Downtown Santa Rosa’s popular Cantina Mexican restaurant is reportedly being taken over by a group of Aspen restaurateurs to reopen as La Rosa Tequileria and Grille in the coming months.
Though details are still emerging, insiders tell BiteClub that a group of five young hospitality pros who popularized a sister Cantina restaurant in Aspen (there is also a Cantina restaurant in Mill Valley) were courted by Santa Rosa’s original owners to revitalize the sagging eatery.
The vision for the new Cantina: “An elevated execution and approach to Mexican and Latin cuisine.” The new business owners are also planning to feature a master collection of high end tequilas for flights, tastings and pairings. The shuttered second floor is slated to reopen later as a sports bar serving more casual fare.
Rumors of the restaurant’s fate have been swirling for several months as construction crews built scaffolding around the exterior of the restaurant and began renovations. In 2007, Cantina was sold to Dudum Sports & Entertainment, a Walnut Creek developer who planned to convert it into a Santana-themed restaurant called Maria, Maria. The Mill Valley Cantina was converted, but closed soon after and has reopened as a Cantina again.
Continued delays in Santa Rosa put the Santana-themed restaurant on ice, and the space was sold in August 2010. After a brief ownership change, the restaurant reverted to the founders of the original Cantina restaurant.
Former Vine, Ultralounge finds new biz owner
UPDDATED 1/6
The downtown Santa Rosa nightclub space that housed the troubled Seven Ultralounge and The Vine will reopen Friday as Rapture. The Seventh street entertainment venue will feature music, dancing, a full bar Thursday through Sunday.
New club owner Mark Hines and business partner Henry Leon Raney Jr. purchased the business in December from building owner Gerald Buhrz who also owns nearby properties housing the Chrome Lotus and Franco’s Pizzeria.
Hines is a former printing business owner and mobile DJ who said he’d been looking for several years to open a nightclub in the Bay Area and fell in love with the 528 Seventh St. property when he saw it.
He and Raney have invested in a significant upgrade to the sound and light system in the space, but otherwise are making few interior changes initially, with a grand opening on Saturday night.
Hines plans to create an upscale lounge space with VIP areas where customers can pay an additional fee for private seating areas, along with dancing waitresses. DJ Rob Cervantes, a fixture from the Seven Ultralounge days, will coordinate the entertainment, according to Hines. He plans to feature local talent and traveling DJs with a focus on house, electronic and pop music. Hines cited international trance DJ Armin Van Buuren as an inspiration for the type of entertainment vibe he’s setting at the club.
When asked about the club’s notorious past, Hines said that he interviewed more than 150 people to get the right mix of staff, which will include security to patrol the nearby parking structure. In 2006, 32-year-old Matthew Toste was fatally shot in the parking lot across from the club.
“We want to make this the ultimate guest experience,” Hines said. “We are successful business people and this is a business for us, not just a bar,” he added. The club will enforce an upscale dress code and, according to the owner, will not play “certain types of music” (which he later explained as rap music with desultory lyrics about women and police) that led to incidents in the past. “Trust me, nothing will be the same,” said Hines in reference to the former nightclubs.
The Vine closed in August 2010, a little more than a year after opening, although Buhrz said in a previous interview that he never planned for the club to be a longterm business. Seven Ultralounge opened in 2006 as a high-rolling nightclub with $200-plus VIP tables and a luxe urban ambiance but devolved into a troubled scene with strict city supervision after the shooting, leading to the ultimate loss of its liquor license in 2008.
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PREVIOUSLY REPORTED
After several years of struggles, the former nightclub space that housed Seven Ultralounge and The Vine has found a new business owner.
According to documents filed with the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, the space is being taken over by Ryde Hotel Properties LLC to become a new eating establishment called Rapture.
The Press Democrat previously reported that the building at 528 Seventh St. in downtown Santa Rosa is owned by businessman Gerald Buhrz, who also owns the properties housing the Chrome Lotus and Franco’s Pizzeria. In an August 6, 2010 interview, Buhrz said he never planned to operated a nightclub longterm at the location, but keep the business location alive until a buyer came along. The asking price in August was $325,000, down from $550,000 the previous year.
The Vine closed in August 2010, a little more than a year after opening. Prior to that, it was Seven Ultra Lounge, which began as a high-rolling nightclub with $200-plus VIP tables and a luxe urban ambiance. The club devolved into a troubled scene with strict city supervision and never fully recovered from its affiliation with a fatal 2006 shooting in a nearby parking garage and ultimate loss of its liquor license in 2008.
The Ryde Hotel and event center, a popular hotel and wedding venue in Walnut Grove, which some thought may have been behind the purchase, has denied any involvement.
Savory Onion-Cranberry “Jam”: My New Favorite Condiment
Yesterday, as I was blabbering about cooking with friends, I tried to argue that the biggest prize from letting another cook into your kitchen is, aside from some help with the dishes, the potential to learn something new, to come up with a meal that you’d not otherwise have thought of. A case in point, and the needle affixed to the business end of this particular thread, comes courtesy of our dear friends the B’s, their torrid love affair with thermal immersion circulators (one of the gastro-toys du jour), my new favorite condiment (a savory onion-cranberry jam, as advertised in the tag line), and an escalating cacophony of rumbling tummies at the afternoon soiree we were hosting at our casita: A pitch-perfect finger sandwich of pork loin sous-vide (executed in spades and delivered in situ by our guests), with local blue cheese and my onion jam, on grilled cranberry-semolina sourdough toast from a nearby oven.
Despite my undying enthusiasm for the popularity of sous-vide cooking, the technique (to say nothing of the required infrastructure) remains well outside my culinary bandwidth. In that regard, a tightly-monitored water bath is hardly unique; there are all sorts of interesting ways to cook that are either beyond my ken, my natural abilities, or simply strike me as an upside-down cost/benefit analysis, given limited resources of time, money, and storage space. But that’s the whole point of collaborative cooking: I never, not ever, would have made this dish (as I understand it, a pork loin, dressed in bacon fat and cooked very slowly in the usual sous-vide fashion, which is then cooled and sliced), and yet it played perfectly off things that I would, and in fact did, cook.
I already had a loaf of cranberry-semolina sourdough from the uniformly excellent Full Circle Baking Company; a wedge of Pt Reyes Original Blue; and a jar of my savory onion-cranberry jam (adapted from Tom Colicchio and a staple of many years’ worth of Gramercy Tavern menus; my recipe follows). Mr & Mrs B had their pork loin (I can get his recipe for anyone that likes, just ping a request in the comment section). Like some foodie version of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup commercial, everything sort of just fell into everything else: The sweet spiciness of the onions, the salty tang of the cheese, and the melt-in-your-mouth richness of the pork, all contrasting with the hard crust of grilled semolina sourdough, combined to make, I have to say, one of the better sarnies I’ve had in quite some time.
So we let B do his thing, put his protein in the driver’s seat (he absolutely killed it), and used the condiments to played off of that porcine bass line: Add some thin slices of the cranberry-semolina bread to a grill pan for texture and color, layer with medallion-like slices of the pork loin, and top each medallion with a small dollop of the jam and a little chunk of blue cheese (the cheese and onions can easily overwhelm the delicate pork – a little goes a long way). Garnish with fresh thyme flowers or, as pictured here, lavender blossoms. Damn good finger sandwich.
And I never would have had it, had I not let someone else screw around in my kitchen.
Onion-Cranberry Marmalade (Adapted from T Colicchio, “Think Like a Cook”)
- Heat a large pan over medium-low heat and finely slice 4 medium onions, preferably a sweet, yellow variety like Vidalia or Walla Walla. (I’ve taken to cutting the onions into fine dice rather than slices, as I prefer how it spreads.)
- Put a small amount of fat in the pan – canola, peanut, or similarly neutral oil – and add the onions, along with few pinches of salt, and a tablespoon of mixed spices (I used roughly equal proportions of cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and white pepper – the key is to incorporate some of those “baking spice” flavors without letting them become overpowering).
- Sautee gently until the onions are all soft and begin to give up their water and shrink down in the pan. Do not let them caramelize too deeply or develop any texture – you want them to get really sweet, but also to remain very soft and translucent.
- Add about a half-cup of good balsamic vinegar, a quarter-cup of sugar, and a 1/2-1 cup (depending on your preferences; I liked it with more rather than less) of dried cranberries. Turn the heat down to low, and cover the pan (it needn’t be air tight, aluminum foil is fine). Continue to cook, checking and stirring occasionally, for at least an hour, and ideally more like 90 minutes. If the onions begin to dry out, taste them, and add either more balsamic vinegar, water, or even a light stock, depending on how it tastes (the onions should take on a deep reddish brown color and should have a pronounced acidity kept in check by sweet spice).
- Once the stuff has reduced to a thick, jam-like consistency, adjust the seasoning and allow to cool. This is quite a lot of the stuff, but it should keep for weeks in the fridge.
Serve cold on pork or turkey sandwiches, in a tart or quiche, as a side to strong cheeses, or warm with steak or game.
Sift Cupcake & Dessert Bar: Six new desserts
Just in time to solidly crush all those silly promises to lay off the sweets this year, Sift Cupcake & Dessert Bar is adding six new confections to their cupcake lineup. Throughout December, the pastry peeps worked with Facebook fans to taste-test the new line which rolls out the week of January 10, 2011 — just in time for their Cupcake Wars debut on the Food Network on 1.11.11.
BiteClub got a guided tour just before the holidays. Try not to feel too jealous.
– Cupcake Truffles: Cupcakes and frosting take a whirl in the blender, then get hand-dipped in chocolate to create a bite-sized cruffle. ($2)
– Frosting Shots: If you’re in the camp that believes cupcakes are merely convenient carriers for a heaping helping of buttercream, belly up to the bar. Tiny shot glasses get a swirl of frosting, a few sprinkles and their own mini spoon. $1.50
– Whoopie Cookies: Two soft homemade cookies sandwich a layer of buttercream frosting. These guys are Whoopie whoppers, so bring a friend to help out. ($3)
– Profiteroles: Tiny puffs of pastry get a dollop of cream filling and a sprinkly ganache hat. So light and airy, it’s almost like there are no calories at all! $3 for 2.
– Macarons: French almond meringue cookies (not the coconut ones) get supersized with smoosh of frosting in between. Classy AND gluten-free. ($3)
– Cupcakes: The classic. Minis available by pre-order.
– Coming soon, Ice Cream Sammy: Homemade cookies embrace a scoop of ice cream.
Sift Cupcake & Dessert Bars: Cotati (7582 Commerce Blvd., 792-1681); Santa Rosa (703-4228) and Napa (1000 Main St., Suite 100, 240-4004)
New Years’ Resolutions
So, whether you’re a hardcore resolutionist or you defy any attempt to start fresh on January 1, there’s no denying that the New Year provides an opportunity to take stock and perhaps see where some improvement might be needed. That, or just be a total smart-ass.
BiteClub reached out to a handful of food and wine folks to see what their resolutions would be. And while some were heartfelt, most landed in the latter category. And, frankly, anything else would have been disappointing. Here are some of my favorites and two of my own…
Ziggy Eshcliman/Ziggy the Wine Gal): “I think I’m going to try and embrace more Beer! (Now THAT’s a challenge!)”
Lisa Hemenway/Fresh by Lisa Hemenway:” It has been a long 2010!! I am ready for the change! I want to get out in the woods and hike more. Hug the trees and smell the moss. I also would love to be more disciplined. By this I mean less procrastination!”
Terri Stark/Stark Reality Restaurants: “Here are my resolutions: Stop working out; Eat and Drink more; Gain 20 Lbs; Start Smoking; Spend less time with my family. Ha!”
Josh Silvers/Syrah Bistro: “Not to procrastinate”
Hardy Wallace/Natural Process Alliance and Social Media legend: “My resolution- to bring the untamed spirit of the WWF to wineries throughout Sonoma county.”
Heather Irwin/BiteClub:
1. Minimize everything, including my thighs
2. Force everyone around me to make resolutions which I will repeatedly and sternly remind them of throughout the year.
What are your resolutions (sardonic or otherwise)….
PS, here are the most popular ones…
* Lose Weight
* Manage Debt
* Save Money
* Get a Better Job
* Get Fit
* Get a Better Education
* Drink Less Alcohol
* Quit Smoking Now
* Reduce Stress Overall
* Reduce Stress at Work
* Take a Trip
* Volunteer to Help Others
Food Trends for 2011
Each year, as we kiss a fond farewell to our gastronomic past and look toward all the delicious possibilities, culinary crystal balls appear to forecast the food trends of the year. Overexposed zeitgeists like bacon and cupcakes begin to fade and newcomers take the stage. What’s does 2011 have in store? Here are some top picks inspired by what’s happening locally, social media rumblings on Twitter and Facebook, and national input from restaurant consultants like Andrew Freeman & Co. of San Francisco and Brooklyn-based Baum + Whiteman.
Pies are the new cupcakes: Though perhaps not as Kewpie-cute as cupcakes, the homier pie is set to have its moment in 2011. Made with seasonal ingredients (persimmon, Meyer lemons), local butters and organic, all-natural ingredients, these are the kinds of pies great-grandmas used to have cooling on the windowsill. Branching off are myriad ethnic versions (savory curry pies, English hand pies), mini pies baked in Mason jars and southern-inspired, pecan and fried pies. Petaluma Pie Company, 125 Petaluma Blvd N. (behind Starbucks), Petaluma, 347-9743; fried pies at Fremont Diner, 2660 Fremont Dr., Sonoma, 938-7370. Best pies in SoCo.
Market Eateries: More than a grocery store, less than a restaurant. Multi-purpose, European-style food halls offer gourmet prepared foods; meats, cheeses & groceries along with sit-down service. One of the most anticipated market halls was Mario Batali’s Eataly in New York City, a 50,000 square-foot space with several boutique eateries as well as fish, meat, pasta and bakery goods for sale. Locally, Fresh by Lisa Hemenway (5755 Mountain Hawk Way, Santa Rosa, 595-1048) pioneered the local market eatery with a combination of locally produced foods, an extensive prepared foods deli and in-store eatery. On a smaller scale is Woodruff’s Artisan Foods & Cafe in Sebastopol, a recently opened specialty foods market with it’s own restaurant, Cafe Marcella, inside. (966 Gravenstein Hwy S., Sebastopol,)
Southern cooking & Gulf seafood: The South is rising again. Although Sonoma County has long been a home to southern transplants, nouveau southern cooking will get its due in 2011. Grits, pimento cheese, fried chicken, Spam, red velvet, barbecue, gumbo and scrapple are showing up on local menus with increasingly regularity. Chefs are showing support for the hard-hit fishermen of the Gulf by showcasing seafood (most notably shrimp) from the area as well. Top spots for Southern hospitality: Rocker Oysterfeller’s & Sonoma Coast Fish Bank (buttermilk fried chicken, gumbo, Gulf seafood) 14415 Coast Hwy 1, Valley Ford, 876-1983); Zin Restaurant and Wine Bar (cassoulet with Andouille sausage): 344 Center St., Healdsburg, 473-0946; Rotisserie & Wine (duck confit and waffles, scrapple) 720 Main St., Napa, 254-8500); Sarah’s Forestville Kitchen (jalepeno grits, gumbo) 6566 Front St., Forestville, 887-1055; Pimento burger at Brick and Bottle (55 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera, (415) 924-3366).
Haute Dogs: The lowly wiener has become more than just ballpark fare. Hot dogs and their encased-siblings, sausages, are getting a makeover, with white tablecloth toppings (wine reductions, caramelized onions) and unusual ingredients (feta, cranberries). Using their own meat grinders and natural casings, chefs are getting into the action as well. Roy’s Chicago Doggery (peach habenaro hot sauce, blue cheese) 84 Corona Rd, Petaluma, 774-1574; Tap’s Petaluma (organic sauerkraut, deep fried bacon dog) 205 Kentucky Street (beneath the historic Petaluma Hotel), Petaluma, 763-6700; Chicago Style Hot Dogs (pinot dog), various locations Twitter: dogsfromchicago; Yanni’s Sausage Grill (Greek, chicken limoncello) 10007 Main St., Penngrove, 795-7088;
“Free” Foods: Elevating Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten-free dining: Formerly fringe-y food ideas are going mainstream as our collective waistlines expand. Meatless Mondays, a one-day-a-week-meat-free movement started in 2003 as a public health awareness program, is gaining momentum as restaurants and schools cut back on animal protein in favor of grains and vegetables. Forward-thinking chefs are lavishing attention on vegetarian and vegan options — highlighting pristine produce. Eateries devoted to raw, vegan and gluten-free foods are getting thriving, as are restaurants that offer limited protein choices. The Garden (90 Mark West Springs Road, 829-1410); Bliss Bakery (gluten-free dining) 463 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa, 542-6000; Cyrus’ haute vegetarian tasting menu, 29 North St., Healdburg, 707.433.3311; Cafe Gratitude, 206 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. 707.723.4462.
Dessert First: Heck with dinner, why not just eat dessert? Dessert bars, bakeries and superstar pastry chefs are emerging as equals. Top Chef Just Desserts on Bravo helped to shine a light on the sometimes overlooked craft of pastry. With a new emphasis on exotic flavors, savory influences along with updated spins on traditional treats, desserts are becoming an integrated part of the meal. Or the meal itself. Sift Cupcakery has shed its cupcake-only mantle to become Sift Cupcake and Dessert Bar (Santa Rosa, Cotati, Napa) featuring unique takes on the whoopie pie, cream puffs, profite rolls, macarons and ice cream sandwiches. Haute restaurants are recruiting top pastry talent, including the recent move of Nicole Plue to Cyrus.
More trends for 2011:
– Smaller Portions/Mini-sizing: Gut-busting plates of food will be replaced by more thoughtful, reasonable portions. Sliders, mini-burgers and other micro-sized bites pack in flavor, but satisfy with less. Continuing to remain popular are tapas and small plates restaurants where ordering multiple dishes and sharing are encouraged.
– Calories in our face: More and more menus are actually listing calories in places other than hidden away on some pamphlet hung near the bathroom. Fast food giant Wendy’s is putting calorie counts right on the ordering menu…and frankly, it’s not all bad. Yes, there are times when you just don’t want to know. But a dose of realism is also a pretty good thing sometimes.
– One-thing only eateries: Shifting away from the Chinese menu approach are restaurants and pop-up eateries that just do one thing really well. Chef John Ash experimented with a grilled-cheese-only farm-market stand called “Hot Cheese” over the summer.
– Feeding our children better: School lunch programs continue to evolve, though many still pay mostly lip-service to meaningful nutritional change. Over-ambitious parents pack tweezer perfect Bento-boxes with nutritious yet adorable rice balls, fruits and vegetables.
Still Trending from 2010
The hottest food trends of 2010 will continue to extend their influence into the mainstream throughout the year…
Food Trucks: Santa Rosa’s Munch Mondays begin on January 10 as a collection of mobile kitchens converge near downtown. In Napa, trucks converge on the first Friday of the month near Oxbow market.
Food buzzwords also include: home canning and preserving; collective gardening as entire neighborhoods share in the bounty; the waste-less whole animal eating; Korean cuisine; exotic spices and spice blends in the kitchen.
Your 15 minutes are officially over
The bacon zeitgeist: At last bacon can just be bacon again. The wacky days of bacon mayonnaise, bacon candy, bacon t-shirts and bacon cocktails are winding down, which is actually good news to folks like John Stewart of Santa Rosa’s Black Pig Meat Company. Although the frenzy was initially good for biz, serious pork-o-philes can now just get back to the task of enjoying their smoky goodness in peace.
The Do’s and Don’t’s of Cooking with Friends
“Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly. “ ~M. F. K. Fisher
Cooking for friends and cooking with friends can both be successful, but – per baby boys and girls when it comes to changing diapers – require distinct sets of operating instructions. To cook collaboratively where one usually operates in isolation compels an entirely different approach to traversing the kitchen floor, to juggling pots and burners, and, of course, to wielding long, sharp, pointy metallic objects, all the while in the company of an upturned wine bottle, or three. Indeed, cooking with friends enjoins a different way of thinking about food altogether, because – no matter how much enthusiasm (and, critically, aptitude) for prep, plating and service your guests show up with – cooking for company remains an inherently solitary undertaking, while cooking with company is easily as much about the resulting social fabric as it is about the meal.
Partly, this is a function of logistics; partly, and importantly, but not principally. No, true collaboration, on one’s own home court, with another person with whom one has never shared the kitchen, demands significant measures of humility, compromise, and adaptability – three words that, truth be told, I very nearly had to spell-check, as rarely as they enter my lexicon. I am not, as a rule, much beholden to the way other people think things should be done, and I tend to cook that way. Of course, I also drive, vote, and tell anyone who will listen what I think in that way as well, so this is hardly a unique pattern; really, it’s a reasonably effective pattern, so long as I have room to maneuver and more or less know what I’m doing; the downside scenario – when certitude replaces certainty, when I’m more obstinate than resolved – isn’t pretty, but that’s a story for another post.
The thing to remember, if you invite a friend to help you cook, is that it’s a good bet that they aren’t showing up expressly for the purpose of prepping your mise or doing your dishes; no, they’ll want to contribute, preferably in some way directly related to the application of heat and knife-force to starches and proteins. They may even arrive with a dish, or at least a central component of one, already set in heart and mind, if not par-cooked and in-transit; upon arrival and ensconced with kitchen towel and some measure of accountability, they may well fail to appreciate that only you know the right way to do something.
All of which – and this, finally, is The Point – necessitates a degree of flexibility that most of us, at least those among us who spend a lot of time doing our own work in our own kitchen, generally lack: Seasoning to taste, presentation, and the menu itself – what we normally think of as our manifest culinary destiny – become, with company that cooks, a team effort. But that needn’t be a bad thing, and that really is the point of this post: To the contrary, it can mean less work for you or me; a chance to check out someone else’s chops and maybe even learn something; and – this is the key, really – the opportunity to come up with something, working together, that neither would have come up with alone.
New Year’s Eve: Serve This, Get Lucky
December 30th: Even if you procrastinate as pervasively as I do, even if you’re still hunting around for a clever New Year’s Eve idea at T-24 hours and counting, I’m still going to figure that you’ve already thought of Champagne and caviar, and probably oysters and chocolate to boot. Indeed, Google Trends confirms it: Internet traffic containing either the word “caviar” or “Champagne” rises up to 500% this time of year, and we San Franciscans trail only New Yorkers in their apparent affinity for these NYE classics. Classics are, as a rule, classic for a reason, so how much can I possibly add at this point?
If you’ve already got Champagne and caviar lying about, then by all means, use it, with neither apology nor reservation. But here is my contribution, and what all those other NYE shopping lists won’t tell say: Whatever you do, make sure you serve something that will get you lucky. As it happens – to nobody’s surprise, at least if they’re regular readers – we in the Proximal Kitchen are nothing if not opinionated, we love to speculate about which foods and wines are most likely to earn you flirty looks and messier sheets, and we think we’ve got just the ticket: A big, rich, opulent, and very sexy Sonoma County Chardonnay.
I’ve waxed previously about the sundry virtues of the smoking hot Chards fermenting over in my neighboring valley (several columns, starting here), as well what I’m pretty sure must be the only dry white wine to survive dinner service for the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations (reference here), so herewith a drive-by post of my Three Bottles Most Likely To Result in Tussled Hair:
- Selby Winery, 2008 “Dave Selby Reserve”. I love Susie’s wines, she’s a part of the ongoing ascent of women winemakers, and it doesn’t hurt that she and her TR staff are all tasty little numbers themselves (and, to their undying credit, won’t call me a wanton scoundrel for saying so). I particularly like her Chards, as they strike a pitch-perfect balance between creamy oak (100% new French) and crisp fruit (from the western Russian River Valley). Seriously, if the wine is good enough for the Bushes to keep serving it after the Clintons, and the Obamas after the Bushes, then surely it’s good enough to impair (or enhance, depending on your perspective) the judgment of your date?
- Robert Young Estate Winery, 2008 “Barrel Select”. The full extent of my digital drooling over this wine may be found here, but suffice it to say that, in my personal opinion, there is not a better example of New World Chardonnay at almost any price, and certainly not for less than 2-3 times the cost of this beauty.
- Ridge Winery, 2007 “Monte Bello”. My only pick from outside the County and, even more unconventionally, one of the rare examples of the extraordinary Chardonnays being grown up in the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA (I could just as easily picked one of the “Estate” designates from Mount Eden or Varner, but I’ve had a soft spot for Ridge since my days as a slug, and they have a tasting room right here in Healdsburg, so they win the push). Very different, in all sorts of good ways, from the Napa and Sonoma juice further north, and a great example of what cooler climate, mountain grown whites can be like in the New World (as well as the less conventional practice, typical at Ridge, of using primarily American oak). Rich and creamy, to be sure, but with a well defined and steely backbone of acidity – American’s Next Top Model, but with some muscle mass and a brain to back it all up.
If you’re still wondering what to cook with all of this, you could do a lot worse than Gently Scrambled Eggs with Naughty Whipped Cream – get some really nice, local eggs (we have lots of good local egg farmers, but my favorite oeufs come from Wyeth Acres); very gently scramble them, until the reach a custard-like consistency; and top them with some of that Salty Vodka Whipped Cream (see previous recipe link). If you’ve already got that caviar lying about, by all means, gild the lily – the salty, buttery pop of the fish roe will pair perfectly with the vodka, cream and eggs, and the contrasts in temperature and texture really complete the dish. Any of those Chards would pair perfectly, as would Champagne – particularly a blanc de blanc. And, most of all, someone is going to feel very flattered by all of this, after which you can thank me in the morning.
Can’t deal with New Year’s Eve? Try lunch.
I once asked a dear friend of mine, a man with at least several points more of IQ than a low-grade fever claims in mercury and a penchant for securing invitations from the hipster set, why he refuses to go out on new years’ eve, and he told me, in no uncertain terms, “it’s the ultimate rookie night”. That was at least a decade ago (maybe two) and I have to say, the more evidence I accumulate, the more I have to agree with him, although that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go out and celebrate, and why I’m taking my wife to lunch instead. What, really, is more luxuriant, more celebratory, than ordering a cocktail or a glass of bubbly at lunchtime, or walking out of a nice restaurant, arm in arm and a little warm and tipsy, in broad daylight? It’s very nearly downright naughty, and who’s not a fan of that?
I don’t say this speculatively, because my wife and I have tried to scratch the new years’ itch in any number of ostensibly irreproachable ways: The extravagant meals from a celebrity chef; fancy-dress parties on a rooftops; bar-hopping and clubbing through one or another Earthly version of Gotham City; a weekend away at an impossibly quaint country inn; a potluck of couples at a snowed-in condo; even, once, in a display of shockingly bad judgment, we embraced, and survived, the beachfront anarchy of Phuket (I still wonder: How much booze does it take to convince innumerable throngs of otherwise sane people that lighting enormous quantities of fireworks inside structures made of naked wood and dry palm fronds is a really clever idea?).
Now, to be fair, we had a grand time, nearly every time, some of our evenings rank amongst the most memorable of our lives, and everyone should try it at one time or another; indeed, to this day, we still talk in hushed and excited whispers about a new years’ weekend spent hidden away in the Cotswolds, all cobbles and sheep and meals from Raymond Blanc’s garden, and our first night out after our first baby was born, as the benchmark for all new years before and since. But in the main, there is something about New Years that never quite lives up to the hype: Maybe its mismanaged expectations, maybe its the inevitable sense that you’ve paid to much for an otherwise ordinary dinner and mediocre champagne (or that you’ve paid the price of a car for a truly fine one), or maybe its simply the impossible physics of trying to encapsulate the joy of an entire year in a single night. Whatever the proximal cause, the effect remains the same, the inevitable onset of ennui poached in fine Champagne.
So here is my suggestion: Screw New Years Eve, and go to lunch instead. It’s not my idea – my dad and his wife have been driving into San Francisco for a fancy lunch on the 31st of December for as many as 20 years – but that only strengthens my resolve and reinforces my endorsement. This year, weather and baby sitter permitting, we’re going to ride our bikes around the valleys of our little corner of wine country before settling into a too-large and possibly boozy luncheon somewhere in town, and then waddle home, in time to spend the afternoon with our kids, and on a schedule that, with luck, will just keep us up to see the ball drop on Times Square – on New York local time, or an almost embarrassing 9pm on our Left Coast clocks. And here’s the other little secret: Go to Google Trends and compare “Dinner” and “Lunch”: See those huge spikes in “dinner” traffic after Thanksgiving, right before the end of each year? Those spikes are the reason you’ll pay so much to eat dinner out on Friday night. See the corresponding dips for “lunch” traffic at the end of each year? That’s why you won’t even need a reservation.
New Year’s Eve 2010: Open in Sonoma County
TOP PICKS
Santi Restaurant (Santa Rosa): Liza Hinman’s swan song at Santi is a blowout New Year’s Eve dinner. Two seatings: Early seating 5:30, 5:45 & 6:00p.m $85 a person; Late Seating 8:30, 8:45 & 9:00p.m. $100 a person. Live music with the Richie Blue’s Band, champagne toast, and party favors. Menu includes brown butter crepe with Dungeness crab, County Line chicory, Yukon potato, and and a crab veloute sauce; foie gras terrine with brioche toasts; cauliflower soup with sea urchin; linguini with lemon, cream and salmon. 2097 Stagecoach Rd # 100, Santa Rosa, (707) 528-1549.
Rocker Oysterfeller’s (Valley Ford): Four-course prix-fixe dinner featuring Dungeness Crab with each savory course as well as other options for the non-seafood lover, $65 per person. Dinner reservations accepted from 5 to 9pm. Saloon will be first-come first-served offering either the special dinner or a limited bar menu. Sonoma Coast Fish Bank: After dinner, local djs spin dance music next door until late night. Full bar will be offered alongside a Tomales Bay oyster and Tsar Nicolai Caviar bar. An entry charge of $10 will include a glass of midnight sparkling wine to chime in the new year. The party begins at 9:30 p.m. and will carry on until 12:30 a.m. Rocker Oysterfeller’s will be serving New Year’s Day Brunch from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and will be closed for dinner service. 14415 Highway One, Valley Ford, 876-1983
Blue Label Restaurant at the Belvedere (Santa Rosa). The crew from Humble Pie in Penngrove celebrate the grand opening of Blue Label at the Belvedere with suckling pig, grilled rosemary quail, chocolate truffles and other surprises. $50 per person includes a glass of sparkling. Doors open at 7pm, pig carved at 8pm. (707) 542-8705 for reservations, full bar available.
Madrona Manor (Healdsburg): Chef Jesse Mallgren will be offering a 5-course tasting menu and Greg Hester’s jazz quartet accompanies. Seating times are from 6:30pm – 9:30pm, leading up to a midnight celebration on the Palm Terrace with a complimentary champagne toast and dancing until 1:00am. Price $150 per person. 1001 Westside Road, Healdsburg, (707) 433-4231.
Syrah New Year’s Eve Gala (Santa Rosa): Four course menu includes lobster bisque with Madeira foam, steak tartare, Sonoma foie gros torchon, pan roasted Liberty duck breast, whiskey creamed loser vol-au-vent, braised short ribs, dessert tasting plate. $85 per person, wine pairing for additional $35.
More Great New Year’s Eve Dining Events
fig cafe and wine bar (Sonoma): Menu includes oyster stew, roasted squash or endive salad, rib eye, seared daybook scallops and braised pork belly, sticky toffee pudding. $35 per person.707.933.3000 x13. 13690 Arnold Drive, Glen Ellen, 938.2130.
Barndiva (Healdsburg): Six course New Year’s Eve menu, $85, wine pairing, $45. Menu includes cauliflower veloute, chestnut agnolotti with black truffles, day boat scallops, heirloom bean cassoulet, flat iron steak with lobster ravioli and creme brulee bombe. Reservations required 431.0100.
Restaurant P/30 (Sebastopol): Full dinner menu or order from the restaurant’s new three course prix fixe menu. Dinner starts at 5pm. Reservations suggested. 9890 Bodega Hwy, Sebastopol. 707.861.9030
Hot Box Grill (Sonoma): Menu includes oysters and caviar, dungeness crab and citrus salad, Wolfe Ranch quail, filet mignon and foie gras. $75 Per person plus $35 for wine pairings. 18350 Hwy 12, Sonoma 939-8383.
Flamingo Hotel (Santa Rosa): Basic package includes lounge party dancing with Electric Avenue, room, taxes and admission, $159 per couple. 2777 Fourth Street, Santa Rosa, (707) 545-8530.
Hopmonk Tavern (Sebastopol): Sebastopol’s Hopmonk features jam band Melvin Seals & JB; $40 with IPA toast at 8pm. 230 Petaluma Avenue, Sebastopol, 829-7300.
Spoonbar at the h2hotel (Healdsburg): Craft your own menu of three courses from 5pm to midnight. $50 before 9pm, $70 after includes surprise treats from the chef, glass of celebration sparkling wine at midnight and music and dancing at the h2 lounge party. Menu includes Dungeness crab salad, roast duck, dry aged New York strip, lavender panna cotta. 219 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, 433-7222.
Rendez Vous Bistro (Santa Rosa): Three, five or seven course prix fixe menus with additional wine pairing. Three course: $45 or $75 with wine; Five course: $75, $110; Seven course: $110, $150. Menu items include: Czar Nicolai sturgeon roe with blini; black and white truffle risotto; spiced quail over dandelion salad; butter poached Maine lobster; filet mignon. Midnight champagne toast, glass of house champagne included with prix fixe dinner. 614 4th Street, Santa Rosa, 526-7700.
Do you have a favorite spot to spend NYE? Let us know!