No one can accuse Santa Rosa’s Guy Fieri of letting grass grow under his feet. Or not lending his celeb-chef name to everything from sausages and frying pans to barbecue sauce, pizzas and salsa. He is the mayor of Flavortown, after all.

So, two new items of note: Keurig owners can get a bevy of Fieri’s Flavortown Roast — flavored coffees that include bananas foster, caramel apple bread pudding (“All the flavor from my righteous Caramel Apple Bread Pudding stuffed into your mug”), chocolate mint, hazelnut cinnamon roll and hot fudge brownie.

Says Fieri: “Over the past year, I’ve been working with an awesome team of coffee nuts to create a killer line that’s ready to rock! My fans are going to dig the huge taste, big aroma and funky flavors in my brand new collection.”

So, okay, we can all look forward to that.

But BiteClub has the scoop on a Fieri project that’s got some serious legs. The Diners, Drive Ins and Dives chef is working with Guy Davis of Davis Family Vineyards to release Hunt & Ryde wines. 

According to Davis, whose wines regularly garner 90+ points from critics, Guy and Guy were introduced by Fieri’s parents, who were fans of Davis’ wines. And it isn’t that big of a stretch, because Fieri owns a notable pinot vineyard that sells to the likes of Williams Selym.

Davis says he’s grown close to the celebrity chef during the winemaking process, which Fieri takes very seriously. “He was picking, and on the sorting table during harvest,” said Davis.

The first wines (which won’t be released until late 2014 or 2015)include a Bordeaux blend from Rockpile; Estate Pinot and two zinfandels. “Guy is drawn to bigger, bold flavors,” said Davis. Shocking, right? “Each will have its own personality and really express the place,” he said.

The wines will retail for roughly $40 a bottle and sales will benefit Fieri’s charities. Cheers to that.

Um, maybe it’s time for another photo shoot?

 

Mushrooms are having their moment. At the 2014 SF Fancy Food Show, where the world comes to see what’s new in food, fungi was, well, everywhere. From Flavo{u}r 21’s decadent umami paste to chocolate bars with reishi mushrooms from Vosges to porcini mushroom powder from Napa’s Whole Spice and Wine Forest’s dried chanterelles, mushrooms are being added to both sweet and savory foods to bring that unctuous umami and forest flavor forward.

Other fun trends: Teas are branching out in all directions. From high caffeine boosters (Republic of Tea), dessert teas (salted caramel, mojito, hazelnut truffle) to savory teas in flavors like Numi’s spinach chive, beet cabbage or broccoli cilantro.

Popcorn is the new potato chip: Lower in fat, gluten-free and and flavor neutral, enhanced popcorn is a huge new market. We saw blue cheese, smoked gouda, chai caramel, nori sesame and Thai curry to name just a few of the stand-out flavors.

Other healthier snacks included dragon fruit chips from Novato’s Navitas Naturals, rice chips, quinoa chips, sprouted watermelon seeds and lots of chia. Lots and lots of chia.

Drinking vinegar is also becoming more popular. Portland’s Pok Pok has a line, along with Sonoma Spirits. Typically the flavored vinegars are mixed with soda water or spirits for a sweet-sour drink.  Don’t squinch your nose. They’re actually quite refreshing.

Beer insiders have been chomping on yet another brewery opening in Santa Rosa this winter: Fog Belt Brewing. Housed in the Cleveland Ave. “Urban Winery Village” complex (1305 Cleveland Ave., Santa Rosa), which several years ago begot Heritage Public House, Fog Belt has soft-launched but officially opens Feb. 15, 2013

To whet the whistles of local beer drinkers, Heritage Public House (1901 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa) will host a Jan. 30 launch party celebrating Fog Belt’s first releases, Hyperion Red Ale and Lost Monarch Wit Beer infused with fresh cilantro and Keffir lime. Both beers are made exclusively with California hops, and are actively growing their own specialized estate hops. Upcoming releases include Atlas Blonde, Del Norte IPA (natch) and Armstrong Stout.

Fog Belt Brewing Co. is the brainchild of Paul Hawley and Remy Martin, both Wine Country natives who spent their formative years in vineyards and began brewing beer together in 2004.

Open Thursday, 2-8pm, Friday, 11am-10pm, Sunday, 11am to 8pm.

After a run of pop-ups at Sebastopol’s Forchetta (6948 Sebastopol Ave, Sebastopol), Jamilah Nixon will reopen her Italian kitchen in February.

Since 2011, the former Lucy’s (proceeded by Jonathan Waxman’s West County Grill and Pizzavino 707) has been a two-part operation, with a casual pan-Asian eatery during the day and an upscale Italian restaurant at night. Forchetta went dark last fall, briefly hosting pop-ups from The Green Grocer and HiFive.

Nixon says, however, that the revamped Forchetta will focus more on family and budget-conscious dining in the evenings with pizzas, pastas and grilled entrees topping out at $16. More details as the opening date gets closer.

Congrats to Wine Country’s Good Food Award Winners. During last night’s award ceremony in San Francisco more than 130 of the country’s best food and drink producers were recognized for their artisan products — from beer and coffee to chocolate, jams and cheese.

It’s a huge honor in the food world, and this year’s winners were selected from 1,450 entries from all 50 states in a Blind Tasting held in September.  The 225 judges, experts in their various industries, flew to San Francisco for a full day of blind tasting.  Those that rose to the top were subject to a rigorous vetting process to verify they met the sustainability and social responsibility criteria to win a Good Food Award.

See the whole list of winners

Bear Republic Brewing Company, Café Racer 15, California

Bellwether Farms, Whole Milk Ricotta & Carmody, California

Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company, Toma, California

Flying Goat Coffee, Ethiopia Wote Konga, California

Wine Forest, Pickled Sea Beans, California

Rockstar barman Daniel “Cappy” Sorentino has left Healdsburg’s Spoonbar for LA. The popular mixmaster followed in the footsteps of the groundbreaking Cyrus mixologist, Scott Beattie, serving up hand-crafted cocktails with a true artisan flair. Replacing Cappy is Tara Heffernon, who’s been part of the Spoonbar cocktail program since the start. She plans to continue the farm-to-bar concept using an assortment of herbs, fruits, vegetables and flowers from her home garden. Good news. 219 Healdsburg Avenue, Healdsburg.

On my recent hiking trip to Sedona, Arizona, I found a novel new protein bar featuring grassfed bison, bacon and cranberry. The Epic Bar is a modern take on the native American pemmican, a mix of meat protein (usually bison, but also moose, elk or deer) and fruit.

One bar packs in 12grams of fat and 11 grams of protein, so this ain’t for an afternoon snack. Instead, they’re mean for athletes and hikers needing a healthy energy boost.

Other flavors include beef-habanero-cherry and turkey-almond-cranberry. Look for lamb, currant and mint in the spring. Want to get your hands on some? They’re available at Oliver’s Markets beginning this week.

Catering company owner Jeff Tyler (Hot Dogs from Chicago, Bunslinger, Palooza Catering) has taken over the former Doce Lunas restaurant in Kenwood.

In the works is a gastropub with Chef Chris Hanson (a freelance chef who’s popped up at a number of local events and alum of the Santa Rosa Golf & Country Club) heading the kitchen.

BiteClub’s seen the preliminary menu, and it’s both approachable and nervy, with some of Hanson’s signature carnivorous creations: Savory cannoli , lemon pepper calamari, a beef marrow app, monkfish fish and chips and an ice cream sandwich with both hops and beer in the mix. Opening is slated for spring, but we’ll keep watch for the final date.

If you’re wondering about all the recent closures, its definitely the season for restaurants going dark. After Wine Country’s busy fall and holiday rush, restaurants that have been struggling tend to throw in the towel in the deadly-quiet months of January and February, unable to hold out for busier spring and summer.

BiteClub has gotten word that other recent casualties have included Claudio’s in Sebastopol, Locals in Larkfield and Nonni’s in Santa Rosa.