A preview dinner at Julia’s Kitchen showcasing the forthcoming food at The Thomas/Fagiani’s at the Thomas, with a planned opening date of August 8, 2012.
[sh-slideshow-post id=”24943″]
The Thomas/Fagianis Preview Dinner at Julia’s Kitchen Napa
522 Shutters in Sonoma, New Restaurant Opening
Cafe 522 quietly closed over the weekend in Sonoma, less than a year after opening. Despite positive critical reviews, (along with some not-so-spectacular Yelp reviews) owners have sold the business to Chef Rudy Mihal.
Reached by phone, Mihal (formerly of Odyssey) says plans to take over the space on Aug. 1, 2012 with a soft-opening slated for late August. He’s bringing a front of the house manager from the Michael Mina group, and hopes to transform the restaurant into contemporary American eatery.
No word on the name yet, but Mihal assures BiteClub the black truffle and short rib burger (minus the foie) is coming back.
The restaurant has seen a whirlwind of owners in the last four years, first as Shiso, then as Lokal and most recently as 522. Stay tuned for details.
Meaty Discussion with Bruce Aidells
America’s Meat Guru, also known as local meat legend Bruce Aidells, will hosts a meaty discussion at the bucolic Windrush Farm in Petaluma on Aug. 5, 2012. He’ll give a preview of his forthcoming book, The Great Meat Cookbook, helping cooks of every level create meaty recipes that are big on flavor without necessarily beating up your budget.
Part of Berkeley’s original Gourmet Ghetto, he’ll share stories about the people and places that helped define how we eat today. With him will be Michele Anna Jordan, best known for her popular columns about the food and wine lifestyle in the Press Democrat.
Yanni’s Sausage Grill will be serving sausage, along with Lagunitas beer and wine. Readers Books will have Bruce and Michele’s books for sale and for signing.The event is offered on a sliding scale, from $40 to $60, free for children 12 and under and is a benefit for the Sonoma County Book Festival. Tickets are available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/258915
Eggs on the River Eggfest
Nope, this event isn’t actually about eggs. It’s an a celebration of BBQ cooking on a strange-looking contraption called The Big Green Egg. Confused? Part barbecue, part smoker, part ceramic cooker, these odd-looking grills have a huge following of barbecue enthusiasts who cook up everything from pizzas to meatloaf on their Eggs.
For the second year, Stumptown Brewery in Guerneville (15045 River Rd., Guerneville, 869-0705) hosts an Eggs on the River Eggfest (August 4, 2012), a cookoff with 18 of the Eggs fired up and ready to cook onsite. It’s BYO food with amateur eggists doing their thing from 10am to 4pm. Throughout the day, check out demos and snack on food made by contenders. More details and registration at winecountryeggs.com . Tickets $20 per person, $35 per couple.
Food Cycle
Sonoma State grad Adam Williams and Leah Heyman are bicycling 4,500 miles across the USA from Maine to California to raise awareness about sustainable lunch programs and connections between organic farms and public schools. On August 1, Cotati’s Redwood Café will welcome FoodCycle to Sonoma County, and give Adam and Leah a chance to talk about what they’re doing and why, and to share their adventures on the road.
The riders started on April 21 in Brunswick, Maine and holds a degree in Environmental Studies from SSU. Find out more about their journey at http://foodcycleus.com/. For updated details on the time and event, visit http://www.facebook.com/redwoodcafe.cotati
Redwood Cafe, 8240 Old Redwood Hwy., Cotati, 795-7868.
West of the West Wine Fest 2012
Sonoma’s best-known coastal wineries (think Littori, Merry Edwards, Paul Hobbs, Peay and LIOCO) gather for the West of the West Wine Festival August 3-5, 2012.
Held in Occidental, the three day event will feature some of the most acclaimed Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays and Syrahs on the market today.
Most of the events are sold out, but a few tickets remain for welcome dinners and the Sunday grand tasting. Other wineries include Flowers, Anthill Farms, Heintz Ranch, Marimar Estate, Siduri, Hirsch, MacPhail, Patz & Hall, and Wind Gap. Star-studded enough for ya?
Estate Closing
Estate Restaurant, owned by Chef Sondra Bernstein of the girl and the fig in Sonoma, will close in late September 2012.
The news comes on the heels of the sale of the historic property that’s been home to the restaurant since it opened in 2008. Once owned by the daughter of General Mariano Vallejo, the two-story building is being purchased by Darius Anderson, owner of Kenwood Investments and the Sonoma Index-Tribune. Anderson has also recently purchased Ramekins Culinary School and Event Center, located next door, and reportedly plans to use the properties jointly. He takes over October 1, 2012.
Estate’s lease originally ran until 2013, but Bernstein and managing partner John Toulze decided to close Estate in the wake of the sale and refocus on their other restaurants, including a new Sonoma event space called Suite D. “It’s very bittersweet,” said Bernstein. There is no current plan to reopen Estate elsewhere currently, “but who knows” says Bernstein. “I don’t think we’re done with Italian,” she said.
“We appreciated the opportunity to steward the historical Sonoma property at 400 West Spain Street and know it will now transition into good hands with Darius Anderson,” said Bernstein. Exec Chef and Managing Partner John Toulze will continue working at the Fig properties and on a successful salumi program he started at Estate.
Estate will continue serving dinner Wednesday through Saturday beginning at 5pm and Sunday brunch from 10am to 3pm. 400 W. Spain St., Sonoma, 707-933-3663.
SF Chefs 2012
My little brain can hardly wrap itself over all the cheffy, 
restauranty fun to be had over the next week in San Francisco. There are $1,500 sold-out dinners, classes, tastings, schmooze sessions and on and on during SF Chefs 2012, an event that bills itself as ” The Biggest Food, Wine & Spirits Festival on the West Coast”.
Here’s a cheat sheet to some of fun.
SF Chefs 2012 is almost upon us, set to kick-off beginning July 30and running through August 5, with the Celebration of Contemporary Mexican Restaurants event on August 1 and Grand Tasting Tent events taking place August 3 – August 5 in Union Square.
A Taste of What’s to Come
The Grand Tasting Tent events, taking place August 3 through August 5, will showcase an array of different dishes from San Francisco’s favorite restaurants and chefs. Guests can indulge in a variety of exciting dishes, including: Mini marrow burgers (Luella), albacore tuna tostado “Contramar Style” chipotle mayo, avocado, crispy leaks (Tacolicious), Calamari larb, lettuce cup, pickled summer vegetables (Baker & Banker), Corn & Curry Leaf Soup and Cubes marinated & tenderized in spices, skewered & grilled, served with chile-cilantro chutney (DOSA), Bourbon banana split (Boxing Room), Carrot and Cardamon Gelee with Vegetable Confettis Crab meat and citrus salad (Fleur de Lys), Fresh-cured anchovies Nostrano (Delfina), Ex-miso white fudge lollipop, coconut ginger marshmallow pop, sesame bonbon (Morimoto Napa ), Green Curry and Coconut Rock Shrimp Ceviche (E&O), Halibut Ceviche with Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes and Serranos (Copita) and pressed watermelon, marinated cherry tomatoes, basil, stracciatella cheese (Barbacco) and many, many more choices!
The Eater Chef Challenge Teams Announced!
Nominated by the readers of Eater SF, pairs of San Francisco’s best chefs will face off as they attempt to out-cook, out-plate and out-do one another in a race against the clock. With a mystery market basket of ingredients to tackle, which team will impress the judges?
San Francisco Cake Competition
The San Francisco Chronicle’s 49 Square Miles Food Tour comes to life during the 49 Square Miles Party taking place August 2 at 6pm on the Imperial Floor in the Westin St. Francis. The festival is excited to announce the restaurants that will be expressing their feelings about San Francisco in cake – Baker & Banker, Perbacco, Foreign Cinema, Fifth Floor, and Ristobar. Guests will be the judges and the winning cake baker will take home a basket of goodies from Guittard Chocolate Company. Celebrate the culinary diversity found in each square mile of our food-obsessed town with participants including: Alioto’s Restaurant, Arizmendi Bakery, Bar Crudo, Coco 500, Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA), Pier 23 Café, Presidio Social Club, Ristobar, Yank Sing, Yvonne’s Southern Sweets, Cantina, Alcademics.com, SF Brewers Guild, Dosa, Cliff House, Gialina Pizzeria, and King of Falafel. Enjoy San Francisco brews, California wines and handcrafted cocktails from the Campari America portfolio.
Final Details on Various Classes, Demos and Events
We are pleased to announce that Chef and Culinary Consultant Joyce Goldstein will be moderating the panel What is Northern California Cuisine? on Saturday, August 4 at 11:30 AM. Also joining the panel is Chef Amaryll Schwertner (Boulette’s Larder). Chefs from a variety of culinary traditions will discuss how they view the cuisine of Northern California today and its impact on the culinary world.
Other Exciting Events not to be missed include:
· A Celebration of Contemporary Mexican Restaurants (August 1 at 6pm)
· Steamed, Fried and Shanghai’d: The After Party at E&O (August 3 at 10pm)
· MonoArabica Coffee Cooking with Marcus Samuelsson and Chris Cosentino (August 4 at 10am)
· The Inside Scoop with Michael Bauer (August 4 at 3:30pm)
· Discover Portugal (August 5 at 10am)
Tickets are on sale with limited availability. To get your tickets and for more information, please visit: http://sfchefsfoodwine.com/
The Thomas and Fagiani’s Bar in Napa
[sh-slideshow-post id=”24542″]
For nearly a generation, the building at 813 Main Street in downtown Napa stood as silent witness to a sad chapter in the town’s history. Owned since 1945 by the Fagiani family, the building was a bustling bar and popular hangout until a fateful July night in 1974 when a young woman was murdered inside. Soon after, Fagiani’s Cocktail Lounge & Liquor Store was locked tight–some say with drinks still sitting on the bar–as the decades rolled by and her killer eluded police.
The building now faces a brighter future after New York-based design/hospitality group AvroKO rehabbed 100-year-old property, opening three story restaurant and cocktail lounge called The Thomas in August 2012
“We wanted to bring back the original character and keep with the history of the building,” says Chef Brad Farmerie walking through the construction-site in July.
Farmerie is executive chef of the critically-acclaimed PUBLIC and Saxon + Parole in New York. He, along with the restaurant’s sommelier and other executive staff moved to Napa to open the restaurant and plan opening menus.
“We’d be mistaken to think that we could impose our will on this historic venue,” he said. So over the last several months, they’ve consulted with locals, area chefs, ranchers and winemakers and Facebook fans to give input on the name and feel of the restaurant as well as learning about the best way to use and feature local ingredients.
Which is refreshing.
The three-level restaurant includes a large retro-inspired bar, Fagiani’s Bar at the Thomas , and the original neon Fagiani’s sign will hang out front. The Thomas, which is what they’ll call the upstairs dining room, a reference to the building’s time as a boarding house called The Thomas, features an open-kitchen dining room and floating wine rack with about 1300 bottles. On the third floor, more dining space and an open-walled deck area that overlooks the Napa riverfront.
The menu is still in development, but Farmerie is especially excited about two things: An aged beef burger and lots of local produce. “The more I eat here realize the less I want to do with the food — the food and vegetables are insane here. The purveyors want you to try things while they are standing there. It was an epiphany just to eat an heirloom tomato,” Farmerie said. His staff have planted two small garden plots outside the former Copia, and are using the Julia’s Kitchen space to test their dishes.
The crew plans to introduce a hopping mixology program as well, with cocktails served until the wee hours.
Media preview dinners start in early August, followed by an anticipated opening soon after.
Fair Food Scramble 2012 RESULTS
It was a nutritionist’s worst nightmare: Two picnic tables piled with dozens of fried, sugary, glutenous, meaty, fat-laden dishes who’s caloric density could propel a small army. For a month.
Six brave souls faced down the feast bravely on the opening day of the Sonoma County Fair (July 25-August 12), without health wavers or regret during the fourth annual Fair Food Scramble. The challenge? Winners secure as much food as $200 will buy (in a brisk 45 minute race), followed by a mouth-stuffing, gut-busting eat-a-thon to find the best fair food of 2012.
Within two hours, the results were in…
The Team:
JJ Harris, Petaluma: Our “healthy” Scrambler, JJ was tasked with seeking out foods with some healthful nature, in addition to gluten-free foods. She is fond of the Stuffie’s Veggie Burger (without the pesto mayo) as a vegan option and loved Pepe’s Horchata.
Randy Rued: The postman with the legs of steel who took us all the way to Linwood South!
Eric and Laura Lee, Petaluma: Next Food Network Star hopeful and former Simi Chef, Eric Lee was our serious palate on the team. He took the job to heart, picking just a handful of foods that really spoke to his secret fair food fondness. His favorite food remains the corn dog. His wife, Laura, is also a chef and had plenty of great insight on the food, echoing the group’s like for the Sonora dog and fried pineapple. The couple hit many of the Shade Park eateries.
Tyffani Peters, Windsor: Having worked with chefs like John Ash and Sondra Bernstein, Tyffani knows her way around food. She was the queen of the Mexican Village, plying us with spicy mango, tacos and tamales. Her fave: Corndogs.Randy Rued. Santa Rosa: A postman by day, Randy used his powerful location skills to suss out the best foods from Lindwood North and South. His favorite: Willie Bird’s Sausage.
Tanner Moulding, Rohnert Park: The man we called “Lemonader” put his pucker to work finding the best lemonades at the fair. Favorite food: Sonora Dog.
Plus: Thanks to Mike Stewart (our Vet), Greg Retsinas (the Bossman) and Jason Stanbrough (the crepe man and pack mule).
Best Overall: Sonora Dog, $6
A newcomer to the fair, Lisa Thompson and her sister, Debra White, both of Santa Rosa, won the judges hearts with a hot dog wrapped in bacon, topped with pinto beans, grilled onions, mustard and mayo. The kicker is a sweet Mexican roll specially made by Santa Rosa’s La Reyna Bakery. “It’s a hot dog on steroids,” said Thompson. Sonoran Hot Dog Stand, Magnolia. Judges loved it so much, we also named it Best Meat Dish at the Fair. Scrambler Tyffani Peters of Windsor said,” Classic fair food with a nice Mexican twist and fusion of flavors.”
Best Fried: Fried Pineapple, $7
County fairs have become ground zero for putting anything not tied down into the fryer. From pickles to Coca-Cola, there’s not much that hasn’t been tried. Pineapple, however, is a new one for us, and a hands-down winner (the judges were split on whether this should actually be Best Overall). Big chunks of juicy, ripe pineapple get batter-dipped and golden, for a sweet, crunchy combo. Cardinali Grill, Linwood South. A fried loser? Fried watermelon (also from Cardinali), $6. “Watermelon doesn’t take well to cooking,” said 2012 Scrambler JJ Harris, of Petaluma.
Best Lemonade: Phil’s Fresh Squeezed Lemonade, $4
This year, we took our drinking seriously at the Scramble. Most of the lemonades faired, well, fair, without much real lemon flavor. Phil’s tart-sweet fresh-squeezed taste won us over. Phil’s (the giant lemon) in the Shade Park. Other interesting drinks to check out: Horchata, (Pepe’s, Mexican Vilalge), Mango Cup (Michoacan Natural Ice Cream, Mexican Village), and Sarsaparilla (Rincon Valley Christian School, Shade Park).
Best Pasta: Pasta King Pesto, ($7.25)
Do we even have to say it? Art Ibleto is a legend, and all of the food is made onsite in the permanent Pasta King building on the fairgrounds. The pasta don oversees most of the operations from the air-conditioned back room throughout the fair. The pesto is just a Sonoma County Fair classic that you gotta get every year at least once. Pasta King Spaghetti Palace, Shade Park.
Best Newcomer: Crab Rarebit, $12
Though most of the group didn’t dive into this sharp melted cheese and crab concoction on toast points until it was, well, cold, those of us who got our fingers in early knew this was something special. Yes, it’s a bit pricey, but in line with the more upscale dishes served at Sliders Gastro Pub and Sports Bar in front of the Racing Grandstands. “I could really taste the crab,” said Laura Lee. A second dish, “Gastro Nachos” (also from Sliders) with cantaloupe and guacamole wasn’t as big of a hit with the group. “Unripe melon, pickled jalapenos and nachos was the worst idea ever,” said Lee.
Best Classic: Munch-a-Bunch Corndog
“For me, fair food is corndogs. It’s nostalgic and as long as a food triggers that, it’s a winner,” said Chef Eric Lee. The Next Food Network contender was a fan of the Munch-a-Bunch dog ($4), but after the Scramble, continued his search. “I’m having at least two more,” Lee said. Munch-a-Bunch, Linwood South.
Best Dessert: Brown Sugar Cinnamon Crepe
San Francisco Crepe Company (previously known to locals as Cafe Martin at the Roxy) won the judges’ coveted dessert vote for its sheer simplicity. A folded crepe with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon stood out among the frosted, fried, canned strawberry-topped desserts. Not that we didn’t love them all, but sometimes less is more. Other faves: Homemade cannoli’s from Cardinali. Look for the rehabbed cable car on Poplar.
Best Healthy: Pasta King Polenta, ($8.50)
Almost every year, we give this marinara smothered polenta a “best of” award. It’s rich, filling and just plain good without making you feel like you’ve swallowed an elephant. Plus, it’s vegetarian, making it approachable for different dietary needs. Shade Park.
A few other favorites: Baklava (Sleek Greek, Shade Park), fried artichokes (Jeanne’s Artichokes, Linwood North) and the Cajun Sausage Sandwich (WIllie Bird’s BBQ, Linwood North). We compared several carne asada tacos, as well, including the returning Soft Tacos (Linwood North). Our favorite of the bunch: Rose’s Mexican Food (Mexican Village, $4).