Cinnaholic owner Shannon Radke is bringing her vegan cinnamon rolls to Santa Rosa
As if the gooey, sugary cinnamon roll couldn’t get any more decadent, Berkley-based Cinnaholic takes it one step further — mix and match frosting and toppings.
Think fro-yo meets the bakery case.
Santa Rosa is slated to be one of its next outposts, serving up Irish Cream frosting with pie crumbles and chocolate sauce slathered all over their vegan buns. Not into that combo? There are 39 other frosting flavors and 21 toppings ranging from marshmallows to Oreos. All of it 100 percent vegan, meaning completely animal, dairy and egg-free. (And yes, Oreos are vegan.)
So far no word on the exact location or opening date, but we’ll be looking forward to the sweet smell of fresh baked buns somewhere in Santa Rosa.
Sonoma’s Tri Tip Trolley at BottleRock Napa Valley in 2014.
Sonoma’s Tri Tip Trolley at BottleRock Napa Valley in 2014.
Food is the new star of music festivals throughout the country, and this year’s BottleRock Napa Valley is no exception.
From Michelin-starred toques including Masaharu Morimoto, Michael Mina,and Top Chef star Michael Voltaggio to “culinary mash-up moments” with celebs Snoop Dogg, Vernon Davis of the 49ers and Wavy Gravy, top-notch restaurant menus and cult wines, food groupies have plenty to salivate about at the three-day music festival May 29 through 31 in downtown Napa.
In fact, organizers have added a fifth stage to showcase food and wine — The Williams-Sonoma Culinary Stage.
”Williams-Sonoma’s Culinary Stage will showcase some of the country’s top chefs and sommeliers with musicians and celebrities,” said Janet Hayes, president of Williams-Sonoma. The new culinary stage will be hosted by “Foodie Chap” Liam Mayclem of KCBS.
There’s also the perennial food-truck lineup (Bacon Bacon, Curry Up Now, Kara’s Cupcakes), the gourmet food court (Morimoto to La Toque) and wineries (Silver Oak Cellars, Del Dotto Family Vineyards, Schramsberg Vineyards) that only Wine Country could roll out. If you’re a high roller, VIP sections will offer cult wines and upscale Napa Valley restaurants like REDD, Goose & Gander, Atlas Social. “Platinum” VIP tickets will run you between $1,250 and $3,000 versus the general admission cost of $119 per day.
Don’t stress if platinum isn’t your jam. However you roll through the festival, you’ll be eating like a rock star. Trust us.
Here are even more delicious details about the lineup…
The (at least for now) full lineup of chefs slated to participate also include both Bay Area and national names including Iron Chef Marc Forgione, Larry Forgione of the Culinary Institute of America, Top Chef Mei Lin, Michelin-star chefs Brandon Sharp of Solbar, Ken Frank of La Toque, and Robert Curry of Auberge du Soleil, 11-time World Pizza Champion Tony Gemignani, Bryan Forgione of Buddy V’s, Rick Moonen of rm Seafood, Oenotri’s Tyler Rodde, and Dario De Conti of Ca’Momi along with Williams-Sonoma Chef Collective featuring Sarah Simmons of Birds & Bubbles, Matt Jennings of Townsman, the Bon Vivants of Trick Dog, and Jason French of Ned Ludd.
Me So Hungry food truck at BottleRock Napa Valley in 2014.
Expanded food truck and culinary offerings throughout the festival include Morimoto Sticky Ribs, wood-fired pizzas, pork belly sandwiches, Vietnamese shrimp rolls, barbecue, fried chicken, vegetarian, vegan and more. Culinary hotspots to be showcased include Morimoto Napa, Ca’Momi, The Thomas at Fagiani’s, Whole Foods, La Condesa, Tarla Grill, Taqueria Rosita, Eiko’s, Fume Bistro, Il Posto Trattoria, Eight Noodle Shop, Ristorante Allegria, The Q Restaurant and Bar, Bui Bistro, Napa Palisades Saloon, Smoke Open Fire, Jax White Mule Diner
Current Food Trucks: Bacon Bacon, Curry Up Now, Kara’s Cupcakes, Mark’s The Spot, MeSoHungry, Drewski’s, Seoul of Taipei and Napa Valley Crust.
Wine/Beer: Miner Family Winery, Robert Mondavi Winery, Silver Oak Cellars, Del Dotto Family Vineyards, Schramsberg Vineyards, Rombauer Vineyards, Clos Du Val, Gia by Gia Coppola, Goosecross Cellars, Round Pond Estate, Aviary Vineyards, Hill Family Estate, Jamieson Ranch Vineyards, JaM Cellars, JW Thomas Group.
Oh yeah, and there are about 70 bands and performers who’ll entertain you while you stuff your face. You know, if you’re into that.
Details and tickets online at BottleRockNapaValley.com.
The French Laundry kitchen renovations. Kitchen staff will be housed in renovated shipping containers until construction finishes.
The French Laundry kitchen renovations. Kitchen staff will be housed in renovated shipping containers until construction finishes.
The Louvre, a white linen tablecloth being gently unfurled and graceful choreography are among the inspirations for Chef Thomas Keller’s kitchen redesign for the French Laundry.
According to FL reps, this is the first major overhaul of the landmark restaurant in 20 years. International design firm, Snøhetta, California-based firms Envelope A+D and Tim Harrison of Harrison, Koellner, LLC will create a new and expanded kitchen and courtyard, an auxiliary building to house a wine cellar and support offices, and a new arrival experience to enhance the approach to the iconic blue door.
The French Laundry kitchen renovations. Kitchen staff will be housed in renovated shipping containers until construction finishes.
“The French Laundry is being redesigned to be a backdrop worthy of the restaurant’s history,” Thomas Keller said. “With the Louvre Pyramid as my inspiration, we wanted to find a way to juxtapose the historic and the modern while maintaining the high quality cuisine and service our guests have come to expect from The French Laundry. The new design will be an innovative and functioning space that will allow us to continue to evolve as a restaurant and develop new standards.”
FL reps also say that in addition to expanding the kitchen’s size by 25 percent, the renovation will make for more efficient use of space, creating one contiguous room for the entire culinary team with a visual connection from station to station. With walls, flooring and work stations all fashioned out of Dekton, an ultra-compact surface, the new kitchen will feature a white-on-white palette—a nod to the sense of promise and potential of a fresh start. The kitchen equipment will feature two unique Moltini suites by Electrolux and commercial ranges by Hestan Commercial. The ground-up construction of a new Kitchen Annex will house The French Laundry’s support functions including the prep kitchen, butchery, produce breakdown, and management offices. It is also home to The French Laundry’s regarded wine collection, with the storage capacity to hold up to 14,000 bottles.
Commence sighs of jealousy.
The French Laundry kitchen renovations. Kitchen staff will be housed in renovated shipping containers until construction finishes.
Chef Thomas Keller’s culinary team, meanwhile, have moved into a temporary kitchen space at the restaurant, and have been serving diners since April 7 at the historic location, says an FL spokesperson. “During construction, Envelope A+D conceived of using shipping containers as modular units for a temporary kitchen in the restaurant’s former courtyard, allowing for service to resume after the restaurant’s closure in January. Tim Harrison, Chef Keller’s kitchen designer-of-record for the past 20 years, designed and adapted the temporary space as a recreation of the former French Laundry kitchen, complete with its five stars mounted hood.:
Completed renderings of the French Laundry Kitchen
The restaurant is offering dinner seven days a week beginning at 5:30 p.m. and lunch on Saturday and Sunday between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. The project is slated for completion in late 2015.
Cauliflower at Partake by K-J takes advantage of produce from the winery gardens.
Maybe it’s a silly distinction, but when a meal starts with an extensive list of what’s not in it, our taste buds threaten to go on strike. Instead, inspecting local menus has become a favorite “Where’s Waldo” search for standout dishes that just happen to not include meat. These increasingly frequent finds still pack all the flavors, the spices, the intrigue, the complexity and the rib-stickiness of beef, chicken, fish, lamb or pork, but simply don’t need it to shine.
So, in gathering a list of meaty (not literally, of course) meals, we’re considering the eggplant, the fennel root and the hearty bean not as substitutes, but as heroes of dinner. Trust us, you won’t miss a thing.
Rancho Gordo Beans on Toast, Della Fattoria: If you’re not indoctrinated into the cult of Rancho Gordo, introduce yourself to the best heirloom beans known to the universe. Wine Country entrepreneur Steve Sando has been a major force in preserving and promoting heirloom bean breeds of the Americas. With meaty, satisfying flavors, they’re more than enough to sate a big appetite. We love them with pretty much anything, but Della Fattoria’s peasant-style dish of pureed flageolet beans, chèvre, roasted garlic, olives and olive oil on rosemary Meyer-lemon toast is so ridiculously good you’ll dream about it for days. 141 Petaluma Blvd. North, Petaluma.
We’re also big fans of the beans and greens at Spinster Sisters, which is equally comforting and simple, with garlic and lemon. 401 S. A St., Santa Rosa.
Chicken fried portobello with mushroom leek gravy, Gypsy Cafe: If there’s any vegetable that mimics the chew of a perfectly cooked steak, it’s the portly portobello mushroom. Battered and fried, it gets a pour of hearty gravy, potato cake and two eggs (if you want ‘em) on the breakfast menu. Also a tasty breakfast fave at Gypsy: seared polenta with garlic braised greens, parmesan and sourdough. 162 North Main St., Sebastopol.
Fork Roadhouse opens in Sebastopol featuring breakfast and lunch
Orange and ginger stewed prunes with Greek yogurt, honey, granola and bee pollen, Fork Roadhouse: Prunes, where have you been all our lives? Stewed “dried plums” are a warm, sweet surprise in a bowl of granola and tart yogurt. Maybe the world’s most perfect breakfast. 9890 Bodega Highway, Sebastopol. (Not vegan, but plant-based).
Fried Green Tomato PoBoy, Parish Cafe: Tart green tomatoes are given a cornmeal dusting and bubbling oil bath, then sandwiched between spicy aioli and a soft roll. Southern perfection that doesn’t need explaining. 60 Mill St., Healdsburg.
Reuben Tempeh Sandwich with Kimchi, Backyard Kitchen: There is exactly one chef we trust for a tasty tempeh, and that’s Daniel Keden. This “wheat meat” tends to be a bit off-putting, but slathered with kimchi and Thousand Island dressing and served on the required toasted rye, it’s a winner. Even without pastrami. 6566 Front St., Forestville.
Ethiopian Veggie Combo, Abyssinia (913 Fourth St., Santa Rosa): Unless you’re quite familiar with this fragrantly-spiced cuisine, it’s best to just let your taste buds go on an exotic adventure. “Shiro, miser we’t, yater kik alecha, yabesha gomen… I don’t know what any of these things are, but they were sure delicious last night!” said Robert Larsen of Santa Rosa, a fan who recommended this combination as a favorite meatless meal. Atop your injera (fermented bread), you’ll find a mash-up of eggplant, tomatoes, onions, lentils, carrots, and spices that are better experienced than deeply considered. Just open wide and say, mmmmm.
Fritters at Yeti
Bhaji and Dal Bukhara at Yeti (190 Farmers Lane, Santa Rosa): Oh, happy day that this Glen Ellen Indian/Himalayan has opened a (huge) outpost in Santa Rosa. With this cuisine, meatless dishes spiced with cumin, curry, garam masala, fennel seeds and a treasure box of other ancient herbs and spices elevate humble vegetables and yogurt dishes to masterpieces. Most curries can be made meatless, but we’re bigger fans of rich daal (seasoned lentils, onion, chili, ginger, cream, cilantro) and onion bhaji, which are chickpea flour fritters with onions, garlic and ginger. Eggs are used, so, again, plant-based.
Here’s a chance to eat dessert first. In fact, to only eat dessert if you really want to. On Monday, April 20, four all-star pastry chefs converge for a four-course dessert and wine tasting at Partake by K-J (241 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg). The lineup includes Manny Frimbrez of Madrona Manor, Corey Wright from Kendall-Jackson, Robert “Buttercup” Nieto of K-J and Ramon Perez of Puur Chocolat in Sacramento.
This is no chocolate lava cake and creme brûlée phone-in, be assured.
Expect some serious dessert porn, with sweet, savory, crunchy and exotic plates good enough for competition. Each course is then perfectly paired with port, late harvest Chardonnay and Port. To whet your appetite, the chefs are cooking up some savory canapés during the reception, you know, so you don’t totally go into sugar-shock. Tickets are $45 per person, $36 for wine club members, 7:30p.m. RSVP by April 17 at 707-433-6000.
Lee Gregorio, waitress at the Wishbone Cafe in Petaluma….she also loves roller derby. (Photos by Chris Hardy)
“It’s the same switch that gets turned on,” Lee Gregorio said. “Whether waitressing or in roller derby. Once you’re in that mode, you just roll with it.”
At Wishbone restaurant in Petaluma, she’s on the run nonstop, sometimes covering as many as 15 tables at a time.
In the rink, she’s a hell-on-wheels blocker who goes by “Leethal” in the Sonoma County Roller Derby league.
And in case Gregorio forgets her alter ego when she’s on the hash circuit, there’s a regular who likes to warn everyone, “Watch out for her elbows!”
“At both places, it’s all about teamwork,” Gregorio said. “I don’t put my energy into anything I don’t believe in.”
BORN: San Mateo RAISED: Lakeport AGE: 27 WISHBONE PHILOSOPHY: Food made with love FAVORITE DISH: Hash with purple Russian kale, roasted garlic, potatoes and mozzarella cheese, with two eggs on top RESTAURANT NICKNAME: Lee Lee GO-TO RESTAURANT GEAR: Harley Davidson boots GO-TO DERBY GEAR: $700 Riedell Blue Streak skates TEAM: Wine Country Home Wreckers, practicing three nights a week ROLLER JOB: As the recruiting coach, she’s in charge of drafting and teaching new members. Next tryouts are March 28 (sonomacountyrollerderby.org). PET: Princess Wanda, the tabby cat MOST COMMENTED-ON TATTOO: Outer-space scene with a nebula and supernova on her arm ROLLER DERBY VS. SOCCER: “In soccer, they fake injuries. We pretend we don’t have injuries in roller derby. It can get really crazy. It makes it more of a spectacle, but it can get pretty dangerous.” WORST SPILL: A fall left her with 23 screws in a leg (to match her No. 23 jersey) and nine months of recovery. WHY SHE CAME BACK: “There’s kind of this pride thing that happens. You just don’t want to give up.”
The two-day event includes a Grand Tasting of wine and food from local restaurants including Solage, Evangeline, Larkmead Winery, Jole and Sam’s Social Club. Tickets range from $95 to $195 for various events. Details online.
Bloomfield Organics Farms in Sonoma County offers CSA boxes, tours and farm market produce. Photo: Heather Irwin.
Bloomfield Organics Farms in Sonoma County offers CSA boxes, tours and farm market produce. Photo: Heather Irwin.
Wine Country tourists are often green with envy over beautiful farmer’s boxes delivered to locals from nearby farms. Overflowing with fresh farm eggs, seasonal fruits and veggies and flowers, they’re a signature of Sonoma County.
Now, Bloomfield Organics and St. Francis Wineryhave the remedy with their new bi-weekly CSA For A Day program, which allows visitors to pick up a “travel-friendly” sized box with a variety of organic items and a bottle of St. Francis Sonoma County Chardonnay or Zinfandel at the St. Francis tasting room. Just call a day ahead, and your box will be waiting.
Mixed Tandoor plate at Yeti Restaurant, and Indian/Nepalese eatery in Santa Rosa, CA
Hidden away in Glen Ellen’s Jack London Village, Indian/Nepalese sleeper Yeti Restaurant has been a word-of-mouth phenom for nearly eight years. Hold onto your tikka, Santa Rosans, because this mythical monster of deliciousness is also now in Santa Rosa. (190 Farmer’s Lane, Santa Rosa, 521-9608)
And trust us, the success of both are in no small part the naan. Baked to order in a piping hot tandoor (a charcoal-fired clay oven), the flatbread arrives table side steaming, and nearly as long as your forearm. Tear off a buttery, yeasty, garlic bite and remember the soul-satisfying taste of gluten and carbs.
Naan bread at Yeti Restaurant, and Indian/Nepalese eatery in Santa Rosa, CA
Yeti’s naan, of course, is only a carrier for the mix of freshly ground herbs and spices, yogurt, coconut, cumin, vegetables and tandoor-grilled meats inspired by Nepal, India and Bangladesh. Timid or adventurous, here’s what we’re loving:
– Onion Bhaji: Think fritters with onions, ginger and garlic. Make sure to dip in mint and tamarind chutney, ($7.99).
– Vegetable Momo: Nepalese-style dumplings filled with Himalayan spices a and veggies, ($7.99)
Mixed Tandoor plate at Yeti Restaurant, and Indian/Nepalese eatery in Santa Rosa, CA
– Chicken Biryani: Saffron Basmati rice cooked in ghee with onions, dried fruit and served with a side of cucumber-yogurt (raita), $17.95.
– Mixed Tandoor Platter: If you can’t decide what to get out of the tandoor, this mix of lamb, fish, chicken and prawns hits the highlights, $24.99.
– Mattar Paneer: Cubes of fresh cheese, spinach and peas in spiced cream sauce, $12.95.
– Chicken Tikka Masala: Tender white meat chicken with garam masala, tomatoes and paprika, $15.99.
– Lamb Korma: A very mild curry that’s great for first-timers, $16.99.
– Rogan Josh: A spicier lamb curry with ground onions, garam masala and coriander, $16.99.
– Garlic Cilantro Naan, $3.99
– Kashmiri Plau: Spiced rice with almonds, fried onions and cashews, $5.99.
Keep in mind: If there are more than two of you, order a couple naan breads. Spring for the sauces — from mild riata to sweet mango chutney, mint and tamarind sauce to add depth. And don’t be afraid to dip, scoop and sop away with your naan. That’s what Indian food is all about.
Yeti Indian Restaurant, 190 Farmer’s Lane, Santa Rosa, 521-9608.
Also at 14301 Arnold Drive, Suite 19
Glen Ellen, 707.996.9930
Charlie Palmer taps Chef Levi Mezick for his forthcoming Napa restaurant, Harvest Table. The 110-seat restaurant is slated for a May 2015 opening in St. Helena.
In St. Helena, Charlie Palmer has tapped Levi Mezick to head the Harvest Table kitchen. Slated for a May opening, the 110-seat restaurant will include plenty of outdoor dining overlooking five edible gardens overseen by horticulturalist Laura McNiff. You can see a full list of the current plantings (which are fascinating) here.
Snacks, Starters, and Plates, each ranging from lighter to heartier dishes, and a daily market special from Chef Mezick. The menu embraces what is grown right outside the restaurant doors as well as supporting Northern California’s artisanal producers, such as Tolenas Farms Quail, Masami Cattle Ranch, Mary’s Chicken, Sebastapol Berry Farms, and Bera Ranch Stone Fruit.
Signature menu items include Roasted Garden Carrots with Buttermilk, Curry Blend, and Granola; Poached Petrale Sole with Garden Bean Nage, Lemon Thyme, and Chanterelles; and Pan Roasted Modesto Squab with Poached Plums, Stinging Nettles, Fermented Turnips, and Sherry Squab Jus.
