When scorching summer days cool down into warm nights, evenings can be a pleasant time to be outside. Here are some Sonoma-based finds to help light up your outdoor space and encourage more activity during your evenings outside – click through the gallery above for more details.
Busy life sometimes leaves cultivating wellness at the bottom of the the to-do list. “Self-care” may be a trendy term but it remains something that can be hard to make time for. To help encourage efforts to bring about a sense of wellness, we’ve rounded up a few items from Sonoma County stores. While you can’t exactly shop your way to a peaceful state, this can be a first step. Click through the gallery for details.
Lovers of California style have a lot to be excited about right now. Not only is summer here (hello flowy dresses and festival wear!) but there are also new sartorial vibes coming out of the Golden State right now. Fashion designers from L.A., the Bay Area and all over the state are offering a fresh take on the classic West Coast look with strong silhouettes, prints and bold colors. And Sonoma County boutiques are taking note, stocking their shelves with styles that reflect the relaxed beauty of the area. To achieve California chicness this summer (and year-round), click through the gallery above. (All pieces are designed in California, and most of them are manufactured here, too)
Awakened by a familiar thunking noise of canoe paddles banging on metal boats, the sounds of summer fill my ears as I half doze under an umbrella. I listen to the shrieks, splashes, and screams of children playing in the water, and a radio is faintly informing us the pitch count is 2 and 2 with someone on second. In the background, nature’s playing its soundtrack with the screeches of the osprey overhead, the cry of a killdeer on the beach, and the hypnotizing song of the Swainson’s Thrush in a tree nearby. It’s another hot lazy summer day when motivation for chores and work is nowhere to be found and the desire to relax is overwhelming. So I’m at the river.
Every family has its summer tradition. Ours always started a few days after school let out, when we’d load up the station wagon to spend some 90 days on the Russian River. Growing up, the rituals of the river began with moving out the field mice and spiders to make way for extended family at the summer cabin. The work didn’t end after that initial cleanup; each summer day started with a chore list dispatched by Mom. As soon as my siblings and I got the OK on chores, we disappeared to catch up with cousins and friends, but never with an agenda — it was just get down to the river to do whatever sounded like fun. Some days that meant catching frogs or turtles or crayfish. Some days it was seeing how many kids could pile into a raft before it sank or splashing the people canoeing by. Many days went back and forth between exploring nature’s wonders and just staying cool in the water.
Today much has changed in our family. We’re all grown up and have kids, my brother moved to Virginia, our aunts and uncles no longer have places near the river. But certain traditions endure. All 18 cousins I grew up with on the river and their kids now get together every summer for a reunion we like to call Lee’s Kids, after my Grandma Lee. We always go back and forth on what to eat for the dinners and who’s going to host them, but one thing is never, ever in question. As they say, location is everything, and our family reunion takes place where our hearts are. We meet at the river.
Most of you are probably thinking something along these lines right now: “30 dollars for one person? No way,” or “I’d sure like to find out how I can spend that little on groceries.” As a college student, I know how challenging grocery shopping can be, especially if you’d like to eat healthy. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way – and I say this to even the most skeptical readers.
Now, this next sentence will probably put a few of you off – but stay a minute and hear me out.
I’m vegan. When I tell people this, many offer the same two objections: “you won’t get enough protein in your diet” (let’s save that topic for another article), and “it’s too expensive.” In my experience, cutting out animal products has actually helped me spend less on groceries. So, whether you’re vegan or would just like to reduce your meat intake, this might actually be an opportunity to save a few bucks.
For me, Trader Joe’s on Santa Rosa Avenue is a convenient spot for buying healthy produce on a budget. Of course, there are endless opportunities to load up on fresh fruit and veggies in Sonoma County – from farmers markets to CSAs to your own backyard. But, as we all know, sometimes it’s just easier to hit the grocery store, and there’s no shame in that.
Before I go grocery shopping, I make sure that I have planned my meals so that I only buy what’s necessary to get me through the week. This way, I can ensure that everything I purchase stays fresh and that I don’t waste anything. (Not so fun fact: globally, we throw out about 1.3 billion tons of food a year; and the United States wastes more than $160 billion in food a year.)
If you purchase everything on the grocery list in the above gallery, it should come to just over $30. Keep in mind, this list is for those of you on a really tight budget. If your bank account allows, you can always add a little more – but make sure you’re not wasting food. Follow these tips and I promise you’ll leave the store with more money in your wallet and healthier food in your cart.
Yanni’s Sausages, a Sonoma County favorite with roots in Greece, has been named small business of the year by Senator Bill Dodd (D-Napa).
Founded nine years ago, the family-run business was built on childhood memories – and a kitchen mixer. Shortly after owners John “Yanni” and Francesca Vrattos were both laid off from their jobs in 2009, the couple received a mixer from their daughter for Christmas. Yanni then went to work replicating the Greek Loukaniko sausages his mom made when he was a child – only this time, the sausages were made with the help of a Kitchen Aid. His experiment was a success and the couple launched a sausage-making business and restaurant in Penngrove. Before they knew it, Yanni’s Sausage Grill was flourishing.
Over the years, Yanni’s became a popular Penngrove place with regulars devouring Greek and Italian sausages and chili. John and Francesca Vrattos closed the restaurant in February of this year to focus on their booming wholesale sausage business. According to their website, their sausages are available at 18 restaurants and 30 grocers, and won the “Best of Charcuterie” award at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair in 2010, 2011, and 2012.
In addition to running a successful business, the Vrattos have donated thousands of pounds of sausage to the Redwood Empire Food Bank, hoping to share their food with all community members. After nearly ten years in business, the enthusiasm for Yanni’s Sausages continues to move the couple. “We are still humbled by how much people love our sausages,” said John Vrattos.
Senator Dodd is one of those avid fans. “It is truly inspiring to see the way John and Francesca have turned their vision into a reality,” said Dodd. “I applaud their achievement and wish them the best as they pursue more great sausages.”
A week after the surprise closure of one of Wine Country’s most beloved roadside restaurants, the Fremont Diner owners opened up about their decision to shutter the space as well as plans for the future.
The husband-wife owners Chad and Erika Harris said the diner had been a victim of its own success, with demand quickly outgrowing both the space and staffing.
“It was incredibly successful to those who visited, but the model was hard to sustain,” owners said in an email Tuesday.
A culinary media darling since opening in 2008, the funky diner was lauded by Oprah magazine, Gywneth Paltrow’s Goop and Food & Wine magazine, which named it one of the best diners in America. An Instragram-worthy menu with the couple’s comfort food dishes gave them even more cachet, as diners from around the world ventured to the cozy country cafe.
Halfway between the Sonoma and Napa valleys off Highway 121, the Fremont Diner oozed nouveau decrepitude with a heavy dose of John Deere chic and the irresistible lure of a butter and pork-soaked menu. Selling charming local jams, sauces and coveted Rancho Gordo beans, it was a must-do on many Wine Country itineraries, but also had a pull-up-a-chair vibe that regularly brought in locals.
However, the couple said they often found themselves covering multiple shifts day in and day out with the diner, something they say was difficult to sustain, especially with small children at home. Facing ongoing short-staffing, which has plagued the Wine Country restaurant industry especially since last year’s wildfires, the couple decided it was time to shutter.
The Harrises own the Fremont Diner location, which they ultimately plan to revamp.
“Closing the diner is truly a lifestyle choice at this point, and a chance to create something fresh and new for our community; we’re not done quite yet,” said Chad Harris, the restaurant’s chef.
He said it was a decision for their family, first and foremost.
Their 13 full-time and 17 part-time employees were notified about the diner’s closure early June 27, which set off a frenzy of social media questions when visitors found the breakfast and brunch spot locked and two orange traffic cones blocking the door. Looking for the legendary chicken and waffles that made this former hot dog stand a well-known destination, they knocked to no avail.
Questions about the restaurant’s future then began emerging on Facebook posts. When staff took to social media seeking new employment, even more questions emerged.
Though the Harrises were mostly mum last week, they now say employees who were present at a meeting about the closure spent the remainder of the morning and afternoon reminiscing over beverages. They said they’re supporting staff in finding new positions in the Valley.
“The Fremont Diner began as an endeavor to reimagine the good food and nostalgic atmosphere of classic American diners. Over the past ten years our plans for the future have taken shape with the Diner — as have our personal and family goals — and so today we are closing the doors on what we consider to be a very successful chapter,” the owners said in the email.
Erika Harris said the response to the closure has been overwhelming, but they also have received support for a plan to reopen the diner space with a fresh food concept that will “allow us to bring people together, live life to the fullest and do both over a really good meal.”
They’re also moving forward on a project in downtown Sonoma, but don’t have a timeline, yet.
In 2017, Harris and her husband announced plans to open a second restaurant in Sonoma after purchasing a half-acre lot currently housing the Union 76 gas station at 899 Broadway. The city planning commission last year approved their application to make significant renovations to the site that could include a 52-seat restaurant and nanobrewery.
“We are still working on the gas station and are waiting on environmental clean up to be finished before we can proceed,” Erika Harris said.
The same day the restaurant closed, a sign at the gas station confirmed, “Gas business closing down for good limited hours now ’til June 30.” Signs for Union 76 were being removed as well.
“We are so grateful to all of the customers, supporters, staff, and friends who have reached out about the closure in the past week,” Erika Harris said. “We have been heartened to hear so many good stories and an outpouring of memories from those who shared a meal with us and worked alongside us over the years.
“We look forward to creating something in the future that not only sustains us, but can once again serve those who have supported us along the way,” she added.
Writer Sarah Stierch contributed to this article.
Want to know what’s new, what’s hot and what’s soon-to-come on the Sonoma County dining scene? Click through the above gallery for BiteClub’s latest hit list.
As Sonoma County continues on the road toward recovery following last October’s devastating wildfires – rebuilding homes and making up for lost revenue – several newspapers across the pond are promoting the area as a travel destination.
A few weeks ago, the Scottish edition of The Sun said that “just months after the wildfire tragedy, Sonoma remains California’s most blissful holiday destination.” And now the London Evening Standard has published another Sonoma County travel reportage headlined “Why Sonoma County makes a great introduction to the California wine scene.”
The Evening Standard article begins with the assertion that, while “Sonoma County is less heralded than Napa Valley,” it is “as much a magnet for lovers of food and wine” and “makes for a relaxed introduction to the California wine scene.”
The Evening Standard’s introduction to the Sonoma County wine scene includes an itinerary different to that of the regular first-time visitor. Instead of touring Healdsburg and Sonoma Valley, travel reporter Holly Williams spent most of her trip on the Sonoma Coast, with excursions to The Barlow in Sebastopol and Bear Republic in Healdsburg. Williams spent the night at the Bodega Bay Lodge, dined at in-house Drakes restaurant, sampled wines at Gourmet Au Bay (also in Bodega Bay) and was “whisked around” on the coast by Beau Wine Tours, whose “luxurious” SUVs made her feel like she was “in a rap video curated by a sommelier.”
At the Barlow, Williams tried small-batch pinot noirs at Friedeman Wines, wild skin-fermented wines from Wind Gap, and a tasting flight at MacPhail Wines. She also visited Spirit Works distillery “to hear how they make their grain-to-glass vodka and gin,” and commented that “unusually for the drinks industry, seven of the eight-strong team are women.”
In between sampling Sonoma’s premier alcoholic beverage, Williams notes that the county “boasts more than vines” and has its “fair share” of “foodie trends,” from micro-breweries to artisan sourdough bakeries to its very own cheese trail, featuring 28 artisan cheesemakers. It remains unclear whether or not Williams tried any of these treats (other than craft beer at Healdsburg’s Bear Republic) but she concludes that she was “converted to the idea that Sonoma County is about more than just wine.”
(While the Evening Standard article mentions last October’s wildfires, Williams grossly underestimates their destructive impact: “California took a battering after last autumn’s wildfires but Sonoma County largely escaped, with just one winery destroyed.” Among other aspects, Williams fails to mention the 24 lives and 5300 homes lost in the fires, in Sonoma County alone.)
A bologna sandwich on a restaurant menu usually means one of two things: Your chef is trying to be ironic or you were just transported to the Deep South, wherein it will be fried and paired with pimento cheese with absolutely no irony.
Either way, it’s pretty much a yuck, ever since Oscar Meyer ruined the once-proud meat by foisting the ultra-processed product on generations of unsuspecting children. Usually sandwiched between two slices of Wonder bread. With a second insult of margarine spread on top, in my case. Not a proud culinary moment in history.
Fortunately, there is a third choice in Santa Rosa at Old Possum Brewing Company. Chef Christian Velasquez makes his own thick-cut bologna, lightly fried, served atop sliced artisan white bread with homemade pickles and his own pimento cheese. It’s a revelation rather than a punchline. Bologna is also a way for Velasquez to use up the tasty bits of pig that aren’t bacon, ham or loin—a skill he honed with old school charcuterists and recently at the prestigious Old Salt Meatshop and Market in Portland, Oregon.
“I don’t like to throw anything away,” said Velasquez, who mans the busy Santa Rosa taproom kitchen solo. A Sonoma County native, he’s returned to his roots, with a passion for upgrading the sometimes lackluster menus of pubs by creating nose-to-tail, farm-to-fork eats that compliment rather than detract from the beer.
“We’re not just dumping stuff into hotel pans and serving it. I have 125 sausage recipes alone, and I make the ham on the grilled cheese too,” he says, while creating a Béchamel sauce for the mac and cheese. He says he can’t even keep up with the mac and cheese balls, they go so fast.
It’s not just grilled cheese, however, but pimento and Swiss on a Pullman loaf from nearby Red Bird Bakery. Buttery and soft, it’s a sandwich that’s hard to put down.
Hidden in an industrial center in southwest Santa Rosa, Old Possum Brewing Co. is so off the beaten path that you’ll need a GPS and a keen sense of sight to find it. You won’t find it empty, however. Folks working in the food wasteland around it belly up to the bar in droves, and on a Friday afternoon, nearly a third of the dishes on the menu are already out.
Devastation ensues, though Velasquez digs up an incredible pickle plate on the fly, which includes pickled collard stems — a product usually headed for the compost, but turns out to be delicious.
Another waste product that, in a roundabout manner, goes into the food is the brewery’s spent hops and grains, which are used at Takenoko Farms in Windsor to feed the pigs Old Possum uses for everything from bacon and pork rillette to bratwurst and bologna. Takenoko also uses post-crush grapes, organic vegetable waste and dairy whey as feed.
Just a few months into service, Velasquez and the Old Possum team are still finding their way, with expanded charcuterie and beer menus on the way. The chef plans to offer butcher classes and supper clubs at the space.
“We don’t want to be unapproachable. We pride ourselves on what we’re doing here,” said Velasquez.
The taproom is open Thursday through Sunday from noon to 10p.m., 357 Sutton Place, Santa Rosa, 707-303-7177, oldpossumbrewing.com.
Best Bets
Pickle Plate, $7: A must-get with a variety of pickled veggies including carrots, cucumbers, collard green stems, cabbage, onions and cauliflower. Yes. Yes. Yes!
Fried Cauliflower, $8: It’s not breaded, but simply cauliflower dumped into a fryer to soften it up and add some depth. We loved the tasty chimichuuri made with mint and garlic, though the pools of oil beneath were a bit overkill. Unless you want to use the bread to sop it up, and then, well, pretty delish.
Jo-Jos, $6: I get teased every time I call a potato wedge this Northwest moniker. Natch, being from Portland, Velasquez knows the quirky name as well, Jo-Jos. They’re deep fried and come with a salute to In-N-Out’s special sauce, a sort of Thousand Island with extra pickles.
Bratwurst, $10: Most of us are so used to commercial sausages, made with fillers and sugar, that a real sausage is a bit of a surprise. This is the real deal, and the consistency is drier and crumblier than the uniformly stuffed versions from the grocery store. You love it, or you don’t, but personally, we found this authentic brat to be pretty darn good, especially with stone ground mustard.
Grilled cheese, $10: We’ve already said it’s a winner, but we wish we’d added ham. An extra $3 may seem steep, but this isn’t commodity ham — it’s made the old-fashioned way. Comes with salad or Jo-Jos.
So how’s the beer? The Possumstein Amber did us right with a light hoppiness and flavor that cut through some of the heaviness of the dishes. Not that anyone else would try to eat the entire menu in one sitting. All we can say is that our pants got pretty tight after spending a few hours at Old Possum—though we have no regrets.
