Cakebread Cellars co-founder Dolores Cakebread has been named a Grand Dame of Les Dames d’Escoffier, a culinary accolade that puts her the company of Julia Child, Alice Waters and Carol Brock, among other women chefs. Cakebread’s Rutherford winery has long promoted local foods, wine and food pairing, and cooking classes for both chefs and the public. Cakebread co-authored a popular cookbook featuring her own recipes in 2003.

Saturday, July 20: Grab your top hat, corset and perhaps a towel or two for the Greatest Slough on Earth, aka the Rivertown Revival in Petaluma. Hard to categorize, it’s a theatrical one-day event that includes art boat races on the Petaluma River (read hand-built contraptions of dubious water-worthiness), aerial acts, indie band performances, food, beer, wine and of course, $5 weddings. Yup. Really.

The event lasts from 11am to 8pm, and creative costuming is pretty much required. $5 entrance fee, Steamer Landing Park, 6 Copeland St., Petaluma.

The Timber Cove Inn, on the Sonoma Coast, has named Chef William Oliver as their executive chef. Perched on a cliff along Highway 1, the inn features the Alexander Restaurant and Sequoia Lounge. Oliver previously worked at Cook in St. Helena, the Farmhouse Inn and several area wineries. 21780 North Coast, Highway 1, Jenner, 707-847-3231.

So many folks have been asking about the quiet hiatus of BiteClub the last month. Here’s the deal:

Don’t worry, Biteclub isn’t dead. Just taking a quick beauty nap.

Asks one reader: “Been missing yr blog in the PD online, even b4 the ugly new format — where r u??”

Uh, working as the lead on the ugly new format. (Which obvious I don’t think is ugly!)

After nearly 8 years, it was time for a new Press Democrat. Change is hard, but I’m proud of the work we put into the site and its better functionality. For the next week or so I have to put all my efforts into making that experience as positive as possible for readers — fixing things here and there.

It’s been murder seeing friends and BiteClubbers in the real world who are missing our conversations about the food scene.  I miss them too.

So I thank you for your patience and support as I do double duty on many fronts at the paper.

I desperately miss doing what I love so much, but hope BiteClub will be all the fresher and better when I return in a few weeks.

xoxoxox,
Heather

Chef Tai Olesky of the former Mosaic restaurant in Forestville is the guest chef (one night only!) at on June 26, 2013 from 5-8pm. His special menu includes tempura fried squash blossoms, fennel pollen dusted sea scallops with white corn polenta, local wild salmon with favas and morels, butter leaf lettuce salad, cocoa-nib encrusted filet mignon and buttermilk panna cotta with stone fruit maple syrup. The menu is $75 per person and reservations are required.

Up next on the special Wednesday menu: an All-American barbecue ($25 per person) and fireworks watching on the plaza (July 4) followed by a South of the Border dinner (July  by chef Jamilah Nixon featuring family favorite taqueria recipes (a la carte, $5 and up). Details online at http://www.forchettabastoni.com/reservations/.

BiteClub’s mentioned the forthcoming farm market coming to Santa Rosa’s West End, but the neighborhood market officially kicks off this Sunday, June 23 at 10am. Months in the making, market manager Allen Thomas says they’ll have between 25-30 food and craft vendors to start, with hopes that more will join. “There is a sense of community that is really bubbling pretty intensely (in the West End), and

Idea of a farm market had been in the works for a while,” said Allen. “It’s an opportunity to have a market downtown that’s close to the people here and give farmers another marketplace,” Allen said. On the roster, Bloomfield Farms, Twin Palms, Tusque Farms, Healdsburg Farm Fresh Eggs and others, beginning at 10a.m at West Ninth St. and Donahue near the DeTurk Round Barn.

Chef Jamil Peden, who’s done stints at Campo Fina (Healdsburg) and at the former Petite Syrah (Santa Rosa) will head up the kitchen of the soon-to-open brewery located in Sebastopol’s Barlow complex.

Say owners Seth Wood and Olav Vier, “At Woodfour Brewing Co. we feel that food in our kitchen deserves as much respect and attention as the beer in the brewery. With that in mind, it gives us great pleasure to introduce the newest member of our team, Executive Chef Jamil Peden. The guy has some serious talent and style to boot.”

Watch for a (fingers crossed) July opening.