The Farmhouse Inn, nestled among the vineyards of the Russian River Valley, has long been a favorite getaway for publicity-weary celebrities and well-heeled visitors. Besides the luxury accommodations, part of the allure has been the Michelin-rated restaurant previously managed by Chef Steven Litke.

Since Litke’s departure in 2021, however, the culinary program has reinvented itself out of necessity, with a newly redesigned kitchen and the installation of Chef de Cuisine Shawn Jackson Clark overseeing a revamped fine dining program and Executive Chef Trevor Anderson spearheading a newly reimagined casual restaurant experience called Farmstand. Both chefs are Farmhouse alums.

The primarily outdoor dining, with bubbly Neapolitan pizzas, wood-fired cooking and shareable plates, was inspired by a previous toe-dip into all-day dining at the Forestville inn. The new concept is far more welcoming, with a trip-worthy menu and deck seating that takes advantage of the property’s woodsy charm. Farmhouse and Farmstand dining experiences are both open to the public.

The Farmstand menu is entirely a la carte, with impossibly fresh vegetable dishes (many from co-owner Joe Bartolomei’s garden) like sweet roasted carrots with salsa verde, summery pressed watermelon with feta and black olives and cool red beets with fresh berries and pistachio butter. All range from $12 to $16 each. Wood-fired pizzas ($24-$25) are generous, with a maitake mushroom and black truffle-leek cream version taking top honors in our book. Larger entrees, like a grilled flatiron steak or half chicken, range from $18 to $38.

This captivating experience is a comparative deal for the area and showcases the inventive new directions of the culinary program here. Expect frequent menu changes throughout the season. On Wednesday nights, Farmstand offers a prix fixe menu for $65 per person with several seasonal items and an outdoor movie in the courtyard.

Breakfast and lunch daily, dinner 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. 7871 River Road, Forestville, 707-887-3300. Find full details and the all-day Farmstand menu at farmhouseinn.com.

Inside a convenience store on Ninth Street in Santa Rosa, Afghan refugee Suliman Dawood serves up traditional gyros along with plates of chicken, fish and falafel atop fragrant Persian rice drizzled with creamy white garlic sauce, called shawarma sauce here.

The impromptu eatery is called ZamZam, a reference to a life-giving, sacred well in Mecca that is treasured in Islamic culture.

This is the humble font from which Dawood, 20, is beginning his American life, light years from his former career as a national soccer player in Afghanistan.

Dawood is one more than 100,000 refugees who fled the war-torn country during the chaos surrounding the U.S. military’s departure and the Taliban’s swift return to power last year. In a harrowing escape, he left Afghanistan with three brothers and their mother. The group are now are now temporarily settled in Santa Rosa with a fifth brother, Roman Zemari, who is a U.S. citizen.

Zemari recalls the anguish-filled days watching from afar and unable to help as his family struggled to depart the country.

The emotional story begins with his mother, Zakia Sayed Osman, visiting family in Afghanistan last year. As the political situation quickly began deteriorating, Zemari begged her to leave the country with her four Afghan sons (including Suliman), daughter and two grandchildren.

Because Osman has a green card, the family were granted humanitarian asylum in the U.S., and the path out seemed assured. But while they made their way through the terrified crowds at the Kabul airport, one son, 19-year-old Ibrahim, was struck by Taliban soldiers. Gunfire erupted as the family continued on, but Osman’s daughter and two grandchildren were forced to turn back. They remain trapped in Afghanistan.

“There was shooting happening, and my mom got on the plane with my little brothers,” Zemari explained. Dawood and Ibrahim, along with the two younger siblings, 12 and 16, now have temporary humanitarian asylum here.

Adapting to a new culture

As Dawood and his brothers settled into their new Santa Rosa home, one of the challenges was finding familiar cuisine.

“We struggled finding food for us (in Sonoma County),” said Dawood, whose family eats halal, as do many other Muslim families in the area.

Halal means “permissible” in Arabic. It requires that the slaughter of animals for food adheres to strict Islamic standards. Like kosher food, overseen by Jewish law, halal also prohibits the consumption of pork or other “unclean” animals. Conventionally raised meat is not considered halal.

So without many local options for halal food, the family started a restaurant.

Operating out of Harry’s Market in a scruffy west-end neighborhood of Santa Rosa, ZamZam is the humblest of eateries, lacking tables and chairs and only available for takeout or delivery through apps like DoorDash. Surrounded by industrial businesses and low-income housing, the market attracts families seeking sodas and candy along with less savory characters who loll drunkenly nearby.

That element, Dawood said, frightens away the very demographic — Muslim families looking for halal meat — he hopes to serve.

“Families don’t like that we are in a liquor store,” he said. Intoxicating substances (including liquor) are forbidden in Muslim culture. “But we tell them if they don’t feel comfortable, we can come out with the food. We would love to have a place where people can come to sit and eat, and we hope to one day have that, in a Turkish style with sofas.”

Though the menu is limited to combo plates with spiced chicken, ground lamb, gyros, chicken wings and American dishes like hamburgers and pizza, all of the food is halal.

ZamZam soon will be taking American dishes off the menu and replacing them with bolani (an Afghan bread filled with potatoes and leeks) and Afghan “burgers,” a lavash flatbread filled with fries, a hot dog, boiled eggs and chutney. Desserts like baklava are housemade and delicious.

There have been menu wobbles as the family starts up their enterprise, but Zemari wants to give his brother Dawood and the rest of his resettled family hope in their new homeland by giving them productive work. Zemari worked with a friend to secure the kitchen and has his own restaurant experience working for local food vendors.

“My brother was very famous,” he said of Dawood, who played on the Afghani National Soccer Team. “People used to want selfies with him. Now he’s sitting here doing nothing. It’s very stressful for him. (With the restaurant) now, he can know people and talk. Customers all like him, and he’s busy,” Zemari said.

And that’s precisely what Zemari wanted for his family.

“I wanted them not to be thinking about Afghanistan, so they can recover. No one wants to leave where you grew up, but no Afghanistan exists that we knew,” Zemari said.

Best Bets

Combo over rice, $16.95: Lamb and shredded, seasoned chicken over Persian rice with lettuce, onions and tomatoes. Drizzled with sour cream and yogurt garlic sauce. Green cilantro sauce and spicy red sauce also available.

Chicken Gyro, $13.45: Seasoned chicken wrapped in a pita with lettuce, onions and tomatoes.

Fry Bread, $9.95: Dawood learned how to make this savory indigenous bread from a previous kitchen tenant, the Fry Bread Shop, that recently shuttered at the convenience store. A pouf of fried dough is topped with taco fixings including beans, cheese, olives and white and green sauce. Add lamb or chicken for an extra $1.95.

Baklava: This filo pastry filled with nuts and honey is incredible. Too bad it’s not available every day, so call ahead to inquire.

Gravenstein Grill in Sebastopol is reviving its popular pizza concept, Pleasant Hill Pie, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday nights. During the 2020 pandemic lockdown, the restaurant sold takeout pizza and burgers. The latter was so successful it grew into the brick-and-mortar Sonoma Burger in 2021.

The pizza party happens on the Gravenstein Grill patio, with 12-inch pizzas, salads and drinks from the restaurant’s full bar (including happy hour discounts).

8050 Bodega Ave., Sebastopol, 707-634-6142, gravensteingrill.com

Apple Fair food

The Gravenstein Apple Fair will return to Ragle Ranch Regional Park on Aug. 13 and 14 after a two-year hiatus, with creative fair food highlighting the iconic local apple.

On the menu are Farm Trails Apple Fritters, the Black Pig Bacon BLT, gooey grilled cheese sandwiches from The Farmer’s Wife and apples dipped in housemade goat-milk caramel from Rocker Oysterfellers.

Bayou on the Bay will go all out with Cajun sausage rolls with Gravenstein caramelized onions, smoked Gravenstein barbecue macaroni and cheese, curried Gravenstein jambalaya, beignets with Gravenstein apple compote, Gravenstein apple pie bread pudding and Gravenstein apple Southern sweet tea.

Let’s say we’re thrilled to the core. Hard apple cider will, of course, be a huge part of the event, with top-notch craft brewers including Tilted Shed, Ethic Cider, Golden State Cider and Eye Cyder offering sips and pairings in the VIP tent. Oliver’s Craft Cider Tent will pour 15 ciders made with with apples grown within 100 miles of the fair’s home at Ragle Ranch.

For more details and tickets, go to gravensteinapplefair.com.

Wine bar turns 20

If Sonoma County could be encapsulated into a restaurant, Willi’s Wine Bar would be it. Mark and Terri Stark’s first restaurant opened in 2002 near the Luther Burbank Center and quickly became a top destination for small plates — something rather daring at the time — along with great wines and a generally chill vibe. The restaurant was destroyed in the 2017 wildfires but rose again in 2019 in Santa Rosa’s Town and Country shopping center with many of the same menu favorites.

In August, the restaurant turns 20, and to celebrate, the Starks are asking fans to make and post a short video on Facebook or Instagram sharing a memory of the restaurant with the tags @williswinebar and #willis20th. Twenty winners will be randomly selected from the entries to attend a private anniversary party on Aug. 21. Contest ends Aug. 15; complete rules at starkrestaurants.com.