Dennis Reis has devoted more than 30 years to horse training and horsemanship clinics, earning him the nickname “The Horse Whisperer.”
Last week, the years of hard work culminated in a cowboy dream come true for Dennis and his wife Deborah: a 630 acre ranch in Petaluma. The ranch, located “where the pavement ends and the west begins,” will now give the Reis additional opportunity to conduct workshops, training, horse breeding and horse sales.
Over the past three decades, the Reis have developed a “non-breed” and “non-discipline” educational program guided by their trademark principle “Universal Horsemanship.” The Reis’s step-by-step curriculum includes elements such as confidence building, balanced riding, mounted work, horse psychology and ground school awareness. The Sonoma County couple also hosts a weekly international show on RFD TV and a “No Dust” seminar that combineshorsemanship techniques with classical dressage and trail obstacles.
For more information about the Reis’s horsemanship clinics, visit www.reisranch.com.
It was just another Sunday morning at the Stewart-Estes home in rural Forestville. John Stewart fed the pigs, rabbits, chickens and duck, as Duskie Estes made breakfast for the couple’s two daughters and the family dog, Chloe.
Then it was off to Davis Family Vineyards in Healdsburg, to test making BLTs and pork-belly poutine in their new food truck, “The Black Piglet.”
The custom vehicle had finally passed a yearlong inspection process the evening before, and would be rolled out for its first service at the Davis winery the following weekend. Next, they headed to their zazu kitchen + farm restaurant in Sebastopol, where Stewart butchered a Front Porch Farm pig while Estes prepped dishes for the day’s lunch and dinner service.
John Stewart cooking in a wood-fired oven at his home in Forestville. (Photo by Erik Castro)
A quick run back home, and the couple tossed some of the just-cut pork into the wood-fire oven that overlooks their orchard and vegetable gardens. A meal of roast pork loin, backyard plums and squashblossom panzanella with the kids, and it was back to zazu to feed their customers.
“It’s just this thing for us every day, dude,” Estes said with a laugh. “Energy makes cool things happen.”
John Stewart slicing up wood-fired pork loin from Front Porch Farms at his home in Forestville. (Photo by Erik Castro)
For the duo, who opened zazu 15 years ago, energy trounces easy. Even in Sonoma, land of handmade, farm-to-table food, this couple goes to the extreme.
Best known for their artisanal ways with pig, their menus often read simply, such as bacon-wrapped dates drizzled in sweet saba, chitarra pasta draped in slow-simmered pork-cheek sugo, and golden roasted pork chop atop faro and fagioli beans.
It’s soul-warming fare in a rustic, California-Mediterranean style. Yet sketching one of their recipes actually goes like this:
Duskie Estes tasting her wood-fired roasted shishito peppers with Marcona almonds and shavings of Pennyroyal Farm Boont Corners cheese alongside an arugula salad at her home in Forestville. (Photo by Erik Castro)
Step one: Find some rare, European heritage-breed Mangalitsa piglets. Step two: Cut through red tape to procure the animals. Step three: Build a “pig palace” in the backyard (complete with a rain shower to keep the piggies cool), raise the creatures on a luxury organic diet, then humanely slaughter them and butcher in your very own USDA certified kitchen. After so many years, it’s still the stuff of wonder for Estes and Stewart, who admit that before moving to Sonoma in 2000, their pork came from packages delivered by a food-service company. In fact, Estes was a vegetarian for 23 years until zazu came along.
Wood-fire roasted pork loin from Front Porch Farms and Santa Rosa plumbs served with a arugula and squash blossom salad next to an iron skillet of wood-fire roasted shishito peppers with Marcona almonds and shavings of Pennyroyal Farm Boont Corners cheese at the home of John Stewart and Duskie Estes in Forestville. (Photo by Erik Castro)
And they’re constantly experimenting, from a new lip balm called Lip Lardo (made with their own pig lard, grapeseed and avocado oils, beeswax, avocado and shea butters, and almond extract), to a Lard Lather soap, to a prototype of bacon Pop Rocks, which Estes acknowledges may die a snap-crackle death because “they smell like feet.”
The potbelly pig known as “Lucky Precious Piggy Pop Nugget” at the home of John Stewart and Duskie Estes in Forestville. (Photo by Erik Castro)
But flash back to 1997, when Stewart, now 48, and Estes, now 47, met while working together at the acclaimed Tom Douglas collection of restaurants in Seattle. Stewart had grown up in New York, Estes in San Francisco.
“We’d been chefs in big cities who just ordered food,” said Stewart, who catered Bill Gates’ wedding in 1994. “Tom worked with farmers, and we liked that. Except at zazu, farmers came in with whole pigs. We had few resources for butchering, so we had to figure it out, and then to make money, we had to learn how to use all the parts in a restaurant way.”
Duskie Estes with one of her rabbits at her home in Forestville. (Photo by Erik Castro)
Call it artisanal, or survival, the couple has done the heavy lifting needed to create what is now a successful operation featuring hearty restaurant dishes such as pork belly and Liberty Duck cassoulet, cocktails including a Black Pig bacon bourbon sour with maple and Madeira, and signature porky delights such as Black Pig bacon caramel popcorn and maple bacon donuts.
“Survival,” Estes said, with her hallmark laugh that expresses constant joy. It was sink or swim in Seattle, when she was hired to cover for a sous chef headed into a recovery program — he had fallen in a deep-fat fryer after drinking a pitcher of lemon drop cocktail. She worked in three Douglas restaurants, each with menus that changed nightly.
“Shove in, dig in, figure it out,” she said.
Duskie Estes picking curry blossoms that she uses for roasted cauliflower from her garden near the entrance to zazu kitchen + farm in The Barlow in Sebastopol, California. June 18, 2016. (Photo: Erik Castro/for Sonoma Magazine)
She immediately fell for Stewart, whom she called “crab cake guy,” since she didn’t know staffer names and because he was the only one who nailed the oil-and-butter ratio for perfect pan browning. “That stole my heart,” she said.
Stewart, meanwhile, was smitten with Estes’ go-get-’em attitude. “Duskie has always been a whirling dervish of energy,” he said.
John Stewart in the dining room chatting with guests at zazu kitchen + farm in The Barlow in Sebastopol. (Photo by Erik Castro)
After the two married in Calistoga in 2000, they had dinner at Willowside, a weathered roadhouse on Guerneville Road on the outskirts of Santa Rosa.
The restaurant was for sale.
“It made me want to move back (to California),” Estes said. “But I was seven-and-a-half months pregnant with my daughter, Brydie. So I offered half price, and the owner hung up on me.”
The day of Brydie’s birth, Estes returned from the hospital to find a message on her answering machine, accepting the offer. A week later, she got on a plane with the baby, looked at the restaurant’s books and its closet-size kitchen, and offered half-again less.
“I couldn’t believe we got it,” she said. “We moved here July 1, got the keys Aug. 1, worked around the clock to fix it up, and opened Aug. 13, because we had a client party scheduled.”
John Stewart and Duskie Estes with their children Mackenzie Stewart, 13, far left, and Brydie Stewart, 15, after serving up grilled sandwiches from their Black Pig Meat Co. food truck at Davis Family Vineyards in Healdsburg. (Photo by Erik Castro)
Then 9/11. The couple had to rent out their new home to keep the restaurant going, staying in Healdsburg with Estes’ mom for two years in a one-room loft above her garage.
Baby MacKenzie was born in December 2012.
“I wore her to work with me (in a chest carrier),” Estes recalled. “She was happy, until she was 7 months old and could reach the plates to steal food.”
A bottle of Black Pig pinot noir to accompany buttermilk fried Petaluma chicken with fiscalini cheddar biscuit, red pepper jelly and elote at zazu kitchen + farm in The Barlow in Sebastopol. (Photo by Erik Castro)
Their accomplishments have piled up. Stewart runs Black Pig Meat Co., selling heritage-breed bacon and salumi, with his coppa winning a Good Food Awards medal this year. Estes beat out fellow former “Iron Chef America” challengers to compete in season five’s “Next Iron Chef” TV show in 2012, and took home the gold medal in a web-exclusive “Road to Redemption” tournament on foodnetwork.com that same year.
A butcher board of in-house made salumi at zazu kitchen + farm in The Barlow in Sebastopol. (Photo by Erik Castro)
In 2011, Estes and Stewart were chosen King & Queen of Porc at the Grand Cochon competition in Aspen, Colo., after winning the regional Cochon 555 cook-off in Napa a few months earlier. It was a major honor: Cochon is a national nose-to-tail pig contest where fine-dining chefs create inventive recipes based on locally raised heritage-breed pigs from family farms.
Just three years ago, the duo relocated zazu from its original, casual roadhouse setup in west Santa Rosa to a modern, much larger space in The Barlow center in downtown Sebastopol.
A Black Pig Sour cocktail made of Black Pig bacon bourbon, maple, madeira and garnished with Rodeo Jax bacon caramel popcorn at zazu kitchen + farm in The Barlow in Sebastopol. (Photo by Erik Castro)
They now produce their own salumi, pasta, pizza dough, gelato, bacon-infused bourbon, and chicharrone peanut butter cups. They grow their own produce at home, and at The Barlow and Davis Family Vineyards. On the side, Estes and Stewart work with Thomas George Estates in Healdsburg to make Pink Pig sparkling wine and Black Pig Pinot Noir, and with Tilted Shed Ciderworks in Windsor for a bacon hard cider on tap, and Davis Family for a Slaughter House Syrah.
Lard Lather Rose Geranium soap at zazu kitchen + farm in The Barlow in Sebastopol. (Photo by Erik Castro)
Now, showing a visitor around their yellow clapboard farmhouse, Estes and Stewart introduce a stud pig, Big Papa, a 600-pound hybrid. He came to be a preferred sire after the couple played mad scientist three years ago, crossing a rare heritage Mulefoot with a Red Wattle in their backyard, for what they think might be an entirely new breed.
“Mangalitsa piglets were nearly impossible to get, and $600 each,” Estes said. “So we tried raising dierent kinds, winners from Cochon competitions. Then we did dinner taste-os.”
Maple glazed donuts with bacon jimmies at zazu kitchen + farm in The Barlow in Sebastopol. (Photo by Erik Castro)
Currently, Big Papa is dating Tamworth/Duroc and Berkshire/ Hampshire crossbreeds. “That’s enough genetic diversity, and they’re not as tall and skinny as purebreds,” Stewart said. “They’re more round, like I love.”
Every day is a new adventure, Estes said. “It’s a ride, dude. We’ve gotta try, even if it seems everything I want to do now” isn’t yet accepted.
zazu kitchen + farm, 6770 McKinley St., Suite 150, The Barlow, Sebastopol, 707-523-4814, zazukitchen.com
Crane Creek Regional Park is open from sunrise to sunset, and for a number of reasons those are the best times to be there during summer and early fall months.
Crane Creek Regional Park in Rohnert Park, June 2016. (Photo by Joshua Dylan Mellars)
Crane Creek Regional Park encompasses 128 acres of rolling, grassy meadows on the east side of Rohnert Park. This diverse park contains oak savanna, riparian woodland, vernal pools, and bunchgrass meadows.
Crane Creek and a seasonal stream flow through the wildflower-covered meadows. The park is bordered with black oak, white alder, California buckeye, and maple. Hiking, biking, and horse trails loop around the perimeter of the park. Several additional hiking-only trails explore the interior of the park. This hike leads to ridge-top overlooks of the park, then down to the bucolic setting along Crane Creek.
Evening view from the Sunset Trail, September 2016. (Photo by Sofia Englund)
The view. Although the park is relatively flat, four overlooks spots provide visitors with nearly panoramic views. The highest is 466 feet, accessed via the aptly named Sunset Trail.
The options. Everyone is invited to Crane Creek, even horses and dogs on leashes. Several paths are wheelchair and toddler friendly. Picnic tables are scattered throughout the park, and a disc golf course is available for nature lovers who like a little competition with their fresh air.
Morning view in Crane Creek Regional Park, June 2016. (Photo by Joshua Dylan Mellars)
To the Trailhead
6107 Pressley Rd, Rohnert Park, Coordinates: 38.344030, -122.644431
From Highway 101 in Rohnert Park, exit on the Rohnert Park Expressway. Drive 2.7 miles east to a T-junction at Petaluma Hill Road. Turn right and head 1.2 miles south to Roberts Road. Turn left and continue 1.9 miles to the posted park entrance on the left. (En route, Roberts Road becomes Pressley Road.) Turn left and park in the lot. A parking fee is required.
By the Overlook Loop Trail in Crane Creek Regional Park, June 2016. (Photo by Joshua Dylan Mellars)
The Hike
Two paths leave from the parking lot. Begin the loop on the Fiddleneck Trail to the west (left). Pass the map kiosk and head up the open, grassy slope to a junction. The Overlook Loop Trail veers left and rejoins the Fiddleneck Trail a short distance ahead. The Hawk Ridge Trail goes to the right. Stay on the main Fiddleneck Trail, and climb to a knoll with a bench.
Beginning of Fiddleneck Trail in Crane Creek Regional Park. (Photo by Joshua Dylan Mellars)
From the overlook are views of the entire park and the cattle-grazed hillsides. Follow the ridge to a second knoll and a junction with the Hawk Ridge Trail on the right at 0.3 miles. Detour right on the Hawk Ridge Trail to the Bowden Bluff Overlook. Return to the junction and descend from the knoll. Pass stately, twisted oaks to the fenced west boundary at the valley floor. Cross a stream to a junction with the Poppy Trail and another 50 yards farther to the Lupine Trail. Stay on the Fiddleneck Trail to a junction with the Northern Loop Trail. Veer left on the Northern Loop, following the stream to the northwest corner of the park. Curve right along the north boundary to a four-way junction at a gate.
View from the Northern Loop Trail, September 2016. (Photo by Sofia Englund)
Cross the Fiddleneck Trail and pass through the gate on the Creek Trail. Stroll through the open meadow along the south edge of Crane Creek, lined with willows, alders, and bays. Pass mature bay laurels, buckeyes, and gnarled valley oaks to the east end of the Lupine Trail.
View from the Sunset Trail, September 2016. (Photo by Sofia Englund)
Continue along Crane Creek, then curve away from the creek to a junction. The Sunset Trail crosses Crane Creek, links to the Buckeye Trail, and climbs 0.4 miles to a 466-foot overlook. The Creek Trail continues to the right, crossing a bridge over a steam to the east end of the Poppy Trail. Bear left, staying on the Creek Trail, and return to the trailhead parking lot.
Robert Stone is author of “Day Hikes Around Sonoma County” (Dayhike Books, $21.95).
Family, farming and a flatbed truck. Share in one family’s mission to celebrate locally grown food in the heart of Sonoma Valley.
With the possible exception of rock stars and other high-maintenance sorts, what most people have in mind for a weekend retreat is simple relaxation: time to unwind with friends, be outdoors and linger over meals. Sofie and Chris Dolan of San Francisco were looking for just that in 2011 when they purchased 10 acres of raw land across Highway 12 from Glen Ellen’s Bouverie Preserve as the site for their weekend home. Over time, their vision has evolved to include space not only for family and friends, but also for a thriving community called Flatbed Farm.
Sofie, a former home-furnishings executive, and Chris, who works in technology, met as architecture students in college, so the language of design and place came easily to them when it was time to build.
“Chris had seen homes he liked and started ripping pages out, and we realized it was the same architect every time,” says Sofie. To collaborate on their vision they hired Wine Country specialists Backen, Gillam & Kroeger Architects, known for exactly the kind of refined-yet-relaxed, outdoor-focused architecture the
couple desired.
With a strong affinity for the aesthetic of her native Sweden, Sofie wanted to reference simple, Scandinavian-style outbuildings and courtyards in the design. “My dad was raised on a farm, where there were a lot of little houses that had different uses,” she says. A cohesive complex of buildings now spreads out over the property, united by a common palette of materials including pearly gray Texas limestone and earth-toned metal roofs.
Toward the road, the barn, greenhouse and chicken house present a public face and contain the farmstand operations. A driveway winds steeply partway up the hill to a private guest house with a breezeway and porch looking out over the numerous valley oaks. The family currently uses this building as a home base while they wait to build a main house. Then the drive tops out at the ridgeline, with a jaw-dropping pool and pool house, plus a garage and play barn for the kids, all organized around a central courtyard and adjacent to a county park. (“You see a lot of shooting stars from up here,” says Chris.)
Yes, it’s a lot of buildings; no fewer than seven different structures were under construction at the same time. But the ambitious undertaking hasn’t stopped the family from also slowing down to enjoy the benefits of life on a highly productive Sonoma farm. Chris and Sofie’s three children, Andrew, Anneli and Linnea, revel in outdoor time and the chance to learn more about growing and selling food. “Anneli likes to work the stand and helps harvest. And she’s the chicken whisperer — if the chicken is out, she’s the one to find it and bring it home. Whereas Linnea is more about digging in the dirt, roly-polys and snails. There’s no fear at that age. And Andrew’s typically up in the play barn with his friends. So there’s a place for everyone.”
The “coastal California” cuisine from Peter Lowell’s owner Lowell Sheldon and his partner Natalie Goble is focused on fresh seafood, homemade tortillas, and Southern California-style burgers, along with soft serve ice cream (a nod to the location’s historic past as a Foster’s Freeze).
Natlie Goble and Lowell Sheldon will open Handline Restaurant in Sebatopol in late September. Courtesy photo
Lowell has transformed the space into an open-air, sustainable building with a large outdoor patio, tortilla-making room and massive kitchen. Opening menu includes ceviches, spicy Fisherman’s Stew, Baja-style beer battered fish, Al Pastor tacos, mole smothered roasted squash, fresh calamari, oysters and seasonal crab sandwiches. Dishes are between $3 and $15, making it a family-friendly spot. Much of the produce will come from Goble’s family farm, Two Belly Acres. More opening details as the date
Much of the produce will come from Goble’s family farm, Two Belly Acres. More opening details as the date approaches but expect lunch and dinner daily at the 935 Gravenstein Hwy. location.
See my deeper dive into the story behind the restaurant here.
Cinnamon French toast made from Village Bakery brioche topped with butter, fresh whipped cream, organic raspberries and real maple syrup with orange slices, sparkling wine and a cappuccino at Estero Cafe in Valley Ford, California on Wednesday, January 27, 2016. (Alvin Jornada / The Press Democrat)
Portuguese Mac & Cheese at Tasca Tasca Portuguese Tapas Restaurant & Wine Bar in Sonoma. (Photo by Erik Castro)
From vineyards to farms, there’s harvest-season bounty everywhere in late summer and early fall, much of it on offer at local restaurants. Here are 8 spots to enjoy this most delicious moment of the year.
Tasca Tasca
You’re about to love tapas again. Putting a Portuguese spin on traditional Spanish small plates, Manuel Azevedo (LaSalette, Café Lucia) serves everything from fried piri piri potatoes with saffron aioli, to goat stew, salt-cod cakes and Portuguese mac and cheese in nibble- size portions. The idea is to order between three and seven items, presented on beautiful butcher boards, to share with the table. Or just hog it all yourself. With so many choices, feel free to go out on a culinary limb: try ceviche, blood sausage, escargot in garlic butter and Portugal’s national soup, caldo verde. Prices are $15 for three plates, $24 for five and $32 for seven. There’s also a great Portuguese wine list, but the passionfruit and pomegranate sangria is our official favorite drink of summer.
The sour creme mousse with chocolate crispies is to die for at The County Bench in Santa Rosa. (Photo by Heather Irwin)
The County Bench
This upscale wine bar is a stellar addition to downtown Santa Rosa’s more casual food scene. After extensive renovations of the former Caffe Portofino, the space has been transformed into a modern urban restaurant. There’s a heavy focus on small, sharable plates including deviled brussels sprouts, quinoa crackers with cured salmon and sour cream, and grilled short ribs. In the warmer months, butter lettuce salad with Santa Rosa plums, and farro and ham hock salad, are refreshing lunch options. Don’t miss the chicken thighs in pimenton with chorizo and chickpeas for a bigger, sharable entree. The restaurant is the full package, with a hefty wine list, inspired craft cocktails and desserts that rival any served at far more expensive eateries. Happy hour is one of the best bets in downtown.
Zazu’s Black Piglet seasonal stand at Davis Family Vineyards in Healdsburg. (Courtesy Photo)
Black Piglet
This seasonal stand at Davis Family Vineyards in Healdsburg is a come-as-you-are garden party Friday through Sunday, from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. through October. Pick your own tomato (when they’re ripe) and get it topped with Black Pig Meat Co. bacon, lettuce and mayo for the ultimate BLT. There’s also pork belly poutine, maple and bacon donuts, strawberry and rose sorbet, Jenny’s Pies and, of course, Davis Family wines to sip. It’s a family friendly summer tradition you’ll want to incorporate into your weekend plans.
Terrace at Rodney Strong Vineyards. (Photo by Heather Irwin)
Terrace at Rodney Strong Vineyards
There’s no better time of year to while away a few hours in the vineyards, drinking wine and philosophizing on the good life. One of the very best spots to do that is the cozy little terrace dining patio at this Healdsburg winery. Executive chef Tara Wachtel packs as much flavor as possible into luxe bites that show off her kitchen chops and the flight of wines that accompany the pairing. Chicken-fried mushrooms with pea shoots, tarragon aioli and slaw are a natural for Pinot Noir, and watermelon with roasted corn is a winner with rosé. $55, reservations required.
11455 Old Redwood Highway, Healdsburg, 707-431-1533, rodneystrong.com
Cinnamon French toast made from Village Bakery brioche topped with butter, fresh whipped cream, organic raspberries and real maple syrup with orange slices, sparkling wine and a cappuccino at Estero Cafe in Valley Ford. (Photo by Alvin Jornada)
Estero Cafe
This unassuming little cafe on the way to the coast is worth a stop for breakfast or brunch, because this is way more than a greasy spoon. A dedication to local farmers is key, with a board outside giving a high-five to the day’s produce. Highlights include hash browns and the cafe’s signature breakfast sandwich, with two thick slices of Sonoma Meat Co. bacon, fresh eggs, seasonal greens and Estero Gold cheese, made just a few miles away. The coffee’s strong, the patrons friendly, and perhaps best of all, there is a little asterisk at the bottom of the menu that notes, “We deep-fry in locally sourced pork lard.”
Style BBQ in Petaluma1 features huge cuts of roast pork, duck, spare ribs and more. (Photo by Heather Irwin)
Fantasy Restaurant Hong Kong Style BBQ
Lacquered roast ducks, heads still on, hang inside a glass case, along with a dictionarysized hunk of pork belly, at this curious Chinese-style barbecue spot hidden away in east Petaluma. This is the real deal, and clearly not for every taste; but for those with a serious hankering for meat, the two-item barbecue plate is a hearty meal for even the biggest eater. Enjoy the show as the chef slices and dices a whole duck in mere moments, and the sushi chef shows great skill. There’s an approachable Chinese buffet for those more interested in lemon chicken or sweet and sour pork.
1520 E. Washington St., Petaluma, 707-658-1866
Tavern Off the Green offers food and drink aplenty inside Oliver’s Market in Windsor. (Photo by Heather Irwin)
Oliver’s Tavern Off the Green
Having a tavern in a grocery store is a bad idea … not. Whether you call it “Saturday afternoon spouse parking” or a spot to grab a cold one before grabbing a gallon of milk, Oliver’s Market’s Tavern Off the Green (located just off the Windsor Town Green) makes shopping a whole lot more fun. The new pub inside the store is a casual gathering place with local beers on tap and an affordable tavern-style menu. The concept allows patrons to eat anything from the store in the tavern, functioning as a stand-alone spot for lunch meet-ups, happy hour and after-school hummus plates, with plenty of tables and bar seating. There’s also a refrigerated case with cold bottles of beer, wine and soda.
Bell Village, 9230 Old Redwood Highway, Windsor, 707-687-2050, oliversmarket.com
A Napa Option…
Pork belly yakitori with kimchee at Two Birds/One Stone in St. Helena. (Photo by Heather Irwin)
Two Birds/One Stone
Sonoma celebrity chef Douglas Keane is at the helm of this new St. Helena yakitori spot. It’s worth the drive just to see the soaring interior of the renovated Freemark Abbey, where Keane and co-owner Sang Yoon (Father’s Office and Lukshon in Los Angeles) have built this Japanese-inspired pub. Like the boisterous but culinarily disciplined Keane, the restaurant is a wonderful tangle of contradictions: flipflop- casual with luxury decor; a bowl of fried wontons served next to aerated tofu; precious baby vegetables from Kendall-Jackson’s celeb farmer, Tucker Taylor; creamed corn and foie gras with cherry blossom gelée. Collaborator Nick Peyton is a familiar face in the dining room. An eclectic wine list from Kevin Reilly includes on-tap wines made for the restaurant, plus sake and craft cocktails.
The National Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa, Sept .6-8, 2016
If you have any kind of green thumb or, you know, eat food and care about the planet, the National Heirloom Expo is for you. Hosted by Baker Creek Seed is all that a fall harvest fair should be in a remarkably wholesome and earnest way. From learning about seed saving and why planting heirloom vegetables is so amazing; but also to learn about the environment and our food system from national and international speakers. Plus, there’s the gourd tower.
Bright Bear Bakery in Petaluma features luxe pastries, cronuts, croissants and morning buns in Petaluma. Photo: Heather Irwin/PD
The buzz about this incredible little bakery got out fast, as news of cream-filled cronuts (a cross between a croissant and a donut that’s too decadent not to eat), morning buns and fresh breads made the rounds.
The Cronut: Bright Bear Bakery in Petaluma features luxe pastries, cronuts, croissants and morning buns in Petaluma. Photo: Heather Irwin/PD
Bright Bear Bakery isn’t easy to find, but a pilgrimage is worth the effort, as long as you’re early. The chickpea scramble with sweet potatoes and harissa (vegan) is great no matter what your diet, and a breakfast focaccia with ham egg and cheese is perfect when paired with a chocolate croissant, luxe cream cheese danish and cranberry scone. And did we mention their twice-baked croissants? These little beauties get stuffed with lemon curd and strawberries, then rebaked for a crispy, buttery sweet treat.
Bright Bear Bakery in Petaluma features luxe pastries, cronuts, croissants and morning buns in Petaluma. Photo: Heather Irwin/PD
You’ll go overboard ordering here, but when exactly have your co-workers turned up their noses at fresh muffins and coffee?
Strawberry dessert at Revival Restaurant in Guerneville at the Applewood Inn. Photo: Heather Irwin
CLOSED
Strips of seaweed dangle like party streamers high above the industrial burners in Chef Ben Spiegel’s Guerneville kitchen. Foraged that morning in the cold coastal waters of Northern California, the green leaves have been dried to inky black by ambient heat from the stove. On the kitchen counters are dried sea beans, and beneath his knife, an entire Marin halibut that looks as if it has just jumped out of the water.
This is Revival Restaurant, the restaurant Spiegel and restaurant visionary Crista Luedtke hope will be just that, a new chapter in the life of a once-great Guerneville restaurant.
Whole fish at Revival Restaurant in Guerneville at the Applewood Inn. Photo: Kelly Puleio
A love letter to the fish, fowl and fields of West County, Revival has the potential to redefine farm-to-table and sea-to-table dining in a very real way, not only by serving the food from this unique part of Sonoma County but by weaving a story into every bite.
Revival Restaurant: Rising from the ashes
Herb Garden at Revival Restaurant in Guerneville at the Applewood Inn. Photo: Heather Irwin
After nearly a year of neglect, the restaurant at Applewood Inn was in need of a makeover. The carefully planted gardens had gone to seed after the sale of the property, and the kitchen had been abandoned since the former management abruptly closed, just eight months after opening it.
“This place just had so much potential,” said Luedtke, who was tapped to manage the restaurant by the inn’s new owner, Ric Pielstick of EpiSoul hospitality group. As owner of the popular Boon Hotel, Boon Eat + Drink,El Barrio and Big Bottom Market, all in Guerneville, the 43-year-old has transformed the face of this historic river logging town, bringing a new cache and destination-worthiness.
Like her other projects, Luedtke saw the potential to bring new life to a Guerneville treasure.
“I couldn’t say no. I’m just so in love with what’s happening here,” said Luedtke, who serves as Revival’s business manager, chef, designer and bartender.
Fresh melon and lemon cucumbers at Revival Restaurant in Guerneville at the Applewood Inn. Photo: Heather Irwin
The urgent need for a chef who shared her passion led her to Spiegel, who moved to Sebastopol in 2014 after stints in Scandinavia and at Washington’s Lummi Island Inn and the highly acclaimed NYC restaurant, Skal. Looking for a life change, the east coast native found a calling in coastal cuisine, learning to forage, preserve and seek out micro-regional products for his menu. Products like seaweed.
“It’s a narrative about what’s being harvested,” said Spiegel, with quiet intensity and an infectious earnestness. “We wouldn’t have seaweed on the menu in the Midwest,” he said. “There’s just a moral responsibility here at Revival. It’s a decadence based on the origin of the products.”
If that all sounds a bit highfalutin, it’s understandable. Too many bad restaurants have tried to co-opt the ideals of showcasing pristine local products, and too many snooty chefs have ostracized locals who want a great meal on a Wednesday night that won’t set them back a week’s wages.
Interior of Revival Restaurant in Guerneville. Photo Kelly Puleio
But Spiegel and Luedtke are trying to carefully walk a line that offers many dishes under $15 (entrées are $22 and up), a forthcoming locals’ night and a bar menu. This is their backyard, after all, and Luedtke knows that locals are a key clientele. She and Spiegel also are creating food that’s profound, delicious and unique, with a focus on the craft, quality ingredients and hours of painstaking handwork in the kitchen.
“We reprint the menu daily, because some small nuance has changed,” said Luedtke. “But really, we’re just trying to make delicious food.”
And that’s what will make Revival worth making a pilgrimage.
Cocktail at Revival Restaurant in Guerneville at the Applewood Inn. Photo: Heather Irwin
Time to make the caviar
Three prep cooks with black plastic gloves carefully harvest salmon roe from tongue-like skeins of eggs. It’s ridiculously painstaking work using a fine mesh, salted water and the patience to tease out a few ounces of caviar. The brilliant orange eggs will be part of tonight’s menu, topping raw beef from Napa’s Five Dot Ranch, served with smoked tomato and cheese-cured egg yolks ($18).
Anchovies at Revival Restaurant in Guerneville at the Applewood Inn. Photo: Kelly Puleio
Meanwhile, another prep cook eviscerates finger-length anchovies with a quick pinch and twist, their silver scales flashing in the light. Typically used as bait, these plentiful fish will get a more heroic memorial at Revival. They will be fried, tossed with slices of citrus and served with a gribiche (or cold mayonnaise-style sauce) made with seaweed, pickled plums and eggs that Spiegel calls “greenbiche.” The surprisingly mild and tender fried fish is as approachable as a puppy and much easier to dunk in the savory green sauce.
Revival isn’t just about seafood, however. There’s plenty on the menu that showcases the farmers and ranchers of the region. At the moment, slices of perfectly ripe heirloom Ha’ogen melon are paired with plentiful lemon cucumbers, mint and a bit of whey, as in “curds and whey,’ the watery by-product of cheesemaking that adds just a hint of creaminess. It’s summer in a bowl ($6).
Anchovies at Revival Restaurant in Guerneville at the Applewood Inn. Photo: Heather Irwin
Smoked duck or a simple flat iron steak, served off-center on a white plate, are both luxurious and simple ($29), not overcomplicated with heavy sauces or sides, just simple spigarello broccoli leaves.
As delicious as they are, each ingredient has been carefully curated as part of the story that Spiegel and Luedtke want to tell about West County.
The story of food
For all the hipster jokes about precious pickle pedigrees and heirloom hamburgers, there are those who truly care about how that beautiful piece of radish actually got on their plate.
“Food has to tell the story,” said Luedtke. “So much goes in to it, and that gets lost if we don’t tell it.”
That means hearing about the restaurant garden, which is filled with edible flowers, greens and fruit trees. Or the laying hens, the herb garden just outside the door, the cultured cream in your panna cotta, or the farmer who brought in Gravenstein apples this morning.
Spiegel frequently walks through the dining room, sharing insightful tidbits about the aspic used in the halibut crudo (made with bones that would otherwise be thrown away), or why most things on the menu include something fermented, a skill he learned in Scandinavia’s limited growing seasons.
“We have no attachment to the ingredients. When it’s done (for the season), it’s done,” he said. “Except broccoli, and that never goes away.
“This (menu) is a narrative about what’s being harvested and knowing where food comes from. Chefs can change tastes, and as we move from a protein diet to using more produce from around us, it’s so much more sustainable,” he added. “We’re trying to contextualize the food based on what’s around us.”
Halibut at Revival Restaurant in Guerneville at the Applewood Inn. Photo: Kelly Puleio
Most important, though, the food has to taste good. “I’m very particular, and this food feeds my soul,” Luedtke said, eating a bowl of seascape strawberry sorbet with fig leaf vinaigrette, parsley oil and Genoise cake. “I just love to eat food that’s so beautifully done, so simply prepared, and from right here,” she said.
Revival at the Applewood Inn, 13555 Highway 116, Guerneville, (707) 869-9093, eatatrevival.com. It’s open for dinner at 5:30 p.m. Thursday through Monday, closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
Lifestyle blogger and celebrity chef Ayesha Curry will take the stage on October 7th as part of the Sonoma County Women in Conversation series. (Photo by Rebecca Chotkowski)
Four inspirational women — a former vineyard worker who now owns her own winery, a busy mom turned lifestyle blogger and cookbook author, and the frozen chicken mavens who caught President Barack Obama’s attention — will appear in Santa Rosa this fall as part of the Sonoma County Women in Conversation series that resumes tonight.
Amelia Morán Ceja, president of Ceja Vineyards in Sonoma, leads off the series at 7 p.m. Thursday. She will be followed by Bay Area superstar Ayesha Curry on Oct. 7 and Serafina Palandech and Jennifer Johnson, co-owners of Hip Chick Farms in Sebastopol, on Nov. 10. Get tickets here.
Amelia Morán Ceja leads off the Sonoma County Women in Conversation series tonight, at 7 p.m. (Courtesy Photo)
“Our goal is to spark ideas, encourage more collaboration and ultimately develop a stronger voice surrounding topics of interest to local women,” said Karleen Arnink-Pate, chief revenue officer for Sonoma Media Investments, which is producing the series. “We hope these conversations will build a stronger community of Sonoma County women who support and inspire each other.”
Sonoma Media Investments owns The Press Democrat, as well as the Petaluma Argus-Courier, Sonoma Index-Tribune, North Bay Business Journal, Sonoma Magazine and LaPrensa Sonoma.
Amelia Morán Ceja emigrated to California in 1967 to join her father in the vineyards, and in 1999 she and three siblings founded their own winery, which produces wine from vineyards in Napa and Sonoma counties. She was the first Mexican-American woman to become president of a winery, and has gone on to produce more than 140 videos in which she prepares Mexican food and pairs it with wine.
Ayesha Curry arrives at the Autism Speaks to LA Celebrity Chef Gala at Barker Hangar on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2015, in Santa Monica, Calif. (Photo by Rich Fury/Invision/AP)
Ayesha Curry is the mother of two and wife of Golden State Warriors basketball star Stephen Curry. She has made a name for herself with “Little Lights of Mine,” a series of videos about food and family she posts on her YouTube channel. This fall, she also will debut “Ayesha’s Homemade,” her Food Network show, and “The Seasoned Life,” a cookbook published by Little, Brown and Co.
Hip Chick Jennifer Johnson earned her chef’s chops at Chez Panisse in Berkeley and as a personal chef for philanthropists Ann and Gordon Getty. With her partner Serafina Palendech she created a line of easy meals made from humanely raised chickens. They’re now distributed nationally to stores that include Oliver’s Markets, Whole Foods, Sprouts and Target. The innovative pair have been featured in Food & Wine and Fortune magazines, and were invited to cook for President Obama.
Hip Chick Farms owners Jen Johnson and Serafina Palandech. (Courtesy Photo)
