In late April, Erika Dawkins, owner of Bon Ton Studio in Healdsburg, announced that she and her husband are expecting two babies. One is their second child, due in August. The second is a sister store to her successful housewares and clothing shop.
In June, Dawkins opened the doors to Bon Ton Baby on the Healdsburg Plaza. The new store offers sweet finds for littles ones: blankets, organizing baskets, clothing essentials and a selection of toys.
In her new store, Dawkins continues her winning design concept from Bon Ton Studio. She has combined neutral tones with touches of color to create a soothing aesthetic that also works well for decorating a nursery, while Moroccan baskets, leather poufs and dried flower arrangements have been paired with colorful cactus silk pillows in teal or rosy pink, or Turkish towels in shades ranging from yellow to poppy.
Dawkins prepared for the opening of Bon Ton Baby while decorating her children’s room at home, the one that will be shared by her 3-year-old daughter and newborn baby. She took some time out of her busy schedule to share some tips about her process for designing and choosing items for both her store and her home.
Choose a color palette
“I always say with a lot of things, ‘Let’s try and keep things simple,’” says Dawkins. When decorating a room, she starts with a palette of quiet neutrals — beiges, whites and browns are the base — and then adds color with restraint. To add a few interesting elements, Dawkins lets herself “have fun with textiles and prints.” In her daughter’s room, for example, pops of terra cotta (in pictures and books) add warmth to an otherwise neutral color palette.
Keep things cohesive
At Bon Ton Baby, neutral colors and woven baskets set the scene. The look is then enlivened by soft colors: heather greens, lilacs, blush tones, terra cottas. Dawkins stays away from the gendered colors blue and pink and her shop is gender neutral; there are no boys and girls shelves. In order to stay within her chosen color palette, Dawkins sometimes have to forgo certain items and pieces for her store or her home. For example, she had a beautiful red dress for sale at Bon Ton Studio but it didn’t fit with the look of the store. The dress was eventually sold, but it served as a reminder of how some pieces, albeit pretty, just won’t work with a cohesive look.
Communicate who lives in the room
“It’s a baby at first, but then they’re a toddler,” says Dawkins about decorating a nursery. She likes to place shelves with books and stuffed toys at a child’s eye level so that growing children can reach them. She also likes to decorate and organize a room with storage in mind. “I’m a big believer in everything having a home,” says Dawkins. She uses storage baskets, like the pot belly baskets she carries in both her stores, to keep rooms organized. The baskets can be folded to create lower profile storage pieces.
Consider your own comfort, too
Since parents spend a lot of time in their small children’s rooms, Dawkins recommends adding items to these rooms that make them more comfortable for adults. A Moroccan pouf, for example, offers a comfortable low-to-the-ground seat, where parents can sit at the child’s eye level. As far as aesthetics go, Dawkins recommends making the child’s “space work with the rest of the house” and not going “overboard with themes.”
Collect furniture and decor from different sources
Dawkins likes to mix high-end items with budget buys and a little bit of vintage. “You just have to weave everything together and layer,” she advises. For her nursery at home, she purchased and placed the big items first — a birchwood crib, a white dresser (from IKEA) and a linen rocker. She then purchased shelves in blond woods from Target and many of the remaining items — baskets, poufs and linens — came from her own store. The room also features art from a local maker and pretty dried flowers by Design Em. “It doesn’t need to match,” says Dawkins about the decoration and suggests opting for mismatched but well-coordinated pieces of furniture and decor.
Clockwise from center, The Boho Bowl, gluten-free summer squash tartlets, Mochi donuts, Earl Grey polenta olive oil cakes, at The Altamont General Store in Occidental. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)
There are two ways to get to the tiny town of Occidental — the locals’ way and the tourists’ way, says Jenay Hofftin, a restaurateur whose family has lived in the quiet, often-overlooked west county hamlet for generations.
Tourists go through Sebastopol, toward Bodega Highway, turning off at Freestone (usually grabbing a giant cinnamon roll at Wild Flour Bread on the way). It’s a fine route, she says, but lacks the subtleties and directness of Occidental Road.
“Occidental. It’s in the name of the road,” she sighs, wondering why anyone would go any other way.
So, I wind westward on Occidental Road from Santa Rosa through the Laguna Wetlands, past blueberry stands and the quilt of grasses and still pools by the riparian preserve.
Further along, the road narrows and overgrown foliage closes in on itself, creating shady tunnels. Farms give way to stretches of open land, with arterial roads branching off into the hills. Vineyards are scarce, and the redwoods begin to cast longer shadows as the elevation rises. Then, without warning, a small steeple appears, and the town of Occidental unfolds below.
The Union Hotel in Occidental. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)
A new generation
Founded in the 1857, Occidental is one of a handful of Sonoma County outposts that remains mostly untouched by time, influencers, or wine magnates. If you’ve heard of the place, it’s probably for the red and white checkered tablecloth Italian restaurants like Negri’s Italian Dinners or the Union Hotel, places that built their reputations on nonna-style menus and old-school hospitality.
For generations (and generations and generations), these historic restaurants catered to Bay Area families heading to the cabins and watering holes of Camp Meeker, first by train and later by car.
In their mid-century heyday, these restaurants would serve as many as 500 people each night. Not exactly Michelin-star, gastro-molecular kind of stuff, but loved enough to stand the test of time.
Now, a new generation of restaurateurs are taking the reins of Occidental’s historic kitchens and bars, bringing fresh ideas to the 175-year-old town. But in a place where almost everyone is related by blood, marriage, or grudges, it’s not as easy as just changing a menu or hanging a new sign. A lot rests on honoring tradition and family ties, says Hofftin.
“We want to keep the old bones, but for the wellness and growth of this town, we need to get people here.
Owning restaurants is always a labor of love, but in this little town, it’s also about serious dedication.”
(From front) The original Eggs Benedict, the Howard’s Egg Sandwich, the Howard’s Club sandwich, freshly squeezed orange juice and a cappuccino at the Howard Station Cafe in Occidental. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)The Belgian waffle with strawberries and cream, the original Eggs Benedict, freshly squeezed orange juice and a cappuccino at the Howard Station Cafe in Occidental. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)
Sonoma meets Brooklyn
Leaning on the long wooden counter of the Altamont General Store, the newly minted cafe and mercantile she owns with her wife, Andzia, Jenay Hofftin is spending most of her Saturday answering the phone. The café’s Brooklyn-meets-Sonoma menu is getting some serious buzz after a rough first year in lockdown.
In the to-go case today, she tells repeated callers, are chia-seed puddings with forbidden rice, passionfruit puree, and cacao nibs. Coastal Hills farm egg salad. Couscous. Chicken salad with pickled beets, asparagus, pumpkin seeds, and preserved Meyer lemon vinaigrette. At 3 p.m., rotisserie chickens will go into the oven, ready for dinner pickup.
Andzia cuts Brussels sprouts with the kitchen crew as Jenay continues to buzz around the busy café, blonde curls barely contained by her headscarf. Not long ago, this was a derelict space that sat empty for more than a decade. Back in the day, Jenay says with a sly grin, she and her cousins would sneak inside for some teenage shenanigans. “Back then, it was still set up with a bar. We’d go in and party. But when Grandpa drove by with his lights on, we’d all have to hide until he was gone,” she says.
The Aperol Spritz cocktail at Negri’s in Occidental. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)
Grandpa was Joe Negri Jr., the patriarch of the Negri family and owner of Negri’s Italian Dinners and the namesake bar, Joe’s, which happens to be directly across the street from the Altamont. Joe Jr.’s parents opened the restaurant in 1943 and Joe’s wife, Evelyn, continues to run the restaurant with the family. Jenay’s mother, Terry, runs the Howard Station Cafe down the street, and Jenay’s cousins run Joe’s Bar with Evelyn.
“My family has deep roots here,” says Hofftin, who escaped small town life for college in New York and spent years on her own. But like her parents and their parents, she too felt the pull of family obligations, and came home to settle down and raise a family. “You move (other places) to have more than this,” she says looking at the all-too-familiar street outside. “But there isn’t more. There are redwoods here, the coast — it’s just such a good life here.”
Ingredients that matter
The good life is also in the foodie products found here — wild mushrooms, artisan meats, sourdough bread. The Friday farmers market, for example, is a who’s-who of west county folk meeting up for their weekly haul, with booths for local producers not easily found elsewhere, like Raymond’s Bakery, Singing Frogs Farm produce, Sporgy mushrooms, and Takenoko Farms meats.
At the edge of town sits Panizzera Meat Co., which provided the restaurants of Occidental with locally processed meat for three generations. But when the last Panizzera retired in 2014, butchery apprentices Ryan Taylor and Josh Cerda took over the then-struggling business. In just a few years, they’ve turned it into a sustainable, modern butchery with close ties to the past.
Every restaurant in town uses Panizzera meat in at least one dish. Taylor and Cerda sell lamb, beef, pork, and chicken along with 23 types of sausage, including one made from a recipe dating to the beginning of the 20th century. “The true identity of Occidental is in its Italian roots,” Taylor says. “We’re still an old school Italian butcher shop and we’re deeply entrenched in this community.”
“Like a movie set”
Back at the Altamont General Store, Jenay Hofftin and I turn, mid-conversation, to watch a woman slowly ride a huge horse through the crowded downtown Occidental parking lot.
“Uh, is that normal?” I ask.
“Not normal, but not that surprising. It’s still the Wild West out here. You get all sorts of characters. There used to be a rooster that walked through town. Our town ‘mayor’ was a lost prophet named Ranger Rick,” Jenay says.
Communal settlers, weed growers, counter-culturalists, and the fiercely independent have long been drawn to this little valley between coast and inland, and, like the Italian settlers, are important threads in the unique fabric of Occidental. Says Hofftin: “It’s like our own weird little movie set here in west county, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it.”
From right, Omega smoothie, Goodness Green juice blend, and the Shooting Star smoothie at the Howard Station Cafe. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)Impromptu concerts are part of the town’s charm. Local musician Aaron Jansen’s roadside tunes. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)
Eating the Day Away in Occidental
A Sporty Breakfast — Howard Station Cafe: Whether you’re headed for a long day at the coast or you’re staying nearby to explore town, fill up with super-hearty banana walnut pancakes, a wild salmon Benedict, or biscuits and gravy at Howard Station Cafe. Cyclists who arrive in town for the start of the legendary Coleman Valley Road ride like to power up with oatmeal and fresh juices, including the Red Ferrari with apple, carrot, beet, and lemon. 3611 Bohemian Highway, howardstationcafe.com
For the Grill — Panizzera Meat Co: Stock up on dry-aged steaks, ground beef, sausages, and lamb to cook up back at home. It’s all locally raised, and the business has been in the community for more than 100 years. 3905 Main St., panizzerrameatco.com
Alfresco Family Lunches — Union Hotel: The oldest restaurant in town has a large covered outdoor patio as well as a new fire pit. Family-friendly food like spaghetti and meatballs, tortellini, pizzas, and big beefy burgers with a mountain of fries are excellent. The 19th-century saloon is a great spot to take a time-out for sports anda cold beer while the rest of the group explores nearby shops and galleries. 3731 Main St., unionhoteloccidental.com
A Night Out — Hazel Restaurant: In an intimate candlelit space, you’ll find upscale but approachable Cal-Mediterranean dishes, including next-level Neapolitan-style pizzas with caramelized onions, truffle oil, Calabrian chili, and local cheeses. Entrées include braised pot roast, chicken pot pie, wild salmon, and glazed meatloaf. Don’t miss Michele’s fresh pies and desserts. 3782 Bohemian Highway, restauranthazel.com
Happy Hour — Joe’s Bar: Don’t miss cocktails with fresh-squeezed juices at Joe’s Bar with some sliders or a bowl of Nonni’s ravioli for a lateafternoon pick-me-up. We love the summery Lavender 75 with Benham’s gin, lavender, lemon, prosecco, and lavender bitters. Inside Negri’s, 3700 Bohemian Highway, negrisrestaurant.com
Picnics to Go — The Altamont General Store: We love the idea of a warm smoked pork bowl inspired by the Hawaiian Islands for a cool day at the coast. Grab a hot dog for the kids, a hearty Hawt Cobb salad to share and Straus soft-serve ice cream with plum shrub drizzle (for the daring) or caramel sauce (for the traditionalists). There’s also locally-made beet walnut bread from Bird Song, a cottage baker in Camp Meeker; fresh rotisserie chicken in the afternoons; and a fascinating selection of smallbatch wines, many from women winemakers. 3703 Main St., altamontgeneralstore.com
The forbidden rice pudding at The Altamont General Store. (Beth Schlanker/Sonoma Magazine)
The Altamont General Store’s Forbidden Rice & Chia Seed Pudding
Jenay and Andzia Hofftin serve this sweet rice pudding for breakfast or brunch at their Occidental café. The base is forbidden rice, a wild black rice that turns purple in color when cooked and is packed with healthy anthocyanins — it’s available locally at Oliver’s Markets, Big John’s Market, and Sonoma Market. Assembled, the dish will keep in the fridge for two days; the rice and chia pudding will keep separately for five days. Serves 4-6.
For rice pudding:
1 ½ cups black forbidden rice, soaked overnight 1 ½ cups full-fat coconut milk 1 ½ cups rice milk ½ cup sugar ¼ cup cornstarch
For chia pudding:
¼ cup chia seeds ¾ cup full-fat coconut milk 1 cup coconut water
For passionfruit syrup:
½ cup passionfruit puree or juice ⅔ cup simple syrup ¼ cup toasted cacao nibs ¼ cup toasted coconut flakes Soak the forbidden rice for at least 6 hours or overnight in 4 ½ cups of water. After soaking, drain the rice and place in a saucepan with 3 cups of water. Bring to a simmer (not a boil), and simmer for 10 minutes. After simmering, drain any excess cooking water and return rice to the saucepan. Add coconut milk, rice milk, and sugar. Bring to a simmer. Sift in cornstarch and stir frequently for 8-10 minutes, then remove from heat and set aside.
Whisk together chia seeds, coconut milk, and coconut water to make the chia pudding. Then whisk together passionfruit puree and simple syrup to make an easy sauce.
The rice pudding can be served hot or cold. To serve, top a generous scoop of rice pudding with chia pudding, drizzle with passionfruit syrup, and garnish with toasted cacao nibs and coconut.
Ahi tuna tostadas at Barrio Cocina at Old Possum Brewing in Santa Rosa. (Heather Irwin/Sonoma Magazine)
Chef Carlos Rosas, the owner of gourmet taqueria Barrio in Sebastopol, has taken the kitchen reins at Old Possum Brewery in Santa Rosa. But expect more than tacos here.
“This is what I truly want to be doing,” said Rosas, sitting at a table after serving up dish after dish of heartbreakingly good fare that gives him a chance to exercise his abundant culinary skills.
Starting with a simple Baby Beets salad ($11), Rosas’ talent is clear. Jewel-colored roasted beets swim in a bath of creamy Greek yogurt and goat cheese with tart Cara Cara oranges. It’s a clever take on the usual beet salad. We also love the Dos Ahi Tuna Tostadas ($13) with a generous serving of raw ahi mixed with nutty, smoky chipotle aioli and microgreens.
Dirty rice with Carnitas and grilled cheese in a verde sauce at Old Possum Brewing/Barrio in Santa Rosa. (Heather Irwin / Sonoma Magazine)
Don’t miss the Red Snapper “black” ceviche ($13) with earthy black chile, lemon and sweet potato puree; Dirty Rice ($12) topped with moist barbecue carnitas; or Fish and Chips ($12) with malt vinegar aioli. You pretty much can’t go wrong on the entire menu. Pair with Old Possum Rosita Lager.
I’m not ashamed to say that my copious “oohs” and “ahhhhs” over the food were noticed by people at neighboring tables who looked a bit embarrassed for me. Not exactly in the “When Harry Met Sally” way, but not too far off. The food is wonderful.
Old Possum Brewing is in an industrial district in Santa Rosa, but it’s fairly easy to find at 357 Sutton Place. Look for the large outdoor patio that’s perfect for sunny days. Open from 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday (until 4 p.m. Sunday).
More dining news
Moving On: Forestville’s Twist Eatery has been sold after nine years, according to owners Toni and Jeff Young. The couple’s last day was July 10, and they’re planning to take a break and then possibly “pop up somewhere next year,” according to Toni.
“We can’t thank you enough for your support and kindness over the last 9 years. Some of you found us early on; others have joined us over the last few years. Either way, thank you, thank you for coming along for our wild ride,” she added. No word yet on the new owners, but stay tuned.
Portrait of beautiful female gardener carrying crate with freshly harvested vegetables in farm. Young female farmer working in field.
Old MacDonald never had an Instagram account. But he had a farm. And on that farm, he had a pig and some cows and some ducks and so on. But he probably never had to post daily updates letting everyone know how his animals were doing. Or find the best light or background before taking a photo of his horse. Or pretend like everything was perfect on that farm, when maybe some days, it was really just one big, dirty, sweaty, backbreaking mess.
“I’ve been stung by bees. I’ve had sunburns. I’ve twisted my ankle in a row — but no one wants to know about that stuff. They just want to see the pretty buckets of flowers,” says Sarah Deragon, who runs Radical Family Farms in Sebastopol with her partner Leslie Wiser. A series of early Instagram posts about harvesting pea shoots, also known as the Chinese delicacy dòu miáo, helped launch the farm and connect the couple with a niche Bay Area customer base hungry for Asian heritage vegetables.
On one hand, social media can be a valuable tool for farmers looking to connect directly with consumers. But it also blurs reality. Scroll through enough heavily filtered, stylized shots on Instagram and you’ll see the idealized picture-perfect postcard of the Sonoma County farm.
“It’s often very choreographed,” says farmer Will Holloway, who recently rebranded his Blue Leg Farms as Longer Table Farm with his fiancée Gina Strathman, a florist. He’s noticed that “if you look at what does best on social media, when you look at our analytics, it’s always the stuff that has a person’s face in it.”
But beyond the face, it’s what the person is actually doing that matters, especially if they strike a familiar pose. Glam harvesting is one of the most common social media farming clichés. “There’s always the bundle of flowers or carrots with the over-the-shoulder look, with the bundle under the arm. That’s an absolute classic,” says Holloway. “It’s one we often make fun of.”
At Radical Family Farms, Deragon and Wiser try to find a balance between aspirational and educational. “I feel like that’s part of the romance of the farm — and I think we’re aware of selling that part of the dream — but I feel like it has to be a mix. It can’t all be perfect vegetables and people in floral dresses harvesting. It’s also hot and dirty work. The people I like to follow are more genuine in sharing successes and failures. But there are still those people who farm in this idealized way that people who are actually farming know is total bullshit,” says Deragon.
It’s not enough to just feed mouths anymore. Many of today’s successful farmers are constantly on display. That means that they have to do things their green-thumb predecessors never did, like looking into a camera and talking directly to clientele to cultivate Facebook and Instagram followers who aren’t satisfied with a simple CSA box subscription.
“It’s like you have to always put your best face forward or you always have to be performing,” says Melissa Lely, who runs Bee-Well Farms in Glen Ellen with her husband, Austin. She says she’s definitely felt “the pressure to present the glamorous farm and not the dirty, grungy farmer.”
She and Austin met at Chico State, where they both majored in special events and tourism. After graduation, they stumbled on farming when a family friend offered up his property. It’s probably why Melissa identifies so much with some of the struggles experienced by the newbie farmers featured in the 2018 documentary “The Biggest Little Farm.” During the pandemic, Bee-Well pivoted away from farmer’s market sales and began selling directly to a nearby farm and restaurant, something that requires less social media presence, which “to be honest, is a relief,” Lely says.
For farmers already burdened with a heavy workload, social media can feel like the last straw. “It can be a slap in the face, because farmers have so much on their plate already, just growing food, much less running a business, with payroll and insurance, and then social media on top of it — it can be a full-time job,” Holloway says.
At Flatbed Farm in Glen Ellen, owner Sofie Dolan sets a calendar alert every Friday to prompt her to post something about Saturday’s farmstand. But it doesn’t always happen. “Is it super-important to post every week? No. I don’t feel obligated,” says Dolan, who lives part time in San Francisco, where she and her husband are partners in the restaurant 25 Lusk. “But I try to do it with integrity and intention when I do it, not so much just for the sake of doing it. Because I do feel like you can definitely tell photos that are thrown out there because you feel obligated, versus photos thrown out there that are saying, ‘Let me show you what’s blooming right now’ or ‘Can anybody tell me what this is?’”
Then there are the longtime farmers who got into the business to work the land and not a desk and can get away with totally ignoring social media. When farmer Paul Wirtz and his wife, Candi, created a Facebook page for Paul’s Produce nearly a decade ago, “the typical reactions were, ‘Oh wow, I didn’t realize you guys had such big tractors’ or ‘Oh my god, look at how long the rows are.’ But I don’t know if it ever really amounted to anything,” says Wirtz, who has been farming in Sonoma Valley for more than 30 years.
As for reality versus fantasy on the farm — if perfectly polished vegetables and straw hats with turquoise cowboy boots are at one end of the spectrum, and shoveling manure is at the other, maybe chronicling more of the grit of daily life on the farm should be left to documentary filmmakers.
“That’s not something that we’ve jumped into yet, showing people what it takes and how hard it is,” Deragon says. “But does anyone really care? Do they care how hard it is or do they just want the end result?”
Ji Ma, left, Chao Dai, and their son, Philip Ma, own Asia Mart in Santa Rosa. (Christopher Chung/ The Press Democrat)
Sonoma’s family-owned international markets connect expats and immigrants to the cuisines of their homelands. The foods they carry are authentic and delicious — and absolutely worth seeking out.
El Brinquito Market
On weekend afternoons, the sight of steam rising from the grill in front of El Brinquito Market in Boyes Hot Springs is a beacon to drivers along this busy corridor of Sonoma Highway just west of downtown. For locals, the spicy grilled chicken, beans, and fresh tortillas are hard to resist.
Inside the colorful corner shop is a small grocery and a large meat counter. Marinated fresh pork and beef are prepared by artisan butcher Herlindo Torres, who has worked here for 17 years. Chips, Mexican pastries, dried chiles and spices, and pantry staples (tortillas, masa, a jumbo 32-ounce bottle of Tapatio) are mainstays, and on weekends, the store has fresh tamales, carnitas, and homemade flan — that is, if you’re lucky enough to get there before they’re sold out.
The Iñiguez family have owned the market for 20 years. Checkout clerk Esmeralda Sandoval, who also works as a custodian at nearby Sassarini Elementary, says it’s a family affair on weekends around the grill. “There will be seven or eight of the grandkids, everybody working together. You see the little kids getting the plates and wrapping up food for the customers— everybody’s included in it, and that’s really nice.”
17380 Sonoma Highway, Boyes Hot Springs, 707-996-4912.
Fresh pastries at El Brinquito Market in Boyes Hot Springs. (Christopher Chung / The Press Democrat)A picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe hangs on a back wall of the El Brinquito Market in Boyes Hot Springs. (Christopher Chung / The Press Democrat)
Asia Mart
When Analy and El Molino High School culinary students test recipes featuring Asian ingredients, they know just where to go: the Asia Mart emporium in northwest Santa Rosa. The market has been around nearly 30 years and is run by Philip Ma, who grew up helping out alongside his mother and grandmother. Ma, who worked at luxury hotels in San Francisco before returning to Santa Rosa to take over the family business, says customer service sets the store apart. “People want to cook something new, but sometimes they don’t know where to look. And they think there might be a language barrier.”
Imported snacks (basil chips from Thailand, shrimp chips from Japan) and hard-to-find cult sweets (green tea KitKats and almond Pocky) are popular, but the store also carries cooking sauces, pantry items (a dozen types of coconut milk, pickled mango and tamarind leaves, jackfruit in syrup), rice and buckwheat noodles, and frozen meat and fish. Fresh produce — long beans, mustard greens, Shanghai bok choy, and Jamaican yams — are sourced on twice-weekly trips to the San Francisco produce market. And the shop also carries bulk rice, housewares, herbal medicines, and tea.
“Definitely, the store brings people together,” says Ma. “We’re lucky to live in a diverse community.”
2481 Guerneville Road, Santa Rosa. 707-542-3513, asiamartsr.com.
European Food Store
“Every day is like travel for me, and it’s really nice to be able to explore the world through food— especially because that’s the best option we have right now,” says manager Jill Schulze of European Food Store in Santa Rosa. The bright, friendly grocery is owned by Olga Rozhkova, who arrived in Santa Rosa from Russia with her husband over 20 years ago. In Moscow, Rozhkova was a clothing designer, but after her son was born, Rozhkova realized there was no place nearby to find the foods she missed from home, and she decided to open a small store.
The shop sells prepared foods and ingredients imported from across Europe — Russian foods like caviar, pickled mushrooms and eggplant, kvass (a lightly fermented rye drink) and pelmeni (dumplings) — but also dozens of different sausages and pâtés, pasta and spaetzle, and fresh farmhouse cheeses. There are plenty of sweets too: traditional pine-cone jam from Georgia, spicy black licorice from Finland, sunflower halva from the Ukraine, and Swiss and German chocolates. And folks pop in all day long for hot piroshki (beef- or mushroom-filled pastries) and loaves of fresh-from-the-oven German rye.
It’s the connection to customers that matters most to Rozhkova, who is rebuilding after losing her family home in the Tubbs fire. “So many customers lost homes, too.
So it’s special when we can help them find something that makes them feel whole.”
One of the most anticipated openings of the year is The Matheson, Dustin Valette’s new multi-story restaurant and lounge. Slated for an August opening, the three-level building includes the Matheson restaurant on the ground level, a mezzanine overlooking the restaurant for private events and the rooftop lounge, Roof 106.
Expect very different experiences throughout the space. The ground floor restaurant will serve up refined, modern wine country cuisine along with inspired sushi as well as a full bar, a wine list with more than 400 bottles, and a state-of-the-art wine wall with 88 wines on tap, showcasing a broad range of local producers and beyond. Valette will head the kitchen, along with chef de cuisine Matt Brimer and pastry chef Skyler Spitz. The sushi bar will also feature dishes conceptualized by sushi master Ken Tominaga, executed by sushi chef Daisuke Soma.
Upstairs, Roof 106 will be a more casual indoor-outdoor setting with craft cocktails, small plates and seasonal flatbreads from the custom, 3,800-pound wood-fired Mugnaini oven.
The wheat flour for the flatbread dough is sourced from a biodynamic, organic farm and vineyard owned by winemaker, visionary farmer and baking legend Lou Preston. The dough includes a yeast from the historic “Williams Selyem strain” from Burt Williams, a famed pinot noir pioneer and personal friend of Valette. The menu was developed in partnership with Roof 106 chef de cuisine Brian Best.
Stay tuned for lots more info as the opening gets closer, but meanwhile, get a little drooly with some stellar pix of the food to come…
Catching an outdoor movie beneath the stars is a favorite summer pastime in Sonoma County. After a long pandemic year, great films are finally returning to the big screen. In downtown Santa Rosa, the Metro Chamber and Sonoma Clean Power will present “Movies on the Square” every Wednesday in July, featuring a lineup of family-friendly classics.
Kicking off the event series tonight is “The Princess Bride,” a fairy-tale adventure for all ages. Movies are free to attend and before each movie starts, visitors will be able to enjoy fun activities tailored to each film. A live fencing demonstration will warm up the crowd before “The Princess Bride.” On July 14, there will be an inflatable baseball game before a screening of the 1993 comedy “The Sandlot.” Then, on July 21, an 80s cover band will set the mood before “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and, on July 28, giant inflatables will make moviegoers feel very small before viewing “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!”
The Movies on the Square event series is part of Santa Rosa’s Open and Out initiative, which aims to welcome visitors back to the downtown area. Other events include live music every Thursday through Sunday from 5 to 8 p.m., various art installations, makers markets, a bartending competition on July 29 and other fun events to come.
“We’ve gotten a great response from the community,” said Cadance Hinkle Allinson, Executive Director of the Santa Rosa Downtown District, about the initiative. “We are happy to be providing a nice fun place for people to come together again.”
Moviegoers can bring their own lawn chair and blankets to Courthouse Square. Takeout food can be ordered from one of the many surrounding restaurants and the event’s main sponsor, Sonoma Clean Power, will be handing out free popcorn to moviegoers. Bayside Church will also be selling popcorn, lemonade and other refreshments.
Movies on the Square is a free event series. Parking is also free after 5 p.m. in all city garages. Music will kick off the event around 5:30 p.m., followed by the pre-movie activities at 6:30 p.m. The film begins at sunset.
If walls could talk, Napa’s Milliken Creek Inn would have fascinating stories to tell.
Tucked along a bank of the Napa River, the main house of the inn served as a stagecoach stop in the 1850s, welcoming weary travelers during the California Gold Rush. Then, at the turn of the century, horticulturist Ira McKenzie took up residence at the property and planted Japanese maples, live oaks, magnolias and other trees that still remain on the three-acre grounds. This summer, Milliken Creek Inn is adding yet another chapter to its rich history as it unveils a sophisticated redesign that makes the modern traveler feel as though they’ve struck gold.
The new lobby, furnished with sofas and armchairs and adorned with green plants and blooming orchids, feels more like a friend’s home than the entrance of an inn or hotel. The front desk — a small counter — is tucked away behind a set of French doors, and guests can enjoy some complimentary fruit cordial upon arrival. Shady paths, flanked by redwoods, bamboo, Japanese maples and magnolia trees, then lead the way to the guest rooms. The verdant surroundings inspired the inn’s redesign, and the exteriors’ neutral, earthy hues combine with natural light to create a peaceful environment in which to sit back and relax in an Adirondack chair by a bubbling fountain or a fire pit.
Napa’s Milliken Creek Inn. (Courtesy of Milliken Creek Inn)Cedar guestroom at Milliken Creek Inn. (Courtesy of Milliken Creek Inn)
The eleven guest rooms at Milliken Creek Inn have been updated with modern decor and soothing color schemes, and each room has its own configuration; many have river views, decks or patios, soaking tubs and fireplaces. Four rooms now come with their own fire pit, which ignites with the turn of a dial. S’mores kits are available in each room, next to the Nespresso machine. After a day of wine tasting, guests can sink into comfortable beds, watch a movie on Apple TV, and read a magazine or order in-room dining on an iPad.
There is no restaurant on the property but guests receive a breakfast spread every morning, which can be enjoyed at one of the inn’s secluded outdoor spaces or in the room. Breakfast options include a mushroom, spinach and feta frittata; breakfast sandwiches with eggs, bacon and cheese on an English muffin or croissant; a Belgian waffle; steel cut oatmeal; and yogurt with house-made granola. Freshly squeezed orange juice, coffee and tea is also included.
Before the pandemic, the inn hosted a nightly wine and cheese reception with a local vintner. Now, guests receive a cheese plate and fresh-baked cookies that can be enjoyed with a glass of wine on the property. The pandemic also has changed the check-in process. Before arrival, guests receive an email that walks them through the process: keycards will be waiting as they arrive at the property, but guests can also access their rooms by using their own cellphones. Guests can now communicate with staff through text messages and, once it’s time to check out, this can also be done via text.
Click through the above gallery for a peek at the redesigned Milliken Creek Inn, part of the Four Sisters Inns collection.
1815 Silverado Trail, Napa,707-255-1197, millikencreekinn.com. Rates start at $495.
Dos Tacos with two yellow tortillas, your choice of meat, topped with chipotle aioli, pico de gallo, arugula and micro greens from Barrio Fresca Cocina Mexicana in Sebastopol’s The Barlow. (Photo by John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
What goes best with a cold Sonoma-brewed beer? Baby beets with goat cheese is not out of the question. Fish and chips? Yes, please. But a carne asada taco and a brew are truly the Donny and Marie of pairing in our book. A little bit country, a little bit rock ’n’ roll and a lot delish. That’s why we’re so excited about the matchup between Old Possum brewery and the Barrio, an elevated taqueria at Sebastopol’s Barlow.
Barrio will serve ridiculously tasty food at the brewery (357 Sutton Place, Santa Rosa) that includes harissa potatoes, baby beets with goat cheese, ahi tuna tostadas, red snapper ceviche, rice with barbecue carnitas and a host of other tasty nibbles.
Torta el Chavo served on torpedo bread with pork belly, chipotle aioli, pico de gallo and arugula from Barrio Fresca Cocina Mexicana in Sebastopol’s The Barlow. (John Burgess / The Press Democrat)Pouring beer at Old Possum Brewing Company in Santa Rosa. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
More dining news
Before you huff at slow service, let me share a recent interview with Lucas Martin of K&L Bistro in Sebastopol.
Though most of us have heard about the struggle for staff in the hospitality industry, the reality is far worse. Martin has had to close — often unexpectedly — on nights when a staff member fails to show up.
“It’s collateral damage from COVID. At least one day a week someone calls in sick. They’ve got daycare issues because the kids are at home,” he said. Before the pandemic, K&L had a roster of nearly 35 employees, both part- and full-time. Now they’re working with five, including Martin and his wife, Karen.
“I could hire a bunch of kids on summer break, but we need people who can multitask,” he said. After years of building a brand, sloppy service is worse than closing. “It’s a coin toss, but that’s our philosophy,” he said. “But it’s never going to be the exact same place it was, because it’s just not the same world we live in.”
Part of his plan going forward is to re-evaluate his business, at least when he figures out what the “new normal” is. Clearly it won’t be 35 employees, he said.
“I just don’t know if that will be a financial possibility for the future,” Martin said.
Nigiri plate at Sushirosa in Santa Rosa. (Heather Irwin/Sonoma Magazine)
Robot replaces Guy Fieri. OK, sort of. But hey, robot!
At the former Tex Wasabi’s in downtown Santa Rosa, Flavortown’s Mayor Guy Fieri has left the building and he’s been replaced by a sushibot.
That’s the extra set of hands, er, chargable wait-tron, helping out at the new Sushi Rosa restaurant on Fourth Street. Excuse us for the childish glee in getting a plate of nigiri deftly rolled to us from the sushi bar by a friendly roving robot that guides itself right to our table. Plus, in a time of staffing difficulties, a robot isn’t a bad way for an extra hand, er, chargeable wait-tron, to help out.
The sushi is solid, if not Hana-Japanese level. What we love is the menu with page after page of rolls and nigiri, including a vegetarian “nigiri” plate as well as more traditional dishes like dried squid with vegetables (ika sansai), Japanese pickles (tsukemono), a whole mackerel with fried bone and pickled vegetable maki. Entrees like chicken teriyaki, pork with katsu sauce and udon are also available, as well as a small sake menu.
Plus, there’s the robot. Cute! (Kawaii!) Sushi Rosa is open 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and 5-9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. 515 Fourth St., Santa Rosa, sushirosa.com
