Page 570 – Sonoma Magazine

Puff Pastry and Prosciutto Egg Cups Recipe

May 2011

By biteclub

There’s just something about the anisey bite of tarragon that makes them so perfect with eggs. Add a salty strip of prosciutto and fresh mushrooms in a portable puff pastry cup and you’ve got a Wine Country breakfast worthy of the fanciest bed and breakfast.

Using store-bought puff pastry makes this dish pretty straight-forward to make. Feel free to mix up the mix of veggies to include seasonal greens and produce.

Puff Pastry and Prosciutto Egg Cups with Spinach, Shiitakes and Sriracha

by Jamie Miller

1 sheet frozen puff pastry dough, thawed
¼ cup olive oil (from any Sonoma County producer)
4 tablespoons butter (Clover Organic)
1 ½ cups shiitake mushrooms (from Sonoma County Organic Mushrooms)
1 cup loosely packed baby spinach leaves (from any Sonoma County farm)
6 eggs, lightly beaten (from Clover Stornetta)
2 tablespoons sriracha
½ cup goat cheese (from Bellwether Farms)
4 slices prosciutto (from Sonoma County Butchery & Charcuterie)
1 tablespoon tarragon, chopped (from any Sonoma County farm)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place four large ramekins or small soufflé dishes upside-down on a large baking sheet. Rub each dish with a paper towel dipped in olive oil. Drape each dish with a square of puff pastry dough. Bake for 15 minutes or until light golden brown.

While pastry cooks, melt the butter on high heat in a large skillet. Add the shiitakes and cook for 3 minutes or until edges have browned. Add the spinach, and stir until it is wilted. Add the eggs and sriracha, then turn heat to low. Let mixture stand for 5 minutes, then fold in the cheese. Remove from heat.

When puff pastry is done, carefully remove pastry from dishes and set right-side up so they are similar to cups. Place cups individual plates and place a slice of prosciutto in each, pushing the prosciutto against the walls of the cups (to act as a barrier so the egg does not make the pastry soggy). Fill each with an equal amount of the egg mixture. Sprinkle with tarragon and serve. Serves four.

Go(a)t Milk?

May 2011

By biteclub

Growing up as a hippie kid has all sorts of pluses and minuses, mainly related to the uneasy balance between freedom and hygiene. While I can’t speak to the suburban, military or other stereotypical child-rearing formats – for better or worse, parents only get to lay that particular bet the one time – I do suspect they all have their share of credits and debits as well, although I’d also wager that the specific journal entries look a bit different.

Case in point: warm, full udders. Whatever personal history colors the Cleaver kids nostalgic, I seriously doubt that it includes Milk Duty. But anyone who spent a significant slice of the 1970s on a commune deep in Mendocino County will, in addition to the communal barn, the steady diet of sprouts, and the hot tub full of hairy, naked people, have come across a communal source of milk.

For me and my fellow hippies-in-training, milking the goat or cow was simply one of our many community chores; and, quite frankly, one of the better ones – certainly, it beats dishes and anything to do with the words “out” and “house”. Not only is milking kind of fun, but you get to taste the milk itself, warm, sweet, and richly laden with the cream not yet skimmed for butter, straight from the source. It’s not something most of us get to experience very often, and that’s a shame, because fresh milk – really fresh – is as distinct from the homogenized, store-bought variety as a late summer tomato-on-the-vine is from its pale, mealy supermarket phantasm.

The point of this particular trip down flashback lane is that I’ve recently been buying goat’s milk from that little lady up pictured above-right, milk so fresh that the jar is warm to the touch whenever I stop by the farm – Wyeth Acres, about a mile off the Healdsburg Plaza – on my way home from school drop-off. (I should probably mention that the Wyeth website offers the admonition, no doubt to the thrill of grumpy food regulators everywhere, that their milk is “for pet food only”, but that hasn’t stopped me from cooking it into my panna cotta or pouring it over my kids’ breakfast cereal, our federal overseers be damned. So sue me.)

Goats often get a bad rap, but I’m convinced that that has more to do with our lack of familiarity and far less with the actual taste of the stuff, because the American diet simply doesn’t include much goat, either in meat or dairy form. We’re conditioned to think of goat as a pungent, wild sort of flavor, but the milk we’ve been getting is anything but: it’s mild, sweet, and as white as the snow you wake up to. My one caveat is that it spoils quickly – my middle child learned this the hard way – so my suggestion is to buy it the day it was milked, and use it up over the next few days.

May: Casseroles and Sides Recipe Challenge

May 2011

By biteclub

Top Recipes from Last Month
LAST MONTH’S WINNER: HUEVOS BENEDICTOS

ON THE MENU AT JEFFREY’S HILLSIDE CAFE MAY 23/24. Please come join us!

– Pecan Caramel French Toast
– Puff Pastry and Proscuitto Egg Cups

Welcome to the SECOND month of a year-long Best Wine Country Recipe Challenge. From April through March 2012, BiteClub is on the hunt for great cooks from Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Lake and all of the Northbay to submit your Wine Country recipes each month.

How it works: Using the comments below, submit your recipe for this month’s category: Casseroles & Sides Recipes. Recipes must be original (no fair stealing from your favorite cookbook — family recipes, your grandma, your mom or best friend are great resources, though. Recipes for each month’s category must be received by the end of the month.

May: Casseroles & Sides
We’re looking for one-dish casseroles (yes, tuna noodle is okay) or spectacular sides.Make sure your recipe includes ONE local ingredient. That can be anything from local eggs, milk or butter to local fruits and vegetables.
Deadline for this month’s recipes: May 28

THIS MONTH’S WINNER WILL RECEIVE:
– A gift certificate to a local restaurant.
– Your recipe on the menu of a local restaurant
– Eligibility to compete in the Best Wine Country Recipe Cookoff

The Fine Print: I won’t exclude pros, but really, this is about everyday eats. I want folks to find great recipes from their aunts, grandmas, dads, friends…whatever. This is about SONOMA COUNTY! If I find out that your recipe is intentionally plagiarized, you will automatically be disqualified and I will ridicule you publicly. Full rules here

Think you’ve got what it takes?

Submit your recipe in the comments section below, or email me at heather@biteclubeats.com. Want to send it by snailmail?
Heather Irwin/BiteClub
427 Mendocino Ave
Santa Rosa, CA 95401

Huevos Benedictos Recipe

May 2011

By biteclub

This is the winning recipe for April’s Eggs & Breakfast Contest, submitted by Tyfanni Peters. This winning recipe will be served at Jeffrey’s Hillside Cafe on May 23 and 24, 2011.

This non-traditional take on Eggs Benedict uses polenta as the starch and a zesty lime Hollandaise, making it the perfect Sonoma County dish — incorporating local ingredients, Latin flavors and Italian influences, along with a healthy dose of French-inspired cuisine.

Note, Hollandaise can be especially tricky, and mine broke four times. Even though it may not look perfect, it still tastes just fine.

Huevos Benedictos

Created by Tyffani Peters

Serves 4

There are a lot of steps to this dish, but they are pretty easy, and the results are rich and delicious!

The night before, make polenta cakes so you can brown them in the morning.

Polenta Cakes

1 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup course-grain polenta, from Tierra Vegetable stand
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 egg, slightly beaten
¼ cup fresh or frozen corn
1 pasilla chile, roasted and diced, from Tierra Vegetable stand
½ cup Sierra Nevada Cheese Company’s Raw Milk Pepper Jack Cheese, grated

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the water and the salt to a boil. Reduce heat and slowly whisk in the polenta. Season with pepper and cumin. Continue to stir until the polenta thickens, then whisk in whisk in the egg and add the corn, diced chile and the cheese.

Butter and 8×8 square dish and pour polenta into it. Let cool, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, set the polenta out so it reaches room temperature while you’re cooking.

Lime Hollandaise

2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
Dash of hot pepper sauce
2 teaspoons water
1 stick Sierra Nevada Cheese Company’s European Style Butter
Salt
Freshly ground white pepper

In a small bowl, whisk together yolks, lime juice, hot pepper sauce and water. Pour into a small saucepan and set it over very low heat. Add the stick of butter in one piece, press a whisk into the butter and begin moving the stick of butter around the pan to start melting it and incorporating it into a sauce. Do this continuously until it is melted. Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Set Hollandaise sauce aside and keep warm so the sauce doesn’t break.

Final Components

8 thin slices of Zoe’s Black Forest Ham
4 eggs
2 Tablespoons olive oil (I like to used The Smoked Olive’s Sonoma Oil- adds a smoky flavor)
Garnish
Chopped cilantro
Smoked paprika
Chopped green onions

Heat a large sauté pan and lay slices of ham inside to heat and caramelize the meat on each side. This should just take a few minutes on each side. Keep warm.

Cut polenta into four squares and brush each one with olive oil. In the same hot sauté pan used to cook the ham, add the squares and brown, about 4-5 minutes each side. In the meantime, poach the four eggs.

Final Assembly

For each serving, put browned polenta cake on each plate, layer with two sautéed ham slices. Gently top with a poached egg, then generously drizzle the Lime Hollandaise on top. Garnish with a sprinkle of smoked paprika and chopped cilantro and onions.

Better Butter | DIY and Sonoma’s Best

May 2011

By biteclub

Spread this around: There’s actually a world of difference when it comes to the butter you’re schmearing on your morning toast and bagels every day.

As Paula Deen and just about anyone with taste buds can tell you, everything is better with butter, but how much better depends on things like fat content, cultures, what the cows eat and even the time of year the butter’s made. Here in the Bay Area’s butter belt, there’s pretty much no excuse not to sample some of the richest, creamiest and freshest butters around from area cows. And goats.

Armed with knife and baguette, we’ve tasted through the best of the region. To our surprise, they varied greatly not only in color and texture, but in flavor and smell. Some were tangier, others tame, and one even smelled like grass and hay (a good thing). Here are seven you’ll want to try, along with how to make your own butter…

Clover Farms: The most readily available locally-made butter, Clover is a solid go-to butter for cooking and spreading. A small group of taste-testers picked this as a favorite, with its approachable taste and sunny yellow color. Organic and conventional options are available. A bit harder to find, but a cult favorite is the organic European Farmstead butter in cozy ceramic crocks. Flavored with sea salt from Brittany, it’s a must-have when you can find it. Cloverorganicfarms.com

Straus Family Creamery: Made in a 1950’s era butter churn, this local family creamery is a chef’s favorite for its high butterfat (85%) European style butter. Small-batch crafted in Tomales Bay, it’s one of the richest-tasting butters with a buttery aroma and flavor that can be a bit overpowering spread on bread, but is a rock-solid choice for cooking and baking. Available in both sweet and salted and named the Best Butter in America by House and Garden Magazine. Tomales Bay. Available at most grocers in the North Bay. strausfamilycreamery.com

Butter Facts
– Butter contains at least 80 percent milkfat, but European style butters may contain 85% or more
– Sweet cream butter: In the United states, we primarily eat sweet cream butter, which can be unsalted or salted.

– Cultured butter: More popular in Europe. In earlier times, butter was made with cream from several days’ milkings, which naturally fermented. Now, active cultures (similar to cheese or yogurt cultures) are added to make for a more “buttery”, rich flavor.
– Salted versus unsalted: Unsalted butter is primarily used for baking and cooking.

– It takes about 11 quarts of milk to make a pound of butter
– What makes butter yellow? The color comes from what the cows eat. In summer, when the cows are eating more green grass, it tends to be yellower.

Spring Hill Cheese Co: With a slight cheese-nose, this Petaluma dairy mostly sells their cultured butters at farm markets around the North Bay. But there’s a reason you’ll usually find a line at the stands. Using a cheddar culture, their dense butters ripen for three days and make for a spreadable best. springhillcheese.com, 762-3446. Available at the Santa Rosa Veteran’s Hall Farm Market on Saturdays.

Sierra Nevada Cheese Company: My new favorite butter is Sierra-Nevada’s vat-cultured butter. Using live active cultures (like yogurt), the butter ferments slightly, giving it a creamy, rich flavor. With a higher European-style butterfat content, this Willows-based dairy is a natural for spreading on sourdough. Look for a gold foil wrapper. Available
530-934-8660 or sierranevadacheese.com, available at Oliver’s Market.

McClellands Dairy: A longtime dairy family in the North Bay, McClelland’s branched out into artisan butter production in 2009. Using grass-fed cattle, the small batch European-style butter has serious terroir. In both smell and taste, there’s an essence of grass and hay with an intense, rich butteriness. Made in the coastal hills of Sonoma County, the milk is separated, pasteurized and churned in small batches. The only addition is sea salt from Brittany. Harvest Fair and American Cheese Society winner. Available in plastic tubs and refillable ceramic crocks. Want to meet the cows? McClelland’s offers frequent tours, with the next scheduled for June 5. The tour includes a home-cooked bacon and eggs breakfast and a tour with owner and second-generation farmer George McClelland. 707.664.0452, mcclellandsdairy.com.

Meyenberg Goat Butter: As you might expect, goat butter has tangier, earthier flavor than cow’s milk butter, though not substantially so. If you like the flavor of chevre, you’ll pick it up right away. Paler than cow’s milk butter, goat’s milk has the added benefit of being tolerable to those who are lactose intolerable. Produced just south of Modesto, Meyenberg goat butter is a lighter, less waxy option than many cow’s milk butters. Available at Oliver’s and at meyenberg.com.

Ancient Organics Ghee: Channeling 5,000 years of Indian wisdom, Peter Malakoff calls ghee “the very essence of grass distilled from cow’s milk into liquid gold”. In less flowery terms, it’s fresh butter boiled for hours to within an inch of its life. It’s used for everything from flavoring food to salving burns and improving complexions. Not quite butter, but not quite oil, its the Swiss-Army knife of Indian condiments. During the process of ghee-making, milk solids evaporate and what’s left is a paste-like spread that can sit on your shelf – un-refrigerated – for six months. Unlike butter, however, Malakoff says ghee is actually healthful, awakening the digestive fire of the body. Ancient Organics starts with Straus creamery butter, boiling it only on the waxing moon while playing an Indian mantra called ‘Mahamrtunjaya’. Whether you buy into the spiritual aspect or not, it’s great for cooking and adding to rice. Available at Whole Foods, Olivers and online at ancientorganics.com.

Make Your Own: Our family is addicted to the spanking-fresh flavor of do-it-yourself butter made with heavy whipping cream, an old mayonnaise jar and 10 minutes of cardio-shaking. Just pour a pint of high quality organic whipping cream (we’re fans of Straus, but any kind will work as long as it’s heavy whipping cream and not half-and-half) into a clean glass jar and screw the top on tight. Shake vigorously for about 10 minutes. The cream will turn into whipped cream, then start to separate, finally pulling away from the sides. Here’s where you’ll want to add a pinch or two of salt. Within a few shakes, you’ll have a clump of butter and watery buttermilk. Pour off or reserve the liquid and keep shaking until you get most of the water out. Scoop the butter into a tightly-lidded container.

Tex Wasabi’s | Santa Rosa

May 2011

By biteclub

“Have you been here before?” asked every server, hostess and employee who dropped by our table — and there were many — at the reborn Tex Wasabi’s in downtown Santa Rosa.

The mantra comes with the instant answer, “Doesn’t it look great?” followed by the staff pointing out some new feature: The super cool fish tank upstairs, the new bar, the new layout, the new hostess station, the new menus.

You only get one chance to make a second first impression.

After being shuttered for more than 18 months, Guy Fieri’s flagship Tex Wasabi’s in downtown Santa Rosa reopened Tuesday (5/17/11). The restaurant closed in 2009 after a faulty sewer pipe ruptured, causing severe water damage. As crews began renovations on the old building, more damage surfaced and more repairs were needed.

The interior is transformed for the better, with a more diner-friendly layout — more restaurant seating, the bar moved further back and the sushi station tucked closer to the kitchen. The vibe is as amped-up as you’d expect a Fieri restaurant to be, with lots of lights, music and action all around. And, let’s just be frank about this…the place smells a heck of a lot better than it used to.

On first blush, the food is on par with the rest of Fieri’s restaurants. It sounds really fun, it’s got lots of wacky, spicy ingredients and appetizers are king. It’s Friday night food that goes down best with a 64 ounce “bowla” mojito.

You pretty much can’t go wrong with anything fried, the Asian green beans rock, the barbecue sliders are actually pretty solid, Guy’s bottled barbecue sauce is really tasty and the burgers (we tried the Cowboy, with pulled pork atop a Snake River hamburger) are safe bets. Guy’s favorites are noted on the menu (usually solid picks). The sushi is worth skipping altogether. Especially the one with the barbecue and fries inside — yeah, not nearly as fun as it sounds.

My take: Considering all the hubbub, Tex Wasabi’s is what it is. It’s fun and loud and silly and very Guy. Go for drinks and appetizers and burgers and barbecue sliders and you’ll likely leave with a smile on your face.

Tex Wasabi’s: 515 4th Street, Santa Rosa, CA 95401

++++++++

Guy Sighting? The opening comes on the heels of Fieri’s launch of a new cookbook/biography Guy Fieri Food: Cookin’ It, Livin’ It, Lovin’ It Filled with recipes and personal anecdotes, it’s already climbed to #186 on Amazon.com. Fieri is expected to come to the restaurant’s grand opening sometime in late June or July.

Santi closure official

May 2011

By biteclub

Santi owner Doug Swett has confirmed the closure of Santi Restaurant in Fountaingrove.

In a statement issued Saturday, he stated that “the protracted downturn in the economy proved too much to overcome” and said that he deeply regretted having to shutter the restaurant.

On Tuesday, a sign appeared in the window of the restaurant stating a kitchen fire had temporarily closed the restaurant. Restaurant insiders almost immediately started buzzing about what was going on, stating that staff had been let go that day. It was also well known inside the restaurant industry that the restaurant had been struggling to pay vendors for several months. Sources close to the restaurant indicated Swett had hoped to save the restaurant at the eleventh hour by raising additional capital, but was unsuccessful.

The closure is troubling, due in part to the success of the restaurant for more than a decade in its Geyserville location. Swett and his team moved to Santa Rosa in 2010, and lost their longtime chef, Liza Hinman, last winter when she went on maternity leave. Sous chef Doug Richey took over the kitchen in 2011.

According to Swett’s statement: “I am proud of the fact that Santi leaves a legacy, with former Chefs opening two successful restaurants, Diavola in Geyeserville and Scopa in Healdsburg. Although our tenure at Fountaingrove was short, I will miss the many new friends and patrons who became part of the Santi “ family” , and have only great things to say about the support of our business colleagues at Fountaingrove Center, the Carinalli family and Traverso’s.”

Thai Time | Santa Rosa

May 2011

By biteclub

We are a county in love with Thai food. There now four in the heart of downtown, more than 20 within Santa Rosa city limits, and another 15 or so (by my quick count) in surrounding ‘burbs.

That’s a lot of green curry and Pad Thai.

Despite the already crowded market, Thai Time in downtown Santa Rosa recently opened its doors to a peanut-sauce craving public. Located in the former Golden Dragon location, the space has been transformed — bright natural light coming in the front windows, blazing red walls, crisp tablecloths and new service ware — into a more welcoming eat-in and takeout space.

Having already tested the restaurant waters in Cloverdale, the family-run restaurant has all the major bases covered. Pad Thai, satay with peanut sauce, Drunken Noodles, papaya salad, Thai iced tea, Tom-yum soup and curries are all on the menu. Lunch specials run thrifty $8 and include rice and a salad.

In addition, the restaurant has a number of higher end “Chef’s Creations” for dinner including roasted duck curry ($16), sole with tamarind sauce, Filet mignon ($20), Lamb Kabobs and the gigglishly named Ole’s Fruity Seafood ($22) which includes prawns, scallops and crab with mango, lychee, pineapple and seasonal veggies in a a pumpkin curry sauce. It’s a tasty, if odd treat, mixing seafood with Asian fruits.

Get this: Green curry is a knock-out, along with the Santa Rosa Parade appetizer ($16) that’s a filling plate with 14 mostly fried bites of shrimp, chicken, wontons, spring rolls and satay. The Tweety Basket ($7) has crispy egg noodles with sweet-sour sauce, shallots, cilantro, carrots, mint and nuts. Fortune bags ($7) are wonton purses filled with ground chicken and sweet potatoes. Peanut noodles are a great pick with rice noodles, peanut sauce and steamed broccoli, along with Cashew Chicken that’s sweet and salty.

Skip this: Pad thai, a benchmark for any Thai eatery, missed. Done right, its all about the wok hay, which this didn’t have. More breath, less sauce.

Service is fawning and friendly as owners and staff work to build up a loyal clientele.

Thai Time Asian Bistro, 402 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa, 707-526-7777. Open daily for dinner from 5pm. Lunch Monday through Saturday, 11:30 to 3pm.thaitimeasianbistro.com

Summerfield Waldorf School & Farm | Santa Rosa

May 2011

By biteclub

In my happiest daydreams, I am Wendel the rat terrier.

The pouncing pup spends his days patrolling muddy rows of organic vegetables, sniffing at a velvety baby calves, herding naughty chickens, nipping at his master’s heels and bounding through grassy apple orchards at the Summerfield Waldorf School & Farm. Not a bad way to spend the day.

This idyllic wonderland, punctuated by tree swings and ancient oak trees spreading their shady limbs into impromptu forts, is one of Wine Country’s most sought-after educational programs. Using nature as part of it’s curriculum, children from the kindergarten through high school plant, tend, harvest and eat from the private school’s on-site farm.

More than a hobby garden, the two acre complex is headed by full-time farmer Dana Revallo. Each year it produces thousands of pounds of vegetables and fruits, eggs, milk and dried beans that end up in the school’s own lunch program, sold to school families, or at the nearby Sebastopol Whole Foods.

“We’re feeding ourselves and our community,” said Revallo, who is usually accompanied by the feisty Wendel.

Strolling the grounds, Revallo points to a still-muddy patch of land that last year yielded 3,000 pounds of winter squash, 800 pounds of onions, 400 pounds of garlic, corn, spelt used for flour, potatoes and beans. A tractor tills the soil near eighty espaliered apple trees — limbs grown on trellises like grape vines to increase sunlight and ease picking — are blossoming pink and white in the sunlight, and last year yielded 1,500 hundred pounds of organic fruit. Not perfect fruit, mind you, but pesticide-free fruit. “I’m trying to teach people that fruit doesn’t have to look perfect to taste good,” Revallo said.

It’s a collective experiment that engages the students into learning about where food actually comes from — from seed to table. While Revallo chats, young students dump food scraps into the farm’s compost bin (wrinkling their noses and washing empty buckets after wards), then heading back to class. According to Revallo, the school’s third graders are the school’s most avid farmers, taking responsibility for the main farming block, though all grades are involved in helping to maintain the agricultural oasis.

“Digging carrots out of the ground is magical to these kids,” Revallo said.

Pouncing and pawing at a tiny critter scurrying through the growth, Wendel the terrier seems to agree wholeheartedly.

Summerfield Waldorf School & Farm: 655 Willowside Rd, Santa Rosa, 707-575-7194

The Summerfield Waldorf School hosts its annual Farm to Feast event aturday, May 14, 2011 with a top-notch group of chefs and restaurateurs including Traci Des Jardins of Jardiniere, Duskie Estes and John Stewart from Zazu, Cyrus’ Nick Peyton and host of other notable locals. The event raises funds for school scholarships. More details.

Children aged 4-12 can participate in the school’s Summer Farm Camp where they’ll do “chores”, work in the gardens, participate in crafts and help maintain the farm.

Blue Label Becoming Burger Joint?

May 2011

By biteclub

Just five months after opening, dinner service at Blue Label at the Belvedere is being overhauled. En route to buy a pre-loved corduroy sofa and coffee tables for the eclectic Santa Rosa dining room, owner Bill Cordell said he has temporarily closed the nighttime restaurant (the cafe remains open for breakfast and lunch) with plans to reopen by May 20.

“We’re cutting out the fine dining thing and getting back to the burgers I want to do,” said Cordell, who also owns Superburger on Fourth St. in Santa Rosa.

It’ s not like the homespun meatloaf, pies and rabbit stew on the opening menu were exactly sniffy haute cuisine, but favorable critical reviews and an eager public quickly clouded Cordell’s original vision for the restaurant — a chummy burger and brews kind of joint. “This restaurant needs Zeppelin on the turntable,” he said. “And I don’t want people telling me to turn it down. Or ask to put on jazz,” he added.

So, with opening chef Miriam Donaldson (of Humble Pie) and partner Josh Norwitt shifting gears to the run daily breakfast and lunch operations at Cafe Blue Label, Cordell is synching up the evening bar menu downstairs with the restaurant menu upstairs.

Currently, he’s tossing around ideas like a burger topped with duck & hoisin or a Polynesian-inspired burger; a large appetizer menu (Mediterranean meatballs, sweet potato tots, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink potato skins; and possibly a moussaka); while keeping favorites like mashed potatoes, meatloaf, fried chicken and pork chops. “It’s a condiments on the table place,” he said, adding that there will be six specialty beers on tap.

Donaldson, Norwitt and Cordell will continue to day part the space.

Blue Label at the Belvedere and Cafe Blue Label Cafe: 727 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, 542-8705.