A new poster design for the Wednesday Night Market in Santa Rosa
A 2500-square foot Wine Tasting Garden will debut May 11 at Santa Rosa’s seasonal Wednesday Night Market. Mixing of food, music, art and farmers, the popular downtown market runs from May through August and attracts nearly 100,000 people each year.
Plans include a 2500-square-foot enclosed area on E St. between Fourth and Fifth Street will offer tastings from six selected wineries each week. A $10 punch-ticket buys six one-third glass pours and wineries will sample between five and six wines each. Over-21 tasters are invited to relax at umbrella-covered tables within the new Wine Garden.
“This is about discovery and the tasting experience,” said board member Chris Denny of Santa Rosa creative agency, The Engine Is Red.
Of those already signed on to participate, Denny said that many are small or boutique wineries from Sonoma County, which will offer tasters a chance to sample wines they may not tried. Among them, Hook and Ladder, Peterson, St Rose , Simple Math Cellars, Martin Ray and D’Argenzio.
The tastings will not, however, be limited to Sonoma County wineries though they are given preference, according to Denny. Market organizers are still actively seeking applications and hope to have about 75 different wineries represented throughout the summer.
Aware of concerns about security and making the event remain friendly to families, organizers mapped out the project with the help of California Alcoholic Beverage Control, the city of Santa Rosa and local police. Wineries and tasters will be given clear guidelines for the tasting area, including a maximum of six one-third glass tastings for each person, not taking alcohol or glassware out of the secured area and security/age verification.
The addition of the wine garden is part of a number of changes and updates to the market since the addition of new market manager Janet Ciel and several new board members.
Want to be a part of the tasting? Winery applications for additional wineries. Interested parties can also contact market@sonic.net for more information.
Zazu Restaurant + Farm’s Cochon 555-winningBacon in the Batter Waffles inspired my home version of this handy all-in-one waffle. With eggs, butter and bacon mixed in, all you need is a little drip of pure maple syrup or a drizzle of brown butter on these babies and you’ll be singing the praises of the breakfast gods.
Now, some folks may suggest whole strips of bacon rather than the crumbles, but I say, Nay! I love getting little bits of crispy bacon in each bite rather than playing tug-of-war with a rubbery strip of pork that inevitably evades my knife. That or having a bacon tongue wagging at my chin with one poorly-timed bite.
Pro Tools: The secret to fluffy Belgian Waffles involves whipping your egg whites and using the right amount of leavening (powder/soda). If you’re confused about the difference between baking powder and baking soda check out this article on Serious Eats.
Inspiration: Admittedly, I’ve always thought that Martha Stewart gets it so right when it comes to pancakes and waffles. Her high ratio of butter and use of brown sugar along with the egg white trick makes them my go to. I’ve adapted her buttermilk waffle recipe (which is pretty similar to a number of others online) with some additions of my own. I tried a number of other versions, but they just didn’t have the same richness.
Method
Set up your waffle iron and medium high. Don’t forget a spritz of oil. Melt butter, set aside. Separate eggs, set aside.
Sift together dry ingredients (flour, salt, brown sugar, soda, baking powder, cinnamon) in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together egg yolks, buttermilk, melted butter, vanilla. Pour wet mixture into dry and combine. Incorporate crumbled bacon to mixture.
In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff, but don’t over beat. Fold gently into the batter.
Spoon about 1/3 cup (or more, depending on the size of your iron) and cook for 3-5 minutes or until crisp and browned on top. Keep in a warmed oven until ready to serve.
I am not an asparagus fan, but this version not only changed my mind — but had my children hand-slapping each other over the last piece. You know it’s a good bit of asparagus when a 13-year old carb-freak says, “Mom, didn’t you make any more?” while stealing the last tips of his sister’s plate.
Easy as pie, there are two keys to this…a hot oven and really good, fresh asparagus. I bought mine at Whole Foods, but at springtime, you should definitely try to find some at the farm market.
Since Hollandaise can be a bit of a scare for anyone who hasn’t spent years over a double boiler, this blender version is almost as good as the real thing. And it won’t separate on you in a heartbreaking moment of fickleness.
Roast Asparagus with Blender Hollandaise
1-2 bunches fresh asparagus (about a pound)
1-2 Tbs Olive oil (Meyer lemon infused is ideal, but not a requirement)
Pinch of Salt
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wash asparagus and break off woody ends. Lay on a rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle with olive oil and salt. Bake for about 10 minutes, then turn. Continue baking until asparagus has become soft and looks “toasted”; turn at least once more to make sure all sides are roasted. Depending on the thickness of your asparagus and how roasted your like your veggies, cooking times will vary. I tend to like mine really well done.
Blender Hollandaise
8 T butter (1 stick)
3 fresh egg yolks
2 T lemon juice
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Melt butter in a saucepan. Meanwhile, place separated eggs into a blender and begin blending on low until they begin to thicken. Keeping the blender turned on, pour the butter in a thin stream into the blender. Don’t just dump it all in, or the process won’t work. Add the lemon juice and cayenne, along with the Worcestershire sauce while blender is still going. Once it’s thickened, give it a taste. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more lemon juice or warm water. Use within an hour or so.
Keep in mind that the eggs won’t get cooked, so if that’s a concern, use pasteurized eggs. The butter and eggs are pretty key here, so use the best quality you can find. Some people like to use European style sweet butter, but sometimes I find it a bit cloying.
To much fanfare and global foodie hullabaloo, Restaurant Magazine just released its list of the Top 50 Restaurants in the World. The stakes are high, very high; even a slot in the lower tiers can transform an establishment’s fortunes, quite literally overnight, as I read last week in the Times: “Business after the awards was, like, stupid,” said Mr. Bosi, of London’s Hibiscus; the day prior to last year’s announcement, you could have secured a table for dinner the same evening at overall winner Noma – the day after, you’d have been in line behind 100,000 other hungry souls…
You might wonder, as I do, about the extent to which the whole exercise is just plain silly: I mean, really, how does one define absolutes for restaurants? At any cost, or for the money? How much do service, decor, ambience, and originality count? How do I separate the restaurant itself from the intangibles of a particular meal, say wherever it is that my wife agreed to marry me? All of which is to say nothing of the controversy over the process itself: Some of the eligible chefs also work as judges; some national governments woo jurors with all-expenses paid visits; and the jurors don’t even have to have eaten at a restaurant to vote for it.
To be clear, I have quite a lot of time for restaurant critics, and I believe they get it right far more than they get it wrong, but I am deeply skeptical about The World’s 50 Best, mainly because the results, as one juror interviewed by the Times readily admits, read like they’re more about what is perceived as cool and hip than they are about dining. I could add my voice to the inevitable tsunami of critics yammering on about this place or that – I’ve eaten at more than half a dozen of them, and I have some pretty strong views about their rightful ranking, or lack thereof – but, really, who cares what I think? And that’s kind of my point: the very nature of the undertaking strikes me as fanciful at best, and grossly misleading at worst, as you can see if you try to make any sort of rational sense of some of the results:
The French Laundry may or may not deserve its lowly 2011 ranking of 56, but can it really have gotten that much worse since 2008, when it was No. 5? Or does it make any sense to simultaneously rate its culinary clone in NYC, Per Se, No. 10?
Argue with Michelin all you want, but is it reasonable to suggest that Le Chateaubriand, a hyper-trendy bistro in Paris that came in at No. 9 and has precisely zero Michelin stars, is significantly better than every single one of the 24 (at my last count) 3-star restaurants in all of France?
Or that there can be any meaningful information, statistically speaking, in slots 30 through 80, when their difference can be accounted for by a single vote? (For context, the Top 10 get votes in the hundreds, so we’re talking about a single human, or a fraction of a percent of the total, playing a determining role.)
I mean no disrespect to the chefs on the list, and I’m sure that every single one of them is at the absolute pinnacle of his or her game; Noma, the winner for the 2nd year in a row, and most of the other Top 10, are by all accounts absolutely ethereal dining experiences. But I’ve studied statistics and data for my entire professional life, and the more I stare, read, and think about the results, the more it all smacks of a popularity contest.
If you’re wondering why most of the town is in a haze of skunk-scented purple fog today, the answer is 420. As in the national Pot Smokers’ Holiday. Which is, of course, celebrated on April 20.
Whether you’re a friend of the kind herb or just a bystander, there’s no getting around the fact that NorCal tends to take its ganja pretty seriously. One of the largest cash crops in the state, it’s not a stretch to say that pot is literally all around us. In backyards, back pockets and an ever-growing number of clinics, toking up in the Redwood Empire is about as shocking as buying a Subaru Outback or a new pair of Keens. In fact, it’s become so much a part of the local culture that the Press Democrat just launched a blog dedicated to local news of the pufferati.
So whether you’re post-spliff or just embracing your inner stoner on a natural high, BiteClub wants to know what your favorite midnight munchies are… Here are some favorites from my Facebook buds. Add yours in the comments below, and feel free to give yourself a special stoner name for today.
Jerry Gimme Some Berry: I’m content with gummy bears! For the Irie crowd, I’m going to be putting together fruit tarts with mangos, kiwis, and strawberries (y’know, the whole yellow green red thang). I’ve slipped these into the case for the last five years without the bosses knowing what I’m up to! Teeheehee….
SmokingMyScooter: Most likely popscicles.
Reppresent: Honey cashews and strawberry milanos and chocolate…
KushMama: Mother’s pink and white frosted animal cookies scoopin’ up chocolate brownie ice cream
Clarevoyance: says onion dip and chips….da best!
11 hours ago · LikeUnlike
Buggin: POPCORN… from the kettle w/butter & salt. But what makes this even better… you have to have a drink – orange juice!
Julia Julia: Popcorn. There is always the Ritz cracker/cream cheese/jam route
Comatoasted: A bag of cheetos puffs, a tub of cream cheese frosting and some gummy bears.
So why does BiteClub care? Medical or recreational, there’s also no getting around the fact that marijuana has a culinary component. While there’s long been a puff-puff-pass subculture in the food industry, here in Santa Rosa, one local chef is putting his food science skills to work making shelf-stable marijuana candies for dispensaries as well as hosting pot-themed dinners where Mary Jane is the host. It’s a side gig, of course, but with so many amateurs getting into the increasingly lucrative THC snack business, its a step up to have a kitchen vet who understands food science and how to extract and measure THC dosage, not to mention being well versed in issues of food sanitation.
On this day of midnight runs for Cheetos and brownie mix, BiteClub asked him for his favorite pot-laced dishes. The answer: Mashed potatoes,butter-basted chicken and risotto. There is the classic Rasta Pasta as well. Classy. There’s also new crop of cookbooks and websites devoted to using marijuana as an additive in both savory and sweet desserts that go far beyond the brownie.
For dedicated Kush potatoes, all the hubbub around 4/20 seems a bit amateur-hour. Because really, when has any smoker needed an excuse to toke up? Regardless, on this hashy holiday, whether you partake or keep on the straight and narrow, just know that wishes of a Merry 420 are an invitation to smoke ’em if you got ’em. Or you know…not.
(Do I really need to state the obvious? Marijuana isn’t for everyone and is a polarizing debate with two sides. Marijuana possession remains illegal except for approved medical use and duh, is definitely not for kids.)
Rita’s New China Restaurant & Lounge, Santa Rosa’s wildly popular karaoke bar, may soon become a…sports bar? Currently in escrow, owner Nancy Chiu confirms that the restaurant is for sale and that new owners could take over the restaurant and lounge as early as June.
Though the final deal is yet to be inked, the city’s legions of boozy crooners can take comfort in knowing that the lucrative karaoke portion of the business is likely to remain.
“They’re telling me they’re not going to mess with it,” said Chiu. She added that the potential owners do plan on changing up the menu to more American-style pub grub, but may keep a few Chinese food items at the Calistoga Road nightclub. She confirmed rumors that a possible sports bar theme may be in the works.
Currently, Rita’s hosts karaoke four nights per week — with acts ranging from serious singers to — let’s just say many of us have had regrettable moments on the Rita’s stage. With waits for the karaoke stage stretching for hours on weekends, it’s long been a popular east side bar and hangout attracting a broad swath of night owls.
Chiu plans to leave the restaurant game for a while if the sale finalizes and possibly open a smaller scale restaurant in the future. But until the fat lady lip-synchs one final round of “It’s Raining Men” while spinning around the stripper pole, Rita’s is destined to remain the Rita’s we’ve all come to love.
Rita’s New China Restaurant & Lounge: 138 Calistoga Rd., Santa Rosa, 537-0308
As bacon gives over its 15 minutes of fame to the Next Big Thing in Food, waiting in the wings are heirloom beans and ancient grains the humblest of peasant foods ready for their moment in the spotlight.
Its really an everything old is new again story, because grains and beans, which together make up the basis for a civilization-sustaining diet, have been feeding us for tens of thousands of years. From Asia to the Americas, nearly every culture has combined the two: soybeans and rice in Asia, millet and lentils in the Africas; quinoa, amaranth, rice and a rainbow of beans in the Americas.
Life-sustaining and healthy, these staple foods are high in fiber and protein, often containing minerals and vitamins lacking in a processed food diet. With increasing numbers of Americans looking at flexitarian or part-time vegetarian diets to lose weight and boost longevity, these long-forgotten flavors are making their way back into our diets.
With many local advocates from the Slow Food movement, as well as heirloom seed savers, forward-thinking farmers and local importers, a variety of beans and grains have deep roots in Sonoma and Napa.
Heirloom beans: With creative and curious names like Tigers Eye, Good Mother, Jacobs Cattle and Black Turtle, these arent your average supermarket pintos. Local farmers like Tierra Vegetables and Bernier Farms are offering up dried beans at farm markets. Tierra, in fact, offers more than 20 at their Windsor farm stand. Another incredible regional resource is Rancho Gordo in Napa. Steve Sando has almost single-handedly revived interest in small-batch native beans from Mexico. Working with indigenous farmers, he imports truckloads of exotic beans to high-end groceries, selling locally at Jimtown Store (6706 California 128, Healdsburg, 433-1212), Epicurean Connection (18816 Sonoma Hwy, Ste C, Sonoma, 935-7960) and from his storefront in Napa (1924 Yajome St., Napa, 259-1935).
Beans to check out Petaluma Gold Rush: For more than 150 years, the Azevedo family has been growing this Peruvian native in Petaluma. According to Tierra Vegetables, this bean was initially grown and marketed in San Francisco during the 1840 when Azevedo jumped ship from a whaler to start his own ranch. With a meaty, creamy texture and pronounced flavor, these are great meat alternatives.
Flageolet: A favorite of French chef Escoffier, these meaty beans are often used in French country cuisine, most notably cassoulets.
Black Turtle: Native to the Americas, these shiny black beans have an earthy quality and are often found in Mexican or Cajun cooking.
Yellow Eye: Dense and creamy, these beans are a top Rancho Gordo seller, with their butterscotch-colored spots.
Lentils: Available in a variety of colors these small beans are high in amino acids and cook more quickly than larger beans. Well known in Biblical times, these Middle Eastern natives are often used for soups, stews and porridges, but are equally delicious in cold salads.
Fagioli Badda: A traditional Italian bean used for pasta e fagioli sold by Bernier Farms.
Sweet, lemony millet muffins from Super Natural Every Day
Ancient Grains: Before white bread and rice, there were the rich, earthy, nutty and fibrous grains of our ancestors. Many are being re-introduced, especially with the rise of gluten-free diets, as alternatives to wheat. Although some are not actual grains (like quinoa, which is part of the goosefoot family) they are treated as such. Many of these grains can be found in bulk at high-end grocers or from producers like Anson Mills or Bobs Redmill.
Millet: Best known in the US as bird feed, millet is one of the most ancient grains known to man, cultivated and eaten for the last 10,000 years. In China, archeologists have found 4,000 year old noodles made with millet flour. Until the introduction of potatoes, it was very popular in European cooking as well. Gluten-free.
Quinoa: Native to the Americas, was revered by the Incas who called it the mother of all grains, according to Maria Speck in Ancient Grains for Modern Meals. Despite being more closely related to beets than wheat, quinoa has a fluffy, nutty texture and a slightly grassy taste. Gluten-free
Farro: A form of wheat, farro is native to the Fertile Crescent and has been found in Egyptian tombs. Chewy and firm, this grain cooks quickly and can be used in both sweet and savory dishes.
Amaranth: Gaining a lot of popularity is this superfood of the ancients. Loaded with amino acids, protein and minerals, the tiny seeds are often ground into flour, popped in Mexico and India or mixed into dishes to give a nutty, earthy flavor. Gluten-free.
The same cold that inspired The Great Pudding Experiment and kept my youngest home from school last week saw fit to share its wealth of fever and snot with the rest of the family over the weekend. One thing you have to give the common cold, it’s egalitarian in its distribution, a regular Communist Manifesto for low grade viruses.
My eldest daughter – along with me, this week’s guest of honor in the Kerson family Petri dish – smooths out life’s rougher edges with an aplomb far beyond her 10 tender years. Really, I often wish that I could roll with the punches as neatly as she does, and the example she sets makes me tremendously proud. A case in point, there she is over at the right, home sick with a nasty cold and a nearly-broken wrist, and she’s whisking eggs for the subject of this post, a recipe largely of her construction: a simplified version of Joel Robuchon’s epic pommes purees, with very gently scrambled eggs – almost a custard, the way I like to cook them – and big slug of truffle-y love.
To give credit where it’s due, I cook scrambled eggs and I cook mashed potatoes all the time, but generally not together. So, while both eggs and potatoes make quintessentially classic mates for truffles, it took my 5th grader to point out the you might want to put the one on top of the other; generally, I prefer to build dishes with more varied textures, but sometimes I can’t pile enough smooth, silky luxuriance onto one plate, and that’s the nut of my little Miss M’s idea. She also insisted that I take the blame for the truffles; her version depends instead on thick slab bacon for ballast, preferably from one of our fine local pig butchers such as Black Pig or Willowside, and who doesn’t like a little smoky, salty, pig fat with their fancy eggs and taters?
Coincidentally, or perhaps not, this dish of fingerling potato mousse with egg yolk and truffle, which I was lucky enough to eat on my birthday more than 10 years ago and which I remember to this day, has been on the menu forever at the legendary Taillevent in Paris, so the kid must be on to something. Granted, my daughter’s version turned out to be less clever-looking, but it’s cheaper by an order of magnitude, reproducible by mere mortals, and delicious all the same, and I can’t wait to try it again with fresh truffles and their jusinstead of the jarred “cream” we brought home from Big John’s.
Gently Scrambled Eggs with Pommes Puree and Truffles (4 servings)
Ingredients: 2lb waxy potatoes (I love Yukon Golds, and they’re easy to find, but I’ve seen similar recipes call for all sorts; the main thing is that they be freshly dug, if at all possible); 1C of milk or cream, heated; as much cold butter as you can use with a clear conscious, cut into small cubes (seriously – you’d be shocked to read how much butter a classic Pommes Puree uses; but at least a stick, and you could double that if you were so inclined); 1 dozen very fresh eggs; (preferably from one of our many local chicken farmers; I prefer not to use Arucaunas, however, because the yolks tend not to be as golden); fresh or jarred truffles (whole, or in pieces, or in a “cream”, as mine were – at $14 for a little 1oz jar, they seem expensive, but the all-in, per-plate ends up at what you’d pay for a burrito).
Method:
Scrub and boil the potatoes in their skins, until fork-tender to the core (this will take maybe 30 minutes; I’ve been known to cheat by peeling and cutting into pieces first to save time, but the product suffers).
Whisk the eggs with a little salt and white pepper and a splash of water, milk or cream, and cook in a buttered, non-stick pan over very low heat, stirring to achieve a uniform consistency. The key to the eggs is to keep them moving and cook them very slowly (maybe 30 minutes for a dozen in a large pan).
Drain and peel the cooked potatoes and – working quickly, it is vital that they remain hot – and pass through a ricer or a sieve. Mash in the cold butter in batches, add the hot milk or cream to achieve the desired consistency, and adjust the seasoning (they’ll take quite a bit of salt).
Make a mound of potatoes in the bottom of a pasta bowl, press a well into the middle, fill with the scrambled eggs, and top with a quenelle of the truffle cream (or a pile of shavings, if fresh). Garnish with fleur de sel, and maybe some chives. (I’m actually not too keen on the presentation we came up with; if you come up with a prettier version, please send in the pic so I can post it and copy you!)
Stealing some of the Michelin Guides’ thunder, restaurant ratings upstart San Pellegrino has announced the 50 Best Restaurants in the World for 2011. For the second year in a row, Denmark’s NOMA gets the top spot. The Fat Duck (UK) gets the #5 spot and Chicago’s Grant Achatz takes #6. Thomas Keller weighs in at #10 with Per Se (giving a Twitter should to his pal, Daniel Boulud at #11), but The French Laundry doesn’t even crack the top 50. The list extends to 100 restaurants.
See who gets the nod and who doesn’t (El Bulli was a notable exclusion, though it’s closure seemed to be the main reason). Bay Area’s Manresa and Coi get nods. How many have you been to? Any you’re especially dying to try?
1 Noma, Denmark
2 El Celler de Can Roca, Spain (+2)
3 Mugaritz, Spain (+2)
4 Osteria Francescana, Italy (+2): Chef’s Choice
5 The Fat Duck, U.K. (-2)
6 Alinea, U.S. (+1) Best Restaurant North America
7 D.O.M., Brazil (+11) Best Restaurant South America
8 Arzak, Spain (+1)
9 Le Chateaubriand, France (+2)
10 Per Se, U.S (same as last year)
11 Daniel, U.S. (-3)
12 Les Creations de Narisawa, Japan (+12)
13 L’Astrance, France (+3)
14 L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, France (+15)
15 Hof van Cleve, Belgium ((+2)
16. Pierre Gagnaire, France (-3)
17 Oud Sluis Netherlands (+2)
18 Le Bernardin USA (-3)
19 L’Arpege France
20 Nihonryori RyuGin Japan (+28), Highest Climber
21 Vendome Germany (+1)
22 Steirereck Austria (-1)
23 Schloss Schauenstein Switzerland (+7)
24 Eleven Madison Park USA (+26)
25 Aqua Germany, (+9)
26 Quay Australia (+1)
27 Iggy’s Singapore (+1)
28 Combal Zero Italy (+7)
29 Martin Berasategui Spain (+4)
30 Bras France
31 Biko Mexico (+15)
32 Le Calandre Italy (-12)
33 Cracco Italy
34 New Entry The Ledbury UK Highest New Entry
35 Chez Dominique Finland (-12)
36 Le Quartier Francais South Africa (-5)
37 New Entry Amber China
38 Dal Pescatore Italy (-2)
39 Il Canto Italy (+1)
40 Momofuku Ssam Bar USA (-14)
41 St John UK (+2)
42 New Entry Astrid Y Gaston Peru
43 Hibiscus UK (+6)
44 — Maison Troisgros France
45 Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athenee France (-4)
46 De Librije Netherlands (-9)
47 Restaurant de l’Hotel De Ville Switzerland (-33)
48 New Entry Varvary Russia
49 New Entry Pujol Mexico
50 Re-Entry Asador Etxebarri Spain
BiteClub got an exclusive sneak preview of a few dishes that will likely make the final cut as Petite Syrah begins shaking its chrysalis in preparation for it’s rebirth.
And while I’m going to save my big thoughts about the evolution and reinvention of Santa Rosa’s Syrah until the final menu emerges and the kitchen crew (Josh Silvers, Chef/owner; Jamil Peden, Chef de Cuisine; Seth Harvey, Exec Sous Chef) settle in, here’s the initial vibe…
Rather than simply scaled down versions of Josh’s upscale bistro fare, or being an imitation of pal Mark Stark & co’s wine bar small plates, Silvers, Peden and Harvey are working on more composed, chef-driven, seasonal cuisine menu at everyday price-points ($5 – $18). Silvers describes it as an evolution of his tasting menu to better reflect how people really eat — smaller portions and a variety of flavors.
Final dishes and prices are still in flux, but Young Escarole salad with Roaring 40s blue cheese and hazelnuts (around $8), Roasted and Shaved asparagus with sunflower sprouts and breadcrumbs (around $9), Crispy Quail with preserved grapefruit and “quail spice, (around $13) or Potato Gnocchi with fresh peas, carrots and carrot foam (around $11) seem almost ready for prime time. Other plates under consideration are chilled oysters, crostini, pork belly with lentils, steak tartare with truffle aioli, panna cotta with strawberry and roasted squid, among others.
So why the change? “People would say, “Oh Syrah is so perfect,” to me all the time,” said Silvers. But when asked when they’d been in last, often the answer was for a particular celebration or special event months before. “I don’t want to be just a celebration restaurant,” he said of his 12-year-old Railroad Square bistro. The success of his more casual dining venture, Jackson’s Bar & Oven, also helped drive the inspiration for a renewed take on Syrah.
In addition to the menu change, the restaurant will also undergo a number of decor changes. Stay tuned….
A 2500-square foot Wine Tasting Garden will debut May 11 at Santa Rosa’s seasonal Wednesday Night Market. Mixing of food, music, art and farmers, the popular downtown market runs from May through August and attracts nearly 100,000 people each year.
and 
along with Steve Sandos 2009 
bring the ancient foods trend to modern kitchens with dishes like millet muffins or lentil soup with brown butter and coconut milk.
