Here comes graduation season with all its heart-tugging beginnings, endings and looking forward. Send the graduate in your life on the path to “the next chapter” in style with these tokens of your affection. All items are made or sold in Sonoma – click through the above gallery for details.
Mom deserves a day off from any cooking duties. Take her out to one of these great breakfasts or brunches, serving delish dishes for Mother’s Day 2018. Click through the above gallery for details. Make sure to call ahead and check if there are still reservations available. Did we miss a favorite? Let us know in the comments below.
It’s time to fuss over dear ol’ Dad. Here are some great Sonoma-based finds for Father’s Day, which together make a good argument that Dad’s not THAT hard to shop for. Click through the above gallery for details.
Country star Trisha Yearwood is a Food Network star and New York Times best-selling cookbook author? Apparently we’ve been living under a rock, because Yearwood will be joining Chefs Giada De Laurentiis, Napa restaurateurs Masaharu Morimoto and Charlie Palmer, Dominique Crenn and Michael Voltaggio on the Williams Sonoma Culinary Stage at this year’s BottleRock.
For the last three years, the small culinary stage has been a star attraction at the Napa music festival, featuring big names like Martha Stewart, Snoop Dog and last year’s surprise appearance of the Warriors’ Steph Curry during wife Ayesha’s cooking demo. We also pretty much loved seeing Tommy Chong light up a couple years ago, too. The matchup of celebrity chefs and music, television, sports and movie celebrities has resulted in a oddly fascinating and eminently watchable lineup — often just to see the oddball antics.
Other culinary stars appearing on the stage include Top Chef Jr. host Graham Elliot, Top Chef Richard Blais, Aarón Sánchez, chef/owner Johnny Sánchez, Travel Channel star Adam Richman, Top Chef Masters Hubert Keller, Food Network star Chef Duff Goldman, actress, host and cookbook author Tiffani Thiessen, and Bay Area favorite chefs Tony Cervone, Tyler Rodde and Aaron Meneghelli. KCBS “Foodie Chap” Liam Mayclem keeps the whole circus together as emcee.
Joining them onstage, look for a weird and wonderful gathering of names like Halsey, Snoop Dogg, actor/comedian George Lopez, Olympic Gold Medal Winner Shaun White, Mike D, Baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr., MLB all-time home run king Barry Bonds, Harlem Globetrotters, boxing great and cookbook author Laila Ali (does literally everyone have a cookbook these days?) Michael Franti, Tré Cool of Green Day, Gary “Baba Booey” of The Howard Stern Show, E-40, Shakey Graves, future NFL Hall of Famer Charles Woodson, Warren G, NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, Rob Garza of Thievery Corporation, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Tank and the Bangas, Joe Kwon of the Avett Brothers, Dan the Automator, KTVU Sports Director Mark Ibanez, The Alive and City of Napa Mayor Jill Techel.
Sadly, if you don’t already have tickets to the three-day event, May 25-27, you’re out of luck, since they’re long sold out. You can enter Williams Sonoma “Ultimate Trip To BottleRock” Sweepstakes which includes deluxe accommodations at Napa Valley’s Silverado Resort and a pair of three-day passes to the festival. Or just watch your friends’ Instagram accounts to see what you’re missing.
If you’re wondering, the nosh lineup is pretty much the same as previous years, with a handful of additions and includes: Morimoto Napa, Bouchon Bakery, Estate Events by Meadowood, La Toque, Mustards Grill, Oenotri, Torc, La Taberna, Cole’s Chop House, The Q Restaurant and Bar, Bounty Hunter Wine Bar & Smokin’ BBQ, Angéle, Boon Fly Cafe/FARM, Goose & Gander, Bistro Don Giovanni, Tarla Mediterranean Bar & Grill, Redd Wood, Miminashi, Napa Palisades Saloon, Stone Brewing Co., Southside Café, Jax White Mule Diner, Taqueria Rosita, Il Posto Trattoria, Eight Noodle Shop, Kara’s Cupcakes, Bui Bistro, Foodshed, The Farmer’s Wife, Ristorante Allegria, Ben & Jerry’s and Sweetie Pies along with food trucks from around the Bay Area.
We’re definitely spoiled for choice when it comes to good restaurants and interesting food options in Wine Country. From an Old World-inspired modern bistro in Windsor to a small Santa Rosa breakfast-and-lunch spot where everything is made from scratch, we’ve rounded up a tasty selection to put on your “must-try” list for spring and summer dining. Click through the gallery above for more info and dishes to order at each restaurant.
Chef Krisztian Karkus isn’t sure if he wants everyone to know how good his wiener schnitzel is. He has a special recipe, sure, and it’s pan-fried in butter and pork lard with fresh lingonberry jam and homemade cucumber salad. But he isn’t a German chef, he says in a heavy Hungarian accent — and he doesn’t want his new restaurant, Tisza Bistro in Windsor, to be pigeon-holed as an ethnic dining experience.
Trouble is, he already has fans coming in weekly for a plate of the breadcrumb-topped veal. It’s just that good, which anything cooked in pork lard tends to be.
The restaurant has gained quick momentum with a mix of Old World comfort food (with lots of roasting) and fresh, California-inspired ingredients that make for an intriguing menu ranging from brown-butter artichokes with tarragon and lemon aioli (not lemon and mayonnaise, he specifies), duck confit with brandied cherries, spaetzle mac and cheese, and smoked bratwurst and braised sauerkraut.
Not a single dish misses the mark. Not one.
“Food has to taste good first,” Karkus says, “and look good second.” He’s achieved both, with perfectly cooked greens and beans, clever touches like balsamic “pearls” (a molecular gastronomy technique) that aren’t overly precious, deeply flavorful infusions of spices and herbs, and perfectly crisp salmon and duck skin.
Tisza is named after a meandering Hungarian river and its menu is awash in a love for the flavors of Sonoma County and Eastern Europe. Plus, the schnitzel ain’t bad.
Especially worth a try is the roasted Castroville artichoke with tarragon brown butter and preserved lemon ($10) — a huge artichoke bathed in nutty butter with creamy lemon aioli. We’re never quite sure about the proper way to eat an artichoke, but you’ll find the meatiest bits on the bigger petals, though we’d rather just spoon the aioli into our mouths when it comes right down to it. There’s no getting around the calories here, but it’s intensely worth sharing around the table.
And as for that wiener schnitzel ($23), this version has no relationship to a sad piece of dry pork dropped in a deep-fat fryer — which is the sibling of chicken-fried steak, something no one should eat willingly. Instead, this dish of veal is rolled in bread crumbs and fried in butter and pork fat. Add a squeeze of lemon, and life suddenly seems a lot better.
Lamb can be a tough sell, but Tisza’s braised lamb shoulder ($26), a long-cooked cut, is tender and beefy. It’s served with Bohemian yeast dumplings, which are a bit like steamed bao, a sticky sort of dough ball whose only purpose is to soak up au jus. Similarly, there are so many ways preserved duck leg can go wrong —they’re either greasy or fatty, and often a bit gray inside, with a rubbery skin. But with his roasted Liberty Farm duck confit ($18), Karkus again gets a super- crispy skin (“I love it to be crispy,” he says) by searing off the deep red meat. Brandied cherries are, well, the cherry on the confit.
Finally, the undersell of the menu is the rolled crepe with walnut cream ($6). It’s a treasured Hungarian dessert called palatschinke, and Karkus notes that the soft, papery crepe puts any French buckwheat imposter to shame. “You should be able to eat it like this,” he mimes, pressing his lips together. No teeth needed. Rolled instead of folded into a triangle, palatschinke is filled with a walnut cream surrounded by rum raisins (boozy fruit is a popular theme) and swooshes of real chocolate ganache. Nutella be damned.
Tisza Bistro is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 8757 Old Redwood Highway, Windsor, 707-838-5100, tiszabistro.com
Bridging the gap between front of house and back of house, restaurant, or bar, lofty versus unpretentious, Duke’s Common in Healdsburg is the halfway point — literally and figuratively — between the classic American cafe dining of Brass Rabbit (109 Plaza St.) and unfiltered farm-to-table booziness of Duke’s Spirited Cocktails (111 Plaza St.).
Housed in the former Scopa space, the Common is an eat and drink spot where everyone’s welcome (something not always easy to find in the ’Burg) — with 30-somethings balancing toddlers on their hips while sipping Prosecco, the pre-dinner crowd can grab a quick nibble and glass of wine, and after-hours revelers can stuff down some Disco Fries before boogieing home to bed.
Keeping in that unruffled spirit of hale and hearty bites like fries doused with gravy and tubs of shrimp and grits, it’s clear to see that Duke’s Common doesn’t take itself the least bit seriously. There’s a brief but eclectic lineup of things on skewers (mushrooms, chicken, corn dogs), small bites like the insanely popular McChicken sandwich, and slightly larger bites that include slices of pizza for $4 or a burrito stuffed with falafel, along with cocktails, wine, and beer. We ordered just about the entire menu for under $100, much to our surprise.
Duke’s Common has arrived in the right place at the right time — a place for all of us to gather, whether we’re plastic dish or white tablecloth kinds of diners. Nothing on the menu is more than $10. Don’t miss the Maple Bacon Donut ($3), which is actually more of a mapleglazed beignet. Big flavors make up for the tiny size. Recommended: Catch all bacon and glaze crumbs into waxed paper, then upturn into your open mouth. Refuse to acknowledge you just did that.
109A Plaza St., Healdsburg, 707-431-1105, dukescommon.com.
Petaluma is going gonzo for What A Chicken!, a budget-friendly barbecue spot, which specializes in — you guessed it — chicken.
You’ll smell it before you see it, with a massive grill perfuming the entire block with mesquite smoke and grilling chicken. Prepare to drool a little. Once you’ve passed through the mist of sizzling poultry, it’s an order-at-the- counter affair. Choose from mixed-grill plates, as well as tacos, fall-off-the-bone ribs, and so-so-sides like potato salad, coleslaw, and Spanish rice. Instead, get the freshly made corn tortillas and spend some time at the salsa bar. There’s usually a line, so you’ll have time to ponder the menu.
We found the chicken to be wonderfully flavored, but a bit dry. Doused with fiery pineapple salsa and wrapped in a warm tortilla, it’s easier to see why folks are so impressed. That and the prices: You’ll get a two-item, two-side plate and a drink for $7, hearty tacos are $3, and burritos around $7 as well. Super plus: A selection of icy aguas frescas are delightfully cool and sweet, taking some of the bite out of the spicier salsas.
708 E. Washington St., Petaluma, 510-776-7615.
It’s time for a little lunchtime dignity at the office. So long to sad brown paper sacks, desiccated Lean Cuisines warmed up in a dirty microwave, and worst of all, whatever stinky thing you had for dinner last night that’s making us all retch at our desks. I make it a practice to publicly humiliate anyone with the chutzpah to bring a steaming plate of fish stew, garlic curry, or god forbid, tuna salad near my workstation.
That’s why I’m convinced that Redwood Credit Union’s new Grove Cafe is the future of the office lunch.
Simple daily menus are placed near the entrance to the bright, modern space and include dishes like blackened chicken flatbread with sweet corn and red onion ($6), roast cauliflower and pear soup ($3.50), Korean barbecue chicken in lettuce cups ($8), a grilled veggie sandwich with sun-dried tomato pesto and goat cheese ($6), fresh beet salad with arugula ($6.75), made-to-order sandwiches, and burritos (all under $9).
There are no servers or waitstaff. Instead, diners simply pick a dish or two on the touchscreen monitor, pay with a credit card and sit down. Minutes later, your number is called and your order ready for pickup at the counter. No muss, no fuss, no lost time when your lunch hour is ticking quickly by.
While the cafe isn’t locally owned or Michelin-starred (it is part of international food service conglomerate Compass Group, which operates cafes and food services for businesses, schools, and hospitals, including Bon Appetit Management and Wolfgang Puck Catering), the simple idea is efficient, inexpensive, and what office drones (myself included) could really use on days when simply putting food in our faces is something of a luxury.
Open Monday-Friday. Breakfast, 8:30-10 a.m.; lunch, 11:30 a.m-1:30 p.m.; snacks, 1:30-3 p.m. 3033 Cleveland Ave., Santa Rosa
Former owners of Calistoga’s acclaimed JoLe restaurant have brought their talents to Santa Rosa with a breakfast and lunch spot that’s truly zoftig.
“My grandmother always said live life with zoftig,” said co-owner Matt Spector. A Holocaust survivor, she often used the Yiddish term that roughly translates as “fullness” that comes with being well-fed.
Focused on simple yet well-made sandwiches, salads, and bowls, the concept doesn’t sound particularly fascinating at first pass. Until you realize that Matt makes everything from scratch — from the roasted chicken and Diestel turkey to oven-roasted tomatoes, and fresh porchetta for his own take on a Vietnamese banh mi.
It’s a grab-and-go lunchtime spot near downtown Santa Rosa that’s far better than it actually needs to be, featuring bread from their next-door neighbors at Goguette, fresh chicories, kale from FEED Sonoma, and salad add-ins including paprika roasted cauliflower, goat Gouda, and grilled Crimini mushrooms. Must-tries include the roasted chicken ($11.50) and the banh mi ($12).
57 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa, 707-738-3558, instagram.com/zoftigeatery
It’s hard not to get enthusiastic about Cascabel, the newest addition to Santa Rosa’s Montgomery Village restaurant lineup. We found several menu standouts at this casual tequila bar and grill, including a sweet-and-savory Oaxacan mole, meltingly soft barbacoa, spicy shrimp ceviche, and homey arroz con leche.
For the barbacoa pancakes ($10), Cascabel uses a low-temp sous vide technique to slowcook meats overnight, then a pan fry to caramelize and crisp. In the case of barbacoa, the sweet shredded beef is butter-soft, but propped up with an intense mole sauce that commands respect. Piled atop a soft potato latke with crema and red onion, it’s a menu favorite. Also worth a try are the chicken tinga enchiladas with mole poblano ($13) and the Cocoyoc salad ($13). With achiote-marinated chicken, pineapple relish, red onion, toasted pumpkin seeds, and a pumpkin seed-serrano chile vinaigrette, the Cocoyoc is a lighter way to enjoy the intense flavors of Cascabel in a calorically virtuous way.
909 Village Court, Santa Rosa, 707-521-9444, cascabelbayarea.com/santa-rosa
Usually, “downtown storefront” and “small batch artisan” don’t occur in the same sentence. Notoriously high retail rents and the low volume production of handmade goods tend to operate in different economic galaxies. But Made Local Marketplace on Fourth Street in Santa Rosa is striving for a greater overlap between prime real estate and small business.
At Made Local Marketplace, products of local artists and makers (some 450-500 active members) meet the small batch consumer. The densely stocked storefront sells items ranging from art to usable merchandise, but has a mission beyond just generating sales.
Co-owners Kelley Rajala and Pam Dale call their store “an incubator” of creative businesses.
While makers typically rely on seasonal trade shows to exhibit and sell their products, Rajala and Dale aim to get fledgling businesses in front of the public in a retail space “every day of the year,” according to Rajala.
The Santa Rosa store just added their 700th maker to their lineup of sellers and is celebrating with a May 17 Open House.
Driven by the localization movement, Rajala opened the store eight years ago. Rajala, who also co-founded the Go Local movement in Sonoma County, created Made Local Marketplace to support local producers, believing them to be agents of a strong local economy, a strong community and sound environmental practices.
Rajala is herself a SPIN farmer – the beginnings of her small scale farming business stem from her own front lawn in the Burbank Gardens neighborhood of Santa Rosa.
Dale joined the store four years ago as a consigned artist (she’s a Sonoma County Best of Show-winning weaver), but came on as a co-owner after working the sales floor for a few months when she was a new retiree from PG&E.
Made Local Marketplace has given Petaluma artist Alice Frost increased exposure and sales of her intricate nature designs: silhouettes of trees or animals made from hundreds of smaller silhouettes of native California birds. Frost’s detailed work, both studies and puzzles that feature no species twice, was inspired by her curiosity at seeing Bullock’s Oriel on a walk in midtown Petaluma.
Frost says Made Local Marketplace is “inclusive” and “supports so many residents.” Frost was allowed to feature her entire line in the store, and says the quick turnover of her products there taught her to increase production rate and volume. Frost is attending her first trade show in Richmond in June to find a wider wholesale market for her popular prints.
Tea and Trumpets creator, Mark Bowden, says Made Local Sonoma Marketplace was his Santa Rosa-based organic tea company’s first account, and he’s “still amazed at how much tea they sell, especially around the holidays.”
“Made Local Marketplace has been so supportive,” Bowden says. Mendocino country Store and Real Goods in Hopland now carry Tea and Trumpets blends thanks to the connection that Made Local Marketplace helped foster.
Artists can have their work considered for inclusion in Made Local Marketplace via an application and meeting process. All accepted makers pay a yearly fee “so they have some skin in the game,” according to Dale. Makers who volunteer to work the sales floor earn a higher percentage of sales from their consigned items.
Dale considers the store, “a huge value” and “a central location for folks that are like-minded.” Dale says it’s place for artists to explore their businesses, receive mentoring and also gain inspiration from “some of the positive juju” of the Made Local Marketplace community.
Made Local Marketplace Open House, Thursday, May 17th, 4 p.m to 7pm., 529 4th St, Santa Rosa, 707-583-7667, madelocalmarketplace.com
First it was the plastic bag, now it’s the plastic straw.
A favorite way to sip everything from soda to shakes, plastic straws have recently gained a bad reputation for their negative impact on the environment. So much so, that Oakland is considering a proposal to ban food vendors from serving plastic straws unless requested, while Berkeley is considering a full out ban on plastic straws. And now, the war on straws has come to Sonoma.
ZeroWaste Sonoma County is leading the local fight against plastic straws, promoting “Sip It Sonoma,” a grassroots effort to empower citizens and businesses to say no to straws. In the city of Sonoma, the Community Services and Environmental Commission has been exploring ways to ban all single-use plastic at community events and the Sonoma City Council plans to revise their Special Events Policy regarding single use plastics, including plastic straws.
So what are the environmental impacts driving these bans? Americans use 500 million plastic straws every day. Most plastic straws are used for only a few minutes before they are disposed of, but it can take hundreds of years for these straws to “biodegrade,” or disintegrate. Because plastic straws are hard to recycle, they are rarely accepted by recycling companies. Instead, they end up in the ocean, where they release harmful toxins that threaten the ecosystem, including wildlife. Straws have also been ingested by seabirds, and caused harm to animals in the ocean (for many, this video of a sea turtle with a straw in its nose was – no pun intended – the last straw).
From small mom and pop shops to big hospitality groups, a handful of local establishments are now joining Sonoma County straw wars. These businesses are leading the way by using compostable straws, including paper, or eliminating the use of straws altogether, with the goal to reduce their ecological footprint while educating customers. Below are a few of these businesses.
Perch + Plow, Santa Rosa
One of the newest restaurants in Sonoma County, Perch + Plow has gained a reputation for their pretty craft cocktails, featuring fresh, locally sourced, seasonal ingredients. To complement those cocktails, they use paper straws, many of which are as colorful as the cocktails. 707-541-6896, 90 Old Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa, perchandplow.com.
Flying Goat Coffee, Healdsburg & Santa Rosa
Flying Goat Coffee serves sustainably grown, in-house roasted coffee in Healdsburg and Santa Rosa. Their to-go iced latte, chai and tea are served with paper straws at all Flying Goat Coffee locations. Multiple locations, flyinggoatcoffee.com.
Jackson’s Bar and Oven, Santa Rosa
With a bar constantly filled up with locals craving hot wood-fired pizzas and craft cocktails focused around locally crafted spirits, Jackson’s has shifted from plastic stirs and straws to strictly paper upon request. 707-545-6900, 135 Fourth St., Santa Rosa, jacksonsbarandoven.com.
Monti’s, Santa Rosa
One of the many restaurants in the Stark Reality Restaurants group, Monti’s serves up Mediterranean cuisine ranging from small plates to big plates, many of which are prepared in their large, wood-fired oven. Head to the patio on Sunday for chicken and waffles, but don’t expect a straw Aperol Spritz or mimosa, they only offer paper straws upon request. 707-568-4404, Montgomery Village Shopping Center, 714 Village Ct., Santa Rosa, starkrestaurants.com.
Stark’s Steak & Seafood, Santa Rosa
Big juicy steaks, fresh seafood and old school cocktails rule the roost at Stark’s, the art deco steakhouse in downtown Santa Rosa. It never fails – whether it’s happy hour or not – locals are there sucking down Moscow Mules and other vintage inspired cocktails – but not with straws. Paper straws are only available upon request. 707-546-5100, Railroad Square, 521 Adams St., Santa Rosa, 95401, starkrestaurants.com.
HopMonk, multiple locations
Pairing pub grub with local and international beers, HopMonk also has a cocktail program that many love and serves up plenty of waters, sodas and iced teas that are ready to be slurped down with a plastic straw. As of recently, the gastropubs, with locations in Sonoma, Sebastopol and Novato, have removed plastic straws from the menu and moved to compostable straws by request. Multiple locations, hopmonk.com.
Jimtown Store, Healdsburg
Whether you stop by Jimtown Store to browse proprietor Carrie Brown’s selection of homewares or to taste farm-to-table country food (which, in California, means non-GMO banh mi sandwiches and vegetarian chili), a visit to Jimtown isn’t complete without a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade – served with a paper straw, of course. 707-433-1252, 6706 Highway 128, Healdsburg, jimtown.com.
Duke’s Spirited Cocktails, Healdsburg
Repurposing is a central theme at Duke’s – whether it’s a reclaimed wood bar, wallpaper made from old newspapers, or cocktail ingredients sourced from staff members’ gardens. The bar has switched from compostable straws to their current practice – no straws or metal straws, which are reserved for regulars or for bartenders to taste drinks. 707-431-1060, 111 Plaza St., Healdsburg, drinkatdukes.com.
Sweet Scoops Homemade Ice Cream, Sonoma
Sweet Scoops declared they were “going green” in March and introduced compostable straws, cups, napkins and reusable taster spoons. “We sure do love our Earth and are doing what we can to reduce our carbon footprint,” says co-owner Ramie Hencmann. Whether you’ve got ice cream or milkshake on your mind – you can now indulge in tasty treats with less guilt. 408 1st St. E., Sonoma, sweetscoopsicecream.com.
Amy’s Drive Thru, Rohnert Park
This “runs on love,” fast food restaurant serves up vegetable-based burgers and vegan friendly mac ‘n’ cheese, paired with eco-friendly business practices. Those practices include earth-friendly fast food packaging and paper straws for sipping vegan milkshakes and cane sugar colas. 707-755-3629, 58 Golf Course Dr. W., Rohnert Park, amysdrivethru.com.
Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, Sonoma
The Fairmont keeps their guests happy and relaxed with luxury amenities, a four star restaurant and a spa known for its natural hot springs. However, there is one thing you won’t get at the Fairmont: plastic straws. “We are continually expanding our scope and taking a more holistic approach to operational responsibility with particular focus on economic, environmental and social priorities,” shares the Fairmont’s Michelle Heston, who says that the Sonoma hotel – along with Fairmont properties nationwide – are transitioning to paper straws. 707-938-9000, 100 Boyes Blvd., Sonoma, fairmont.com.
Starling Bar, Sonoma
The Starling creates adult beverages with a backyard-to-bar ethos and innovative techniques – locals and staff bring in seasonally grown produce to create craft cocktails meant to question the norm, including how cocktails are served. “You may have noticed two things at the Starling,” says co-owner Elizabeth Takeuchi-Krist, “your drink doesn’t come with a straw and, if you request one, you’ll be given a compostable one” 707-938-7442, 19380 CA-12, Sonoma, starlingsonoma.com.
Slice Shack by Mary’s, Sonoma
Many people have these two things in common: they love pizza and want to be more eco-friendly. If you identify as one of these people, then the Slice Shack is your own slice of heaven. Created by the family behind Mary’s Pizza Shack, the Slice Shack serves jumbo slices on biodegradable trays and fountain sodas in biodegradable cups with paper straws. 707-938-9290, 14 W. Spain St., Sonoma, maryssliceshack.com.
Sunflower Caffé, Sonoma
“Keeping it simple, keeping it real, keeping it sunny, keeping it sustainable,” is the motto at Sunflower Caffé. This Sonoma spot prides itself on its efforts to create a more sustainable community – whether it’s by using locally sourced ingredients or eco-friendly products, including compostable straws made from cornstarch, served with their iced lattes and Bloody Marys. “We highly value the importance of reducing our environmental footprint,” says the cafe’s Julianna Ferrara, “small changes make a huge difference.” 707-996-6645, 421 1st St. W., Sonoma, sonomasunflower.com.
Cafe La Haye, Sonoma
Sonoma continues to build its reputation as an anti-plastic straw community at Cafe La Haye. The intimate restaurant, a popular spot for foodies, has been offering only paper straws since 2008 – the oldest restaurant in Sonoma to do so. So opt for your water or iced tea without a straw, or be prepared for a paper straw, or just stick to the wine list. Reservations recommended, 707-935-5994, 140 E. Napa St., Sonoma, cafelahaye.com.
The Red Grape, Sonoma
Sonoma restaurant The Red Grape has also gone eco-friendly. The New Haven-style pizza restaurant is popular with families, and the pizza and soda combination is in high demand. But no more plastic straws for your soda here, instead guests get paper straws with their beverages serves up locally made pastas, big salads, and burgers. 707-996-4103, 529 1st St. W., Sonoma, theredgrape.com.
Do you know of an establishment that is using eco-friendly straws or no longer offer straws? Let us known in an email.
Forget the flowers, the card and the carefully crafted post on social media – this Mother’s Day, treat Mom to something that she could really use: some downtime with a nice glass of wine. We’ve rounded up some of the best Sonoma County wineries for Mother’s Day visits. Click through the above gallery for details.
“Angels in America,” Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic, began with a dream and a poem. It was late 1985, Kushner had recently graduated from NYU’s directing program and the first person that he knew personally had just died of AIDS.
“I had this dream,” Kushner said in a Slate cover story titled “The Oral History of Angels in America.” “Bill is dying…and the ceiling collapsed and this angel comes into the room. And then I wrote a poem. I’m not a poet, but I wrote this thing. It was many pages long. After I finished it, I put it away. No one will ever see it. Its title was “Angels in America.”
Six years later, Kushner’s poem had become a play. It premiered at the Eureka Theater in San Francisco’s Mission District and when it hit Broadway in 1993, The New York Times called it “the most thrilling American play in years.”
Set against the AIDS crisis and Reagan era politics, “Angels in America” surveys a fragmented United States in a time defined by fear. In Kushner’s version, America is a puzzle where the pieces don’t fit together; a mythological melting pot where spirits of the past and of the yet to come hover over people who haven’t quite found a way to melt.
The play, subtitled “A Gay Fantasia on National Themes,” is fiercely political — it portrays the pervasive nature of oppression, prejudice and power struggle — but it also prompts the audience to ask bigger questions: What shapes my identity? Are we the product of immutable circumstance? Or can we shed skin and change?
While “Angels in America” is specifically about the experience of gay men in the mid 1980s, Kushner extends the use of his leitmotif to examine the intersecting topics of sexuality, race, religion, democracy and freedom (among others). Through a series of intimate two-person scenes, he exposes conflicting beliefs and viewpoints and, while he’s at it, reveals both the serious and the humorous implications of those conflicts.
At the center of this spinning wheel of ideology is Roy Cohn, a modern Mephistopheles (or a Scrooge that never turns good) based on the real-life McCarthy aide and defense lawyer by the same name (Roy Cohn was also a lawyer and mentor to Donald Trump).
At once timely and timeless, “Angels in America” has become a cultural blockbuster, adapted on stages around the world and made into an award-winning film. Last year, the play was revived at the National Theater in London. This spring, it returned to Broadway with a cast led by Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane. (Bay Area theatergoers can see “Angels in America” at the Berkeley Rep through July 22.)
As it turns out, the story behind “Angels in America” is as captivating as the play itself. On the 25th anniversary of its premiere, Slate published “The Oral History of Angels in America” in which Mr. Kushner, directors, producers and actors, tell the story of the play’s “turbulent ascension into the pantheon of great American storytelling.” This collection of stories has now been expanded into a book by authors Isaac Butler and Dan Kois (who both authored the Slate article).
On May 8, at 5:30 p.m., Isaac Butler and members of The Imaginists Theatre Collective will read from “The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of Angels in America” at the Astro Motel in Santa Rosa. The event is free and open to the public. (Tickets are required – get them here.)
Mr. Butler is a writer and theater director, most recently of “The Trump Card,” “a meditation on the peculiar rise of Donald Trump.” Below, Butler talks about the story behind his book, his first experience of “Angels in America,” the revival of the play in a time of Trump, and more.
What inspired you to write a book about “Angels in America?”
“When Dan and I started working on the Slate article, it quickly became clear that the history of “Angels in America” was too big for an article. The story was complicated, dramatic, thematically rich and often very funny — much like the play itself — and the people we interviewed, particularly Tony Kushner, were great storytellers [Butler and Kois interviewed some 250 people for the book].
When it came to assembling these stories, the feel we wanted to create was that of an infinite, rollicking cocktail party where everyone has had a couple of drinks and are more honest than they normally would be.”
When did you first see “Angels in America,” and what was your experience?
“It was the early ‘90s, I was a teenager acting in local productions and my parents bought me tickets to “Angels” on Broadway. It was this utterly life changing experience. It felt like the play contained everything that was going on in the world around me — all at once. I remember leaving the theater and feeling like everything had changed: I was walking through Times Square and the neon lights looked different, the air felt different on my skin. I had become a new person and I understood for the first time how my artistic and political inclinations could live together.
When Dan and I started working on this project, it turned out that almost everyone we interviewed — whether they were in the play, taught the play, directed the play, saw the play, read the play — shared a similar experience. This isn’t a play that a lot of people have a casual experience of; people feel transformed by it.”
Do you see any similarities between the America described in the play, and America today?
“In our book, Tony Kushner says: ‘the play doesn’t describe a time of great triumph, it describes a time of great terror, underneath the surface of which seeds of change are beginning to push upward and brew. Apparently nothing good is happening, but good things are happening.’
While the plot mechanics of the AIDS crisis and gay rights don’t have the same immediacy today as they did during the time “Angels” was written — although people are of course still dying from AIDS and there’s still a lot of progress to be made when it comes to gay and lesbian, and especially transgender, rights — the themes of the play have even more immediacy today than they did when it premiered in the early ‘90s.
The themes of ‘are we going to change or are we going to stay the same,’ ‘what kind of America do we want to live in,’ ‘what is a citizen,’ ‘who gets access to the rights of citizenship’ — those questions are very much front and center today. And then, of course, Roy Cohn’s protege is now our president.”
Are there any particular lessons in “Angels in America” worth considering today?
“There are two core things in “Angels” that are important to keep in mind: First, that change is fundamentally a part of the human condition. It is part of being alive, and change cannot be stopped. The idea that you can turn back the time on progress is abhorrent, and it comes at a great cost. Second, the play has encoded in it this strong, implicit argument for the necessity of hope; the belief that hope can be a political force for good even in the darkest time. But it’s not a myopic hope, it’s not a hope born out of denial, it is a furious, hard-won kind of hope.
The play is charging you, very overtly, with its last line: “The Great Work Begins” — that great work is you. It is now your task to drive change and move forward with hope.”
What: Isaac Butler Reads from “The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of Angels in America”
When: Tuesday, May 8, at 5:30 p.m.
Where: The Astro Lounge at The Astro Motel, 323 Santa Rosa Avenue, Santa Rosa 95404
Cost: Free (tickets are required as the event is expected to reach capacity). All guests will receive a $10 voucher toward dinner at The Spinster Sisters that evening.
Tickets: eventbrite.com
Move over ramen, it’s udon’s turn in the spotlight.
The thicker, sassier noodle cousin to ramen, udon are chewy, slippery strands of cooked wheat and water that beg to be sauced, souped and slurped. Served hot in winter and cold in the summer, they’ve been a Japanese staple for nearly a thousand years — far longer than the two-hundred or so years since the introduction of ramen from China. Though, to be clear, nobody puts ramen in a corner.
It’s just that this simple homey dish is so, well, simple. While ramen lovers argue over the types of broth particular to the many variations of ramen noodles, how to make the ramen, and the specifics of each prefecture’s style, udon is classically served with dashi broth (a briny broth made with seaweed and shrimp flakes), some scallions and a soy dipping sauce — and that’s it.
Not that we’re exactly udon experts, but a brief lesson from newly-opened Ippinn Udon & Tempura owner Frank Wu helped to dispel some of the mystery of this very Japanese experience. The Mendocino Avenue shop he recently opened with collaborators Teng Yushu and Mason Lin is a sort of upscale cafeteria experience where you order a type of udon — from simple kama udon to cross-over dishes like spicy beef or curry udon noodles — then slide the tray past a variety of tempura, grabbing (with tongs of course) whatever tickles your fancy.
“ People are already familiar with ramen. We wanted to introduce udon to this region,” said Wu who, along with his business partners, hails from China rather than Japan. A businessman through and through, Wu saw the popularity of udon bars in San Francisco and wanted to bring the first to the North Bay. He is already planning a similar fast-casual concept for sushi in the nearby Big Lots shopping center.
Like all the staff, Wu wears dentist-like face shields to keep things nice and sanitary. It’s like a personal sneeze guard, and more than a little funny when you try to figure out how the contraption stays on.
Ippin Udon & Tempura has been in development for nearly two years, and business partner Teng Yushu spent a month enrolled in “noodle school” in Kagawa, Japan learning the art of udon noodle making.
Part of the instruction is how to keep their $50,000 Yamato udon machine in good repair, since there’s no way to get a quick service call from across the ocean.
The nondescript appliance sits by the window, quietly chopping noodles for hours.
It’s a fascinating process to observe, as Yushu fires up the noodle maker that does everything from mixing the flour and saltwater mixture to kneading, rolling and cutting the noodles.
In less than 5 minutes, three balls of rested dough (they rest about 18 hours after kneading) have gone through rollers with increasing pressure to get just the right thickness. The dough is carefully folded, then fed through a chopper, where ribbons of udon noodles fall onto a tray.
They’re almost immediately tossed into a vat of boiling water, where Yushu stirs the noodles constantly with a large wooden roller. Watching the noodles twist and turn in the boiling pot is hypnotic.
After about six minutes, he scoops the noodles into a cloth net, shocks them with cold water, swirling the noodles to release starch.
They’re shocked in ice, and twisted into small ropes to later be portioned into bowls.
Wu is carefully monitoring what udon dishes work, like the spicy beef, and which are less approachable. Like California rolls, which are a uniquely American invention, giving traditional recipes a little wiggle room tends to bring more folks to the table.
As the weather warms, they will be serving cold udon noodle dishes as well.
Overall: It’s best to approach Ippinn with a sense of curiosity and enthusiasm because there are things on the menu even seasoned foodies won’t immediately recognize. A welcoming and explanatory staff make the adventure fun, and student-friendly prices make it a quick grub stop that almost anyone can appreciate. Slurping welcome!
Best Bets
Curry Udon, $6.99: A creamy coconut milk broth with bits of beef, noodles and (optional) cilantro. It’s an easy introduction to udon that marries Indian and Japanese cuisine. A favorite.
Kama-Age, $4.99: Served in wooden noodle bowls (kama), this is the most classic udon dish. Noodles, clear broth, grated daikon and a soy-based dipping sauce. Light, bright flavors and super simple.
Tofu Udon $5.49: Sweet fried tofu skin, fish cakes, egg and a dashi base. A great lunch bowl.
Tonkatsu Udon, $7.99: Pork belly chashu with pork broth. The most popular udon, it’s super rich and hearty.
Tempura: Udon’s best friend, tempura are frequently dipped into the broth. Selections change daily, but expect things like panko-breaded and fried pumpkin, fish cakes, prawns, potato croquettes, and vegetable nests. They range from .60 to $1.70 for each piece. Pumpkin is our favorite.
Ippinn Udon and Tempura, 1880 Mendocino Ave #D, (near Mombo’s Pizza) Santa Rosa, 707-521-9911, ippinnllc.com
