Sonoma Chefs Are Tapping Into Hot Dining Trend

By Carey Sweet
Chef Joshua Smookler at his Animo restaurant in Sonoma. (Kim Carroll/For Sonoma Magazine)

“There’s something magical about open fire, and the theater of it captivates people,” says chef Joshua Smookler, who opened Animo restaurant in Sonoma last year with his wife, Heidy He. “It’s so visual. Humans gravitate towards it, and especially when the weather drops, it makes you feel so snug when you see it in a kitchen.”

Fire imparts unmatchable flavors and tenderness and textures that conventional equipment can’t always bring. “This is the most natural way of cooking, getting back to the roots of primitive man,” Smookler says.

“And I do think the food does come out better over open fire. It’s really not just the wood flavor, either. The heat is different. It’s alive.”

Hundreds of craggy, golden logs—a mix of peach, cherry, apple, almond, and other handwoods—are stacked up outside Smookler and He’s restaurant. Inside, a Spanish Mibrasa parrilla grill, stacked with even more wood, dominates the tiny open kitchen. There, at the shiny stainless-steel monster, you’ll see Smookler taming the flames to blister the pearlescent skin on a sweet, mild whole turbot flatfish imported from Spain and coax a delicious hint of bitter earth from charred sugar snap peas finished in yuzu sesame salt. It’s dishes like these that recently earned the restaurant a spot on Esquire magazine’s nationwide top new restaurants list.

Lamb roasted over a live fire with shiso, nori, and housemade ssamjang at chef Joshua Smookler’s Animo. (Kim Carroll/for Sonoma Magazine)
Lamb roasted over a live fire with shiso, nori, and housemade ssamjang at chef Joshua Smookler’s Animo. (Kim Carroll/For Sonoma Magazine)

Inspired by Basque fishing villages where open-air grilling is a way of life, Smookler is fascinated by the complicated dance that keeps the fire going. “It’s always changing, because is the wood too dry or too wet, too soft wood or too hard? It means the temperature can fluctuate wildly—some days it gets really, really hot, and some days it’s not hot enough.”

Honing in further on the details, Smookler says the burning embers that fall from the main firebox between the grates are key. They’re more controllable than the flame and impart clean flavors instead of blanketing food in smokiness. “If you have a great product like delicate fish or dry-aged beef, you don’t want it to taste like smoke,” he explains. “We’re not trying to mask the flavor. We want to enhance it.”

And now that Smookler has mastered the challenging art of the flame, he’s found a personal Zen. “The things that we cook, they talk to you and tell you their stories, if you’re very observant,” he says. “You can see what’s happening as they transform, you can feel, smell, and hear, and it becomes a very meditative experience.”

Portuguese cuisine from an Italian oven

Not far from Animo, just off downtown Sonoma’s main plaza, Manuel Azevedo’s LaSalette Restaurant serves Portuguese cuisine in an Italian-made Mugnaini oven adorned in custom brown tiles hand-painted by a Sonoma artist with designs of rabbits, game birds, pigs, and venison. The look, Azevedo explains, reminds him of grandparents cooking over a pot on a wood stove, with sausages hanging to smoke above.

As one of Wine Country’s first open-fire concepts, Azevedo had to teach himself how to use the oven. “I learned I had to get this thing piping hot, around 800 to 900 degrees,” he says. “It cooks from below and above at the same time, and for seafood, it’s amazing.”

Azevedo leaves much of the art of the fire to his skilled lead chef, Francisco Flores, who has been with the restaurant for 18 years. It’s thrilling to watch Flores work the oven, zipping skillets and platters in and out, rapid-fire basting sea bass in butter and garlic and roasting whole branzino to a perfectly caramelized brown skin. Sous vide octopus, served on a bed of sweet onion puree and fried potatoes, gets a quick sear for superb chew, while the paella-like Arroz á la Valenciana gains a bit of crisp crackle for its mix of linguiça, chicken, shellfish, and saffron rice.

Fire power in Geyserville

Flames also take center stage at rustic Diavola in Geyserville, where a red plastered, wood-burning oven anchors the partially open kitchen. The soot-stained beast is topped by a growling, tusked, wild boar sculpture, and flanked by carved, religious icon figurines in honor of its revered status. An archway above the oven is hung with more than a dozen framed tools of butchery—cleavers, knives, and an antique hacksaw.

Into the oven’s gaping maw, chefs feed delicious foods: Glittery silver sardines tumbled with potatoes, peppers, tomato, onions, olives, capers and a splash of sherry vinegar. Rich duck breast, which emerges bronzed and crackly-skinned. Heirloom pumpkin agnolotti draped in brown butter. Neapolitan-style pizzas. And yes, wild boar, used in wintery dishes like housemade chestnut pappardelle with porcini crema and rosemary.

Grilling radicchio Dino Bugica, chef/owner of Diavola grilling vegetables
Grilling radicchio at Diavola in Geyserville. (Chris Hardy/For Sonoma Magazine)
The Salsiccia Pizza, containing house sausage, red onions, and pecorino, at Diavola Pizzeria & Salumeria, in Geyserville. (Christopher Chung/The Press Democrat)
The Salsiccia Pizza, containing house sausage, red onions, and pecorino, at Diavola Pizzeria & Salumeria in Geyserville. (Christopher Chung/The Press Democrat)

Throughout lunch and dinner service, chef-owner Dino Bugica and his team aim to keep the oven roaring at about 750 degrees. The creature greedily consumes walnut, oak, almond wood—“kind of whatever is available,” Bugica says, working hard even as it cools, its glowing coals charring beets, squash, and leeks.

Just don’t ever get too confident, he warns. “It’s a beast, that thing. I’ve seen it humble a lot of cooks who think they’re really good. It can really set you back, because you can’t turn away. You have to always understand what’s going on.”

More fire power awaits outside, where a patio holds a rust-patina charcoal rotisserie grill, a wood-fired smoker, and an Argentine-style grill fueled by a mix of mesquite charcoal and wood. “My friend built it,” he says, placing a loving hand on the Argentine grill, gussied up with a plancha for searing delicacies like scallops. There’s also a metal swivel seat that allows the chef to grill sitting down—but the seat often gets too hot for his rear end, Bugica confesses.

Amid more exotic fare, one of Bugica’s favorite dishes from the wood oven is humble, housemade mafaldine, a ribbon-shaped pasta. “We do porcini mushrooms, chanterelles, all kinds of cheese and sauce, and bake it bubbly brown. It becomes kind of like lasagna edges, that little crisp edge that everybody loves.”

“Really, you can cook everything,” Bugica says. “Whatever inspires you each day.”

Animo 18976 Sonoma Hwy., Sonoma. On Instagram @animo_restaurant

Diavola Pizzeria & Salumeria 21021 Geyserville Ave., Geyserville. 707-814-0111, diavolapizzeria.com 

LaSalette Restaurant, 452 First St. E., Sonoma. 707-938-1927, lasaletterestaurant.com

More of Sonoma’s best live-fire cooking

ROOF 106

The rooftop lounge-restaurant at The Matheson boasts a 3,800-pound, custom-tiled Mugnaini wood-fired oven. Don’t miss blistered shishito peppers with Marcona almonds and housemade chorizo or elaborate pizzas with toppings like duck confit.

106 Matheson St., Healdsburg. 707-723-1106, thematheson.com

ROSSO PIZZERIA & WINE BAR

Inspired by the Slow Food movement, the menu celebrates fare fashioned in a brick-and-tile-trimmed Tuscan wood-burning oven. The signature dishes include seasonal oven-roasted Dungeness crab and a crisp, yeasty mushroom pizza with Taleggio and fontina cheese. 53 Montgomery Dr., Santa Rosa. 707-544-3221, rossopizzeria.com

GLEN ELLEN STAR

Chef-owner and French Laundry alum Ari Weiswasser mans a large, custom-built fire-breathing wood oven, wowing the crowds with Brussels sprouts in brown sugar bacon marmalade and an exquisitely moist whole fish draped in tamarind-brown butter sauce.

13648 Arnold Dr., Glen Ellen. 707-343-1384, glenellenstar.com

SWEET T’S RESTAURANT + BAR

A giant wood-fired grill and apple-wood smoker are the backbone of a succulent Southern menu featuring beef brisket, pulled pork, tri-tip, sausages, ribs, and more. 9098 Brooks Rd. S., Windsor. 707-687-5185, sweettssouthern.com

CIBO RUSTICO PIZZERIA

In true Italian style, the wood-burning oven elevates dishes like prosciutto-wrapped asparagus; roasted stuffed zucchini flowers, and pizzas like the Cibo Star, an 8-pointed, star-shaped pizza with marinara, buffalo mozzarella, prosciutto, sausage, basil and Parmesan on a cheese-stuffed crust. 1305 Cleveland Ave., Santa Rosa. 707-623-9906, ciborustico.com

JACKSON’S BAR AND OVEN

Chef Josh Silvers is a pioneer with wood-fired cooking, and his casually sophisticated spot still impresses with staples like wood-fired mussels with chorizo and fennel; lamb-stuffed flatbread and gooey-golden baked ziti studded with roasted mushrooms. 135 Fourth St., Santa Rosa. 707-545-6900, jacksonsbarandoven.com

Kapu Bar Brings the Tiki Experience to Petaluma

By Heather Irwin
Kapu Bar, tiki bar and restaurant in the heart of downtown Petaluma on Keller street February 1, 2023 (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)

The menu has significantly changed since this review. No current menu is available on the website.

Petaluma’s new Kapu Bar is the tiki-tackiest, booziest, most questionably appropriate escape from reality none of us knew Sonoma County desperately needed.

Because after fires, floods, a pandemic and years of binge drinking at home, it’s about time for a few (dozen) mai tais with friends inside faux palm-leaf huts, especially when served with the best garlic chicken east of Kona.

For more than a year, Kapu’s General Manager and Beverage Director Michael Richardson has been outfitting his Keller Street lounge with taxidermy puffer fish, hand-carved wood totems and a million other details, like plastic geckos stashed here and there and Spanish “pieces of eight” coins embedded in one of the bars. His motto: No bare walls.

Mission accomplished.

“You can have a place like this for years and still be decorating,” he said.

From left, Fink Bomb, Classic Mai Tai and the Tropical Itch at Kapu Bar, a tiki bar and restaurant in the heart of downtown Petaluma on Keller Street, Feb. 1, 2023. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)
From Left, Fink Bomb, Classic Mai Tai and the Tropical Itch at Kapu Bar, tiki bar and restaurant in the heart of downtown Petaluma. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)
Ahi Salad at Kapu Bar, tiki bar and restaurant in the heart of downtown Petaluma on Keller street February 1, 2023 (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)
Ahi Salad at Kapu Bar, tiki bar and restaurant in the heart of downtown Petaluma. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)

After you walk through the faux molten-lava entrance, it takes a minute for your eyes to adjust to the dark and dreamy wonderland that is Kapu.

Glass fishing floats hang from the ceiling, glowing blue, red and yellow and casting the bar area in a purple haze. A large rectangular bar has open seating for a better view of the bartenders shaking, mixing and blending their mysterious concoctions — the Fink Bomb, Tropical Itch, classic Mai Tai or Missionary’s Downfall.

A lounge room includes 20-foot Chinese dragons, pinball machines and tucked-away spots for cozy conversation. A private Captain’s Room has a yo-ho-ho pirate theme, while tables surrounding the bar are palm leaf-covered nooks perfect for a little post-rum punch canoodling. Words, in this case, can’t do justice to the visual melee that shocks and awes.

Much of the maximalist mashup of faux Polynesian, Pacific pirate, midcentury modern, beachcomber, Indiana Jones and pinup Americana that defines tiki bars was inspired by Eli Hedley, who brought the post-WWII vibe to Southern California.

At Kapu, Richardson hired professional tiki bar designer Ben Bassham, Hedley’s grandson, to get the authentic look. He also leaned heavily on Oceanic Arts in Southern California, a legendary purveyor of Asian and Pacific Islander crafts that inspired, for better or worse, the tiki craze in the 1950s and ’60s.

“When you walk in here, you get swept away by the current. It just sets the stage,” Richardson said.

Chef Mike Lutz and owner Michael Richardson of Kapu Bar, in the captains room at the tiki bar and restaurant in the heart of downtown Petaluma on Keller street February 1, 2023 (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)
Chef Mike Lutz and owner Michael Richardson of Kapu Bar, in the captains room at the tiki bar and restaurant in the heart of downtown Petaluma. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)
Banana Split at Kapu Bar, tiki bar and restaurant in the heart of downtown Petaluma on Keller Street, Feb. 1, 2023. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)
Banana Split at Kapu Bar, tiki bar and restaurant in the heart of downtown Petaluma. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)

Richardson came to Sonoma County by way of Las Vegas in 2020 to oversee the beverage program at Burdock Bar in Healdsburg, where he wowed locals with the outlandish tiki drinks he created at Frankie’s Tiki Room in Las Vegas. Several of his modern recipes for classic rum drinks were included in “Liquid Vacation: 77 Refreshing Tropical Drinks from Frankie’s Tiki Room in Las Vegas” (Stephens Press LLC, 2013).

Suffice it to say Richardson has embraced the tiki lifestyle. He usually wears shorts and a Hawaiian shirt with his waist-long dreadlocks.

Though you’re here for the cocktails, it’s the food that keeps you in your seat. Unlike other tiki bars such as the Tonga Room or Smuggler’s Cove in San Francisco, the food isn’t an afterthought at Kapu.

Chef Mike Lutz’s Hawaiian comfort-food menu is ono-licious. After spending more than 20 years on the islands, he knows his grindz. Sadly, the moody lighting makes it a little challenging to see the beauty of the food. But the flavors speak loud and clear.

“We just want this to be a place you can come as you are,” Richardson said.

Aye, aye, captain. There’s no question Sonoma County is ready for Kapu, and even more ready to get shipwrecked on this cozy little island.

The Tropical Itch at Kapu Bar, a tiki bar and restaurant in the heart of downtown Petaluma on Keller Street, February 1, 2023. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)
The Tropical Itch Kapu Bar, tiki bar and restaurant in the heart of downtown Petaluma. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)

Best bets

Poke Nachos, $24: There’s a reason mainland poke never tastes as good as it is on the Islands — we’re doing it wrong. Chef Mike Lutz uses fresh tuna, sweet onion, shoyu and inamona (ground kakui nuts) to get the perfect flavor. The dish is made to order, and each ingredient shines rather than becoming part of a muddled mess. It’s served beautifully on fried wontons.

Braised Pipikaula, $18: Smoked short ribs with pickled sweet onions fall apart on the fork.

Garlic Chicken, $12: A must-order, these crispy nuggets of double-fried chicken are bathed in shoyu and sprinkled with furikake and crispy garlic. Dip them in a tsukemono (Japanese pickle) dip. The recipe is inspired by the garlic chicken at Broke Da Mouth Grindz in Kona, one of my top 10 favorite dishes in the world.

Gau Gee, $14: Pork and shrimp wonton-style packets with a sweet black bean sauce.

Fried Noodles, $20: One of three “ohana style” (family-style) dishes, this mass of yakisoba noodles, char siu barbecue pork, bok choy and a simple soft-boiled egg is a hearty shareable dish (and will soak up some of that extra rum in your belly). It’s also great as leftovers.

Mac and Potato Salad, $6: Don’t freak out. It’s made with bucatini (a hollow spaghetti-like pasta) with potato, hard-boiled egg and imitation crab (kani). In the traditional sense, it’s absolutely not macaroni salad of the plate-lunch sort, but this creamy, carbo-loaded side is a slice of heaven.

Stuffed Fish, $26: Seared rockfish stuffed with linguica, shiitake mushrooms, tomato and watercress with a sweet kabayaki Hollandaise.

Banana Split, $10: If you still have room, get this luxe dessert with banana lumpia, vanilla ice cream, rum caramel and rice puffs.

And the drinks …

Plan to try one or two, maybe three if you’re a heavyweight. More than that, and you’ll be very, very sorry in the morning. These are dangerously easy-drinking cocktails that will sneak up on you like a sneaker wave at Ocean Beach.

Though most of the drinks here are undeniably sweet, they aren’t cut with cheap syrupy mixers that leave you sugar-shocked before you even get a buzz.

Saturn, $14: Gin, passion fruit, lemon, Falernum. It’s like drinking a red Sweet-Tart Slurpee, in a really good way.

Domino, $16: Creamy Key lime and pineapple will draw you into this rummy dream of a drink.

Mai Tai, $16: This is the Trader Vic’s classic, though there’s long been debate. No pineapple juice or grenadine, just rum, Orgeat and lime. Or cheap mixers. Or stupid paper umbrellas. Thank the gods.

Fink Bomb, $16: Here’s one of Richardson’s classics from Frankie’s Tiki Room in Las Vegas. With rum, Midori, coconut and pineapple, it will land you in someone’s arms or jail. Drink at your own risk.

Kapu is at 132 Keller St., Petaluma, 707-559-3665, kapubar.com. Reservations are highly recommended.

On the serious side, in my original article about Kapu last June, I acknowledged the very real issue of appropriating island culture. It’s worth saying again. There’s no getting around the wooden god in the room.

For some, the “exotic” themes of tiki bars are offensive. Using sacred Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and Maori gods as bar decor can be seen as exploitation. Though much of the beachcomber and Polynesian aesthetic that went into tiki decor at restaurants like the Tonga Room and Trader Vic’s was a blend of real and imaginary iconography — a sort of nostalgic homage to the South Seas after World War II — it also encompasses Europe’s colonization and subjugation of Asian Pacific people.

Richardson admitted he’s faced pushback about appropriating from tiki culture. He said people are entitled to their opinions. He believes in enjoying tiki’s unique history and in supporting and commissioning Indigenous artists, like Balinese woodworkers who made many of the statues in the bar.

Barbecue or Cheesesteak? Whichever Team You’re Rooting For, Sonoma Has Your Super Bowl Food

By Heather Irwin
Three-way Smoker Combo with ribs, chicken, brisket and sides of Mac N’ Cheese and Okra/Corn/Cherry Tomato Saute from Sweet T’s Restaurant + Bar in Windsor. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)

The Chiefs and the Eagles will square up for the Big Game this Sunday, but I’m more interested in the most famous foods of KC (barbecue) and Philly (cheesesteak).

Sonoma County has some great barbecue but the perfect cheesesteak, which I’ve spent six months searching for, is far more difficult to come by.

Click through the above gallery for a few Sonoma County restaurants featuring these regional dishes.

Russian River Brewing Co. Releases Pliny the Younger to Restaurants, Bars

By Sarah Doyle
Beer lovers from around the world stand in line for their chance to taste Pliny the Younger at Russian River Brewing Company in Santa Rosa. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)

Pliny the Younger, Russian River Brewing Co.’s ultra-coveted, limited-release Triple IPA, is springing up at bars and restaurants throughout the Bay Area and beyond — six weeks ahead of the in-person release slated for next month at Russian River’s brewpubs.

It’s the second year in a row the brewery has released the beer to bars and restaurants before its annual release at Russian River Brewing’s Santa Rosa and Windsor locations. Hundreds of Pliny fans have lined up for hours, sometimes in the rain, for past annual releases at Russian River.

Historically, the beer has been released the first Friday in February, then poured for two weeks. But last year, COVID-19 forced the company to postpone the annual in-person release date to March 25.

With the first batches of the once-a-year beer ready to go, the brewery decided to move forward with wholesale distribution to bars and restaurants in February.

“Last year’s (in-person) postponement turned out to be a blessing in disguise,” said Natalie Cilurzo, the brewery’s co-owner and president. “We ended up having a better time, with nicer weather and longer days in March and April, thus creating a better experience for our 25,000 guests who often spend more time outside waiting in line than inside!”

Pliny the Younger’s wholesale distribution is expected to run out by this weekend.

The in-person release at Russian River Brewing Co.’s Santa Rosa and Windsor locations is set for March 24 through April 6. For more information, go to russianriverbrewing.com.

Where to find Pliny the Younger in Sonoma County

Grossman’s Noshery & Bar, 308 Wilson St., Santa Rosa. grossmanssr.com

Stark’s Steak & Seafood, 521 Adams St., Santa Rosa. starkrestaurants.com

Trail House, 4036 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa. trailhousesantarosa.com

HopMonk Tavern, 230 Petaluma Ave, Sebastopol; 691 Broadway, Sonoma; 224 Vintage Way, Novato. hopmonk.com

Ernie’s Tin Bar, 5100 Lakeville Highway, Petaluma. facebook.com/erniestinbar

McNear’s Saloon & Dining House, 23 Petaluma Blvd. N, Petaluma. mcnears.com

Taps on the River, 54 E Washington St., Petaluma. instagram.com/taps.petaluma

Twin Oaks Roadhouse, 5745 Old Redwood Highway, Penngrove. twinoaksroadhouse.com

The Elephant In the Room, 177 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. elephantintheroompub.com

Papa’s Pizza Cafe, 105 N. Cloverdale Blvd., Cloverdale. papaspizzacafe.com.

Korbel Winery, 13250 River Road, Guerneville. korbel.com

Blue Heron Restaurant and Tavern, 25300 Steelhead Blvd., Duncans Mills. blueheronrestaurant.com

Russian River Pub, 11829 River Road, Forestville. russianriverpub.com

Rio Nido Roadhouse, 14540 Canyon 2 Road, Rio Nido. rionidoroadhouse.com

You can reach Staff Writer Sarah Doyle at 707-521-5478 or sarah.doyle@pressdemocrat.com.

Where to Watch Super Bowl 2023 in Sonoma County

By Sonoma Magazine Staff
Soccer fans celebrate a U.S. goal in the first half against Wales in the first round of the World Cup at the Victory House in Epicenter Santa Rosa Monday, November 21, 2022. (John Burgess/Press Democrat)

This Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs face off against the Philadelphia Eagles for Super Bowl LVII. If you want to pair the game (and the halftime show) with some socializing, snacks and brews, we’ve lined up the best Sonoma County sports bars and beer venues to watch the drama unfold — swipe through the slideshow above for all the details.

Did we miss one of your favorite sports bars? Let us know in the comments.

Lonnie Hayes contributed to this article. 

25 Sonoma County Hotels Named Among Best in the US

By Dana Rebmann
The Forbes Travel Guide has honored Montage Resort in Healdsburg with its top five-star luxury rating in 2025. (Montage Healdsburg)

U.S. News & World Report has announced its 2023 list of “Best Hotels in the USA.” This year, 25 properties in Sonoma County made the cut, with Montage Healdsburg taking No. 232 on the list, which features over 6,000 hotel properties. Acqualina Resort & Residences in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, took the No. 1 spot.

“The 2023 Best Hotels rankings offer a list of dependable places to stay for every type of trip, from solo trips to romantic getaways to family vacations,” said Zach Watson, senior travel editor at U.S. News.

Related: 28 Favorite Celebrity Spots in Sonoma and Napa Wine Country

According to U.S. News, rankings are calculated using a combination of factors, including “each hotel’s star rating, the aggregate opinion of published travel experts and the overall customer satisfaction expressed in online guest reviews of luxury hotels and resorts provided by TripAdvisor.”

The digital media company also released a number of other best hotel lists, including Best Hotels in Canada, Best Hotels in Mexico and Best Hotels in Europe. In total, the 13th annual Best Hotels rankings highlight more than 35,000 hotels across more than 400 destinations worldwide.

The full rankings for the 2023 Best Hotels in the USA can be found here. Click through the above gallery to see the Sonoma County hotel properties that made this year’s list.

Did the publication leave any of your Sonoma County favorites off the list? Let us know in the comments below.

Healdsburg’s Little Saint Reopens with New Food Program and Cozy Lounge Vibe

By Heather Irwin
Bean Burger from Little Saint in Healdsburg. (Emma K Creative)

After parting ways with Single Thread restaurant’s management company Vertice Hospitality in December, Healdsburg’s Little Saint has reopened with a more casual all-day food program and cozy lounge vibe.

“This is 98% of what we originally envisioned. It feels holistically good and will continue to evolve,” said co-owner Laurie Ubben at the 10,000-square-foot music, food and arts space that formerly housed Healdsburg SHED. Ubben and her husband, Jeff, a Bay Area philanthropist, bought the building in 2020.

Gone are the bistro tables and banquettes, replaced by upscale wood coffee tables, long communal tables and overstuffed sofas.

“This is a Ken Fulk space now,” Ubben said of the casual-chic decor from the well-known Bay Area interior designer who is a business partner at Little Saint.

The curated wine area, overseen by sommelier Alexandria Sarovich, also has been transformed, with an expanded collection of small-producer wines and the addition of a large round table where Sarovich plans to hold tastings. Other noticeable changes are a simplified cocktail list and a new menu from longtime chef Bryan Oliver. The coffee bar now has tall bar stools where customers can get a quick caffeine pick-me-up.

At Little Saint in Healdsburg. (Emma K Creative)
At Little Saint in Healdsburg. (Emma K Creative)

“We wanted more familiar dishes,” Ubben said. But as before, every dish is free of animal products and uses produce from the Little Saint farm.

The breakfast menu includes scrambled tofu with rosemary and maitake mushrooms, carrot lox toast with almond cream cheese, seasonal quiche, overnight oats and chia seed pudding with granola. The coffee bar serves pastries and “adaptogenic” (adaptogens are herbs or mushrooms thought to have health benefits) drinks like a frothy cup of Golden Milk made with oat milk, turmeric, ginger, cardamom and black pepper.

The lunch menu remains familiar with a grilled cheese sandwich (made with nut cheese), tofu banh mi, flatbreads and a bean burger. Daily soups and salads are also available.

 

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“We want this to be like your living room, with no formality,” said Jenny Hess, Little Saint’s program director.

Little Saint officially opened in April 2022. Shortly after, the plant-focused restaurant was included in The New York Times’ “Best 50 Restaurants in the U.S.” and Vegetarian Times’ “Best New Restaurants.”

Vertice Hospitality, co-owned by Michelin-starred chefs Kyle and Katina Connaughton, oversaw the opening food program at Little Saint, which showcased the beauty of locally grown produce with carefully composed meat-free dishes. The Connaughtons’ management company now will focus on other projects, including Single Thread farm and the River Belle Inn in Healdsburg, which they recently bought.

Little Saint, 25 North St., Healdsburg. 707-433-8207, littlesainthealdsburg.com

A Creative Couple’s Backyard Studios Make Room for Art

By John Beck
Bright light filters through plexiglass roof panels in Jessica Martin’s painting studio in Healdsburg. (Eileen Roche/For Sonoma Magazine)

A little over a decade ago, at a house party in Healdsburg, Sébastien Pochan and Jessica Martin found themselves peering into a neighbor’s beautiful backyard. “I’m looking over the fence, wondering who lives here?” remembers Martin. “It was like ‘The Secret Garden.’”

The lot was on a third of an acre on Fitch Street, filled with shady olive trees and raised garden beds, and framed at the back by a weathered, rustic barn that looked like it belonged at a winery. At the time, the couple was renting a house on West Dry Creek Road. Pochan was a winemaker at Unti Vineyards, while Martin was making her name as a local artist. And they’d just started a family—their daughter was two weeks old.

Coincidentally, Martin’s mother, who lived nearby, stumbled on the same house, a classic 1910 California bungalow, in local real estate listings. A few weeks later they found themselves standing in the magical backyard, marveling at all the possibilities.

“I always knew I would sell this house to artists,” the former owner told them. Little did she know, they would turn the backyard into an artist’s haven with two creative spaces the couple built from the ground up – a she-shed artist’s studio and a he-shed woodworking shop.

“The house itself is not anything special,” says Pochan. “I think for us, it was really about the backyard – that’s what we’re really thankful for.”

“I always knew I would sell this house to artists,” the property’s former owner told Pochan and Martin. Their two studios—one for woodworking, one for painting—helped bring the home to life. (Eileen Roche/For Sonoma Magazine)

From redwood beams and siding left over from remodeling the barn, Pochan built his backyard woodworking shop. It sits beneath the canopy of a camphor tree, where he created an adjoining tree fort for the couple’s two kids, 7-year-old August and 12-year-old Rosalie.

On a recent evening at dusk, he slides open the repurposed barn door to his 12-by-20-foot refuge. “This is the one place where I don’t see time go by,” says Pochan. Inside, the walls and counters are laden with gouges, chisels, saws, a lathe, and wood blocks and boards of all sizes. The largest wall, on the south side, lets in the last natural light of the day, almost glowing through 4-by-8-foot glass panels given to him by a contractor friend.

Not far from stocks of walnut, redwood, and maple planks, Pochan still has the set of gouges Martin gave him for his birthday in 2002, not long after they met at a party in Alexander Valley. A self-taught woodworker, Pochan started with a wood sculpture of a woman and has gone on to make dozens of pieces of furniture— tables, chairs, benches—many on commission. “At the time, we had hardly any furniture and very little money. I was thinking, ‘How hard could it be to make a table?’ Little did I know,” he says.

Lately, Pochan has been making abstract wood sculptures, which are sold at Gallery Lulo in Healdsburg. “This is where I get my satisfaction. It’s like total peace. When it’s not a commission, there’s no pressure. There’s no one behind me, telling me what to do. There’s complete freedom.”

A self-taught woodworker, Pochan makes custom furniture and wood sculptures, which are sold at Gallery Lulo in Healdsburg. (Eileen Roche/For Sonoma Magazine)

Born in Bordeaux, Pochan moved around a lot as the son of a French military doctor, living in Djibouti, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Germany, and Tahiti. After getting an enology degree in Montpellier, he came to Healdsburg to work at Stonestreet Wines in 1995. He spent the past six years running the wine program at Front Porch Farm and is now working as a consulting winemaker while he grows his own Sébastien wine label.

“There’s something about setting out to make something and seeing it progress as you go. In contrast to winemaking, where it takes at least a year to see the results of what you’ve done—it could be just a matter of hours or weeks for a wood piece to come to life.”

Martin’s sense of place and design is rooted in her family tree. She grew up in the intentional community of Las Cumbres in the Santa Cruz mountains, living in a one-of-a-kind house her parents built in the late ‘60s. It was designed around a tree, with a staircase that encircled the trunk, winding up to a loft. After her parents divorced, she lived with her mother in a sleek, minimal house in Los Gatos, built by the developer Joseph Eichler.

When Martin began brainstorming her own studio on an unused plot of ground to the south side of the family’s home, she started by researching greenhouses. That’s how she found the floor-to-ceiling, translucent polycarbonate siding that now bathes the studio in natural light.

In January 2020, Pochan started building Martin’s art studio. “And a few weeks later, we went into lockdown,” she says, standing in the middle of her 16-by-16-foot space. Beside her, the tallest wall is hung with a few of her latest paintings from a recent exhibit at nearby Legion Projects. “The timing was very fortuitous, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to work on my art.”

A reading corner
Bright light filters through plexiglass roof panels in Jessica Martin’s painting studio in Healdsburg. (Eileen Roche/For Sonoma Magazine)

Her work as a painter and sculptor is deeply research-based, exploring relationships with memory, history, and nature—and looking at how creativity weaves through all of those things, she says. She’s also very interested in how art shapes and fosters community. Helping to organize civic art projects, she also runs the art program at West Side Elementary School in Healdsburg. In March 2022, Martin and a colleague created Peptoc Hotline, a phone number the public can call to hear sweetly whimsical pre-recorded motivational advice from students at the school. The project went viral, with more than 6 million people calling in for help during the pandemic.

On the back wall of her studio, a poster created by her friend, artist Susan O’Malley, reads, “It will be more beautiful than you can ever imagine.” Martin sees it every time she walks into her studio, along with a slender, arched wooden lamp, made by Pochon. “I think it’s sacred to have a space of your own, especially if what you’re making is a solitary endeavor,” she says. “You need to have that kind of focus in a space that is truly your own, and to have the luxury to leave things as they were and then come back the next day and they haven’t moved.”

She typically creates in fits and bursts, and each time she returns to her studio, she says she feels a reconnection. “These paintings are kind of like my friends. They all have a spirit, so there’s a greeting that takes place, like they’ve all been here waiting for me to come back.”

A Tiny Prefab Home in Healdsburg Adds Space for Family

By Karen Kizer

Healdsburg homeowner Leslie Scharf knew she needed more living space when both of her daughters became parents. Extended visits weren’t feasible in her home, so she looked into purchasing an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, to accommodate her daughters and their families. 

Scharf and her late husband purchased the Healdsburg vineyard property where she now lives almost 40 years ago. The couple used a small cottage on the property as their vacation home. Eight years ago, they purchased a prefabricated Blu Home, developed in partnership with Sunset magazine, to replace the cottage. After the pandemic, Scharf moved to Healdsburg full time and sold her home in Los Angeles. 

“I love the town,”she said of Healdsburg. “It’s a nice small town but there’s a lot of stuff going on, especially due to the wine industry … it’s a nice combination of living in a rural environment but not feeling as if there’s nothing happening.”

Realizing she needed more space to house her family in her Healdsburg home, Scharf contacted Abodu, a Bay Area purveyor of manufactured ADUs. The company provides services “from blueprint to delivery” and specializes in backyard units that can house grandparents, adult children or tenants, or serve as an office, fitness studio or pool house.

The Dwell House from Abodu arrives complete with interior finishes, cabinets and appliances. (Dwell)
The hallway of the Dwell House by Abodu. (Dwell)

Scharf settled on the Dwell House, an ADU conceived by Dwell magazine, designed by Danish firm Norm Architects and constructed and installed by Abodu. Marketed as “California meets Copenhagen,” the 540-square-foot, one-bedroom unit has a minimalist Scandinavian style with vertical cedar siding and a 12-foot-wide folding glass wall. The tiny home, which is customizable, starts at $389,000.

Within a few weeks of building the foundation for the ADU, Abodu delivered Scharf’s prefabricated Dwell House, complete with all the finishes, floors, appliances and cabinets. It took Abodu only about an hour to crane the home over the grapevines and onto the foundation, and another 45 minutes to secure it. Abodu then installed the utilities for the ADU the following week.

Built-in shelves in the Dwell House by Abodu. (Dwell)

Scharf especially enjoys how the ADU’s sliding glass walls open up toward the vineyard. She says she looks forward to adding her own personal touch to the tiny home with artwork and furniture: “Little things to personalize the place. It’s a wonderful blank canvas,” she said. 

Now, Scharf’s daughters can spend more time at the property they loved as children and where they both got married, together with their families. And Scharf likes her new ADU so much she’s ready to move in.

“If my kids want to come up here and take over the main house, I’d be happy to take over the Abodu,” she said. 

Updated 1890s Cottage in Healdsburg Listed for $1.7 Million. Take a Look Inside

By Karen Kizer

An 1890s cottage in Healdsburg has been transformed into a comfortable California-casual home with a modern vibe. The three-bedroom, two-bathroom dwelling at 318 Grant St. is currently listed for $1,700,000.

The ornate character of the late 19th century home is maintained in the carefully restored exterior woodwork, interior moldings and rosettes, as well as a vintage stove. The living areas have been opened up, creating a modern and spacious layout with 12-foot ceilings and white-painted walls. Oak plank floors create a rustic and casual contrast to the typically busier Victorian-era design. Modern floor and wall tiles in the bathrooms add to the contemporary feel of the home.

The cottage’s staging, featuring lots of plants, modern furniture in muted colors and plenty of wood elements throughout, resonate with the streamlined modern design. And the refinished porch, which gets sun all day, connects beautifully with the outdoors.

Click through the above gallery for a look inside the home.

This home at 318 Grant St. in Healdsburg is listed with Joseph Noisat, 707-433-6555, 707-481-8736, Charlene Schnall, 707-483-3192, Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty, 1485 First Street, Napa, goldengatesir.com