Ike’s Place open in Santa Rosa

By biteclub

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Bay Area sandwich sensation, Ike’s Place, is finally open.

Housed in the former Merv’s Little Super (1780 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa), it’s a location rich with history. And now, rich with Dirty Sauce.

The garlicy-mayo spread is just part of the secret mojo that goes into a list of 200-plus sandwich combinations that have made the Bay Area sub shop legendary. As in so legendary, it’s SF Castro location faced eviction from neighbors tired of the lines out the door.

So what to order? Faced with a dizzying selection of both meaty and meat-free choices (including several nods to locals including the Charles Schulz, Luther Burbank and SRJC Bear Cub), the choice for a food writer sort of leaps out: The Adam Richman. With fried (halal) chicken, honey, avocado, ham, dirty sauce and a Dutch crunch roll, it’s not a stretch to say: Best. Sandwich. Ever.

It’s been a long, long, long wait, but we’re glad to welcome owner Ike Shehadeh and the Ike’s Crew.

Oh, and BiteClub’s nominating the “Merv’s Lil Super” (with Slim Jim’s, sliced hot dogs, mozzarella sticks, Dirty Sauce, hot sauce and just a dash of malt liquor) as a sandwich worth considering.

1780 Mendocino Ave. at Dexter St., Santa Rosa.

K-J taking over Shimo

By biteclub
Wine Pairing at Kendall Jackson Wine Center

A K-J cafe? Jackson Family Wines will take over the former Shimo Modern Steak location in Healdsburg. The 241 Healdsburg Avenue space is slated to become a “culinary cafe” showcasing orchestrated food and wine pairings, a menu of small bites and a curated selection of locally made products including cheeses, breads, charcuterie and chocolate.

This ain’t no stale pretzel and mustard set-up. K-J Executive Chef Justin Wangler has an all-star chef team lined up for the new property that includes Tracey Shepos (cheese) and Robert Nieto (chocolate, pastries). He’ll tap into K-J’s expansive culinary garden, expanding line of house made goodies and network of top purveyors throughout Wine Country. The cafe will also be a retail outlet for a line of grape seed oils, flours and cookies from sister company, WholeVine–a project of JFW chairman Barbara Banke and former Chalk Hill Estate co-owner Peggy Furth to both minimize winery waste (grape seeds, skins) and create a healthy food product.

Wangler has already decamped to the Shimo kitchen, having moved his operations (temporarily) to Healdsburg several weeks ago while the Santa Rosa Wine Center kitchens undergo major upgrades and renovations slated to last through next fall. There’s no word on when the cafe will open yet, but it seems reasonable to expect sometime next year.

A sample cafe menu submitted to city planners includes  Drakes Bay Oysters with Kendall-Jackson verjus mignonette; Liberty Duck rillettes, Potato leek tortas with chardonnay grape seed oil and lemon aioli; Bellwether Farms Carmody Fondue with crostini; red and white fries with cabernet ketchup; WholeVine Grape skin flour pretzel bites, a Devil’s Gulch porchetta sandwich with pickled farm vegetables; Mama Frisschkorn’s caramel corn and lime Madeleines. And we should probably mention they’ll be serving wine with all this food.

Meanwhile, winemaker Pete Seghesio’s proposal for a meat and salumi cafe and store on the site of the former Post Office is cooling its heels for another month. Healdsburg City Planners will consider the “Healdsburg Meat Co.” at its next meeting in July. Sehgesio’s cafe and store also includes–you guessed it–a wood-fired pizza oven and wine tasting by-the-glass wines. In case you’re keeping track, that’s the third wood-fired cafe concept in Healdsburg in the last month.

Midtown Cafe, Santa Rosa

By biteclub


Remember the basement rumpus room…that shag-rug den of wonder? It was awesome until you started inviting people. Suddenly you’ve got the fat kid spilling Orange Crush, the weird kid picking his nose and scratching up your 45s and that annoying girl from down the block parading her friends through. Ugh.

Let’s just call the Midtown Cafe the newest rumpus room in Santa Rosa. But by telling you, but I’m expecting you not to f-it up.

A pop-up within the Midtown Cafe on Fourth Street in Santa Rosa, “After 5” the newest project of Superburger’s Bill Cordell. Come dusk, the barbecue gets ‘queing, the beer starts flowing and the yam tots start frying.

If you made it to Blue Label at the Belvedere before it vanished into the ether, you’ll get the vibe immediately. The old pinball board hangs on the wall, vintage tunes play and a Magic Eight Ball sits on the table waiting to tell your future. Like Blue Label, here, the menu is an eclectic a mash-up of old school comfort food, salty-fried bits, funked-up burgers and imaginative entrees from Cordell and Neil Allensworth (a Blue Label alum) who are obviously having fun with their food.

Start the night with grazers like a homemade sirloin meatball with melted gorgonzola in the center, simmered in North African marinara ($6); Chinese BBQ sweet cherry pork sliders ($5) on Hawaiian rolls; or yam tats with tamarind sauce ($5).

Salads include a blue cheese wedge with bacon and “fun garnish” ($6/$12 for entree size) or the Tijuana Caesar with shaved ham and a cold soft-boiled egg criss-crossed with anchovy. The dressing misses the raw egg, but makes a solid dipper for your tots.

The best bets for sandwiches are Soda Pop Pulled Pork with apple, pear relish ($11) that’s sweeter than your mom on a Sunday and the tarragon fried chicken sandwich with artichoke garlic mayo ($10).  Mains of ‘que and fried chicken are hearty, with a pound each of either pork ribs or brisket ($14).

Burgers, however, are Bill’s bread and butter. Though it may seem odd to be competing with himself (Santa Rosa’s Original Superburger is directly across the street), Midtown’s are griddled rather than char-grilled and give nods to old Santa Rosa with the Heavenly Hamburger Broiler Burger and the Hotel La Rose Burger with avocado, mushrooms, Swiss and smoked bacon. The French burger sports double cream Brie and caramelized onions. ($10-$14)

You can get the salads and burgers for lunch, but dinner is a better bet when Neil’s in the kitchen. There’s an outdoor patio, wine and beer on tap. Thriller thumps in the background and there’s this feeling that maybe, just maybe, you’ve found the best place on earth for to kick back and have a nosh in the ‘hood.

Just don’t tell the nose-picker kid.

Midtown Cafe After 5, 1422 4th Street  Santa Rosa, 545-2233. Open daily after 5pm. Duh.

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Magrit Mondavi Book Release

By biteclub

Robert Mondavi Winery celebrates the release of Margrit Mondavi’s new book, “Margrit Mondavi’s Sketchbook: Reflections on Wine, Food, Art, Family, Romance and Life” with a book signing and event at the winery on July 11th, a day before public sales begin online.  Upon purchasing the book, guests can meet, take photos with and request to have their book signed by Margrit. The evening also features a Q&A moderated by KKSF-AM’s ‘Dining Around’ host Joel Riddell with Margrit and book co-writer Janet Fletcher. Festivities continue with live music, house-made charcuterie, appetizers and wine. The book retails for $35.

 The book signing will take place in the winery’s Vineyard Room from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. on July 11th.  The book will be available to purchase in the winery’s Appellation Room during this time and on robertmondavi.com and Amazon.com beginning on July 12th.

Margrit Mondavi, wife of the late Robert Mondavi, has created a collection of personal stories and sketches based on diary entries and reflections about her life with Mr. Mondavi at their winery.  Margrit’s book is written in the spirit of the Robert Mondavi Winery’s belief that food, wine and the arts should be celebrated in everyday life.  Reflecting on her long and fulfilling life in the Napa Valley, Margrit’s book shares personal and defining stories from her life, providing a deep look inside the rich history of the winery.  A number of Margrit’s close friends helped compile her memoir, including a forward by renowned chef Thomas Keller, and Janet Fletcher’s writing contributions. A portion of the proceeds from book sales at the signing event will benefit the Napa Valley Opera House.

Sur La Table Pop-Up

By biteclub

Sur La Table’s Chef Les Goodman and Farmhouse Inn’s Pastry Chef Pattie Taan host a pop-up dinner June 27, 2012 at 6:30pm.

This 3-course, sit down dinner will focus on farm fresh ingredients and highlight the very best of the season. Chefs Les and Pattie will be shopping at local farms and farmers markets, and the best and freshest ingredients they find will dictate the evening’s menu. Guest are invited to help in the preparation of the meal or just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

The price of the dinner is $55pp, and attendees are invited to shop at the store after-hours on the night of the dinner with a 10% discount.

Details and registration: http://www.surlatable.com/sku/1039585/Pop-Up-Dinner

Foie Fight Isn’t Over

By biteclub
Guillermo Gonzalez of Sonoma Artisan Foie Gras / Christopher Chung PD
Guillermo Gonzalez of Sonoma Artisan Foie Gras / Christopher Chung PD
Guillermo Gonzalez of Sonoma Artisan Foie Gras / Christopher Chung PD

Just days  before the July 1 foie gras ban goes into effect, the national non-profit Animal Legal Defense Fund has filed a complaint with the California Attorney General’s office asking her to sue foie gras industry advocates who they claim are disseminating false and misleading information about humanely produced foie gras. Named in the complaint: Napa’s Ken Frank of La Toque, Guillermo Gonzalez of Sonoma Artisan Foie Gras, Rob Black of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association and New York’s Hudson Valley Foie Gras.

Why? The timing of the complaint comes just days after foie gras enthusiasts seem to have found some support in Sacramento. Though the legislature pushed aside last minute efforts to overturn the bill in 2012, there are reports that at least one legistlator, Sen. Lois Wolk of Davis may be interested in authoring legislation to repeal the ban in 2013.

“I don’t like single-product bans, period,” Wolk told McClatchy Newspapers on Sunday. “These are never easy issues, usually characterized by a lot of intense feeling and not much fact. The chefs have been very open in how to approach this, and now we have a chance to look at this.”

With a new round of chef pushback, animal rights activists including the ALDF have continued to fight against “gavage”, the practice of force feeding geese used for foie gras production. ALDF’s complaint asks Attorney General Harris to use her power to commence civil enforcement action in superior court against the industry advocates under California’s Unfair Competition Law.  For each false or misleading statement addressed in the attorney general’s complaint, the court has the power to impose fines of up to $2,500. The ALDF has also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

This brawl ain’t over folks. Expect more fierce foie fighting to come.

Recent foie stories in the news:

Atlantic: The Last Days of Foie Gras

There May be Hope: Grubstreet

Foie Fight Over: Press Democrat

Food Trucks at NASCAR

By biteclub


It’s a trucking weekend at the former Infineon Raceway this weekend as mobile kitchens from around the Bay Area hit the tracks. Throughout the Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series trucks including Awful Falafel, Marks the Spot, Sift Cupcakes, Street Eatz and Cheese Gone Wild will be serving up everything from wood-fired pizza to hand-rolled sushi.

Highway 121 and Sears Point Road, Sonoma.

Summer Scoops

By biteclub

Who needs to scream for ice cream? We’re dairy lucky to have some of the region’s best frozen treats–from beer floats to gourmet popsicles and paletas–cooling off the county.

We’ve found some newcomers to the scene and defrosted some old favorites for your summer scooping.

Shave Ice at Ono’z: If you’ve ever eaten fresh snow, you’ll understand why Hawaiians don’t appreciate their shave ice being compared to snow cones (which are more like icy slush). Grinding ice into powdery snowballs, Ono’z owner and native islander Jocelyn Nelson does an authentic version with guava or mango syrup. She dolls them up with a scoop of vanilla, passion fruit or coconut-pineapple ice cream and, for purists only, an additional dollop of sweet azuki beans. She’ll also whip up halo-halo for devotees, a Filipino cooler made with evaporated milk, shaved ice, ice cream, jackfruit, beans, taro and, well, a host of other tasty tidbits you’ll have to have her explain. During lunch hours, they also serve loco moco and Hawaiian barbecue plates. Open 10am to 5pm Monday, Wed-Sun.  16218 main St., Guerneville, 604-7150.

Cinnamon Tortilla, Maple Bacon Ice Cream at Frozen Art: The Alcazar family are legends in making Michoacana-style ice creams. Since opening in 2011 (originally as La Real Michoacana), their lineup of 40-plus flavors has continued to expand, and now includes maple bacon, cinnamon tortilla, lemon olive oil and zinfandel chocolate chip. What’s here today, however, may be all scooped up by tomorrow. But don’t worry, Jorge and his dad have plenty more flavors yet to conquer, including Gansito (a Twinkie-like cake popular in Mexico) and champagne. What’s in a name? Like many other local neverias-owners, the Alcazars hail from Tocumbo, Mexico’s ice cream-making capital, and sometimes competition between countrymen (and even relatives) can get intense. A recent flap among local businesses calling themselves “Michoacana” ended up in name changes for all but the Sonoma neverias. The Alcazars ice cream, however, knows no borders. The family is now making customized flavors for Ono’z and Karla’s Ice Cream (27 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg) and do production for Real Cool Frozen Treats. 500 Sebastopol Road, Santa Rosa. Also worth a try: Fru-ta (2770 Stony Point Road, Santa Rosa, 542-6026); La Michoacano (18495 Highway 12, Sonoma) or Colores (443 Dutton Ave., Santa Rosa, 526-6661).

Gourmet Fruit Pops at Real Cool Frozen Treats: Don’t call these popsicles. Chef Maria DeCorpo’s frozen ice pops are made with seasonal produce and organic ingredients. A regular at the Wednesday night market in Santa Rosa, her ice cream cart is stocked with flavors like apricot-almond, melon-mint, lemon and key lime, strawberry and Mexican chocolate. Also at the Rohnert Park Farmer’s Market on Friday. facebook.com/realcoolfrozentreats for details on locations and new flavors.

Chinese Five Spice Salted Caramel Ice Cream Sandwiches at Flour Girl: Healdsburg’s Shannon Moore hits all the right buttons with this exotic frozen treat. Sweet, salty, spicy and totally cool. She makes each batch from scratch, restocking weekly at The Cheese Shop (423 Center St., Healdsburg, 433-4998).

Beer Floats: Root beer makes a good ice cream float. Beer makes an excellent ice cream float. The mix of sweet, bitter, hoppy and fizzy is some serious grown-up fun in a glass. Coconut Porter Ice Cream Float at Sprenger’s Tap Room (446 B St. Santa Rosa, 544-8277); Moonlight Float at Flavor Bistro with Death and Taxes black lager (96 Old Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa, 573-9600); Imperial Stout ice cream float at Lagunitas Brewing Company Taproom (1280 North McDowell Ave., Petaluma, 778-8776).

Vanilla Maple Bourbon Ice Cream at Glen Ellen Star: Half-pints of house-churned ice cream are available for take-out or as an apre-dinner treat from Chef Ari Weiswassen’s new restaurant. Other flavors include malted milk chocolate, roasted peanut butter and Taylor Maid Farms espresso. 13648 Arnold Dr., Glen Ellen, 343-1384.

Campfire Milkshake at Flipside: Toasted marshmallows, vanilla ice cream and a finger of Johnnie Walker Red. Ahhh, camping. 630 Third St., Santa Rosa, 523-1400. Also try: Healdsburg Bar and Grill led the charge on the boozy shake craze, and still has some of the best (245 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, 433-3333); of if you’re more heels than hiking boots, Petite Syrah’s S’Mores with chocolate cake, marshmallows, burnt chocolate and graham cracker ice cream (205 Fifth St., Santa Rosa, 568-4002).

FroYo, yo: The frozen yogurt boom feels like the 80s all over again. Everyone’s got a neighborhood favorite where the toppings are fresher, the portions bigger, the flavors tarter. Among the best, Moxie’s (8930 Brooks Rd. South, Windsor, 836-1665); Screamin’ Yogurt (1620 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa,542-2500), Yogurt Farms (1224 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, 576-0737), Tutti Frutti (1425 Fulton Road #301, Santa Rosa, 988-3737; 519 Fourth St., Santa Rosa), Snowbunny (312 Center St., Healdsburg, 431-7669), Honeymoon Frozen Yogurt (7108 Bodega Ave., Sebastopol, 829-9866).

Pssst….secret ice cream spot: Petaluma is home to Three Twins ice cream factory, but strangely enough, Sonoma County has only one place where you can buy this highly sought-after ice cream by the scoop: The Petaluma Golf Center. So until we get a scoopery of our own (ahem, Marin and Napa already have them) here’s your hook-up. 200 Stony Point Rd., Petaluma, 778-0696. You can, of course, also get it at area Whole Foods stores, as well.

And of course, no article about frozen treats could ever be written in Sonoma County without a nod to the duchess of desserts, the sultana of summertime and the cream of the creameries, Screaming Mimi’s. We salute you. 6902 Sebastopol Ave,m Sebastopol, 823-5902.

Still hungry? Of course you are. Check out Heather’s always-updated food and dining blog at BiteClubEats.com.

Campo Fina: Chef Ari Rosen does Italian with an American accent

By biteclub
Campo Fina Interior
Campo Fina Interior


Healdsburg loves a restaurant opening. Even more so when it includes a bocce court, Mugnaini pizza oven and Chef Ari Rosen.

The popular Scopa owner opened his second restaurant, Campo Fina, this week, after months of secrecy over the design and concept. Turns out it was well worth the wait.

The food, of course, is Italian, but focused around small plates and pizzas rather than the heartier pastas and entrees at his original restaurant. Design-wise, the big reveal is a large covered patio in back that’s big enough for a bocce court, 65 seats (including a large family table), a wood-fire pizza oven and food-prep “shack” and even a bar. Even locals familiar with the space in previous iterations gasped at the transformation. “I didn’t even know this space was back here,” was most often repeated. Inside are reclaimed fixtures, rough brick walls and cozy red banquettes.

On the menu, Cichetti (little bites), Forna A Legna (wood oven) and Antipasti (small plates). Best bet is to start at the top and work your way down the list, nibbling here and there and ordering as you go. Carried over from Scopa is Larry Pacini’s ciabatta bread and DCV EVOO ($3.50), which is exactly what ciabatta should be with a crackling crust and moist, chewy inside. Honey roasted carrots with coriander and bread crumbs ($6.50) are sweet, almost to a fault, but with each bite yield with a perfect texture.

Wood-oven pizzas are all the rage in Wine Country, and there are as many styles as there are Mugnaini ovens dotting the vineyards. Too often crusts get blistered and burnt, and carbon is only delicious on campfire marshmallows. Here, simple mushroom, sausage or Margheritas ($12.50 to $15.50) get the kiss of the oven without being smothered.

Small plates are made for sharing, and are mostly 6-8 bite portions. Best bets: Smooth chicken liver pate (served in a mason jar) with peach relish and grilled bread ($8.50); charred octopus with wild chicory and potatoes ($11.50) and yellowfin tuno crudo ($13.50) served with tangy yogurt, fennel, radishes and sea beans. If you’ve ever questioned dairy with fish, the spritz of lemon and spanking fresh flavors in this dish will realign that thinking. Picnic chicken, pan-fried light and dark cuts, was good, but failed to reach the heights of the rest of the menu.

The best desserts are simple affairs, a brilliant buttermilk panna cotta with crumbles of biscotti, torn basil and cherries or sliced Dry Creek peaches in zinfandel.

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The wine list runs two pages, well-curated with ten by-the-glass sips and a full page of Sonoma County and Italian reds. Wine cocktails are beer are also available.

If there’s a complaint, it’s only perhaps that the outdoor chairs aren’t made for American derrieres, pinching and squeezing in all the wrong places. The patio can get boisterous with kids and families enjoying themselves–which is kind of the whole point of this uber-casual eatery. So if you’re looking for a quiet rendezvous, update your expectations.

Though the motto, “When you’re here, you’re family,” may belong to an Italian mega-chain that dreams of authenticity like Campo Fina, it certainly fits. So pull up a chair, grab a glass of chianti and manga, manga!

Open for dinner daily, beginning at 5:30pm. 330 Healdsburg Ave. at North St., Healdsburg, 707-395-4640.

 

Pack Jack Bar-B-Que

By biteclub
Robert Harris

For weeks, a single century plant stalk has reached toward the sun outside Pack Jack Bar-B-Que readying for its decade-in-the-making bloom. Now more than 10 feet high, the aptly-named succulent is bursting into life suddenly, brilliantly after years and years of inactivity.

In its shadow, a long-cooled brick oven fire has been re-lit and a legendary roadside restaurant re-opened. Yep, Pack Jack is back.

A little history, first. For the uninitiated, Pack Jack was a favorite Sonoma County barbecue outpost halfway between Cotati and Sebastopol for years. Owned by the Harris family, it’s an unassuming roadhouse that you’d pass by without a second glance. Natives of Egypt, Texas, their brick oven smoker and Texas-style meats had a following of fans that bordered on cultish. After a fire gutted the restaurant in 2004, the ovens went cold and the Harris family moved their operation to Vallejo, promising to someday return.

Reconstruction on the spot started and stopped without explanation in recent years, but mostly faltered. Then quietly, and without fanfare, Robert Harris (son of original owner Donnie Harris) re-opened on June 15, alerting friends and neighbors with wafts of burning oak, sizzling meat and a cryptic message or two on Facebook.

And though Harris hoped to keep the opening mostly under wraps until July, word is out.


Open Friday through Sunday from 11am to 10pm (to start), it’s a family affair with uncles, cousins and grandkids involved in cooking and waiting tables. Like any serious barbecue restaurant, the menu is simple and straightforward: Chicken, ribs (both pork and beef), sliced beef brisket, hot links (made in house) and lamb.

Being Texas-style ‘que, it’s about the rub and the smoke. Sauces are secondary, and with bark like this, it’s icing on the cake. Sweet sauce, mild sauce and hot sauce. You pick. Chicken and brisket are stand-outs. Do not leave without a combo plate of these two (about $16). Ribs are a more a matter of taste: They were chewier than I prefer but my dining pal, Mike, who is a meat and barbecue devotee, gave them a thumbs up. Hotlinks are salty, spicy, meaty sausages that you either love or leave. BiteClubber Rick gushes: “The hot links were just like the old days (bringing tears to the eyes from heat and great taste).” We skipped the lamb, mostly because the portions are intensely huge.

Barbecue without sides, of course, is sacrilege and all dinner and combo-plates come with two. The sweet barbecue beans come from a 100-year-old family recipe, and all Robert will tell you is that yes, they have cumin in them. Potato salad tastes like homemade and the coleslaw has a vinegar base rather than mayo (“thank God”, says Mike).  There is beer in a bottle and soda in a can. The menu tempts with sweet potato and pecan pies, but so far they haven’t materialized. Perhaps soon.

There’s no air-conditioning, and the smell of smoke permeates the no-frills interior, so if you aren’t up for sweating and smelling like  a campfire, take-out might suit you better. But regulars live for the ambiance, especially when Robert, an imposing figure in a cowboy with a smile as wide as Texas strolls through the room.

Whether this is Sonoma County’s most-authentic barbecue will be debated hotly over the next several weeks, perhaps years. To find it, just look for the century plant that will bloom briefly, to guide you. Otherwise, your nose should work just fine.

Pack Jack Bar-B-Que, 3961 Gravenstein Hwy. South, Sebastopol, 827-3665. Open limited hours during opening, cash only.

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