There’s something about giant pans and fire that brings out the theatrical in chefs. That and a hungry crowd that’s had more than a few of Bravas Bar de Tapas’ sangrias.
But every Friday and Saturday night during the summer, Chef de Cuisine Cody Thomasson or Sous Chef Julian Lopez, ham it up at the Healdsburg restaurant’s back patio fire pit, creating crowd-friendly paella studded with fresh seafood, local meats, produce fresh from nearby Sonoma County farms, and the signature flavors of Spanish pimenton, or smoked paprika, and saffron.
When all the flavors have sufficiently melded together into a giant steaming, sizzling array of culinary artwork, the bell rings to come and get it. Which is where things get especially theatrical.
Bravas Bar de Tapas Paella. Photo: Loren Hansen
“Combining campfire, theater, and thrilling feat of culinary bravado, our guests love watching this spectacle almost as much as they love the tasty results,” say owners Mark and Terri Stark (of Willi’s Wine Bar et al.)
We can’t think of a better way to spend a warm, Sonoma County evening than round the paella pan, drinking sangrias, nibbling tapas and watching the show. Just watch out when it comes time to lineup and eat, cause we throw elbows like nobody’s business.
Price may vary depending upon ingredients. Paellas come in small (serves 2, approx. $24) and large (serves 4, approx. $48) portions. Guests are advised to call the restaurant beforehand to make sure that weather will permit the wood fire that day.
Guerneville Bank Club featuring Chile Pies and Nimble and Finn’s Ice Cream. Photo Heather Irwin
Though the safe is now a photo booth and tellers replaced by ice cream scoopers, there’s still a grandiosity to the Guerneville Bank Club only fitting of a former financial institution. Rehabbed by locals, the 1928 bank building has become an ice cream and pie shop with retail space, an art gallery and the Russian River Historical Society a la carte.
Guerneville Bank Club featuring Chile Pies and Nimble and Finn’s Ice Cream. Photo Heather Irwin
We’re smitten with Nimble and Finn’s cheeky scoop flavors including Manhattan (whisky, vermouth and cherry chunks), blueberry cheesecake and vegan strawberry, rose and geranium sorbet.
Guerneville Bank Club featuring Chile Pies and Nimble and Finn’s Ice Cream. Photo Heather Irwin
Paired with Chile Pies’ sweet apple and chile pie with a drizzle of chile-infused honey? Solid gold.
Guerneville Bank Club featuring Nimble and Finn and Chile Pies: 16290 Main St., Guerneville.
For everything there is a season. But for Sonoma County farmer Katina Connaughton, there are 72 to consider instead of just four.
Rather than painting broad strokes across her agricultural yearbook—spring, summer, winter, fall—Connaughton and her husband are bringing a set of ancient Japanese farming techniques to Sonoma County that subdivides the year into discreet seasonal slivers called shichijuuni koo.
Think of it as dividing the year into a pie with 72 five-day slices.
At least that’s one of the driving philosophies of Single Thread Farms, a two-acre plot of land the Connaughtons are cultivating near Healdsburg. Katina and her husband, chef Kyle Connaughton, see their small farm on Pete Seghesio’s historic San Lorenzo property as the epicenter for their haute trowel-to-table restaurant slated to open in the Healdsburg Meat Company building next fall.
Working in synchronicity, she (the farmer) and her husband (the chef), will introduce subtly different menus every five days, a rolling lineup of dishes that, Katina says, will “memorialize that fleeting moment in time” on the farm.
“We have a unique opportunity to create a constant dialogue between the kitchen and farm,” she says. Consider, for instance, the example of peas, which could be served throughout their growing cycle as shoots, tendrils, young peas, and mature ones over a period of several weeks.
Admittedly, even in a farming community as seasonally aware as Sonoma County, this may all sound a bit fussy. But for anyone who has eaten a perfectly ripe tomato, still warm from the vine, on a late August afternoon sekki—that perfect annual moment for eating that particular tomato—it doesn’t seem like such a stretch. In fact, it seems downright logical.
“These [small time periods] mark subtle changes in nature,” says Katina, who most recently worked in the culinary gardens of farm-to-table proponents John Stewart and Duskie Estes of Zazu Farm and Restaurant. “Being mindful and present, we can observe these environmental nuances and work in harmony with nature rather than outsmart or control it.”
Japan’s micro-seasons, or “koo,” read more like haikus than an actual almanac, and take into account subtle changes that include everything from the sun’s position in the sky to temperatures, precipitation, and wind. They are, in fact, so specific—calling out particular planting days, anticipated rainy periods, and expected heat, that they once informed things like bathing, changing kimonos, and what was served for dinner.
To get a sense of the agricultural precision Katina strives for, consider that “seasonal” asparagus is conventionally harvested over a roughly eight-week period between early March and late April. Even at its seasonal best, there are huge variations in size, tenderness, and flavor. Using smaller five-day farming cycles based on subtle changes in solar angles and weather, Katina focuses on a harvest that celebrates the absolute apex of the plant, which may only be for a few days or may last for a few weeks. It just depends.
As of this writing, the farm has yet to be planted, but Katina says consumers can expect to see familiar fruits and veggies from their farm as well as more exotic Japanese ingredients that can be hard to source, and grow, in our climate.
“We’re looking at seed catalogs right now,” she says. “I’m in the infancy of this project and I have much to establish.”
Having studied this arcane technique during a three-year agricultural immersion in Hokkaido, Japan, Katina sees the rhythm not as a farming technique, but a philosophy of sustainability, understanding the land, making intense observations. Like many farmers, she keeps a keen eye on the subtle nuances of the seasons and changes to the landscape that will translate to the table. “Our menus will serve as an anthropological account of those changes,” she says.
Charlie Palmer Steak will open in Napa in late 2016 at the forthcoming Archer Hotel.
Charlie Palmer Steak will open in Napa in late 2016 at the forthcoming Archer Hotel.
Charlie’s Wine Country Three-peat: Chef Charlie Palmer is on a roll. Following his recent St. Helena restaurant opening at Harvest Table he announced yesterday that he’ll be opening Charlie Palmer Steak in downtown Napa. The restaurant and rooftop bar is slated to open at the forthcoming Archer Hotel, a 183-room luxury hotel planned for late 2016.
Charlie Palmer Steak will open in Napa in late 2016 at the forthcoming Archer Hotel.
The restaurants and hotel will be centerpieces of the 275,000 square-foot Napa Center, which is being hailed as a game-changing “Napa Valley experience” with more than 40-plus shops and restaurants.
Palmer has steak houses in New York, DC, Las Vega and Reno currently. The tireless chef also recently released a cookbook, Charlie Palmer’s America Fare ($40, Grand Central Life & Style).
Charlie Palmer Steak will open in Napa in late 2016 at the forthcoming Archer Hotel.
RKTO Coffee and Tea has opened in Santa Rosa at the Trek Bicycle Store
So what’s a RKTO?
RKTO Coffee and Tea has opened in Santa Rosa at the Trek Bicycle Store
You can tell that Malorie, a popular local barista in Santa Rosa, is tired of explaining what RKTO means. Standing behind the counter of the RKTO coffee/kombucha/tea bar that’s popped-up inside the downtown Santa Rosa Trek store, she graciously gives it a shot, then turns it over to shop president, Bret Gave. Apparently it means “great Northern bear”, as in the Bear Republic. As in California, he explains.
Gave has hit on a trend that’s popular in Europe, and making its way into hip retailers across the U.S. — putting a food and drink spot inside a retail store — in his case a high end bicycles. “We’re creating a community space,” said Gave, who hopes to expand the coffee bar area to include beer, an outdoor space and eventually some sandwiches, as well as a meet-up spot for bicyclists heading out on rides.
Frankly, we’re more than happy with the current local lineup of BiteClub fave, Bella Rosa coffee, Straus milk, Republic of Tea, Red Bird Bakery goodies, Revive Kombucha (on tap) and Guayaki yerba mate. Well, that and Malorie. Ten percent of the proceeds from the bar will benefit local cycling advocacy groups.
And as for the name? How about Really Killer Trek Osteria? Add your suggestion online at BiteClubEats.com. We’ll pass ‘em along to the baristas. 512 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa (inside the Trek Store), open weekdays from 7am to 2pm.
Hazel Restaurant will open in Occidental summer 2015
Hazel Restaurant will open in Occidental summer 2015
Berkeley chefs Jim and Michele Wimborough of Zut! on Fourth are slated to open Hazel Restaurant, a wood-oven focused restaurant in Occidental. The couple are taking over the longtime Bistro de Copains space, which was for years a West County destination for French cuisine.
The new restaurant, which the couple are describing as “rustic California-Mediterranean” will make heavy use of the dual live-fire ovens and will include thin crust pizzas, local fish from Bodega Bay, burgers and small plates. Michele will head up the desserts, including a weekly seasonal Friday Pie Day, sundaes, cookies and cakes. The couple are looking to open in mid-July.
The Terrace at Rodney Strong Vineyards has opened with a luxe pairing menu. Photo: Heather Irwin.
The Terrace at Rodney Strong Vineyards has opened with a luxe pairing menu. Photo: Heather Irwin.
The smell of spring swirls around the newly-opened Terrace at Rodney Strong Winery — rows of grapevines, freshly-mowed grass, and a bright pink rosé of pinot noir in the glass. Breathe deeply, then pinch yourself, because you’ve found your new Happy Place.
More than a tasting room, this intimate outdoor patio features the perfect lazy-afternoon sip and nibble experience with five luxe bites paired with five Rodney Strong wines.
Kick back under the cheery orange umbrellas, survey the expansive vineyards before you and let yourself be pampered with a plate of local cheeses or charcuterie with perfectly paired wines, or go all in for the chef-created five course pairing that (on our warm spring afternoon it included Dungeness crab and short rib bao) with several reserve wines (we fell hard for the 2012 Reserve Chardonnay).
Rodney Strong Vineyards Terrace
Chef Tara Wachtel heads up the kitchen (Adafina Culinary, Zazu Restaurant + Farm), making this a tasting worth going out of your way for. Well, that and the view.
Terrace at Rodney Strong Winery: Five course tasting, $55; cheese plate for two, $25, cheese and charcuterie, $35. Reservations recommended, but not required. Open Friday through Sunday from 11am to 4pm, 11455 Old Redwood Hwy, Healdsburg, (707) 431-1533.
Oh, and by the way, don’t miss the Meyer lemon marmalade with the cheese plate and strawberry rhubarb jam.
Grace Ann Walden, food columnist and spitfire, died in June 2015, unexpectedly.
Grace Ann Walden, food columnist and spitfire, died in June 2015, unexpectedly. Photo from Twitter.
RIP Grace Ann Walden: The sassy, brassy Bay Area food writer died on Friday. The cause of death has not yet been determined.
You’d be hard-pressed to find someone in the Bay Area food world who hadn’t had a run-in with Grace Ann Walden.
The former Chronicle food writer pretty much invented a style of gossipy food news in her long-running “Inside Scoop” column that many of us have emulated over the years. You just knew she knew all the best dirt, the juiciest news and where everyone’s skeletons lurked — and she wasn’t afraid to use it. Brassy, sassy and yeah, a little insane, she had a huge part in inspiring me to do BiteClub way back in 2005.
My heart broke a little when she was “let go” from the Chron right around the time I launched in 2006. But I vowed to keep her writing spirit alive in my column.
Not long after, I took one of her legendary food tours of Little Italy, tasting cookies at neighborhood bakeries and shuffling our little group in the back door of a local butcher (way before that was a cool thing to do). At the end of the tour we sat down for a meal together, and I realized that I wanted to be Grace.
I wanted to be that wild and unruly food writer who always had her finger right on the pulse of the local food scene. (It didn’t hurt that she was a red head to boot).
Over the years, the Inimitable Grace Ann would rail against one or another of us local food writers for some perceived slight. Trust me, we all got it from Grace. But she’d cool down, and let bygones be bygones eventually. It was a bit of a badge of honor to have her write one of her scathing emails to you.
Even so, a while back I volunteered to help her create the Yummy Report, just when she was just getting her feet wet in the digital world, and wanted to do a newsletter to send to her fans. She found someone else, but I always regretted that I didn’t get to work with her on something, though no doubt we Queen Bees would have killed each other.
All I can say is that without Grace, the local food scene will miss the peculiar and wonderful awesome sauce that she always brought to the table. Here’s a cheers to you GAW. I owe a lot to you.
(Grace loved her dogs, Bruno and Tinkerbell (who are now looking for a home at the Novato Humane Society), and all of us hope someone can help them out.)
Applewood Inn and Restaurant yellowtail crudo with radish blossoms by Chef Jamil Peden. (Heather Irwin/Sonoma Magazine)
There are two routes to the Applewood Inn and Restaurant just outside Guerneville.
Applewood Inn and Restaurant salmon crudo with radish blossoms by Chef Jamil Peden. Photo: Heather Irwin
One speeds you along the Russian River, through small West County hamlets, dropping you — and everyone else riding your tail — into downtown Guerneville rather unceremoniously.
The other, along State Route 116, gently winds you through historic apple orchards, redwood groves and vineyards, and is designated as an official “scenic highway” of Sonoma County.
Applewood Chef Jamil Peden suggests you take the road less traveled. Because you’ll probably pass some of his ingredients along the way, setting the stage for a menu that is entirely inspired by the seasons and flavors of West County.
Chef Jamil Peden at Applewood Inn and Restaurant
Built in 1922, the historic Applewood Inn isn’t new, but 38-year-old Peden is. Taking over the once-Michelin-starred restaurant in April 2015, he’s revamping everything from the staff and menu to the culinary gardens and dated interior to recapture a “uniquely Sonoma County experience”. Something, he feels, has been missing the last few years as chefs shuffled in and out.
“When Brian Gerritsen was chef 15 years ago I came [to Applewood] and it felt to right, so Sonoma County. I believe deep down I can recreate and make it that again,” said Peden, standing among lettuces, fennel and dill growing in the gardens outside the inn. Hens quietly cluck in the background while the wind rustles through apricot and apple trees in the nearby orchard.
Chef Jamil Peden at Applewood Inn and Restaurant
“I want [Applewood] to be a destination experience again,” he added. Gerristen, who now works in San Francisco, is one of several outstanding young chefs showcased at the inn over the years, including David Frakes (now at Lynmar Winery ), Brian Anderson (Bistro 29) and Bruce Frieseke (Bella Vineyards). Frieseke captured a Michelin star in 2011, and again in 2012, but the restaurant has since lost it.
If any local chef is up for the challenge of recreating a Michelin-worthy restaurant that’s both rustic and ambitious in its culinary outlook, it’s Peden. Critics gushed over his luxe tasting plates at Petite Syrah (where he was chef de cuisine under chef-owner Josh Silvers) that included beets with panna cotta, horseradish, black leek ash and beet sprouts. At Woodfour he defied a simple burger and brats menu for upscale fish and chips, braised short ribs with carrot-miso puree or heirloom bean cassoulet with truffles. Memorable stuff, for certain.
Rye Gnocchi at Applewood Inn and Restaurant
But Peden has always needed a place to call his own, to really spread his culinary wings and fly. “I’m tired of bouncing around. I’m ready to slow down,” he said.
Plucking a handful of nasturtium leaves, he heads into the kitchen to fire a plate of rye gnocchi with dollops of sheep milk ricotta ($26), gingerly placing the green leaves around the plate. Next, he plates a ring of salmon crudo with horseradish, radish seed pods and pickled beets that puts an entirely new spin on Surf and Turf (tasting menu, $85).
Grilled Octopus at Applewood Inn and Restaurant
“I’m opening with some solid dishes from my past,” he said of the crudo, which has been elevated from a similar dish at Woodfour. But he’s also working toward 100% West County sourcing, using area farms, ranches and fisheries to inspire new dishes. So don’t expect to see Maine lobster or even foie gras on his menus. “I just don’t want to. I don’t need to,” he said of these luxury ingredients. Instead, Peden serves duck liver mousse ($16, not using an enlarged duck liver) with rhubarb or local rock cod ($32) with sugar snap peas and purslane.
Other dishes from the menu that inspire: Grilled octopus with Meyer lemon curd, capers and potatoes ($18) that returned my tastebuds to the simple, fresh flavors of Italy’s Amalfi Coast; salmon with truffle lemon cream and celery leaf ($36 or on tasting menu); or perfectly cooked egg atop fried quinoa, avocado, favas and lacto-fermented carrots (tasting menu). Most dishes are available a la carte, but the $85 tasting menu is the best bet for really experiencing Peden’s creativity.
Salmon at Applewood Inn and Restaurant
Calling his cuisine “Interpretive American”, he’s avoiding the ubiquitous California/Mediterranean cuisine that dominates much of Wine Country.
“I like to deliver something that just might take you a little off guard,” he said. “I want you to think ‘Why is that ingredient there?’ and then take a bite and think, ‘Oh! That’s why that’s there’,” he said.
Chef Jamil Peden at Applewood Inn and Restaurant
As for regaining that elusive Michelin star that Applewood? “I’m not really going after it, but it would be a nice reward for hard work and being true to myself,” Peden said.
Applewood Inn, Restaurant and Spa: 13555 Hwy. 116, Guerneville, (707) 869-9093, applewoodinn.com. Open Wednesday through Sunday, 5:30 to 8:30p.m., reservations suggested.
Artist rendering of the proposed Brewster’s Beer Garden in Petaluma. Courtesy of Michael Goebel.
Artist rendering of the proposed Brewster’s Beer Garden in Petaluma. Courtesy of Michael Goebel.
Permits have been signed and work is set to get started on Brewster’s Beer Garden in downtown P-town. We’ve just gotten word from owner Mike Goebel that he’s planning a pretty ambitious space that will include a large restaurant with a beer garden (natch), bocce ball court, kids playground area and bar. “The site was phenomenal,” said Goebel by phone.
Artist rendering of the proposed Brewster’s Beer Garden in Petaluma. Courtesy of Michael Goebel.
“I like the people and the culture of Petaluma, and it’s nestled in with cool historic buildings right on the river,” he said of the now-parking lot near Buffalo Billiards on Petaluma Blvd North. Goebel is the owner of several bars in San Francisco and the restaurant, Mamacita.
Artist rendering of the proposed Brewster’s Beer Garden in Petaluma. Courtesy of Michael Goebel.
He’s tapped Chef Chris Beerman of the popular SF comfort food restaurant Citizens Band (also Boulevard, Conduit) to head the kitchen, which will focus on “barbecue influenced” food and local craft brews.
Goebel hopes to create a family-friendly space that includes the possibility of bringing in dessert food trucks or coffee carts to add to the experience. “I want something cool anddifferent, we think this is a really sweet opportunity,” Goebel said.
