The Sebastopol spot that’s seen as many reincarnations as Shirley MacLaine is closing again. But fear not. It will reopen.

According to the owners of the Sebastopol Brewing Company, they’ll be throwing in the towel on November 1 after two years at the downtown location. Going out with a bang, however, the Brewing Company will throw a monster bash tonight called “Afterlife”.

The event features three themed areas and showcases the live funky break beats of San Francisco’s J. Boogie’s Dubtronic Science, the soulful wisdom of Goddess Alchemy Project, dance grooves of DJ’s Dragonfly, Malarkey, Guacamole and Zack Darling, plus the whimsical bluegrass of Jug Dealers. Additional acts include, fire show on the patio with Pyro-A-Go-Go, circus freaks plus a free raffle for 2008 Burning Man ticket.

According to owners, the location will rise from the ashes in late winter or spring as a restaurant and music venue under the name Hop Monk Tavern, by restaurant entrepreneur Dean Biersch of Gordon Biersch fame.

Sebastopol Brewing Co., 230 Petaluma Avenue, Sebastopol , 707-823-SUDS

Big openings
Windsor’s new Pacific Rim restaurant, Chinois Asian Bistro (186 Windsor River, Windsor), has opened for dinner-only. The second restaurant for Ume’s Kelly Shu the menu pulls from Chinese, Japanese and other Asian influences. Also opening this week to a power outage, Mary’s Pizza Shack on Fourth St. in downtown Santa Rosa. The popular chain is weilding some serious muscle, space-wise, giving shack-ers plenty of space to nibble their crusts and rub elbows. It’s a nice family-friendly addition to downtown. Meanwhile, Santa Rosa’s much-awaited new Irish pub, Stout Bros. (also on Fourth St.), plans to finally open their doors on Tuesday. Owners are putting the finishing touches on the bar this week. The big question: How will the fish and chips rate?

PS: Wondering what the heck’s been up with BiteClub the last couple weeks? I’m working on an exciting new food and wine project that’s been keeping my dance card full, full, full! Stay tuned for more details BiteClubbers. There’s lots more to come.

I like a good Tootsie Roll as much as the next ghoul. I pilfer mini Twix bars and Halloween peanut butter cups from my kids (it’s really for their own good). But I’d consider selling my soul for wicked treats like these…

Death Becomes Her
Take, for example, Mori Ex Cacao from Valerie Confections. These ultra-luxe plum-sized chocolate skills are flavored with scorched caramel, bitter brandied cherry and ‘curious chili’ “a devilish mixture of chilies and spices. All wrapped up in black silk. Ridiculously expensive at $95 for the set, this isn’t for every pocketbook. But think how lovely it would feel to send one to your ex-girlfriend. Pair with Modern Alchemy’s Salem candle, scented with New England maple, hickory and walnut. Then burn, baby, burn.

But can you live in it?
Dean and Deluca’s Pumpkin Cake: Six layers of vanilla spiced cake with praline butter cream and a center layer of chocolate fudge. Looks like a pumpkin. Tastes like heaven. Costs a small fortune. $110, Dean and Deluca.

Pumpkin spice goat milk ice cream: Laloo’s rich and creamy ice cream embodies fall. Insanely good and not a hint of goaty-ness.

Norman Love white chocolate pumpkin pie truffle: Almost to pretty to eat. Almost.

Chocolate Horror Pizza: A slice of milk chocolate pizza topped with an array of ghoulish goodies, including an eyeball truffle & Gummi worms. Moonstruck Chocolate, $7.

Bobbing for caramel apples: Chocolate apples are filled with caramel and milk chocolate ganache. Just don’t tell your dentist. Moonstruck Chocolate, $28.

Cinnamon malt chocolate pieces from Recchiuti are decorated with ghosts, black cats, bats and Jack ‘O Lanterns. $18.

You still willing to choke down that linty lollipop? Tell me your favorite Halloween treats.

I didn’t mean to do it. Eat the entire pizza, that is. All twelve delightful inches.

In my ongoing search for a killer pie, Sonoma’s Red Grape came onto my radar after several BiteClubbers mentioned it. Sadly I’ve always shied away from this off-square eatery in favor of the siren songs of slightly haute-er cuisine. Who wants pizza when you can have foie gras?

Turns out, I was missing what locals have known for quite some time. Red Grape turns out some of the best ‘za east of New Haven. The style is straight up east coast, an impossibly thin cracker crust that’s just sturdy enough for a few toppings, but shatters and crackles as soon as you stuff it into your mouth.

Toppings range from classic clam, margherita and cheese to California-influences like pear, gorgonzola, hazelnut and smoked bacon; shrimp and artichoke or chipotle chicken with caramelized onions and cilantro.

Fired in a gas oven, the pizzas cook in just minutes and come out smoking hot and bubbly. Less chewy and dense than other crusts, it’s all about the toppings, rather than a mouthful of dough. But the magic is fleeting. Once the pizza starts to cool and the crust starts to get soggy, you’re done for. Which is why I strongly recommend eating it in your car, straight from the box, with a lap full of napkins and the windows rolled up. (Keeps in the garlicky essence and drowns out your moans of delight.)

So now you know my shame. But after eating eight slices in a single sitting, I feel that I’ve earned the right to be called (among other things) a happy connoisseur of the Grape’s pear and gorgonzola pie. A czar of their cracker crust. An affectionado of apizza. And very, very full.

The pizza party continues. Check out the original pizza post, if you want to add your. 02.
Red Grape, 529 First St. West, Sonoma, 707.966.4103. Open daily for lunch and dinner.

There aren’t many seasonings who can claim to have changed the course of human history, built empires and motivated entire economies. In fact, there is only one: Salt.

With its ability to preserve food almost indefinitely (a nice thing to have before the advent of refrigeration), salt has long been a commodity worth fighting and even dying for. Reaching back to the earliest humans until the early 1900’s salt was highly valued and often exorbitantly taxed, putting it out of the reach of most. Slaves were bought and sold with it, cakes of it were used as money, and rich folks would often put it in small silver cellars to impress their dinner guests.

With mechanization of the harvesting process (both from the sea and from salt mines) salt became pretty ubiquitous. And pretty boring. That iodized stuff in the shaker is light years away in flavor and texture to the hundreds of native salts from around the world–from red Hawaiian salts colored with volcanic clay to smoked and infused salts.

With more than a pinch of admiration for this historic seasoning, Chef Janine Falvo of Carneros Bistro & Wine Bar will host the first ever (as far as she knows) Salt Dinner on Oct. 18. Using different flavored and textured salts, as well as salt-centric preparations, she plans to create a unique meal that showcases the seasoning. Among her favorite salts: olive salt infused with local olive oil and smoked salt from Brittany.

“We’re building salt awareness,” she says with a grin. “I just love salt.”

The evening’s menu includes live scallops prepared three ways (truffle, chili and olive salt); a house-made gravlax (a salt-fermented salmon) with potato latkes; Duck Duck Goose, spice-infused duck confit, duck prosciutto and goose torchon; pork loin and belly with apple cider demi-glace and for dessert, a flourless chocolate cake with salted popcorn and chocolate soup. Sommelier Chris Sawyer will pair wines with the dishes.

Sound like sodium overload? Falvo says the dishes are meant to highlight different flavors and uses of salt, but won’t leave you reaching for the water pitcher. But, you know, you may want to take that with a grain of salt.

The deal: The dinner will be on October 18, 2007 from 6:30 to 9:30pm at The Lodge at Sonoma. The cost is $50, $70 with wine pairings. Call 707.282.1531 for reservations.

Feeling salty? Whole Foods now offers an array of gourmet salts, including Hawaiian, Fleur de Sel (a fancy French sea salt), smoked salts and a variety of other tasty seasonings in the cheese department. Check out wacky salts like Oregon Pinot, pomegranate and mint at LordsofSalt.com. Cool artisan salts are available at Saltworks. Want more history on salt? Check out Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky.

UPDATE David Lin stopped by the offices of the Press Democrat today (10/11) to show BiteClub his newly redesigned menu. Chin has made a number of significant changes to the menu–deleting several dishes that also appear on Ume’s menu as well as reordering and renaming some dishes they continue to share. Chin asserts that many of his dishes are inspired by his work with the Japanese staff at Shogun and are classic Asian dishes. Is it enough to convince loyal Ume fans?

A serious sushi smackdown is brewing in SoCo. After BiteClub’s recent write-up of Toyo Sushi Bar and Japanese Bistro in Santa Rosa, the owners of Ume Japanese Bistro in Windsor are taking serious issue with the newcomer’s menu.

Kelly Shu, owner of Ume (winner of BiteClub’s “Best Sushi”), emailed BiteClub the following message over the weekend, along with copies of both her menu (click here) and that of Toyo (click here).

“It was-brought to our attention by some customers that Toyo has an almost identical menu as Ume, down to the font. It’s upsetting to learn that our effort and creation can be blatantly plagiarized. We just wanted to clarify that although the menus are the same, Ume has no association whatsoever with Toyo.“

A side by side comparison of the menus did reveal some rather startling simlarities. As in exactly the same dishes in exactly the same order in several places. The “Favorites” section is listed in exactly the same order from Ankimo to Black and Blue on both menus and even the descriptions and fonts are identical. (I compared the Ume menu with my own copy of the Toyo takeout menu, just for fairness’ sake.)

And while the ubiquity of California rolls, tempura, bento boxes and even “martini prawns” (on both Toyo and Ume’s menu described as Margarita Poppers) I get, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that this case seems to go well beyond a few similarities. Hmmm.

Smelling something not quite right, I called Toyo owner David Lin, who’s been around the Japanese block in Santa Rosa. Both he and wife Lisa, he claims, have worked the local Asian restaurant circuit including Shogun and Senju. Wife Lisa, he tells me, did work at Ume.

But Lin claims Ume’s accusations of plagiarism are misguided. “They make a dragon roll. We make a dragon roll. We’ve worked in the restaurant business for many years. We all have many of the same dishes.” Lin throws a counter-point, saying that he’s been having trouble with sake distributors who say they’ll only work with Ume. “Really, this doesn’t feel good,” says Lin. “We are all Chinese. I don’t know why they don’t help me. I’m in Santa Rosa, they’re in Windsor. We’re in different places.”

For years, many chefs have taken it as a matter of course that departing kitchen staff would likely lift their signature dishes and take them elsewhere. But lifting a dish or two is one thing. Lifting nearly an entire menu, almost word for word, is another. Recently, a NYC chef, Rebecca Charles, threatened to sue one of her former sous-chefs who opened an imitation restaurant, with nearly an identical menu, less than a mile away.

So, is this a case of great minds thinking a like? Or things being a little too close for comfort? Stay tuned.

As a former resident of both New York and Chicago, I’ve purposely laid a bit low on the whole Wine Country pizza debate.

For one thing, the definition of pizza ’round these parts is almost impossible to nail down. Is a salad on top of pizza crust a pizza? Is goat cheese and arugula? And, come on, what’s with the whole wheat crust thing?

The other issue? I’ve been mostly underwhelmed with the cardboard and gluey cheese horrors I’ve frequently found being passed off as pizza. Sorry, but putting spaghetti sauce on a frozen crust ain’t pizza. Yep. I just threw down that glove.

There are some notable exceptions:
– Rosso’s wood-fired pizzas. Fresh mozzarella, garlic, tomatoes-come on.
– NYPie: Solid New York style. But no slices?
– Bistro Don Giovanni: Fig and prosciutto.
– Odyssey: Arugula was never so good on a pizza
– Mombo’s: A slice of pesto never lets me down

So I pose the question to you, BiteClubbers. What’s the best slice of pie in the North Bay? White or red, clams or pepperoni? From New York style to California, Chicago or Sicilian, what rocks our little corner of the world? Is a wood-fired oven a necessity? Am I just crazy? Is there some truly outstanding pizza to be found in Sonoma?

Have at it.

Need somewhere to start? Peter Lowell’s in Sebastopol throws open the doors on Oct. 6 (Saturday) and promises to have some killer pies. Check out my preview. Or, be the first to lend your opinion about this mostly-vegetarian, all-organic newcomer.

In a blue collar neighborhood better known for its furniture warehouses than its cuisine, Toyo Sushi Bar has just been added to an intriguing lineup of ethnic eateries along Piner Road including Red Rose (southern BBQ); Royal China (upscale Chinese) and El Sombrero #2 (dive tacos).

Decidedly white-tablecloth, Toyo’s opening menu features yellowtail collar, quail eggs and monk fish pate (among more straightforward fare). Staking its claim into serious sushi, owners Lisa and David Lin have hired a Japanese chef to handle the sashimi and nigiri crowd while the kitchen cranks out tempura and teriyaki.

Just a few days old, the experienced local restaurateurs already have a handle on things. Presentation of everything from California rolls to simple Bento boxes are camera-ready–adding to carefully-cultivated vibe of the spot.

Worth trying: Toyo does its own version of the ubiquitous martini shrimp poppers (the new Crab Rangoon) served in a margarita glass; Dragon Eggs ($8.75) are quail eggs stuffed into crispy prawns with sweet chili sauce; and David recommends the Black and Blue–a seared piece of Ahi drizzled with “special sauce” (you’re on your own here).

The restaurant also features a broiled yellowtail collar, one of the most succulent parts of the fish, with ponzu sauce and scallions; baby octopus with daikon and seaweed; Saba Shioyaki (salted mackerel), along with family faves like Chicken Katsu (fried chicken Japanese-style); tempura and teriyaki. The lunch bento is a great deal at $11.95, with large portions of teriyaki, rice, a well-crafted California roll, salad and miso.

So here’s where things get serious: The sushi. Rolls run an entire page, with the usual suspects–Californian, Alaskan, Rock & Roll, etc. at the usual prices. The Summer Cooler ($12.95) includes spicy cooked prawns, red snapper, shiso and lemon slices. Honestly, I’ve been burned by too many mayo-and-mango roll disasters, and tend to stick with the simple stuff. The Ankimo ($4.75) is tops, with three small disks of monk fish pate on a shiso leaf. The bistro has a serviceable by-the-glass wine list along with several types of sake, sake cocktails and beers.

Located within the Piner & Marlow Shopping Center, parking spots are usually plentiful. The food is seriously good in such an unassuming Northwest Santa Rosa spot. And hey, who can complain when you can trip-link your Maguro with a massage, milkshake, taco and quick visit to the dentist?

Toyo Japanese Bistro, 3082 Marlow Road (the former Wharf Seafood Bar), Santa Rosa, 707.527.8871.