Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen is expanding: White Oak Grill will open Friday, April 25, 2014 on the grounds of the Hotel Healdsburg.

A more casual, outdoor counterpoint to the upscale DCK, Chef de Cuisine Dustin Valette is offering two course prix fixe menu for $32 as well as a la carte cocktails on dishes.

We’re especially excited about dishes using housemade charcuterie and local cheeses and a sneak peek of menu items like the Smoked Duroc Pork Belly with black garlic emulsion and wild arugula.

On a hot summer’s day, patio-friendly cocktails include rhubarb and lemon verbena gin and The Stormy Blueberry with rum, blueberry liqueur, lime and ginger beer.

Open Friday through Sunday. 317 Healdsburg Ave, Healdsburg, (707) 431-0300.

Cult microbrew fave, Moonlight Brewing (Death & Taxes, Reality Czeck) will be on tap at a special brewer’s dinner at Forestville’s Backyard on April 24. Brewer Brian Hunt recently opened a tasting room in Santa Rosa, and has an avid following amount beer afficianados.

The four-course dinner includes pepper-crusted beef tartar with Saison, wild board sausage with Twist of Fate and spring strawberries with Uncle Ollie. $55 per person, 6566 Front St., Forestville, 820-8445.

As if a day off from kitchen duty isn’t enough for mom (or dad), bottomless mimosas, grilled lamb and chicken and waffles should pretty much seal the deal. Here are seven top picks for Sunday, April 20, 2014. AKA Easter Sunday.

Naked Pig: It’s opening day for this much-anticipated Santa Rosa cafe. On the menu from 8a.m. to 3p.m.: asparagus and goat cheese omelet, butter and egg sandwich, pulled pork waffles and bone broth gravy on green onion biscuits. Prices range from $10-$13. 435 Santa Rosa Ave, Santa Rosa.

Viola Pastry Cafe: Poutine, top shelf Benedicts and beignets. This is my personal pick for Sunday brunch, where I’ll be dining al fresco. $10-$15, 709 Village Court, Santa Rosa, 544-8830.

Rocker Oysterfellers: Chicken and waffles, gin punch, lamb burgers, gin punch. An Easter egg hunt keeps the kids occupied. Outdoor dining, $29 per person, two courses. 14415 Highway One, Valley Ford, 876-1983.

Mateo’s Cocina Latina: Preston spring lamb hash with Laguna Farm potatoes, Le Bonne Terre Farm carrots, favas, spring garlic, puma spring hen egg, ice cream float dessert. Outdoor seating. 214 Healdsburg Ave, Healdsburg, (707) 433-1520.

SHED: Herb-roasted lamb shoulder with Meyer lemon gremolata and a ragout of spring onions, peas, Fava beans, and fennel, citrus almond cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, Ramos soju fizz and a Roderer Champagne cocktail. 25 North St, Healdsburg,
431-7433.

Canneti Roadhouse: Tuscan Easter tasting menu includes deviled quail eggs, roast goat with fried artichokes, $55 per person. 6675 Front St., Forestville, 887-2232.

Zazu Restaurant and Farm: Sticky bun French toast, artichoke bruschetta with burrata, corned beef hash, fried green tomatoes, amarena cherry bellini. $39 per person, 6770 McKinley St., Sebastopol (at the Barlow).

For Slow Foodists, this dinner at SRJC’s Shone Farm is the event of the year.

Louis Maldonado (Spoonbar, Pizzando) has created a menu featuring rare Ark of Taste ingredients—foods and food traditions considered endangered and worth preserving—for the $85 per person dinner.

It’s a gastro-exploration centered around an Ossbaw Island Hog (originating on a small island in Georgia and thought to be descended from foundation stock brought by Spanish explorers) that includes crispy pig head and trotter terrine with Tupelo honey; country ham; geoduck clams, smoked daikon and Carolina gold rice; crushed potatoes in pork fat, pork shoulder, smoked ribs with cranberry bean cassoulet and peach leaf meringue.

Ark of Taste Dinner with Louis Maldonado, Sunday April 27, 5-8pm, Shone Farm, info at 894-2815.

Roughly 93% of Northern California Vineyard acreage is planted to eight grape varieties. The remaining 7% of acreage is home to an impressive aggregation of lesser known varieties. A small but growing force of winemakers champion these grapes, tending terroir and making juice that is swiftly shifting the global perception of California winemaking.

This tasting is a showcase of twenty outstanding Northern California wineries and their ‘Seven %’ Solutions.

Participating Wineries: *Arnot Roberts *Bedrock Wine Co. *Broc Cellars *Dirty and Rowdy *Donkey and Goat *Edmunds Saint John *Forlorn Hope *Idlewild Wines *Jolie-Laide *Leo Steen *Matthiasson *RPM *Ryme Cellars *Sandlands *Stark Wine *The Scholium Project *Two Shepherds *Unti Vineyards *Wind Gap *Nico Wines

$65 per person. Tickets available online.

SATURDAY, MAY 10, 2014 / 1pm-4pm
BERGAMOT ALLEY, 328A Healdsburg Avenue bergamotalley.com / 707-433-8720

Support the SRJC Culinary students during a Dine and Donate event at Rosso Pizzeria + Wine Bar on  Wednesday April 30, 2014 from 4-10pm. Ten percent of sales will be donated to the program.

Ever wanted a restaurant-sized stock pot? Plastic menu covers for a chic party, the most durable food storage containers known to human-kind or your own 30,00 BTU Wolf range with 8 open burners?

Welcome to the world of restaurant supplies. 

For the uninitiated, this week’s three-day sale at Santa Rosa’s Myers Restaurant Supply  (1599 Cleveland Ave., Santa Rosa) is a great primer. Even if you’re not in the restaurant biz.

April 10-12, 2014, the locally-owned supply store will have live cooking demos, food, drinks, raffle prizes and their best prices of the year on everything from walk-in refrigerators and sneeze guards to more consumer-friendly stainless steel shelving, storage containers (BiteClub swears by the Camwear containers that can survive sailing across the kitchen, microwaves, dishwashers and small dog attacks).

If you’re looking for some even better deals, check out the used equipment department, where previously-loved restaurant items can be picked up for a song. And perhaps a dance. Depending on your talents.

Who knows, you may even see a celebrity chef or two.

Amy’s Kitchen, Bella Rosa Coffee Company, Caggiano Sausages, Clover Stornetta Farms, Costeaux French Bakery, Kozlowski Farms, Laura Chenel’s Chevre/Marin French Cheese, Petaluma Creamery, Petaluma Poultry, Sola Bee Farms and Sonoma Gourmet are among the 30+ Sonoma County growers and vendors participating in the Fourth Annual Taste of Sonoma hosted by Oliver’s Markets.

The event happens this year from noon to 4p.m. April 26, 2014, at the Cotati location (546 E Cotati Ave, Cotati).  Activities include food and wine tasting, live music and livestock viewing as well as face painting, hula-hoops, and arts and crafts for children.

BiteClub’s always been a huge fan of the locally-focused markets (my fave is the newest, at Stony Point/West Third in Santa Rosa) because of its dedication to featuring both established producers and start-ups from throughout the North Bay — more than 5,000 items, to be specific.

Beer and wine tastings from Clos du Bois, Folie a Deux Winery, Hook and Ladder Winery, Kenwood Vineyards, Mill Creek Winery and Lagunitas Brewing Company are $5 for three tickets, held in an enclosed, 21+ area.

Artists from Oliver’s series of CD compilations, “Real Music: A Taste of Sonoma County Music,” will provide live entertainment, including Farallons, Doug Jayne & Clusterfolk, and Kevin Russell & Friends, Solid Air and Danny Sorentino. Oliver’s own Neal Barbosa (aka “Live Painter”) from the Montecito store will be exhibiting his thespian style of painting in conjunction with the bands.

Redwood Empire Food Bank will be collecting donations of non-perishable foods while Daily Acts and the Sonoma County GO LOCAL Co-op will provide information about their programs.

As a sometimes designer, I’m an infographic addict. Because pictures are often truly worth 1,000 words (even though I’m known to tell a tale or two).

BiteClub will start sharing some favorite food infographics as I find them. We’ll start with this fascinating look at coffees around the world.

From http://www.cheapflights.co.uk/news/around-world-31-coffees/