Campo Fina’s co-executive chef Jamil Peden has departed from the Healdsburg restaurant. Owner and co-exec chef Ari Rosen will step into Peden’s place. Meanwhile, in Sebastopol, Chef Martin Maigaard has taken over the kitchen of the Gypsy Cafe, introducing a deep fried portobello mushroom po boy, rock cod fish cakes, hush puppies with honey butter and butternut squash lasagna with Bechamel sauce.
Valentine’s Warm Up
Get your sweetie in the mood for amore, or at least a little snuggling, at the 24th annual Wine and Chocolate Fantasy at Rodney Strong Vineyards Saturday Feb. 9, 2013 from 1-4p.m.
Wander through the mood-lit barrel cellar nibbling dark chocolate truffles, cupcakes, small-bites from local chefs and sipping some of the Healdsburg winemaker’s best pours. $65 per person, tickets and info at rodneystrong.com or 431-1533.
Rosso’s John Franchetti, Three Squares’ Josh Silvers, Kendall Jackson’s Justin Wangler along with Press Democrat columnist Michele Anna Jordan and several other prominent local chefs will participate in Third Thursday, a seres of dinners in conjunction with Worth Our Weight. The program puts chefs in the kitchen with at-risk youth apprentice cooks to serve up a multi-course prix-fixe dinner. The first dinner, February 21, features Liza Hinman of Spinster Sisters and Franco Dunn of Franco’s One World Sausage. $55 per person, with proceeds going to help the WOW program. Reservations 544-1200.
Just in from Lisa…
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Monday February 4, 2013
Dear Friends,
The time has come for Fresh to move from the Skyhawk Village Marketplace.
Thank you to everyone who has supported the business relentlessly without ever doubting. You all have stuck in there and I appreciate the good memories I will take with me.
We are negotiating a new location and will close our doors for business tonight. The new facility has all the equipment and accoutrements we need so we will be able to sell most of the equipment that we brought here. Tomorrow Tuesday Feb 5th we will be Closed all day to prepare for the moving sale. There will be no Tuesday night take out specials.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Feb. 6-8th from noon to six o’clock, all items will be for sale and marked down 25 – 50%. We are planning to sell everything from food to equipment and décor.
We hope that you can come by to take advantage of this sale.
Thank you sincerely,
Lisa Hemenway
PS We will continue to do catering out of the Skyhawk Village Marketplace until the move is final.
Pasta King Art Ibleto has taken over the former Seasons Sports Bar in Rohnert Park with plans to open a family-style trattoria in late February.
Art’s Place will be a joint venture with his wife, Victoria, and daughter, Annette, and family friends Greg and Wendy Kalemba. The menu will be a mix of traditional Ibleto-favorites like polenta, minestrone, pesto and marinara along with wood-fired pizzas, sandwiches, burgers and specialty entrees.
“We’re featuring Art’s food,” said Wendy Kalemba, adding that the family-operation will also include brother Angelo Ibleto’s focaccia. The vibe will be family-friendly with lunch and dinner served seven days a week. The restaurant will serve beer and wine.
Ibleto, 86, continues to run his Pasta King catering business and sauce empire and will being “making regular appearances” at the restaurant, said Kalemba.
“He just puts us all to shame with how hard he still works,” she added.
Art’s Place, opening soon at 563 Rohnert Park Expressway, Rohnert Park.
Forager Connie Green (who’s mushrooms grace the tables of the French Laundry, Coi, Boulevard, LaToque and countelss others) and Chef Sarah Scott from “The Wild Table Cookbook” will be the guest celebrities at a special dinner Jan. 31, 2013 at the Farmhouse Inn.
The multi-course dinner is slated to include Hedgehog mushroom and caramelized onion tart, “Poor Man’s” truffle risotto, juniper and maple glazed Sonoma County duck breast and butternut squash and candy cap mushroom creme brulee along with wine pairings from master sommelier Geoff Kruth.
Tickets $150 per person. Reservations: 887-3300.
If there’s a crystal ball for the year’s upcoming food trends its the annual winter Fancy Food Show held in San Francisco in mid-January. Eager start-ups go shoulder to shoulder with international conglomerates to get the attention of food buyers who will stock their products in the coming year.
Some of my favorites of 2013 and trends we’ll be seeing on store shelves in the coming months (if not already):
– Smoke is the new bacon: The woody, campfire flavor is making a huge inroad into non-tradition foods like olive oil and chocolate. Hot Cakes alderwood smoked chocolate chips ($15) have a ton of potential for cooking.
– Foraged Food: Wild mushrooms and greens are all the rage, and Napa Forager Connie Green’s Wine Forest Foods includes packaged mushroom risottos, candy cap mushroom sugar and mushroom alchemy powder at thewildtable.net.
– Prepared sauces and relishes: Opening a jar of homemade-tasting goodness and calling it your own beats hours over the stove. Artisan sauces (curries, tomato sauces, skillet sauces and other ethnic sauces) are hot. Sonoma’s Tomato Smash features a chunky new-school tomato relish that beats the pants off ketchup. I also loved Dave’s Gourmet masala marinara.
– Microgreens and shoots: Move over sprouts. Shoots, or very young plants, come in every flavor under the rainbow — think sweet corn, radish, wasabi or cucumber — to add big taste to everyday foods. Microgreens, or baby lettuces and leaves, are also popular with the gourmet-set. Fresh Origins has some of the wildest selections of microgreens and edible flowers we’ve ever seen.
– Prunes: I’m predicting prunes to be the next cranberry. High in fiber and other health benefits, we’re seeing them pickled, pureed and mixed in as a sweetner. No longer are these sweet treats just for granny. Boat Street’s pickled French plums were insanely good.
– Wacky Ice Cream: The ice cream stampeded continues with sweet and savory flavors, mix-ins and surprises around every corner. Three Twins’ out of Petaluma makes a spicy cardamom and Jeni’s Ice Cream has come out with “influenza sorbet” with Cayenne pepper, ginger, bourbon, honey, lemon and orange to help ward off whatever bug is going around the office this week.
– Oil and Vinegar 2.0: Move over plain jane acids and oils. Vinegar is getting infused with everything from lemongrass to pear to kick up salads and add zip to pan sauces. Meanwhile, verjus has become our go-to instead of wine for adding a tart nip to recipes as well as drinking straight from the bottle. We love Terra Sonoma’s new 3L box (mostly made for restaurants, but great for sipping as well).
Of course, there were a million other ideas, trends and takes on the show…which you should check out as well.
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Among the big winners in the 2013 Good Food Awards were a handful of North Bay food and beverage producers making noteworthy beer, cheese, coffee and spirits. Tapped for their commitments to flavor as well as a respect for their environment and connections to communities and cultural traditions, a panel of noteworthy judges tapped the following 114 winners from among 1,366 entries from 49 states.
Congrats to all of this year’s winners. I’ve included two quotes from our Healdsburg winners, who were pleased as punch about their selection.
Ballast Point Brewing Company, Winter San Salvador Black Lager, California
Bear Republic Brewing Company, Tartare, California (Healdsburg)
“Tartare was awarded a medal in the Adventurous, Barreled, Big, Bawdy, & Belgian beer category. Tartare, a dry and tart Berliner-style wheat beer spontaneously fermented in a 2500 gallon oak vessel, is Bear Republic’s interpretation of the classic sour beer style dubbed as “The Champagne of the North.”
Deschutes Brewery, Obsidian Stout, Oregon
Elm City Brewing Company, Monadnock Mountain Ale, New Hampshire
Full Sail Brewing Co., Ltd6, Oregon
Fullsteam Brewery, First Frost, North Carolina
Hopworks Urban Brewery, HUB Organic Lager, Oregon
Independence Brewing Co., Convict Hill Stout, Texas
Jester King Craft Brewery, Boxer’s Revenge, Texas
Lakefront Brewery, My Turn: Luther & Wisconsinite Summer Weiss, Wisconsin
Mill Valley Beerworks, Four Brothers, California (Mill Valley)
Pagosa Brewing Company, Chili Verde, Colorado
Rolling Meadows Brewery, Abe’s Ale, Illinois
CHOP Butchery & Charcuterie, Chicken Liver Bourbon Mousse, Oregon
Columbus Foods, Finocchiona, California(SF)
Cypress, Picante Salami, South Carolina
EcoFriendly Foods, Iberico Americana Long Leg Ham 20 Month, Virginia
Fra’ Mani Handcrafted Foods, Salame Toscano, California (Berkeley)
La Quercia, Borsellino Salami, Iowa
Olympic Provisions, Lomo Di Parma, Oregon
S. Wallace Edwards & Sons, Surry Farms Surryano Ham, Virginia
The Linkery, Country Ham, San Diego, California
The Meat Hook, House Ham, New York
The Meat Market, Chicken Liver Mousse, Massachusetts
Transatlantic Foods, Aux Delices des Bois Chorizo, New York
Underground Meats, Coppa & Goat Salami, Wisconsin
Avalanche Cheese Company, Goat Cheddar, Colorado
Belle Chevre, Pimento Chevre, Alabama
Bellwether Farms, Whole Milk Ricotta, California (Petaluma)
Briar Rose Creamery, Briar Rose Chevre, Oregon
Carr Valley Cheese Company, Cave Aged Marisa, Wisconsin
Cobb Hill Cheese, Ascutney Mountain, Vermont
Nature’s Harmony Farm, Fortsonia Gruyere, Georgia
Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co., Bay Blue, California (Pt. Reyes Station)
Spring Brook Farm, Tarentaise, Vermont
Uplands Cheese Company, Pleasant Ridge Reserve, Wisconsin
Weirauch Farm & Creamery, Saint Rose, California (Petaluma)
Amano Artisan Chocolate, Chuao 70% Dark Chocolate, Utah
Askinosie Chocolate, Dark Milk Chocolate Bar + Fleur de Sel, Missouri
Dandelion Chocolate, Madagascar – 70%, California (SF)
Fresco Chocolate, PNG 220, Washington
Fruition Chocolate Inc., Dark Milk with Fleur de Sel, New York
Madre Chocolate, Triple Cacao, Hawaii
Patric Chocolate, 67% Madagascar Bar & 75% Madagascar Bar & In-NIB-itable Bar, Missouri
Potomac Chocolate, Upala 70% Nib and Salt, Virginia
Raaka Chocolate, Bourbon Cask Aged Bolivia, New York
Ritual Chocolate, Costa Rica & Madagascar, Colorado
Rogue Chocolatier, Hispaniola & Rio Caribe & Sambirano, Massachusetts
1000 Faces Coffee, Ethiopia – Shakiso Mora Mora, Georgia
Case Coffee Roasters, Kenya – Nyeri Gaturiri Co-Op-Peaberry, Oregon
Cuvee Coffee, El Salvador – El Molino Witness Project, Texas
Evans Brothers Coffee, Ethiopia – Yirgacheffe Birhanu, Idaho
Flying Goat Coffee, Ethiopia – Wottuna Boltuma, California Healdsburg)
“Our aim, from the first day we started roasting coffee in Healdsburg, has been to find the best coffees in the world, grown by people who care not only for the crop they grow, but also for the people, animals and land around them. This commitment needs to be more than just a certification on paper; it needs to be a way of life. That’s why we spend so much time meeting with coffee farmers, walking with them on their farms, and exploring new and better ways to improve coffee quality and environmental health on and around their farms. To us, coffee quality and sustainability are mutually reinforcing. The Good Food Award, along with the special Golden Seal designation, is proof positive that this is a winning approach to creating the world’s best coffee. We owe a big thank you to the farmers and managers at the Wottuna Boltuma cooperative in Ethiopia. This winning coffee was the result of a special member-organized project that dedicated extra time to sorting ripe cherries and staffing the drying beds in exchange for a healthy per-pound premium if the targeted quality was achieved (Boy was it!). FGC green buyer, Phil Anacker, just returned from a 3 week trip to Southern and Western Ethiopia and visited with all the farms we work with, including the Wottuna Boltuma co-op. He came away quietly confident that the upcoming 2013 crop may be even better than last year’s.” -Phil Anacker of Flying Goat
Gimme! Coffee, Colombia – Finca San Luis La Gloria, New York
Heart Roasters, Ethiopia – Yukro & Kenya – Ndumberi, Oregon
Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea, Kenya – Gichathaini & Kenya – Kangocho, Illinois & California
Joe, Ethiopia – Camp, New York
Joe Bean Coffee Roasters, Nicaragua – Don Roger Pachi, New York
Kickapoo Coffee, Ethiopia – Organic Yirgacheffe Haru Cooperative, Wisconsin
Panther Coffee, Colombia – Finca El Ventilador, Florida
Portland Roasting Coffee, Ethiopia – Organic Sidamo, Oregon
PT’s Coffee Roasting Co., Ethiopia – Nanno Challa Heirloom, Kansas
Verve Coffee Roasters, Ethiopia – Birhanu & Panama – Elida Estate Gesha, California (Oakland)
Arrowhead Chocolates, Huckleberry Truffle, Oregon
Bees & Beans, Mint Bar, Oregon
Big Picture Farm LLC, Goat Milk Chai Caramels, Vermont
Escazú Artisan Chocolates, Dark Chocolate Basil Ganache, North Carolina
Feve Artisan Chocolatier, Pistachio Rosemary Caramel, California (Hunter’s Point)
Her Coconess Confections, Vanilla Bean Salted Caramels, California (Menlo Park)
Lillie Belle Farms, The Most Awesome Chocolate Bar EVER!, Oregon
Looking Glass Creamery, Carmelita, North Carolina
Serendipity Confections, Fleur de Sel Butter Caramels, Colorado
Sweetdragon Baking Company, Black Sesame Brittle, California (San Jose)
Zoë’s Chocolate Co., Sesame Tahini Crunch, Pennsylvania
Aunt Nita’s Homestyle Foods, Sweet Jalapeño Relish, Texas
Blessed Earth Farm, Summer Squash Curry Relish, North Carolina
Central Bottle Wine + Provisions, Pickled Garlic Scapes, Massachusetts
Coldwater Canyon Provisions, Tarragon Cherries, California
Cultured Pickle Shop, Japanese Cucumber and Arame Kimchee & Kasu-Zuke Jalapeños, California (Berkeley)
Firefly Kitchens, Ruby Red Kraut, Washington
Gordy’s Pickle Jar, Sweet Chips, Washington, D.C.
Jarred SF Brine, Oven Roasted Pickled Golden Beets and Shaved Shallots, California (SF)
Midori Farm, Organic Horseradish Leek Sauerkraut & Organic Kimchi & Organic Savory Kraut, Washington
Pogue Mahone Pickles, Jalapeño Mint, Texas
Sour Puss Pickles, Plum Shrub, New York
Southport Grocery & Cafe, Dilly Beans, Illinois
Unbound Pickling, French Quarter Pickled Beans, Aromatic Cajun Spice, Oregon
Alpenfire Orchards LLC, Orleans Vinegar, Washington
American Spoon, Wild Thimbleberry Jam, Michigan
Ann’s Raspberry Farm & Specialty Crops, Artisan Red Raspberry Jam, Ohio
Atwater’s, Pear and Star Anise & Plum and Vanilla Bean, Maryland
Bathtub Gin LLC, Peaches ‘n Cream, Tennessee
Chez Pim, Flavor King Pluot, California (SF)
Ellelle Kitchen, Backyard Grapefruit Marmalade with Campari, California
Farmer’s Daughter, Rosey Strawberry Rhubarb Preserves, North Carolina
Half-Pint Preserves, Apple Plum Jelly, New York
HeathGlen Organic Farm and Kitchen, Raspberry Chambord Jam, Minnesota
Hoskins Berry Farm, Blackberry Vinegar, Oregon
INNA Jam, Pretty Spicy Fresno Chili Jam, California (Emeryville)
Johnson Berry Farm LLC, Raspberry Habanero Jam & Tayberry Jam, Washington
Josephine’s Feast!, Hand Foraged Wild Beach Plum Preserve, New York
Rinkon Farm’s Flume Creek Preserves, Raspberry Preserves, Texas
Winding Drive, Wild Elderberry Jelly, Connecticut
Cascade Peak Spirits, ORGANIC NATION Gin & ORGANIC NATION Vodka, Oregon
Catoctin Creek Distilling Company, Roundstone Rye, Virginia
Charbay Winery & Distillery, Charbay R5 Whiskey Aged, California (Napa)
Dancing Pines Distillery, Bourbon Whiskey & Rum, Colorado
High West Distillery, High West Vodka 7000′ Peach, Utah
Leopold Bros., Leopold’s Navy Strength Gin, Colorado
Mountain Laurel Spirits, Dad’s Hat Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Pure Distilleries, Boyd and Blair Potato Vodka, Pennsylvania
St. George Spirits, Agua Libre California Agricole Rum & Aqua Perfecta Poire Eau de Vie, California (Alameda)
Syntax Spirits, Powder White Rum, Colorado
Investor Bill Foley plans to open Chalkboard Bistro & Wine Bar this spring in the former Cyrus space at the Les Mars Hotel in Healdsburg.
He’s hired Shane McAnelly, the former executive chef of Va de Vi, a critically-acclaimed tapas-style bistro and wine bar in Walnut Creek. McAnelly left Va de Vi in December, according to Inside Scoop.
The concept will be an “upscale casual” fun atmosphere where visitors can share small plates and wine tasting flights, Foley said. “It should be a lot of fun,” he said, adding that restaurant will take full advantage of his kitchen gardens at Chalk Hill Winery.
Sources in the restaurant biz close to Foley said he was looking for a more “approachable” restaurant to replace the Michelin-starred Cyrus.
Cyrus closed in Oct. 2012 after years of disputes and lawsuits between Foley and Chef Douglas Keane, who leased the space. Foley is the owner of Chalk Hill Winery, Sebastiani Vineyard and Winery in Sonoma; Merus, Altvus, Kuleto Estate in Napa as well as numerous wineries throughout California and Washington and New Zealand.
– Reporting by Cathy Bussewitz of the Press Democrat. Check out her profile on Foley here.
When you can count Chefs Tyler Florence, Michael Chiarello, Emeril Lagasse, John Ash, Ming Tsai, and a certain President of the United States among your culinary fan-base, you know you’re onto something. But the owners of The Smoked Olive in Petaluma still say they often have to get people to stop and taste their pungent olive oils before they fully understand — and appreciate — the unique flavor.
Sitting in the smoke-scented warehouse where she and partner Al Hartman produce and bottle their oils, co-owner Brenda Chatelain explains their unusual smoke-infused extra-virgin olive oil as “a marriage of two primal things: Smoke and oil. It just creates a taste that’s a combination that I think strikes something from our cave days.”
The couple make three different oils, the most popular of which is the Sonoma Smoked Olive Oil using premium California extra-virgin olive oils. Unlike imitation “smoke” flavors that can turn acrid or have a fake barbecue flavor (or worse make you feel like you just licked an ashtray), the proprietary process of smoking gives Hartman’s oils an intense, focused wood and smoke flavor that plays with both your tastebuds and your sense memory — for me campfires and burning autumn leaves. The mellow mix of olive oils blankets the tongue for a creamy, buttery finish.
Chef Florence, an early fan of The Smoked Olive, describes their product more succinctly as, “the sexiest new flavor I’ve tasted in years.” He’s included their olive oil in his recent cookbook and served it at a $20,000 per plate fundraising dinner for the President. Reportedly, when Barack Obama got a drizzle of it on Florence’s squash and quail egg ravioli he didn’t just ask for seconds. He asked for thirds. The couple said they were also were asked to Fedex a shipment to Washington for the Inauguration. “But that’s about all we can tell you,” said Chatelain.
The idea for smoking olive oil came to Hartman in a dream, he said. The grandson of a chef, Hartman said he’s been fascinated since his teens with smoking meats and fish, building his own smoking contraptions that aren’t as much about fire (“That’s barbecuing,” he insists) but a slow, sustained infusion of wood and smoke into foods. His passion earned him the moniker “Smoke Whisperer” among his friends. So, after years of working in the real estate business, one day he just knew that smoking olive oil was his destiny. Chatelain, however, wasn’t so sure.
“Some of those first batches? Yuck.” she laughs.
Over several years of testing he got the flavors right, making sure that the oils weren’t exposed to extreme heat and light during the smoking process. “We were standing in the kitchen,” said Chatelain. “I just remember we both looked at each other and said, ‘Yes. This is it!’”. The couple began selling it at the Santa Rosa farmers’ market at the Veteran’s Hall, and found they were regularly selling out. A stint at San Francisco’s Fancy Food Show drew buyers like Michael Chiarello’s Napa Style, Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table, who all carry the oil.
Like many small business owners, Chatelain and Hartman have put in 14-plus hour days over the last five years to get their new company off the ground. But they don’t plan on letting the recent national attention go to their head. “It’s been timing, luck and hard work. We keep thinking all this is going to stop and then someone else writes about us,” Chatelain said, pointing to a stack of magazines and even a Washington Post article that gush about the oils as the “It” food product of the moment and a “new pantry essential”.
Why? Chatelain and Hartman think its a combination of a trend in food for smoked flavors, and the product being a simple luxury in a struggling economy. “There’s a curiosity factor, but then they taste it,” said Chatelain. “They are hooked.”
Another local fan, Chef John Ash, like many, were skeptical about the oil at first, but soon became a believer. “The two great enemies of fine oils are heat and light and I couldn’t imagine that one or both of those hadn’t been used. When I tasted the oils I was amazed. Lovely olive oil flavor with an interesting smokiness that those of us who like to grill are always searching for,” he said. Ash added that he recommends the oil to students of his healthy cooking classes as a way to add a grilled flavor without adding carbon to your food.
Hartman, who jumps up during the interview to check on his smoking operation, keeps a tight lid on his proprietary process and research and development. Suffice to say his smoking lab is as unconventional as his oils and there are a number of other smoked foods in the works (his smoked brown sugar is currently available). Saying anything else, well, might end us up in a whole lot of heat.
Currently the oils, which also include a stronger Napa Smoked Olive Oil and a spicy version, Santa Fe Smoked Chili Olive Oil are in approximately 600 stores nationwide and has begun shipping to far-flung places like Dubai and Australia. Locally you can find them at the Saturday Veteran’s Hall market, Sur La Table, The Olive Press, Big John’s Market and the Oakville Grocery in Healdsburg and online at thesmokedolive.com.
