Page 567 – Sonoma Magazine

Maker’s, Manhattans & Marinades

June 2011

By biteclub

Give dad the gift he really wants: Cooking the perfect steak, inside & out, with Chef Mark Stark of Stark’s Steakhouse.
Nobody knows steak like Chef Mark Stark. Arrange for your favorite Dad to spend an afternoon with Mark and learn the tricks of the trade. The day starts out with a lesson in creating the ultimate Maker’s Mark Manhattan. Participants will enjoy Manhattans with barbecued oysters from the grill while Mark shares his secrets to becoming a steak pro. Then, everyone sits down to dig into those steaks, served up with signature Steakhouse summer sides.

Mark will cover:

Wet vs. dry aging
How to select steak
Marinades and dry rubs
Cooking methods

Sunday, July 17, Noon to 3pm, Stark’s Steakhouse, Cost: $125 per person

Purchase online at www.starkrestaurants.com. Call (707) 576-9610 to arrange certificate pickup at the restaurant.

Where to take dad to eat?

– Steakhouses
– BBQ spots

Cheesemaking legend Ig Vella dies

June 2011

By biteclub

Sonoma County cheese making legend Ignazio “Ig” Vella has died at the age of 82 after a prolonged illness.

The son of cheese maker Gaetano “Tom” Vella, Ig is considered by many to be the godfather of the artisan cheese movement. Rarely seen without his trademark white paper cheese maker’s cap, Ig took over the family business in 1981 which included Vella Cheese Company in the town of Sonoma and Rogue Creamery in Oregon.

Having grown up in the trade, from washing vats to delivering cheese in his father’s Model A in the early 1930’s, Ig eschewed bland, mass-produced cheeses, instead championing local dairymen and small-production artisan cheeses typified by their Mezzo Secco, an Italian-style aged dry Jack similar to Parmesan. Vella cheese has been recognized by Slow Foods in its Ark of Taste as a cherished food and in 2006 Vella was given the first “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the American Cheese Society.

In the late 1990s, Ig turned his sites to the family’s operations in Oregon. Despite initial skepticism, Vella’s commitment to making world-class blue cheese in the Rogue River Valley has garnered him legions of cheese making fans, including the current co-owner of Rogue River Creamery, David Gremmels, who took over operations from Vella with a handshake deal in 2002.

“(Recently) we met with him and spent several days reminiscing and planning for the future,” said Gremmels. “He will be remembered for so many things, so many of us respect and think of him as a pillar. He affected so many cheese makers in a positive way that will be felt for generations,” said Gremmels.

Though Ig had stepped away from daily operations at the company in recent years, his reach continued to be felt throughout the community. “Truly without Ig Vella, I would not be who I am today,” said Sonoma cheese maker Sheana Davis of Epicurean Connection. “Nearly every artisan cheese maker has called on him for his experience, and he has been really helpful.”

Family remember Ig as an outspoken and opinionated part of the tight-knit Sonoma community. “You always knew where Ig stood,” said daughter Chickie Vella, who has run the company for the past several years with son Gabriel Luddy. “He did everything his own way, including how he died — on his own terms,” she added. In the many chapters of his life, Ig had also served as as a Sonoma County Supervisor and director of the Sonoma County Fair. The Ig Vella Bridge was dedicated to the cheesemaker in the town of Sonoma in 2006.

A public service for Vella will be held at 11am, Friday June 17, 2011 at St. Francis Solano Church in Sonoma. He is survived by his wife Sally; children Chickie, Ditty and Thomas Vella; six grandchildren, Gabriel, Miranda and Shaina Vella, Ross and Marius Cannard and Gia DeSoto and one great-grandchild. He is preceded in death by daughter Sara, who died in 1992. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice By the Bay or Friends of Turkana.

Bounty Hunter | Napa

June 2011

By biteclub

Pull up a saddle at this downtown Napa winebar and bbq eatery. The scent of their back-door smoker and beer-can chicken sizzling on the grill perfume the block and pay off on the promise of some sweet fusion-que. One of my favorite picks for California-style barbecue, Bounty Hunter serves up great smoky ribs, pulled brisket and pork with their own chipotle, mustard & vinegar and sweet-hot red sauce. Kind of a surprise for a winebar, but in true California style, they’ll guide to to some barbecue-friendly wines like their Broken Spur Dry Creek Zinfandel or Campfire Red.

Bounty Hunter, 975 First St., Napa, 226.3976

Catelli’s Restaurant a Geyserville Italian Favorite

June 2011

By biteclub

Nudging open the age-worn door of Catelli’s, an old-timer steps inside, blinks a few times surveying the restaurant, then smiles at his wife. “I used to eat here all the time,” he beams, gently guiding her inside toward the familiar dining room. “You know, before it went all foo-foo.”

Welcome back to Catelli’s. First opened in 1936 by Santi and Virginia Catelli as a simple Italian-American restaurant in Geyserville, the family trattoria was a Sonoma County institution for more than 50 years. Known then as “Catelli’s The Rex” (the “Rex” sign purchased on the cheap from a local sign maker whose original client never claimed it), the menu featured decidedly unfoofed fare of spaghetti, minestrone and ravioli. But after decades of checked-tablecloth service, the Catelli family shuttered the restaurant in 1986. The building was later leased to the owners of upscale regional Italian eatery, Santi, for more than a decade.

Having grown up in their grandparent’s restaurant, Domenica and Nicholas Catelli long dreamed of reopening the family business. Both food veterans, the siblings nabbed the opportunity in 2010 when the Catelli building went vacant. Nick’s front of the house experience as a restaurant manager and bartender along with sister Domenica’s stints as a celebrity chef, cookbook author and bigwig in the organic food industry seemed a solid start. Armed with generations of family photos and memories of their grandmother’s cooking, the two dove in.

Central to the old-is-new menu are Virginia’s fabled ravioli. Tissue-paper thin sheets of pasta dough are rolled daily, stuffed with a secret combination of sausage, beef, chicken, chard, sourdough crumbs, herbs and spices. “Our family never wrote down a recipe, so we recreated these from sensory memories,” said Domenica. Topped with her eponymous DC sauce (a new family secret made with organic tomatoes and local olive oil), they’re old world comfort with a new school freshness. Family friend Guy Fieri, who recently featured the restaurant on the Food Network, calls them some of the best he’s ever had. But don’t ask for them to-go, because these delicate beauties apparently self-destruct within a few minutes and don’t travel well.

The thin sheets are also used for a 10-layer lasagna that’s so light it nearly floats off the plate. “People all over the world tell us they dream about Catelli’s lasagna,” said Nick.

Of course, where there is spaghetti, follow meatballs. Made with free-range Covelo beef and homemade pork sausage, Catelli’s taste like what a meatball should — savory, rich and delightfully carnivorous. They’re especially tasty stuffed between two Franco American buns as a trio of sliders.

Domenica’s background in healthy, organic eating brings an alternative point of view to the traditional comfort-food menu. Her daily specials include dishes like organic grilled favas, pan-seared local yellowtail or a plate of fresh burrata and prosciutto with wild arugula and grilled bread. But does all this rich food jive with her good-eating outlook? “It’s about simply prepared food with prime ingredients,” she said. And that, frankly, means one of the best hamburgers in Wine Country — a mix of ground Kobe beef brisket and sirloin that’s best eaten silkily rare and with a minimum of condiments. Mind-bendingly good.

Despite a modern, whitewashed interior, the past is ever-present at Catelli’s. Sepia-toned portraits smile down from ever wall — the inimitable server Kitty Dugan astride her Indian motorcycle, bartender Lou Columbano tending bar in the 1930’s (he is still a weekly regular at the restaurant), or patriarch Santi standing stoically in the 1940s.

Comingling the past and present, Catelli’s has quietly wooed back locals, again making it part of the fabric of tiny Geyserville. Once again families, friends and old timers eat elbow to elbow in dining room that’s fed them for three generations — a fitting reminder that humble ravioli, a bowl of minestrone or a simple meatball so deeply rooted in a community’s past makes it all the more delicious today.

Catelli’s Restaurant, 21047 Geyserville Ave., Geyserville, 857-3471. Closed Monday, open daily for lunch and dinner. Website

Want a hint at Domenica’s secret tomato sauce? You can find it in her book, Mom-a-licious: Fresh, Fast, Family Food for the Hot Mama in You!

Food Trucks in the Park

June 2011

By biteclub

Eat for a cause! From 3-7pm Tuesday June 7 several local food trucks (including the newly minted Charlie Bruno’s Chuckwagon) will serve up street food to help benefit County Parks. Head over to Spring Lake, near the boat dock (not Howarth park, which is a city park) to chow on food from La Texanita (seriously, the best burritos), Street-Eatz and barbecue from Bruno’s on Fourth owner Rick Bruno. Ten percent of all proceeds go directly to the parks.

A fitting way to spend the first sunny day in weeks.

There is a fee if you drive in, it’s $6 (come on, you’re helping the parks) or you can walk in for free. Map and details

Late Night Eats

June 2011

By biteclub

Wine Country isn’t known for its night-owl disposition. In fact, if you’ve ever driven north from San Francisco after 8 p.m. the landscape quickly fades into a quiet darkness. So if you’re looking for late night grub, manage your expectations. Most Sonoma County restaurant kitchens close promptly at 9p.m. and you’ll likely be sitting in an empty dining room as the clock edges toward 9:30.

But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to grab a decent bite after dark. With longer days and warmer nights, some restaurants are expanding their summer hours and offering late night menus — especially on weekends — for nocturnal noshers.

Santa Rosa
Franco’s Ristorante: Snag some late night ‘za from 11:30 to 2:30am at Franco’s on Friday and Saturday nights. The outdoor patio (next to the Chrome Lotus club) will stay open after the restaurant closes at 10pm serving up pizza until last call. The only question is, why didn’t someone think of this before? 505 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, 523-4800.

Tex Wasabi’s: Though the bar vibe has been notched down slightly since re-opening in May 2011, Guy Fieri’s rock and roll barbecue and sushi eatery is thumping even early in the evening. But if you’re looking to keep the party going, it’s a solid spot for spicy apps (Szechwan green beans, bbq sliders) and 64 ounce cocktails. Kitchen stays open until 11pm, sushi bar until midnight. 515 4th Street, Santa Rosa,

Rendez Vous: Late night bar menu includes truffled pommes fries, a petite tuna tartar, crisp polenta fries, battered lobster borchettes, shimp coctail and chef’s sliders. Belly up to the bistro from 9pm to midnight Sunday through Thursday and 10pm to 2am on Friday and Saturday night. Menu 614 4th Street, Santa Rosa, 526-7700.

Third St. Ale Works: Great burgers, fries, apps and pizzas at this downtown brew pub. If the raucous nighttime bar scene on Fourth St. isn’t your thing, you’ll dig the more relaxed beard and t-shirt vibe here. Kitchen open until 10pm Sunday and Monday, 11pm Tuesday through Thursday, 11:30pm Friday and Saturday. 610 Third St., Santa Rosa, 523-3060. If you’re a Russian River Brewing devotee, the nearby brewpub (725 Fourth St., Santa Rosa) serves food until 11:30pm, but expect the small bar area to be crowded with dedicated beer devotees (Pliny is a cult favorite), and food that’s pretty secondary to the suds.

Adel’s: Many a late-nighters have found breakfast-for-dinner salvation at this midnight diner. Conveniently located within stumbling distance of a number of local bars, it’s a friendly pit stop when you’re starving after dark. Open until midnight daily. ‪456 College Avenue, Santa Rosa‬, ‪578-1003.‬

Blue Label at the Belvedere: Recent additions to the evening menu have brought about a change for the burger-ier. Owner Bill Cordell (who also owns Superburger) has spent years perfecting the perfect patty, and at Blue Label, he seems to have found a creative outlet for his more ambitious creations. Choose from a menu that includes a burger topped with duck confit or Spam, along with more down-to-earth combos like the Sonoma picnic with a stack of fried onion straws on top. Open until 10pm Wednesday through Sunday. Pop downstairs to the bar after dinner to keep things thumping. 727 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa

Also in Santa Rosa: La Rosa Tequileria & Grille (500 Fourth St., Santa Rosa): open Friday, Saturday until at least 10pm; Jackson’s Bar & Oven (135 Fourth St., Santa Rosa), open Mon-Thursday until 10pm, Fri/Sat until 11pm; Stark’s Steakhouse (521 Adams St., Santa Rosa) all day dining menu until 10pm; Flavor Bistro (96 Old Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa) open Mon-Fri until 10pm, Saturday until 11pm; La Texanita (‪1667 Sebastopol Road, Santa Rosa‬) open until 10pm Sun-Thu and 11pm Friday and Saturday. And of course, the Dogs from Chicago hot dog cart is open Friday and Saturday in Courthouse Square until 2am.

West County
Underwood Bar & Bistro: The sound of chirping crickets is about all you’ll hear in West County after dark, aside from the quirky Underwood Bar & Bistro. Tucked away in the hamlet of Graton, Underwood attracts a cross-section of the county — from winemakers and artists to dealmakers and savvy tourists. Dinner and tapas until 10pm, and a late night menu of french onion soup, pizzettas, macaroni and cheese, harissa fries and a Niman Ranch burger after 10pm Friday and Saturday. 9113 Graton Rd., Graton, 823-7023.

Barley and Hops Tavern: Locals pack into this chummy hofbrau. Beer is king, but the kitchen turns out authentic pretzels, sausages along with burgers, sandwiches and salads. 688 Bohemian Hwy, Occidental. Serving dinner until 9:30pm everyday and until 10pm Fri & Sat year-round.

Healdsburg: Despite its sleepy rural locale, urban tourists and plenty of young food and wine industry workers make for a bustling late-night scene.

Spoonbar: The two-pronged lure of Scott Beattie’s haute mixology and Rudy Mihal’s spot-on bar bites makes this a popular apres-service hangout for restaurant folk. Hearty entrees like grilled lamb loin and braised short ribs are served until 11pm, but 4/$12 nibbles of marinated quail eggs, stuffed olives and lamb meatballs, along with sharable appetizers and half-size pasta plates (porcini mushroom with duck confit and truffle raviolis). Feeling especially munchie? Head straight for the spoonbar burger ($15) with sweet onion marmalade, applewood bacon, fresh horseradish and fries with aioli. Late night menu until 11pm daily. 219 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, 433-7222.

Barndiva: An abbreviated bar menu with a beefy Kobe burger, chopped chicken salad, Dungeness Crab Club and fries are served from 3pm until closing (11pm Wed, Thurs; midnight Friday and Saturday, and 10pm Sunday).
231 Center St., Healdsburg, 431-0100.

Also in Healdsburg: Baci Cafe and Wine Bar (336 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg), open Thursday through Saturday until 10pm; Willi’s Seafood and Raw Bar (403 Healdsburg Ave, Healdsburg) open Fri/Sat until 10pm.

Sonoma
Girl and the Fig, 110 West Spain St., Sonoma, 938-3634. Late night brasserie menu until 11pm Friday and Saturday, regular menu until 10pm daily.

Have some favorites we missed? Comment below!

BBQ Smokehouse Catering, Sebastopol

June 2011

By biteclub

If Larry Vito isn’t the most dedicated pit-master in Sonoma County, I’d be hard-pressed to tell you who is. The classically-trained chef has turned all of his attentions toward the art of the ‘cue, using real hardwood, specialty smokers and creating his own authentic sauces from barbecue regions around the country.

“And then it happened. On a paper plate. In a strip mall, somewhere in East Texas. I knew I’d found my calling,” Vito says on his website. What makes Vito unique, however, is his ever-expanding menu.

In addition to Carolina pulled pork sliders, Memphis BBQ, barbecued tri-tip, Texas Beef Brisket, southern barbecued chicken, collard greens and cowboy beans, Vito now offers smoked tofu and a barbecued portobello mushroom for the less carnivorous among us. Don’t miss his brandied bread pudding and monthly Smokin’ Saturday where Vito roastings everything from a whole hog to goat.

6811 Laguna Parkway, Sebastopol, 575-3277.

Trentino Terrine Recipe

June 2011

By biteclub

Years ago on my first trip to Italy, we stumbled across a quaint little bistro where the specialty of the house was “lettuce ravioli”. Lettuce? Ravioli? Merely to satisfy our curiosity, we ordered a dish with low expectations. Instead, we ended up eating one of the most memorable meals of our lives, fighting over dish after dish of this light, airy pasta covered with a spring green sauce.

All of which is to say, never under-estimate the power of lettuce.

And though terrines may seem a bit dated, the mixture of eggs, lettuce (I used some leftover gourmet mix with curly red lettuces, spinach and butter lettuce) and cheese make an easy-to-prepare-ahead dish that’s delicious cold.

Trentino Terrine

from Ramona Crinella

This dish is very light and makes a special brunch dish. And no, the addition of four  cups of lettuce is not a mistake.

Recipe
1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese
6 eggs
1 cup cream
few grates of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated pepper
4 tablespoons flour
4 cups lettuce, washed, dried thoroughly and shredded
butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Put eggs, cream, nutmeg, salt, pepper, nutmeg in a bowl and beat with electric mixer while adding flour a little at a time.  Fold in lettuce and cheese. Butter a loaf pan and put in mixture. Bake until a silver knife comes out just about clean, about fifty minutes. (It will cook a little more after it comes out of the oven.)
Let cool a little and unmold.

Garnish terrine slices with the following sauce.
2 large onions
4 good sized tomatoes
2 bell peppers
2 cloves garlic
Freshly grated pepper
salt to taste
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
olive oil

Cut peppers in half and put on grill or under broiler until skins are blackened.
Put a layer of oil in bottom of roasting pan.  Peel onions, cut in half and put in pan, along with cored, halved tomatoes.  Add salt and freshly grated pepper.  Roast in 450 degree oven for twenty minutes.  Add garlic and continue roasting, turning occasionally until skins are browned. Do not let garlic get too brown. Put peppers in a plastic bag and let cool.  Remove peppers from bag.  If you are using as a sauce keep the pepper juices for thinning.  Remove skins and seeds and put into blender along with other ingredients.  Blend until a paste.  Correct seasonings. If using as a filling or spread remove and serve.  If using as a sauce add pepper juices and blend.
Serve this over a slice of the terrine.

You can also use this sauce many other ways.

Kitchen Sink Strata | Recipe

June 2011

By biteclub

This is my very favorite breakfast recipe mainly because it starts with “get your sh!t together”. Submitted by the venerable Miriam Donaldson of Blue Label Cafe (and Humble Pie), she’s a creative, free-thinking kind of baker who thinks in broad strokes rather than exacting recipes. Use the farm market as inspiration and load up this freeform strata with whatever sounds good — from stinging nettles to Douglas fir tips. For simpler tastes, just use what’s on hand: Onions, mushrooms, asparagus…

This recipe is also great for using up leftover bits of cheese — Parmesan, brie, Jack, or whatever you have.

Get Your Sh!t Together Bread & Egg Strata

1. Get your sh!t together:

9 inch springform pan
As much torn up old bread as it takes to fill said pan (Della Fattoria if you can)
Hella veg, cheese, whatever there is, especially anything from the garden, because that sh!t is good
Heavy cream (at least a pint)
7 eggs…check fridge for contraband eggs (eggs from Tara’s ducks are flippin good)
salt, pepper and anything else you can get your hands on

2. Combine all that together. Make it a little gooier than you think it aught to be.
3. Let it sit in it’s own goo all night (dont put it in the spring from yet, because it will seep out and get the fridge dirty and then everybody will be mad at you for being a slob)
4. Smoosh all that good stuff into the springform pan and pack it in pretty well.
5. Bake that sucker for about an hour at about 400 degrees until it doesnt jiggle.
6. Let rest for about 10 minutes before popping the springform.

*I do of course realize that this is more of a poem than a recipe…but it is, for better or worse, how most all of our recipes at Blue Label are written *lol*

Today I will make my Strata with butter fried Douglas Fir tips, wasabi lettuce flowers and parmesan cheese and top it off with housemade Bacon Salt. …yup bacon salt.

Goat’s Milk Panna Cotta w/ Fresh Cherries Recipe

June 2011

By biteclub

I have this entirely unscientific and largely baseless hypothesis that people who make a habit of cooking savory tend to be ill-suited to producing sweets, and conversely. Pressed, I’d argue that my imagined Mason-Dixon line between pastry and the hotline has more to do with temperament than temperature, possibly, even, reducible to one’s relative proclivity or aversion to measuring spoons, candy thermometers, and whether or not one gives a poo about things like ambient humidity. Whatever the reason, in our house at least, we’ve established a clear division of labor: my wife bakes pie, I braise shanks, and more often than not, we eat pretty well.

But sometimes, to my wife’s inevitable annoyance, I get a wild hair up my nose to stage an incursion into her established territory and I try to construct a palatable dessert. More often than not, it’s because said dessert involves something I like that she doesn’t: bacon (she’s a veg), strawberries (she can’t abide them), or – the cornerstone of today’s missive – gelatin (not only is she a veg, but she can’t stand the wiggly, pudding-like texture of gelatin-based anything). And so it was, midway through our most recent jar of Rian’s exceptionally sweet Sonoma County goat’s milk, that I thought of David Lebovitz’s panna cotta recipe, the first line of which summarily describes the only desserts I’m conceivably qualified to attempt:

Panna cotta is incredibly easy to make, and if it takes you more than five minutes to put it together, you’re doing something wrong.

And while we’ve all read some cookbook or another that claims that all home cooks should be able to accomplish the most technically difficult tasks in their sleep, the truth of the matter – and I say this as one who is unabashedly challenged by all manner of dessert cookery – is that he’s right. If you’ve never made panna cotta before, by all means, please do so, post haste. Particularly with berry season around the corner…

goatmilkpannacottawcherries — Goat's Milk Panna Cotta w/ Vanilla Bean and Fresh Bourbon-Soaked Cherries

Goat’s Milk Panna Cotta

Adapted from D Lebovits at the link above, who credits Secrets From My Tuscan Kitchen by Judy Witts

Note: I tried making this with 100% goat’s milk and it wouldn’t set properly; I believe (but cannot substantiate) that a panna cotta needs a minimum of fat to achieve the proper texture. I made it a few more times, and found that you really need 50% goat’s milk for the taste and color to shine, and that that means you want the other 50% to be heavy cream, like the awesome stuff from Straus Family Creamery right here in the County.

6-8 servings

Of the many things to recommend Panna Cotta is its demand to be made ahead of time – ideally, in fact, two days ahead, kept tightly covered and chilled.

For gelatin-related questions, read David’s Tips for Using Gelatin.

2 cups fresh goat’s milk + 2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup white sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (or sub 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, but the real thing is worth the extra cost and effort)
2 tablespoons powdered gelatin
6 tablespoons cold water

1. Add the scraped-out seeds from the vanilla bean, the bean’s husk, the sugar, and the cream to a saucepan, cover, and warm over very low heat, at least 30mins, to allow the vanilla to infuse and the sugar to melt.

2. Lightly oil eight custard cups with a neutral-tasting oil. (Alternatively, and what I do as a matter of course, is pour the pudding into wine or martini glasses, and serve it that way, too.)

3. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a medium-sized bowl and let stand 5 to 10 minutes.

4. Pour the very warm Panna Cotta mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.

5. Divide the Panna Cotta mixture into the prepared cups, then chill them until firm, which will take at least two hours but I let them stand at least six hours. (Note: Longer is better. Also, when the liquid is warm and thin, the vanilla seeds will all sink to the bottom. If you want the classic look, and why not, I’ve found you have to first cool the mixture in the fridge until it just begins to set, maybe 1-2 hours, before it really comes together but when it’s thick enough to suspend the seeds, and then stir it well to distribute the seeds, and then finally pour into the glasses or custard cups.)

6. Run a sharp knife around the edge of each Panna Cotta and unmold each onto a serving plate, or serve straight up in glasses.

Panna Cotta is at its best, in my opinion, with garnish of fresh fruit. I used fresh cherries, soaked in a little bourbon and sugar (pit, sprinkle w/ sugar, drizzle w/ bourbon – you’re done!), because they’re in season, and go beautifully with vanilla. But I think the dish will be even better later in the summer, when I can serve the little puddings under a blanket of fresh mixed berries, maybe with a little red wine syrup…