Perry Hoffman, new culinary director for SHED in Healdsburg. Photo: Zagat
The former chef of Napa’s etoile at Domaine Chandon, Perry Hoffman, has taken over the kitchens of Healdsburg SHED as culinary director.
The Michelin-starred chef (and culinary wunderkind) will oversee the entire culinary program at the hybrid cafe, marketplace and “modern grange hall”, including breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner at the cafe, as well as private dining and events. And while Hoffman’s wheelhouse is white-tablecloth dining at tony spots like etoile and Napa’s Auberge du Soleil, he’ll be loosening things up to accommodate the more casual vibe of SHED.
Etoile closed earlier this year, despite critical acclaim. Part of Hoffman’s new gig will include getting his hands dirty at SHED owner Cindy Daniel and Doug Lipton’s Home Farm, a working farm that provides produce for the cafe.
A few fun facts about Hoffman:
His grandparents Sally and Don Schmitt were the original owners of The French Laundry in Yountville and founders of The Apple Farm in Philo
Hoffman was the youngest chef ever to win a Michelin star, at the age of 25
He was a co-founder of Carneros Micros, a micro-green and edible flower farm
Hoffman replaces Chef Miles Thompson, who joined SHED in January. SHED has hosted a string of talented chefs in its kitchen since opening in 2013.
Kewpie Mayonnaise might just be the best mayo ever.
Kewpie Mayonnaise might just be the best mayo ever.
Who knew the Japanese were some of the world’s biggest mayonnaise fanatics? With entire restaurants devote to the condiment, along with a mayo museum (really) and a term for mayonnaise fanatics (mayolers), it’s definitely a thing. But when you say mayonnaise in Japan, you’ll inevitably get a bottle of Kewpie. Soon after you’ll become addicted to the stuff.
It’s been a staple in the kitchen of many Asian-inspired chefs, from Momofuko’s David Chang—who called it the best mayonnaise in the world in a Food & Wine article—to local chefs like Matthew Williams of Ramen Gaijin.
“Kewpie is great because it’s has a bit of sweetness from rice wine vinegar and let’s be real, a ton of MSG,” Williams said.
Indeed it’s not for everyone, but it’s also the very definition of umami, that hard-to-describe flavor that’s both rich and savory, thanks to MSG. Let me say that one more time. There’s a lot of MSG in it.
A bit sweeter than good old Hellman’s (aka Best Foods), Kewpie mayo, which is in fact named after the adorable doll that’s its trademark, is insanely smooth and spreadable, best slathered over, well, everything. Closest we can come to a familiar American taste is Miracle Whip.
Mix it into Sriracha, use it for the world’s most decadent deviled eggs, slap it on a sandwich or just squirt a bit on a pretzel.
$5.99 at Asia Mart, 2481 Guerneville Rd., Santa Rosa, (707) 542-3515.
Nine months ago, two of the biggest players in the Northern California’s artisan meat business almost disappeared. Now, they’re teaming up to be a serious force in the growing market for sustainable, locally-raised chicken, pork, lamb and beef.
That means Victorian Farmstead’s Adam Parks, who sells at many local farm markets, through a CSA and at Community Market in Sebastopol, will be handling the meat distribution for both. Tara and Craig Smith, who own Tara Firma Farms, will consult on various events and strategic decisions at the farm.
It’s a solid match for the once-rivals, and a win-win for their CSA members.
Smith was giving serious consideration to throwing in the towel last spring after five years of explosive growth at the farm. The 250 acre operation is a model for sustainable food production and community education, including tours and events at the farm.
Tara and Craig Smith
“It was exhausting me,” said Smith. “I just lost it in March, and I was planning to shut it down,” she said candidly. “Because the bigger we got, the harder it got. I just needed to do something else,” she said.
Tara Firm currently has more than 700 CSA customers, and Smith said she was heartbroken at the though of having to walk away from the business. When Parks approached her with a suggestion for collaboration, Smith leapt. “It was such a relief to me. I was so not wanting to let it all go, because there’s just nothing out there quite like we do,” she said.
Smith was ready for a break. Ready to spend more time with her teenage son. Ready to get a mani-pedi, she joked.
Parks, who runs Victorian Farmstead with his wife, Laura, and new business partner, Adam Taggart, will be able to collapse many of the doubled efforts and streamline the business operations.
“[We] wouldn’t have made it alone nine months ago,” said Parks, who is no stranger to the ups and downs of the artisan meat business.
Adam Parks of Victorian Farmstead Meats
Last December, in deep financial trouble, Parks sent out a plea to his supporters (who he calls “Meatheads”) to buy coupons to be used at a later date, giving the company a quick infusion of cash without begging for a handout. The generosity of the local community was tremendous, and Parks raised several thousand dollars in only a couple weeks from people of all corners of the community. With this push, Victorian Farmstead was back on its feet. “It was a true story of community support,” said Parks.
Taggart, who joined the team in 2015, helped Victorian Farmstead develop a better business plan and restructure debt so the company could grow. So well that Parks recently told CSA subscribers that, “Over the past 5 months, we’ve already knocked our vendor debt down by over 60 percent and expect to have it completely satisfied by the end of the year.”
“[The partnership] is a huge advantage for Victorian Farmstead because we can now provide home delivery to our retail customers as well as veggie and fruit shares,” said Parks. Tara Firma customers will have access to fresh and rfozen meats and be able to pick up their shares at farm markets the VFMC attends.
“More families of the future will be able to enjoy the quality meats of Northern California. The beauty of this collaboration is that thousands of families in Northern California will continue to have access to the incredible meat raised in Sonoma and Marin counties.”
There are some desserts so deliciously decadent that you really don’t want to know the recipe, for fear it will ruin the gastronomic magic.
Chocolate pot de creme is one of those desserts, made with whipping cream, whole milk, egg yolks, sugar and chocolate. Basically the five horsemen of your diet apocalypse.
Unlike pudding, pot de creme is heated like a custard and then baked in a water bath, with no added thickening agents, making it intensely flavorful and creamy. And absolutely nothing like that sad powdered stuff you mix with milk and cook on the stove.
PetitPot, based in SF, has mastered this ultimate French dessert, selling it in adorable 4.2 ounce jars that makes it feel a whole lot less like something that’s headed straight for your inner thighs and a whole lot more like something worth savoring — alone — on a cool fall evening in your jammies.
We’re particularly fond of the dark chocolate version, with 70 percent cacao Belgian chocolate. Other flavors include lemon, vanilla and salted caramel, along with seasonal flavors like pistachio and praline.
Cooked up by two Frenchmen, natch, it’s as close to heaven as you can get with with a spoon.
The Original PSL. Most people only get one a year from Starbucks. We kinda get it.
It’s pumpkin spice season again, and this year there are an estimated 50,000+ items hitting the shelves. Bigger and better than ever sales of these fall-flavored items have risen 11.6 percent, with sales of $361 million over the last year.
Here are a few pumpkin-spiked goodies from lattes to facials we’ve found, both local and national...real and imagined.
What are your favorite seasonal finds?
PSL: Starbucks
Here’s where the pumpkin-spice craze started. Will it be the end, as well?
The Original PSL. Most people only get one a year from Starbucks. We kinda get it.
TRADER JOE’S: Pumpkin spice everything is an annual thing.
Pumpkin Spice Booze
Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa has a variety of pumpkin spice ales
@whole foods pumpkin spice ale
Pumpkin-Spiced Local Sweets
Pumpkin Truffle from Rechere du Plaisir, 3401 Cleveland Ave #9, Santa RosaPumpkin Spice Macarons at Rechere du Plaisir, 3401 Cleveland Ave #9, Santa Rosa
I’m so into cider right now. As fall approaches, its a great time to embrace the many micro-cideries popping up all over Sonoma County. Each cidermaker has their own approach, but the days of sickly-sweet apple wine coolers are over. Instead, companies like Sonoma Cider are taking a more wine-like approach by cutting the sweet (some are bone dry), aging in oak barrels and simply letting the apples do the talking.
Sonoma Cider’s Crowbar goes a step further, kicking your tastebuds in the face with one-two punch of lime and habanero infused into the dry cider. This seasonal brew was a summer release, and will only be around another month or so. Admittedly, its not for everyone. The habanero is h-o-t. But it’s a great late-summer drink to sip by the pool or sneak into a picnic basket before the winter doldrums are upon us.
Not into the burn? Sonoma Cider’s Anvil is dry cider aged in bourbon barrels. It’s as amazing at it sound, and is available all year long. The Coddingtown Whole Foods, which has an expanding cider selection and an in-house taproom, also carries The Anvil.
The Crowbar Cider, $8.99 per 4-pack, Whole Foods (390 Coddingtown Mall, Santa Rosa, 707-542-7411).
Is “local” produce really all that local? Turns out it isn’t much of the time.
Is “local” produce really all that local? Turns out it isn’t much of the time.
Which grocers are the most local? You might be surprised at the answer.
It’s no mystery that shopping, eating and pretty much doing anything “local” is not only good ethics, but its also good business. You’ve seen the signs at large supermarkets touting their support of “farms in your neighborhood”, but according to a sampling of several Sonoma County markets (both locally-owned and not), “local” can mean up to 800 miles from your neighborhood.
Farmers Guild Executive Director Evan Wiig recently tallied the number of fresh local veggies (meaning from Sonoma, Marin, Mendocino andNapa) at nine grocers, and the results were pretty interesting.
According to his survey, Healdburg’s SHED was the biggest winner with 53 products from local farms. Oliver’s came in second with 39, followed by the Sebastopol Whole Foods (38), Community Market (31), with the rest offering considerably less. Particular notice went to Safeway, which has started a large campaign to “support farms in your neighborhood”, but in his survey had the lowest number of items: 3. Wiig hopes to use his findings in this first sampling as an impetus for local grocers to step up their game. Read more about Wiig’s Grocery Store Challenge at The Farmer’s Guild Blog.
Coconut Curry Comet Corn, $4.99, Community Market (1899 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa, srcommunitymarket.com)
I remember standing, mouth agape, at the Sonoma County Fair a few years ago when Comet Corn’s Sherry Soleskitold me they used actual butter on their freshly-popped popcorn. Not just butter, but Straus Creamery butter. Oh, and the butterfly corn they use is organic, and the seasonings made from things like organic coconut milk powder and brewer’s yeast. Plus, it came with a giant bear hug from the indomitable Soleski, herself. I’ve been sold ever since.
Of all their flavors (Bloody Mary, Maple Syrup, the super-popular Hippie Dust, etc.) have their fans, butmy favorite by far is Coconut Curry. There’s a bit of curry spice bite, but with a hint of sweetness and a satisfying touch of fat (they use organic oil in the bagged flavors, since butter isn’t as shelf-stable). It’s addictive to say the least.
Sherry, from Comet Corn, gives great hugs. And makes great popcorn.
The mom and pop start up based in Santa Rosa was inspired by an evening around a campfire when Soleski’s partner, Jeff Phillips, served a bowl of seasoned popcorn to some friends while watching the Hale-Bopp Comet whiz by in the night sky. After a stellar Kickstarter that raised more than $20,000, they’re a solar-powered powerhouse at local events like the county fair, National Heirloom Expo, Kate Wolf Festival and the upcoming Earlefest (Sept. 26, 2015 earlefest.com).
The Rolls Royce of wood-fired pizza ovens, Mugnaini Pizza Ovens, has recently relocated to Healdsburg.
Mugniani Pizza Ovens is open in Healsburg, CA
In case you haven’t seen one in some of the tip-top kitchens around the county (both commercial and residential), the thing about these ovens is that these brick ovens are specifically made to heat up quickly (room temp to 1,000 degrees in under an hour), provide convection heating via its dome and generally make perfect Neopolitan-style pizzas, long with other wood-fired dishes in the tradition of our ancestors.
The new 15,000 square-food Mugnaini building is a combination pizza oven showroom, cooking school, retail store and production facility. And here’s where it gets really cool (if you have some serious dough): Three day Wine Country Culinary Getaways are held at owner Andrea Mugnaini’s nearby vineyard property.
Mugniani Pizza Ovens is open in Healsburg, CA
That’s three days of serious oven training to make bread, fish, meats, veggies and of course pizzas. There’s also a week-long cooking school in Tuscany. Sigh.
Mugnaini, 1531 Grove St., Healdsburg, (707) 416-4106.
Long before iPhones and food bloggers and digital cameras that can make almost anyone a culinary documentarian, Art Culinaire magazine was the first and last word in food. Introducing the world to the greatest chefs, the most state-of-the-art kitchens and, of course, the latest trends and recipes in haute cuisine, and with spectacular photography, Art Culinaire was — and is — a magazine coveted by chefs and gourmands.
Wolfgang Puck was in the first issue, long before he became a household name and celebrity chef. Renowned French Laundry chef Thomas Keller is rumored to have almost every issue of the hard-bound magazine, published since 1986.
But few people know that the magazine, subtitled the International Magazine in Good Taste (it’s shipped to 57 countries) makes its home in Healdsburg, quietly published by the wife-and-husband team Carol M. Newman and Lars Ryssdal. They took over the publication in May 2014 from founder and friend Franz Mitterer, described by Ryssdal as an Austrian gourmet who envisioned a magazine that honored chefs and their food.
What makes it stand out in a flurry of digital food magazines, however, are its decidedly old-school ways: It’s printed as an oversized book on heavy gloss paper and with almost no advertising.
“It’s like a vinyl record. There isn’t an online component and you keep it forever,” Ryssdal said. “We think about the legacy of chefs and their food. This is the only way to really honor a dish that a chef creates, with giant photos that show every detail.”
U.S. subscriptions to Art Culinaire are $68 for four issues a year, and can be purchased at artculinairemagazine.com or by calling
707-595-3850. Visit the website to see what’s featured in the current issue.
