Latitude, Doc Hollidays become Flipside restaurants

By biteclub
Rabbaa in 2010 at Rendez Vous

Local restaurateur Nino Rabbaa is expanding his empire of restaurants in Sonoma County with news that he’ll be opening two new restaurants in 2013. The biggest, which is still in concept development, will be Flipside Brewhouse in the former Latitude Restaurant location (5000 Roberts Lake Drive) in Rohnert Park. That restaurant closed in 2010 and the large, indoor-outdoor space has been empty since despite several nibbles by local restaurant owners.

Rabbaa will also open Flipside Steakhouse in the former Ritas-turned-Doc Hollidays in Santa Rosa. The karoake bar at 138 Calistoga Road closed in 2011, followed by the short-lived restaurant and bar. Rabbaa says he’ll be doing construction on the space over the next few months and hopes to reopen as a neighborhood restaurant and bar.

Rabbaa’s SoCo Hospitality Group includes Rendez Vous Bistro, Flipside Bar & Burger, Space XXV Lounge (which opened in late October), Chez Vous Catering and Lakeside Grill at Spring Lake.

Cafe Lucia Healdsburg

By biteclub
Day boat scallops at Cafe Lucia in Healdsburg ©heather irwin

 

Day boat scallops at Cafe Lucia in Healdsburg ©heather irwin
Day boat scallops at Cafe Lucia in Healdsburg ©heather irwin

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.

Manuel and Lucia

The menu also includes Manuel’s Caldo Verde (Portugal’s national soup of beef consumme) steak with piri piri (a type of chili) fries and Feijoada Complete (stewed beef, pork and beans) as well as simpler “all-access” sandwiches like a crab melt, pulled pork sandwich or BLT for lunch.

Don’t skimp on the homemade rolls, made with a bit of sugar for a slightly sweet, yeasty taste. If you’re new to Portuguese food, its worth some culinary exploration. Go for authentic eats like Caldeirada, a fish stew with shrimp, sea bass, mussels and lobster fume, pan-seared day boat scallops with Japanese sweet potatoes and a traditional dessert of sweet rice, malassadinhas (tiny fried donuts) and almond ice cream with fig cake. With a glass of sweet Port, naturally.

Prices range from around $10 to $25 for entrees, open for lunch and dinner daily.

Cafe Lucia, 235 Healdsburg Ave. at Mill St., 707-431-1113. cafelucia.net

Diane Peterson wrote a lovely stories about Manuel’s cookbooks, the LaSalette Cookbook and the influence of Portuguese cooking in Sonoma County and beyond. It’s great reading.

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Tribute to Jewish Brooklyn Dinner

By biteclub

Sonoma County Chef Tiffany Friedman is heading to San Francisco for a dinner paying tribute to Jewish Brooklyn on Saturday December 15, 2012.

The menu features half-sour pickles, a mixed plate with golden borscht, smoked sturgeon and latkes, grass-fed brisket with kasha varnishkes gratin and blintzes and egg creams for dessert. $50 per person, seatings at 6:30 and 8pm, 1106 Market St., between Sixth and Seventh. Buy tickets online at Kitchit.

Cider Party

By biteclub

Gypsy Cafe in Sebastopol host a cookie, punch, cider and shopping party from 4 to 7p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15. The cafe will be pouring Apple Sauced Ciders, sourced from local Gravenstein apples. The project is a collaboration between Jolie Devoto and her busband, Hunter Wade, second-generation apple farmers at Sebastopol’s Devoto Gardens. “We’re making New World cider for Californians,” said Devoto. The event happens at 162 N. Main St., Sebastopol.

Rooney at Corks

By biteclub

Two bits of good news for Cork’s Restaurant at Russian River Vineyards. Most importantly, exec chef Todd Davies tells BiteClub that the threat of bankruptcy for Russian Rivers Vineyards has been staid, and “we will be in business for years to come.”

Secondly, Davies has named Dominique Rooney, grand-daughter of actor Mickey Rooney, as Chef de Cuisine. The former model has done local stints at Sugo in Petaluma and with Mark Malicki at Casino in Bodega, as well as a number of restaurant in Los Angeles. She and Davies are updating the menus and throughout December will feature a variety of crab dishes.

5700 Gravenstein Hwy North, Forestville.

Feast of the Seven Fishes

By biteclub

Over seven nights (Dec. 18-24), Healdsburg’s Spoonbar will serve up an eclectic mix of fish and seafood dishes from the everday to the exotic in homage to the Italian tradition of the Feast of the Seven Fishes. The celebration, which dates back hundreds of years, stems from the Catholic practice of abstaining from red meat in the days leading up to Christmas. Chef Louis Maldonado’s menu includes sea urchin with smoked potato puree, citrus-marinated Dungeness crab, Japanese kanpachi, octopus and mussels in coconut curry broth, brioche-crusted branzino and oyster panna cotta. Menus will range from $50-$55 per person, with each night featuring a different menu.

For full details go to the Spoonbar Feast of the Seven Fishes website.

Pear opens in Napa

By biteclub
Chicken and waffles from Pear
Chicken and waffles from Pear
Chicken and waffles from Pear

Pear opens Dec. 11, 2012 in Napa, a Southern-inspired restaurant that replaces Tyler Florence’s short-lived riverfront bistro at 720 Main Street.

Open daily for lunch and dinner, the restaurant will feature a single menu with classics like macaroni and cheese, shrimp and grits, rotisserie chicken, collard greens, chicken and dumplings and chicken and waffles with pear-bourbon maple syrup.

Chef-owner Rodney Worth owns several restaurants in the East Bay including The Peasant and the Pear, The Prickly Pear Cantina and Ferrari’s Cucina Italiana.

Heritage Public House moving to Mendocino Ave.

By biteclub

The relocation of Video Droid — a popular JC campus hangout — to its new (smaller) nearby digs begged the question: What’s going into the high-profile 1901 Mendocino Avenue space? The answer, which has been brewing in beer circles for a while, is Heritage Public House.

Moving from its Cleveland Avenue location, partner Dino D’Argenzio says the expanded public house and gastropub is a better fit location-wise and demographically.

Expected to open in February, they’ll have a small menu, 20 craft beers on tap along with a beer garden and entertainment lineup. D’Argenzio’s son, Roman, will be general manager.

“We are really excited about it,” D’Argenzio said. Heritage joins a growing craft beer movement in the Northbay that includes several new brewpubs, microbreweries and specialty beer retailers.

Chewy Oatmeal Marshmallow Cookie Recipe

By biteclub
Oatmeal Marshmallow Delights ©heather irwin
Oatmeal Marshmallow Delights ©heather irwin
Oatmeal Marshmallow Delights ©heather irwin

Chewy Chocolate Oatmeal Delights

Submitted by Cheryl
Ingredients

1 cup of softened butter
2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1 cup PACKED brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups quick cook oatmeal.
2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa

Mini marshmallows and 1/4 cup of butter for gooey center

Instructions
1. In a medium bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time.

2. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in oats. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour. (This will help keep the cookies soft after they are baked)

3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Flatten each cookie with a large fork dipped in sugar. the cookies get much bigger, so make sure they are about 2 inches apart.

4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

5. When the cookies have cooled, heat marshmallows and butter in nonstick saucepan until completely melted and smooth. remove from burner and let cool for about a minute. take a cookie and turn it upside down. Spread a couple spoonfuls onto bottom of cookie, then, put another cookie on top of that. If you are not fond of marshmallow, the cookies themselves are great.

Cornberry Cookie Recipe

By biteclub
Cornberry Cookies ©heather irwin
Cornberry Cookies ©heather irwin
Cornberry Cookies ©heather irwin

Cornberry Cookies

This is a new spin on a traditional cookie. Vanessa love cornbread and and muffins, so she split the flour with corn meal and added cranberries and pecans. Vanessa found that the base of this cookie works well with any add-in, especially dark chocolate chips. Don’t be afraid to deviate from the cranberries, coconut even mixes well!
This is a new spin on a traditional cookie. Vanessa love cornbread and and muffins, so she split the flour with corn meal and added cranberries and pecans. Vanessa found that the base of this cookie works well with any add-in, especially dark chocolate chips. Don’t be afraid to deviate from the cranberries, coconut even mixes well!

2012 Best Fruit or Nut Cookie Winner
Submitted by Vanessa Kilgore

Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup yellow corn meal
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 sticks of butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups chopped dried cranberries
1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl, set aside. Combine butter and sugar and cream together with a mixer. Add eggs to creamed butter and sugar one at a time. Slowly mix dry ingredients into mixture until combined. Stir in cranberries and pecans by hand.

3. Cover cookie dough and place bowl in refrigerator to let dough chill for about 20 minutes.

4. Once dough is chilled, spoon cookies on to cookie sheet, about one inch in diameter 1-2 inches apart. Place remaining dough back in refrigerator. Bake cookies at 350 for 11-13 minutes.

Note: To keep cookies from going flat, keep dough cold, the result will be a fluffier cookie.