Page 426 – Sonoma Magazine

Cyrus Chef Opening Napa Restaurant, Two Birds One Stone

February 2016

By biteclub

Chef Douglas Keane, formerly of Cyrus restaurant in Healdsburg, will open a yakitori restaurant in St. Helena in 2016. Photo: Heather Irwin.

After months of hush-hush planning, local chef-lebrity and Top Chef Masters winner Douglas Keane has finally broken his silence on plans for a collaborative St. Helena restaurant with L.A. chef Sang Yoon.

Named Two Birds One Stone, the Japanese-style yakitori grill will be housed in the newly-rehabbed Freemark Abbey Winery in the Napa Valley, owned by Jackson Family Wines. Yakitori restaurants are usually casual eateries that serve small plates of grilled meat and vegetable skewers, along with beer and wine (the term actually means “grilled chicken”). The restaurant is slated for a June 2016 opening.

Two Birds One Stone’s menu will be focused on local chicken and duck as well as highlighting local produce from Keane’s vast network of Sonoma and Napa purveyors.

“It’s going to be a high energy, casual environment with great inspired but not challenging food. A place you can stop by for a drink and a couple bites or hang for the whole night,” said Keane, who was co-owner of the two star Michelin restaurant Cyrus in Healdsburg with Nick Peyton until its closure in 2012. He retains co-ownership in Healdsburg Bar and Grill with Peyton.

Sang, who appeared with Keane on Top Chef Masters in 2013, is the owner of Father’s Office gastropub and Lukshon restaurant in Los Angeles. The two became close friends — which some jokingly called a “bromance” — during taping of the intense Bravo television competition.

The two hinted at a possible collaboration last fall at Kendall-Jackson Winery’s Heirloom Tomato Festival, when Yoon was a judge and Keane a contestant at the annual chef cook-off, but they kept the final details secret until this week. The sneak peek at their opening menu includes an impressive lineup of fowl that will be cooked on a hardwood grill, as well as beef and seafood. Master Sommelier Kevin Reilly (Cyrus, Quince) will head the wine program.

“We are both at a stage in our careers that we can pick what we want to do, so it really has to be interesting and fun. This is both,” said Keane.

The announcement of Two Birds One Stone comes exactly 18 months after Keane announced plans for an ambitious upscale rebirth of Cyrus in Alexander Valley. That project, on a parcel also owned by Jackson Family Wines, angered local residents concerned about zoning issues in the agricultural area. Keane said the project is still in play, but is keeping mum on any further details.

JFW chairman Barbara Banke has long been a supporter of Keane’s culinary projects in Sonoma County and was instrumental in helping Cyrus 2.0 move forward. But with that project in flux, Keane turned his eye toward the company’s Freemark Abbey Winery, a more than 125-year-old St. Helena institution that was overhauled during the past two years, taking the building down to its stone walls.

Keane also is a longtime friend of renowned Kendall-Jackson culinary gardener Tucker Taylor, the former French Laundry produce whisperer. Taylor’s daily Instagram photos of his fruits and veggies have garnered him Internet celebrity of late.

“The abundance of produce that exists in Wine Country will be almost as much of the menu as poultry in certain times of the year,” Keane said. “The close ties with Tucker as a direct source will be a huge part of our menu inspiration. A lot of…the plate will be vegetables, too.”

Keane and Sang are in good company as high-end chefs throughout the country turn their attention toward American versions of izakaya, informal Japanese gastropubs that are as much about eating as drinking. Minimashi is slated to open in Napa this month, an izakaya from celebrated chef Curtis Di Fede of Oenotri. In Sonoma County, Ramen Gaijin also serves izakaya, along with ramen. Hana Japanese chef Ken Tominaga opened yakitori restaurant Pabu in San Francisco recently with Chef Michael Mina, and izakaya (pub-style) restaurants have popped up all over the Bay Area in recent years.

“To focus on Asian flavors while highlighting the abundance of product in front of us seemed like a good way to enter the market with a unique offering, and it’s a natural extension of both of our styles. We love this type of food and get excited about showing it off,” said Keane.

Keane’s affinity for Japanese cuisine was showcased at Cyrus and at Shimo, which closed in 2011. He also had a short-lived Asian-style wings restaurant at Graton Casino.

“It’s not everyday you get to work on a project in a place that I really love visiting,” said Yoon. “It’s an opportunity I felt I couldn’t pass up.”

Petaluma Painter Roberta Ahrens: The Wall is Her Canvas

February 2016

By Carole Kelleher

Whether Roberta Ahrens creates a panoramic mural or an 8-by-8-foot painted canvas, her work is never diminutive. Nature speaks to her in a loud voice, and she translates that inspiration into paintings that are lifelike yet unique. She paints cherubs on ceilings, and lilies, poppies and peonies on cracked linen, bringing vibrancy and boldness to the walls and canvases that meet her brush stroke.

Ahrens expertly transforms a painted wall into one that appears to be old wood or adobe. She can turn a ceiling into a wispy, cloud-filled sky. She created a 9-by-12-foot canvas full of flowers and covered it with a protective varnish so it could be used as a carpet under a dining room table. And when a client lamented the view of a drab utility building outside her kitchen window, Ahrens created the trompe l’oeil of a chicken coop complete with realistically rendered hens and a rooster.

While she has transformed many private homes with her decorative painting, Ahrens’ work can also be seen in public spaces, including Ferrari-Carano winery in Healdsburg and Sunflower Caffé in Sonoma. At Ferrari-Carano, she was commissioned by Rhonda Carano to paint a high-domed ceiling in the corporate villa, and murals of rolling hills

Wand rows of Italian cypress trees in the private tasting room.

“It’s tough to paint murals when you’re high up on scaffolding, because you can’t see what it is going to look like,” Ahrens said. So she uses a trick she learned early in her career: view the painting through the back end of binoculars, achieving a sense of distance.

At Sunflower Caffé, she painted six massive panels of sunflowers that cover the entire wall behind the long counter. They are hung like tapestries, not glued to the wall, so they can someday be taken down and hung elsewhere. Sunflower owner James Hahn profusely praises Ahrens’ work.

“You can express your vision to her and not only does she grasp your idea, she adds her creative expertise and gives you exactly what you wanted,” he said. “She is an amazing artist but also a savvy business professional. We’re opening another restaurant, and Roberta will definitely be on the design team.” Her work will be displayed on Sunflower’s walls during January and February, the second time she has been represented in the cafe’s ongoing, revolving art shows.

“I am a master finisher in my profession, but it has taken a while for me to think of myself as an emerging artist,” Ahrens said.

She invented her own signature painting surface, troweling several layers of white plaster onto linen canvas, letting it dry and then rolling it, causing it to crack.

“I’ve really gotten it down to perfection now,” Ahrens said of the technique. The resulting canvas is “tough and slightly thirsty.”

She works in both acrylics and watercolors. After applying the paint to the cracked canvas, she often manipulates it, using sanding and carving techniques. She then glues the canvas to a box frame or backs it with silk or other fabrics so it can be hung tapestry-style. Sometimes her work is glued directly onto the wall.

Ahrens’ paintings have been sold at several galleries and are currently shown at Bluebird Gallery in Laguna Beach and Living Green in San Francisco. She participates twice a year in art fairs at Glasshoff Sculpture Ranch in Fairfield, which she describes as a “very hush-hush event” that nevertheless draws about 3,000 art enthusiasts. She sold eight large pieces to collectors there in the past year. “It’s a new audience for me that’s turning into true success,” she said.

Another first for Ahrens was painting on a nearly 6-foot-tall fiberglass rabbit for the “We Know Jack” fundraiser for the Vacaville Museum. She painted it black and covered it with California poppies. The winning bidder was Assemblyman Jim Frazier, who placed it in his Sacramento office.

A three-series set of amaryllis and poppies can be found on allposters.com, her one allowance for mass production of her work.

“It’s not a big moneymaker for me, but to know my work is hanging nationally, or maybe globally, … makes me happy,” she said of the exposure that comes from online sales.

Ahrens describes the majority of her work as “large-scale botanicals.” She tries to capture the “architecture of nature” in her work, and her canvas itself is part of her work’s allure. Not surprisingly, real sunflowers tower in the front and back gardens of her Petaluma home, where the carefully tended blooms, strawberries and tomatoes of summer fuel her artistic soul all year long.

Although she has no formal art training, Ahrens said she was always the kid at school who could be found in the art room. She was raised in Oregon and followed her older sister, Shelley Masters, to San Francisco. An established master finisher, Masters took on her sister as an apprentice, and paved the way for her entrée to decorative painting.

Ahrens perfected her skills on the job with Evans & Brown, a San Francisco mural and wall-covering firm. She traveled nationwide, applying decorative techniques in shopping malls, hotels and corporate entryways before setting off on her own. Her work appears at the Wynn and Encore hotels in Las Vegas, the Palm Resort in Dubai, and the Four Seasons Maui.

To help market her home-decorative painting niche, Ahrens has a permanent installation of 4-foot sample boards hanging in Peterson’s Paints store in Petaluma, displaying an array of faux finishes; a binder at the counter gives details on each technique and the colors used. While decorative painting is her mainstay, Ahrens said she is thrilled to be part of the team working on the decor of The Petaluman, a boutique hotel scheduled to open in downtown Petaluma this year. And her commissioned work continues to lead her in new directions. An architect hired her to do paintings on cracked linen, a finish his clients admire, but because they love simplicity, there were no flowers this time — just one massive piece in textured white and a second that is entirely black.

“With no imagery, you can really see the cracks,” Ahrens said. “I definitely want to dive in and explore this minimalist idea more.”

robertaahrens.com

Sunflower Caffé, 421 First St. W., Sonoma, 707-996-6645, sonomasunflower.com

Peterson’s Paints, 800 Lindberg Lane, Suite 140, Petaluma, 707-763-1901, petersonspaint.com

A Sonoma Home Founded on History and Art

February 2016

By Carole Kelleher

When Fred and Barbara White Perry purchased 4 acres that were once part of the historic Buena Vista Winery, established in 1857, they felt a huge responsibility to honor the land. Located inside the Buena Vista gate and with a view through the trees to Bartholomew Park Winery, they can imagine Agoston Haraszthy, the original owner of both wineries and vineyards, still wandering their rows of Zinfandel.

In 1996, the couple had been living for 10 years in a two story home Barbara designed on Sonoma Mountain, where they enjoyed riding their horses. They’d tired of living in the hills and were searching for flat land closer to the heart of things near Sonoma Plaza, where they could build a home with no stairs. Buena Vista’s ownership was transitioning yet again at the time, and when they heard a small piece of the estate was for sale, with vines planted by acclaimed viticulturist Anne Moller-Racke in the early 1980s, they snatched it.

Barbara, an artist and architectural designer, began rendering the plans for their new home by hand, starting out by sitting for hours in the rain, diagramming the natural flow of water on their future home site. She planned the home to the minutest detail, building an architectural model — a step usually reserved for large commercial properties. Even the home’s color palette was decided at the model phase (the exterior stucco is painted the exact color of a rock found on the property). Barbara’s blueprints were stamped with the county’s permit approval on Valentine’s Day 1997, a sign that this home they now cherish would become part of their ongoing love story.

The couple spent hours siting the home’s front door, standing on ladders and taking photos, eventually deciding on the perfect view. A 12-foot-deep veranda with pillars runs the width of the house, a subtle historical reference to Haraszthy’s original villa.

Barbara’s second design inspiration came from an old, wooden, three-gabled farmhouse on Arnold Drive. She had long admired the slowly deteriorating structure and photographed it in 1984. Their home now has three gables, just like the farmhouse did until it was bulldozed in 2001.

The farmhouse was also important to Barbara because it was one of the sparks that led to her publishing her book, “Drawing Sonoma,” which was released in late 2015 and is now in its second printing. The book is a collection of 45 of her ink and vine charcoal drawings of historic and unique properties in Sonoma Valley. The three-gabled farmhouse appears in the section titled, “Gone But Not Forgotten,” where iconic structures no longer standing are captured.

When building a home, most people consider how many heads on pillows they want to accommodate, but for Barbara and Fred, it was all about art on walls. Longtime collectors, particularly of notable Sonoma artists, their goal was to make the interior perfect for showing art. Barbara plotted all the windows so that there was room in between for canvases, and integrated lighting in the 9-foot ceilings to shine at the perfect angle to illuminate paintings. At the center of the residence is a long gallery wall with ample room for the 11 paintings that hang there.

Above the living room fireplace is a Dennis Ziemienski painting, the largest piece in their collection. They also have two Keith Wicks oils, one depicting Spain Street West and the other The Corner Store on the plaza, both purchased at Sonoma’s Plein Air Festival in 2009. There are three Brigitte McReynolds pastels, and commissioned Cynthia Hipkiss clay sculptures of Fred and Barbara riding horses while sipping sparkling wine, with a little sign that reads, “Here’s to 40 Years of Happy Trails.” The “40” is a Post-it, as Barbara updates the number on each wedding anniversary.

In the entry hall are three Jim Callahan bronze sculptures, “Golden Girl,” “Unbridled” and “Sisyphus,” a surprise gift from Fred to Barbara. He placed it on a ledge near the front door and waited until she noticed it. She was thrilled when it caught her eye a few days later.

They also buy art on their vacations, with many pieces acquired at galleries in Carmel. They see something they like, then discuss the possible purchase at dinner over a glass of wine. “We joke later about whether it was a one-glass or two glass decision,” Barbara said. Their home has a trussed roof, which means fewer weight bearing walls are required, making it open and airy. The clean lines encourage a certain ease and sense of calm. Simple, well-designed furniture seems to fade away so the art can reign. The doorways are 3 feet wide with a flat saddle for ease of movement, and the flooring throughout is 12-inch, off-white porcelain tile that has a sheen, which Barbara said makes it easy to keep pristine. She was the general contractor for the project, and the goal in the material choices she made was to keep the home low-maintenance.

Behind the 2,900-square-foot, three-bedroom home (a master suite, guest bedroom and an office for Fred, an expert in cyber security) is Barbara’s artist studio, where she paints almost every day. While the White Perrys collect other Sonoma artists, including Claudia Wager and Brennie Bracket, there are many who collect Barbara’s work. She has been painting since she was a young girl in rural Illinois, studied at the Chicago Art Institute, and was honored as Sonoma’s “Treasure Artist” in 2015.

There is a garden patio between the home and the studio, and an additional outdoor eating area off the dining room, giving two alfresco options no matter which way the wind is blowing. Three acres of vineyards completely surround the home.

Fred and Barbara are philanthropically inclined, and have held many nonprofit fundraisers on their property, often with Fred preparing all the food. They particularly enjoy contributing to Sonoma’s Pets Lifeline, where they found their adorable dog, Benny, a Jack Russell-West Highland white terrier mix. They have a long association with the Sonoma League for Historic Preservation, and are proud that their property won the League’s Preservation Award in 1999 for “new construction compatible with and sensitive to existing historic structures or sites.”

As their home is just a stroll away from Buena Vista’s stone press house, built by Haraszthy in 1863, it’s indeed quite an accomplishment.

Pliny the Younger – Live updates from the big beer release in Santa Rosa

February 2016

By Annika Toernqvist

Pliny the Younger line – fans waiting in line for the famous beer release

Pliny the Younger, Russian River Brewing Co.’s super-hoppy triple India pale ale is coming to town. Its 12th-annual release is expected to bring thousands of self-proclaimed beer geeks — and their money — to downtown Santa Rosa beginning Friday February 2nd. Curious about the whole thing? Don’t want to stand in line? Follow the live updates here:

Mysteries of Jack London

February 2016

By Meg McConahey

The couple enjoy a sunny day at their Beauty Ranch, a portion of which became the state park.

The allure of Jack London lies not only with his rakish persona and literary accomplishments, but also the mysteries he left behind.

Why did his magnificent four-level,15,000-square-foot dream house burn right before London and his wife, Charmian, were scheduled to move in? Was it accident or arson?

“As far as the house burning down, Jack and Charmian at various times were convinced it was arson,” said London biographer Jay Williams. “That’s a perfectly natural reaction to a calamity of untold proportions.”

And London, who sparred with neighbors – specifically, he fought Joshua Chauvet in court over water rights – had his enemies, various of whom have come under suspicion over the years.

A team of 10 fire forensics experts combed over the Wolf House ruins for four days in 1995 to settle the debate once and for all. Examining burn patterns and reviewing design and construction documents, witness statements and historical records, plus digital recreation of the house, they concluded that the fire was probably caused by linseed oil-soaked rags left by wood finishers who were known to have worked in the structure that day. They said arson couldn’t be completely ruled out, but it was unlikely.

Sonoman Jonah Raskin, author of “The Radical Jack London” and several long essays on the writer, including an in-depth look at the fire that destroyed London’s mansion, has a theory.

Raskin said his No. 1 suspect is “Jack London’s double,” a man who had been impersonating London, using his name to sign checks and get women to go out with him, pretending to be the reporter. The identity thief was doing everything possible to make London’s life miserable, and burning his new house would be part of a pattern, according to Raskin.

Did London, who reportedly suffered from depression, chronic pain and a slew of other health problems, die of natural causes, or did he commit suicide? Or could he have been done in by an accidental overdose of morphine?

London’s death has also prompted continuing speculation, including intimations stirred by early biographer Irving Stone, that he took a deliberate overdose of morphine. Biographer Earle Labor, one of the world’s leading Jack London scholars, has suggested that London may have suffered from bipolar disorder, a chronic depression he called “the long sickness,” before his move to the Valley of the Moon in 1905. Charmian also wrote of London’s mood swings.

But Labor believes London died of natural causes. The official report was renal failure. A consensus of medical and pharmaceutical experts who examined his symptoms concluded he likely died of heart or kidney disease that resulted in a stroke or heart attack. London had used an ointment containing mercury to treat a tropical disease he picked up in the South Seas, which could lead to kidney failure.

London didn’t behave like a man planning his own death. In fact, he had plans to see his daughters within a few days.

Biographer Williams thinks London may have died of an accidental overdose of morphine, which he had been taking for severe pain. Raskin believes any number of things could have contributed to his death.

“It does seem that Jack London was not interested in living a long life,” Raskin said. “Anybody who lived in the way he lived was not aiming to grow old gracefully.”

Zydeco Music Sensation in Sonoma

February 2016

By Sonoma Magazine Staff

Close your eyes and you’d think you were in a bar on a Louisiana bayou. The dance hall is packed. The band plays zydeco, which melds French and Caribbean music styles, with accordions and washboards front and center. Dancers fill the floor, quickstepping and stomping. Beer flows, and the high-energy beat surges through everyone.

But you’re not in Louisiana. You’re in Sonoma, where a zydeco craze has taken hold.

Zydeco became a fixture in the Bay Area when black Creoles migrated from Louisiana to find work in the shipbuilding industry during World War II. With the Creoles came their music, and zydeco found a new home, gaining popularity in the 1970s and ’80s.

For 25 years, Sonoma-based Gator Beat — now Gator Nation — played zydeco, regularly selling out Little Switzerland (now Rossi’s 1906) and building a scene based on music, dancing and fun. Sonoma is also a popular stop for other zydeco bands, including the Tri-Tip Trio, featuring members of the Zydeco Flames.

Robert O’Maoilriain, known as the singer Sonoma Satchmo and owner of the Sonoma Speakeasy and American Music Hall, incorporates pop covers into his zydecoinfluenced performances, known as “swamp pop.” His bar in downtown Sonoma fills up by 8 p.m. for free, nightly live zydeco and Southern blues. Another local act, T-Luke & the Tight Suits, fronted by Lucas Dominigue (son of Gator Beat founder Richie Domingue), sells out venues with energetic, colorful performances.

“People can really connect to zydeco. The beat is accessible and upbeat, and the lyrics are relatable,” O’Maoilriain said. “It’s a timeless sound.”

And it remains as timely as ever, even in Wine Country.

Rossi’s 1906, 401 Grove St., Sonoma, 707-343-0044, rossis1906.com

Sonoma Speakeasy and American Music Hall, 452 First St. E., Sonoma, 707-996-1364, sonomaspeakeasyandamericanmusichall.com

Pliny the Younger: What You Need to Know

February 2016

By Christi Warren

Beer enthusiasts from around the world line up for the annual debut of Russian River Brewing Company’s Pliny the Younger. (John Burgess)

It’s either the best of times or the worst of times, but either way, it is time. Pliny the Younger, Russian River Brewing Co.’s super-hoppy triple India pale ale is almost here. Its 12th-annual release is expected to bring thousands of self-proclaimed beer geeks — and their money — to downtown Santa Rosa beginning Friday. Here’s everything you need to know about what Beer Advocate has anointed the world’s top-rated IPA.

What’s the big deal?

Pliny the Younger is arguably the most sought-after beer in the nation, and it’s only available for a limited time: two weeks in February at Russian River’s taproom in downtown Santa Rosa, plus a limited number of other locations, mostly in California. The beer is only available on draft, never in a bottle, and is only served in 10-ounce glasses. Last year, one group of guys from Los Angeles camped out from 5:30 p.m. Thursday on to make sure they were the first to taste the freshly tapped 10.25 percent brew. Those dudes excluded, most people, especially that first weekend, can expect up to 12-hour waits. Standing in line has rules, though. No smoking, no blocking other businesses, no tents, no open containers.

What does it taste like?

According to the Russian River website: “Pliny the Younger is considered a ‘triple’ IPA, simply meaning that it is higher in alcohol and has tons of hops. The alcohol should finish at about 10.25 percent, although it is remarkably dry for the amount of malt used in the recipe. It is loaded with hop flavors, bitterness and aromatics. The hops used in this year’s recipe are of excellent quality: Simcoe, Warrior, Chinook, Centennial, Amarillo and Tomahawk.”

So, there you have it.

OK, when can I get it?

It’s all happening starting at 11 a.m. Friday, and during Russian River’s business hours every day after that for two weeks, ending Feb. 18.

Any tips to avoid the lines?

Natalie Cilurzo, who owns the brewpub with her brewmaster husband Vinnie, said that for the best shot at a short wait, the time to come is midweek during the evening. “But a lot of people want to experience the line because that’s where the event is,” she said. “It’s just a beer release that’s turned into an event on the street. A lot of people want to wait in a line; they want to tell their friends that they waited eight hours in line in the rain.”

What happens once I get inside?

For customers who wish to brave the notoriously long lines and typically crummy winter weather, Russian River has imposed a limit of three Youngers and three hours inside the pub, per person. They keep of track of this with three-tabbed wristbands — not, disappointingly, with chalk marks like meter maids. (Tabs are removed as Youngers are poured.) Some 15,000 customers will get a taste during the two-week release at the Fourth Street pub. The new limits, set in place last year, meant that for the most recent Pliny release, the brewpub only ran out of the beer once that Natalie Cilurzo could remember — a significant improvement over years past.

What if I’m not willing to wait that long?

No worries. Pliny the Younger’s close relation, Pliny the Elder, is available year-round — bottled or on tap.

You can reach Staff Writer Christi Warren at 521-5205 or christi. warren@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @SeaWarren.

Sonoma Chocolate: Locals do it best

February 2016

By biteclub

In Sonoma chocolate is a thing. Like wine, beer and food, we’ve got a special talent for mixing cocoa, sugar and milk. Here are some of our favorite Sonoma chocolatiers…

New: Eye Candy Chocolatiers: Chocolate is Dr. Sonja Schluter’s happy place. The Sonoma ophthalmologist spends her days working with patients facing serious vision problems, primarily glaucoma. So her off-time passion for making beautiful chocolate truffles has become an outlet of beauty, precision and, of course, deliciousness.

But after 20 years practice (and giving most of her chocolate creations to friends), she’s finally opened a tiny retail shop at Sebastopol’s Gravenstein Station called Eye Candy.

Jewel-like truffles of every size and shape line the case, with flavors like passionfruit, guava, Earl Grey tea, chai coconut and cinnamon cardamom, making decisions difficult. What we love is the bitterness balancing act. Schulter uses a chocolate that’s between 54-64 percent cacao (milk chocolate has as little as 10% and extra-dark is around 80%), easing up on some of the intense bitterness of other dark chocolates.

Each of the truffles is made in the shop, with a mix of precision and creativity. “It fits my personality,” said Schluter, who has culinary training from the Ecole Chocolat in Vancouver and Callebaut Academy in Chicago. Crediting her mom, Tamara Suslov, M.D. (who founded the Eye Center in Sebastopol) for her tenacity and inspiration, Sonja brings her two worlds of chocolate and ophthamology together by donating a portion of her candy proceeds to the Glaucoma Research Foundation.

“Its a beautiful balancing act,” she said. 6761 Sebastopol Ave, Sebastopol. Open Monday through Saturday from 11a.m. to 4p.m.

CLOSED Cocoa Planet: Someone just answered your prayers. Rich, creamy, dark chocolate with “pearls” of flavor (mint, mandarin orange, vanilla espresso, salted caramel, deep dark truffle. Turns out you can get incredible flavor without all the sugar and just 96 calories per disk. This is a Chocolate Revolution! Available at Oliver’s Market, 461 Stony Point Road, Santa Rosa, (707) 284-3530 or at cocoaplanet.com.

CLOSED Recherche de Plaisir: For more than 20 years Sonoma County native Lucy Gustafson has been giving away chocolates confections by the dozens of dozens for appreciative friends and family. After making more than 500 truffles for Christmas a few years ago, Gustafson decided to enroll herself in the Ecole Chocolat’s professional chocolatier program and make her part-time passion a full-time calling.

Her popular Recherche du Plaisir, a Parisian-style confiserie (aka a sweet shop) in Santa Rosa (3401 Cleveland Ave., Suite 9, 843-3551) features truffles (white chocolate with ginger cinnamon and honey; milk chocolate with peppermint; Calvados infused dark chocolate ganache among them), butter caramels, French style macarons and an ever-growing number of other goodies. This is Sonoma chocolate at its best!

Sonoma Chocolatiers: Chocolatier David Gambill of Sonoma Chocolatiers is the guy behind some of the county’s most unusual truffles: Garlic, cheddar white truffle and rosemary goat cheese. In his Sebstopol sweets laboratory, he frets over each hand-made flavor. But rest assured, there are plenty of more approachable combinations including rose, lavender, Chambord, cherry kirsch, coconut almond, jasmine green tee and orange cardamom caramels. Sonoma Chocolatiers, 6988 McKinley Street, Sebastopol, (707) 829-1181.

Firefly Chocolates: Bean-to-bar chocolate made in Windsor. Small batch, artisan, dark chocolate made by Jonas Ketterle. Available at Community Market.

Sjaaks: Vegan, organic chocolates made in Sonoma County.

Wine Country Chocolates: Chocolate with a local flavor, this Sonoma chocolateria fills their truffles with Cabernet, Zinfandel, Port and champagne. Not into wine? How about the Elvis, a peanut butter truffle with banana ganache or a boysenberry gananche with blackberry honey? Tasting rooms at 14301 Arnold Drive, Glen Ellen, 966-1010 and on the Sonoma Plaza, 414 First St. East, Sonoma.

Patisserie Angelica: We’ll let you decide whether the creamy, decadent Better Than Sex Hot Fudge Sauce at this Sebastopol bakery actually is. What we can say is that loading it on top of ice cream or eating it right into the jar is a heaping helping of deliciousness. 6821 Laguna Park Way, Sebastopol, 827-7998, open Friday and Saturday from 10am to 5pm.

Chocolate Cow: Lots of truffles, fudge and other chocolate treats, some made in-house. 452 First St., E. Sonoma, 935-3564.

In Napa, there are a number of high-end chocolatiers as well. We especially love…

Woodhouse Chocolate: 1367 Main St, St Helena, (707) 963-8413
Kollar Chocolates: 6525 Washington St., Yountville, 738-6750.
La Foret: 3261 Browns Valley Rd., Napa, 255-1787

Best and Worst Valentine Chocolate Smackdown

February 2016

By biteclub

Russell Stover Private Reserve Fine Assorted Chocolates

You forgot about Valentine’s Day? Strike one.

Then you tried to salvage it by buying your sweetie a heart-shaped box of chocolates from a store that also sells hairspray and antifreeze: Strike two.

Before you strike out, let us step in and give a hand when it comes to last-minute chocolate buying at, say Target, CVS, or really anywhere besides a chocolate shop. Not all chocolate is created equal, and when you’re spending less than $15 for a half-pound or more, chances are it’s a game of roulette as to whether its even palatable.

We’ve done the legwork by tasting seven different brands of Valentine chocolates ranging from $6.99 to $14.99 available at most large retailers.

They’re the names you know: Ghiradelli, Whitman’s, Lindt, Godiva, Hershey’s. Nothing fancy or artisan, just mass-produced chocolates that many Valentines are destined to receive this year. Among them are a few surprising standouts, completely uninspired standbys and horrifying stinkers we wouldn’t even foist on our boss.

So in this admittedly unscientific tasting of Valentine chocolate samplers, we’ve done the difficult and calorically dangerous work for you (mostly in bed, watching romantic movies). Benchmarks included whether or not there was a map of the chocolates (so to avoid the dreaded nougat), sweetness, calorie-to-worth-it ratio, consistency, packaging, appearance and whether we’d feel special getting one of these boxes.

Here are the results…

Want to read about great LOCAL chocolatiers? Me too. So click here for their stories.

Lindt Classic Assorted Chocolates, $9.99, 10 pieces

Lindt Classic Assorted Chocolates Valentine Chocolates

Our inner 12-year-old loved the pretty pink box, but was disappointed at the paltry packaging to chocolate ratio. If you’re a fan of Lindt’s truffles, you’ll be familiar with the sweet, creamy chocolate flavor.
Map: Yes
Calories for the Whole Box: 766
Fave Flavors: White chocolate, hazelnut, dark raspberry cream truffles
Love-O-Meter: He so gets me. Is there a ring inside somewhere? Cause the answer is yes.

Ghiradelli Sweet Hearts Premium Chocolate Assortment, $9.99, 12 pieces

Classy packaging and artisan-looking truffles neatly packed inside. They look and taste more expensive than they are, and the chocolate is not overly sweet or grainy, like other inexpensive chocolate brands.
Map: Yes
Calories for the Whole Box: 685
Fave Flavors: Chocolate hazelnut cream with toffee bits
Love-O-Meter: I’m worth it.

Russel Stover Private Reserve, $12.99, 16 pieces

This saucy heart with satin and black lace was surprisingly tasty, though heavy on the fruit creams. With a whopping 16 pieces, however, it was an impressive spread of chocolate with white, milk and dark chocolate.
Map: Yes
Calories for the Whole Box: 1,103
Fave Flavors: Raspberry caramel, honey caramel, lemon souffle
Love-O-Meter: Let’s eat these together. In bed.

Ferrero Collection, $6.99, 10 pieces

If you’re a fan of these chocolate hazelnut truffles with crunchy wafers, you’ll be stoked on this petite box. We tend to be big on white chocolate and coconut, so the Raffaello bon bons are a big fave. Interestingly, each of the flavors is made in a different country: Germany, Poland or Canada.
Map: Yes
Calories for the Box: 600
Fave Flavors: Rondnoir, Raffaello
Love-O-Meter: Kiss me, Romeo!

Godiva Assorted Chocolates, $12.99, 15 pieces

This was the biggest bummer of the lot, since I expected some pretty decent chocolate from Godiva. First off, it was impossible to tell which chocolate was what, though the flavors include milk, dark and white chocolate ganache, strawberry cheesecake and creme brulee. I’m not a gambler when it comes to mystery chocolates, but the two I did taste were overly sweet while still somehow tasteless.
Map: No
Calories for the Whole Box: 950
Fave Flavors: None
Love-O-Meter: Let’s melt these down and paint each other with chocolate.

Hershey’s Pot of Gold Premium Collection, $6.99, 13 pieces

Pretty box designed by Academy of Art University students. But who puts 13 pieces of candy in a box? Unlucky, for sure, because I was loathe to taste even one of these mystery “assorted” chocolates. The one I did was grainy, unpleasant, and fake tasting. It went back half-eaten.
Map: No
Calories for the Whole Box: 650
Fave Flavors: None
Love-O-Meter: Are you trying to break up with me?

Whitman’s Sampler, $12.99, 26 pieces

Oh, Whitman’s. From previous experience, my expectations were well managed, but even then I was disappointed. I mean, “I need to spit this out” disappointed. Only vaguely chocolate tasting, grainy, ridiculously sweet. Plus, the box was a disaster when I opened it, with several chocolates out of place. I don’t feel special.
Map: Yes
Calories for the Whole Box: 1,733
Fave Flavors: None
Love-O-Meter: I hate you, too.

Where to Eat Now in Sonoma County

February 2016

By Heather Irwin

Mushroom and Truffled Bruschetta cream canapes at Bistro 100 in Petaluma. (Heather Irwin / The Press Democrat)

From new to well-aged, where to eat right now

Delhi Belly Indian Bistro

It was a bold move to name this restaurant after a term sometimes used for an exotic travelers’ affliction (to put it gently). But the food and vibe here are nothing but delightful. Focused heavily on Northern Indian cuisine, Dehli Belly’s menu has a familiar lineup including palak paneer, daal and naan, and tandoori and tikka masala for traditionalists. But the real buzz is about the less-familiar dishes: roti and paratha (wheat breads), hariyali mali kofta (a cheese dumpling with spinach and vegetables in tomato sauce) and butter chicken. Often confused with tikka masala, butter chicken has a little more spice, a little less cream and a lot more butter. It’s tikka masala’s classier cousin.

520 Broadway, Sonoma, 707-343-1003, visit on Facebook

Hana Japanese Restaurant

For 25 years, this unassuming little sushi restaurant has served the North Bay’s most authentic Japanese meals. Working with fish flown in weekly from Toyko’s famed Tsukiji market, chef and owner Ken Tominaga is something of a sushi legend, despite the rather cramped quarters his restaurant had long occupied in Rohnert Park. Tominaga, however, recently doubled the space, adding a casual sake bar that serves some of the region’s finest sakes from throughout Japan. Hana is one of the few restaurants with its own sake sommelier, and flights of the rice wine are popular. Maybe the highest praise is that this is a trusted source for fresh uni (sea urchin) and ankimo (steamed monkfish liver), delicacies that can go very wrong in untrained hands.

101 Golf Course Drive, Rohnert Park, 707-586-0270, hanajapanese.com

Walter Hansel Wine & Bistro

The menu is Wine Country French featuring de Gaulle-era classics such as Coquilles St. Jacques (scallops with a white-wine truffle cream sauce, naughtier than a night at the Moulin Rouge); Julia Child-worthy boeuf Bourguignon, lobster bisque en croute, and a proper tarte tatin (apples in a flaky crust) with homemade caramel. Prices are steep, but the large wine selection (including many Walter Hansel wines) is impressive. Service is spot-on at this restaurant. It’s perfect for a romantic splurge.

3535 Guerneville Road, Santa Rosa, 707-546-6462, walterhanselbistro.com

Guiso Latin Fusion

Caribbean meets Salvadoran at this Healdsburg jewel box. The tiny kitchen at the former Ravenous can be slow, but the food is made with love. Jamaican jerk chicken with mango and pineapple salsa makes for tasty tacos; the Salvadoran take on the Cubano sandwich offers pulled pork marinated in citrus, with Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard. Heartier fare includes pescado con coco (fish sautéed with coconut) and slow-braised pork ribs. Don’t miss the pupusas stuffed with pork, chicken or vegetables and topped with elotitos — sliced pieces of corn roasted in jerk, butter and garlic. Save room for the quesadillita con helado, a mashup of rice and cheese bread with vanilla ice cream and hibiscus sauce.

117 North St., Healdsburg, 707-431-1302, guisolatinfusion.com

Soban Korean Cuisine

A sizzling pot of rice that continues to cook while you eat it? That’s bibimbap, a Korean comfort food. Meaning “mixed rice,” bibimbap is so hot you can cook an egg on it. It’s a signature dish at Soban in Petaluma, a recent entrant to the restaurant scene that locals say is as authentic as it gets, with homemade kimchi, pan-fried Korean pancakes, beef and pork bulgogi (marinated meats in a spicy sweet sauce), and the bibimbap made in a sizzling stone pot with pickled vegetables, seafood, kimchi, beef or chicken. Soban Chicken was just as good as a midnight snack as it was right out of the bowl.

255 N. McDowell Blvd., Petaluma, 707-796-3112, sobanpetaluma.com

Bistro 100

Comfort classics with a French twist are the signature of this cozy Petaluma bistro. Everyone knows everyone here, and if they don’t, the bistro tables lend themselves to casual conversation and knowing nods of approval as lusty plates of short ribs arrive. Most of the ingredients (and wine) are sourced from within 20 miles, giving diners a true taste of the county. Best bets include mushroom and truffled bruschetta cream canapés, Sonoma County terrine, and Cabernet-braised short ribs.

140 Second St., Suite 100, Petaluma, 707-981-8228, bistro100petaluma.com

Ca’ Momi Osteria

This “obsessively Italian” Napa newcomer focuses on authentic regional specialties. Travel through Italy with grilled rock octopus with lemon vinaigrette, inspired by Venice’s seafood bounty; imported burrata cheese from Puglia with roasted vegetables and olive oil; and oxtail stew with tomato, rigatoni, soffritto, pine nuts and raisins from the pastoral Lazio region surrounding Rome. Spaghetti is offered only “alla bottarga,” a briny dish that gets a shaving of cured fish roe — a specialty of Sardinia. Certified-authentic Napoletana pizza is cooked for exactly 90 seconds in a 900-degree wood-burning oven, dressed with simple toppings of San Marzano tomatoes, garlic and oregano, or more luxurious porcini mushrooms with white truffle cream and basil.

1141 First St., Napa, 707-224-6664, camomi.com

Basilico Cucina Italiana

This new trattoria comes from the owners of Cucina Paradiso in Petaluma. The menu is very similar, with a nice antipasti plate, exceptional beef tartare, fresh pastas and swoonworthy gnocchi with Gorgonzola-walnut sauce. Even if you’re not a veal fan, it’s worth trying the scaloppine al Marsala — a thin cut of tender veal with porcini mushrooms and Marsala wine sauce. The room can be loud and crowded with locals on weekends, but that speaks to its popularity and approachable dishes.

4776 Sonoma Highway, Santa Rosa, 707-539-0260, basilico-cucina-italiana.com

Sonoma Grille

With a nod to its past as Meritage Oyster Bar and Grill, the menu at this reborn surf and turf restaurant features many of the same dishes fans craved before. That also means a slog of more than 30 items (fewer than the previous menu) from which to choose. From fresh oysters and hefty seafood platters to pasta, roast chicken and steaks, there’s something for every taste. A new kitchen, bar and beer garden bring fresh vigor to this venerable spot.

165 W. Napa St., Sonoma, 707-938-7542, sonomagrilleandbar.com

Canneti Roadhouse Italiana

Marrying his own Tuscan culinary traditions with the best of Sonoma’s farms and fields, chef Francesco Torres has created a menu that’s both rustic and refined, capturing the best of west county’s bounty. In winter, hearty braised boar, local mushrooms and chestnut-flour gnocchi with cauliflower sauce shine. In warmer months, dishes include zucchini and mint over ricotta goat cheese and vegetable sugo with housemade pasta. Canneti boasts one of the most enchanting outdoor patios in Sonoma. Word is now out that this Forestville spot, with its modern interior and chatty bar, is worth the drive.

6675 Front St., Forestville, 707-887-2232, cannetirestaurant.com