Page 82 – Sonoma Magazine

Santa Rosa’s John Ash Restaurant Gets New Celebrity Chef

June 2024

By Heather Irwin

John Ash & Co at Vintners Resort in Santa Rosa. (Courtesy of Vintners Resort)

A former Top Chef Mexico contestant and luxury hotel veteran has been tapped to lead the historic John Ash & Co. restaurant in Santa Rosa.

Chef Sergio Howland, a native of Mexico City, will re-imagine a “more modern John Ash” and create several new dining experiences at the resort, according to owners. Howland was hired following the sale of Vintners Resort (the location of John Ash & Co. restaurant) to Jackson Family Wines and a southern California hospitality group in May 2023.

Chef Sergio Howland will head John Ash & Co. restaurant at the Vintners Resort in Santa Rosa. (Courtesy photo) — Chef Sergio Howland will head John Ash & Co. restaurant at the Vintners Resort in Santa Rosa. (Courtesy of Vintners Resort)

Howland’s installation is part of a major renovation and refresh of the property and one of the most significant changes to the restaurant since its founder, chef John Ash, sold his stake in the restaurant to the resort’s former owners in 2000.

“As a resort deeply rooted in celebrating the rich flavors and abundant offerings of Sonoma County, chef Howland’s culinary vision will not only pay homage to John Ash’s enduring culture of farm-to-table cuisine, but it will also set a new standard for excellence in food and wine experiences throughout the resort,” said Brian Sommer, general manager at Vintners Resort.

Since the departure of longtime executive chef Tom Schmidt in early March, there’s been significant conjecture on the fate of the fine dining restaurant that’s had only a handful of chefs since its inception.

Over the last several months, the restaurant has been serving a greatest-hits menu of John Ash recipes but has been mostly adrift after losing much of the culinary team, including food and beverage director Robin Ameral, as well as Schmidt’s sous chef, lead banquet chef and a pastry chef. General manager Percy Brandon, well-known in the hospitality industry, resigned in April 2022 after 21 years.

Howland, a graduate of the Culinary School of America, has more than 30 years of culinary experience at high-end resorts, including Napa’s Michelin-starred Auberge du Soleil, Ritz-Carlton Hotels in Palm Beach, Key Biscayne and Cancun and the Four Seasons in Mexico City.
He appeared on the Mexican Top Chef spin-off of 16 “cheftestants” in 2016.

“Since I was in culinary school, I have aspired to work in California’s Wine Country, surrounded by the abundance of local ingredients, artisanal cheese, fresh produce and world-class vineyards,” said Howland. “I am passionate about the imaginative journey of crafting recipes and menus, and Sonoma County offers an expansive canvas of inspiration.”

Howland’s menu will “reflect the region’s changing seasons, celebrating its abundant harvest and incorporate Vintners Resort’s 92-acre estate.” As part of the refreshed culinary program, he also plans to include cooking classes, garden tours, and vineyard dinners.

Chef Ash, considered “the father of Wine Country cuisine,” founded his namesake restaurant in 1980, highlighting seasonal, local and sustainable ingredients. Ash and chefs Jeremiah Tower and Alice Waters put Northern California on the map as a dining destination in the late 1970s and 80s.

Ash continues to write award-winning cookbooks, including the 2024 James Beard-nominated “The Hog Island Book of Fish & Seafood.”

North Coast Wine & Food Festival Will Showcase Award-Winning Wines and Gourmet Bites

May 2024

By Tina Caputo

North Coast Wine Challenge at the Sonoma Mountain Village Event Center in Rohnert Park, Sunday, May 15, 2016. (Will Bucquoy)

Food and wine fans are invited to taste and toast the region’s best at the 2024 North Coast Wine & Food Festival. Set for June 15 at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, the afternoon event hosted by The Press Democrat (Sonoma Magazine’s sister publication) showcases 90 award-winning wines from its North Coast Wine Challenge, along with gourmet bites from some of the North Coast’s top chefs.

The tasting exclusively features gold medal-winning wines from Sonoma, Napa, Marin, Solano, Lake and Mendocino Counties. This includes the competition’s big winner, the 2021 La Storia Cuvée 32 from Trentadue Winery in Alexander Valley. The Tuscan-style red blend bested more than 1,000 wines to snag the Best of the Best award, along with the Best of Show Red and Best of Sonoma County honors.

Along with winning wines, the festival features delectable dishes from 25 local chefs. Peter Janiak, executive chef at St. Francis Winery & Vineyards in Santa Rosa, says he is looking forward to cooking at the event for the first time.

“I’m excited to feel the energy of the guests and be embraced by the camaraderie of all the great and talented winemakers and chefs,” he said.

Janiak is presenting a tombo tuna ceviche at the festival, inspired by the St. Francis 2023 Sonoma County Rosé, which won Double Gold and Best of Class awards at the North Coast Wine Challenge.

“I wanted a dish to really highlight our rosé, and also be super refreshing,” he said. “The herbs in the dish are from our farm, as well as the radish and onions. I always begin my pairing process by selecting the wine first. I then construct a dish with the intent of pairing it with a specific varietal and vintage.”

St. Francis is pouring the rosé, as well as four other award-winning wines, at the festival.

Several restaurants are making their North Coast Wine & Food Fest debuts this year, including Goodnight’s Prime Steak + Spirits in Healdsburg, The Redwood in Sebastopol, Goldfinch in Sebastopol, L’Oro Di Napoli in Santa Rosa, El Coqui in Santa Rosa and Arandas in Healdsburg.

The food lineup is anything but boring, with chefs such as Danny Girolomo of Sonoma’s Wit & Wisdom presenting an heirloom tomato and peach salad, and Sean Raymond Kelley of Healdsburg’s Lo & Behold serving up Vietnamese-Cajun po boys filled with shrimp, ginger pickles, and lemon grass chili crunch.

Festival tickets cost $95 for general admission or $160 for the VIP experience, which treats guests to early entry and access to a dedicated lounge. The event runs 1-4 p.m. or noon-4 p.m. for those with VIP tickets.

North Coast Wine & Food Festival, Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa, 707-546-3600, northcoastwineandfood.com

It’s a Big Weekend for Sonoma Wine Festivals

May 2024

By Abigail Peterson

For those who like to mix up their kickoff to summer with some top-notch tastings, there are two very different events this weekend that are well worth your while.

Reach for the Moon

This Saturday June 1 is the Reach for the Moon! master class and tasting with critic Antonio Galloni of Vinous. It’s a unique event, just the second annual (last year’s event sold out), notable for the quality of the wines available to taste and the location at the landmark Monte Rosso vineyard—a spot rarely open to the public, high in the Mayacamas above the town of Sonoma.

The event is called Reach for the Moon because the focus is on rare wines from the Moon Mountain District AVA, with over 25 high-end wineries participating, including Repris Wines, Kamen Estate Wines, BRION, Bedrock Wine Co., and Winery Sixteen 600.

Critic Antonio Galloni’s morning master class session leads guests through a tasting of still-developing 2023 wines from the barrel, followed by a rare 10-year retrospective tasting of the 2013 wine from the same producer and vineyard. That’s followed by food and a larger group tasting in the afternoon.

And after shuttling back down from Monte Rosso, there’s a killer free afterparty at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn featuring live music from jazz bassist Tony Saunders.

Sat. June 1, from $250 per person. moonmountaindistrict.org

Big West Wine Fest

Also this weekend, the second annual Big West Wine Fest, which also sold out in 2023, is back again at Solar Punk Farms in Guerneville, with over 50 natural and low-intervention wine and cider producers featured each day of the two-day fest, including selections from Sonoma Magazine 2021 and 2024 “winemakers to watch” winners Emme Wines, Ashanta, Maison des Plaisances, Ward Four Wines, Fres.Co, Orixe Sotelo, LOTIS Wines, Desire Lines, Caleb Leisure, Ruth Lewandowski, and more.

The vibe under the redwoods is relaxed and breezy, with plenty of time to chat casually with top natural winemakers. Event organizers Emily Fair Weber and Nina Kravetz explain the event celebrates mainstay winemakers as well as fresh faces, the farmers and the vineyards that make Sonoma County such a hotspot of the natural wine movement. There are food trucks and crafts for kids, plus live music all day both days and free ice cream.

June 1-2, one-day tickets from $80. bigwestwinefest.com

Couple Behind Beloved Bakery Share Favorite Sonoma Spots

May 2024

By Sonoma Magazine Staff

Osvaldo Jiménez y Christian Sullberg, dueños de Moustache Baking Goods y Noble Folk Ice Cream and Pie, en Healdsburg. Christopher Chung / The Press Democrat

Sonoma County natives Ozzy Jimenez and Christian Sullberg met in 2010 and launched their beloved Noble Folk Ice Cream & Pie Bar in 2013 on the Healdsburg Plaza (a second location opened in Santa Rosa a few years later).

The couple are deeply involved in their community and celebrate diversity in every way, from proudly flying the rainbow and trans pride flags outside their stores to giving back to local organizations. Sullberg served on the board of Positive Images, a LGBTQ+ nonprofit, and Jimenez is the former mayor of Healdsburg and the first Latinx immigrant to serve on the city council.

Their lives took on a new resonance last year when the couple became parents to son Henry, who will be a year old in September.

“The activities that we enjoyed before now come in through a different filter,” says Jimenez. “When we go to a restaurant now, it’s like, ‘Is it kid-friendly?’ ‘Is there room for a stroller?’”

The couple shop for gender-neutral baby clothes at Bon Ton Baby on the Healdsburg Plaza and love to try new baby-friendly restaurants and hikes around town.

Here are some of Jimenez and Sullberg’s favorite Sonoma County spots:

Jimenez and Sullberg visit Asiana Supermarket in Cotati for pickles, daikon radishes, marinated short ribs, bibimbap—and their favorite kimchi, locally made Ji’s Kimchi. “Sunday is the day you want to go to the market, because sometimes you’ll see older women in their traditional Korean attire, doing their shopping.”

Asiana Market, 707-664-0526. Ji’s Kimchi, ginajikimchi.com

Ozzy Jimenez served as Mayor in Christian Sullberg's hometown of Healdsburg, establishing the city's flag-raising policy to celebrate Pride Month in June. — Drea White, of Healdsburg, watching the parade make it’s way down 4th Street during the 31st annual Sonoma County Pride Festival held Saturday for the first time in downtown Santa Rosa, California at Old Courthouse Square. June 2, 2018. (Erik Castro/for The Press Democrat)

When Jimenez served as mayor of Healdsburg, he helped establish the city’s flag-raising policy to celebrate Pride Month in June. “Christian grew up here in Healdsburg, and for the longest time, there really hadn’t been positive affirmations of our identities… Now, there’s a flag at the police station, at the community center, at city hall. And the city lights up Memorial Bridge in rainbow. It legit looks like you’re going to the Wizard of Oz, and it’s just magical,” says Jimenez.

Sullberg and Jimenez love the new Maria de Los Angeles mural at Santa Rosa’s Luther Burbank Center. “It’s just a beautiful representation of her life growing up in Sonoma County,” says Jimenez.

707-546-3600, lutherburbankcenter.org

The Maria de los Angeles mural at Santa Rosa's Luther Burbank Center — Artist Maria de Los Angeles takes a picture of Karla Garcia’s drawing and where she would like it to be placed on a community-focused mural at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. De Los Angeles worked with the Latino Service Providers and other local groups to integrate their ideas into a second mural at the arts center. (John Burgess / The Press Democrat)

Noble Folk's peach-raspberry pie is one of Christian Sullbergs favorite summer sweets. — Apple cranberry pie, bottom, wild blueberry and blackberry pie, and chocolate hazelnut pie, at Noble Folk Ice Cream and Pie Bar. (Christopher Chung/ The Press Democrat)

Of course, they know all the most delicious things to try at Noble Folk Ice Cream & Pie Bar. “For summer, Christian love-love-loves the peach-raspberry pie and the Dutch cookie ice cream,” says Jimenez. “And for me, it’s the French macarons—there aren’t a whole lot of places in the county that still make them fresh.”

In Healdsburg and Santa Rosa, thenoblefolk.com

They can’t wait to bring Henry on their favorite waterfall hike at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park, and, when he’s old enough, to the park’s Robert Ferguson Observatory to see the stars. “People drive from all over the Bay Area to participate in their programming in the summer,” says Jimenez.

707-833-6979, sugarloafpark.org, rfo.org

Sonoma Wine and Mexican Street Food a Perfect Pairing at Upcoming Event

May 2024

By Heather Irwin

A variety of Mexican dishes served at the Mitote Food Park in Santa Rosa. (Beth Schlanker/The Press Democrat)

When pairing wine with fish tacos, what works better — a minerally sauvignon blanc or a crisp rosé? Is a buttery chardonnay right for a carnitas tlayuda?

Whether such burning questions have crossed your mind (or not), 11 west county wineries will guide tasters toward some definitive personal preferences at the Summer Solstice Tasting at Mitote Food Park in Roseland from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, June 23.

Organizer Barb Gustafson of Taste West County, a collection of boutique wineries in the Russian River Valley, came up with a plan to pair Mexican street food with local wine after meeting Octavio Diaz, the owner and founder of the permanent food truck park.

After a subsequent trip to Mitote, she found the ideal pairing for seafood dishes like ceviche was with a great local muscat. Gustafson said everything she and her husband ordered sparked a new possible pairing combination.

Chicken, vegetables and rice with red mole from the Maria Machetes food truck at the Mitote Food Park in Santa Rosa, Calif. on Monday, July 25, 2022. (Beth Schlanker/The Press Democrat)

white Pinot Noir wine — A bottle of Emeritus Vineyards Hallberg Blanc pinot noir in Sebastopol, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. (Christopher Chung / The Press Democrat)

The Empanadas at Mamis Panuchos in the Mitote Food Truck Lot along Sebastopol Ave in Roseland October 18, 2022. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat) — The Empanadas at Mami’s Panuchos in the Mitote Food Truck Lot along Sebastopol Ave in Roseland October 18, 2022. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)

Wineries participating in the special tasting event include DRNK, Dutton-Goldfield, Emeritus Vineyards, Furthermore Wines, Halleck Vineyard, Joseph Jewell, Marimar Estate, Martin Ray Winery, Paul Mathew Vineyards, Pellegrini-Olivet Lane, Purple Pachyderm and Red Car Wine.

A curated selection of wines and dishes will be offered at the tasting, including ceviche, quesabirria, tacos, molotes, sopes and more.

Tickets for the event are $60 per person, available at eventbrite.com or tastewestcounty.com. Mitote is at 665 Sebastopol Road, Santa Rosa, mitotefoodpark.com.

Mid-Century Modern Hillside Home in Glen Ellen Listed for $5.3 Million

May 2024

By Karen Kizer

A three-bedroom, three-and-half-bathroom, 2,906-square-foot home, built into the contour of a hillside overlooking Sonoma Valley, is currently listed for $5,300,000. The home features an inspired mix of exquisite design elements, natural surroundings, and panoramic views of Sonoma and San Francisco.

The modernity of the circa-2008 building, plus angular palms and a pool, gives something of a mid-century Southern California vibe. The home, at 2947 Cavedale Road in Glen Ellen, was previously owned by tech CEO Bill Cook.

A design of Portico West, the dwelling was inspired by a Portugal home made out of glass placed between two rocks, and also the Glass House by Philip Johnson.

Interior elements — such as blown-glass bubble chandeliers, teak cabinets and a show-stopping onyx wall in the wine cellar — enliven the space.

For more information about 2947 Cavedale Road in Glen Ellen, contact listing agents Matt Sevenau, matt.sevenau@compass.com, 707-934-5630; or Maurice Tegelaar, maurice.tegelaar@compass.com, 707-484-8088, compass.com

Lady Blume Bakery in Cotati Offers Gluten-Free Sweets

May 2024

By Heather Irwin

A Saturday morning pastry case at Lady Blume Microbakery + Coffee in Cotati. (Heather Irwin / The Press Democrat)

Would you eat a cinnamon roll made without butter?

A new Sonoma County bakery is blossoming as Lady Blume Microbakery + Coffee soft-opened its doors last weekend near Cotati’s La Plaza Park.

But the entire bakery is gluten- and dairy-free, with a large selection of vegan options to wrap your head around. What the what?

For some, leaving out the wheat, eggs, and dairy in pastries is a welcome sign of a future that looks to alternative, dietary-inclusive ingredients for favorite comfort classics. Lady Blume is also a highly anticipated replacement for Magdelena’s Savories and Sweets, a vegan bakery in Petaluma that shuttered last year.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Lady Blume microbakery + coffee. (Formerly Saltwater bakery) (@ladyblumemicrobakery)

Owner Tawnya Marsh of Pacifica’s Saltwater Bakery has been working on the concept for over three years, first slated for the Penngrove Hatchery but finally landing in its sweeter-than-pie location in downtown Cotati.

Her limited opening menu includes stellar lemon-pistachio glazed doughnuts ($3.25) and orange blossom almond cake ($5). A recommended caffeinated sipper is the Wildflower coffee drink with lavender-infused sugar, spicy chai and coffee ice cubes (try it with almond milk).

A “Coming Soon” menu promises health shots and wellness drinks, like the Daydream with a mushroom blend of turkey tail, lion’s mane and chaga with cinnamon cocoa dust; and the Campfire with cacao, maca, cinnamon and smoked sea salt (each $6.50).

We’re also looking forward to a plant-based cinnamon roll, something that seems impossible without the traditional ingredients, but worth trying nonetheless.

Lady Blume is open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. 8059 La Plaza St., Cotati, ladyblume.com.

Petaluma Antiques Store Closing; Listed at $3.9 Million with Adjacent Home

May 2024

By Karen Kizer

A mixed-use circa-1918 building with a retail space, adjacent apartment and a separate barn are currently listed for $3,850,000. The building is the current home of French Salvage Antiques resale boutique. (Open Homes Photography)

For the past eight years, Laura and Robert MacDuff have operated French Salvage Antiques on the weekends and lived in the adjacent apartment. Now, they are closing their Petaluma business and selling the building.

For a lover of great design and French antiques, it is a dream property.

The building at 303 Bodega Avenue originated as a small bodega in 1918. It became Caulfield’s Grocery in 1925. The historic building now houses the storefront of the antiques shop, with beautiful pieces curated by Laura MacDuff. Just through a backdoor, is the living space.

The storefront, home and a newly built barn on the property is currently listed for $3,850,000.

The one-bedroom, one-bath living space is layered in antique finds: a caddy of silverware sits like art on a marble counter, a reclaimed wooden arch is a striking showpiece in the sitting area, a grid of vintage prints defines the office nook. Off to the side is a covered patio surrounded by citrus trees, a large table to gather around, a pizza oven, and a sideboard enhanced by a symmetrical layout of more salvaged finds. Behind all this is a newly built barn with two bedrooms and three bathrooms.

Click through the above gallery for a peek inside the home.

For more information about 303 Bodega Avenue, contact listing agent Bonnie Spindler, Corcoran Icon Properties, 415-552-9500, 415-706-6660, corcoran.com

This 22-Year-Old Farmer Is Building a Sebastopol Farmstead From the Ground Up

May 2024

By John Beck

Farmer Alice Tibbets of Fledgling Farm at Green Valley Farm + Mill near Sebastopol March 25, 2024. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)

When Alice Tibbetts dreamed up the idea of Fledgling Farm, she was thinking about her own self-confidence as much as the farmstead.

“At first, it started with the idea of ‘full-fledged farm,’ because people don’t always believe that a small-scale, one-person operation can be a farm,” she says. “People want to call it a garden.”

But farm or garden, she took the leap.

“This idea of jumping from the nest is what Fledgling Farm means—the concept of coming to the edge of something kind of scary, and you know you have to do it and you know you can do it.”

It’s the perfect metaphor for a devoted no-till farmer, who at just 21 years old is building a farm and CSA from the ground up on 1.5 acres of shared land at Green Valley Farm + Mill outside Sebastopol.

As a pair of red-tailed hawks circle above and a knee-high cover crop blows in the breeze, Tibbetts is already envisioning what it will look like in June when her first CSA distribution arrives, with lettuce, radishes, turnips, scallions, kale, chard, peas and more.

As a young farmer of color, Tibbetts knows the struggle many go through trying to find land to farm. And she knows how lucky she is to have landed at Green Valley, where she can farm more than an acre and share the greenhouse and barn, while paying less than many people shell out for their monthly PG& E bill. It’s exactly what she had in mind when, as part of the National Young Farmers Coalition, she helped brainstorm ideas for the 2023 Farm Bill.

“We were trying to add legislation about land access,” she says. “I’m very aware how difficult it is for young, especially BIPOC, farmers to access land. So, the idea that I could land in this amazing community, with lots of resources and community recognition, and have it be so affordable, was an automatic yes for me.”

Growing up in a small town in western Massachusetts, Tibbetts helped out at a horse-plowed farm. At Bard College at Simon’s Rock, where she enrolled at age 16, she started
a campus farm club and founded a “farm house” where like-minded students lived together. After two years of college, she left to apprentice full-time, immersing herself in no-till farming, a practice that includes disturbing the soil as little as possible, keeping living roots in the ground and sequestering carbon. It’s how people grew food centuries ago.

“The whole philosophy behind no-till is that the soil and compost are sort of the plant’s stomach outside of its body,” she says. “It needs those other forms of life to process carbon and plant material and waste into nutrients. It can’t do that on its own.”

At a passion fruit vineyard in Hawaii, she discovered Korean natural farming, utilizing micro-organisms to enrich the soil. In Thailand, where her mother has roots, she learned about seed saving.

Along the way, she also learned about the sustainability of the farmer. In an age when farmer suicide rates are nearly four times the national average, she sees the evolution of farming in America coming around to the needs of the farmer.

“My parents’ generation, the back-to-the-land generation of new organic farmers, took the homesteading philosophies and found it was financially possible to do small-scale farming…Now, my generation is trying to make farming sustainable for the farmer. The goal is to hold everything that’s been done, learn from it, and choose to make it more sustainable for me in the long term.”

Fledgling Farm, 13024E Green Valley Road, Sebastopol. 413-270-5321, fledglingfarm.com

Trillions of Cicadas Are Emerging in the US This Year. Here’s Where to Hear Their Summer Song in Sonoma County

May 2024

By Nate Seltenrich

A macro head shot of a 17-year cicada. They live underground in a nymph stage and emerge only after 17 years. This image highlights the cicada’s large, orange, compound eyes. Often called a locust. (Georgi Bandi/Shutterstock)

This summer in the Midwestern and Eastern U.S., two broods of periodic cicadas—one that emerges every 13 years, the other every 17–will overlap for the first time in 221 years. It should be quite a raucous scene (trillions of cicadas are expected to emerge), and Sonoma State University entomologist Elliott Smeds will be there.

But Smeds spends most of his time studying the periodic cicadas’ lesser-known counterparts closer to home. Sonoma County has at least a dozen native species of cicadas, from the coast to the interior mountains: smaller, quieter and less numerous than their cousins, they emerge every year to herald the arrival of summer with their evocative calls.

Local cicadas are classified into two groups: “wing-tapping cicadas,” which strike their wings against tree branches to produce sound, and “whip cicadas,” which produce a high-pitched whine using a pair of organs on their abdomen called tymbals.

“The tymbals flex inward and outward via muscle contraction, producing a click in much the same way as those clickers you can use for training dogs—except that the tymbals click dozens or even hundreds of times a second,” Smed says.

Cicadas don’t do this simply to serenade the rest of us on sunny days. Rather, what we hear—predictably enough, for anyone who likes to watch nature documentaries—is the sound of males calling for a mate.

Cicadas can be heard as early as March and as late as August, but tend to peak around early June. Rising summer temperatures not only spur cicadas from the soil, where they spend most of their lives as nymphs feeding on plant roots, but also support their noisemaking.

“The act of singing requires a fair amount of metabolic energy,” Smeds says. “They’re using warm temperatures to heat themselves up so that their muscles can move fast enough to generate the sound.”

After mating, males will try again, while females will lay eggs in trees or shrubs. Then both will die. The babies will hatch, crawl back underground, and start the cycle over.

Sonoma’s cicadas occupy a range of habitats, says Smeds. He’s found them at Fort Ross in view of the ocean and in the chaparral at the top of the Mayacamas. Quiet, less disturbed parks, including Trione-Annadel State Park and Hood Mountain Regional Park, are ideal for hearing their song.