Get your lederhosen out of the closet and iron your dirndl, it’s Oktoberfest-time! Celebrations of German heritage and culture abound in Wine Country, where the riesling wine and dunkel beer flow like the Rhine. Dust off your stein and click through the gallery above to discover seven Oktoberfest events you don’t want to miss in Sonoma County.
Ever dreamt of tending to your own vineyards? Waking up early in the morning to prune your favorite varietals as they form into juicy grapes ripe for the picking? Or perhaps you’ve always wanted to be a winemaker, crafting fine wine to sell to the rich and famous – or even just your friends and family.
Now you can – for $14.99.
In the newly released video game Terroir: A Winemaking Tycoon Game, the Sims of winegrowing and making, players control their own Bordeaux estate, which simulates the weather and environment of the famous wine growing region known for cabernet sauvignon.
Over the course of a (virtual) century, you’ll design the estate, choose what grapes to grow (including red and white varietals), manage the vineyard and business and, of course, make your own wine.
According to the game’s makers at General Interactive Co., “each type of grape needs to be crafted a certain way to achieve the best results, so you’ll have to learn and master each one.” Just like real life winemaking – only without the mess.
The game’s Creative Director, Mark Fillon, shares with Food & Wine that his own personal love for wine led to the creation of the game. “Most of the research was done by myself spending time in the library or researching the intricacies of viticulture and winemaking.” The design team released the game for people to test, which included wine industry folks around the world, including in California, who provided feedback on climate and soil types.
But, Fillon and his team didn’t take it too far – they still wanted the game to have that right mix of fun and geekiness, “We tried our best to incorporate as much of the actual processes of winemaking into the game, but at the end of the day, we had to make sure that the game was still playable and enjoyable,” he says in Food & Wine, because “some things in real life just don’t translate well into game mechanics.”
The annual Sonoma County Harvest Fair is ramping up, meaning that chefs, caterers, bakers and foodies of all kinds have submitted their most delicious dishes for judging. From more than 275 entries from the categories of Appetizers/Hors D’oeuvres; Breads; Cakes & Pastries; Dairy Products (ice cream, milk, butter and cheese; Individual Desserts; Delicatessen & Sauces; Olive Oil; Vinegar; and Coffee Roasting), the Sonoma County Harvest have announced the winners of the 2017 Professional Food Competition.
Here’s the breakdown. Scroll through the images above for many of the baking entrants, images from Peleton and others. (Don’t see your dish listed? Let us know).
– Oliver’s Market, BurtoNZ bakery as well as Peloton Culinary and Catering won the prestigious title of Sweepstakes Exhibitor.
-Oliver’s earned the award in both the Individual Desserts as well as the Cakes and Pastries divisions while BurtoNZ bakery took the award home for their Bread entries.
In a dead heat between Peloton Culinary and Catering and Out to Lunch Catering, Peloton earned the most golds (9) in the appetizer division earning them the sweepstakes title. Out to Lunch took the top honor of Best of Show Appetizer.
Here are some highlights of the blind tasting results from this year’s Professional Food Competition:
Bread
BurtoNZ bakery of Windsor became the new winner for Sweepstakes Exhibitor in the Bread category this year. They also cleaned house by taking Best of Show French Bread for their Our World Sourdough and Best of Show Specialty Bread for a delicious Kalamata Olive and Asiago Sourdough.
Cake & Pastry
Keeping their winning streak alive, Oliver’s Market of Santa Rosa blew judges away, claiming the Sweepstakes Cakes/Pastries Exhibitor award, Best of Show Cake/Pastry for its Naked Chocolate Mousse Cake and Best of Show Decorated Cake for its Red Velvet/Chai Mousse Cake.
Appetizers
Peloton Culinary and Catering of Healdsburg took the Sweepstakes Award for Appetizers, winning top awards including Best Use of Beef for their 48 hour Sous Vide Angus Beef Brisket Slider and Best Use of Sonoma County Wine for their Cremini Mushroom Bisque with Black Pepper Zinfandel Essence and Herb Oil.
Out to Lunch Catering of Petaluma won Best of Show Appetizer and Best Use of Pork for its Thistle Meats Prosciutto Cups with Goat Cheese Mousse and Sliced Figs in La Crema Pinot Sonoma Honey. They also won Best Use of Cheese for their Grilled Sonoma White Cheddar Cheese with Apricot Preserves and Candied Bacon over Creamy Soup; Best Use of Poultry for Grilled Chicken with Mexican Spiced Chimi Churri; and Best Use of Vegetable/Fruit for Locally Harvested Wild Mushroom and Laura Chenel Goat Cheese Empanadas with Spicy Aoli.
Coffee
Out of 32 entries in the Regular Coffee Division, Best of Show Coffee went to Retrograde Coffee Roasters for their Yirgacheffe Bedhatu Jibicho Ethiopia.
Dairy Products
Best of Show Cheese Product went to Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery of Sebastopol for their Redwood Hill Farm Goat Milk Cheddar. Dave’s Gourmet Ice Cream of Santa Rosa took Best of Show Other Dairy Product for Espresso Ice Cream.
Delicatessen & Sauces
Oliver’s Market earned another top award with Best of Show Delicatessen for their Alive & Healing Maple Glazed Tempeh Salad. Best of Show Sauce/Topping went to Emily’s Kitchen for a Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce.
Individual Desserts
Sweepstakes Dessert Exhibitor went to Oliver’s Market who also earned Best of Show Dessert for a Peanut Butter Chocolate Tart. Best Use of Local Products went to Simply Strudels for its Meyer Lemon Cheese Strudel. BurtoNZ bakery snagged another top award for Best of Show Cookie for a Brown Butter Sugar Cookie. Rainy Day Chocolate earned Best of Show Candy for their Zebra Dark & White Chocolate Layered Truffle.
Vinegar
Best of Show Vinegar went to B.R. Cohn Olive Oil Company in Glen Ellen for its B.R. Cohn Pear Chardonnay Vinegar.
Olive Oil
B.R. Cohn Olive Oil also earned Best of Show Olive Oil for their BR Cohn California Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Arbosana, Arbequina, Koroneiki.
The Grand Tasting at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair offers guests a chance to savor this innovative cuisine from the Professional Food Competition and pair it with some of the area’s award-winning wines, as well as craft beers and ciders. Tickets for the Grand Tasting Pavilion are $65 each. Also available are 3-Day Tasting Passes for $140. Tickets are available online, at the Box Office located at 1350 Bennett Valley Road in Santa Rosa, or at the door the day of the event. The Harvest Fair is Friday, October 6, at 4:00 pm, with the Tasting Pavilion open from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Gates open Saturday, October 7 and Sunday, October 8 at 11:00 am with tasting from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. For more information, visit HarvestFair.org.
It’s harvest time and there’s so much going on in the vineyards and wineries that you can almost taste it in the air. Julie Fadda Powers suggests where to raise a glass to our region’s winemakers and growers, who work hard all year in anticipation of the season. Many wineries host harvest special events and tours. It’s time to join in the fun! Be sure to check websites or call ahead for hours and reservations. Click through the gallery above for all the details.
Having been to Hudson Valley Foie Gras a number of times, we believe that those ducks are much better-taken care of than industrially-raised chickens.”
— Chef Dustin Valette
It’s forks down on foie gras. Again.
Today, a federal appeals court upheld a ban on selling the fatty duck and geese livers revered by many high-end chefs and diners. Foie gras had been banned in the state in 2004, with animal activists protesting that the force-feeding of the animals was inhumane. In 2015, however, a district judge overturned the ruling as unconstitutional.
That means that the state can now enforce legal actions against restaurants and purveyors who serve foie gras, though exactly how that would be done is unclear.
During the first ban, chefs including Napa’s Ken Frank and Top Chef Masters winner (and Sonoma County chef) Doug Keane were indignant about the ruling. Frank even hosted a foie gras dinner with several courses of the expensive liver served complimentary as a political protest—and a way to circumvent the law against its sale. A family-run foie gras company in Sonoma left the state after the rulings.
So is foie gras coming off menus anytime soon? That depends.
“It depends on how long it takes for the appeals court to do the final approval,” said Dustin Valette of Valette restaurant in Healdsburg.
“Here at Valette restaurant we fully support 100 percent the well-being and stewardship of animals. Having been to Hudson Valley Foie Gras a number of times (a foie gras producer in New York state that provides much of the foie gras at restaurants), we believe that those ducks are much better-taken care of than industrially-raised chickens,” he said. “It’s because of this Valette does not serve chicken.”
Opponents of foie gras say that “gavage”, a technique of inserting a tube into the esophagus of ducks and geese to force feed–and thereby enlarge the liver by up to ten times–is an inhumane practice. Countries including India, Germany, the UK and others have put the brakes on the sale of foie gras, citing its cruelty. Proponents say that the animals have no gag reflex and the practice mimics the animals’ natural cycle of gorging in the late fall.
PETA posted on Twitter today, “You’re paying for THEIR misery when you order #FoieGras”, with a picture of a duck being force-fed.
The original ruling in 2004 gave chefs seven years to take force-fed poultry off their menus, going into effect in 2012. In 2015, a lawsuit by two major foie gras producers and several restaurants overturned the ruling, saying that states shouldn’t have a say in federally-approved poultry products. Over the last two years, foie gras has returned to luxury menus, though it seems to have lost some of its original luster–often replaced by poultry pates that use the left-over offal as a way to utilize the whole animal.
Will prohibition make foie gras take flight again? We’ll see.
Click through the gallery above for our picks for what to do in Sonoma County in September and October.
In the heart of the Sonoma Valley, perched on a grassy hill, sits a seemingly unremarkable house. The stuccoed walls have cracks, the roof needs work and the only identifying feature is a large half-circle punched into a side porch, where an old woman named Mary Frances once spent sunny afternoons contemplating meals long past.
Known to the rest of the world as the culinary luminary and writer M.F.K. Fisher, she authored more than 30 classic food tomes including “The Art of Eating” and “How to Cook a Wolf.”
But this Glen Ellen home she called Last House was nearly lost to time.
Built by her friend, architect David Pleydell-Bouverie, within walking distance of his own estate, both properties were trusted to Audubon Canyon Ranch in 1994 as part of the Bouverie Reserve, where they’ve remained relatively untouched.
“The moment I saw Last House empty, I had to step in,” says chef Sheana Davis of Sonoma’s Epicurean Connection, which offers catering and culinary education services. Davis, who once did odd jobs for Fisher, learned the house was vacant after a serendipitous meeting at the preserve with the curator of the ACR’s mountain lion research program, Dr. Quinton Martins. Until recently, Last House was occupied by caretaker John Martin.
“I went home and could not stop thinking about Last House,” Davis says. The ACR had been contemplating renovations as well, so with the support of Fisher’s daughter, Kennedy Golden, “First Meal at Last House” became the first of a series of fundraising events to restore the space. Davis will lead fundraising programming at the house.
In June several dozen invitees, many of them friends of Fisher, gathered at Last House for an inaugural event curated by Davis. With a fresh coat of Chinese red paint in the bathroom and mementos and furniture brought in by Golden, the afternoon event included some of M.F.K.’s favorite foods: fresh cheeses, sardines with butter, ratatouille and a startlingly strong gin punch.
One by one, items are coming back to the home, which after an estimated $2 million renovation will serve not as a museum but as a living space for chefs and writers, according to Golden, who lives in the Bay Area and attended the June event.
Fisher’s old Coronomatic typewriter sits quietly in one corner, along with a faded 1977 royalty check. A silk robe hangs on a closet door, the pantry is filled with dishes and Mary Frances’ spirit can rest easy on her favorite porch as life comes back to Last House.
“I hope that Last House will become a place where people gather to celebrate and communicate with good food, wine, literature, and conversation — all in celebration of M.F.K. Fisher’s legacy as a writer and someone who lived life fully,” says Golden.
Upcoming events to raise money for Last House renovations and programming include “With Bold Knife and Fork, M.F.K. Fisher and Cassoulet” — a dinner curated by the Epicurean Connection and held at the General’s Daughter in Sonoma on October 8 from 5 to 7 p.m. The cost is $125. For details and tickets go online.
Want to make a donation? Go here.
Folks have been noticing that Stout Brothers Irish Pub and Restaurant in downtown Santa Rosa has been shuttered—and are wondering exactly what’s up?
According to owners, the bar is undergoing some renovations as well as getting a brand new menu, reopening in October. But is there more to the closure, since signs on the door say the bar’s liquor license has been suspended?
“So excited to reopen our doors this October. We hope you will be there to join us in our transformation from club to pub!” says the restaurant and bar’s website.
And, in fact, there are plenty of pictures of the renovation online as well.
However, Biteclubbers noticed that an earlier Facebook post suggested that there were some “unfortunate circumstances” around the sudden closure. A search on California’s Alcohol Beverage Control website revealed that the bar’s alcohol license was suspended for 40 days, beginning August 31. Signs are also posted on the bar’s front door. A call to Chandi Hospitality Group, which owns the pub, was not returned.
The Chandi Hospitality Group recently opened Beer Baron in Santa Rosa with a group of partners, and also owns Bibi’s Burger Bar. County Bench restaurant shuttered early this summer but is slated to reopen as an Indian restaurant and lounge.
As the season cools, it’s time to replenish the wardrobe, filling in the gaps with warmer options. But during a Sonoma County autumn, you have to be prepared for anything weather-wise. These fall fashion finds for women are on trend and good for in-between temperatures. Click through the gallery for more information.
Sonoma County may be a wine lover’s playground but following the emergence of a band of brewery brothers and sisters pioneering the production of artfully crafted local beers, the region has evolved into a mecca for microbrew maniacs. Pliny pilgrims now descend on Santa Rosa during the month of February and beer enthusiasts from around the world populate local brewery patios and taprooms year round.
So how does a beer lover best explore Sonoma County? No doubt, it is easy to get overwhelmed. We’ve picked out a few gems, inside and outside the taproom, to help you structure a trip that will match the county’s beer ratings. And don’t forget to get on a bike, and see the coast between beers!
Click through the gallery above for all the details, and remember to bring a designated driver, or arrange for transportation – Uber and Lyft are available, as well as beer tour buses.
