Best Sonoma County Restaurant Openings 2012

By biteclub
Spinster Sisters
Spinster Sisters in Santa Rosa opened late summer 2012.

There’s no doubt that Healdsburg was the center of Sonoma County’s 2012 restaurant action, with six major openings along with the major news of Cyrus’ closure. There are still several projects in development as well, with anticipated 2013 openings. Here’s a look back at some of BiteClub’s favorite restaurant openings of 2012.

HEALDSBURG

Campo Fina: First out of the gate in 2012 was the opening of  Campo Fina, from Scopa-owner Ari Rosen. This casual wood-fired oven spot includes a large outdoor space with bocce and critically-acclaimed small plates. For most of Healdsburg, it was love at first bite. Open for dinner daily, beginning at 5:30pm. 330 Healdsburg Ave. at North St., Healdsburg, 707-395-4640. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Spoonbar gets a new chef, Pizzando: Owners of h2hotel and the Healdsburg Hotel had a busy year, welcoming new executive chef Louis Maldonado, revamping the Spoonbar menu and later in the year opening Pizzando inside the Healdsburg Hotel. 301 Healdsburg Ave, Healdsburg, 922-5233. Open daily for lunch and dinner starting at 11:30 a.m.

Bovolo becomes Taverna Sofia: After several years on the square, Zazu-owners John Stewart and Duskie Estes closed Bovolo Cafe and re-opened a seasonal pork shack called Zazu on the River at Davis Family Vineyards nearby. The Bovolo spot became Taverna Sofia, a Greek eatery owned by Chef Sofia Petridis-Lim. 244 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, closed Wednesday.

Bravas Bar de Tapas: Perhaps one of the biggest openings of the year was Mark and Terri Stark’s fifth restaurant, a Spanish tapas bar, in the former Ravenous. It’s a menu filled with brassy, bold flavors that do the cha-cha through your mouth and leave no question that you’ll need a breath mint or two before getting familiar with friends or co-workers.  Dishes include small plates of sardines, Iberico ham, calamari, quail with lavender and heartier dishes grilled on a plancha. 420 Center St., Healdsburg, 707-433-7700.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Ravenous: Call it a reverse evolution or maybe just a return to its roots, but Ravenous Restaurant reopened in May at its original eight table space at next to the Raven Theater after shuttering the 420 Center Street bungalow it inhabited for nearly a decade (see Bravas above). On the menu are the rustic-luxe, farm-to-table eats including roasted tomatoes with fresh balls of mozzarella, basil pesto and pine nuts; crab cakes with cilantro aioli and roasted eggplant; fresh fish tacos; mascarpone cheesecake with swirls of lemon curd. 117 North Street, Healdsburg, 431-1302. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Parish Cafe: With all of the easy of The Big Easy, Rob Lippincott’s New Orleans cafe draws you in with homey charm, Southern comfort and a menu that’s pure French Quarter. Open for breakfast and lunch Wednesday through Sunday, you’ll be hard-pressed to find more authentic Louisiana cooking this side of the mighty Miss. 60A Mill St., Healdsburg, 431-8474. RECOMMENDED.

Cafe Lucia:  A new restaurant in Healdsburg that doesn’t have a wood-fired oven? Yes, it’s true. Channeling Mediterranean flavors of another sort, Cafe Lucia, has opened in the former Affronti location on Healdsburg Avenue. Tucked well back from the street, brother and sister team Manuel and Lucia Azevedo have brought the “Nova Cozinha Portuguesa” or new Portuguese cuisine of Manuel’s highly acclaimed La Salette restaurant in Sonoma to their northern neighbors. Many of the dishes will be familiar to La Salette regulars, including richly-flavored and Portuguese nose-to-tail “tasca” or tasting plates of tripe stew, blood sausage, pig’s feet terrine and sardine pate. 235 Healdsburg Ave., 707-431-1113. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

SEBASTOPOL/WEST COUNTY

It’s also been a boom-year for West County, with the opening of four (soon to be five) restaurants between Sebastopol and Guerneville.

Backyard: One of my favorite new restaurants of the year is this unassuming little spot in Forestville. Sourcing, literally, from chef-owner Daniel Kedan’s own backyard culinary gardens and those of his ranch and farming neighbors, the Ad Hoc and Peter Lowell’s alum opened his small community-focused restaurant in October with a relatively simple menu that relies on seasonal produce, foragers and whole-animal butchery as its foundation. 6566 Front St., Forestville (the former Sarah’s Forestville Kitchen), 707-820-8445. Open daily for breakfast, lunch, dinner until 9p.m., brunch on Sunday. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Also nearby, the former Aioli Deli has been transformed into a charming counter-service cafe called Twist, (6536 Front St., Forestville) and the Henweigh Cafe is slated to re-open as Beaudry’s Roadhouse (4550 Gravenstein Hwy, Sebastopol) offering burgers, barbecue and hearty comfort food.) In Sebastopol, Eight Cuisine and Wine, a concept fusion-Asian restaurant opened in October from the owners of Sushi Tozai (7501 Healdsburg Ave., Sebastopol, 823-8189). In Guerneville, Hi Five has popped-up in at Pat’s Diner as an after-hours Korean noshery, featuring some creative takes on Asian comfort food. 16236 Main St., Guerneville.

SANTA ROSA

Spinster Sisters: Other than the near-deafening noise level, its hard to find much to complain about at this out-of-the-gate blockbuster in the South of A St. Arts District. Former Santi Chef Liza Hinman head up the kitchen with wine guru Giovanni Cerrone and Eric Anderson (a local who’s involved with Prune NYC) working behind the scenes. The menu is broken into a series of sections: Bites ($2-$4) are exactly that; Charcuterie and Cheese Plates ($6-$16); Veggies ($5-$7); Small Plates ($7-$14) and Large Plates ($14-16). Each works beautifully as a single sonnet, or together as an epic poem. 401 South A St., Santa Rosa, 528-7100. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Three Squares: Josh Silvers transformed the former Syrah Bistro once again into Three Squares this fall, re-envisioning it as a casual breakfast, lunch and dinner spot with a mix of homey comfort classics and a few “healthier” options after the chef-owner lost more than 30 pounds in 2012. 205 Fifth St., Santa Rosa, 545-4300. RECOMMENDED.

Ike’s Place: The lines have been out the door at Bay Area sandwich sensation, Ike’s Place since it opened in June. 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. RECOMMENDED.

Flipside: Rendez Vous owner Nino Rabbaa opened a burgery and bar in April featuring a combination of gourmet burgers, bar bites and strong drinks. The indoor-outdoor patio has been a favorite of late-nighters since opening. Rabbaa announced in December he’ll be opening two additional Flipside concepts — a brewpub and steakhouse — in 2013. 630 W. Third St., Santa Rosa.

BJ’s Brewhouse and Restaurant: Santa Rosa’s first mega restaurant, with more than 250 seats, and frankly, a pretty imposing exterior that’s brings to mind a Borg spaceship decorated by Bolsheviks. Appetizers range from poké (Hawaiian style raw tuna) to all things fried. Gourmet salads, burgers, deep dish pizzas (their speciality) and heartier pastas and steak entrees make up the rest of the menu. Most of what we tried (fried jalapeno burger, poke, mango Thai salad, mushroom pizza) are good, hearty dishes that won’t leave you breathlessly impressed, but will certainly satisfy a crowd. 334 Coddingtown Center, Santa Rosa.

More openings…

Hopmonk Novato: The massive space briefly occupied by Southern Pacific Smokehouse in Novato re-opened as the third Hopmonk Tavern in the North Bay.  The location, at 224 Vintage Way inside the Vintage Oaks Shopping Center is extra-large, seating 145 inside and an additional 80 in the outdoor beer garden. (224 Vintage Way, Novato).

Petaluma: Social Club opened in late summer, this Petaluma gathering spot soon lived up to its name. Taking over the long-empty Pazzo space at 132 Keller Street, Exec Chef Steven Levine created a rustic American menu around a wood-fired oven and grill with smoked short ribs, grilled Angus hangar steak, Prather Ranch burgers and Sonoma fried chicken. Santa Rosa’s Rosso Pizzeria and Wine Bar expanded to Petaluma in early summer, featuring a mozzarella bar and the same great wood-fired pizzas we’ve come to love further north. 151 Petaluma Blvd S., Petaluma.

Sonoma: With just eight dining tables and a handful of seats around the open galley kitchen, every inch of Glen Ellen Star is prime real estate. At the glowing heart of the restaurant: Chef Ari Weiswasser’s 650-degree custom-built wood oven that perfumes the entire block with its smoke. Combining classic French techniques, razor-focused attention to detail, and exotic Mediterranean and Middle Eastern spices in every dish, Glen Ellen Star hasn’t wasted any time getting up to speed. 13648 Arnold Drive, Glen Ellen. Reservations strongly recommended, 343-1384. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. 

Want to see more restaurant openings of 2012? Go to biteclubeats.com/new.

Mendocino Restaurants Saucy, Aquarelle, Hopland Ale House open

By biteclub
Saucy in Ukiah (courtesy of Saucy)
Saucy in Ukiah (courtesy of Saucy)
Saucy in Ukiah (courtesy of Saucy)

Three new Mendocino restaurants have opened in Northern Wine Country: Saucy in Ukiah, Aquarelle Cafe and Wine Bar in Boonville and Hopland Ale House in Hopland.

At Saucy (108 W. Standley St., Ukiah, 707-462-7007) Chef Mitchel Mount, an alum of Tra Vigne and la Brea Bakery has teamed with restaurateur Cynthia Ariosta and former Iron Horse winemaker/owner Forrest Tancer to create an urban oasis in this emerging restaurant town. The menu features wood-fired pizzas, small plates of meatballs or burrata, crispy kale Caesar and pizza “sandwiches” for lunch.

Aquarelle in Boonville
Aquarelle in Boonville

In Boonville, private chef Christina Jones brings together a fusion of flavors to Cafe Aquarelle(14025 Hwy. 128, Boonville, 707-895-2767). Recent menus include Berkshire pork chops with apple-caramelized onion chutney and buttermilk mashed potatoes ($18) to truffle fries with house made aioli ($8) and skillet prawns with garlic butter and white wine ($13).

Hopland Ale House

Just-opened Hopland Ale House serves up pub classics like Ale House Chili, pastrami sandwiches and chicken taco salad along with live entertainment and a variety of micro-brewed beers (13351 S. Highway 101, Hopland, 707-744-1255).

The Fairy Godmother of Santa Rosa

By biteclub
Claudia Levin greets Benjamin Bertini, 15 months, and his mother Kathryn in Santa Rosa
Claudia Levin greets Benjamin Bertini, 15 months, and his mother Kathryn in Santa Rosa
Claudia Levin greets Benjamin Bertini, 15 months, and his mother Kathryn in Santa Rosa

It’s hard not to notice a fairy godmother wandering around Santa Rosa’s Montgomery Village. As Claudia Levin, aka “The Winter Queen of the Faeries”, drifts around the shopping center on a drizzly Saturday morning before Christmas in a cloud of glitter, sequins and yards of lace and taffeta heads swivel once, then twice for a double-take.

“Is that…” asks a woman walking by. Yes, Virginia, there is a Fairy Godmother.

Levin grants a wish
Levin grants a wish

Levin, 61, is a local performer who spends much of her fall and winter as either the Pumpkin Fairy Godmother at the Adobe Pumpkin Farm near Petaluma or the Winter Faerie Queen at various holiday events. Over the last ten years, you may have seen her atop her pumpkin throne or floating around Santa Rosa in one of her various guises (she also does palm readings, singing telegrams and a few other characters throughout the year, including Mrs. Claus). But regardless of what she’s wearing, Levin’s real trade is in granting wishes and dreams to anyone who believes.

If you follow her around for even a few minutes, you’ll soon realize that just about everyone believes.

“I grant wishes for people from 1 to 140,” she says, as a group of teens come over to her for a closer look at the shopping plaza.  One boy bows and calls her “Your Majesty”, a girl quietly whispers to Levin and stands stone still as Levin waves her wand over her head and sprinkles “fairy dust” in her hand.

“I hear your wishes like a beautiful song and keep them in my heart all year long,” she lilts. The girl walks away smiling. “Well that was fun,” she giggles.

At a time when reality is all to real, Levin’s soft-spoken, earnest presence and desire to bring smiles to the faces of strangers might seem a bit corny. But as she walks around, reactions are anything but cynical. In fact, most folks seem downright charmed.

A sprinkling of fairy dust
A sprinkling of fairy dust

“How do you do you tell a fairy princess you don’t want a wish?” asks Katherine Oliver of Santa Rosa, who was holding a spot in line for her grand-daughter to see Santa Claus as Levin closed in and asked she and her daughter, Emily Twitchell, also of Santa Rosa, what they wished for this year. “Her softness just invites people to join in,” said Twitchell, smiling.

“People come out of curiosity. They’re magnetized to the little spark of energy and the costume,” Levin says. Her elaborate costumes even have stories of their own. “I tell the children that the jewels on my hat were a shooting star in the dark sky that landed right on my head. People want to have that hope and belief,” she adds.

“We started three years ago having the Winter Queen at our holiday open house,” said Melissa Williams, Director of Marketing and operations at Montgomery Village Shopping Center. “It was, at first, all about the children. She’d hand out treats and grant wishes. What was even sweeter was the fact that adults of all ages actually seek her out to be granted a wish. It’s quite touching to see the amazement of children when they see her approaching them. Adults, too.”

Levin as the Winter Faerie Queen

Of course, one doesn’t just become a godmother overnight. Levin, who runs Levin Entertainment and Events has been performing in the Bay Area since the late 1970s — including as a member of a Middle Eastern dance troupe where she danced with a snake. “I tell people I traded in my snake for a wand,” says Levin. She later moved on to playing Mrs. Claus at the holidays after a friend gave her a costume. “She was my gateway,” she says. Finally, she was inspired by a therapist in  Sonoma County years ago who sometimes played Glinda the Good Witch (from the Wizard of Oz) at events. “She bequeathed (being a fairy godmother) to me. I got my wish from her,” says Levin.

Levin makes it clear she isn’t a therapist, though her work with strangers can sometimes be surprisingly intimate. “People will tell me stories in their life. People unload heavy stuff and they leave lighter,” says Levin. “Its good work. It’s a joy for me, and its needed work in the world. People just don’t expect it, and that’s a gift to them and to me,” says Levin.

Sashaying away in a whoosh of fairy dust and goodwill, she says,”Wish a wish that’s right for you, and I’ll be with you the whole year long.”

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New Arrivals at the Barlow in Sebabstopol

By biteclub
Artist’s rendering of the proposed Barlow site
Artist's rendering of the proposed Barlow site
Artist’s rendering of the proposed Barlow site

As Sebastopol’s Barlow marketplace nears completion, three new food-related tenants have been announced: Sub Zero Ice Cream and antiquarian bookseller Ben Kinmont. Sub Zero is a Utah-based ice cream chain that uses liquid nitrogen to make “instant” ice cream flavors for customers. Ben Kinmont is the nation’s foremost antiquarian bookseller specializing in 15th to early 19th works on gastronomy and related topics. Other food and wine tenants include Kosta Browne Winery, Guayaki Yerba Mate, Wine Gap Wines, Community Market, Taylor Maid Farms, Spirit Works Distillery, Village Bakery, Warped Brewing, MacPhail Family Wines, FEED Sonoma, La Follette Wines, Marimar Estates, Whole Spice and Gypsy Bay Laurel. It’s also rumored that Zazu’s John Stewart and Duskie Estes may be joining the Barlow lineup in the near future. Stay tuned for more details.

Dungeness Crab Feasting at Corks

By biteclub


Leave the bib and hammer behind and celebrate Dungeness crab season in style with Corks’ Crab Feast, happening now through January 2013. Born into an Alaskan crabbing family, Chef Todd Davies has a natural affinity for these tasty crustaceans, featuring Crab Cake with cucumber salad, Moroccan preserved lemon and yogurt sauce ($15), crab bisque with garlic croutons and white truffle oil ($11), crab and avocado salad with orange, Meyer lemon and endive ($15) and steamed crab with fennel drawn butter and pommes frites (othewise known as French fries, $34). The restaurant is open for brunch and lunch Monday through Friday,11a.m. to 2:30 pm, and from10a.mm on Saturday and Sunday. Dinner 5 to 8p.m. daily.  5700 Highway 116 North, Forestville, 707-887-3344.

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Best Cookbooks 2012

By biteclub

Here are my absolute favorite cookbooks of 2012…

1. Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, Deb Perlman
Everything…just everything in this cookbook from blogger Deb Perlman screams “Cook Me!” The combination of creative recipes, lush photography and chatty “you can do this” writing make it a must-have for the holidays.

2. Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi
As much a social commentary on life in this melting pot of a metropolis as cookbook, Jerusalem dives into the homey, rich heritage of Jewish and Palestinian cooking. Even if you didn’t think you like Middle Eastern food,  you’re likely to change your mind perusing the pictures and reading the stories of this insightful cookbook.

3. Canal House Cooks Everyday by Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton
Seasonal cooking is great, but Canal House cookbooks take it to an extreme — creating recipes for each day of the year. Beautifully illustrated with photos from the pair’s New Jersey kitchen and workshop.

4. Pioneer Woman Cooks, Ree Drummond
Every food writer has a food blogger they love to hate. Ree is mine. Mostly because I’m so jealous. She’s a great mom, has her own show, makes delicious food and creates recipes that just work out perfectly. I frequently consult her website for weeknight meal ideas, and I haven’t been let down yet.

5. Art of Fermentation, Sandor Katz
Fermenting is brilliant. Especially for your gut. Learn how to get fizzy, bubbly and fermented with the king of fermentation.

 A few others I loved earlier in the year…

Japanese Farm Food, Nancy Singleton Hachisu, Andrews McMeel Publishing, $35
The most beautiful book released this fall is this love letter to the simple, pure foods of the Japanese countryside. American-born, Nancy is married to a Japanese egg farmer, over the years adopting the community, culture and cuisine of an ancient, rural Japan as her own. Written as both memoir and cookbook, Hachisu describes the book as, “…just our Hachisu family food. It is a compilation of traditional dishes that my husband grew up with and new ones that he or I created. I had never seen a cookbook that approached Japanese food in the way my husband did–main ingredient and field or fish market driven so I never felt compelled to cook the recipes I saw in other books.” And while many of the pickled, preserved flavors and ingredients may seem foreign to American palates, but Hachisu bridges the gap with simple, homey preparations.

Bouchon Bakery, Thomas Keller, Artisan, $50
It’s so cute that any of us think we could actually make croissants like the famed Yountville bakery run by culinary rockstar Thomas Keller. Oh, we can certainly try, and this new book written in a breezy, sweet style does actually lull you into thinking this recipe blueberry muffins with almond streusel might turn you into a morning hero. But it takes years to become as deft with butter and flour as Keller and co-author/executive pastry chef Sebastein Rouxel . So buy the book, set it in your kitchen and dunk your Oreos in milk while dreaming of buttercream and the perfect French macaron.

101 Classic Cookbooks: 501 Classic Recipes, edited by Fales Library, Rizzoli, $50
Like a mix-tape of just the good songs, this cookbook assembles the best of the best recipes as chosen by the likes of Jonathan Gold, Michael Pollan and Ruth Reichl from the 55,000 cookbooks of the Fales Library at New York University. That means tried-and-true classics such as Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon, Elizabeth David’s Bouillabaisse, Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese Ragu, Jacques Pepin’s Brioche, James Beard’s Pig Hamburgers, and Irma Rombauer’s Devil’s Food Cake Cockaigne. As if that wasn’t enough star power, Judith Jones, Florence Fabricant and Alice Waters are contributors and Marion Nestle has written the forward. Required reading.

“The Great Meat Cookbook”, Bruce Aidells, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $40
There aren’t many chefs who could get away with an entire chapter on veal. Even fewer who would devote nearly a hundred pages to lamb and goat. But Bruce Aidells is the undisputed heavy-weight champion of animal protein, and his new book is his ring. In exhaustive detail, he discusses everything from how to perfectly sear a cut of bison to the differences between grass-fed, grain-finished and organically-raised meats. A meaty-read for sure.

“Modernist Cuisine at Home”, by Nathan Myhrvold and Maxime Bilet, The Cooking Lab, $140
So you couldn’t justify the $625 for Modernist Cuisine, the five-volume Bible of modern cooking and drool-worthy photos. Using the same cross-sectioned photo techniques and detailed explanations, the home version does for pot roast what Modernist Cuisine did for restaurant menus.

Here’s a list of the Top 25 Books of 2012 (mostly related to food politics) from Cornucopia.org.
1. Turn Here Sweet Corn by Atina Diffley
2. The $64 Tomato by William Alexander
3. The Dirty Life by Kristen Kimball
4. The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
5. The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais
6. The Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler
7. Tomatoland by Barry Estabrook
8. The Secret Life of Food by Clare Crespo
9. This Life Is in Your Hands by Melissa Coleman
10. Plenty (Eating Locally on the 100-Mile Diet) by Alisa Smith, J.B. Mackinnon
11. Urban Homesteading-Heirloom Skills for Sustainable Living by Rachel Kaplan with K. Ruby Blume
12. Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig
13. The Unhealthy Truth by Robyn O’Brien and Rachel Kranz
14. Stolen Harvest by Vandana Shiva
15. Wheat Belly by William Davis
16. Slaughterhouse by Gail A. Eisnitz
17. Righteous Porkchop by Nicolette Hahn Niman
18. Folks, This Ain’t Normal by Joel Salatin
19. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
20. The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz
21. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
22. Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web by Jeff Lowenfels and Wayne Lewis
23. Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods by Sandor Ellix Katz and Sally Fallon
24. The Viking in The Wheat Field by Susan Dworkin
25. The Phytozyme Cure: Treat or Reverse More Than 30 Serious Health Conditions with Powerful Plant Nutrients by Michelle Cook

Gifts for Foodies 2012

By biteclub
Want this chicken coop from Wine Country Coops.
Want this chicken coop from Wine Country Coops.
Want this chicken coop from Wine Country Coops.

There are so many things to give the cook/foodie/hedonist/kitchen-obsessive in your life this holiday season. Like this, this, this or *especially* this.

In honor of the 12 Days of Xmas, here are a few things on our list…

Twelve pounds of Bella Rosa Coffee
Eleven jars of Beekind Honey
Ten packets of Gary and Kit’s Dukkah Spice Blend
Nine recipes from the Ceres Cookbook
Eight trays in my new Excalibur dehydrator
Seven gift certificates to eat out at local restaurants
Six cast iron pans
Five adorable chickens in a hand-built chicken coop!
Four packs of Baker Creek heirloom seeds
Three pounds of locally grown wheat
Two days to cook everything in the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook…
And a FoodSaver 3880 Vacuum Seal Master Chef Kit under my tree.

Williams-Sonoma Butter Making Kit

Meantime, here are just a few of the things we don’t want..

You know the whole DIY food thing as officially jumped the shark when Williams-Sonoma comes out with an artisan butter-making kit. That doesn’t include the cream. For $30. I’d be glad to hand-deliver you a pint of heavy cream and a clue for $15.

– Brooklyn Kombucha kit for $70 you get  a fancy glass jar, some sugar and tea (granted, its fair-trade!) and a SCOBY starter. Um, or you could open a bottle of $3.99 kombucha from Whole Foods and make your own. Perhaps it goes without saying that ordering a DIY “kit” kind of defeats the idea of doing-it-yourself?

– Panini Press/Quesadilla Maker: You really need something that takes up this much counter space and costs upwards of $100 to make a grilled cheese sandwich? Hint: Put the sandwich/quesadilla in a skillet, then put another heavy skillet on top. Genius.

– Mixed Cocktail Machine: Fill this $300 digital bartender with neon-colored mixers, a little rum and a perfectly mixed cocktail is just a push-button away. Which sounds nice until you try to tell it your problems and its only response is, “Feeling Lucky?”  Frankly, this is much more clever.

– Automatic Cocktail Shaker: When mixing a cocktail just feels like too much work.

China Room Closes

By biteclub
Sign at the China Room
Sign at the China Room
Sign at the China Room

Details are slim, but the popular China Room restaurant (500 Mission Blvd., Santa Rosa) has closed — at least temporarily. The restaurant states that it is closed for remodeling until further notice. The restaurant has served Santa Rosa since 1988.

I dropped by the other day to peek on the window, and it appears that most of the furniture is still inside. Whether or not the restaurant will re-open is unclear.

Open for Xmas

By biteclub

Ho ho ho, who wants to be in the kitchen on Christmas Day? Because after all that elf-ing, you deserve a break. But TV dinners are about as merry as traffic jam and leftovers just won’t cut it when your mother-in-law’s involved.

So, if you’re looking for a spot to indulge in some stress-free, kitchen-free dining, here are some best bets for Sonoma County restaurants that are open on Christmas Day 2012…

Brasserie at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek: Open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Dinner specials include seafood chowder, Dungeness crab cakes, turkey pot pie, Maine lobster risotto, prime rib, butternut squash ravioli. Breakfast 6:30 to 11a.m, noon to 7p.m.. 170 Railroad Street  Santa Rosa, 636-7388.

Cafe Europe: Open Christmas eve until 9p.m., Christmas day from noon to 6p.m.. Grilled Nuernberger sausage, beer steamed mussels, lobster, filet mignon, baked veal rib chop, lamb loin chops, wild boar ragout, veal schnitzel and more. A la carte menu Dec. 24, three or four course prix fixe ($38-42) on Christmas Day. 104 Calistoga Rd  Santa Rosa, 538-5255.

Madrona Manor Inn & Restaurant: Two weeks of Dickens Dinner celebrations culminate on Christmas Day, with seatings at 1:30 and 6:30 p.m. Chef Jesse Mallgren’s holiday menus feature such dishes as seared foie gras with quince compote, lobster-inspired Shepherd’s Pie, Dungeness crab with Green Goddess dressing, beef Wellington and Christmas pudding. The five-course menu is $125 per person (all ages). Dickens carolers entertain throughout the meal. Reservations required, 1001 Westside Rd., Healdsburg, (707)433-4231, madronamanor.com.

Sante at Sonoma Mission Inn: Sante’s Christmas Grand Buffet, a true groaning board, is offered from 2 to 8 p.m. Highlights include charcuterie, salumi, antipasti, artisan cheeses, smoked and cured fish, caviar, salads, sweetbreads with black truffles, glazed ham, Coq au Vin, carving stations of Niman Ranch beef and roasted goose, artichoke raviolis with preserved lemon cream sauce, breads from a wood-fired oven and more than a dozen desserts, including English toffee and chocolate bread pudding and Buche de Noel. Cost is $99 for adults and $49.50 for kids aged 5 to 12; children 4 years old and younger are complimentary. Beverages, tax and gratuity are not included. Reservations recommended, 939-2415.  100 Boyes Blvd., Sonoma. http://www.fairmont.com/sonoma/dining/santerestaurant/

The Lodge at Sonoma/Carneros Bistro and Wine Bar: Christmas dinner includes creamy cauliflower soup, coffee dusted filet of beef, Liberty Farm duck breast, egg nog creme brulee and a chocolate yule log. $55 per person, 2-8p.m.. 1325 Broadway, Sonoma. 707-931-2042.

Saddles Steakhouse: Filet mignon, shrimp bisque, prime rib, chocolate peppermint mousse. $52 per person from 3-7:30p.m., 29 East MacArthur Street, Sonoma, (707) 933-3191.

Pick It Up
Fresh By Lisa Hemenway: Complete Christmas Dinner to go (order in advance) at freshbylisahemenway.com. (Must be ordered in advance)

Christmas Eve

Dry Creek Kitchen: Four course menu includes Hawaiian ahi carpaccio, roasted chestnut soup, Wagu steak with brioche bread pudding, sticky toffee pudding. $57 per person with optional wine flight. Open 5:30 to 9pm., Hotel Healdsburg, 317 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg.

Casual

Fu Zhou Super Buffet, 450 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, open 11am to 8pm

Adel’s Restaurant, 456 College Ave., Santa Rosa, 6am to midnight