over centuries. McGaughey and his small team cook seasonal, locally sourced dishes such as duck à l’orange with crisp salty skin, Wagyu steak tartare with a cured egg yolk, petite escargot served in a Limoges teacup with creamy velouté and roasted garlic, and a thick tomato slice with tart sauce vierge and caviar.

The small kitchen at Troubadour, lacking a grill and many other staples of a restaurant kitchen, forces the team to think creatively and keep things simple. The four best seats in the house are at the counter facing Healdsburg Avenue. There, you can watch people go by (and be watched, eating) in the evening hours.

More private seats at the bakery counter are better for intimate dining, and groups of up to four can sit at a communal table. The vibe is a mix of irreverence (don’t miss the homage to Andre the Giant in the bathroom) and old-school French, with antique mix-and-match plates and a clubby San Francisco cafe atmosphere.

381 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. 707756-3972, troubadourhbg.com

The post 15 Best New Restaurants in Sonoma County 2023 appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

All the keepsakes and mementos may be gone. The historic ledgers and sepia family photographs, paintings of cows above the fireplace, ribbons and trophies from national cattle competitions, newspaper clippings—all wiped out in a firestorm that blew through so hard it ripped truck doors off the hinges.

But the 111-year farming legacy lives on at Oak Ridge Angus Ranch in Knights Valley, a rural Sonoma community 20 minutes east of Healdsburg. Over a century ago, Massimino LaFranchi was a pioneer in this region of the county—a Swiss immigrant who bought 500 acres in 1912 and named his ranch by looking across to the trees that dotted the hilltops nearby.

In the 1940s, Massimino’s sons—Henry, Al, and Nick—known to most simply as the LaFranchi brothers, grew a thriving dairy business from two Ayrshire heifers that Henry bought in 1936 as part of his FFA project at Calistoga High School. Riding boxcars around the country, they won prizes at agricultural fairs and made a name for Oak Ridge Ayrshires. One of their cows was named Supreme Champion at the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin. But in 1975, when new dairy regulations proved expensive, the brothers made the transition from Ayrshires to Black Angus beef cattle.

Now, Cheryl LaFranchi, a pioneer in her own right, is the one to steer the family farm through its most challenging stage yet—a ground-up rebuild after the devastating 2019 Kincade fire. “We’ve never had cattle die like that, never,” she says, standing with her Australian shepherd Buster Brown in the middle of the farm, nestled in a swale between green rolling hills. To the west is Alexander Valley, and to the east Napa Valley. When flames coming from the north and east overran the farm that October night, they destroyed nearly every building on the property, including five homes for farmworkers and family as well as eight cattle and hay barns. In the aftermath of the fire, the herd was thinned from 600 to around 400. “I’ve had maybe five cows in my lifetime die,” says La Franchi. “All of a sudden, every time you turned around, they were sick. They gave up.”

But, season by season, the ranch is coming back to life. The last of the houses was just rebuilt, and the old redwood outbuildings have been replaced by shiny red metal barns. Just the other day, over by the pond, LaFranchi spotted a bald eagle. A new family of foxes made a den nearby and a flock of around 75 geese wander the ranch, looking for bits of leftover grain. Ground squirrels and deer are still scarce, but the turkeys are back, eating hay side-by-side with the cows.

As you get to know Cheryl LaFranchi, you get to know a lot of her sayings, passed down from her father, Henry, who picked them up from his father. She’ll pepper sentences with “Jesus criminy” or “holy smokes.” When things get bad, they “go sideways.” If something is high-end, it’s “Cadillac,” as in, “You might not make the Cadillac money if you do like we do, but we’re doing just fine.”

“When you farm, it’s not all sugar and roses,” LaFranchi likes to say. By the time she gets to, “I don’t need to stick the fat hog to every steer that runs through the place,” it doesn’t matter if you technically understand or not—you get it.

Every day, LaFranchi is up by 6 a.m., often starting the day bottle-feeding young calves. Until recently, she used to run a truck over each day to Bear Republic Brewery in Cloverdale to haul as much as 40,000 pounds of brewer’s grains to feed the cattle. The spent grain is a novel source of recycled nutrition LaFranchi and her husband discovered in the early 1990s, long before other ranchers took note. After Drake’s Brewing bought Bear Republic earlier this year, they now source local spent grains from Lagunitas instead. Raised at first on grass and hay, the cows will eat the barley-based byproduct for the last six months to a year of their lives. It’s what gives Oak Ridge beef its unique flavor, tenderness, and marbling—a different flavor profile from entirely grass-fed beef or beef finished on corn.

Their beef is sold primarily through Sonoma Meat Company in Santa Rosa, another family business with strong local ties. LaFranchi ’s husband, Frank Mongini, a large-animal veterinarian, first approached the company in 2011, and the relationship began with just a single animal. Now, Oak Ridge sells around 12 to 14 cows a month, lending their name to the beef but leaving the butchering, marketing, and sales to S onoma Meat Company. Much of the appeal of the branded campaign is the story of the ranch and its animals. Given no antibiotics or hormones, the Black Angus graze freely, from the valley floor to the hilltops. In addition to natural grass and spent grain, they also feed on leftover almond hulls brought in from the Central Valley.

It’s all part of the regenerative, sustainable farming model the LaFranchis have practiced for over a century, long before “sustainability” was a marketing catchphrase. That same appreciation for the land also translates into a love of community. That’s what LaFranchi had in mind when she dreamed up the Range to Table program in 2012 with the Redwood Empire Food Bank. The idea was to use excess brewer’s grains to help feed cattle in the region, even those from other ranches, and donate the beef. It’s a way for cattle that might otherwise go to waste—steers with one testicle, cows with blindness or ones that are too big or too small—to go to work in the community.

“Instead of just getting rid of them and not getting a lot of money for them, we said, ‘Send them up here. Frank and I will feed them, and we’ll donate them to the food bank in your name.’” Ranchers in the region jumped at the opportunity. In 2018, the last full year of the program before the fire, they donated over 22,000 pounds of ground beef.

Attending a well-known industry bull and gelding sale up in Red Bluff this February for the first time since the fire, LaFranchi says she was happy “to see the bulls back in the top end of the bull sale, grading like they’re supposed to.” Breeding and selling cattle was once the lifeblood of the business. But these days, more than 80% of their revenue lies in the branded beef program with Sonoma Meat Company. Every so often, she’ ll get a text from a friend sharing a photo of a local menu, whether it’s “bacon-infused Oak Ridge Angus beef sliders” at Gravenstein Grill in Sebastopol or brisket at Butcher Crown Roadhouse in Petaluma.

Her grandfather Massimino would surely chuckle. “I think he would just be like, ‘Holy smokes!’” she says. “And my dad, too. My dad would really get a kick out of it.”

But Cheryl LaFranchi is most proud of keeping the ranch in the family so far. She doesn’t have any children of her own. Her brother works in computing. Her two nieces work at a nonprofit and at Redwood Credit Union. And her nephew is an airplane mechanic.

“But everyone still lives on the farm,” she says. “That, when it’s all said and done, will be my greatest accomplishment—that the kids were able to come back to the ranch and stay on the ranch. It’s not much of a family ranch if there’s no family.”

The post A 111-Year-Old Family Cattle Ranch East of Healdsburg Faces Its Toughest Chapter Yet appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

There’s a long-simmering secret behind the gilded doors of many fine dining restaurants. Inside the silent kitchens, with their exquisitely organized benchtops and lineups of tweezered plates, an increasingly vocal chorus is peeling back the truth, revealing top-heavy hierarchies and crippling financial pressures.

Movies like “The Menu” and “Burnt” shone a blistering light on soul-destroying stress and the impossible quest for perfection. And earlier this year, fine dining poster child Rene Redzepi, the man behind Copenhagen’s Noma, a restaurant that was named the world’s best multiple times, announced he would permanently close next year and reopen as a food laboratory and pop-up space.

“We have to completely rethink the industry,” Redzepi told The New York Times in January, blaming the unsustainable costs of employees, among other factors. “This is simply too hard, and we have to work in a different way.”

The scars of the pandemic, of course, are also lasting. As more casual restaurants pivoted to takeout, upscale restaurants did their best to accommodate diners. But many suffered severe financial losses and still struggle to find staff, as seasoned workers were forced to find jobs elsewhere.

But do these challenges mean that the highest levels of fine dining are on their way out? Should the reign of suited-up maître d’s, tableside flambés, and exquisitely foamed and dusted tiny plates take a final bow? Not quite yet—but it is time for some reinvention.

Fine dining is dead. Long live fine dining

In Sonoma County, restaurants like Cyrus, SingleThread, Farmhouse Inn, and Madrona Manor have long been seen as the epitome of fine dining. Chefs create singular experiences for diners, offering curated culinary journeys and sublimely plated food.

As a restaurant reviewer, I will always believe there’s a place for this type of experience. It’s the joy of a perfectly seared piece of meaty Liberty duck with salty, crackling skin and a thin layer of unctuous fat that floods my brain with endorphins, the meticulous sourcing of a single perfect oyster, the history behind a tiny cup of mussel soup inspired by one served at Maxim’s in Paris.

Extraordinarily lofty dining like this, with wine and gratuity, can come with a price tag of $1,800 for two people. But for those who seek it out, it’s a meaningful luxury experience, no different than such indulgences as $899 Taylor Swift VIP concert tickets, $65 for infant Nike sneakers, or $90,000 for a Maserati. It all just depends on what tickles your happy button. At a time when eating fast food at a desk is normal and many everyday restaurants have resorted to pre-cooked, pre-packaged ingredients, fine dining experiences remind us that food can be magical. Food can be more than calories. Food can uplift us.

The new model

It can be easy to poke fun at some of the pomp surrounding exquisitely sourced, self-consciously described meals: Is a deconstructed plate of imported Japanese uni with cheese “snow” on dehydrated wonton crumbs better than a $5 crab puff at the local Chinese restaurant? After all, it’s just food, as chef Douglas Keane of Geyserville’s Cyrus restaurant likes to remind people.

Keane is more worried about livable wages for his staff than prancing around the kitchen with a chef ’s toque. “We’re too full of ourselves,” Keane says. “And it starts with the press talking about chefs like they’re gods, the truth is that we’re skilled labor. It’s dinner. It’s sustenance.” In the decade since closing his original Cyrus in Healdsburg, Keane has been obsessed with fixing fine dining’s most broken limb—an equitable wage structure.

In 2012, Cyrus had more than 56 employees, a model Keane says was entirely unsustainable. Waitstaff made up to $75,000 per year, while cooks made $30,000. Turnover was high in the kitchen, but front-of-house staff stayed forever.

Kitchen roles were highly ritualized and specialized, with some jobs so specific that employees had little to do for long periods of the evening. “There were so many employees doing nothing while we were finishing plating, for example. Then they’re not busy until the next fire,” Keane explains. “It didn’t seem like an efficient system.”

At the reimagined Cyrus, Keane has a lean staff of 20 cross-trained to play multiple roles in the kitchen—whatever needs to be done, from chopping vegetables to delivering plates to the table. Salaries start at $65,000 for prep cooks—more than 50 percent higher than the national average—and they also get healthcare benefits, a rare commodity.

Keane also pokes holes in other long-established structures. For one, Cyrus now offers a much shorter menu. “These huge old menus like at Chez Panisse take a lot of bodies to do, especially when you don’t know how many people are coming.” Vast menus necessitate keeping more food on hand, and a greater potential for waste.

“I think we’re still learning, but the one thing that I know is that the more you can engineer the experience with fewer variables, it’s easier to train people to get good at their jobs,” says Keane.

Nine months into his experiment, Keane feels the system is working, and hopes he can prove to others that the model is scalable. Diners seem just as happy with sous-chefs bringing plates to their tables and servers pouring drinks. “The system is phenomenal,” he says. “The guests seem super-happy, investors are happy, and I feel blessed we are able to do this.”

“16 apprentices picking flower petals”

In Petaluma, Stéphane Saint Louis and Steven Vargas of Table Culture Provisions are part of a new generation of chefs reducing costs by running their kitchen lean and mean. That doesn’t mean cutting back on creativity, just being scrappy. Saint Louis says he doesn’t see the need for all the fuss over perfection for perfection’s sake.

“If you want to be very meticulous about things, picking little flowers that all have to look exactly the same, you’re wasting product and time. Yes, that will be very expensive,” says Saint Louis. He and Vargas create their $125 tasting menu with just four cooks.

Borage flowers picked from the garden serve just as nicely as a pile of expensive blooms that, at another restaurant, would take a team of apprentices hours to harvest and tweeze onto plates. “I pick a solid crew,” says Saint Louis. “These guys bring an extra layer of tech and services that amplify what we’re serving. That doesn’t break my bank, and everybody is well paid.”

The team is having fun creating a high-end menu that includes frothed sunchoke soup or scallop crudo with coconut cream and truffled caviar—but they also offer steak frites for $48 and à la carte items from the tasting menu. It’s a way to offer more people more opportunities to try their food, and that’s precisely the point. Table Culture Provisions focuses on doing more with less.

“We’re too full of ourselves. And it starts with the press talking about chefs like they’re gods. The truth is that we’re skilled labor. It’s dinner. It’s sustenance.” – Douglas Keane

Finding balance

For other local chefs, however, doing less is more.

For years, Madrona Manor chef Jesse Mallgren focused on innovative molecular gastronomy. Liquid nitrogen ice cream was a signature dish, along with foams, creams, and obscure, lofty ingredients like minutina greens and feijoa. When the inn was remodeled in 2022, the menu simplified exponentially. Instead of five elaborate dinner services a week, they now serve 14 meals a week, with breakfast, lunch, and dinner offerings and more straightforward fare, including burgers and salads.

And Mallgren is not especially sad about it. “In some ways, it’s a relief, because we’re still cooking really tasty food,” he says. “Now The Madrona is a place I’d want to come in and eat once a month. Because for me, there are only so many tasting menus I’d eat per year—I’m busy with kids, have a lot to do, and can’t always spend three hours at dinner.”

With the change in format, some of the staffing pressures have eased, and Mallgren has become a mentor to less experienced cooks eager to learn the trade. “In the past, I had to hire cooks who knew what they were doing,” he explains. “Now I have two cooks promoted from dishwasher. It’s fun to watch these folks with no experience kicking it up and excited.”

The change has also brought food costs down to more sustainable levels. With ingredients like Japanese wagyu and truffles, Mallgren says it was difficult to charge enough to justify the expense. “No one wants to pay the prices to get a decent profit for those ingredients unless you have three Michelin stars.”

When traditional fine dining works

Reservations at Healdsburg’s much-lauded SingleThread Restaurant and Farm sell out months in advance at $425 per person. The multihour experience is perfectly choreographed, right down to the beautiful, first-course forest-floor tableau created for each table.

Owners Kyle and Katina Connaughton see the ongoing success of the restaurant as a community effort. “Some of the old models of luxury for the sake of luxury are dying and being replaced by a new model of high-end restaurants supporting local farmers, artisans, ranchers and the community,” says Kyle Connaughton. “We support good systems, reaching out for the best olive oil, a dish, a spoon, or a cup. There’s a relationship with all of those people.”

To sustain a staff of 125 people, Kyle and Katina Connaughton see their role as that of teacher as much as owner. It takes at least a year to train staff at the restaurant, a significant investment of time and resources.

“We want to do things the right way, and that isn’t easy or inexpensive,” Connaughton explains.

“There’s an impression in the fine dining space that high prices mean that profit margins are high. That’s not the case. If you look at all the food services, fine dining has a lower margin. You can’t cut corners. You can’t use cheap products, buy things that are frozen.” Sous-chefs at SingleThread make up to $80,000 with shared tips to start and are offered health insurance and paid vacations.

Kyle Connaughton acknowledges that having worked in the fine dining sphere for 30 years, he’s seen his share of bad actors and bullying. “We have very high standards, and people have to work incredibly hard, but people here want that environment. When things are difficult, when it’s busy and we’re not getting the results we want, it’s a challenge,” says Connaughton. “But screaming at people doesn’t help. That’s what I never understood.”

Opting out, opting in

When Sean McGaughey came to Sonoma County to work at SingleThread, he didn’t have an end game. Maybe he’d stay a few years, see what happened, and maybe go into food research and development. Now married to a fellow SingleThread alum and with two casual restaurants of his own, Troubadour and Quail & Condor bakery, he appreciates the chance to get off the fine-dining train and work for himself.

“SingleThread was maybe a little too involved. It’s a super-great kitchen culture, and it’s a big team with lots of shoulders to carry it, but every once in a while, the responsibility multiplies exponentially,” McGaughey says. He’s currently trying to dial in the level of complexity at his own establishments, seeking the right balance of casual and high-end.

Six-course weeknight prix-fixe dinners at Troubadour allow McGaughey to spread his wings after days of sandwiches and breakfast treats. The prix fixe dinners are an imperfectly- perfect experience, with uncomfortable bar stools and narrow counters—but the food is full of joy and, at $125 per person, more approachable than a Cyrus or SingleThread.

“We look at what’s not too labor-intensive, and I’ve always cooked that way. Not everything has to be hard—but if it is hard, the diner needs to see or taste it. Cooks have a problem with overcomplicating stuff to make ourselves happy. Maybe it gives us a little self-worth,” he explains. “It’s the first time everything’s clicked, because I have a specific set of confines. Unbeknownst to myself, I created that.”

Talent and equity

Preeti Mistry, a chef, author, and speaker now living in Sonoma after launching two highly successful restaurants in Oakland, hopes the future of fine dining lies in authenticity and storytelling.

“If you just throw a bunch of uni, truffles, foie gras, and whatever the hip ingredient is on a plate? There needs to be a purpose and a point to it,” says Mistry. “Luxury and artifice for its own sake is becoming less popular with younger generations. It’s just acrobatics. New generations want meaning behind things.” Diners are looking for a window into different cultures, they say, and too many fine dining establishments have missed out on celebrating non-European cuisines.

Fine dining restaurants are also missing out on talented chefs who aren’t white or male. “In the past, people haven’t fostered talent,” Mistry says. “Think what kind of talent we could have had.” Instead, young, highly trained chefs turn to food trucks and pop-ups where they can showcase different cultures and techniques outside the existing system.

“There’s a deeper meaning in that experience rather than just pretty food. It has to have a deeper meaning if you ask people to pay so much for these exquisite meals. It has to have a story. It can’t just be these shallow things,” says Mistry.

“As an industry, we’re looking for our soul.”

The end isn’t nigh

Back in the kitchen at Cyrus, chef Douglas Keane says he’s been hearing about the death of fine dining since the early 1990s. But he believes some guests will always want the experience of fine dining—the wonder and the magic of it all.

“Some people buy an economy car, and some buy the most expensive. It’s an escape and a luxury. Enough people care about good food to keep it alive,” says Keane.

As guests finish their multi-course meals at Cyrus, they’re led into a secret chamber with a flowing chocolate fountain and sweets that hover mysteriously above a small plate—yes, chocolates that actually float. The heady scent of cocoa is everywhere, clinging to guests’ clothes as they step out into the night air. Outside of candy- coated dreams, it’s the closest one can come to experiencing the wonder of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

And that creativity, that spark, that ability to transport guests into another world is still worth plenty. The magic Keane weaves into everyday life far outweighs the cost of admission.

The side hustle

It’s a far cry from driving for Uber, but even top fine-dining chefs seek out additional streams of income to make the main event possible. San Francisco’s Dominique Crenn teaches a MasterClass. Healdsburg’s Charlie Palmer is opening a series of food-focused hotels. And DC-based celebrity chef Jon Sybert created Moveable Feast, a fine dining experience that comes straight to your home. Here are other ways chefs are making the numbers work:

• Liza Hinman of Santa Rosa’s Spinster Sisters now holds popup dinners at Lioco Winery’s Healdsburg tasting room and sells pantry items like housemade jams and granola.

• SingleThread is a powerhouse of diversification, with income from boutique lodging, a farmstand and retail operation, consulting, and product alignments. They recently teamed up with Modern Adventure to launch Paragon, a culinary travel adventure company.

• Sean McGaughey and Melissa Yanc of Troubadour are expanding their reach with guest collaborations and a new series of baking and pastry classes.

• Stéphane Saint Louis of Table Culture Provisions takes catering gigs in the summer to keep cash flowing and skills sharp. He also offers à la carte selections from his tasting menu that encourage locals to drop by for a quick bite.

The post What’s the Future of Fine Dining in Sonoma County? appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Kasraa “Kaz” Khosrowmanesh credits his father’s stellar cooking for spurring a lifelong passion for food, dining, and eventually, wine. Born in Los Angeles to a first-generation Mexican American mother and an Iranian father who worked as an executive chef, Khosrowmanesh says good food was something that piqued his interest early on— especially when his dad prepared Persian food or his grandmother’s recipe for carnitas en lechuga.

“My dad’s version of my grandma’s carnitas is amazing,” he says. “Those big chunks of braised pork—it is one of my favorite things ever.” These days, however, Khosrowmanesh’s appetite for flavor is focused on wine, which he brings to his role overseeing the drinks program at Valley Bar + Bottle in Sonoma, known for a wine list that celebrates low-intervention, sustainably produced wines.

A certified sommelier, Khosrowmanesh developed a close friendship with Valley’s owners when they worked together at Sonoma’s Scribe Winery.

“I thought it was the best restaurant in Sonoma County before I began working there, and I still do,” says Khosrowmanesh. “The owners have created a food menu that stays dynamic according to the season, but with a common thread that makes it feel cohesive. It’s such a special little place.”

Khosrowmanesh sources the restaurant’s 75-bottle wine list and small retail selection. About onethird of the wines are produced domestically, while two-thirds are sourced from Europe or beyond.

“My job is to be cognizant of what people enjoy while also introducing them to new wines,” says Khosrowmanesh.

A glass of wine, he believes, is like a time capsule of what happened in that particular vineyard— everything from the weather to the soil to the field-workers who tended and picked the fruit.

“It’s easy to wax poetic about it, but there really is something magical about the way wine can transport you to a certain place and time. It’s truly sunshine in a glass.”

Three to try

Khosrowmanesh finds these wines particularly magical for early summer. His picks focus on family-owned Sonoma labels and are part of the wine list at Valley Bar + Bottle. 487 First St. W., Sonoma. 707-934-8403, valleybarandbottle.com

Ryme Cellars, 2021 Fiano, Rancho Coda, Russian River Valley

“Grown on a vineyard perched 1,000 feet above sea level. The position above the fog line results in a crisp, refreshing and food-friendly bottle.

White peach tea and honeysuckle with mineral, textured mouthfeel. A gorgeous example of this variety’s potential within the county.”

Lotis, 2021 Vermentino, Las Brisas Vineyard, Carneros

“This wine was all I wanted to drink last summer. Whole-cluster, coolclimate Vermentino from a site at the end of the Petaluma wind gap. Laserfocused acidity, key lime, and crushed seashells.”

Darling Wines, 2021 Pinot Noir, Turnstone Vineyard, Sebastopol Hills, Sonoma Coast

“This is Thomas Darling’s newest wine and possibly his best. Whole-cluster Pinot Noir grown 10 miles from the Pacific. Beautifully balanced with juicy, concentrated cherry fruit. Fragrantly spiced and ethereal.”

The post Meet the Sommelier Behind One of Sonoma’s Hottest Wine Bars appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

“When was the last time you were dancing in a vineyard?”

That’s the question Gary Saperstein of Sonoma’s Out in The Vineyard likes to ask when describing the events of Gay Wine Weekend, which he puts on each summer. Wine is poured, dancing bursts out, and positive community vibes overflow. Events have featured an aerialist pouring wine while hanging from a sphere, stilt walkers in light-up fantastical costumes, and a drag queen jumping onto the brunch table.

All fun and flourishes aside, the events raise crucial funds—over $500,000 to date—for Face to Face, a nonprofit supporting HIV-positive Sonoma residents, and Positive Images, which works with LGBTQ+ teens.

Saperstein likes to support the brands “that think outside of Pride month and want to communicate with and engage with the community.” He adds that when companies raise money for LGBTQ+ causes, “we know they’re being authentic about it. Over the years, more and more wineries are doing that… You don’t have to put the rainbow flag on your website,” he advises.

“Images go a long way. If you can show two men or two women or an interracial couple, that speaks volumes to people. It means you recognize us, recognize us as people.”

Click through the above gallery to see some of Gary Saperstein’s favorite places in Sonoma County. 

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When the 2023 James Beard Award nominations were announced in January, you could almost hear a collective sigh rise from the Sonoma County food world. Maybe it was more of a sad gasp—like a stopper pulled from a two-day-old bottle of sparkling wine.

Did we do something to offend the culinary trophy gods? No love for Animo and chef Joshua Smookler? There may be no signage in front of the popular Sonoma restaurant tucked between a McDonald’s and a smog shop, but had the program’s restaurant scouts not heard about the innovative, wood-fired mashup of Basque and Korean cuisines?

Or what about a best new restaurant shoutout for Stéphane Saint Louis and Steven Vargas at Table Culture Provisions? With their nightly multi-course tasting menu getting tons of buzz, they were hoping this might be the year. “Our ultimate goal is to get a Michelin mention,” Saint Louis told a reporter at the end of 2022.

And what about emerging chef Fiorella Butron at Edge and pioneering pastry chef Melissa Yanc at Quail & Condor?

To no one’s surprise, Kyle and Katina Connaughton got a nod at SingleThread in Healdsburg for “Best Chef: California.” It’s well deserved, but there they sit all alone—the only nominee from Sonoma County across all categories.

So much for the everybody-under-the-tent mantra of recent years. There’s a backstory there:

Two years ago, the James Beard program faced a backlash after an audit found too few nominees and judges of color. The program was put on hold in 2020 and 2021, partly due to Covid, and relaunched in 2022 with a promise of more inclusivity, more BIPOC judges, and more transparency. After all, nobody wants to be the Hollywood Foreign Press of the foodie awards circuit.

James Beard Award nomination rules are notoriously tricky. Read the fine print and you’ll see that a nominee for Outstanding Restaurateur “must have been in the restaurant business for at least five years and they must not have won a James Beard Foundation chef award in the past three years.” Another new rule states “a restaurant and its chef cannot be nominated in both restaurant and chef categories in the same year.”

Just think of what’s at stake. With a win, or sometimes even just a nomination, the trajectory of a restaurateur’s career is forever altered. Cue the book deals, cookware endorsements, maybe even a spot on Food Network’s next mega battle royale.

That’s why El Molino Central owner Karen Taylor’s response to awards like these might be one of the best we’ve heard. “We’ve had a James Beard, I think. I don’t know,” she says. (The seasonally focused Sonoma Mexican restaurant was nominated as a James Beard semifinalist in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, but has yet to win.) The only way she finds out about a nomination, she says, is when the list comes out, “a friend will text me.”

El Molino has also garnered a Michelin Bib Gourmand recognition. “We finally put it up—a medal thing they give you,” Taylor says. “We just rest it on the back of one of the counters, behind the wine.”

Taylor’s thoughts on Michelin stars? “I remember when Betty’s Fish ’N Chips had the same number of Michelin stars as Chez Panisse.”

But who decides? Whether we’re talking James Beard awards or Michelin stars, we’re wading into a murky world that seems run by secret societies and hush-hush handshakes.

No one knows this better than Jil Hales at Barndiva in Healdsburg. When the restaurant won its first Michelin star last year, nearly two decades after it opened, it was a total shocker.

“They are notoriously mysterious,” Hales says of the Michelin review process. “Anybody that tells you they know things is telling a porker. You know they come out more than once, and you don’t know what they look at.”

Hales admits she’s a little apprehensive talking to me about the subject. It’s easy to understand why: He (or she) who bestoweth can also taketh away. Look what happened at Terrapin Creek in Bodega Bay. In 2012, they won a Michelin star, only to lose it in 2018. At the time, according to Michelin’s international director Gwendal Poullennec, top-secret Michelin inspectors thought the food was missing its previous “spark and quality.”

Short of a decoder ring, here’s a theory about this year’s nominations: many believe that Sonoma County restaurants have become exceptional at what has become known around the world as “Wine Country cuisine”—i.e. what’s fresh and seasonal, farm-to-table, grape to glass, seed to hash—all summed up in a kind of omniscient terroir that you can apply to nearly every menu and every ingredient.

And maybe that’s not what judges are looking for anymore. Bay Area restaurants scoring James Beard nominations this year included Jo’s Modern Thai from chef Intuon Kornnawong in Oakland, the Moroccan flavors of San Francisco’s Mourad, and the Indigenous roots cuisine of Café Ohlone in Berkeley. There’s a thought—wouldn’t it be nice if Sonoma County had a restaurant that paid homage to the foods of the original inhabitants of this region? In Sebastopol, Heron Shadow Farm manager Redbird Willie grows Indigenous crops for Wahpepah’s Kitchen in Oakland. Imagine if a local restaurant bought his crops.

But maybe trying to make sense of any awards process is futile.

“Good luck cracking that code,” says Barndiva’s Jil Hales. “If you do, you’ll win a Pulitzer.”

In other words, we’ll have to wait until next year. When maybe, just maybe, the Michelin gods and James Beard acolytes will rain down upon us in such glorious benevolence that all will be right in the pantheon of foodie awards again.

Until then, let’s be happy with what’s on our plate. In the words of parents everywhere, you get what you get, and you don’t get upset.

The post Where’s the Love? How the James Beard Awards Snubbed Sonoma Chefs appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

When Alfie Turnshek sleeps, he often dreams about cocktails—colorful, deeply layered cocktails in rainbow fantasies. He keeps a notepad by his bed, so when a drink recipe visits him, he stirs awake and writes it down.

“Sometimes they work, but sometimes, I’ve had an idea I thought would be absolutely delicious and it turned out awful,” he muses, with a smile. “Any bartender who says that they haven’t ever made a mistake is lying.”

Still, after decades in the business, even his oddest sounding creations can be fantastic. His menu at new Petaluma destination Luma features a “Changeling” that marries aquavit, gin, pineapple and vanilla infusions, lemon, fennel liqueur—and a dollop of Skyr Icelandic yogurt.

“The yogurt is so creamy, refreshing, and really tangy, so it provides a good deal of acid backbone to the drink,” he says.

On the mixologist mantle

In my work community, we differentiate between bartending and mixology, and we prefer the term bartender.

Mixology is the technical acumen of knowing how to work with ingredients and ratios, and how they perform together. But for me, bartending is the connection with people. We are surreptitiously watching guests on that first sip and seeing what their faces do. When my drinks are done right, they breed delight.

Ever crazier cocktails

I try to centralize the offerings to what I think the bar vibe is saying. Are we a dive, or fancy, like Luma? On one end, there’s alienation with unfamiliar ingredients, and on the other end, there’s complete accessibility for everyone. I’m trying to find the sweet spot, where I’m pushing people maybe a little bit out of their comfort zone. It’s not necessarily a dare, but I’m asking them to try something new. I’m always looking to drive the conversation forward.

A chef’s culinary skill

I do advanced culinary techniques, like sous vide water baths to make infusions and get cleaner, more direct flavors. Certainly working for Daniel Patterson at Plum Bar, I was in the height of the molecular gastronomy boom. Collaborating with the chefs to develop novel ways of putting ingredients together and using these advanced culinary techniques was the big part of what I do now.

The low-alcohol cocktail trend

Everybody wants them. Certainly for sober people they’re awesome, but it’s everyone who likes really delicious fresh juice, herbs and such. An anecdote: These four guys came in, early 20s, very bro-y, and one ordered a non-alcoholic drink. I always confirm, ‘You know, there’s alcohol, because you’re in a bar.’ He said, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve been drinking a little bit, so I still wanna keep hanging out, but I wanna take a drink off.’ When I was 23, if you had said that, your friends would have called you something not nice. This is awesome, I love this development in our society.”

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