What’s better than a hike in the green hills? A hike in the green hills, followed by fresh sticky buns or warm apple turnovers! Click through the above gallery for eight excellent hikes plus brunches in Sonoma County.
Before opening his new restaurant, Animo, in the town of Sonoma, chef Joshua Smookler gained cult status for making some of the most slurp-worthy ramen in New York City at his former restaurant, Mu Ramen. Today, he has set aside the chopsticks for food that speaks to his heart. Inspired by the Latin term ex animo, which means “of the heart, sincerely,” Animo restaurant serves food that Smookler and his wife, Heidy He, love to eat.
“Many of the items on our menu were inspired by the things we eat at home — things that make us say, ‘Oh my God, this is so good!’” says Smookler. “That is how our menu came to be. It features the things we hold dear.”
Smookler and He arrived in Sonoma from New York with their two young daughters late last year, eager for a new beginning after closing Mu Ramen during the pandemic. They ruled out several other California locations before becoming intrigued by the small-town community of Sonoma and the opportunity to access high-quality ingredients from local farmers. “It was always a dream of mine to open a restaurant in Wine Country,” says Smookler, who once worked at Thomas Keller’s Per Se in New York. “I knew we had to give it a shot.”
The couple’s new restaurant is located just west of downtown Sonoma in a former tacqueria, now painted white and simply made over, with a large cooking hearth open to the dining area, stacks of wood out front to feed the fire, and tall palm trees arching overhead. One interior wall is lined with row upon row of fresh apples — an aromatic art piece inspired by New York chef David Bouley and by the couple’s former life in the Big Apple.
Smookler, who was born in Korea and adopted into a Jewish family in New York, has created a menu that ranges widely.
Many dishes are served family-style, including an elegant rib eye for two, lobster with XO sauce, and Manila clams with chorizo and fish sauce. “Everything here has deep meaning to me,” says Smookler, motioning to a large glass-front cabinet used to age prime cuts of beef, Iberico pork, along with whole turbot the size of dinner plates. “I use Flannery Beef from San Rafael — not just because it’s the best dry-aged beef in the country — but because they’re committed to quality, and I’ve used their products for years. I source Iberico pork from Acornseekers in Texas because I’ve witnessed how much they love and care for their pigs. It’s the most beautiful thing.”
While Smookler remains focused on perfecting the food, both he and wife He have become passionate about hospitality — something they know is imperative in Wine Country. Future plans for Animo include new decor, spots to dine outdoors, and seasonal updates to the ever-evolving menu and wine list.
“The goal of this restaurant is to make the very best food I’m capable of,” says Smookler. “This is just phase one. We can’t wait to see the evolution of this place, because it’s a living thing. The beauty is the growth of it. And I just want to put my heart on the plate.”
Animo Restaurant, Open Weds.-Sun. 18976 Sonoma Highway, Sonoma. No phone or website. Reservations available through opentable.com or via Instagram @animo_restaurant.
Balance — it’s at the heart of fine winemaking, and it’s key for mom winemakers, too. While children and wines both have agendas of their own, especially during harvest, most winemakers with kids agree the art of balancing both comes down to flexibility, finding support, and being kind to oneself. For Mother’s Day, we pay homage to three Sonoma County winemaker moms who have each found balance in their own way — and who each make a delicious rosé, just right for the launch of summer.
“Before I had kids, harvest season was everything,” says Lise Asimont, winemaker and cofounder of Dot Wine, which has a new tasting room at Healdsburg’s Bacchus Landing. “I put my whole life on hold for three to four months a year. After I had kids, that just wasn’t possible.
Being a mom became the center of my life,” she says. Asimont credits her husband, Shawn, and her family and friends for lending a hand when she was in “a mom jam,” as she puts it. “Parenting doesn’t come with an instruction manual,” she says.
“Sometimes you have to figure out a lot on the run.” Winemaker Bibiana González Rave of Alma de Cattleya, who knew she wanted to make wine at age 14, spent the majority of her life trying to prove her worth as a female winemaker who could do it all. But having kids changed that. “Looking back, I wish I hadn’t been so hard on myself in the beginning,” she says. “I wanted to be a very present mom and pushed myself to the limits. Fortunately, my husband [winemaker Jeff Pisoni] has always provided a lot of help and flexibility — especially when I was breastfeeding and needed wine samples. I couldn’t imagine doing it without him.”
For winemaker and artist Alice Warnecke Sutro of Healdsburg’s Sutro Wine Co., a lot of support has come from not only from her husband, but also from a local community of women in the wine industry. “They can easily glide through a conversation about microbiology and wine packaging woes to breastfeeding and summer camps,” she says. “With my kids, I’ve been very focused on time management, to make sure I have quality time with them. Fortunately, they love to be around all the action at the winery, especially during harvest. Honestly, even the messy, frustrated, and imperfect times together are valuable.”
Mother’s Day plans can be difficult to predict.
“No plans are sometimes the best plans, as long as it’s with my husband and my kids,” says Sutro. “I don’t expect quiet time, though. I’ll have to find that another day.”
Alma de Cattleya, 2021 Rosé, Sonoma County, 100% Pinot Noir. $22. Winemaker mom: Bibiana González Rave
Delicate pale pink in color, with aromas of strawberry, rose water, and orange zest. Fresh red berries and nectarine flavors combine with youthful acidity. 888-597-2297, almadecattleya.com
Dot Wine, 2021 Kobus Rose, Russian River Valley, 100% Pinot Noir. $32. Winemaker mom: Lise Asimont
Aromas of fresh summer strawberries, red cherries, and watermelon, with juicy guava on the mid-palate and balanced acidity. 707-385-9855, dotwinery.com
Sutro Wine Co., 2021 Rosé Saignée, Alexander Valley, 60% Merlot, 40% Pinot Noir. $28. Winemaker mom: Alice Warnecke Sutro
Beautifully perfumed aromas of strawberry jelly and plum, and on the palate, strawberry, raspberry, and red apple. 707-509-9695, sutrowine.com Sutro has joined with three other Sonoma winemaker moms to offer a Mother’s Day four-pack for $145, with bottles from Sutro Wines, Jaclynn Renée Wines, Camp Rose Cellars, and Carpenter Wines. To order, visit camprosecellars.com
The 8th annual Alexander Valley Film Festival, newly rebranded as AVFest, concludes this Sunday with the documentary Kaepernick & America and a closing night party at Healdsburg’s Barndiva and Matheson restaurants, capping 10 days of in-person screenings in Cloverdale, Geyserville, Healdsburg, Windsor and Santa Rosa.
This year, the festival included 38 feature films and 40 short films from 18 countries. On Saturday and Sunday — Mother’s Day weekend — it will screen two documentaries with powerful stories about family.
Jimmy in Saigon, a feature documentary by Los Angeles-based filmmaker Peter McDowell and executive producer Dan Savage, will make its West Coast premiere Saturday at the Clover Theater in Cloverdale and will screen again Sunday at Orsi Family Vineyards in Healdsburg. Mama Bears, a feature documentary by Emmy award-winning director Daresha Kyi, will play Sunday at Orsi Family Vineyards. Both directors will be in attendance for Q&As after the screenings.
Jimmy in Saigon follows McDowell as he embarks on a decade-long journey that takes him across the United States, Vietnam and France in a quest to learn more about the life and death of his older brother Jim, or Jimmy. Jimmy was drafted into the army during the Vietnam War and returned to Saigon after his tour ended. He died there, under mysterious circumstances, in 1972 when he was 24 and McDowell only five.
The years pass and McDowell’s family grieves Jimmy’s death in silence. But as he grows up, McDowell discovers that he cannot rest with so many unanswered questions about his brother. In an effort to discover the cause of his brother’s death and to find out more about who he was, he seeks out those who knew Jimmy during his final years.
In conversations with Jimmy’s friends and with family members, and by reading over 200 letters his brother wrote and sent, McDowell gains a deeper connection with the older brother he barely knew in life and learns that Jimmy was likely gay. McDowell, who also is gay, uncovers a powerful bond between his brother and a young Vietnamese man, who also has passed away, and ultimately brings their respective families together so that both men can be honored.
“When someone dies, I don’t think closure is really possible,” said McDowell. “Turning deeper within and learning more about oneself and the person is, to me, a more realistic goal. Our family is talking about this much, much more than we ever did.”
On Sunday, Jimmy in Saigon will screen just after Mama Bears at Orsi Family Vineyards in Healdsburg.
Mama Bears premiered at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, in March 2022. The feature-length documentary follows a groups of conservative, Christian mothers whose lives are transformed when they decide to “affirm and advocate on behalf of their LGBTQ children.” The women, realizing that their love of God cannot come at the expense of their gay and trans children, support one another in a private Facebook group, which they call “Mama Bears.”
The documentary explores the women’s emotional journey, from grief toward personal growth, as they lose the support of their evangelical community and later find a new sense of belonging through the LGBTQ community and the Mama Bears group. They come to realize that faith in God and unconditional love for the LGBTQ community can coexist and they decide to express this through action:
One mother fights an anti-trans bathroom bill in Texas while fiercely advocating for her young daughter; another launches the national Free Mom Hugs movement, which embraces people (figuratively and literally) who have been shunned from their families because of their gender or sexuality; a third joins the Reformation Project, a Christian organization that informs about “the biblical case for LGBTQ inclusion” and shows how Christians can “fully affirm both the Bible and LGBTQ people.”
In a time of pandemic, war and what often appears as irreconcilable political differences, we could all use a reminder that stories about family and love — stories that many of us can relate to, irrespective of who we are, where we came from or what we believe — have the power to bring people together.
Individual tickets to Jimmy in Saigon and Mama Bears can be purchased online at avfilmpresents.org/film-festival/individual-tickets.
Personal anecdotes about everyday meals are one of the best things about the myriad food newsletters that clutter my inbox every morning. Maybe it’s a great eggs Benedict at a local diner, an unexpectedly tasty margarita or a friend’s towering Hawaiian burger.
Looking through my photo reel, I realized that so many of my own delicious moments end up on the cutting room floor, getting held up for a later print story or just forgotten altogether. What a tragedy!
So, this week, I’m sharing a few recent stops worth checking out. Let’s call it a peek behind the curtain while I’m crafting longer stories. If you like this format, let me know at heather.irwin@pressdemocrat.com.
Onto the eats!
I’ve been to quite a few breweries lately for an upcoming story on food trucks. Even though I’m more of a wine girl than a hops girl, I’m amazed by some of the IPA-ternatives like sour beers, seltzers and thick smoothie hybrids. Oh, heavenly summer, I fell in love with Lagunitas’ Sumpin’ Tiki-ish and summer Mai Tai beer cocktail last weekend. These light and fruity fizzers are tasty, packing a walloping 9.2% alcohol content. The taproom menu is super approachable, with fish and chips, tacos, burgers and sandwiches. But the banh mi tacos with smoked short rib, soy glaze and sriracha aioli were the perfect pairing with an IPA and lemon drop DogTown seltzer. The large outdoor dining patio is dog-, kid- and bro-friendly.
Open 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday, 1280 N. McDowell Blvd., 707-778-8776, lagunitas.com.
This new-ish food truck is a marriage of burgers, hot dogs and tacos. Perfectly cooked burgers with cheese and bacon and a laundry list of other goodies are some of the most satisfying we’ve come across, along with wacky hot dogs (ours was loaded with elote and crema) and a mound of “dirty fries” with sweet al pastor, guacamole, onions, cheese, escabeche (pickled carrots and jalapeños) and crema. Seek this truck out.
Instagram @bunsonlysr for locations. (If you’re looking for the best way to track local food truck schedules, check out @socofoodtrucks on Instagram.)
I’ve been tracking this truck for a couple of years but only recently sampled Lila Mathia’s eclectic pub-grub at Parliament Brewing (I’m loving their apricot sour beer). Lila’s Mojo Nachos are a messy mountain of deliciousness with smokey pulled pork, pickled jalapeños, sweet corn, black bean salsa and homemade lime-cilantro crema. The food lineup changes frequently, but her browned butter chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches are a warm-weather version of cookies and milk.
@lilasstreetsideeats on Instagram.
On the fourth Tuesday of each month, this Kenwood roadhouse makes a special four-course dinner on the patio for 50 guests (by reservation only). Long communal tables are a convivial way to try off-menu dishes paired with local wines. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to try Tips’ new pitmaster Damian Brugger’s tasty smoked meats. The next event happens May 24.
8445 Sonoma Highway, Kenwood, 707-509-0078, tipsroadside.com
After the on-again, off-again ban on foie gras in California, it’s been hard to follow whether the fatty goose liver is legal. We must have missed the news during the pandemic: as of 2020, it is legal again. California still bans the sale of foie gras within the state, but it can be purchased and shipped from elsewhere. Before my first bite of foie gras this week, it had been years since I last experienced the silky taste. If you see it on a restaurant menu (it’s cropping up frequently again), you can rest assured that you won’t end up in jail.
A sleek and modern 5-bedroom, 5.5-bath home in Santa Rosa’s Fountaingrove neighborhood is currently listed for 2.795 million. The property on 3726 Crown Hill Drive is one of many rebuilds following the 2017 Tubbs Fire, but the design is a departure from the more traditional homes that have dominated this area before and after the fire.
The home was built by Sukhdev Singh, of Eia Mia Inc., who has completed six other projects in Fountaingrove, according to the home’s listing agent, Sudha Schlesinger. Singh brought on architect Fumio Suda to design the home to include the preferences of Singh’s earlier clients. The result is what Schlessigner calls an “edgy contemporary in the sky,” referencing the home’s clean lines and its position high up on the hill overlooking the canyon.
The sleek exterior has strong horizontal lines, a flat roof and little ornamentation; all typical of modern design. The home is surrounded by concrete and the vegetation is minimal: Plants are located away from the walls and in so-called islands, a minimalist aesthetic that is also a more fire-resilient choice. The interior is warmed up by lots of light and textured finishes like quartzite walls in the bathroom, concrete-looking kitchen cabinets and wood paneling to accent a wine shelving.
Design details by Santa Rosa-based stagers, Staged Right, add additional warmth. Stark modernity is countered with touches of rich color (mustard and oranges), nubby-textured fabrics, and furniture (like ottomans and chairs) in playful rounded forms.
The top-of-the-canyon view gives the home that “in the sky” airiness. The burnt trees in the canyon have been cut down, which gives a sense of vastness to the area. Schlesinger says the home is positioned high enough on the hill that you can see red-tailed hawks flying from the windows.
The flat roof can accommodate a rooftop patio, accessible from the inside of the home — a perfect spot for lounging and entertaining. Click through the above gallery for a peek inside.
The home at 3726 Crown Hill Drive is listed with Sudha Schlesinger and Sam Marvi of Engel & Völkers Real Estate. For more information, call 707-889-7778; email sudha@sschlesinger.com or visit findyourwinecountryhome.com/crownhill
Editor’s note: This home sold for $7,150,000 (the listing price). It was the most expensive home sold in Sonoma County in April, 2022.
When Lisa and John Leeb designed their Sonoma home they did it in a way that encourages togetherness. In contrast to most home renovations, the couple decided to make their new home smaller to better suit their needs. They then worked with local Apache Builders to bring their design ideas to fruition. The result — a 3-bedroom, 2.5-bath farmhouse-style home with an expansive great room, lush garden and an animal sanctuary — recently sold for $7,150,000.
Gathering is a through line in the home’s design. The great room, for example, offers several areas for activities that bring people together: piano playing, lounging, cocktail hour at the bar and meals by the dining table. Upstairs, there’s more space for lounging and playing games and music. The spacious bedrooms also are upstairs, as well as bathrooms, one of which has a tiled shower with a door opening toward the yard, which has an additional shower outdoors.
The home has Sonoma’s signature tranquil-white aesthetic but it has been livened up with colorful artwork and vintage pieces. Contrast is a well-used design tactic throughout the home: A graphic black-and-beige rug offers a weighty counterpoint to an ornamental chandelier in the main bathroom. Modern lamps contrast with moldings and trims in other rooms.
An extra dwelling on the property is just as pretty as the main home, with built-in bunk beds, bathroom and a kitchen. Accents bring the space to life, such as textured fabrics and petrified beehive pendant lamps in the bathroom.
The Sonoma home is set on 1 acre. The garden has a manicured look and consists mostly of geometrically trimmed boxwoods and privets, vines of table grapes and a row of privacy-keeping redwoods. The limited use of plant varieties gives the property a clean look. A trellis, stone fire pit and wood furniture accented with white cushions add to the elegant outdoor scene.
Beyond the manicured garden, things get a little more rustic. There are ten gardening beds, a chicken coop and mini barn, where the Leebs have been housing rescued animals — two miniature horses, a goat and some chickens.
The animals have been an added source of togetherness in the close-knit Sonoma neighborhood. Neighbors have gathered for “Mailbox Fridays” to chat, sip wine, nibble on appetizers (laid out at the mailbox) and check out the animals at the sanctuary. While the animals will move with the Leebs to their next home, the couple hopes the Mailbox Fridays tradition will continue.
Just in time for long sunny days, some of our favorite wineries, distilleries and restaurants are serving up new and creative pairings.
Medlock Ames in Healdsburg has teamed up with Sonoma County’s only three-star Michelin restaurant, Single Thread, while Three Sticks Wines in downtown Sonoma continues its collaboration with neighboring El Dorado Kitchen. Also in Sonoma, family-owned Hanson of Sonoma distillery has launched a new lunch pairing series.
Forget all the dos and don’ts you’ve been told to follow throughout the years, these unique combinations of food and drinks are deliciously rewriting all of the rules.
In case you needed yet another reason to head to Healdsburg, Medlock Ames has joined forces with Michelin-starred Single Thread Farms and Restaurant for its newest tasting experience.
The Wine Pairing Lunch will include a chef-curated bento box from Single Thread; each item is paired with Medlock Ames’ organically farmed Bell Mountain Vineyard wines. The seated experience will take place in the olive grove next to the winery’s historic Alexander Valley tasting room.
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Medlock Ames also is offering a new kind of Wine Country outing at its Bell Mountain Ranch. As part of the winery’s Immersive Sound Experience, visitors can meander through the vineyards, olive grove and California oaks of the 338-acre estate with GPS-cued headphones that provide narration on the winery’s commitment to sustainability and land preservation. Think museum audio guide, but outdoors and with wine at the end of the tour.
The Wine Pairing Lunch with Single Thread at Medlock Ames’ Healdsburg tasting room will be offered once a month throughout 2022, starting in June. Reservations are required. $150 per person.
3487 Alexander Valley Road, Healdsburg, 707-431-8845, medlockames.com
In partnership with El Dorado Kitchen in Sonoma, Three Sticks Wines is pairing a flight of three single vineyard chardonnays with half-dozen oysters on the half shell. In addition to learning about terroir and its impact on wine, guests will discover the mostly unknown world of merroir — how the bivalves’ flavors are influenced by their marine surroundings.
The pairing features farmed oysters from both coasts. Oyster selections include the Pickering Passage from South Puget Sound, Washington; the Beausoleil from New Brunswick, Canada; and the Kusshi from Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The oysters are served without lemon or sauce in order not to mask their natural flavor.
Three Sticks’ tasting room is located in the historic Vallejo-Casteñada Adobe, built in 1842 by Captain Salvador Vallejo, the infamous brother of General Mariano Vallejo. It was restored by winery owners Bill and Eva Price and has seating indoors and outdoors on a patio.
The Oysters and Chardonnay experience is offered Monday through Friday, through July. 48 hours notice is required. $95 per person.
143 West Spain St., Sonoma, 707-996-3328, threestickswines.com
Hanson of Sonoma distillery is kicking off its new Lunch Pairing Series with a “Land & Sea” feast. The menu will change monthly; first up is a three-course meal that includes Snake River Farms Wagyu steak and Mount Lassen trout paired with three cocktails.
An industry standout for making vodka from grapes instead of grains or potatoes, Hanson of Sonoma launched in 2015 with an organic vodka. Owned and operated by four siblings and their parents, the distillery now produces a variety of vodkas that are all certified organic, from the Original to the flavored Habanero, Cucumber, Meyer Lemon, Mandarin and Ginger.
The distillery’s Lunch Pairing Series is available Friday through Sunday. The menu changes monthly. Reservations are required. $125 per person.
22985 Burndale Road, Sonoma, 707-343-1805, hansonofsonoma.com
