The much anticipated, often opposed, voter-approved SMART train is finally in full operation. Whether the new train puts you in a Quiet Zone envisioning a greener, traffic-free future, or the thought of steep fares and raised taxes makes you to want to blow your horn, there’s no excuse for riding the train sans style. Click through the gallery above for some shopping suggestions for the maiden voyage.
Planning a lavish Napa getaway but not quite sure what to pack? If you’re staying at Carneros Resort & Spa, you can now shop your Wine Country outfits at Coop, a bespoke fashion boutique that offers “luxury resort wear” and accessories. Coop is one of 26 stores in the Maris Collective, a Santa Monica-based retailer that operates boutiques located within luxury resorts.
“When I think of the Sonoma/Napa guest at Coop,” says Maris Collective Creative Director Eric Lopez, “I envision a sense of refinement. While the aesthetic is casual, it’s still thoughtful.”
Maris Collective formed in 2008, in response to what many have termed the “retailpocalypse,” and has since created a customer-influenced shopping experience in luxury resorts, where travelers have lots of time but few places to shop. Maris Collective founder LeAnn Sauter told Fashionista.com the Maris Collective offerings are the antidote to the “rhinestone hat that says Ritz Carlton,” which epitomizes the gift shop buys in many resorts.
Coop occupies a small space in the Carneros Resort & Spa compound. An industrial-looking copper light fixture with filament bulbs hangs over the store’s center. Space is optimized from floor to ceiling with a variety of finds for men and women, in a range of prices. The clothing collection is rounded out with fashion jewelry, personal accessories, some barware items and home accent pieces. The collection isn’t vast, but layered with both useful and unique pieces.
Regional Manager, Christina Walton, says her personal style is “everyday chic” and she shops the store’s finds from Frank and Eileen and James Perse for her “everyday staples.” For evening dress-up she turns to the Figue collection.
Creative Director Eric Lopez frequents Sonoma and Napa with his family on weekend getaways from his San Francisco home. He further explains his sense of Sonoma/Napa style as including “high quality and heritage items.”
“I pack differently when I head to Wine Country,” he says.
To shop Coop, visit the Carneros Resort & Spa at 4048 Sonoma Hwy in Napa, 707-299-4900, carnerosresort.com.
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Why did the chicken cross the road? To pair its nuggets with a tasty chardonnay at Wine Country’s newest tasting room.
Sebastopol’s Hip Chicks, whose organic chicken fingers are now sold in more than 5,000 stores, have opened The Kitchen, a chicken nugget tasting room and lunch counter featuring “flights” of their original, ketchup and maple chicken fingers, fried buttermilk chicken sandos, a chicken meatball sub, turkey burger, egg sandwich with sweet potato hash, apple cider corn dogs and local beer and wine selections.
Chef/owner Jennifer Johnson, a Chez Panisse alum founded the company with her wife, Serafina Palandech, to provide healthy, sustainable and most-importantly family-friendly foods, starting with their nuggets, and expanding to other products like breakfast sausage, meatballs and grilled chicken strips.
124 South Main St., Sebastopol, open Tuesday through Saturday from 11a.m. to 2p.m., hipchickfarms.com
Still not sure if you’re a Culture Vulture? Answer these questions:
1. Do you crave all things art and always keep a careful eye on performances happening in your own backyard?
2. Do you make art social with pre-performance gatherings?
3. Are you determined to witness unforgettable, uplifting performances at (almost) any cost?
If your answer is ‘oui’ to all three, you got it bad. You are, without a doubt, an irrepressible Culture Vulture. Click through the gallery above for five hot Wine Country dates for Culture Vultures.
I want this to be the best butcher shop in the Bay Area
— Travis Day, Chef/Owner Thistle Meats
In an instant, a drunk driver changed the trajectory of Chef Travis Day’s life.
Though he was nowhere near Petaluma when an impaired motorist plowed into the storefront of Thistle Meats in early 2016 — all but destroying it — little more than a year later, he would officially reopen it to the public.
In mid-May, Day took over the downtown artisan butcher shop from founder Molly Best. It had been a rough year for the business.
The drunk driver had done so much structural damage to the building that it had been “red-tagged” as uninhabitable. Best was forced to sell her bone broth and meats to loyal customers from behind their Petaluma Boulevard shop for months.
When Day’s childhood friend and former Thistle butcher Aaron Gilliam said the shop was for sale, Day pounced. After a two week shutter, Thistle was reborn.
“People were breaking down the door for bone broth,” said Day. “We couldn’t stay closed.”
More than just a butchery, the space has been opened up to include a small seating area serving sandwiches, soups and charcuterie plates that go far beyond deli fare.
The open butcher table remains, and a charming brick patio has become the setting for Day’s monthly Sunday suppers with some of San Francisco’s top toques. Day has kept on the former staff.
“I wanted to buy Thistle because I just love the product. I want this to be the best butcher shop in the Bay Area,” Day said. Continuing to focus on ethically raised meats from local ranches, Day knows his purveyors personally, describing everything from their animals’ feed program to how they are processed.
“Meat tastes bad because of stress to the animal,” Day said. His pork comes from Rancho Llano Seco in Chico where pigs are allowed to forage and wander. Other ranchers he works with include Monkey Ranch in Petaluma (lamb), Stemple Creek and Magruder Ranch for beef, Marin Sun Farms for chicken and Liberty Duck.
With years of study as a salumist and butcher, Day is a chef’s chef — working his way up the kitchen ladder with the kind of intense focus and passion that results in 25 journals filled with business plans and recipes, traveling to 20 countries with his chef’s knives and developing a resume that includes some of the best restaurants in the world. Not that he’d really tell you that. Day and his staff are usually too busy learning Argentinian butchering techniques or describing “secreto” or “secret” cuts of pork.
“I used to cure duck prosciutto in the rafters and stay up until 3 a.m. translating old French cookbooks,” Day said.
“I feel like this is the natural progression.” Part of what Day hopes to improve at Thistle are recipes and its prepared dishes like the simple-but-not-simple Jambon Royal sandwich with Humboldt Fog cheese, wild arugula and mustard aioli; heirloom melon with guanciale, cucumber and Italian burrata; or gazpacho with herbs and pan-fried bread. Each showcases the meat and the techniques of the chef.
Monthly dinners are intimate gatherings that amount to Day hanging with his chef besties that happen to be highly sought-after restaurateurs: Brandon Jew of Mister Jiu’s (recently nominated as “Best New Restaurant in the West”), Jason Fox of Michelin-starred Commonwealth (August 20) and Christie Peters and Kyle Michaels of Primal and The Hollows, in Saskatoon, Canada (September 10). Details on joining the dinners here.
It’s also a way to make use of 100 percent of the product, because it’s not all filet mignon.
On the open butcher table, there’s a whole lot of, well, it’s hard to say other than its a lot of fat, sinew and meat. It will all find a home somewhere in the case or on the table. Cows aren’t just big steaks, after all. There are organs, gristly bits and fat that need to be utilized.
Day says he reduces the prices on lesser-known cuts and offal (organs) for customers to try.
Some cuts are unique, like the velvet steak, from the heel of the cow. Filets come at a premium.
“I’ve worked for years at restaurants trying to find new creative ways to use products and reduce waste,” Day said. “It all starts with the animals. We pay more for the animals because they are pasture-raised,” he said. “We try to use every scrap and do the right thing for all the farmers.”
Working past typical retirement age, these Sonoma chefs still shine in the kitchen.
OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW BEST: EVELYN NEGRI
Standing beside a commercial soup pot that’s nearly as tall as she is, Evelyn Negri, 84, cackles a bit for effect when she sticks a giant paddle in for a quick stir. “I’m like a witch stirring her cauldron,” she says.
Every morning at 8, the matriarch and owner of Negri’s Italian Dinners & Joe’s Bar in Occidental starts her minestrone soup. It’s a century-old recipe she learned from her mother-in-law, Theresa, and one she’s cooked for more than 60 years. “I think I’ve got it right,” she says with a grin.
But that’s not all that’s stirring in the cavernous kitchens of the historic Italian restaurant in Sonoma’s west county.
On another early-morning visit, Negri stands in a frigid room where hundreds of ravioli are hand-rolled several times a week. It’s back-breaking manual labor, rolling 20-foot sheets of pasta in an ancient pasta machine, then slathering the sausage mixture to just the right depth, rolling out another 20-foot sheet of pasta and gently laying it on top. And then the real work begins. A giant rolling pin outfitted with dozens of ravioli-shaped squares is balanced with a 50-pound weight on each side. Straining to push the contraption down the table to cut the pasta, Negri’s staff ravioli-maker, Antonio, pants with the effort as each row is perforated.
“We used to do this every day,” says Negri, who began working at the restaurant in 1954 as a hostess and the new bride of Joe Negri. Back then, the family-run restaurant required everyone to do a little bit of everything, from plucking chickens and making soup to waiting tables and tending bar.
Now Evelyn Negri mostly just makes sure everything is getting done right, something she has no qualms about. After all, the restaurant has been a favorite old-school Italian destination for generations, and diners love the ravioli with Bolognese.
The octogenarian isn’t an anomaly in the local food and dining scene. Throughout the county are chefs, bakers, cooks and restaurant owners who are still going strong after age 65. In an occupation that’s notorious for long hours and hard physical labor, most kitchen folks are ready to retire after 20 or 30 years. But with steely commitment, wisdom and grit, folks like Negri are the keepers of traditions and institutional knowledge they’re passing down to second or third generations.
Negri’s daughter, Sandra, and her granddaughters Amanda and Tori also work at the restaurant, and it’s Amanda who is now heading up the revamped bar as well as a social media campaign for the restaurant. It’s something Negri would never have imagined when her late husband, Joe, ran the place. But like everything, Negri takes it all in stride, proud that a new generation of customers are coming to the restaurant.
Her secret for working well into her golden years? “As long as I feel good, I’m working,” she says with the kind of conviction you just don’t question. “I’ve put a lot of miles on this place,” she says, scurrying through the dining room to make sure things are shipshape in the kitchen.
For her part, Amanda Negri sees the restaurant benefiting in myriad ways every day from her grandmother’s many years in the business — and from what she lovingly refers to as Evelyn’s “old-school tendencies.”
“Working with Grandmother sometimes takes me back decades to the way things used to be at Negri’s,” Amanda says. “I have learned from her that it’s important to build relationships with your customers that for her have lasted many, many years. She brightens up the place with her wittiness. She has taught me to work hard, and I can only hope I am as much of a spitfire as she is when I’m 84.”
Negri’s Italian Dinners and Joe’s Bar, 3700 Bohemian Highway, Occidental, 707-823-5301, negrisrestaurant.com
EXTREMELY PASSIONATE: HELEN PACHYNSKI
Again and again, as these kitchen elders share their stories, the same boot-strapping attitude emerges. They rise early, work hard and then get back to work again the next day, often outpacing co-workers a third their age. The difference between these would-be retirees and some of their contemporaries? They love what they do with a passion.
“I work 80 hours a week,” says Helen Pachynski, 72, the owner of Extreme Pizza restaurants in both Santa Rosa and Windsor.
Pachynski is typically up and working at her desk by 8 a.m., then heads to her restaurants by 10:30 a.m., making dough, picking up supplies and managing her staff.
“My 20-something-year-old workers ask ‘How do you do it?,’” she says in a soft, grandmotherly voice that belies her serious commitment to her business.
“I eat well, I sleep well and I dedicate myself,” says Pachynski. A former stockbroker, stand-up comedian and interior designer, she says she’s done just about everything except work as a volunteer fireman. But after becoming a widow, she needed something to fill her days.
“Attitude has a lot to do with it, a positive mental attitude,” she says. “Of course there are challenges, but I tell myself, this too shall pass and ask, what are we learning here?”
Extreme Pizza, 2500 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, 707-843-4424, and 9240 Old Redwood Highway, #116, Windsor, 707-687-0777, extremepizza.com
THE EARLY BIRD: ART IBLETO
Art Ibleto, 90, wakes up at 5 each morning and is in his commercial kitchen by 6 making huge batches of soup, pasta sauce and gnocchi for his restaurant. By 7 a.m., his 12-hour day is well underway.
The beloved Pasta King of Sonoma County has been serving his pesto pasta, polenta and marinara at fairs, markets, parties and fundraisers for generations. His generosity is legendary, and the former World War II resistance fighter has kept his irrepressible spirit through countless challenges. Recalling one of his first jobs, Ibleto notes that he worked at a tallow factory rendering animal fat — what he calls “the worst job you could find” — often coming in on weekends and nights just to impress the bosses.
“I loved it because you have to realize that you’re stuck doing this job until you find something better. The secret is just to love what you’re doing and never watch the clock,” he says.
That means still working long hours that for most 90-year-olds would be unthinkable. After a full day in the kitchen, Ibleto heads to his Rohnert Park restaurant, Art’s Place, making sure things are running smoothly, chatting up the ladies and handing out $1 bills to well-mannered children.
“When I see these kids eating spaghetti, I know that things are gonna be okay,” he says. “They multiply.” And soon another generation is enjoying his food.
“There’s a lot of work to be done,” Ibleto adds. “They say I have to slow down, but I have no time to get old.”
Ibleto’s brother, Angelo, of Angelo’s Meats in Petaluma, has a similar work ethic at 82, getting up in the wee hours to make sausages. Both acknowledge one of their secrets to staying healthy: Not eating much food they don’t make themselves, and that results in a diet of plenty of vegetables, including garlic. “Garlic is the best medicine,” says Art.
Art’s Place, 563 Rohnert Park Expressway, Rohnert Park, 707-588-2787, artsplacerp.weebly.com
THE DONUT MAN: FRANK WHIGHAM
Frank makes the donuts while you sleep.
Just past midnight, 87-year-old Frank Whigham and his wife, Champa, head to their Bennett Valley bakery, The Donut Cafe, to cook up hundreds of donuts, fritters, Danish and (best of all) cinnamon twists for the next morning.
It’s grueling work — the shop opens at 5 a.m. and the couple usually works until around 4 p.m., getting in a few hours’ sleep before starting the whole process again the next day. The payoff: Donuts so good even local cardiologists are known to come in for a few.
Whigham’s been in the business since he was 9, learning the trade in his uncle’s Georgia bakery. “I also learned to drive in Georgia,” he says with just a hint of his Southern twang. “My uncles were moonshiners.” In San Francisco, he joined the baker’s union (illegally) at 15, was busted and sent back to school, and eventually ended up with five bakeries in Daly City. If you get him going, he’ll gladly tell you about a lifetime of adventures — from playing with Confederate dollars as a kid to teaching donut making in Saudi Arabia.
In a place and time where sugary, glutenous, calorie-laden treats have almost become verboten, it’s refreshing to find a little corner of the world where old-fashioned morning pastries are still made — and accepted — with love. “I never get tired of donuts,” he says. “I still eat five or six a day.”
Maybe there’s something to enjoying a little sweetness in life — in moderation of course. You can ask the doctors walking out with a bear claw or jelly donut next time you’re there.
The Donut Cafe, 4275 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa, 707-539-2416
THEY’VE NEVER LOST THEIR APPETITE FOR HARD WORK AND ITS REWARDS
JOHN ASH, Age 75, Founder of Wine Country Cuisine and Educator
Though Ash is retired from the daily rigors of his namesake Santa Rosa restaurant, he continues a vigorous schedule of teaching about sustainable fish, cooking for events, writing cookbooks and co-hosting his weekly radio show, “The Good Food Hour.” Constantly in demand thanks to his role as creator and champion of the fresh, local farm-to-table food that we’ve come to expect in these parts, Ash never seems to slow down. His advice? “Eat simple fresh food and take a nap every day.”
EVELYN CHEATHAM, Age 60-plus, Executive Director, Worth Our Weight Culinary Apprentice Program
If there’s a patron saint of aspiring culinary talent in Sonoma County, it’s Worth Our Weight’s Evelyn Cheatham. The tireless chef who founded Santa Rosa’s training program (and restaurant) for at-risk kids in 2006 continues to be an inspiration to thousands of students who have graduated from WOW. “From 8 years old, the kitchen was a place of complete happiness to me. Who doesn’t want to get up in the morning and make something good to eat?” she says. “What keeps me going is the mission of giving kids a good step up, a helping hand, a role model, and making good food.”
1021 Hahman Drive, Santa Rosa, 707-544-1200, worthourweight.org
CONDRA EASLEY and DEBBIE MORRIS, Ages 65 and 69, Owners of Patisserie Angelica
The sisters’ bakery has received national acclaim for their traditional cakes and pastries, all of which are GMO-free. The secret to their success? “There isn’t a secret; it is an overwhelming passion that I continue to have,” says Easley. “I have been in various aspects of the pastry arts for 40 years now. I’ll just keep going until I lose interest or get too tired! We are always proud of what we do. There is no middle ground for us.”
6821 Laguna Park Way, Sebastopol, 707-827-7998, patisserieangelica.com
HANK MARIONI, Age 65, The Swiss Hotel
Working at a historical landmark that’s been in his family for four generations has a lot to do with why Marioni isn’t about to retire. Born and raised in the town of Sonoma, he says he loves to hear customers say that they remember when his grandparents or aunt and uncle ran the restaurant. A restaurateur most of his life, Marioni balances tradition and innovation at the 100-plus year-old institution. “We do what we need to keep up and grow,” he says. “Even though we’ve kept a lot of the old menu items, we try hard to do new things.”
18 W. Spain St., Sonoma, 707938-2884, swisshotelsonoma.com
FRANCESCA and JOHN VRATTOS, Ages 65 and 64, Owners of Yanni’s Sausage Grill
“There is a Greek word ‘philotimo’ which John and I live by, especially in our business. It means to do everything with honor. In other words, always do what is right. We never cut corners and we always stay consistent in the quality of our product and our customer service,” says Francesca. The couple are continuing to grow their Penngrove restaurant and sausage business. “We get seven hours sleep every night, take vitamins and eat healthy. We feel our age — it’s not just a number. But the hard work and the feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day makes it all worth it.”
10007 Main St., Penngrove, 707-795-7088, yannissausages.com
Hop on the train for food, wine, cocktails and live music – The Napa Valley Wine Train launches a new music festival.
The first of its kind in the Bay Area, the Wine Train’s Rock the Rails music series will transport attendees on historic, renovated 1915 Pullman railcars from the downtown Napa depot to one of three inaugural Rock the Rails concerts, hosted at local wineries.
During their train ride, concert attendees will enjoy a wine tasting, a gourmet meal, and a full bar serving up seasonal and classic cocktails. Upon arrival at the winery, attendees will enjoy a concert, with VIP seating, along with more food and wine available for purchase.
This year’s inaugural Rock the Rails lineup includes swing music revival band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy at V. Sattui Winery (August 24), acclaimed musician and former Prince collaborator Sheila E. at Grgich Hills Estate (September 21), and David Pack’s Legends Live Tour, which features ex-members of Ambrosia, Kansas, the Romantics and singer Gary Wright, at Charles Krug Winery (October 5).
Tickets start at $179 with proceeds benefiting the Rail Arts District (RAD), the first arts district in Napa. winetrain.com
Ruby-red strawberry juice drips down your chin, and your hands are sticky and stained purple with blackberries. It’s the joy of summer, when fresh fruit not only flourishes, but can be savored right from the garden at roadside stands, or from “pick-your-own” farms. Click through the gallery for four spots where you can pluck the pretties in Sonoma County.
Kokopelli Farm
This organic farm is delighting in the largest crop of boysenberries ever in its 24 years in business. Call for a U-pick appointment after 7 a.m., seven days a week. After mid-July, dig into blackberries, too. 1543 Cunningham Road, Sebastopol, 707-829-8185
Gabriel Farm
Blackberries and raspberries abound. U-pick is reserved for farm “members” (simply buy three gallons of delicious juice for $36, and you’re in for a family membership of four). Or, shop at the farm store, open weekends or by appointment August through October. 3175 Sullivan Road, Sebastopol, 707-829-0617, gabrielfarm.com
Shanti Permaculture Farm
Go for the by-appointment U-pick gooseberries and strawberries on this 6.5-acre farm, stay for the one-bedroom vacation cottage or cozy yurt (stays include complimentary fruit, veggies and eggs). 16715 Coleman Valley Road, Occidental, 707-874-2001, shantioccidental.com
Farmer Lao’s Strawberry Stand
Easier than U-pick, but just as fresh: Lao Saetern’s wood shack brims with baskets of super-sweet, glistening, gorgeous strawberries he personally farms. Expect long lines and, sometimes, rationing of the precious nibbles to one basket per person. Highway 12 just west of Duer Road, Sebastopol.
