Siblings Ella and Nico Bartolomei have been involved with 4-H for several years. Ella says the turkeys calls often make her laugh. (Chad Surmick/The Press Democrat)
A cacophony of turkey voices floods the air late in the afternoon at 4-H leader Catherine Thode’s family farm in Sebastopol.
Here, more than 75 turkeys, resplendent in plumy coats of silver, charcoal, cocoa, and emerald, greet visitors with a throaty yelp—half song, half giggle. Wattles wobble and long necks crane in curiosity as they call in loud unison: Hello, yup! Hi, yup! Welcome, yup!
Their eager greeting is one of the many marvelous things about the birds, says ninth grader Ella Bartolomei. As members of Thode’s 4-H group, Ella and her brother Nico, a high school junior, have raised turkeys of their own for several years on their family’s rural property in Forestville.
“I like the way the turkeys sound,” Ella says, of the 49 American Bronze and Narragansett breed birds she and her brother have raised from chicks this year. “They not only say ‘gobble,’ but they respond when you say ‘gobble,’ too. It’s really entertaining to listen to them mock you all day.”
Siblings Ella and Nico Bartolomei have been involved with 4-H for several years. Ella says the turkeys calls often make her laugh. (Chad Surmick/The Press Democrat)Local students involved in the Heritage Turkey Project learn all aspects of raising poultry, including diet and behavior. (Chad Surmick/The Press Democrat)
Nico, meanwhile, appreciates their magnificent style. “They’re prehistoric looking, like little dinosaurs,” he says. The Bronze turkeys he raises have iridescent jade, copper, and ebony feathers and flashes of patriotic red, white, and blue across their necks and snoods (the snood is the fleshy bit that dangles over the beak of male turkeys). “They’re cool animals, and it’s fun to watch them strut around. I especially enjoy when the toms flaunt their tail feathers and change their face colors to impress the ladies.”
Ultimately, the majority of the birds raised by these local students end up as Thanksgiving birds, part of a program to increase the number of heirloom-certified turkeys available locally and provide alternatives to grocery store standard Broad Breasted White turkeys. A few of the birds raised by the students may become part of breeding programs in an effort to propagate and preserve rare, heirloom breeds of turkey. The program requires a lot of work for 4-H and FFA members, yet embracing the boutique birds is a beloved mission for them all—a way to celebrate tradition and history.
Catherine Thode has been the lead coordinator for the heirloom turkey project for nearly two decades, working with Slow Food Russian River. It can be an expensive undertaking, she acknowledges, as the heirloom-certified turkeys dine on organic feed specially formulated to standards from the Livestock Conservancy, a national group that advocates for heritage livestock and poultry breeds. Each bird is a special bird, banded on an inner wing, so a purchaser is guaranteed where it came from.
Catherine Thode at her Sebastopol farm. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)Catherine Thode feeds her 75 turkeys on her farm in a pen that is about 50 by 50 feet with a fence and netting on top to keep out predators, in the middle of a field of her Sebastopol farm. (Chad Surmick/The Press Democrat)
The students pay for (or hatch their own) turkey poults and are responsible for feed and supplies. In turn, the sale proceeds go to the young farmer who raised the birds. This year, due in part to a more than 13% increase in the cost of the locally milled organic grains, the 4-H heritage turkeys are priced at $12 a pound.
Sebastopol siblings Hannah and Nolan Perry started raising turkeys with Thode’s 4-H group after stepping up from chickens. The siblings are now experienced turkey farmers, bringing six Bronze and four Bourbon Red birds to market for 2023. “Being responsible for the well-being of animals means you have to prioritize them, and check on their food, water, health, and safety, even when it doesn’t fit into your schedule,” says Hannah. She also loved learning how her turkeys can have such individual personalities Nico Bartolomei is proud that his diligence has paid off. “When I started doing the project, I lost many birds to predators,” he says.
“I kept modifying their run, and trying heavier
duty netting on top of their outdoor space until we finally had a year without losses.
It taught me that the best things take time to do. I also now know just how much time, resources, and commitment it takes for one animal to go from an egg to someone’s plate.”
As the turkeys grow, the 4-H kids find themselves forming opinions about the world they want to live in. Ella Bartolomei has discovered that “growing food humanely and organically” is very important to her. Nolan Perry has grown to appreciate where his food comes from, but he also says picking up the day-old poults from the Thode farm and watching them grow is simply a lot of fun. “When they’re older, they’re so fun to be around,” he says.
“Their gobbling is like a laugh track.”
Bronze and Narraganset turkey’s crowd the fence at the Bartolomei ranch in Healdsburg. (Chad Surmick/The Press Democrat)
The taste of a heritage turkey
Heritage breeds bring more natural flavor, with rich, robust dark meat, says heritage foods advocate Michael Dimock, who founded Slow Food Russian River and, more recently, Roots of Change, which focuses on regenerative agriculture and making healthy food accessible to everyone. Dimock has purchased a Sonoma County heritage turkey every year since the project’s launch and finds the students’ birds superior to other breeds of turkey.
Heirloom turkeys are raised outdoors, which leads to more defined muscle texture and leaner, more flavorful meat. “They cook much faster, so they’re juicy, and have so much more flavor that they don’t need anything else,” he said. “I just stuff them really full with herbs like rosemary and sage, and a bunch of different fruits like apples, oranges, and pears. They taste like joy.”
(Chad Surmick/The Press Democrat)
Turkey to the table
To reserve a heritage turkey from one of Catherine Thode’s 4-H students, it’s best to plan up to a year ahead, as the students have capacity to raise just a few hundred birds each season. For more information on the Sonoma heritage turkey project, visit heritageturkeyproject.com.
If the 4-H birds are spoken for, you can still support thoughtful, small-scale agriculture with a boutique Broad Breasted bird, raised on a healthier diet and with humane values like room to roam. Here are more sustainable picks for your Sonoma holiday table.
Diestel Family Ranch
The Tuolumne County farm raises turkeys on a vegetarian diet without hormones, antibiotics, or growth stimulants. Order to pick up at Oliver’s Markets, Whole Foods, and Fircrest Market. diestelturkey.com
Shelton’s Natural Foods Market
Select from free-range, organic, and heritage turkeys raised by Mary’s Free Range Turkey in Fresno County. Order ahead to pick up at 428 Center St., Healdsburg, 707431-0530, sheltonsmarket.com.
Sonoma County Meat Co.
During the holiday season, you can find Diestel turkeys at this shop that deals exclusively in all-natural, California-raised, sustainable meats. 35 Sebastopol Ave., Santa Rosa. 707-521-0121, sonomacountymeatco.com
Tara Firma Farms
A limited number of sustainably-raised turkeys are offered by this regenerative, family-run farm. 3796 I St., Petaluma. 707-765-1202, tarafirmafarms.com/csa
Victorian Farmstead Meat Co.
Free-range, hormone-free birds from local farms. Order to pick up at Sebastopol Community Market Butcher Shop, 6762 Sebastopol Ave., Sebastopol. 707-332-4605, vicfarmmeats.com
This new build in Fountaingrove has a butler’s pantry, a pool house and an attached ADU. The five-bedroom six-and-a-half bathroom home is listed for $2,745,000. (Tom Rohrer)
A new build in Santa Rosa’s Fountaingrove neighborhood with great views, sleek design elements, a butler’s pantry, a pool house and an attached accessory dwelling unit is currently listed for$2,745,000. The home has five bedrooms and six and a half bathrooms on 5,067 square feet.
The home’s builder, Daniel Stewart, who is the co-owner and operator of Stewart Construction Service in Rohnert Park, thinks that all new homes should include accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in order to address housing needs and meet the preferences of families who want to live with multiple generations under one roof.
“California has a housing shortage. House prices will not stop skyrocketing until the supply problem is solved. ADUs are one way. The local and state governments have made it easier to add ADUs to a new or existing lot,” he said, adding that the extra living space can also provide an additional source of income.
“When my wife and I bought our first house in 2004, it had a small ADU. The income from that ADU was the only way we could afford the house,” Stewart said.
The Fountaingrove home’s ADU is accessible via an outdoor stairway and an entrance inside the pool house. This second unit has a great room that combines the kitchen, dining and lounging areas, while the bedroom is separate. The attached dwelling can be closed off from the rest of the home through a locked door.
The butler’s pantry is attached to the main kitchen and has ample forest green cabinets and a countertop. It also includes laundry facilities. Click through the above gallery for a peek inside this home.
For more information on 3817 Sedgemoore Drive, Santa Rosa, please contact listing agent Regina Clyde, Sotheby’s International Realty, 793 Broadway Sonoma, 707-529-8504. ginaclyde.com
on Saturday, 12 8, 2012.
The Petaluma Holiday Lighted Boat Parade illuminates the Petaluma River Turning Basin, Saturday Dec. 8, 2012. (Kent Porter / Press Democrat) 2012
Petaluma does up the holidays in style, anchored by the gorgeous, circa-1924 Hotel Petaluma, which goes all-out with vintage-inspired holiday decor (in past years, they’ve even made it “snow”).
Click through the above gallery for a few favorite places to visit in this charming city.
What to do
The iconic Petaluma Lighted Boat Parade will kick off the holiday season downtown along the Petaluma River on Saturday, December 9 at 5:30 p.m. petalumadowntown.com
The community ceramics center Kickwheel Sonoma offers pottery classes and is the design studio for ceramicist Andrew M. Kontrabecki. 5400 Old Redwood Hwy. N., Petaluma. kickwheelsonoma.com
Learn why Petaluma has been nicknamed the “Hollywood of Northern California” on a free, self-guided tour of local film sites featured in “American Graffiti,” “Peggy Sue Got Married” and other popular movies. Petaluma Visitors Center, 210 Lakeville St. 707-769-0429, visitpetaluma.com
Where to taste
The Barber Cellars tasting room, located on the ground floor of Hotel Petaluma, and its sister distillery, Barber Lee Spirits, are right downtown. The distillery’s Absinthe Blanche won best of class at the 2022 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Barber Cellars recently opened a European-style cheese market. At the Petaluma Cheese Shop, guests can order delicious dishes like a cheese sandwich (which changes weekly), a bowl of burrata with warm focaccia, and a melted Alpine cheese blend served with potatoes, sausage and pickled vegetables. 112 Washington St., Petaluma, 707-971-7410, petalumacheeseshop.com, barbercellars.com
Port-style fortified wines are the specialty at Bill and Caryn Reading’s Sonoma Portworks, along with liqueurs, brandies and sherries including the popular hazelnut-infused Duet. 613 Second St., portworks.com
Founded by former Kosta Browne winemaker Garry Brooks, Brooks Note focuses on elegant Sonoma County Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, as well as Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. 426 Petaluma Blvd. North, 707-981-8470, brooksnotewinery.com
Pumpkin cheesecake from Stellina Pronto in Petaluma. (Stellina Pronto)
Where to eat
Stop at Stellina Pronto, a quaint Italian cafe, for a coffee and sweet brioche bun to start your day before strolling past hidden street art along downtown alleyways. 23 Kentucky St. 707-789-9556, stellinapronto.com
Eat like a local at Lunchette. The smoked trout salad with preserved lemon vinaigrette, roasted beets, pickled raisins and cashews is a perennial favorite, along with warm grain bowls and slices of Roman-style pizza al taglio. 25 Fourth St. 707-241-7443, lunchettepetaluma.com
For a farm-to-table dinner, make reservations at Central Market for wood-fired pizzas, oven-roasted vegetables, and handmade pasta. Chef Tony Najiola stops by every table to make sure diners are happy and well fed. 42 Petaluma Blvd. N., 707-778-9900, centralmarketpetaluma.com
Skip the cooking and dishes this year by letting local chefs prepare your Thanksgiving feast, giving you extra time to spend with family and friends. More than 40 Sonoma County restaurants, bakeries and grocers are offering special holiday meals and treats for dining in, takeout or delivery.
Make reservations and preorder meals early, as space and menu items are limited and sell out fast.
Santa Rosa
John Ash & Co.
A three-course prix fixe Thanksgiving dinner for dining in, as well as a prix fixe kids’ menu and a Front Room a la carte menu. The first course is a choice between autumn salad or butternut squash soup. The second course options consist of roasted Heritage turkey with giblet dressing, gravy and cranberry sauce; pan-seared salmon with mushrooms and spinach; roasted pork tenderloin with sweet potato gnocchi and roasted Brussels sprouts; vegan portobello Wellington, and grilled Angus beef filet with maple-glazed vegetables and garlic whipped potatoes. Dessert is a pumpkin and cinnamon mousse with candied pecans and bourbon caramel.
The kids’ menu includes a first course of mixed greens salad with ranch dressing or a fruit salad with honey yogurt dip; a second course of either penne marinara, salmon filet, petite Angus filet steak or roasted heritage turkey with traditional fixings; and a housemade gelato with pumpkin snickerdoodle for dessert. The adult menu is $95 per person and the kids’ menu is $45 per person. Reserve on OpenTable.
Buffet-style Thanksgiving feast for parties up to 12, served in the ballroom. The buffet menu includes seasonal chop salad, butternut squash soup, buttermilk biscuits, slow-cooked prime rib, maple-brined turkey, wild mushroom ravioli, olive oil poached shrimp, sourdough stuffing, roasted sweet potatoes, caramelized Brussels sprouts, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, mezcal cranberry sauce and more (with items subject to change based on availability). Sweets include pumpkin pie, pecan pie, chocolate mousse tart and Meyer lemon cheesecake. $75 for adults and $35 for children. Reserve on Tock.
Thanksgiving takeout (Nov. 19. is the last day to preorder). Entree items and sides can be purchased separately. Full meals include roast turkey with stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce; 8-ounce prime rib with mashed potatoes, gravy and sauteed vegetables; smoked ham with mashed potatoes, gravy and sauteed vegetables; or vegetable lasagna with garlic bread. There’s also a family turkey dinner that serves eight to 10 people and includes a 12 to 14-pound whole roasted turkey, five pounds of stuffing, five pounds of mashed potatoes, one quart of gravy, one pint of cranberry sauce and dinner rolls. Order online. Meals delivered cold with reheating instructions provided. Pick up from Nov. 21 through Nov. 23.
Takeout Thanksgiving dinner for two, available for preorder now. Also open 2-7 p.m. on Nov. 23, serving regular dinner menu alongside a classic Thanksgiving meal with all the fixings. The takeout menu for two ($145) includes creamy tomato soup, arugula and endive salad, butter roasted turkey with giblet gravy and pomegranate-cranberry sauce, and sides of mashed potatoes, broccolini, roasted cremini mushrooms, and chorizo sausage and blue cheese stuffing. Dessert add-ons include spiced apple cake and pumpkin cream cheese pie. Order online by Nov. 17 for pickup from noon to 9 p.m. Nov. 22-23.
Dine in or takeout prix fixe Thanksgiving dinner. Choice of entrees include pumpkin ravioli, Angus prime rib au jus, oven-roasted turkey with all the fixings and wild Alaskan salmon filet in a beurre blanc sauce. All meals are served with Franco American French bread, creamy butternut squash soup and butter lettuce salad with Dijon vinaigrette, as well as a choice of pecan pie or spiced pumpkin pie with chantilly whipped cream. Call 707-528-4355 to preorder meals or reserve a spot on OpenTable. Order meals by Nov. 21 for pickup 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.
Thanksgiving takeout menu, for pickup at the Sebastopol-based patisserie’s new Montgomery Village location. The holiday menu includes vadouvan-spiced butternut squash velouté, a golden beet and arugula salad, cornbread, potato gratin, green beans, maple glazed roasted baby carrots, mushroom fricassee, orange cranberry sauce, Pacific salmon coulibiac, slow-roasted pork loin, pumpkin pie cheesecake and bourbon pecan tart. Order items online or at the cafe prior to pickup. Place order by 4 p.m. on Nov. 19 for pickup 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Nov. 22.
Enjoy a Thanksgiving feast on the Sonoma Serengeti, with two seatings; at noon and 3 p.m. The menu includes fresh dinner rolls, tiger prawn cocktail, butternut squash soup, spinach salad, sauteed green beans, French bread stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, bourbon glazed sweet potatoes, maple glazed ham, roasted turkey with housemade cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and pecan pie. Menu is subject to change. $75 for adults, $30 for children ages 4 to 12 and free for toddlers under 4. Reserve online.
3115 Porter Creek Road, Santa Rosa, 707-579-2551, safariwest.com
La Gare French Restaurant in Santa Rosa will serve a prix fixe Thanksgiving dinner, for dining in or takeout. (Kent Porter/The Press Democrat)
Kenwood
Salt & Stone
A dine-in a la carte Thanksgiving menu includes raw and cooked oysters and shared plates along with three courses to choose from. Choice of appetizers include butternut squash bisque, French onion soup, kale salad, little gem Caesar and butter lettuce salad. Entree choices include Diestel Ranch turkey, crispy skin salmon, cauliflower gnocchi, Dungeness crab cioppino, gulf prawn and scallop tagliatelle, and Dijon and herb roasted Angus beef prime rib. Dessert choices include pumpkin cheesecake, apple galette, butterscotch bread pudding, flourless chocolate ganache torte, raspberry zinfandel sorbet and Kentucky bourbon butter pecan gelato. The menu for children under 10 ($20) includes a choice of a turkey dinner, cheeseburger with fries, housemade shell pasta in a meat sauce or noodles with butter and cheese, plus a drink of choice and vanilla bean ice cream with chocolate sauce for dessert.
Closed on Thanksgiving Day but open Nov. 22 for dining in and takeout with seasonal menu items. The Thanksgiving menu includes various baked goods such as pumpkin brioche, cranberry bread, hazelnut and chocolate chip cookies, apple pie, pumpkin galette, honey cake, pumpkin macaroons and assorted fruit tarts.
A Thanksgiving dinner package, for pickup 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Nov. 23 , that serves eight people. Package includes a whole Diestel Ranch roast turkey, maple glazed cranberry-orange sauce, chicory salad, Parker House rolls, buttermilk mashed potatoes, housemade gravy, sourdough-mushroom stuffing, caramelized Brussels sprouts with brown sugar bacon marmalade and pumpkin pie. $60 per person, plus tax ($480 for full dinner package for eight people). Preorder online.
Dine in, three-course Thanksgiving dinner served from 1-6 p.m. Menu includes Acme Bread Company bread with house-cultured butter for the table; starters of poached pear salad, fig and arugula salad or parsnip and apple bisque; entrees of roast turkey breast, braised short ribs, pan-seared flounder or roasted mushroom risotto; and dessert choices of cinnamon apple crisp with vanilla mascarpone or pumpkin cheesecake bar with salted caramel. $62 per person, with $15 optional wine pairing. Reserve on Resy.
13690 Arnold Drive, Glen Ellen, 707-938-2130, thefigcafe.com
Sonoma
the girl & the fig
Dine in, three-course Thanksgiving dinner served from noon to 8 p.m. Menu includes Acme Bread Company bread with house-cultured butter for the table; starters of shaved apple salad, glazed squash salad or mushroom and celery root bisque; entrees of roast turkey breast, sauteed flounder, short rib au poivre or roasted mushroom ragout; and dessert choices of chocolate pecan tart, profiteroles with pumpkin ice cream or cranberry-pear crumble bar with vanilla ice cream. $68 per person, with $16 optional wine pairing. Reserve online or call for more information.
Dine in or takeout three-course prix fixe Thanksgiving dinner. The first course is a choice of king crab and endive Caesar salad, butter lettuce salad with goat cheese and herb vinaigrette, butternut squash soup with duck confit, and ricotta gnudi with sunchoke puree and truffle glaze. Second course choices include lobster pot pie, petrale sole in a lemon caper sauce, Heritage turkey breast with sourdough stuffing, and prime beef New York strip in au poivre with cream spinach. A trio of Thanksgiving sides includes Brussels sprouts, green bean casserole and pomme purée. The dessert course is a choice of pumpkin pie served with vanilla gelato, carrot cake sundae with Fiorello’s maple butter pecan gelato, or Basque-style cheesecake with salted caramel and spiced apple compote. $97 per person. Reserve online.
At The Lodge at Sonoma Resort, 1325 Broadway, Sonoma, 707-931-3405, witandwisdomsonoma.com
Benicia’s Kitchen
Dine in for a buffet-style Thanksgiving meal served from 12:30-7 p.m. The buffet menu includes Thai-spiced butternut squash soup, fresh seafood and mezze displays, seasonal farmers market salad bar, roasted Mary’s turkey, maple glazed salmon, Japanese pumpkin squash ravioli, Snake River Farms wagyu picanha, traditional sides and dessert choices of vegan chocolate caramel tarts or Sweet Pea Bake Shop’s fresh baked pies (pumpkin, French apple and chocolate pecan). Reserve on OpenTable.
Open Thanksgiving Day for dining in during breakfast and dinner hours with an a la carte menu of holiday classics. The holiday menu includes Caesar salad, truffle fries, butternut squash soup, pan-seared crab cakes, turkey with all the fixings, sauteed petrale sole, veggie risotto, braised short rib, pan-roasted salmon, tiramisu, pumpkin pie and more. Reserve on OpenTable.
Dine in for a three-course Thanksgiving dinner from 2-6 p.m. Menu includes chicory salad, roasted butternut squash soup, turchetta (turkey porchetta) with green beans and mashed potatoes, braised short ribs with cheesy polenta, risotto with roasted vegetables, pumpkin crostata and tortino al cioccolato (warm chocolate cake with red wine sauce). $65 per person. Email info@depotsonoma.com to make a reservation.
MacArthur Place’s Layla restaurant will serve a special three-course prix fixe Thanksgiving meal from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5-9 p.m. for dining in. First course choices include crab cake, pumpkin bisque, artisanal greens and roasted beet salad. Entrees include slow-roasted turkey breast, beef tenderloin, steelhead trout, cauliflower ravioli and butternut squash, all served with complementing sides. Desserts include chocolate cloud cake, bruleed pumpkin pie with cream cheese whip, and apple crepes with citrus caramel and pecan crumble. $110 per adult and $35 per child. $45 for optional wine pairings. Reserve on OpenTable.
Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn’s Santé restaurant will serve a buffet-style Thanksgiving dinner from 1-7 p.m., with wine pairing options available. The feast will include a seafood station with dishes like Pt. Reyes oysters and pastrami smoked salmon; a cheese and charcuterie station featuring Della Fattoria sourdough, assorted local cheeses and cured meats; mains of slow-roasted Diestel turkey, Bassian Farms prime rib, stuffed lamb leg and roasted Alaskan halibut (vegan entrees available upon request); sides such as candied yams, sourdough stuffing and bacon glazed Brussels sprouts; and fall desserts such as pumpkin pie, sweet potato tres leches and apple pie cinnamon rolls. $149 per adult and $39 per child under 12. Reserve on OpenTable.
Dine in, three-course Thanksgiving dinner from noon to 8 p.m. The first course includes a pumpkin and ginger soup, seasonal watercress salad and crispy polenta with rock shrimp. Main course options include roasted turkey breast with fixings, New York Angus steak, baked flounder roulades and gnocchi in a black truffle cream sauce. For dessert, there’s tiramisu, chocolate torte and pumpkin cheesecake. $70 per person. Reserve on OpenTable.
A three-course prix fixe menu. Choice of appetizers include chicory saladwith persimmons, pomegranate molasses vinaigrette, shaved goat cheese, or roasted butternut squash soup with brown butter mascarpone cream, aged balsamic, fried sage. The main course is a choice of ‘turchetta’ with garlic mashed potatoes, herb butter green beans and cranberry mostarda sauce;braised short ribswith three cheese polenta, sauteed Brussels sprouts leaves, roasted baby carrots, veal jus gremolata; or a vegetarianrisottowith roasted baby carrots, butternut squash and Brussels sprouts. For dessert, there will be pumpkin crostata with spiced mascarpone whipped cream, candied pumpkin seeds, or tortino al cioccolatowith warm chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream, red wine sauce. Reserve online.
Pumpkin cheesecake from Stellina Pronto in Petaluma. (Stellina Pronto)Pumpkin ricotta tart from Stellina Pronto in Petaluma. (Stellina Pronto)
Petaluma
Della Fattoria
Thanksgiving specials for pickup from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Nov. 22. Special menu items include Della crouton stuffing, dinner rolls, floral centerpieces, pumpkin tart, apple braid, bread pudding, bourbon pecan tart and lemon olive oil cake. There will be other items in the shop on Nov. 22 that are not available for preorder. Reserve holiday selections online.
Takeout Thanksgiving dinners with all the fixings. Meals include a turkey dinner ($25.95), lamb shank ($27.95), roast pork dinner ($21.95) and prime rib ($37.95). Dinners include soup, salad, yams, veggies, stuffing, gravy, mashed or roasted potatoes, cranberry sauce (for turkey dinners) and dinner rolls with butter. Desserts will be available. Call 707-763-0459 to preorder takeout dinners. The restaurant will be open 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day for dine-in, with a limited menu after 11 a.m. on a first come, first served basis.
A Thanksgiving Day special will be served from noon to 7 p.m. Menu includes an oven-roasted turkey with garlic mashed potatoes, turkey gravy, herbed stuffing, baby carrots and cranberry sauce ($28), or oven-roasted, herb-crusted prime rib with au jus, garlic mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables ($34). Apple pie and pumpkin pie will be available for dessert.
Thanksgiving items for pickup. The savory menu includes brioche buns, wild mushroom bisque, focaccia stuffing, butternut squash risotto, sweet potato gratin, creme fraiche mashed potatoes, caramelized Brussels sprouts and pancetta-wrapped turkey breast porchetta. Sweet items include pumpkin pie, apple pie, assorted cookies, pumpkin cheesecake, maple pecan tart, chocolate ganache and caramel tart, pistachio almond cake and poached pear frangipane tart. Order online for pickup 9 a.m. to noon on Nov. 21 or Nov. 22.
Dine in a la carte Thanksgiving dinner menu. Starters include oysters, stuffed mussels, Caesar salad, harvest salad, burrata with roasted fall squash and Brussels sprouts in a secret sauce with ricotta salata. Entrees include pumpkin gnocchi in a creamy brown butter sage sauce and buttermilk-brined Diestel Ranch turkey with giblet gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, baked sweet potatoes, cornbread chorizo stuffing and cranberry bourbon chutney. Desserts include assorted gelatos, pumpkin or pecan pie, brown butter cake with cranberry-apple compote and basque cheesecake with white chocolate and pumpkin spice drizzle. Find menu with prices and reserve a spot on OpenTable.
The renovated dining room at Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg. (Photo Paige Green)A Pumpkin Spice Mousse Bomb with vanilla bean, espresso Chantilly and ginger créme anglaise from the Dry Creek Kitchen Thursday, November 2, 2023 in Healdsburg. (Photo John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
Healdsburg
Dry Creek Kitchen
Dine in for a three-course prix fixe Thanksgiving meal from 2-7 p.m., with optional wine pairing. First course choices include hamachi tartare, ricotta and greens gnudi, local greens salad with orange vinaigrette, grilled chicories with smoked date jam or Devil’s Gulch Ranch rabbit country pâté on rye toast. The main course is a choice of Mary’s turkey with mushroom bread pudding and black truffle gravy, sweet potato scarpinocc, pistachio-crusted halibut, maple-brined pork tenderloin or Painted Hills prime New York strip steak. Additional sides ($16 each) include pomme purée, herb roasted sweet potatoes and Blue Lake bean casserole. Dessert is a choice of apple streusel cheesecake, chocolate peanut butter bar or pumpkin spice mousse bomb. $110 per guest and $55 for children under 12. Reserve on OpenTable.
Spoonbar, h2hotel’s restaurant, will have a dine-in, three-course Thanksgiving feast, with vegetarian and kids’ options, from 2-7 p.m. The first course is a choice between Dungeness crab bisque, yellowfin tuna crudo and little gems lettuce salad with buttermilk dressing. For the main course, choose from a turkey with cornbread stuffing, braised beef short ribs, herb baked salmon or lentil-stuffed heirloom squash. Dessert, served buffet style, includes pumpkin pie, pecan bars, Sebastopol apple tart and chocolate dipped profiteroles. The kids’ menu includes a choice of rigatoni with butter and Parmesan, a cheeseburger with fries or roasted turkey breast with mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry relish; plus dessert. $79 per person and $35 for children under 12. Reserve on OpenTable or call 707-433-7222.
Dine in for a three-course Thanksgiving feast. Choice of appetizers includes roast butternut squash bisque, Chalk Hill Farm estate bibb salad, Parker House rolls with cultured butter, or burrata with grilled sourdough and roasted bell pepper and kalamata olive tapenade. Entree choices are herb roast prime rib, whole cauliflower muhammara, roasted rolled turkey gremolata or lemon-thyme olive oil poached halibut. Rib-eye and filet mignon are available as add-ons for $30 each. Family-style sides include pecan-glazed yams, mac and cheese, Yukon Gold potato purée and maple syrup roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon. Dessert is a choice of sweet potato pie, apple pecan cake or banana bourbon tiramisu. $95 per guest and $45 per child under 6. Reserve on OpenTable or call 707-543-1000.
The restaurant at The Madrona will have a dine-in prix fixe Thanksgiving dinner. The menu includes housemade chips and dip, Gruyere gougeres and petite radish with cultured butter to share for the table; garden salad and roasted vegetable tarte flambé for starters; an entree choice of truffle risotto with kabocha squash or sage roasted turkey with gravy, stuffing, potatoes and glazed carrots; and pumpkin bread pudding for dessert. $165 per person. Reserve on OpenTable.
Dine in for a three-course, family-style Thanksgiving dinner from noon to 6 p.m. Menu includes an estate salad, Parker House rolls, confit turkey breast, fried turkey leg, bone-in beef rib, pomme purée, cornbread dressing and vegetable and wild mushroom casserole. Wine pairings, cranberry cocktails and cheese and charcuterie boards are available as add-ons. $125 per person. Reserve on OpenTable or call 707-473-8030.
Fully plant-based Thanksgiving feast or a la carte items for pickup. The vegan Thanksgiving bundle ($300) includes a celery root pithivier main dish served with mushroom gravy, sourdough stuffing, baked sweet potatoes, glazed Brussels sprouts, roasted winter squash, Yukon Gold potato gratin and cranberry sauce. Desserts include choice of apple pie, pecan tart and pumpkin tart. Main, sides and desserts can be purchased a la carte. Order deadline is Nov. 17 for pickup between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. from Nov. 20-22. Order on Tock.
Thanksgiving baked goods for pickup. Items include panettone, croissants, morning buns, pecan pie, pumpkin cheesecake, cinnamon walnut bread, pumpkin cranberry muffins and pound cake, a festive cookie plate, a dozen potato dinner rolls (rolls only available for pickup on Nov. 22) and more. Order online.
Dine in Thanksgiving menu, indoor or outdoor patio seating, from 3-8 p.m. Dinners include roasted turkey with gravy, slow-roasted Angus prime rib and braised jumbo lamb shank. All entrees are served with Franco American sourdough bread, mixed green salad or New England clam chowder, garlic cauliflower mashed potatoes, sauteed mixed vegetables, housemade stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. $49.95 per person. Reservations are required due to limited seating. Call 707-894-0885 to reserve a table.
Thanksgiving treats and goods for pickup. The holiday menu includes bourbon pumpkin pie, maple pecan pie, apple crumb pie, chocolate espresso cream pie, chardonnay-infused yellow cake with sweet chestnut paste and chocolate ganache, Thanksgiving-themed sugar cookies from Delici.Uso and a six-pack of take-and-bake buttermilk biscuits (plain or herbed). Also available to order: locally made extra virgin olive oil and festive chrysanthemum bouquets from Seven Moons Farm. Order online or email goodies@myflourgirl.com. Pickup from 3-6 p.m. on Nov. 22 at the Flour Girl shop behind Plank Coffee in Cloverdale.
Farmstand and Farmhouse Restaurant at Farmhouse Inn
Farmhouse Inn’s two restaurants will serve Thanksgiving dinners. The fine dining Farmhouse Inn Restaurant will serve a dinner crafted by its new chef Craig Wilmer and team, at $275 per person. Reserve on OpenTable.
The cozy Farmstand will have a family-style Thanksgiving dinner. The prix fixe menu includes a winter greens salad with cranberry vinaigrette for the first course, winter vegetable gratinata or cappellacci di zucca and consommé for the second course, and winter mushroom lasagna or confit of Bartolomei heritage turkey with gravy for the main course. Sides include pomme purée, Brussels sprouts and Yorkshire pudding, and for dessert there will be pumpkin pie and panettone with sabayon. $125 per person. Reserve on OpenTable.
Vegan Thanksgiving fare for takeout. A la carte items include mini pumpkin pasties, mushroom tarts, “sausage” rolls, cornbread, traditional stuffing, chunky mashed potatoes, butternut squash mac and cheese, housemade tamales and enchiladas with roasted veggies, cookie assortment boxes and dessert platters with fall goodies, such as pecan sandies, pumpkin pie bars and chocolate hazelnut spread linzer cookies. Orders close Nov. 17; pick up 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Nov. 22. Order online.
Dine in, three-course Thanksgiving meal with seatings from 1-5:30 p.m. The menu includes brioche Parker rolls and pumpkin soup for starters. Choice of mains are roasted turkey, baked ham, grilled trout or sauteed lion’s mane mushrooms. Shareable sides (choose three for the table) include roasted yams, creamed corn, braised greens, mashed potatoes, seared little gem, and cranberry and huckleberry stuffing. Dessert is a choice of pecan pie with cinnamon ice cream or a pumpkin spiral with creme fraiche. $75 per person. Reserve on OpenTable.
Dawn Ranch also has a “Thanksgiving Escape Package,” from Nov. 22 to Nov. 25, that includes a stay at a newly renovated luxury cabin and a Thanksgiving Day dinner for two at The Lodge.
Dine in for a Thanksgiving buffet or takeout holiday meal. The buffet menu includes citrus chardonnay roasted turkey, glazed ham, house-rub prime rib, cornbread stuffing, sweet potato casserole, macaroni and cheese, green beans almondine, creamed sweet corn, molasses bread rolls, cranberry orange sauce and a holiday dessert table. $75 per adult and $35 for children under 12. Seatings are at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.; call to reserve. The takeout menu consists of the same items as the buffet menu (with choice of protein or combo of two to three), with a pumpkin pie in lieu of a dessert spread. $65 per meal. Call to place order; pick up 2-6 p.m. on Nov. 23.
Dine in five-course Thanksgiving dinner, served from noon to 7 p.m. Menu includes an antipasti plate, minestrone soup with Franco American Bakery sourdough, a Waldorf salad or garden green salad, beef and spinach ravioli in a Bolognese sauce, and a main course of roasted turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, candied yams and a side of cranberry sauce. Pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream will be available for dessert. $45 per person. Reserve online or call 707-876-3260.
Dine-in, family-style Thanksgiving feast. The menu features an Estero Gold pimento cheese ball with toasted pecans and rustic crackers for an amuse-bouche; an autumn harvest salad with toasted fennel vinaigrette for the first course; for the main course, a Cajun brined and smoked Diestel Ranch turkey, mashed potatoes, sherried giblet gravy, cornbread sausage dressing, maple candied yams, Cajun fried Brussels sprouts, Grand Marnier-spiked cranberry sauce and Parker House rolls; and pumpkin pie with vanilla-bourbon whipped cream and pecan pie with rum raisin ice cream for dessert. $75 per person. Reserve on Eventbrite.
In addition to a “Friendsgiving Celebration” held at Timber Cove a week prior to Thanksgiving (Nov. 13-16), Coast Kitchen will serve a three-course prix fixe dinner at 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Start with seafood chowder, roasted squash salad or fresh local dressed oysters. Entrees are a choice of roasted turkey breast with gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, wild rice and andouille sausage, and cranberry sauce; squash risotto with Parmesan, baby kale and spiced pumpkin seeds; or southern halibut with bacon, shallots, chicory and celery root purée. Sides, served family-style, include garlicky green beans, Brussels sprouts in a sherry-bacon vinaigrette and brown butter roasted sweet potatoes. Dessert is a choice of a pecan apple pie and pumpkin cheesecake dessert duo, or seasonal gelato or sorbet. $79 per person and $35 for children 12 and under. Reserve on Resy.
Dine in Thanksgiving a la carte specials. Menu includes butter leaf salad with goat cheese and cranberry vinaigrette; pumpkin ravioli in brown butter and sage; pesto linguine with jumbo prawns; pan-seared halibut in lobster sauce with rice and seasonal vegetables; roast turkey with gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables and cranberry sauce; pumpkin pie with whipped cream and pecan pie with vanilla ice cream. Call 707-875-3652 to reserve a table.
Thanksgiving desserts for pickup. Holiday specials include turkey cupcakes, various fall pies, fall cookie kit, spiced pumpkin bread and Thanksgiving variety packs, which include a pumpkin cake roll, apple crisp cupcake and pecan tarts. Order online; all online orders must be placed three days in advance. Pick up from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Nov. 22.
An “everything but the bird” Thanksgiving fixings preorder for pickup from Estero and Americana chef Ryan Ramey and team. The menu includes dinner rolls from Village Bakery, fall salad, whipped potatoes, turkey gravy, sourdough stuffing, maple pecan yams, cranberry sauce and green beans with almonds. Allspice cookies, butternut squash soup and wine by the bottle are available as add-ons. $100 for meal for two to three people and $175 for meal for four to six people. Order online. Pick up from noon to 3 p.m. at Santa Rosa location and from 1-3 p.m. at Sebastopol and Valley Ford locations on Nov. 22.
205 Fifth St. Suite A, Santa Rosa, 707-755-1548; 162 N. Main St., Sebastopol, 707-827-3309, americanasr.com; and 14450 Highway 1, Valley Ford, 707-876-3333, esterocafe.com
Catering and grocers
Sonoma County Catering Co.
A Thanksgiving feast for pickup includes roast turkey or honey-glazed ham, Sonoma greens salad, garlic rosemary mashed potatoes with a side of turkey gravy, roasted seasonal vegetables, a classic stuffing, housemade cranberry sauce and fresh focaccia. Feast is $169 and serves six to eight people. Pick up cold on Nov. 22 (with heating instructions) or hot on Thanksgiving Day. Order online or call 707-694-3772.
Thanksgiving dinner for delivery and pickup. Menu options include cheesy pull-apart sourdough round, spinach Parmesan puffs, goat cheese-stuffed roasted cremini mushrooms, organic baked yams, fall harvest salad, mushroom and herb stuffing, creamy mac and cheese, a turkey dinner with fixings, vegetarian stuffed acorn squash, apple galette, spiced rum pumpkin pie and more. See details and individual prices online. Call 707-343-6016 or email feast@suncraftfinefoods.com to place order by Nov. 15 for delivery or pickup on Nov. 22. Deliveries are limited within Sonoma Valley to Oakmont.
Whole Thanksgiving dinner for delivery (within Petaluma city limits) or pickup. Meal includes a choice of free range turkey (12-14 pounds) or Caggiano gourmet ham (6-8 pounds), served with stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, candied yams, garlic almond green beans, dinner rolls, orange cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. $200 per dinner. A 48-hour notice is required. Pickup times between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.
Thanksgiving dinner and a la carte items for delivery or pickup. Holiday menu includes roasted turkey with gravy, salad, green bean casserole, portobello mushroom stuffing, Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, apple cider-glazed sweet potatoes, cranberry chutney and pumpkin cheesecake. Pick up order on Nov. 22 or until noon on Nov. 23. A ready-to-serve party delivery offer is available from Nov. 16 to Nov. 22 for a minimum of 15 people ($17.50 to $22.50 per person) and includes all the necessary utensils. Order online.
1100 Valley House Drive, Rohnert Park, 707-665-9472, sallytomatoes.com
Community Market
A fall feast menu with classic and vegetarian Thanksgiving options for pickup. Choice of mains includes roast turkey, black Angus chuck pot roast and wild rice pilaf-stuffed squash. Starch and vegetable sides include stuffing, potato gratin, sauteed kale, candied yams, herby quinoa, mashed potatoes, caramelized Brussels sprouts, roasted root vegetables and more. There’s also classic and vegan gravy by the quart and pints of cranberry sauce, creamy horseradish sauce and pecan gremolata. $170 for classic meal and $150 for vegetarian meal. Each meal comes with about a 5-pound main, choice of two starch and two vegetable sides (2 pounds per side) and choice of two sauces. All items are refrigerated, ready to heat and serve. Email order or any questions to geoffrey@cmnaturalfood.com.
6762 Sebastopol Ave., Sebastopol, 707-407-4020; and 1899 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, 707-546-1806, cmnaturalfoods.com
Oliver’s Market
Complete and a la carte holiday dinners for pickup. The complete dinner ($170, serves six to eight people) includes a whole Diestel Ranch turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, vegetable medley, cranberry sauce and pull-apart rolls. Whole pies are available as add-ons. The a la carte holiday menu includes these items plus prime rib, baked ham, a vegan roast, vegetarian stuffing, candied yams, roasted Brussels sprouts, herbed green beans, vegan scalloped potatoes and assorted fruit pies. Order online. Pick up any day 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (pick date and time when placing order). The store will be open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.
Thanksgiving meals or a la carte items for pickup. Holiday menu selections include roasted or oven-ready whole turkeys, mashed potatoes, herb stuffing, roasted harvest vegetables, green bean casserole, lemon-herb asparagus, macaroni and cheese, cider-roasted Brussels sprouts, cranberry orange sauce, soups and salads, dinner rolls, appetizer platters and assorted pies. Whole turkey feasts are priced at $100, $400 and $540, serving four to 12 people. Order by Nov. 21 at the latest; pick up Nov. 17-Nov. 23.
Thanksgiving dinners and a la carte items for pickup or delivery. Full dinners include either a fully cooked spiral glazed ham or roasted turkey (Diestel or Butterball), served with sides such as stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, cheesy mashed potatoes, green beans almondine, Brussels sprouts and butternut squash. Dinners are $70 to $150, serving two to four or six to eight people. Order online now for pickup or delivery Nov. 19-23.
Locations in Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa and Windsor. raleys.com
Safeway
Holiday meals and a la carte items for pickup. Thanksgiving fare includes various party trays (with cheese, charcuterie, fruit and/or veggies) and three Thanksgiving dinners. The home-style turkey dinner includes a 10-12-pound fully cooked turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce ($70, serves six to eight people). The ham dinner includes a 6-8-pound fully cooked spiral ham, spiced apples, scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole and mashed sweet potatoes ($80, serves eight to 10 people). The prime rib dinner includes a 3-4.5-pound fully cooked prime rib roast and the same sides as the ham dinner ($100, serves five to six people). Order online for pickup during normal hours any day through Nov. 22 or from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 23.
Seared Diver Scallop with cauliflower, grape and vanilla bean from the Dry Creek Kitchen Thursday, November 2, 2023 in Healdsburg. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
Dry Creek Kitchen was a long shot when Charlie Palmer opened the restaurant 20 years ago in Healdsburg.
Long before it became a culinary mecca, the rural town was considered too far from Santa Rosa, where headliner chefs like Josh Silvers at Syrah and John Ash at his namesake restaurant were the star attractions.
And Palmer was a wild card from the East Coast whose most recent project was a Las Vegas-based outpost of his lauded New York City restaurant, Aureole. The highlights were “Wine Angels,” bodysuit-clad women levitating on wire harnesses inside a four-story glass tower filled with 10,000 bottles of wine. Named one of the Best Chefs in America by the James Beard Foundation in 1997 and featured in Julia Childs’ Cooking With Master Chefs program in 1993, Palmer wasn’t afraid of the limelight.
But soon after Dry Creek Kitchen opened, longtime restaurant critic and current Press Democrat contributor Jeff Cox blessed the fledgling eatery.
“Dry Creek Kitchen is a major restaurant for this region. It adds to the cachet that makes the Wine Country a tourist destination,” he wrote in 2001. Cox was peevish, however, about Palmer’s slogan, that using fresh, local products prepared with classic French technique was “progressive American cooking.”
Wine Country cuisine was founded on those same pillars and already pervasive in the region. “This isn’t anything new for the fine restaurants of Sonoma and Napa counties. John Ash started doing this nearly 20 years ago,” Cox wrote.
Even so, the seed-to-table ethos aligned with Palmer’s agricultural upbringing in a small upstate New York town. California chefs like Ash and Alice Waters, who were obsessively sourcing from local farms and artisan producers, intrigued him. Palmer’s vision — whether called progressive American or Wine Country cuisine — is a through line for Dry Creek Kitchen.
Since opening the Healdsburg restaurant, Palmer has built a culinary empire with restaurants in New York; Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada; and Washington, D.C. He’s earned more than a dozen Michelin stars. Though he’s remained a guiding light at Dry Creek Kitchen, a litany of talented chefs including Dustin Valette (of restaurants Valette, Matheson and Roof 106); Mateo Granados (of the now-closed Mateo’s Cocina Latina); and Scott Romano (of Spago and Aureole) executed — and often put their spin on — Palmer’s vision.
But as Healdsburg’s restaurant scene exploded with exciting new players like SingleThread, Cyrus and Brass Rabbit (which closed in 2020) and its notable executive chefs moved to other projects, Dry Creek Kitchen’s light dimmed. Though its award-winning wine list and classic menu rarely disappointed, it seemed staid compared to higher-profile restaurateurs and shiny new kitchens. Diners can be a fickle lot.
That’s changing with a significant renovation to the dining room and the recent addition of Executive Chef Shane McAnelly.
Dry Creek Kitchen owner Charlie Palmer, left, with new chef Shane McAnelly Thursday, November 2, 2023. McAnelly honed his skills at Chalkboard, Brass Rabbit and Bricoleur before creating the new menu on the square in Healdsburg. (Photo John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
New vision
Palmer, who now spends much of his time at home in Sonoma County, wants to raise the restaurant’s profile and reinstate some of his original vision, which has faded over the years. He’s also bringing in fresh, new ideas from McAnelly.
After a brief detour east, McAnelly has returned to his old stomping grounds in Healdsburg. He led the kitchens of Chalkboard and Brass Rabbit (both backed by wine mogul Bill Foley) and then joined the Bricoleur Vineyards’ culinary team. Throughout that time, he developed strong relationships with area farmers and producers, something he missed while working in North Carolina.
“The most important thing for me is that our chefs want to be where they are,” Palmer said. “Healdsburg is a sleepy town, and that’s always been a challenge. Shane has a lot of history here, and his knowledge of the area is far above anyone who’s started here.”
After several phone calls between the chefs, McAnelly returned to Sonoma County. “I guess I was convincing,” Palmer said.
“I’m just happy to be back and working with Charlie and back in the community,” McAnelly said. “I’m at a place in my career where I have a fresh outlook on things, and I’m pushing our team and the best dining experience I can deliver.”
Liberty Farms Duck Breast with leg en croute, koginut squash, roasted chestnuts, rapini and a l’orange jus from the Dry Creek Kitchen Thursday, November 2, 2023 in Healdsburg. (Photo John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
Two years ago, the restaurant moved from a traditional menu to three- and five-course prix-fixe menus. The three-course menu is $75 per person; the five-course tasting menu is $135, with wine pairing an additional $80. The restaurant offers a three-course Sonoma Neighbor menu on Thursdays for $55. The change allows chefs to focus on a set menu and diners to have a congruent experience with specific wine pairings and set courses.
That style seems to work for McAnelly, as it allows creativity around clear parameters. When he arrived in September, the changes to the Dry Creek Kitchen experience were already apparent.
On a recent visit, a Pacific halibut with tiny slices of zucchini painstakingly laid like scales atop the fish was stunning. But the preparation is more than tweezer acrobatics; the thin dimes of squash hold in the moisture of this lean fish. McAnelly surrounds the sous vide-poached protein with a rich beurre blanc, butter-braised leeks, saffron-fennel puree and petite end-of-summer vegetables. Already, the fish course has switched up to salmon with red wine-braised cabbage and honeynut squash with a mustard emulsion. By the time this story is published, it may have changed again.
“I only bring in ingredients I’m passionate about,” McAnelly said. On the day of our interview, he had been to Russian River Organics and went to Seven Moons farm in Sonoma later in the day.
“It’s important to think of the menu as ever-changing,” Palmer said. “It will always be presented differently; as it gets colder — braised duck or confit. In summer, it’s nice to let the protein shine and pair with something that makes sense.”
Expect some preparation of duck, beef and fish on the menu perennially, along with pasta — a passion of McAnelly’s.
Vegetarian options are plentiful and include dishes like radish toast with black truffle yogurt butter, roasted beet salad with burrata, squash agnolotti with brown butter and mushrooms or cauliflower a la plancha. A matsutake mushroom dish with umami broth was another stunner that, despite its simple presentation, was savory and rich with flavors amped up like a Metallica concert.
Pastry chef Taylor Kelley creates whimsical desserts like a pumpkin spice mousse bomb with vanilla beans, espresso chantilly and ginger crème Anglaise.
Only one dish remains unchanged on the menu: the Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar, made with dark chocolate, peanut butter mousse and chocolate praline sauce.
“We’ve taken it off a couple of times, and there is a revolt,” Palmer said.
A Pumpkin Spice Mousse Bomb with vanilla bean, espresso Chantilly and ginger créme anglaise from the Dry Creek Kitchen Thursday, November 2, 2023 in Healdsburg. (Photo John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
Michelin aspirations
Though Dry Creek Kitchen has received only one Michelin nod — a single star in 2007 — Palmer hopes to get the restaurant back on the Michelin inspector’s radar.
“Shane and I talked a lot about what we want (Dry Creek Kitchen) to be, and we want to make it the quintessential one-star Michelin Wine Country-centric restaurant. It takes a lot of thinking about what that entails,” Palmer said.
To receive a single star, according to Michelin’s rubric, a restaurant must be “very good in its category,” have a high-quality menu and prepare cuisine to a consistently high standard. Though seemingly a reachable goal, Barndiva and Cyrus are the only Sonoma County restaurants to hold one star.
Michelin inspectors usually look for outstanding cuisine, excellent service and, especially in Wine Country, an impressive wine list.
Dry Creek Kitchen has the largest selection of local wines “in existence,” with an extended cellar of about 2,000 bottles and many rare varietals, according to Palmer. A new wine room in the restaurant holds 700 bottles within temperature-controlled glass walls and has become a functional part of the dining room. Wine Angels are not included.
The renovated dining room at Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg. (Photo Paige Green)
Service remains both professional and relaxed.
“It’s important that the service is very friendly and accommodating. The hardest thing to do is really execute well with a really friendly smile on your face, and that’s what makes it special,” Palmer said.
McAnelly and Palmer don’t see Dry Creek Kitchen becoming a once-in-lifetime experience for diners, but somewhere people can come frequently.
“(Dry Creek Kitchen) has evolved, and I think in a good way,” Palmer said. “It continues to, first and foremost, the restaurant that I envisioned 20 years ago as the quintessential Wine Country restaurant. It was important to me, and still is, to embrace what’s happening in Sonoma County.”
Dry Creek Kitchen is at 317 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, 707-431-0330, drycreekkitchen.com. Open for dinner 5-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 5:30-9 p.m. Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Schnitzel, Spanish Rib Eye, Fish Stew, Roasted Cauliflower, Trout Salad, Barbecued Oysters, Roasted Peanuts at Townes restaurant in Santa Rosa. (Heather Irwin/The Press Democrat)
It hardly seems that nearly a year has passed since the departure of Third Street Aleworks in downtown Santa Rosa. Though the beer-making has continued, the 27-year-old pub shuttered its kitchen in late 2022, leaving the 7,000-square-foot building in need of a new owner.
In July, Sebastopol restaurateur Lowell Sheldon announced he would be taking over the hulking location to create a bar and restaurant with a focus on casual European classics. Chef Jeremy Whitcomb, who worked with Sheldon at his former restaurant, Lowell’s, heads the kitchen and Jeff Berlin of Piala restaurant in Sebastopol is beverage director. His wine list will feature Californian and French wines as well as Georgian and Hungarian wines. Julia Hsieh is a partner in the venture.
(In 2021, Sheldon faced allegations he sexually harassed six former employees, allegations he has denied. No charges were filed.)
Opening at 10 a.m. weekdays, Townes fills a gap in the downtown lunch scene with a simple frittata, salads, soups and sandwiches ($12 to $19) along with heartier “let’s make this a lunch meeting” dishes like pasta Alla Norma ($19), pork schnitzel ($20) and steamed mussels ($20).
Portuguese fish stew ($42) is a centerpiece of the menu, made to share around the table. Presented steaming in a cast-iron pot, it’s a light broth studded with nuggets of fish, shellfish like mussels and prawns and garlic, tomatoes, peppers and cilantro.
Seafood is plentiful on the dinner menu, which offers raw or broiled oysters in piri piri butter (highly recommended, $17); smoked trout with greens ($16); grilled octopus ($18); bucatini vongole with clams, vermouth and cream ($24); and petrale sole with capers, butter and parsley ($25).
With the coming winter, we’re looking forward to savory, warming dishes like duck confit with buckwheat pilaf and red cabbage ($24), pork shoulder with roasted turnips ($24) or the flat iron steak frites with caramelized shallots ($32). The star of the show, however, is a hulking Spanish rib-eye (Chuleton, $75) with a chunky romesco and crushed potatoes.
There are a number of meatless dishes including wild mushroom risotto, roasted cauliflower with capers and currants or gnocchi with winter squash and black garlic.
Gone are the sticky tables and plastic menus, replaced by linen napkins and grown-up glassware. There is a full bar and weekday happy hour from 3 to 5:30 p.m. with $10 cocktails. The upstairs balcony has been converted into a casual lounge perfect for meeting up with friends or co-workers.
Townes is at 610 Third St., Santa Rosa. Open daily 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (lunch weekdays, brunch on weekends), 3-5:30 p.m (happy hour) and 5-11 p.m. (dinner / late-night menu). meetattownes.com.
Vice President Kamala Harris toasts with Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, left, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a state luncheon at the State Department in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
A Sonoma County winemaker is “humbled” and excited after two of his wines were poured at a U.S. State Department luncheon in Washington, D.C., hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The luncheon took place Oct. 26 in honor of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“It is such an honor to have our wines poured at an event of this magnitude,” said Adrian Manspeaker, winemaker and owner of Joseph Jewell and Jewell Wines in Forestville.
The Executive Chef for the State Department, Jason Larkin, reached out to Manspeaker a little over a month ago, requesting a selection of wines for consideration as pairings for the lunch menu. Manspeaker and his team sent a half-dozen Joseph Jewell wines to the capital.
During an official tasting on Oct. 17, Larkin, the event caterer and representatives from the Office of the Vice President selected the 2021 Jewell Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay Russian River Valley and the 2021 Joseph Jewell Alderpoint Vineyard Humboldt County Pinot Noir.
After the wine tasting, Larkin reached out to Manspeaker and said, “Tasting the wines with the food was a truly magical experience. It was fascinating to see how they transformed into a marriage of flavors.”
The menu from a recent U.S. State Department luncheon in Washington, D.C. featuring Sonoma County’s Joseph Jewell and Jewell wine. (Joseph Jewell Wines)Adrian Manspeaker, winemaker and owner of Joseph Jewell and Jewell Wines. (Heather Daenitz)
Joseph Jewell’s Russian River Valley Chardonnay is sourced from the legendary Ritchie Vineyard in Healdsburg and is fermented in a combination of French oak and concrete egg. Manspeaker, a Humboldt native and longtime advocate of the region’s relatively unknown Pinot Noir, was particularly excited by the selection of the winery’s Alderpoint Vineyard Humboldt County Pinot.
“I have been on a quest to put high-quality Humboldt County Pinot Noir on the map for over a decade,” said Manspeaker. “There are only [approximately] 150 acres of grapes in the entire 2.5 million-acre county. … It has taken me many years to find these tucked-away vineyards, form relationships with the small farmers and understand the wild climate.”
Another Sonoma County wine also made an appearance during the Australian Prime Minister’s visit: WindRacer Wines’ 2019 Alexander Mountain Chardonnay was one of three wines to be poured during the state dinner, as reported by The Press Democrat. (WindRacer was founded in 2006 by Jackson Family Wines proprietor Barbara Banke and wine industry veteran Peggy Furth.)
The three-course state luncheon included roasted artichoke with fig jam, golden beet, smoked olive oil, truffle honey and ricotta; American red grouper with barley and fennel risotto, fish velouté and butternut squash; and deconstructed pumpkin pie with roasted pumpkin, funnel cake, meringue, fall-spiced pastry cream and chocolate croquants (a French cookie).
The Joseph Jewell wine tasting room in Forestville. (Heather Daenitz)
Those interested in sampling the wines poured a the state luncheon can order the State Department Bundle ($120) from Joseph Jewell. It includes a bottle of each wine and a printed replica of the luncheon menu.
The Joseph Jewell tasting room in Forestville is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday; reservations are recommended, but walk-ins are accommodated when possible. 6542 Front St., Forestville, 707-820-1621, josephjewell.com
More than a decade into growing a mysterious, subterranean crop, Fran Angerer is all too familiar with the roller-coaster ride of emotions every newbie truffle farmer endures. “The beginning is truffle fever,” says Angerer. “It’s like gold, it gets in your blood.”
“Then there’s truffle hope,” he adds. That’s when you have the recurring dream of harvesting the prized fungus, which can command more than $1,000 a pound. Even though you’ve been warned that the earliest you might find your own dirty, pungent lump of joy is five to 10 years after planting inoculated trees, you can still dream. But then come the truffle troubles, or maybe it’s the truffle blues. “It wakes you up in the middle of the night,” says Angerer. “You’re thinking, ‘Am I crazy?’”
Fellow truffle grower Karen Passafaro has lived through all the stages. “At some point, you get truffle envy,” she says. “You see other farms producing, and you’re thinking, ‘Why not me?’”
But, when (or if?) you finally hit the motherlode, it’s pure truffle ecstasy. “I can’t explain it. I’ve never had a feeling like it before,” says Angerer, owner of the Alexander Valley Truffle Company in Geyserville, reliving his first jackpot in 2021. His whole family— sons Seth and Nathan and wife Robin—were hugging crying and jumping up and down in their orchard, celebrating the 5-ounce black truffle unearthed by Seth and his prized dog, Leo.
The high-stakes drama that is truffle harvest kicks off in late November and early December, as eager teams of dogs and handlers set out to hunt the elusive Périgord black truffle once again in orchards all over Sonoma County. Almost every other harvest has come and gone—apples have long since fallen, hops are off the bines, grape juice is in barrels and tanks. But the most enigmatic crop of them all, is fruiting underground—or at least that’s the dream.
“You could be standing on top of this amazing treasure, but you have no idea,” says Passafaro, her dog Alba tugging at the leash as she walks through the family orchard, what the French call a “truffière,” north of Santa Rosa.
Truffles are the fruit of a fungus that grows underground, living symbiotically off nutrients siphoned from the roots of trees, forming a spiderlike web of mycelium deep in the soil. The Greeks believed they magically formed where lightning struck the ground beneath certain trees. The Egyptians considered them a delicacy, especially drenched in goose fat. The fungi are believed to have been first found in the wild in Europe, especially in the Périgord region of France and the Piedmont region of northern Italy, where stealthy woodsmen and scavengers schooled in the art of truffle hunting whispered their secrets. Some used pigs to root out the buried treasure—but the pigs also like to eat them, spawning jokes about nine-fingered truffle hunters.
Karen Passafaro, president of the North American Truffle Growers Association, and her dog, Alba, hunt for Burgundy truffles on her family property outside Santa Rosa. Passafaro and Alba found their first and only cultivated truffle on the property in June 2022. (James Joiner)
These days, a breed of Italian water dog known as the Lagotto Romagnolo is the world’s most revered working truffle hunter. Costing as much as $10,000 each, they’re the loyal companions you see alongside their elderly Italian owners in the cult-favorite 2020 documentary “The Truffle Hunters.” As pups, they learn to recognize the scent of truffles from birth, trained by handlers who have been known to soak the mother dog’s teats in truffle oil.
The umami-rich taste and super-fragrant odor of truffles is often described as “musky” or “earthy” or even “intoxicating.” Some give off a hint of garlic or pineapple. Most people only glimpse a truffle at a fancy restaurant, where ceremonial tableside shavings can cost as much as the entrées they top.
Of the various species, the white truffle, Tuber magnatum , is the most prized. Growing wild in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, it can fetch as much as $4,000 a pound. Native to southern Europe, the Périgord black truffle, or Tuber melanosporum, is now widely cultivated around the world by inoculating the roots of oak and hazelnut trees with truffle spores. Farmers in Australia and New Zealand have been very successful at growing what chefs call “black diamonds.” In parts of the United States, the soil and climate are touted as promising for truffles—but the field is still very much in the early, pioneering stage, similar to where wine grapes were more than 75 years ago.
On this day, Karen Passafaro, her husband Jim, and their 7-year-old fluffy Lagotto Romagnolo, Alba, are on the hunt for the Burgundy truffle, which appears in early fall. Fran Angerer and his wife Robin have brought their two dogs, Tuber and Bella, along for the chase. The couples met at the Oregon Truffle Festival more than a decade ago. Each was looking for a new challenge—or, as Fran jokes, “It’s a race to see who can go broke first.”
Passafaro, now president of the North American Truffle Growers Association, had never tasted a truffle until she and Jim attended a truffle festival on a whim. In 2014, the couple, retired after decades in the medical device industry, planted 600 trees—inoculated by Oregon truffle scientist Charles Lefevre—on the same Santa Rosa property where Karen’s grandparents once lived.
Fran Angerer, an electrical engineer by training, and his son Nathan got the truffle bug after reading stories about them. “It’s basically the world’s most expensive food,” says Nathan Angerer. “It’s just so mysterious when you start looking into it—the lore of it going back a thousand years. It was thought to have mystical powers and it was an aphrodisiac. We thought, ‘Why can’t we do that?’” His brother Seth Angerer says he barely knew what a truffle was at the time. “I thought it was pretty nuts, to be honest,” he recalls.
In 2012, after doing soil tests all over Sonoma County, the Angerers bought a plot in Geyserville near the Russian River for their Alexander Valley Truffle Company, ripping out 10 acres of grapes once crushed for Silver Oak and planting inoculated hazelnut trees. They’re also farming Bianchetto truffles or “whitish truffles” (not to be confused with the rare white truffles from Italy) on 1.5 acres outside Healdsburg.
Back at the Passafaro ranch, Karen Passafaro is wearing her special hunting vest, a purple “Got Truffles?” T-shirt, and a pair of tactical pants with pouches for knee pads—her most important piece of gear, she says. Everyone has walked through a bleach bath to prevent the introduction of outside spores and contaminants into the orchard. The eager dogs—Tuber, Bella, and Alba—each wear colorful vests emblazoned with their names. Once the vest goes over their head, says Passafaro, the dogs transition into work mode. Alba’s vest is purple, matching Passafaro’s shirt.
The gate opens and the dogs dive in, noses to the ground, pulling their owners in a winding maze through the interplanted rows of hazelnut and oak trees, occasionally circling back briefly before heading off in a different direction. There’s no wind, which is ideal for catching a whiff of the truffle. But the ground seems too dry and packed firm. The Passafaros recently decided to switch back to drip irrigation, after trying broadcast sprinklers—the theory is that the truffles need more moisture and have a hard time growing in soil that is too compact. Recent soil tests conducted by a Spanish truffle consultant indicate “we’re not quite where we want to be,” says Jim Passafaro.
But there are some promising signs. The first clue Karen Passafaro points out is the prevalence of brûlé, or burnt rings of dead grass around many of the trees. It’s an age-old indication that truffles may be forming underground. She and Alba zigzag pass a hazelnut tree with a small orange flag hanging from a branch, signaling where the Passafaros found their first and only truffle in June 2022— eight long years after they first planted their trees.
In the truffle orchard at the Passafaro ranch. (James Joiner)A collection of Périgord black truffles, sniffed out on the Kendall-Jackson property with the help of the Angerers’ dogs, Leo and Vito. (Tucker Taylor)
Throughout the orchard, small blue flags indicate where Alba has marked in the past. A few rows over, Tuber marks a spot and Fran asks Karen to bring Alba over to check it out. At the moment, Alba is busy chewing what’s “probably rabbit poop,” says Jim. When she’s done, Karen leads her over, repeating, “Check it, check it!” and Alba immediately keys on the same spot Tuber noticed. Karen gets down on her hands and knees and sticks her nose in the hole, taking several big whiffs.
“It smells like dirt, but I don’t know,” she says. “I’m not getting a strong truffle scent, but it’s something different.” They take turns smelling and digging, Karen with a trowel and Alba with her paws. But there’s nothing to unearth. Still, Alba gets a treat for trying, scarfing down a piece of homemade baked chicken.
A few minutes later, Passafaro is down on her hands and knees again at a different tree, her nose six inches in the earth, taking long draws before she digs out a dirty nut-shaped clump about the size of a gum ball.
“Is that a native or a hazelnut?” she asks, washing it in a bowl before handing it to her husband. Jim takes out a pocketknife and slices off an edge of the outer shell. “Look at the color of the gleba,” he says, holding it up to show the veiny, marbled inner flesh.
He hands it to Fran Angerer, who holds it up to his nose. “Oh yeah, that’s a truffle. It might not be the one we’re looking for, but it’s a truffle.”
It turns out it’s a native truffle known as Tuber quercicola. It’s not a prized European variety like the Périgord or the Burgundy truffle. But if they had enough of them and a local chef was inspired to create a dish around them, they might be able to sell them. Karen puts it in her bag and moves on.
The North Coast region has some prior history with the elusive fungus. More than four decades ago, Santa Rosa financier Henry Trione caught truffle fever while gallivanting around southern France and northern Italy. Upon returning home, Trione and his buddy Ralph Stone mounted an all-out search for truffles beneath local native oaks. They hired a pig hunter to kill nearly a dozen wild hogs and sent their stomachs to an Oregon fungal expert, who identified a truffle among the stomach contents. Eager to strike it rich, they imported two Lagotto Romagnolos and leased truffle hunting rights to thousands of acres of forest, mostly in Mendocino County. The New York Times wrote about their inaugural California Truffle Congress in 1975, and the friends’ obsession inspired a few comic strips by cartoonist Charles Schulz. Unfortunately, the efforts never amounted to much in the way of actual truffles.
But the two friends may have piqued the interest of Laytonville farmer Bill Griner, who planted a grove of hazelnut trees in 1982 and discovered his first truffle in 1987—what is widely believed to be the first Périgord truffle cultivated in North America. Griner’s company, Mendocino Black Diamonds, was harvesting as many as 50 pounds of truffles a season before Griner died in 2008.
Picking up the mantle, Jess Jackson of Kendall-Jackson planted 3,000 inoculated oak and hazelnut trees in 2011 in a top-secret, 10-acre Sonoma County location, which began producing truffles in 2017. Today, it is by far the region’s most successful truffle operation, pulling in as much as 65 pounds in a single harvest. About a third of the booty goes to the Bay Area restaurants on their waiting list (Birdsong, Che Fico, Saison), a third is prepared by the Kendall-Jackson in-house culinary team, and the rest goes back into the soil to inoculate future truffles.
It’s a family affair when Tuber, Bella, and Alba hunt together. Tuber is Bella’s mother and Alba’s half-sister, and their owners are good friends. (James Joiner)
This December, trained dogs will be sniffing their way through more than 15,000 trees in Sonoma, Lake, Mendocino, and Napa counties. The largest orchard in California is near Upper Lake, where Piedmont residents Fabrice Caporal and his wife Claudia Medina-Caporal have invested over $1 million planting 3,600 inoculated trees on 26 acres in 2018 and 2019. Along with their Brittany spaniel, Tartine, the couple is hoping this might be their farm’s first productive season.
“If we find a truffle, I know there will be tears,” says Medina-Caporal. So far, their biggest challenge might be gophers, which they blame for the loss of 200 trees the first year. They’ve hired a full-time gopher wrangler, who traps around 1,200 of the ravenous rodents every few months.
At Rossi Ranch in Kenwood, Sandy Otellini, widow of former Intel CEO Paul Otellini, is hoping Jackson, her highly trained 3-year-old Lagotto Romagnolo, will track down his first truffle this year. Since planting in 2011, Otellini has found two truffles—a black Périgord and a Burgundy.
At Healdsburg’s Montage resort, it might be too early to harvest truffles beneath the 400 recently planted hazelnut trees, but Lagotto pup Beau is already in training. Alongside guest activities like swimming, archery, and pickleball, “truffle hunting” is listed as “coming soon.”
This year, Tucker Taylor, director of culinary gardens at Kendall-Jackson, is eager to see how last winter’s heavy rainfall will affect the haul in the orchard.
But he’s even more excited to see how his two new Lagottos will take to truffle hunting. In recent years, the Angerers’ dogs have found dozens of Kendall-Jackson truffles. This year, Tito, a 2-year-old male, and Tira, a year-old female, will join in the field. “My gut is she’s probably going to be the better truffler,” says Taylor, showing off Instagram photos of both dogs.
“She’s the alpha, not that it matters, but she’s just more focused.”
Then there are the cautionary tales, the farms hardly gearing up for this winter’s harvest. In 2013, San Francisco tech executives Matt Hicks and Harshal Sanghavi bought a ranch in Bennett Valley that had a 10-acre orchard already planted with 1,900 inoculated hazelnut trees. Eager for a new challenge, they set out as novice truffle farmers, comparing notes with others, amending the soil with large amounts of vermiculite imported from out of the area, and carefully numbering each tree to chart results over time. But a decade later, they’re no longer cultivating truffles.
Out in the Carneros, Robert Sinskey Vineyards will only run dogs through the orchard “on an occasional basis” this season. After 13 years, it’s been a total bust. So far, the only clue owner Rob Sinskey has uncovered is “a hint of truffle aroma next to a gopher hole.”
“I got caught up in the fantasy,” he admits. In 2010, he signed on with American Truffle Company, which helped him plant 600 trees, inoculated for black and burgundy truffles, on his southeastern Sonoma County property. The ATC business model is like a client partnership: ATC helps to plant inoculated trees and maintain the orchard. In return, if any truffles are found, ATC will act as a broker and keep around 30 percent of the harvest. Otellini also partnered with ATC, as have several wineries in Napa, including Raymond Vineyards, Peju Province Winery, and Hermosa Vineyards, where Todd Traina replaced 2.5 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon with inoculated trees.
Alba, a 7-year-old female Lagotto Romagnolo, grins after a morning truffle hunt. She’s rewarded with nuggets of plain baked chicken, a special treat she receives only for truffle work. (James Joiner)
In 2013, Sinskey’s orchard was featured at the Napa Truffle Festival, an event created and produced by ATC to raise awareness and celebrate all things related to truffles. Riding the hype, more than a dozen articles were written about Sinskey’s truffle venture, with quotes from chefs salivating over the potential for American truffles. But as the years passed, despite cultivating what he thought was “a healthy mycorrhizal population” underground, he began to realize that perhaps his soil didn’t have quite the right texture for truffles.
“It was an experiment that just didn’t work out,” he says. At least he still has a sense of humor about it. “My wife always referred to it as ‘Rob’s Folly,’ and I was always hoping she’d be eating truffled crow, but it just never occurred.”
It may be a lesson for those who leap into the truffle business hoping to strike it rich. Fran Angerer estimates he’s invested more than $250,000, buying properties in Geyserville and Healdsburg specifically to plant truffle-inoculated trees, hiring foreign consultants, investing in imported Italian tractors, installing new irrigation, and traveling as far as Australia and Europe to glean tips from other farmers. “That’s a low estimate,” he adds a few days later, still pondering his outlay while out hunting with the Passafaros for Burgundy truffles.
Back at the Geyserville farm, Fran Angerer gives a tour of what he’s calling “The Sonoma County Truffle Experience.” He’s realizing that agritourism might be a good side hustle for the time being, until the orchards become more productive. At least it might help pay property taxes.
His son Nathan told him he shouldn’t offer tours until they found truffles on the property. But now, with three truffles under his belt, he’s ready to take people behind the scenes. In a repurposed barn, he’s assembled displays of everything truffle: photos, cookbooks, a wall of newspaper and magazine clippings, truffle-themed art, “I Dig Truffles” bumper stickers—even a microscope where guests can get a closer look at truffle hyphae, the tentacles that latch onto tree roots.
Part of the tour includes truffle hunting with his dogs as they run through the orchard searching for pre-buried targets doused in truffle oil. Later that afternoon, Tuber will find a truffle-scented wine cork in minutes flat. “Did you see how she did that?”
Angerer says. “She knew it was there. She marked it and then looked up at me—I say she smiles when there’s really something there.”
Looking forward to the real thing this upcoming harvest, he says, “We’re hoping to at least double our production again.” Last year, it was two truffles. This year, maybe four?
Truffle enthusiast Fran Angerer sampled soils at several sites before buying land in Geyserville and Healdsburg for truffle orchards. After finding his first home-grown truffles two years ago, Angerer recently launched a company to teach all things truffle. (James Joiner)
Angerer knows truffle farming remains a bit of a crapshoot, a manic pursuit riddled with fool’s gold, hungry gophers, contrasting opinions, and very little scientific data. It remains easy to go from truffle blues to truffle delight at the drop of a hat. Fran’s son, Seth, has lived it. Two years ago, he was playing mind games with himself. It had been nearly a decade with no hits. Meanwhile, he and his loyal dog Leo had been digging up dozens of truffles at Kendall-Jackson. If he had truffle envy, he wasn’t aware of it. But he was aware of how frustrated he’d become—a severe case of what his father calls “truffle troubles.”
“I’d gotten to the point where I told myself, ‘I’m just gonna take the dogs for a walk. I’m not going there to find a truffle. I’m not hunting,’” Seth recalls. “Because then it leads to a lot of disappointment and frustration and it’s no fun.”
On a cool fall day shortly after Thanksgiving, Leo pulled Seth Angerer 13 rows across his family’s Geyserville orchard. He was hot on a scent. Not far from the base of a hazelnut tree, he sniffed every inch of the ground and then zeroed in on a muddy patch, stopping for his telltale mark—one paw pat on the ground before sitting and looking up. Seth reached down and felt the truffle immediately, lurking just below the surface.
“It was like getting a shot of adrenaline in the neck,” he says. His hands were shaking and his heart was racing. “I was literally screaming—I hope one of the neighbors heard me. Leo thought I was mad at him, because I kept yelling, ‘Oh my god! Good dog!
Good dog!’” “I guess you could call that truffle ecstasy,” he says. “That’s what keeps you going.”
The Sonoma County Truffle Experience: When he’s not stalking truffles from December to February, Alexander Valley Truffle Company owner Fran Angerer will host tours and stage mock truffle hunts with his dogs at his Geyserville farm. A group of students from the Culinary Institute of America recently dropped by for a visit. 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays by reservation. $150 per person. 707-291-8576, avtruffles.com
Napa Valley Truffle Festival: This year’s celebration of all things truffle features a trufflegrower seminar at Raymond Vineyards’ truffle orchard, a truffle lunch and cooking demo at Bouchaine Vineyards, and a truffle dog demo at Donum Estate. January 12-15, 2024. napatrufflefestival.com
The Truffle Dogs of Sonoma County
Just as Labrador retrievers are masters of duck hunting and Australian shepherds love to round up stray sheep, the curly-coated Lagotto Romagnolo from Italy is the ultimate working dog for truffle rustling.
“They can tune their brain to the scent that they want to find, cancel out all the other scents in the air, and just pay attention to that one scent,” says Seth Angerer, who trained his dogs to hunt truffles.
Lagottos can usually hunt for a few hours before they lose interest and start digging for gophers and eating hazelnuts. They also make pretty good family companions—as Fran Angerer likes to say, “They steal your heart, and then they steal your bed.” Meet a few of the dogs leading the hunt this December.
Tuber. (James Joiner)
The Mama Bear — Tuber: The 10-year-old mother of Bella and Vito, and a half-sister to Alba, she’s been in the hunt from the beginning. “Where’s it at? Where’s the truffle?” Fran Angerer will ask her, as she roams through the orchard. Tuber embodies a classic Lagotto trait he’s noticed: “If they can find a way to work you, they will. They love playing games. That’s why they’re such good hunters.”
The Mama’s Girl — Bella: At 5 years old, Bella loves to eat ripe hazelnuts and has become very protective of her mother, Tuber. Bella once found a native truffle while her owners were camping near Fort Bragg. Often, while walking with her mother around Spring Lake, people will mistake the pair for poodles or even doodles.
Bella. (James Joiner)Alba. (James Joiner)
The Social Butterfly — Alba: Named after an Italian town known as the white truffle capital of the world, Alba, 7, unearthed her first truffle last year. A friendly, super-social dog with a happy disposition, ‘Alba assumes that every person coming here is coming to see her,’ says owner Karen Passafaro. ‘That includes all the PG& E employees doing fire prevention work.’ Alba spends every Tuesday visiting three different Santa Rosa retirement homes, where she shows off her truffle detective skills for the residents.
The Old-World Master — Leo: Legend has it that his grandfather was a champion truffle dog in Italy. Bred by a Serbian truffle hunter, Leo was gifted as a pup to a Tiburon truffle broker during a visit to Europe. Upon returning to the Bay Area, the broker realized his new puppy was a bit too much to handle. The Angerers rescued him, and Leo quickly became the family’s best truffle dog.
Leo. (James Joiner)Tito and Tira. (Tucker Taylor)
The Rookies — Tito & Tira: Raised by the same breeder, but in different litters, these two win for most likely to go viral. Tito is two years old (with an underbite his owner, Kendall-Jackson’s Tucker Taylor, finds “endearing”) and Tira (short for “tiramisu”) just turned a year old. “My concern with Tito is that he can get distracted –‘squirrel!’—and he’s gone, whereas Tira is a little bit more focused,” says Taylor, who has been training the pair for their big December debut. Follow them on Instagram at #titothetruffledog and #tirathetruffledog.
The Apprentice — Vito: A son of Tuber, this 5-year-old pup has learned the ropes by hunting side-byside with Leo. His training started with backyard objects scented with truffle oil and the target words “Go find it!” and “Where’s the truffle?” When he’s not hunting truffles, he’s busy playing dress-up with Seth Angerer’s daughter in the backyard.
Battered Cod Sandwich from opening day at the Valley Swim Club restaurant in Sonoma, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023. (John Burgess / The Press Democrat)
New restaurants, new dishes and best bets for this season’s dining. Click through the above gallery for best bets.
Valley Swim Club
This new seafood roadhouse, a sister to standout Valley Bar + Bottle, brings together a diverse set of influences, such as New England clam shacks, surf culture, and late 1960s California Naturalism. “It’s what we really love,” says co-owner and chef Emma Lipp, who heads the culinary program with her partner, chef Stephanie Reagor. Valley co-owners Lauren Feldman and Tanner Walle handle the front of the house and the wine program.
“We live and work in this community, just blocks from here,” says Lipp. “We wanted a neighborhood place for ourselves and our community.”
Just to be clear, there’s no pool at Valley Swim Club—but blocky wood tables and chairs anchor the outdoor space, while cheeky signage (“No Swimming”), white clapboard siding, and a wall painted with abstract blue waves tie together the crab-shack theme. That no reservations, come-as-you-are ethos extends to service: guests order up front, and apron-clad servers bring out the dishes. The cheerful outdoor covered patio is purposefully dogand family-friendly (Walle and Feldman recently had their first child).
Cashew Queso with a side of Jimmy Nardello Peppers from opening day at the Valley Swim Club restaurant in Sonoma. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
Lipp and Reagor’s menu is a deep dive into their fascination with Baja’s beachy fish tacos, Hawaiian poke, and New England and California coastal cuisines.
Pescadillas— a cross between a fish taco and a seafood empanada—are perfect handheld snacks, while fried oyster mushrooms offer a vegan twist on fried oysters. A dish to come back to again and again is the vegan cashew-based queso dip drizzled with smoky salsa macha . Bigger entrees include trout à la plancha, a spicy tuna bowl, garlicky steamed clams with ramen noodles, beefy smash burgers, and an Impossible burger.
Natural and low-intervention wines, a specialty of Feldman and Walle, take a starring role on the drinks list. Whether you’re a fan or still on the fence, the selections provide plenty of opportunity for interesting pairings.
Whether the words “carrot yeast” fold your gastro-nerd brain into origami or you simply shrug it off isn’t the point at Second Story.
The point is to eat dinner. But when you hire a chef like Stu Stalker, who has spent the past few years at Michelin-starred Noma in Copenhagen, some diners will arrive to prostrate themselves at the high altar of molecular dining.
The owners of Little Saint quietly opened the doors of their renovated upstairs dining room this summer, with a $120 prix fixe menu of plant-based foods prepared in a state-of-the-art open kitchen. Stalker, who moved from Copenhagen to Healdsburg to manage the staff of five (including his brother-in-law), didn’t flounce around town announcing his presence. The whole affair has been remarkably low-key.
The menu eschews dairy, meat, and eggs in favor of dishes that are a deft mix of culinary alchemy and farm-fresh perfection, with produce from the 8-acre Little Saint Farm. This is not simply vegan dining. It’s a blueprint for how we can—and should—eat for the future.
Guests at Second Story are greeted with a drink drawn through a bouquet of flowers with a stainless straw at the new upstairs vegan restaurant at Little Saint in Healdsburg. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)A pour of miso at the table over Summer Vegetables with Smoked Tomatoes from the vegan prix fixe menu from chef Stu Stalker on weekends at Second Story, the new upstairs restaurant at Little Saint in Healdsburg. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
You don’t spend years working at Noma without some serious passion for breaking ingredients down into their simplest components. Stalker and his team can spend hours—sometimes days—transforming humble fruits and vegetables into something magical. For example, late-summer greens and herbs from the farm hide three types of dressing, including walnut and chamomile.
And a tomato isn’t just a tomato—it’s what a tomato dreams of one day becoming, and you dream of one day eating.
The meal begins with the Welcome Bouquet, a drink served in a vase of flowers.
Guests are meant to sip the nectar, like a honeybee, through a straw hidden among the blooms. It’s hilarious to watch people navigate their lips into the bouquet, searching for the straw, and it smells lovely. (Later, you’ll receive the bouquet as a parting gift.)
The setting, with views of the open kitchen and out over the patio, is intimate without being awkward. A collection of bistro-style banquettes and center tables are moved aside to host weekly live music events and other gatherings. So sure—go all food nerd if you like, but you can also simply enjoy a lovely meal at Stalker’s imaginative restaurant. The point is, after all, just to eat.
There are two ways you can know you’ve arrived at Marvin’s. The first is you’ll smell the fragrance of smoke and meat wafting through the parking lot.
The second is you’ll see Marvin himself, slicing a juicy tri-tip behind the counter and sporting hot pink stripes through his beard.
His unmistakable silhouette is on a giant sign outside.
Marvin’s is part sandwich deli, part barbecue restaurant, and part bottle shop operating out of a former liquor store that owner Marvin Mckinzy and business partner Vikram “Sunny” Badhan (owner of Wilibees Wines & Spirits in Santa Rosa) remodeled over the past year.
Mckinzy has spent a lifetime loving and learning the art of barbecue, starting with his stepfather’s backyard grill in Kentucky.
As a kid, he was encouraged to help with steaks and simple meaty fare, instilling in him a perfectionist passion for barbecue. “I’m from the South. But in California, I’ve learned a lot of things. I call my style ‘blended barbecue,’ going back and forth with different things,” he says.
Marvin’s BBQ & Deli offers Mckinzy’s signature tri-tip, pork ribs, pulled pork, and barbecued chicken alongside jalapeño cornbread and pies from a local baker.
His baked beans, inspired by his stepfather’s recipe, are sweet, smoky perfection. He uses Short Momma’s Barbecue Sauce, made in Santa Rosa.
If you see a police car or fire truck in the parking lot, don’t panic. The local first responders are currently competing to see who can eat the most barbecue. So far, the firefighters are winning, but Mckinzy is still holding out hope for the police. “It’s a little friendly competition,” Mckinzy said. “I like to keep things exciting.”
Wies Made is a small Petaluma clothing company with a goal to educate people about sustainable fashion with their “farm to closet” model. Everything that makes the jeans is traceable to its American origins._Monday, May 01, 2023. _(CRISSY PASCUAL/ARGUS-COURIER STAFF)
A few years back, Nic Wiessler saw the direction jeans were headed—and was underwhelmed. “I saw denim getting more like athleisure wear,” says Wiessler, a Petaluma resident with an abiding love of rugged American blue jeans.
In February, after a two-year quest to create the ideal pair of classic denim pants, he launched WiesMade, now available online and at two Sonoma County stores: The Loop, on the square in Sonoma, and Estuary in Petaluma.
The start-up also carries T-shirts, knitwear, canvas jackets, and belts for men and women, all made with natural, American-grown fibers.
“Blue jeans were invented in San Francisco,” notes Wiessler. “To me, they should be durable, everyday wear—with a blazer for work, or on your bike, or meeting with a client.”
The start-up also carries T-shirts, knitwear, canvas jackets, and belts for men and women, all made with natural, American-grown fibers. (Crissy Pascual)
A 20-year veteran of the retail biz, Wiessler wanted to make clothes with fabric sourced within the United States. He found the 175-year-old Mount Vernon Mills in Georgia, and Vidalia Mills in Louisiana—two of the last facilities in the country able to make the high-quality denim and selvedge denim used in his jeans.
“The rest have all gone out of business, sadly,” says Wiessler. He was able to then find a small, family-owned cut-and-sew operation in Southern California through a friend of a friend, which is where WiesMade jeans are now produced. “They do really good stuff,” says Weissler, “and were willing to work with me.”
WiesMade pieces are classic and highly durable. “When you use good cotton, you don’t need to add chemicals to soften. It’s just soft by nature,” he says.
Wiessler runs the company out of a small office/warehouse/workshop behind the west Petaluma home he shares with his family.
Wiessler also grew up in Petaluma, and is a lifelong surfer and outdoorsman—stashed in the rafters of his workspace are a collection of surfboards, some dinged up during expeditions to Costa Rica years ago. “I grew up surfing around here,” says Wiessler. It’s no accident his outerwear is ideal for trips to the Sonoma Coast. Wiessler studied environmental science at Sonoma State University, then launched into retail, gravitating to smaller companies, “kind of building them out,” as he puts it, then moving on. Once a company gets to be a certain size, he believes, “it loses its heart and soul.”
It’s hard to imagine that happening with his own apparel line, where he applies a farm-totable ethos–“dirt to denim,” as he describes it.
Holiday shoppers take note: prices range from $50 – $60 for knitwear, and $200 – $300 for specialty items such as selvedge denim.
“If you want a good pair of jeans and you’re into locally sourced, high-quality denim, or if you want a good, heavy T-shirt that’s 100% cotton and will last forever, you’ll come to us. There’s plenty of market for that.”
