Ayawaska sour and pisco sour at Ayawaska in Petaluma. (Heather Irwin)
A profusion of Peruvian food in Sonoma County has made once-exotic foods like lomo saltado, Pisco sours and giant kernels of Choclo (Peruvian corn) a more familiar sight. Ayawaska in Petaluma is the newest entrant into the game.
The location is lovely, with indoor and outdoor seating overlooking the Petaluma River. The former Brick Yard space in Theater Square has hosted several failed restaurant concepts, and in many ways seems a bit cavernous in comparison to other nearby bistros.
Pisco punch at Ayawaska in Petaluma. Heather Irwin/PD
A large menu hits all the high points, including several types of fish ceviche, yuccas, quinoa, beef dishes and preparations that showcase the region’s melting pot of cuisines from China and Japan to Spain, France and indigenous peoples. Sweet, salty, savory and spicy flavors intermingle in each dish thanks to corn, raisins, yellow peppers and piquant spices.
While some dishes are truly memorable, like a savory corn cake with mushrooms and white wine or decadent cheesecake, others fall a bit flat, either lacking seasoning or hitting the salt a bit hard. Ceviches are good, but lack the sharp tang of citrus that usually makes the mix of raw fish, corn, sweet potato, red onion and that usually make this marinade so memorable.
Pisco-spiked cocktails made with the much-loved brandy of Peru, are another matter entirely. Topped with egg whites, mixed with lime and served up icy cold are delightful, and the bar at Ayawaska is frequently crowded in the evening.
They’ve also got a number of island tonics made with rum, mezcal and gin if Pisco isn’t your thing. 101 2nd St., #190, Petaluma, ayawaskasf.com.
Because we love fall. Because we’re so happy it’s finally here. Because fall is so extraordinarily beautiful (and tasty) in Sonoma, here are a few things to get you into the spirit of the season. Make sure those trips to your favorite farm stands include a detour to get some “merch” to deck your halls, table, and self in an autumnal way—click through the above gallery for details.
We can all benefit from some intentional self care from time to time. Unfortunately, paying for a spa extravaganza isn’t always possible — that’s when a do-it-yourself spa moment comes in handy. We picked out a few accoutrements to help you create the right ambiance and relax. Click through the gallery for details — and don’t forget the bubbly!
The home boasts magnificent views of the valley and Bay Area. It looks strait across to Mount Tamalpias.
Hollie Greene and Jeff Rottman exchanged wedding vows in a hot air balloon in 2011, and every year since they set a lofty theme for their married life. In 2015 it was “The Year We’ll Take Risks,” leading them to buy 6 acres of rugged hillside above Sonoma Valley and launch a plan to leave their San Francisco life.
Steep land and a rigid budget presented challenges, but three years later they moved into Triple Barn House, their rural 1,750-square-foot home that includes an idyllic nursery for their baby daughter, Sophie, born last February.
“We intended to be easy on the land and have a light footprint, leaving everything as natural as possible,” Rottman says. “We used basically raw materials.” Greene explains that they favor contemporary architecture with clean lines, yet shy away from anything stark or unwelcoming. “We wanted the house to have a sense of humor,” Greene says. “Modern houses can be so serious. We like simplicity, but we also wanted warmth.”
The couple turned to architect Casper Mork-Ulnes, who designed the home with a thrice-peaked roof topping three distinct living areas below. The layout features a kitchen and dining area that opens to a covered patio for alfresco entertaining, a central living area that includes two bedrooms and shared bath, and at the far end of the narrow home the couple’s private master suite — with an adjoining deck overlooking dense oak woodlands.
Built by Neema Construction Company, the earthy structure is made primarily of Cor-Ten steel, which rusts to a natural hue, and rough-hewn concrete. Large swaths of glass frame the miles-long view that stretches to Mount Tamalpais in Marin. The home is impervious to pests, and more important in its wildland location, extremely fire resistant.
Greene is a professional chef and holds a management position with Wellness in the Schools, a nonprofit focused on creating healthy, delicious, and affordable meals for children. Rottman heads up the global diversity and inclusion program for Roche Pharmaceuticals, and travels frequently to Roche’s headquarters in Switzerland. He is passionate about his role as board chairman of the Ceres Project, a nonprofit that provides organic locally produced meals for Sonoma County residents struggling with illness.
Chef Hollie Green Rottman especially loves cooking Mediterranean cuisine. Here she is making figs with a mascarpone honey spread topped with lemon zest.
Greene and Rottman met in 2008 when they were both working for American Express in New York. Three years later they moved to San Francisco when Rottman accepted a job at Genentech. Greene, who had studied at the New York campus of the International Culinary Center, was then free to follow her foodie career, starting up the food education website JoyFoodly.com, and beginning her life’s work encouraging families to eat wholesome foods.
The couple, healthy eaters themselves, turn to their five raised planting beds for seasonal veggies and herbs. With the exception of some drought-resistant grasses and native plants surrounding the home, the only other altered land is a rough path to a seating area surrounding a gas fire pit, perfect for s’mores and taking in the view.
Stairway leading to main floor.Entryway with Alex Cole painting.
A long driveway accesses the home, and it was a permit requirement that it had to be wide enough at the top for a firetruck to turn around. Mork-Ulnes met the challenge with a soaring concrete carport at the ground level, creating ample room for a turnabout. The couple’s shared office (with facing desks) is tucked into one end of its base, and the other end offers an entry hall. Here hangs a welcoming abstract painting by local artist Alex Cole.
From the entry hall, two flights of precipitous stairs lead to the single-floor residence, painted completely white throughout with light-toned Douglas fir floors. The architect’s wife, Lexie Mork-Ulnes, provided the interior design, choosing minimal, contemporary furnishings that suit the airy feel. Everything was chosen specifically for Triple Barn, with the exception of a custom-made walnut dining table from their previous home that the couple plan to sit around for the rest of their lives.
Sitting area with Wittus Shaker stove by Italian designer Antonio Citterio.The modern home boasts many beautiful shapes such as this doorway that tapers to the outside. The cactus were planted for their visual appeal against the red rock.Niels Bendtsen U-turn Swivel Chairs, made in British Columbia by Bensen, and handmade coffee table by Italian designer Durame.
The Carrara marble kitchen island does not have the customary cutout for stool seating, as Greene wanted it used strictly for culinary pursuits. They entertain often and never hesitate to assign friends slice-and-dice duties as guests gather round. The countertops are clutter-free, with all cooking equipment stored in drawers and the walk-in pantry, which also hides the microwave, coffeemaker, and other small appliances.
When their move-in day finally arrived, their annual theme was “The Year We’ll Be More Social,” so they invited everyone living in the homes nearby to a Pinot and paella party. The gesture quickly led to new friendships — further proof that the risk of forging a new path in Sonoma had been rewarded beyond their highest hopes.
A 3,000-gallon alembic pot still is a sight to behold. Towering nearly 30 feet high inside owner Adam Spiegel’s Rohnert Park distillery, it’s a potbellied behemoth that looks like something out of “Aladdin.” The genie in this mighty bottle, however, is whiskey.
Around for a decade, quietly picking up awards for its hyperlocal grain-to-glass whiskeys, Sonoma Distilling Co. was one of the first distilleries in Sonoma County, and the only one dedicated exclusively to whiskey. Spiegel began his journey making a modest 200 gallons a year. Over the next six years, he expanded the business, producing up to 1,500 gallons annually.
This year, he’s moved to an even bigger facility and hopes to reach 25,000 gallons. The new place also has space to smoke the grains with California cherrywood, fermenting tanks, alembic stills large and small, and a new tasting room. There are plans to bring in a hop facility (whiskey, after all, starts as beer) to close the loop on a one-stop shop.
Spiegel isn’t racing to a finish line, however.
“Alembic distilling is the least efficient way to distill, but it keeps the flavors. I’ve devoted my life to doing alembic, full-bodied whiskeys,” he says. Most distilleries use column stills, he says, which cook more like a tall clarinet than a fat Buddha. Alembic stills are the oldest way of distilling, with roots as far back as Egyptian times.
Though he knows it sounds corny, Spiegel says he envisioned the giant Scottish still in a dream. “That’s so Californian of me,” he says.
California dreaming or not, his Sonoma and Cherrywood Smoked bourbons and ryes are finding their place as premium whiskeys in seven states and 15 countries around the world. The motivation? “We’re just trying to answer the question,” he says, “‘What is California whiskey?’”
Karina Figueroa arranges a tray of pastries at Tia Maria Panaderia y Pasteleria in Santa Rosa. (Beth Schlanker / The Press Democrat)
A garden of paper dahlias blooms from the wall of Tía María bakery in Roseland. The tiny Mexican Panaderia y Pasteleria (bakery and cake shop) is a sweet neighborhood newcomer, owned by well-known baker Will Seppi of Costeaux Bakery in Healdsburg.
Located at the east end of Sebastopol Avenue, Tía María bakes up a variety of sweet breads called pan dulce, but their specialty are pink, brown, and yellow shell-shaped rolls called conchas. Made from scratch in the Costeaux production kitchen, they’re a rich, spiced egg bread topped with a thin crust of sugar. Be warned, they are also ridiculously addictive, especially when made into a warm breakfast sandwich filled with eggs, bacon, and cheese. Sweet, savory, and worth every calorie.
Churros filled with caramel sauce along with European-inspired mocha-fi lled Florentines, eclairs, lemon tarts, and butter croissants also fill the pastry cases. It’s a cultural mashup that just works.
“It’s a concept I’ve been kicking around for years,” says Seppi, who named the bakery for his Aunt Mary (Tía María in Spanish). The matriarch helped his parents start their first bakery in 1981 in Healdsburg.
Conchas, a Mexican sweet bread, at Tia Maria Panaderia y Pasteleria in Santa Rosa. (Beth Schlanker)
Opening in Roseland seemed natural for a new brick and mortar.
“We looked all over Santa Rosa and we kept coming back to the outskirts of Roseland,” says Seppi. More than 70 percent of his bakery staff are Latino, and Seppi wanted to support what he sees as a growing force in the local economy.
“This is an opportunity for our employees to grow and develop,” he says. “We need to be focused on the Latino community because it’s shaping the entire local economy. If business isn’t paying attention, then they’re being short-sighted for the future.”
From recipes to decor, it’s a group eff ort. The conchas, for example, took more than a year to develop. Using butter and sugar rather than artificial ingredients, staff taste-tested to get the perfect abuela-style rolls. Filling the wall with flowers was also employee-driven, with Seppi’s pastry chef creating blooms in every color of a fiesta.
“We want to recognize this vibrant community and bridge opportunities for our employees and people living in the area,” says Seppi, who hopes it will become a gathering spot for coff ee, croissants, and of course, conchas.
With the peak of summer heat in the rearview mirror and touches of autumn coloring the trees, this is a perfect time of year to explore Sonoma County’s most beautiful trails. From the shaded paths of Sugarloaf to the golden hills of Taylor Mountain and the serenity of Riverfront, here are some of our favorite spots to take a hike and enjoy fall’s arrival.
Alquimista Cellars winemaker Greg La Follete has played his bagpipes for the grapes during the harvest season for the past 30 years. (photo by John Burgess/Sonoma Magazine)
This harvest season, as he’s done every year for more than three decades, winemaker Greg La Follette will take a deep breath and blow into his bagpipes, serenading the grapes as they arrive for crush.
“I believe that wine reacts to the vibrations in music,” he says, referring to an American Journal of Enology and Viticulture study that analyzed the effects of different music genres on the fermentation process. “The heavy metal was tragic; the fermentation actually died. The Muzak worked as well as the control group. And the classical music — that fermentation performed the best.”
The magical union of wine and song has been time-tested for centuries, from traveling minstrels toting bota bags to the latest Bottle Rock festival. But some wineries are taking it a step further, experimenting with the effects of Beethoven or Miles Davis on the wine.
If only Beethoven would have known, he could have composed an Ode to Vino.
At Manzanita Creek Winery in Healdsburg, the barrels go to bed with classical music and jazz every night.
“The wines don’t like to be alone,” says owner Jack Salerno Sr. “They can’t see, but they can hear. I’m not a druid by any means, but it just seems that it helps the wine.”
Salerno was initially inspired by veteran winemaker Tom Montgomery, who cued up Van Halen one late harvest night over a decade ago as dry ice in Pinot Noir bins fueled a pink mist that rolled out of the winery and down the driveway.
After installing a state-of-the-art sound system, Salerno now prefers John Coltrane and Yo-Yo Ma to Eddie Van Halen. But that can change during harvest, when his son, cellar master Vincent Salerno, plays mostly metal deep into the night, falling back on classics like Dio as well as the latest “screamo” bands.
Likewise, a typical day at La Follette’s Alquimista Cellars might start out with Gregorian chants in the morning and turn to Puccini’s “Tosca” by midday, before giving way to the Beatles or Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, and maybe a little reggae to wind down.
“Beyond the vibrations, it’s about the people involved getting enthused,” La Follette says. “A lot of winemaking is about having the right environment for making the wine. I always make sure I have a good sound system wherever I make wine.”
Tilted Burger from Wishbone restaurant in Petaluma. (Chris Hardy/Sonoma Magazine)
I’m truly sorry to do this to you. Especially if you’re reading this hungry. Or on a diet. Or on a desert island. But you’re about to see so much cheeseburger porn that you may just pass out from happiness.
Personally, a burger without cheese always seems like a flower without petals. It needs that gooey, melty, cap to really sate my hunger. That’s why, we’re feeling a little like Wimpy these days. We’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a cheeseburger right freaking now….
Whether you’re lucky enough to live in Wine Country, or just visit on occasion, it doesn’t hurt to have daily reminders of what a truly beautiful and interesting place this is. Perhaps the best way to do that? Following these great Wine Country Instagram accounts, which showcase all the best this region has to offer.
From Tucker Taylor’s images of the produce he grows in Kendall Jackson’s culinary garden to Scott Schultz’s fun and honest peek behind the curtain at Jolie Laide Wines to the dramatic images photographer Adam Decker produces during harvest season, these are our picks for
who to follow on Instagram.
I’m truly sorry to do this to you. Especially if you’re reading this hungry. Or on a diet. Or on a desert island. But you’re about to see so much cheeseburger porn that you may just pass out from happiness.