The tiny west county town of Graton is merely a blip on the radar (there’s not even a stoplight), but it is the essence of all that is weird, wonderful and deliciously delightful about the farther-flung regions of Sonoma County. Click through the above gallery for some of our favorite spots to grab a bite in and around Graton.
A lot has changed since Timo and Ashby Marshall launched Spirit Works Distillery in Sebastopol’s Barlow a decade ago.
“For starters, we now have a staff,” said Ashby Marshall, co-founder and head distiller. “Sometimes (people) don’t believe we used to do everything ourselves. It still feels weird to have help.”
In 2012, Spirit Works was among the first three businesses to move into The Barlow, along with Woodfour Brewing and Kosta Browne winery. Back then, the property had yet to grow into the buzzing outdoor marketplace it is today, with wineries, breweries, restaurants, artisan shops and, of course, a distillery.
“When we signed our lease, the broader concept for The Barlow still remained on paper,” said Timo Marshall, co-founder and operations manager. “But they needed someone to believe in them, and we needed someone to believe in us. So it worked out well.”
Celebrating its 10th anniversary this month, Spirit Works Distillery has been a passion project for the husband-and-wife team since Day One. Among their award-winning spirits, you’ll find vodka, gin and whiskey produced with organic red winter wheat; their bestselling four-grain bourbon; and a delicious, juicy sloe gin made with fresh sloe berries.
To commemorate the anniversary, Spirit Works is releasing a limited-edition 8-year-old rye whiskey ($90), the oldest release for the brand.
“There were two barrels I’d had my eye on in the cellar for quite some time,” said Ashby Marshall, who created the limited-release rye. “One was producing beautiful fruity notes, while the other was very spicy, with coriander, cardamom and caraway. I felt like the flavors would meld beautifully together.”
The brand’s leading tenet is what they call “grain to glass,” reflecting the couple’s commitment to producing their spirits with organic whole grains.
“‘Grain to glass’ sounds like a nice marketing term, but it’s massively important to us,” Timo Marshall said. “Some craft distillers just buy alcohol, tweak it a bit, then bottle it. But we start production with high-quality raw materials and process everything on-site. We want to know where all our ingredients come from.”
So do their customers. In recent years, Timo Marshall said, many people have shifted from asking which ingredients go into their products to instead asking where the ingredients are sourced from. They’re more invested in learning about the brand’s intent, and they want to buy products that support the local economy, he said.
Among the most significant changes in the industry that the Marshalls have experienced since launching Spirit Works was the passage of the Craft Distiller’s Act in 2015.
Before the act passed, craft distilleries in California were not allowed to sell their spirits directly to consumers in a tasting room. They also couldn’t charge for tastings or tours, or accept tips.
“People would come in for a tasting and we wouldn’t charge them,” Timo Marshall said. “Then they would want to buy our products, and we would tell them to buy our spirits elsewhere. They were very confused.”
Now, customers can buy up to 2.25 liters of spirits per day directly from the tasting room. That lets the distillery experiment with small batches of new products and get consumer feedback before deciding whether to release new products into the marketplace.
“The Craft Distiller’s Act has had a huge impact on the creativity and imagination of the craft distillery industry as a whole,” Timo Marshall said. “Once it passed, distillers began making these really fascinating spirits in California. It has been an amazing change to our industry.”
Spirit Works has not been immune to the effects of the pandemic, with the tasting room being forced to close for months. Fortunately, the Marshalls were able to retain their entire staff and keep production flowing.
For California’s craft distillers, the unforeseen silver lining of COVID-19 has been the passage of Assembly Bill 920 in March 2022. Designed to “mitigate the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on craft distillers and resulting loss of revenue,” the temporary bill authorized craft distillers to ship up to 2.25 liters of spirits directly to consumers — something that wasn’t allowed previously. Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a stopgap measure to extend the bill until Jan. 1, 2024.
“Being able to ship directly to consumers has been a massive change,” Timo Marshall said. “Before, customers would have to visit the tasting room to pick up their spirits club shipments, which limited our geographic reach. The bill has really helped us expand our business and hire more people, which is great for our community and the economy.”
While laws and legalities in the craft spirits industry may have changed over the last decade, Marshalls’ passion for producing quality grain-to-glass spirits remains strong.
Within the next few months, the distillery will release an exclusive Founder’s Reserve wheat whiskey, a hyper-local rye vodka, housemade citrus bitters and a unique sloe amaro.
They also are producing custom spirits for private clients, which is a significant and growing part of their business.
“The fact we’re still here after 10 years is huge to us,” Timo Marshall said. “We love seeing how Sonoma County has grown in its appreciation of craft spirits, and it’s incredible to think about all the people we’ve connected with over the years through the distillery. We’re so happy to be where we are in the industry.”
You can reach Staff Writer Sarah Doyle at 707-521-5478 or sarah.doyle@pressdemocrat.com.
Condé Nast Traveler magazine has announced its annual Top 20 Hotels in Northern California: Readers’ Choice Awards. This year, five Sonoma County properties made the list, which was topped by Auberge de Soleil in Rutherford, Napa Valley.
Healdsburg, which was named “Sonoma County’s most charming town” by Condé Nast Traveler in August, had two hotels on the list: Montage Healdsburg took the No. 2 spot; Hotel Healdsburg ranked No. 10.
“This accomplishment wouldn’t be possible without the support of our dedicated hotel teams and the loyal guests that visit our beautiful town,” said Tallia Hart, CEO of the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau. Click through the above gallery to see all the Sonoma County winners.
Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards, now in their 35th year, are the longest-running recognition of excellence in the travel industry. This year, more than 240,000 readers rated their top travel experiences around the world. Read more here.
It’s never been easier to travel with your dog, especially if you’re thinking about a getaway to the Sonoma Coast. Along with wide beaches and striking oceanfront hotels, a number of coastal wineries and restaurants welcome hounds and their humans. Click through the above gallery for some of our favorite dog-friendly destinations on the Sonoma Coast.
If you’re looking to head further north, these are some of our favorite Fido-friendly stops on the Mendocino coast.
For more than 100 years, the inimitable Canevari’s Deli and ravioli factory has been a delicious part of the fabric of Santa Rosa. Founded by Italian immigrants in the early 1900s, the family-run shop made hundreds of pounds of meat and cheese-filled pasta weekly. It remained in the Canevari family until 2012.
A decade ago, Lou Ciambrone (formerly of Sweet Lou’s in Cotati) took over the business and kept most of the menu the same — homemade ravioli, fresh cannoli and meaty sandwiches made fresh, hot and piled impossibly high. With a hearty handshake and booming voice, Lou is the embodiment of the warm goomba hospitality expected by longtime Canevari customers.
Now, a new generation is stepping in to expand the deli and continue its legacy. Lou’s son, Dominic Ciambrone, known internationally as the Shoe Surgeon, recently returned to Santa Rosa to inspire fresh ideas at the humble deli.
The well-known shoe designer makes bespoke kicks for celebrities and influencers at his Los Angeles loft (starting around $5,000 per pair). Though he’s embedded in the Los Angeles scene, Dominic grew up in Santa Rosa and worked at his parents’ restaurant as a kid.
“Hospitality is in my blood,” Dominic said while sitting inside the newly remodeled cafe in September. The interior has been refreshed with new counters and subway tiles along the back wall, but the historic black-and-white photos remain. “My dad has done an amazing job, but I want to give it new life and fresh energy. But the food (will) remain the same.”
The younger Ciambrone’s vision includes collaborations with big names including “Top Chef” Michael Voltaggio and celebrity chef Christian Petroni, who has appeared in “Guy’s Grocery Games” and “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” on the Food Network.
Dominic sees the connection between Santa Rosa and Guy Fieri’s local TV production as a boon.
“Chefs come here all the time for Guy’s show,” he said. “We could do pop-ups and private dinners.” Production crews from Fieri’s shows are frequent visitors to the deli, he claims.
“I want to create opportunity. I’ve always looked up to Guy; he’s such an entrepreneur, and he comes from Sonoma County. It’s important for me to give back to the community that gave me my start,” Dominic said.
“I just want to blow this brand up and let the world know,” he said. He also hopes to ship the raviolis across the country and make Canevari’s a “worldwide” name.
Biting into a fresh cannoli filled with creamy ricotta, a shower of powdered sugar, a drizzle of honey and bits of torn basil, it’s easy to see how this kind of grandma-style Italian cuisine could be a draw.
Lou Ciambrone looked over at my gussied up cannoli and asked his son about the fancy additions he’s made to the simple dessert.
“He’s been in L.A. too long,” Lou said with a hearty laugh.
Canevari’s is at 695 Lewis Road in Santa Rosa. Call 707-545-6941 or visit canevarisdeli.com. The deli is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; and closed Sunday and Monday.
Click through the above gallery for a peek at some of the delicious dishes from Lunchbox.
We’ve been waiting ever so patiently for longtime pop-up burger and fry spot Lunchbox to open at the former East West Cafe in Sebastopol. So, so patiently.
The owners have announced that they’ve passed their inspections and are slated for an October opening. Even better news? They’ll be joining up with nearby Psychic Pie (the best Roman-style pizza ever) for hoagie offerings. A photo on their Instagram shows a tempting image of a sourdough meatball hoagie and Philly-inspired garlic-herb roast pork sandwich with broccoli rabe.
Stay tuned for details. Visit lunchboxsonomacounty.com.
Speaking of Philly-style sandos: Biteclub’s been on the hunt for the best Philly cheesesteak in Sonoma County.
The results have been mixed. Overly precious, California-ized cheesesteaks lack the greasy, cheap bread, Cheez-wiz, onion-y goodness this sandwich should always have. Cheap cheesesteaks taste like cheap meat and despair.
So far, the crowd favorite is Streetside Asian Grill (and I concur). The unassuming food truck focuses mostly on fresh Vietnamese and Asian-fusion dishes, but the Philly cheesesteak has become a bestseller. Cheesesteak fries are sold, too. Find the truck’s latest location on Instagram.
Each day Keita Tominaga opens the doors of Hana Japanese restaurant, he faces a challenging prospect — stepping into his late father’s shoes.
In May, the 31-year-old chef took up the reins of the venerated Japanese restaurant in Rohnert Park and PABU Izakaya in San Francisco, following the untimely death of his father, Kenichi “Ken” Tominaga, at age 61.
Ken Tominaga opened Hana in 1990 — long before nigiri and sushi rolls were a common sight in Wine Country — and PABU in 2014 with Chef Michal Mina (three additional locations in Boston are now closed). Most recently, the popular chef partnered with Dustin Valette to operate a sushi bar at Valette’s three-story Matheson restaurant in Healdsburg.
Ken’s greatest legacy, however, was his jubilant hospitality and kinship with the local food and wine community. Almost any night, you could find off-duty chefs seated at his sushi bar or sipping sake at a table and chatting with him.
“I was planning to take over the restaurant, but not this way,” said Keita Tominaga, looking around the empty Rohnert Park restaurant in late September as kitchen staff prepared for service later that evening. In the months since his father’s death, Tominaga says, many chefs have come to the restaurant to pay their respects and offer advice and support.
Though Keita always had planned to follow in his father’s footsteps, Ken’s unexpected death left a vacuum. Keita is scrambling to fill that gap with the help of his mother, Emiko, and brother, Kousuke, while also envisioning his future.
Keita Tominaga grew up in Sonoma County and graduated from the Culinary Institute of America. He has cooked at the Farmhouse Inn, Diavola, Jackson Family Wines and Auberge du Soleil, which have given him a strong foundation in Western cuisine.
But six months working in Tokyo at the Michelin-starred Tenoshima last year brought him closer to Japanese cuisine. He learned about kaiseki, traditional multicourse meals of small seasonal dishes presented in a precise, ritualized manner. The experience allowed him to escape his father’s shadow.
“I was a nobody there. Here, everyone compared me to my father,” Keita said. “I was able to develop a tougher skin there.”
He also delved into the culture and history of Japanese flavors, learning not just the techniques of cooking but the reasons behind those methods — why seasonality and history play a huge part in Japanese cooking.
“My boss (chef/owner Hayashi Ryohei) was very into that. He was into the ‘why,’ not just the ‘how,’ like ‘Why do we eat certain things at certain times of the year?’” he said.
“His take on food was to modernize the traditional in a respectful way,” Keita said.
It’s much the same at Hana since the generational transition.
“I’m protecting what needs to be protected and changing what needs to be changed,” Keita said.
He’s cautiously watching for what works at the restaurant, and what doesn’t.
The menu hasn’t changed significantly, but Keita features more seasonal local produce now. On a recent visit, he offered a height-of-the-season tomato salad as an amuse-bouche. Fish on the menu continues to be sourced both locally and from Japan. He’s also revisiting Hana recipes that haven’t changed in decades.
The sushi bar, as ever, is the hot spot of the restaurant. Without the diversion of Ken’s larger-than-life presence, the dining room feels a bit worn, in need of fresh paint and modern tables. The more recently opened sake bar, however, is charming.
By early next year, Keita hopes to tackle some unfinished projects and make the menu entirely his, from start to finish. As he thinks about the future, his father still looms large in his mind.
“What do people feel when they walk in this door?” he said of his father’s constant smile, humor and appreciation for sharing Japanese cuisine. “Those things can’t change. That has to be protected.
“I’m still just learning how my father ran this place. Yes, we argued. We yelled. But those were good things,” Keita said.
“There are a hundred fires burning all the time, and I have to put them all out. But I can only do that one at a time. It feels like it’s been a very long and a very short year.”
Sushi & Sashimi, $8 – $30: Fresh fish is the reason you’re at Hana. Meticulous attention to detail and extensive knowledge make this one of the best places for raw fish in the North Bay. It isn’t cheap, but expect perfect cuts of tuna, mackerel, eel, sea urchin, salmon and seasonal specials with properly seasoned rice. This is the gold standard by which other fish should be measured.
Happy Spoon, $8: A delicious bite that combines a single oyster, uni, ikura and tobiko (roe), with a dot of ponzu-infused crème fraîche, this is a Hana classic.
Ken’s Roll, $22: The founding chef’s namesake roll is a flavorful blend of crispy prawn tempura, spicy tuna, avocado and shichimi pepper. If you’re more of a traditionalist, rolls filled with pickled daikon or plum, squash and even natto (fermented soybeans) are $7. On the other end of the spectrum, the Supreme Roll has toro (fatty tuna), uni and Osetra caviar ($40).
Sukiyaki, $38: Unlike its stylish cousins, ramen and shabu-shabu, sukiyaki isn’t exactly a cultural zeitgeist, but this showstopper should be. A skillet-size Japanese hot pot (or donabe) comes to the table trailing fragrant steam from onions, tofu, mushrooms, green onion and thin strips of rib-eye steak swimming in a sweet, salty, umami-packed broth. Served with rice and a raw egg for dipping into.
The restaurant also serves excellent Hokkaido Miso Ramen ($20) with a rich and salty broth, egg, corn and butter and Tempura Udon ($17) with fried prawns and udon noodles.
Miso Soup, $4 to $7: You’ll never go back to bland prepackaged miso after this. O-Age miso soup is made with red miso and studded with fried tofu and green onion. Asari miso soup is flavored with red miso and Manilla clams.
Sake: The restaurant has a large selection of Japanese sake, although the longtime sake sommelier Danny Pitassy no longer works at Hana. There’s an extensive wine list, too.
Hana Japanese is located at 101 Golf Course Drive, Rohnert Park, 707-586-0270, hanajapanese.com. Open 4:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 4 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday. Last seating at 8:30 p.m.
If you’re looking for a great meal without spending too much money, head to Santa Rosa. The Sonoma County city has been named one of the top wallet-friendly foodie destinations in the U.S. by financial website WalletHub.
Santa Rosa came in at No. 71 on WalletHub’s list, which featured 182 cities across the country. Topping the list this year was Portland, followed by Orlando and Miami. In the Bay Area, San Francisco made No. 4, Oakland 20, San Jose 45 and Fremont 139.
In order to determine the best and cheapest foodie destinations in the U.S., WalletHub compared over 180 cities across two “key dimensions” — “affordability” and “diversity, accessibility and quality.” The site evaluated those two dimensions using a variety of metrics, including cost of groceries, affordability and accessibility of high-quality restaurants and food festivals per capita.
So what are some of the best cheap eats in Santa Rosa? WalletHub didn’t offer any suggestions, but we have listed some of our favorites in the above gallery. See the WalletHub list here.
Maci Martell contributed to this article.
Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa is among the nominee finalists for the 2022 Historic Hotels of America Awards of Excellence. The Sonoma property has been nominated within two “categories of excellence” — Best Historic Hotel and Best Historic Resort — and joins finalists from around the country, including renowned East Coast hotels that were built in the 18th century. The winners will be announced Nov. 17 at an awards ceremony and gala at the Grand Hotel Golf Resort & Spa in Point Clear, Alabama.
“We are delighted to be among some of the country’s most iconic destinations,” said Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa in a statement on Facebook.
The awarding body, Historic Hotels of America, was founded in 1989 and is the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s official program for “recognizing and celebrating the finest historic hotels” in the country. Today, the program includes more than 300 hotels. (A hotel must be at least 50 years old, recognized as having “historic significance,” and a National Historic Landmark or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places to be nominated and selected for membership in the program.)
The Sonoma Mission Inn, a Sonoma County historic landmark and member of Historic Hotels of America, was built in 1927 on the the 360-acre Bigelow Ranch. Located in Boyes Hot Springs, the ranch had previously been the site of the Boyes Hot Springs Hotel, a popular resort that was destroyed by a wildfire in the fall of 1923. When the new Spanish Mission-style hotel opened on the property in August 1927 it too was named the Boyes Hot Springs Hotel but changed name to the Sonoma Mission Inn in February 1928.
The location for the Sonoma Mission Inn was designated as sacred ground by Native Americans, who utilized its hot springs for medicinal and spiritual purposes long before it became a wellness destination for vacationers. During World War II, the hotel served as a U.S. Navy rehabilitation facility for sailors and marines returning from combat duty in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater. The hotel returned to civilian use in October 1945. In the late 20th century, following an extensive renovation, a new thermal mineral water source was discovered more than 1,000 feet below the property. The Sonoma Mission Inn then changed ownership a number of times before it was acquired in 2012 by Fairmont Hotels, which had managed the property since 2002.
Click through the above gallery for photos of the historic property.
Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa, 100 Boyes Blvd., Sonoma, 707-938-9000, fairmont.com/sonoma
Michael Volpatt, owner of Big Bottom Market, is perhaps best known for his biscuits, which were one of Oprah’s “Favorite Things” a few years ago. But Volpatt, a longtime fixture in Guernville, has had his hands in the mix in many ways beyond making biscuits. Among other projects, he co-owns the Equality Vines tasting room across the street from the market and, during the pandemic, he became the host of a self-produced cooking show, making livestreams of his homemade meals.
Considering Volpatt’s deep roots in Guerneville, it’s no wonder that his home emanates a love for this tiny Russian River community. The two-bedroom, two-bathroom condominium, just steps from the river, is now listed for $625,000.
Volpatt worked with interior designer Christian Damerow to bring more light into the home and create space for hosting overnight guests. The pony walls that framed the staircase were replaced with wood-framed cable railings, connecting the first and second floors in a way that allows more light to flow through the space. The look was capped off with nature-centric touches, including plenty of stained woods and a layout that yields focus to the towering redwoods outside.
Volpatt, an avid cook and frequent visitor to New York’s Fire Island Pines, wanted a kitchen that referenced his “happy place.” Damerow achieved this by using white oak floor material on the ceiling and the backsplash, with a black stone countertop as a contrasting design element. To make more room for food prep, the refrigerator was moved to a downstairs storage unit and replaced with Sub Zero under-the-counter refrigerator and freezer units.
To maximize seating in the living room, Damerow designed a built-in couch, which was then made by the late Howard Green of Evergreen Flooring. The cushions were also made locally, by seamstress Bonnie Plevney of Bonnie Sew Good.
In the main bedroom, the focal point is a redwood slab headboard. Volpatt fashioned this “redwood chic” piece of decor from wood from Sturgeon’s in Sebastopol, a steam-powered lumber mill that has been around since the early 1900s and now serves as a museum. The main bathroom features vibrant green Moroccan tiles that pick up the color of the redwood canopy outside.
Design details like angular sink fixtures, patterned textiles and mid-century modern furniture pieces are mixed with local art, vintage finds and gifts from friends, including a Cher collage Volpatt received on his 50th birthday. Another highlight is a vintage painting that used to hang in Pat’s International, a Guerneville diner since the 1940s. Click through the above gallery to take a look inside the home.
This condominium at 14058 Sosna Way in Guerneville is listed with Mary Mount with Russian River Realty Co., 707-869-0608, 707-695-3980, RussianRiverRealty.com
