Popular burgery, Carmen’s Burger Bar is expanding. A second location is slated to open near the intersection of Mark West Springs Road and Old Redwood Highway.
Fresh by Lisa Hemenway | Santa Rosa
Try as she might, Lisa Hemenway just can’t escape from food. Or maybe Sonoma County won’t let her.
“People just expect food from me,” said the long-time restaurateur from inside the shell of her country market and bistro, Fresh.
The space: Affordable, family-friendly “fast” food a la Lisa. The idea is a one-stop-shop for customers to buy pre-cut organic veggies, chicken and pork (with conveniently placed recipes for inspiration) for time-crunched home cooking; a quick dinner of mix-n-match prepared entrees and sides; or grab pre-made salads, breads, pastas or a wood-fired pizza for on-the-spot dining or picnics. Plus a wine bar. “Whether they eat in, buy prepared meals or shop for ingredients and ideas, this venture recognizes the reality of our lives and solves the what-are-we-going-to-eat problem,” said Hemenway.
The Food: Breakfast, lunch, dinner (plus wine). Prepared onsite daily are fresh breads, pastas, wood-fired pizzas, two 30-foot cases with prepared foods (salads to entrees and sides), fresh pastry shells, boxed lunches, soups. Plus: Local dairy, “pantry items” (olive oil, jams, vinegars, teas, coffee), local wines, sushi and oysters, local fruits and veggies, cheese, Flying Goat coffee, organic meats.
The space: The former grocery store is subdivided into several distinct personalities — an espresso and pastry station for morning folks (with access to the outdoor patio); a large pizza oven; massive deli cases to showcase her signature prepared foods (“I hate those ones where the meatloaf is packaged with the carrots and mashed potatoes.”); a wine bar; seafood bars (sushi, oysters); bistro-style seating for 75 and fresh produce cases. Hemenway plans to take advantage of the market’s ample outdoor seating as well. Don’t expect toilet paper or light bulbs, however, in this food-centric market.
The backstory: Now in her late 50’s, Hemenway has been an integral part of the Santa Rosa food scene since her early 20’s, first as the original sous and pastry chef for John Ash & Co, at Polka Dots in Railroad Square, and most memorably at her namesake restaurant, Lisa Hemenway’s, and gourmet takeaway, Tote Cuisine, in Montgomery Village.
Time marches on, however, and it’s been nearly a decade since Hemenway got out of the kitchen and into real estate and restaurant consulting. Rumors of her return surfaced every few years (she actually was working on a concept in Railroad Square than never quite panned out). But with the support of several local investors and backers, she’s back in the game.
This go-round, however, she’s focused on healthy family-focused eating. “It’s easy to make people love something wrapped in bacon,” she said. And of course, the market includes plenty of guilty pleasures, but Hemenway plans to highlight fresh, wholesome fruits and veggies. “If you come in here, I’m already thinking about how I can get more veggies into your kids,” she said. That is, if you can pull them away from the homemade croissants and pastries that have made Hemenway a household name around Sonoma County. Maybe teaching them moderation is a fair compromise.
At least they’re be doing it at Lisa’s place.
Fresh by Lisa Hemenway, 5755 Mountain Hawk Way, Santa Rosa
Getting My Just Desserts: Funnel Cake Fury
Upsetting a lady who works with boiling oil all day isn’t a good plan. Ever.
Apparently a poorly-conceived quip (trust me, they’re all poorly conceived) about the wonder of Harvey’s Gourmet Mini Donuts (come on, they’re mini donuts!) putting “funnel cakes to shame” (which I thought was clever, and still do) didn’t sit too well with Nancy Cordova, of Fancy Funnel Cakes.
“Maybe it is that you have not tried our funnel cakes, or you just made a hasty statement without realizing how harmful this could be for our business,” she said in a recent email. Or, maybe I wasn’t aware of the wrath of a Funnel Cake lady scorned.
Consider me schooled. Nancy’s Fancy Funnel Cakes are delightful. See the picture at right if you don’t believe me. It is most likely the sexiest funnel cake you will ever see — covered with whipped cream, caramel, chocolate and fresh strawberries. Click on it. Really. It’s delightful. If you don’t try one, you are just plain silly. I would suggest a head-to-head with the donuts just to be fair to everyone involved.
You can find Nancy and her Fancy Funnel Cakes each Wednesday night at the Downtown Santa Rosa Market. So there. Now excuse me while I go smooth things over with the cupcake gals, because I think I may have stepped on their butter cream frosted toes as well.
“Bro” Mosa Cocktail Recipe
Dude Drink of the Week: Monti’s answer to the Mimosa.
Vodka + beer = A fighting chance at seeing Sex & The City 2 tonight.
Serve in an 8-10 oz “bucket”” glass. Wearing as little as possible for optimal effect.
The Bro Mosa
3/4 oz Smirnoff Vodka
2/3 full glass w/ PBR*
1/3 remaining glass w/OJ
Garnish with an Orange Wedge
From Monti’s Rotisserie
714 Village Court
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
p: 707.568.4404
Sunday Brunch 10:30 – 2:00
Sunday – Thursday 11:30 – 9:00
Friday – Saturday: 11:30 – 10:00
Piner Cafe…and steakhouse?
PLEASE NOTE: Chef Cheyenne is no longer at the cafe and is currently working at Spoonbar in Healdsburg. BiteClub has not been to the cafe since his departure.
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Chef Cheyenne Simpkins is no one’s fry cook. This young, CIA-trained chef has spent time in some of the top kitchens in the country, including a stint at Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen. Suffice to say he knows his way around a mise en place.
Which makes his spanking-new Thursday through Saturday night gig at Chris Schilling’s folksy Piner Cafe so unexpectedly delicious. Three nights a week, Simpkins takes over the grill, turning out hearty comfort food and steakhouse classics at rock-bottom prices.
The menu: Inspired by his East Coast roots, Southern influences and nods to, well, the fact that it is, after all, still a diner, the menu ranges from fried chicken and grits to surf and turf. This is serious dude-friendly dining.
Starters: Rhode Island style calamari with cherry and banana peppers ($5.95), Buffalo wings ($5.50); fried mozzarella wedges, Tilapia ceviche; shrimp and cheese grits ($5.95); grilled mushroom salad with eggs, bacon, spinach.
Entrees: You’re here for the fried chicken and steak, which are towering entrees are worthy of two, or even three subsequent meals. Louisiana Style Fried Chicken (his grandma’s recipe) with Red Pepper Gravy ($14.95) kills, as does a 10oz ribeye with grilled shrimp and roasted garlic sauce ($18.50). Also hot: Roast Chicken with crispy skin and Thyme Jus ($14.95).
What seals the deal, however, are “slammin sides” (two included with each entree) that don’t just phone it in, but haunt your every stomach-growling moment for days. Prepare yourself for the Best. Mashed. Potatoes. Ever. (which I don’t say lightly). I would knock my mother over for another bowl. She’d probably do the same to me. We understand each other like that. Garlickly greens, polenta and thoughtful mac-n-cheese also deliver.
Dessert + Wine: Chris still holds the fort on desserts, with homey classics like chocolate cake and brownies with ice cream. The cafe currently doesn’t serve beer or wine (though they’re working on it), so plan accordingly.
For what it lacks in elegant ambiance, the Piner Cafe’s dinner menu makes up for in value and quality: Well under $50 for an appetizer, two entrees, four sides and a brownie for dessert (plus two massive take out boxes). Not to mention a ambitious young chef at the helm who truly wants to impress you. Score.
The Taco Bike
The brilliantly-conceived Frankenbaby of a taqueria and a tricycle, Todd Barricklow’s Taco Bike is taking street food to it’s next logical step: A complete mini-kitchen on wheels.
It’s both simple and incredibly ambitious, kind of like all of Barricklow’s mobile creations. The Santa Rosa artist has already created a number of freak bikes, soldering bits and pieces of metal and machine together to craft hybrid multi-use vehicles, including the Two Penny, a mega-trike (made for the 2009 Handcar Regatta) with 8-foot high wheels and his family’s own one-of-a-kind cargo-hauling bikes.
But the Taco Bike is a beast of a different sort.
After a friend complained about stringent health-code restrictions on street vendors, Barricklow struck on the idea of building a human-powered mobile kitchen that would include a hot-water hand-washing station, grey-water tank, commercial-grade cutting surfaces, hot griddle and specialized tray to keep cold items, well, cold. He even built in a pay-station for customers to push their bills into an enclosed safe so the food handler doesn’t have to touch the money (a health issue). What happens if you don’t have correct change? Barricklow says that’s where the community aspect comes to play — you’ll have to hit up someone else in line to help you out.
The Taco Bike will soon prowl the streets of San Francisco, commissioned by forward-thinking seafood spot, Weird Fish restaurant.
Want one of your own? Builds start at about $5,000.
More details: Contact Todd at ToddBarricklow.com
Recipes You’d Kill For…
Okay, shout out…
Which local chefs’/cooks’ recipes will you kill to have? Remember that amazing meal you had at last year and the crabcakes you just can’t get out of your mind? How about that freshly baked bread from the little steakhouse around the corner? Or even a cocktail you wish you could recreate at home…
Tell me what Wine Country recipes you want me to track down and I’ll do my best to find ’em, test ’em and post ’em right here on BiteClub.
Got an especially hard one to track down? Even better.
Tell me the recipe you’d kill to have…
John Ash & Co | Santa Rosa
Around since the 1980’s, John Ash & Co. at the Vintner’s Inn is an institution, most notably as ground zero for serious Wine Country cuisine. It’s stately ambiance harkens to a more opulent decade, but the restaurant remains a popular “occasion” restaurant for locals and visitors. Chef Ash and his protege, Jeffrey Madura, have both moved on (Ash no longer works at the restaurant that bears his name), but the venerable Thomas Schmidt continues their fusion of French and Mediterranean (with a few Asian and German) influences using local products.
Expect dishes like Ahi Tuna Tartare, King Salmon, Liberty Duck, Beef Filet and Lamb Chops done with a sense of gravitas — there’s a reputation to live up to, after all. Holidays are mainstays at the restaurant, as are wedding parties.
Less formal is the clubby Front Room Bar, where you can sink into a leather seat and nibble on tasty small plates while kicking back well-crafted cocktails. Happy hour is a local favorite.
4330 Barnes Road
Santa Rosa, CA 95403-1514
(707) 527-7687
Open Mon-Thu 4pm-10pm; Fri-Sun 3pm-11pm
Amrit Indian Cuisine opens
Roselanders are already buzzing about the brand new Amrit Indian Cuisine (443 Dutton, Santa Rosa) that opened last week. The space has been a revolving door for restaurants, most notably the former Trisha’s Lumpia House and most recently a Chinese restaurant. BiteClub hit the $8.99 lunch buffet last week, which included an impressive selection of vegetarian and meaty dishes (lamb, chicken tikka masala, tandoori chicken) along with fresh naan.
The opening comes on the heels of Sizzling Tandoor closing their short-term curry and naan spot at the downtown Santa Rosa mall — which always seemed a bit shoehorned into the former Mongolian Grill spot, but a nice local addition to the chain eateries that dominate.
Subway will move into the spot. Wheee.
Effort to shut down pop-up dinner backfires in Hburg
UPDATE: I just heard from Lisbeth Holmefjord, the co-restaurateur of the newly-opened Baci in Healdsburg. The rumor mill has run amok that it was Baci that blew the whistle on Mateo’s Eastside Road spot. Not true, she says. Her contention: She’s one of Mateo’s biggest fans and his move from Eastside Road was more about liability than anyone complaining.
“I was shocked when I read this on the Internet. Mateo and I have been very good friends for twelve years. I’ve helped him with his business plan. Would I be so stupid to accuse him?” says Lisbeth. According to her, she was actually at one of Mateo’s recent dinners on Eastside Road and was surprised to learn of the move. “Mateo’s not competition to me, we’re not even open on Wednesdays. We love to go out on Wednesdays,” she said.
Meanwhile, the dinners continue to sell out. You can’t buy this kind of press.
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Karmic Justice? News from the Mateo’s Pop-Up dinner front….
After a Healdsburg restaurateur complained about Mateo Granados’ pop-up dinners in a barn on Eastside Road several weeks ago, the site was closed down. Among some restaurateurs, there’s a growing resentment about temporary dining set-ups or food trucks that bypass the high overhead of a brick and mortar restaurant.
Understandable if they’re next door, sucking away clients. A little harder to fathom when the site is miles out in the country (and frankly a whole lot closer to Windsor than Healdsburg).
But here’s where the whole thing backfired…the generous folks at Costeaux French Bakery Cafe hearing of the Tendejon de la Calle’s plight have offered a temporary home for Mateo’s dinners to continue on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. In downtown Healdsburg.
But that’s not all…This Friday (6/4/10), funky Roadhouse Winery (107B N. Street, Healdsburg), will host the movable feast at their tasting room (for the second time), sweetening the deal with a la carte pours of their silky pinot noirs, pool and video games after diner. Hello, yes please. Plans are in the works to keep ’em going through the summer. (Wanna go? Contact Eric Hall for details: Info@Roadhousewinery.com, or call 922.6362).
So what’s it all the fuss? Several longtime Hburg chefs BiteClub spoke to say they’re far from concerned about unfair competition from Mateo, a former Dry Creek Kitchen chef and longtime local who’s got a penchant for transient eats. The sentiment from most was simply live and let live, because the press is good for everyone.
Seems you can’t keep a good pop-up dinner down. So really, why try?
Tendejon de la Calle, weekly on Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 5pm until dusk. Invites available only by email list or by calling 623.5474. Entrees $16-$19 each, appetizers $8-$12. Cash and local checks only. BYOB and glasses.
Weigh in…What’s your take on this whole situation? Should restaurateurs be worried or supportive?