Sonoma County is home to a dazzling array of restaurants, but we sometimes forget that dining out isn’t the only way to enjoy the region’s cuisine. Hands-on cooking classes in everything from bread baking to pasta making offer an opportunity to transform Sonoma County’s farm-fresh produce and artisan ingredients into something truly delicious. What’s even better is that you’ll get to learn new skills in a great setting, including wineries and restaurants, and under the expert guidance of local chefs.
Here are some of the best places to get cooking right now.
Healdsburg
Quail & Condor
Ever since SingleThread alums Melissa Yanc and Sean McGaughey opened Quail & Condor in 2020, fans have been lining up for a taste of the couple’s next-level breads, croissants, and pastries. Last spring, the bakery began hosting hands-on cooking classes with Lisal Moran, who worked as a pastry chef in San Francisco before joining the Q&C team.
The workshops, offered two to four times each month, give participants a taste of how retail bakers practice their craft — without having to roll out of bed at 5 a.m. — while teaching techniques for laminating puff pastry dough, working with yeasted doughs, and whipping up quick breads like Q&C’s legendary Parm-onion drop biscuits.
Moran knows baking can be intimidating, so she peppers her instruction with lighthearted tales of her own kitchen disasters. Each class features three to five recipes around a theme, and everyone leaves with a box of goodies to take home.
149 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, 707-473-8254, quailandcondor.com
Relish Culinary Adventures
After 15 years of hosting cooking classes in its downtown demonstration kitchen, Relish pivoted in 2023 to focus on corporate events and pop-up classes for private groups. Founder Donna del Rey still occasionally offers classes and culinary activities to the public, such as the currently running winter mushroom foraging and lunch series, so check the website periodically to see what pops up.
14 Matheson St., Healdsburg, 707-431-9999, relishculinary.com
Windsor
Bricoleur Vineyards
Bricoleur is all about creating experiences that go beyond wine tasting. Sure, you’ll find food and wine pairings, but you can also book an after-hours dinner experience at the winery’s Chef’s Table, learn to seed a garden, join a weekly yoga session overlooking the vines, and — you guessed it — take a cooking class.
Chris Ford, who previously worked with Thomas Keller at Bouchon in Yountville, is a frequent guest chef at Bricoleur. Next month, he’ll lead a hands-on chocolate-making class that promises to reveal the decadent secrets of ganache.
7394 Starr Road, Windsor, 707-857-5700, bricoleurvineyards.com
Petaluma
Central Milling Artisan Baking Center
Petaluma’s Keith Giusto Bakery Supply store isn’t just a great place to pick up artisan flours and cool kitchen tools for your culinary creations, it’s also home to the Central Milling Artisan Baking Center.
In the center’s gleaming education kitchen, you can join top bakers and culinary experts for hands-on classes in bread baking, milling, fermentation techniques, pasta-making, and lots more. We especially love the Italian cooking classes by Rosetta Costantino, author of the “My Calabria” cookbook. Classes are available for both newbies and experts, in-person and online.
1120 Holm Road, Petaluma, 707-765-5745, centralmilling.com
Sonoma Family Meal
Sonoma Family Meal doesn’t just provide tasty, nourishing food for community members in need — 700,000 meals and counting since 2017 — it also offers monthly cooking classes in the nonprofit’s community kitchen.
The current series features donut-making from cookbook author Kim Laidlaw. Classes typically cost around $100, and proceeds help fund Sonoma Family Meal’s mission to feed local families in need.
1370A Redwood Way, Petaluma, 707-978-2340, sonomafamilymeal.org
Penngrove
Wind & Rye
Laci Sandoval worked her way through some of Northern California’s top kitchens, including Boulevard in San Francisco, before falling in love with Sonoma County and opening the Wind & Rye cooking school in 2014.
Set on the Penngrove homestead Sandoval shares with her husband Travis, Wind & Rye invites participants into the couple’s farmhouse kitchen for classes in everything from butchery and sausage-making to cake decorating for kids. Guest instructors include the oh-so-talented Leah Scurto of Windsor’s PizzaLeah, and Nicole Plue, winner of a James Beard Award for outstanding pastry chef. Classes typically run about four hours and each concludes with a shared meal and drinks.
4615 Acacia Way, Penngrove, windandrye.com
Sonoma
The Epicurean Connection
This is the place to get hands on with some stretchy, melty goodness. For more than three decades, Epicurean Connection founder and award-winning cheesemaker Sheana Davis has been championing the local farmstead and artisan cheese movement. Together with her husband, wine expert Ben Sessions, Davis opened Epicurean Connection in 1992 and began hosting immersive cheesemaking classes.
Sign up to learn the art of pulling mozzarella or create your own two-pound wheel of Creme de Ricotta, spiced to your personal taste. Each 90-minute session includes a sampling of artisan cheeses paired with a glass of wine.
19670 Eight St. E, Sonoma, epicureanconnection.com