If you’re lucky enough to have some outdoor space, make the most of it this summer and fall. After all, more time at home will allow more time to escape to the balcony, garden or patio. Shop Sonoma County stories for pieces — big and small — that will add interest to your outdoor space with the added bonus of keeping your spending local. Click through the above gallery for details.
While outdoor dining, in-store shopping and other activities have become accessible again in recent weeks, many of us are likely to continue spending most of our time at home for the weeks and months to come. To make life at home more enjoyable and fun, we’ve rounded up a few items from local stores that will help spruce up any space. Click through the above gallery for details.
Point Reyes’ Osteria Stellina, an ambitious farm-to-table restaurant that garnered national praise for its regional Italian cuisine will close at the end of August.
It’s a warning siren for what will likely be a tsunami of closures in the next three months as forgivable federal loans and savings dry up, employees seek other careers, customers remain wary and restauranteurs who’ve pivoted a hundred times say this new “normal” just isn’t sustainable.
Though there are glimmers of hope on the horizon — like the Restaurants Act, a $120 billion fund that could generate $24 billion for California, save 822,700 jobs for the state’s independent restaurants and bars, and assist the 55,350 small farms in California — it may be too little too late.
For Osteria Stellina’s owner Christian Caiazzo it was simply time to cut his losses. He explained his painful decision in a heartfelt letter saying that it was “a smart move” after muddling through years of ups and downs. Acknowledging that his restaurant “built on food politics” faced an uphill battle even in the best of times — buying expensive locally-sourced food, paying for employees’ health insurance and being located in a remote corner of Marin — he said he had zero regrets.
“As cruel as it is that Stellina will disappear, that we will retain absolutely nothing tangible to take away from this, that we will exist only in memory, I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” said Caiazzo.
So far, only a handful of local restaurants including Bistro 29 and Whole Pie have announced closures due to the pandemic.
Stark’s Steak and Seafood has transformed its outdoor parking lot into a churrascaria from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday through Sunday each week. Like at the churrascaria grills in Portugal and Brazil, you’ll need to bring a big appetite to this one.
Stark’s “Big Red” mobile rotisserie will be firing up all-you-can eat mesquite-grilled New York steak, ribeye, filet mignon, lemon herb chicken, smoked pork belly, barbecue salmon and tamarind-glazed grilled shrimp along with hot garlic dill bread, crispy calamari, potato skin fondue, tomato salad with blue cheese and Caesar salad. The meal is served family-style and includes a berry crisp with sweet corn streusel and s’mores pie.
Dinner costs $49 per person and seating is limited. Reservations are strongly encouraged. Details at starkrestaurants.com; 521 Adams St., Santa Rosa.
Spoonbar’s Moroccan Menu: Head to North Africa with a special family-style meal featuring chermoula Moroccan chicken with couscous, beet salad with oranges, brie and pistachios and Casablanca cheesecake. Take-out only. The three-course meal serves four, $75. Details at spoonbar.com; 219 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg
The Salt You Need: I’m currently obsessed with Black Truffle Salt from Sonoma Spice Queen. So obsessed I’ve put it on everything from scrambled eggs to avocado toast. I’ve used it to zhuzh up beet salad and even rim a glass of merlot (OK, that was actually not delicious). Unlike cheap truffle oils that are a pale imitation of truffle, this version is a serious hit of real truffle — the umami, the earthiness, the hint of creaminess. You’ll be a believer. We also love her hibiscus sugar, sweet and tart, on popcorn, in cocktails and as a margarita rimmer. sonomaspicequeen.com; 407 C St., Petaluma
No travels to Europe? No problem. You can get a taste of the good life in other parts of the world right here in Sonoma County. Dreaming of a trip to Italy? We’ve rounded up a few local ideas in the above gallery. Remember to social distance and to wear that mask!
Where do you go for a taste of Italy in Sonoma County? Let us know in the comments.
Tomato season begins as a waiting game. Plants that went into the ground in the spring grow to maturity, with hundreds of starlike flowers and green globes of all sizes. Suddenly, come mid-to late July, there it is: a glint of bright color that in a few days encompasses an entire tomato, and then another and another. Soon, the garden explodes into frenzy of yellow, orange, and red — even purple. And then you taste your first of the summer, plucked from the vine and heavy in your hand, overwhelmingly delicious as you devour it right there in the garden, seeds spurting everywhere.
The tomato is a seasonal creature that will not yield to human attempts to shake it loose from summer. A tomato grown in its own true season has a pleasingly pungent aroma. It yields easily to a sharp knife and inside, the flesh glistens. The taste is rich, sweet and tangy, the texture luscious and silken. People who complain that they can’t get tomatoes “like they used to taste” are simply looking in the wrong place. Fortunately, in Sonoma County, the right places are everywhere, in our own backyards and farmers markets. For the next three or four months, tomatoes will be in glorious abundance. And then, the season of longing begins all over again.
Makes 2 quarts
At peak season, it can be hard to keep up with even one cherry tomato plant. Here’s an easy way to preserve cherry tomatoes; the recipe can easily be doubled or tripled to take advantage of the bounty your garden offers.
• 8 cups, approximately, plump cherry tomatoes, preferably mixed colors, rinsed
• 2-4 garlic cloves, trimmed and peeled, optional
• 2 sprigs of basil, cilantro, or thyme, optional
• 6 tablespoons kosher salt
Put the tomatoes into a two-quart glass canning jar. Add the garlic and herb sprigs, if using, tucking them here and there between the tomatoes.
Leave about an inch and a half of head room at the top of the jar.
Put the salt into a large pitcher, add 8 cups of water, and stir until the salt is dissolved.
Pour the water over the tomatoes until it covers them completely.
Set a glass fermentation weight or glass lid on top of the tomatoes to keep them submerged.
Add a silicone fermentation lid and close the jar with canning rings.
Set it in a warm, dark area, such as a pantry or cupboard that has a steady temperature in the high 60s. Check daily and remove the lid now and then to release pressure.
Ferment for 5 days to 10 days, until you like the taste of the tomatoes. The longer the time in the brine, the tangier the taste. Tomatoes that are finished with fermentation can be stored in their brine in the refrigerator for up to a year.
To use, drain off the fermentation liquid and pass the tomatoes through a food mill. If you do not have a food mill, set a medium strainer over a deep bowl. Put a handful of the tomatoes into the strainer and use a heavy wooden spoon to press the flesh through, leaving the skins behind. Discard the skins and continue until all the tomatoes have been strained.
Put the fermented tomato puree into a glass jar and use within a week.
SUGGESTED USES
• Top French fries or oven-roasted potatoes.
• Stir into homemade salsa.
• Spoon over gently scrambled eggs.
• Drizzle over plain whole-milk yogurt. Enjoy with chips or sliced radishes and celery.
• Drizzle swirls over chilled soups, such as cucumber, avocado, vichyssoise, or gazpacho, or over hot soups such as potato, bean, or pasta.
• Spread on a thick slice of toast topped with crème fraîche.
Serves 5 to 6
As far as rituals go, the BLT is right up there with summer traditions like fireworks and watermelon. This shareable sandwich is everything a BLT should be: gooey, drippy, and sloppy to eat. It has plenty of bacon, too, cooked all-the-way crisp for that essential snap between the teeth.
• 1 pound thinly-sliced bacon
• Loaf of sourdough hearth bread, sliced in half lengthwise
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 5 to 6 ripe beefsteak tomatoes, cored, cut into 1/4-inch-thick crosswise slices
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper in a mill
• 1 head butter lettuce, outer leaves discarded and inner leaves torn into pieces
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Fry the bacon in a heavy skillet until it is very crisp; transfer it to absorbent paper to drain. Set aside.
Set the bread on the middle rack of the oven, heat through, and remove from the oven when the exposed surfaces of the bread are just starting to take on a bit of color. Set the hot bread on a work surface.
Slather the mayonnaise over the cut surfaces of the bread in one swoop; do not rub it in.
Tile the tomatoes on the bottom half of the bread, overlapping them slightly. Season generously with salt and several turns of pepper from the mill.
Pile the bacon on top of the tomatoes and put the lettuce on top of the bacon.
Sprinkle the lettuce lightly with salt.
Set the top half of bread on top of the sandwich and press down gently so that it stays in place.
To enjoy right away, cut into crosswise slices. To serve later, wrap in paper or foil and enjoy within an hour or two.
Serves 3 to 4
A great tomato salad does not need much more than just-picked tomatoes and a bit of salt, along with whatever additions engage you. The most important element, other than the tomatoes themselves, is how you slice them. They must be cut through their equator, not their poles, which is to say crosswise, not lengthwise.
• 3 or 4 medium tomatoes of various colors, cored
• 8 to 10 cherry tomatoes of various colors and sizes, quartered
• 1 very thin slice of red onion, rings separated
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 2 small basil sprigs
• Kosher salt
• Fresh-ground black pepper
• 1 burrata cheese, preferably Italian, about 8 ounces
Cut a slice off the blossom and stem ends of the large tomatoes; set the ends aside for another use. Cut the tomatoes into ¼-inch-thick rounds; if the tomatoes are particularly large, cut the slices in half.
Arrange the tomatoes on individual serving plates, alternating colors and overlapping them slightly. Scatter the quartered cherry tomatoes on top. Tuck pieces of red onion here and there between the tomatoes, and scatter the garlic on top.
Drizzle with olive oil and add the basil sprigs. Season with salt and pepper.
Set the burrata on a another plate, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.
Enjoy right away, with a big spoonful of burrata on top of each serving.
Deb Rock guarantees she has never eaten a dish without a chile pepper, much like her grandfather, who bit into a fresh jalapeño at every meal. She also believes she may be the only Latina in the United States producing her own line of hot sauce. Her brand, Sonoma Hot Sauce, has been on the local market for six years.
Rock says she grew up dreaming of having the opportunity to harvest her own food. Her parents were originally farmers from Nuevo León, Mexico. After coming to the U.S., they became a military family, and Rock spent some of her childhood at military bases in Louisiana, where the famous Tabasco sauce was created. “It was on every table,” she says.
After arriving in Sonoma County in 2013, Rock enrolled in an entrepreneur program at Santa Rosa Junior College and developed her plan for Sonoma Hot Sauce. Her recipe is organic and vegan, and has just a few simple ingredients: peppers, salt, garlic, and vinegar — no water added. “I use a blend of peppers, everything from sweet to a medium hot. It’s not a super-hot hot sauce, but it’s not moderate. It’s hot sauce!”
Rock says the high-quality peppers she grows outside Rohnert Park have improved the recipe. She’s even experimenting with her own pepper hybrids, after noticing her peppers would cross-pollinate in the field. “Because of the closeness to the ocean, we have this slow maturation of the peppers, just like the local wine grapes,” she said. “Moving here improved the flavor of my hot sauce dramatically because of the Mediterranean climate and the incredible soil that this farm has.”
Find Deb Rock’s Sonoma Hot Sauce at these fine retailers across Sonoma County. Or go online to stock up on a massive half-gallon jar: sonomahotsauce.com
Joy Ayodele thought perhaps 50 people would show up to the June 1 protest she organized in memory of George Floyd, the black Minneapolis resident killed by a white police officer on May 25. Ayodele had never organized a demonstration before, though she was no stranger to activism. Her family, especially her mother, has always encouraged her to speak out against injustices.
That day, over 300 people joined Ayodele’s demonstration, sharing their outrage over racism and police brutality. “I will admit that the decision to organize the first one was very spontaneous,” she said. “I was trying to get the point across that although (some protests) had escalated in a violent way, they’re very important… They’re not violent people. They’re protesting because they’re angry.”
C. Born and raised in Santa Rosa, she graduated from Montgomery High School and is enrolled at Santa Rosa Junior College. Floyd’s death stirred feelings of sadness and anxiety in Ayodele, but she says the protests have also awakened “overwhelming power, overwhelming joy and peace.”
“Truthfully, prior to (the protests), I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people of color in our community … just, like, coming out together,” she said. “I think we’re all kind of cautious in that way — to gather in that way, it’s a dangerous thing.”
“But I think that’s been really, really powerful and really beautiful.”
Who opens a wine tasting venue during COVID-19 closures and restrictions?
Next weekend, Johan Eide and Kerry Thedorf will, and their venue, Region, should arrive with some excitement. It will offer wines from two dozen high-end, low-production wineries, most located in Sonoma, for tasting and purchase, with guests serving themselves from high-tech dispensing machines. Food from nearby restaurants, special events, music, winemaker dinners … it may all be found at their space, Region, at the busy Barlow center in Sebastopol.
The original launch plan was for March or April, but as spring drew closer, Eide and Thedorf decided to push the opening into May. That decision proved wise, as March brought the explosion of coronavirus cases, prompting shutdowns of tasting rooms and shelter-in-place orders.
“We decided on May to have everything in place and offer the complete experience,” Thedorf said. “If we’d opened in March, it would have crushed us.”
Yet May became problematic, too, as the pandemic continued and tasting rooms, restaurants, bars and retail stores didn’t know when they could reopen or under what conditions. Now July 25 is the official opening date for Region. The delay allowed the founders to not only tweak the details but also retool for outdoor-only seating, control the number of customers using the self-dispensing machines (four to six, each 6 feet apart) and put in place sanitation and other health safety measures.
“We’ve shifted where everyone sits; we took out a middle wall and installed four doors that we can open and close to create separate spaces,” Thedorf said. “And we’re working with our neighbor, Golden State Cider, to expand the patio into its parking lot.”
The Region concept makes great sense for consumers and wineries alike. Purchasing a 2.5- or 5-ounce glass of hard-to-get wine lets guests taste before they buy; the wines in the dispensers are available for purchase by the bottle. Each member winery is assigned two weeks a year during which it can pour its wines in person and host winemaker dinners and club events when coronavirus restrictions are lifted. Current co-op wineries include Flambeaux, Hafner, Laurel Glen, Thirty Seven, Three Sticks and Trombetta; Front Porch winemaker Sebastien Pochon has the pouring honors on July 25.
“Region is very important for a small brand like ours,” said Rickey Trombetta Stancliff, who with husband Roger Stancliff owns Trombetta Family Wines in Forestville. Their daughter, Erika Stancliff, is the winemaker for this chardonnay and pinot noir producer. “We are too small (approximately 1,200 cases a year) to have our own tasting room. We don’t make enough wine for that to be profitable. Region allows us to showcase our wines with the added benefit that people can try them … without feeling any pressure to purchase. If they would like to take home a bottle or two, they have that ability as well.”
Despite making wine for three decades in Sonoma County for large companies and his own Goldschmidt Vineyards brand, Nick Goldschmidt and his wife, Yolyn Wilson, have never had their own tasting room. Although their timing wasn’t ideal, they have one now, in the collective tasting venue The Pour House, northwest of Healdsburg. Formerly known as Family Wineries of Dry Creek, this casual spot surrounded by grapevines is home to Lago di Merlo and Optima Winery and, since mid-June, Goldschmidt Vineyards.
“A tasting room is not a market we have developed in the past, as we have never found the right location until now,” Goldschmidt said, shrugging off the pandemic challenges. “I didn’t want to be in town, per se. I wanted to be out in the country, and Dry Creek Valley, where we live, is a special place. We are farmers after all, and so being out in the valley is important to me.”
He is mostly known as a cabernet sauvignon maker, so Goldschmidt wants to shine a light on other varietals and small-lot wines not available in stores.
“Cabernet will always be our focus, from Oakville (in Napa Valley) and Alexander Valley, and we have a great following for merlot and chardonnay,” he explained. “Now we can show real special lots from even smaller growers: Fog’s Edge from Randy Peters, Singing Tree Reserve from Dutton (Ranch), Lone Tree Alexander Valley, petite sirah and zinfandel from Railyard, under the Gracepoint label and many other hard-to-find wines.”
Region and Goldschmidt Vineyards aren’t alone in creating tasting spaces in trying times. Aperature Cellars in Healdsburg, Bricoleur Vineyards in Windsor and Chenoweth Wines in Sebastopol join them in the cause.
Jesse Katz has done a lot of winemaking in his short 36 years, for such world-renowned wineries as Petrus in Bordeaux, Screaming Eagle in Napa Valley, Viña Cobos in Argentina and Lancaster Estate and its sister label, Roth, in Sonoma. He went on to found his own labels, Devil Proof for malbec and Aperture Cellars for Bordeaux-variety wines.
Investment assistance from Houston Astros owner Jim Crane helped Katz build an avant-garde production facility south of Healdsburg for the two brands, with an adjacent visitor center slated to open in spring of this year. Coronavirus delayed the debut until July 9, when the doors opened to appointment-only outdoor visits.
The 4,000-square-foot space incorporates natural light, inspired by the aperture of a camera, used so successfully by Katz’s professional photographer father, Andy. The sauvignon blanc and cabernet-based wines are high end and of remarkable quality. Experiences ($75-$125) are low-key, intimate and include food pairings. Indoor tastings will be available when restrictions are lifted.
12291 Old Redwood Highway, Healdsburg, 707-200-7891, aperture-cellars.com.
Long before the coronavirus pandemic, Mark and Elizabeth Hanson targeted the grand opening of their Windsor tasting room, guest houses, events barn and pavilion for May 2. They’d hired former Chalkboard and Brass Rabbit chef Shane McAnelly as estate chef and planted flower and produce gardens from which he could pluck items for his dishes.
Shelter-in-place orders stalled the Hansons’ opening until May 23 and all visitor activities had to be conducted outside, with physical distancing. The 39-acre estate (21 acres of chardonnay and pinot noir vines), with its own pond and views of the Russian River, proved just right for the times. Today, tastings continue by appointment, and wine and food packages range from $45 to $90 per person. A wide range of varietals are offered.
7394 Starr Road, Windsor, 707-857-5700, bricoleurvineyards.com
Like many vineyard owners, Amy and Charlie Chenoweth branched out to making their own wines — mostly chardonnay and pinot noir — from their ranch in the Sebastopol hills. In July, they introduced a range of outdoor tastings and tours for small groups and with physical distancing for safety. There is no tasting room but rather a tasting grove with picnic tables shaded by towering redwoods. Tastings range from $25 to $125 per person and include cheese pairings from Valley Ford Cheese Co. It’s truly a family affair, with winemaker Amy, grapegrower Charlie, their sons CJ and Jakob and Kyra Thomson, CJ’s girlfriend and Chenoweth assistant winemaker, all involved in welcoming guests.
5550 Harrison Grade Road, Sebastopol, 707-829-3367, chenowethwines.com
The Pour House, formerly known as Family Winemakers of Dry Creek Valley, is a collective of small-volume wine producers; Goldschmidt Vineyards joined the fold in mid-June. The tasting room has been redecorated and the large patio area allows for easy physical distancing.
Nick Goldschmidt makes a dizzying number of wines from throughout the world — New Zealand, Chile and Argentina joining California — yet his focus for The Pour House is on chardonnays, zinfandels, merlots and cabernet sauvignons from Dry Creek and Alexander valleys. Open daily, The Pour House also serves and sells the wines of Lago di Merlo and Optima Winery. The basic tasting is $10, refunded with a bottle purchase; add a charcuterie plate for $12.
4791 Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg, 707-433-0100, goldschmidtvineyards.com, thepourhouse707.com
Purchase a tasting card ($2.99) which links to your credit account, insert it in a high-tech wine dispensing station and push-button pour your own sample or glass of wine from any of 24 producers, most of them located in the “region” of Sonoma. During COVID-19 restrictions, take that glass to the patio where you will be seated and distanced from others to enjoy your wine and perhaps order a meal or snack from nearby Acre Pizza, The Farmer’s Wife, Fern Bar or Sushi Kosho to be delivered to your table.
This new venue in The Barlow in Sebastopol officially opens July 25 and features two dozen small producers (most under 10,000 annual cases) that don’t have the means for their own tasting rooms, yet have the goods — great wines — available for sampling and purchase.
The Barlow, 180 Morris St., Suite 170, Sebastopol, 707-329-6724, drinktheregion.com
Region, a new wine bar at The Barlow in Sebastopol, is the first of its kind in Sonoma County, pouring 50 small production wines from self-serve WineStation machines and providing intimate access to winemakers in a casual setting.
The WineStations use an argon gas preservation system to keep the wines fresh for up to 60 days and dispense from a tap at the push of a button. At check-in, patrons get a tasting card, which looks a lot like a hotel key. The tasting card is then linked to the patron’s credit card and they can sip the day away. Sure, it could be a little dangerous for your wallet, but each wine is offered in a 1, 2.5, or 5 oz. pour and the machines display pricing for each wine, which range from $1 for a 1 oz. pour to a whopping $91 for a 5 oz. pour of Immortal Estate’s Impassable Cabernet Sauvignon. (Don’t worry, most 5-ouncers are priced at $15 and under.)
“We’re taking a unique approach to the wine industry and, respectfully, we want to disrupt it a little bit with this new way to experience wine,” said Region co-founder and longtime Sonoma County local Kerry Thedorf, who, along with her business partner Johan Eide, a Sebastopol native, have been working together to bring Region to life for nearly a year.
Located next door to Golden State Cider, Region partnered with 25 carefully selected producers, most of which are lesser-known boutique brands, like Frostwatch Winery, Front Porch Farm, and Thirty-Seven Wines.
“Our goal was to help the small guys that can’t afford the million-dollar tasting room or are so off the beaten path that they need help with foot traffic and getting the word out,” said Thedorf.
The wines span 14 appellations (almost exclusively Sonoma County) and while there is of course plenty of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on offer, there are also some hard-to-find grapes like Albarino, Gewurtztraminer, Semillon, and Carignane. DRNK Wines even has an orange wine, a skin-contact Pinot Gris from Bennett Valley.
Wines can also be purchased by the glass or bottle and Region has a list of nine flights on their menu. The Au Natural, for example, highlights green-conscious growers, while Sonoma Sunset features wines that fall between red and white in color.
Thedorf and Eide originally envisioned reclaimed wood and antiques for Region, but after realizing both were quite common not just in Sonoma County, but even within The Barlow, they went in another direction for the design.
The space is light and airy with neutral tones, poplar wood, and tile accents. Clean lines are everywhere and are meant to embody vineyard rows. Communal tables (set with leather bar stools) were partly constructed from wine barrel racks and there are a few couches for lounging. On theme with Region’s mission to do wine differently, there are two prints of aerial vineyard photography by Dan Quinones, which present the vineyard in a new, abstract way,
The WineStations are set up in one room and, in another, there’s a tiled bar where a winery partner sets up shop each week to hand-pour a selection of additional wines that aren’t available in the machines. These wines can be anything from current releases to older vintages and verticals. Thedorf said producers should treat it as a pop-up and can get as creative as they want during the two weeks a year they are the featured winery, hosting everything from winemaker dinners to pick-up and release parties to educational seminars. Front Porch Farm is up first for the grand opening and will be bringing their farmers market stand with them.
“We wanted to take the approach of the brewery mentality. I want that connection with the winemaker, I want to know where [the wine] is grown, I want to know all the ins and outs of it, not necessarily in traditional wine education, but easily broken down — the nuts and bolts of it,” said Thedorf, who has already seen many winemakers pop in even when it’s not their week. “It’s a breath of fresh air to have the winemakers in the space.”
For food, Region has partnered with several Barlow neighbors, who will deliver orders as they are placed. Patrons can choose from a selection of sandwiches from The Farmer’s Wife, like the Gravenstein Apple Grilled Cheese and Grass-Fed Beef Filet, or pies from Acre Pizza, like the Potato Pizza. Sushi Kosho has three kinds of poke, a Wagyu short rib, and a Bahn Mi sandwich on offer, while Fern Bar has a variety of dishes, including churros and a fried chicken sandwich.
Region’s grand opening is scheduled for July 25, but they will be open for a preview this weekend, Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. In compliance with Sonoma County’s reinstated guidelines for outdoor seating only, Region has an expansive outdoor patio and Thedorf said they have set it up so that patrons will still be able to safely use the wine machines and interact with the featured winery.
180 Morris St. Ste 170, Sebastopol, drinkyourregion.com.
