Get ready to bring home the bacon, it’s pork season.
Throughout the region chefs are celebrating their favorite cloven-hooved friends throughout January and February with special dinners that take advantage of, well, pretty much everything but the squeal.
Be a salumist, January 18
Chefs Franco Dunn and Dino Bugica from Santi restaurant in Geyserville will be teaching sausage, pancetta and salami making using centuries old Italian recipes at VIVA. If you can’t make the event, Santi sells its homemade sausage (given recent props by the New York Times) from its restaurant or Santi’s website. $80, 6:30 to 9:30pm, 7160 Keating Ave, Sebastopol, 824.9913.
Festa del Porco at Bovolo, January 20 and 21
Celebrating the feat of St. Anthony (the patron saint of butchers) Duskie and John host a nose to tail supper at their Healdsburg restaurant featuring their Black Pig Salumi, hogs head soup, belly and more. Again, if you can’t make the dinner, John sells his homemade salumi and bacon at the restaurant. Definitely worth a special trip. $65 per person, call 707.431.2962 to reserve your spot.
Dry Creek Kitchen’s Second Annual Celebration of Pigs and Pinot, January 24
Sample more than 50 pinot noirs paired with pork dishes, charcuterie, pates and other special creations from chefs Charlie Palmer, Michael Ellis, Corey Schreiber and Jean-David Daudet from Burgandy. $75, 6:30 to 9pm, 317 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg
Click for more information and other events during the celebration
Oliveto’s Whole Hog Dinners, February 6 – 9, 2007
This is THE event of the season for nose to tail eaters. From blood pudding to bacon ice cream, the restaurant pulls out all the stops with its extensive pork-tastic menu. If you haven’t done it at least once, make a point of going. This year, former Oliveto chef Paul Bertolli will be launching his new line of salumi during the event. Get the details at their website