March 2019. We may not be New York or Los Angeles, where plenty of late-night eats are available until the wee hours. We do, however, have a heaping handful of spots in Sonoma County that stay open until 10p.m. — some even later.
Click through the gallery above for all the details.
As always, call ahead if you’re really starving, because late-night eats aren’t always consistent depending on days of the week and different seasons.
Josephine Clements and Maci Martell contributed to this article.
With spring gatherings popping up all over the calendar pages, it’s time to think about how to punctuate the brunch or dinner table with an inspired centerpiece. Plant-growing knowhow and stunning, uncontrived style are so much a part of the Sonoma vibe. Naturally, the area’s farmers, designers and shopkeepers have lots to bring to the table — click through the above gallery for details.
Fire Circle Theater, a new Sonoma County-based theater company, wants to give everyone some time in the spotlight.
Formed by four friends, who met as theater students at the Santa Rosa Junior College, the nonprofit’s mission is to empower people of different backgrounds to “reflect on their lives and express their perspectives artistically.” On March 23, they will host the ReVerberation Festival at Spreckels Performing Arts Center in Rohnert Park.
In keeping with Fire Circle’s mission, the inaugural festival will feature performances by Alchemia, an arts program for adults with developmental disabilities, and SRJC’s Second Chance Club, a program for formerly incarcerated students. Other acts run the gamut from NPR’s Snap Judgement’s performer of the year, Jamie DeWolf, to a dramatization of two Coffey Park residents’ experience of the Tubbs Fire and its aftermath.
To further include festival-goers in the event, there will be an interactive pre-show with live music, poetry writing- and comic drawing workshops, art exhibits and open mic. The aim with the festival, as with all of the theater company’s endeavors, is to bridge communities through artistic expression.
Community-building is a central theme for the four founders of Fire Circle Theater – Rush Cosgrove, Matt Cadigan, Brett Molik and Kevin Bordi. In seeking to engage with contemporary issues, such as political division and the effects of modern technology on communication, they draw inspiration from the fire circles of early civilizations – traditional gathering places where people would come together to tell stories, sing and dance.
Fire Circle co-founder Rush Cosgrove, who holds a doctorate in education from Cambridge, grew up in rural Tomales and experienced the social dynamics of living in a smaller community.
“In the online space, you can unfriend and never hear from someone again. In a small town, you literally can’t do that,” says Cosgrove. “The ability for redemption is greater here.” He adds that our tech-driven connectivity makes people “hyper-focused” yet, at the same time, “tuned out” and “sniping at each other over nothing.”
In addition to providing a name for the theater company, the fire circle also serves as a model for their creative activities – in Fire Circle productions, everyone is allowed a turn to share their thoughts and be at the center of attention.
The group also offers workshop programs to schools as well as businesses. The business workshops usually explore how a company’s values might align with those of employees. This is done through creative exercises using writing prompts, improvisation or movement that tease out the voice and perspectives of each participant.
While some workshop participants might choose not to perform, they are often “open-minded enough to observe,” says co-founder Matt Cadigan, improv comedian, actor, director, educator and a graduate of the Meisner Technique Studio of San Francisco. “There’s incredible value in watching colleagues do that work—people often see something they can empathize with,” he adds.
The founders of Fire Circle Theater believe that this shared creative experience, be it in a theater or workshop setting, is the best way to foster healthy communities. While great art might of course come out of these endeavors, the main focus, according to Cadigan, is to invite and inspire people to “investigate their own lives and find strength in the ways others articulate their own experience.”
What: Reverberation: A Festival of Community Voices
When: March 23, 2019, doors open at 5:00 p.m.
Where: Spreckels Performing Arts Center, 5409 Snyder Lane, Rohnert Park.
Tickets: Tickets, $10, are available at reverberation.brownpapertickets.com
More information: firecircletheater.org.
Fire Circle Theater’s advisory: The themes and language of the performances may be uncomfortable for some. The minimum age for performers is 16. Parents with questions about whether this show is appropriate for their child may contact Fire Circle Theater at general@firecircletheater.org
Northern Sonoma County has a blissful far-from-everything feel. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to explore here – on the contrary. In addition to the countryside charm, wineries and restaurants, the towns of Cloverdale and Geyserville boast carefully curated main street shops with offerings that range from designer textiles to vintage finds (in a tasting room!). With a Sculpture Trail connecting the two towns, a trip up north makes for a fun off-the-beaten-path excursion. Click through the gallery for details.
March 2019
There are plenty of reasons to get outdoors and enjoy springtime in Sonoma. As the weather warms up, several events celebrate local food, wine, beer, nature and community. Click through the gallery for local events not to miss in March, April and May. And don’t miss our upcoming lineup of film festivals to visit.
Auction Napa Valley, the Super Bowl of wine charity events, has been attracting the well-heeled and famous since 1981. Taking place over the course of four days, with the main event – the live auction – on a Saturday, the annual extravaganza has been attended by celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Jay Leno, John Legend and Robin Williams. Tickets to the 2019 live auction range between $2000 and $10,000 per person.
This year, pop music star Katy Perry and celebrity chef Ayesha Curry will headline the live auction, which will be held at St. Helena’s Meadowood on June 1. Perry will kick off the bidding with a short set of her greatest hits. Curry, who owns barbecue restaurant chain International Smoke together with chef Michael Mina, will prepare the post-auction dinner over an open fire along with other chefs from the Michael Mina family.
Now in its 39th year, Auction Napa Valley has donated more than $185 million in proceeds toward community health and children’s education in Napa County. Attendees to the event can expect luxurious lots and some serious bidding: last year, a lot donated by Opus Wine Winery, featuring four six-liter bottles of Opus One wine, a trip to France for two couples and tickets to the grand masked ball at Château de Versailles, sold twice for $1.4 million in total.
In addition to the live auction and epic after party, this year’s Auction Napa Valley also includes vintner welcome parties and vintner-hosted dinners, a Friday barrel auction at Louis M. Martini Winery (a “steal” at $550 per person), and a “wine country farewell brunch” at Wheeler Farms in St. Helena. The 2019 event will also serve as a celebration of the 75th anniversary of Napa Valley Vintners, the organization that runs Auction Napa Valley.
Tickets and more information here.
There’s so much to love about the town of Sonoma. The restaurants and tasting rooms are obvious perks but there are some great shopping destinations too, all within walking distance from your latest wine-sipping and food-nibbling stop. Don’t know where to start? Click through the gallery for five Sonoma Plaza boutiques with a distinctive style. (Please note: this is by no means an exhaustive list of great shops around the Sonoma Plaza, so consider this just the beginning of your retail adventure).
Cheese Festival Adds Cheese Week for Cheese’s Sake
Get funky during the first annual California Artisan Cheese Week (March 16-24), which takes place in conjunction with the 13th Annual California Artisan Cheese Festival, March 23-24. The spin-off of the year’s dairy-best fest features more than 30 restaurants, grocers and wineries offering up special cheese plates, tastings, pairings, and fromage-friendly dishes on their menus throughout the week.
Among the restaurants, Mercato Pasta & Produce, which will have a special mac and cheese (630 Third St., Santa Rosa), Backyard in Forestville, Estero Cafe in Valley Ford and Girl & The Fig in Sonoma, Gravenstein Grill in Sebastopol and Kelly & Young Wines in Cloverdale.
(Want to sample the Sonoma County cheese scene at home? Here are some favorite cheeses from legendary cheesemonger Madame de Fromage)
The Cheese Festival is two full days of tours, pairings and demos culminating in the Cheese, Bites & Booze event at the Jackson Family Wines Hangar at the Sonoma Jet Center where cheesemakers, chefs and cheesemongers serve up the cream of the, well, cheese bites for attendees.
The Big Cheese event, however, is the Artisan Cheese Marketplace and Tasting where more than 100 cheese and food producers, winemakers, brewers, distillers, and chefs offer up nibbles and sips galore. The event takes place at Grace Pavillion at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds and tickets are $50 per person.
The polarizing mint-colored exterior paint of the short-lived Mint & Liberty cafe in Sonoma is about to be a thing of the past. Under the new ownership of the Chavez family, the restaurant will get a new lease on life — as well as a new paint job — as Picazo Kitchen and Bar, opening April 1 in the Maxwell Village shopping center just outside of downtown Sonoma.
Exactly what color is still being decided, but “it will definitely be more Picazo-ish,” says Sal Jr., referring to the bustling Picazo Cafe on Arnold Drive he has operated with his family for more than a decade.
They’ll be bringing their signature burgers, salads, sandos and bowls over to the new space, but it’s a foray into dinner, a full cocktail bar and even a late night menu that has the new owners really excited.
Sal’s wife, Kina Chavez, who has managed Picazo Cafe for the last several years, will also take the reins of the new eatery. She’s working on an evening menu that includes specialty dishes like Maria’s Chicken Mole (a recipe from her mother), steak and chimichurri, Picazo Ramen Noodles as well as their breakfast chilaquiles. Sweets from Sal Sr., which are a Picazo mainstay, will also make an appearance on the dessert menu.
“There are a lot of items on the dinner menu that are new and fun, but we’re still trying to cook in our own way. That ideology will persist,” said Sal Jr.
“The pressure and demand of us doing dinner has been consistent for two years,” said Sal Jr., of the limited breakfast and lunch hours of the Picazo Cafe on Arnold Drive. “We always contemplated it,” he said, so when the opportunity to take over the Mint & Liberty location came up, the couple quickly grabbed the space.
“Kina’s in the driver’s seat,” said Chavez. She’ll be working with their existing kitchen manager, Jose Ruiz, on some new menu items. Ruiz, ironically, used to work at Mint & Liberty and its earlier iteration, Breakaway Cafe, in the evenings after doing his shift at Picazo, so he’s familiar with the kitchen, Chavez said.
The new restaurant has a full bar license, meaning cocktails and spirits will be a part of the new lineup as well.
“The space is so loungy and super welcoming,” said Chavez. “I can’t imagine a better setting for some wine and cocktails or late night dates for Sonoma. We’re gonna have some fun.”
Kathleen Hill of our sister newspaper, the Sonoma Index-Tribune, first reported this story. Click here for her article.
Now that spring is in the air and in your step, here are a few Sonoma-based finds for an outdoor adventure. All these wonderful items are Bay Area made, and some are straight out of the 707—click through the above gallery for details.
