7/15/2013: B1:
PC: Sofia Pomares, 4, reaches for a French flag waved by her mother, Fabiola Pomares- Sotomayor, while celebrating Bastille Day at Chateau St. Jean on Sunday, July 14, 2013 in Kenwood, California. (BETH SCHLANKER/ The Press Democrat)
July 2019
This July 14, as has been the custom for more than 200 years, people in France will line rivers, rues and boulevards to celebrate all things French during La Fête Nacional. In Paris, they’ll picnic to the sound of symphonic music on the Champs de Mars, see firework displays from the Eiffel Tower, and then dance the night away with firemen at the Bals des Pompiers. (Those French, they sure know how to party.)
Meanwhile, in the United States and other Francophile regions in the world, people will don berets and striped shirts, drink wine, play pétanque, maybe even wave the tricolore flag, all the while wishing they were really in France (or as effortlessly stylish as the French). In Sonoma County, possibly the closest thing to Provence on this side of the Atlantic (or at least, that’s what we like to think), French-Americans and Francophiles alike can attend a variety of Bastille Day events. Click through the gallery for details and Vive la France!
Guests enjoying cold drinks on the patio overlooking the Russian River at Stumptown Brewery in Guerneville, on April 20, 2013. (Alvin Jornada / The Press Democrat)
Summer is kicking into gear in Sonoma County. Time to sip on a cold one on a shaded patio or at a lively bar – we’ve lined up a few favorite beer venues for summer fun. Added bonus: we asked each spot for a summer brew recommendation. Click through the above gallery for details.
It’s time to get your summer on and Sonoma stores can provide some shopping inspiration. Here are some unique buys to help you take the heat outside and feel stylish while doing so. Happy Sonoma Summer! Click through the above gallery for details.
Lynzie Brodhun, left, and her sister Lexi Brodhun drink beer and listen to live music at Brewster’s in Petaluma on Sunday, September 9, 2018. (Beth Schlanker/ The Press Democrat)
Sonoma County has no shortage of excellent live music venues and, just as in the greater Bay Area, the local music scene is diverse. Fans of bluegrass, reggae, hip-hop, rock, and soul — and everything in between — can count on finding a concert here. And, this being wine country, you can pair your music experience with great food, wine and beer. In addition to larger venues like the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, The Green Music Center, The Mystic and SOMO Village, music lovers should make time to explore the smaller stages at local restaurants and bars. Click through the gallery for some of our favorite local spots for live music.
Summer is officially here. What could be a better excuse to open a bottle of your favorite rosé?
To highlight some outstanding Sonoma County rosé producers, we’ve been breaking it down by region. First up was Russian River Valley Rosé, made mainly from pinot noir grapes. Next, we drove north to the wine regions of Alexander Valley and Dry Creek Valley to sample different varieties of pink wine. Finally, let’s explore the Sonoma Coast, a favorite among fans of seafood and Northern California beaches, and a great region for growing cool-climate grape varieties. Click through the gallery for some of our favorite Sonoma Coast rosés.
Chateau St. Jean Patio (Photo courtesy of Treasury Wine Estates)
Winery preferences get personal in Sonoma County.
Do you want a place with a modern tasting room? Prefer something more rustic? Casual and off-the-beaten path or luxe with every need catered to? In Wine Country, it all depends on the weather, your mood and who’s joining you.
Locals all have their favorites, but when out-of-towners drop in for a visit, with little advance research to guide them, their first stop is likely customer review website Yelp. So where is it sending them? Click through our gallery to find out.
*We’ve only included wineries with 4.5 or 4-star ratings, and more than 200 reviews.
Ayawaska Opens: Named for the mystical spirit plant native to the Amazon rainforests, Ayawaska RestoBar is bringing a bit of magic to Petaluma. Since opening in late May, the riverfront restaurant (formerly Red Brick) has been serving up modern Peruvian cuisine. Along with plenty of Pisco Sours, the South American spot offers up several ceviche dishes, lomo saltado, quinoa salads, purple corn pudding and a lengthy list of cocktails. It’s the second Peruvian restaurant in Petaluma. Quinua Restaurant Cocina Peruana opened in 2016. 101 2nd St., ayawaskasf.com
Chocolates from Eye Candy chocolatier in Sebastopol on 2/9/16. (Heather Irwin, Press Democrat)
Eye Candy Chocolatier Pop-Up: San Francisco’s Bloomingdale’s department store is currently featuring a local Sebastopol Chocolatier (6761 Sebastopol Ave, Sebastopol) in a pop-up store June 17-23 from 11 A.M.-6 P.M. Eye Candy Chocolatier is based in Sonoma County on Sebastopol Avenue and specializes in artisan chocolate truffles. These are hand-crafted daily at their Gravenstein Station location, made with all natural ingredients. Jill McLewis, co-owner of Eye Candy, says, “We’re so excited for the opportunity to share our European style truffles beyond Sonoma County.” Eye Candy is located on Level 1 at the Mission Street entrance of Bloomingdales.
Mountain Mikes Reopening: One of several restaurants lost in the 2017 Tubbs Fire, the Cleveland Ave. Mountain Mike’s pizzeria is finally reopening, bigger and better than ever. Though several other locations of the pizza chain remained open, locals are cheering the return of an expanded restaurant with a full bar, 24 beers on tap, updated decor and a large patio with live music. An opening preview takes place next week, followed by the grand opening in early July.
Boozy Shakes: Throughout the month of July, Sonoma Portworks in Petaluma will be celebrating Boozy Milkshake Month, featuring its DECO port and DUET sherry milkshakes. The drinks will be made with local Three Twins Madagascar Vanilla and Mexican Chocolate ice creams. In August they’ll feature the chilled ‘Ginger Snap’, a blend of DUET and ginger beer with a twist of lemon. Sonoma Portworks is a local winery that specializes in ports and after-dinner wines. They’re also the makers of Sonomic, sweet-sour balsamic-style vinegar that’s perfect for sipping or drizzling.
Zazu chef Duskie Estes puts the final touches on a Liberty Duck appetizer with star anise, bing cherry on a sesame rice cake at the North Coast Food and Wine Festival at Sonoma Mountain Village in Rohnert Park on Saturday. (photo by John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
Zazu’s On the Road: There’s been no rest for former Zazu restaurant owners John Stewart and Duskie Estes after closing their popular Barlow restaurant last spring. They’ve taken the show on the road with their food truck, the Black Piglet, showing up at Bottle Rock, Ferrari-Carano (June 22), the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, North Coast Food and Wine Festival and dozens of others. Here’s a lineup of a few more places to catch them this summer…
Holy Sheboygan, Bratman! The Wurst restaurant in Healdsburg has opened, and boy is it a sausage fest.
Featuring eight kinds of Wisconsin-made wursts, $5 brewskies and cream puffs topped with warm chocolate sauce, The Wurst is one of Wine Country’s best summer restaurant openings.
A Detroit native, owner Charles Bell knows his sausage, offering up “real deal” sausages with caramelized onions, hot peppers, sweet peppers and sauerkraut. Giving a major assist with the opening menu and working in the kitchen, local chef (and new mom) Tracey Shepos formerly of Stark’s.
Recounting the brats of his Midwestern childhood, Bell, who is also a former MC5 bassist and finance guy, said creating the space on paper was good therapy during cancer treatment several years ago. “This is what I’ve always wanted to do,” he said.
What to try: Grab a traditional “Wurst” made with pork, fennel, parsley and smoked paprika, savory Sheboygan Brats, Detroit Polish (a mix of beef, pork, beers and onions) and the Harissa Hottie with pork beef, apricot, harissa, habanero and coriander. All are $7.25, with some fancier concoctions running $8.75. The lineup also includes two chicken sausages, a Nathan’s Famous hot dog for kids and a third-pound locally-sourced beef hamburger called the Smash burger ($8.75) served on a pretzel bun.
When you’re the Wurst, the details that make all the difference. Fresh buns from nearby Costeaux Bakery, five different types of dipping sauces for hand-cut fries (truffle aioli, Liar’s Dice BBQ sauce, peppercorn ranch) and a stellar lineup of condiments including curry ketchup, sweet mustard and several types of pickle relish delight. Somehow we missed out on the Beer Cheddar sauce, but hopefully it will return to the menu shortly.
Endings are sweet, with simple homemade milkshakes and an ice cream puff filled with vanilla ice cream, milk chocolate fudge from Detroit-based confectionary Sanders, and crushed peanuts.
It’s the best of the Wurst in Healdsburg.
The Wurst, 22 Matheson St., Healdsburg. Open daily at 11am for lunch an dinner.
Sonoma summer leisure isn’t all sipping wine and sniffing lavender. There’s also crafting to be done! And all those creative ideas aren’t going to get whipped into gorgeous creations by themselves. Here are three events in Sonoma County to help draw out or further enchant your inner maker. DIY is dreamy—click through the above gallery for details.
The Negroni is a seductive cocktail. Its ruby red color looks beautiful backlit on a bar, it glistens over a large ice cube and tastes like no other drink. “The balance of herbal, bitter, and sweet in a Negroni just feels complete in my palate,” says Ashby Marshall, co-owner of Sonoma County’s Sprit Works Distillery.
And now is the perfect time to enjoy the classic Italian aperitif. The seventh annual Negroni Week, an international celebration and fundraiser, kicks off June 24. (This year is extra special as it marks the drink’s 100th anniversary.)
Sonoma, always balancing tradition with rebellion, has turned Negroni-making into an art form. We talked to five local masters, who shared their Negroni Week plans, recipes, and cocktail-making tips. Click through the gallery for some quick details.
The Lodge Negroni. (Photo courtesy of Imbibe Magazine)
What’s in a Negroni?
The classic Negroni recipe is simple, sweet, and a little bitter with equal parts gin, sweet vermouth and Campari, the most famous in the amaro category of liqueurs. “The bitters are excellent for your liver, the gin is bad for you. They balance each other,” said Orson Welles in a 1947 correspondence with the Coshocton Tribune while working in Rome.
Modern-day mixologists have breathed new life into the drink. Contemporary recipes, such as this Lodge Negroni, layer on other spirits and replace Campari with other bitters. Barrel aging supplements shaken or stirred preparations. In some cases, the drink isn’t even red.
What is Negroni Week?
This annual celebration, sponsored by Campari and Imbibe Magazine, invites bars and restaurants around the world to serve up the Italian cocktail and donate the proceeds to charity.
Negroni Week is now in its seventh year, and 10,000 venues around the world officially participate. To date, the event has raised $2 million for a diverse range of charities. All you need to do is visit a participating venue and order a Negroni. More on that below.
The Patagonian Negroni at Whispers Sisters in Petaluma. (Photo courtesy of Danielle Peters/Whisper Sisters Cocktails & Provisions)
Sample a Negroni with a South American Twist at Whisper Sisters Cocktails & Provisions in Petaluma
Whisper Sisters’ cocktail menu features ingredients as diverse as lapsang souchong and pink peppercorn. Evocative drink names like “The Dutch Trader” and “Salt of the Earth” inspire explorations of the near and far. It has a drink for every palette and a few cocktails that follow the structure of an amaro, gin and vermouth trifecta.
“Having the foundation of a classic cocktail really gives you the framework to create some really playful riffs,” says co-owner and manager Danielle Peters.
Whisper Sisters is an official Negroni Week participant and will donate proceeds from the drink to No Kid Hungry. The bar is still conjuring up Negroni Week’s specialty cocktail—in the meantime, try their Patagonian Negroni. It contains a spirit called Trakal that is derived from ingredients grown in the Patagonia region of Chile and Argentina. It’s slightly sweet and herbal with a hint of berries. Some say it tastes somewhere in between a gin and a brandy. Suffice to say that it’s hard to describe.
“It had such a unique flavor profile so I wanted the spirit to shine but needed to lift it with bitterness and a floral aspect,” says co-owner and manager Danielle Peters.
A Negroni cocktail at Starling Bar in Sonoma. (Courtesy photo)
Make it Traditional – or Cannabis-Infused – at Starling Bar in Sonoma
Starling Bar on Highway 12 bills itself as a casual neighborhood cocktail joint, but with over 30 cocktails on the menu, some creations are anything but casual. To sample the traditional all the way to the unconventional, make your way here.
Starling’s House Negroni is equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth, served on a large ice sphere, with a lemon twist. It is aged in barrels previously used for nocino, an old European digestive made from walnuts. The nocino barrel picks up the walnut and gives the Negroni a rich flavor. “The barrel takes some of the edge off the cocktail so it is going to taste smoother,” says Fred Johnson, who co-owns Starling with Elizabeth Takeuchi-Krist. This is the perfect gateway Negroni for the uninitiated.
At Starling, those in the know (which now includes you) ask for “The Secret Menu,” on which there are eight cocktails with cannabis-infused liquors, including the Stony Negroni, which contains cannabis gin, Campari and sweet vermouth served on an ice sphere.
“You can literally taste the cannabis in the Negroni,” says Johnson.
But why so secret? Cannabis is now legal in California. “It is a little bit cutting edge,” says Johnson. “Not everyone believes that cannabis should be accessible.”
Starling Bar is an unofficial participant of Negroni Week, without a charitable donation tied directly to Negroni sales. But Starling’s shop donates proceeds to various charities, including victims of the Sonoma fires.
A classic Negroni at Fern Bar in Sebastopol. (Courtesy photo)
Try a White Version at Fern Bar in Sebastopol
General manager and co-owner Sam Levy, former bar manager of Napa’s three Michelin-star restaurant Meadowood, directs the fruit-, vegetable- and herbal-infused cocktail menu at The Barlow’s Fern Bar. During Negroni Week, they will serve a classic Negroni with a twist as well as a white Negroni, with a portion of proceeds going toward Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation.
Fern Bar’s classic Negroni stays close to original proportions, using just a touch more gin than Campari or Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth. But for Negroni Week, Fern Bar will put a spin on it.
“We bump up the gin, then add a little amaro in place of some of the Carpano Antica, and sub out most of the Campari for Aperol and Gran Classico,” says Levy. (Gran Classico is a bitter liqueur formulated from the old Italian recipe by Petaluma’s Tempis Fugit.) “It softens the bitter edge of the classic Negroni and makes it a more spirit-forward, richer, and brighter cocktail.”
A white Negroni at Fern Bar in Sebastopol. (Courtesy photo)
If a classic Negroni is too intense in taste and color, Fern Bar’s white version is a good alternative. While there seems to be no standard recipe for a white Negroni, bartenders generally swap out the sweet vermouth and Campari for dry vermouth and a different bitters. The result is a less sweet and more naturally-colored drink. At Fern Bar, it is made with Benham’s Gin, Lo-Fi Sweet Vermouth, and Luxardo Bitter Bianco.
6780 Depot St. #120 (in The Barlow) Sebastopol, 707-861-9603, fernbar.com.
Fern Bar Classic Negroni Recipe
4 parts Sipsong Indira Gin
1 part Amaro Averna
1 part Carpano Antica
1 part Aperol
1/2 part Campari
1/2 part Gran Classico
(Tip for home: Use good ice, such as large cubes or spheres, to slow the rate of dilution.)
Head bartender Neil Espinosa mixing cocktails at Stark’s in Santa Rosa. (Courtesy photo)
Put a Barrel-Aged Spin On It at Stark’s Steak and Seafood in Santa Rosa
Stark’s Steak and Seafood in Santa Rosa is one of our favorite happy hour destinations, but their cocktails stand on their own at any hour of the day.
During Negroni Week, head bartender Neil Espinosa will serve up two negronis. The barrel-aged Negroni follows the classic ratios but with a couple of twists: Espinosa uses San Francisco’s Hotaling & Co (formerly Anchor Distilling Company) Junipero Gin, Campari and a house vermouth blend that’s a mixture of Carpano Antica, Punt e Mes and Alessio Torino. He also uses toasted French oak chips, which he leaves in the mixture for about two weeks to give the cocktail enough time to meld together and take on some of the oak flavor.
While Stark’s Steak and Seafood is not serving a Negroni Week special, you might use the opportunity to order Espinosa’s favorite Negroni, which is an interpretation of the Semi-White. It contains Gin, Lillet Blanc, Quina L’ero and Aperol.
Tip for home: Espinosa says that when making a Negroni, it is essential to measure the ingredients to get the perfect balance of flavors. “A common mistake that I’ve come across is being too heavy with the vermouth,” says Espinosa.
A Negroni with gin from Spirit Works Distillery in Sebastopol. (Courtesy photo)
Make Your Own With Local Booze from Spirit Works Distillery in Sebastopol
Extend the Negroni Week celebrations by making your own—Spirit Works Distillery in Sebastopol supplies the gin. You can sample their three gins—Gin, Barrel Gin and Sloe Gin—at the distillery’s tasting room or buy them at local retailers like Bottle Barn and Oliver’s Market.
Negroni recipes can be found on Spirit Works’ website. Co-owner Ashby Marshall also recommends two variations on the classic. The first features one part Campari, one part Spirit Works Gin and one part Spirit Works Sloe Gin – substituting Sloe Gin for the vermouth. The second, a staff favorite, is a Negroni made with Spirit Works Barrel Gin. “The candied lemon and orange that comes through with the barrel aging process blends incredibly well with Campari,” says Marshall.
Spirit Works is celebrating Negroni Week with two Bay Area events, one at the Agave Uptown bar in Oakland and another at Viognier Restaurant at Draeger’s Market in San Mateo. They will also post cocktail recipes on Instagram at @spiritworksdistillery.
