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Santé makes Chronicle Top 100; Rachel Ray plays Tiddle E. Winks

 

Santé Restaurant at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn is the only Sonoma Valley restaurant to make the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine's Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants list this year. Café la Haye appears to have been dropped, which doesn't mean it isn't a great local restaurant.

Chronicle Restaurant Critic Michael Bauer mentions Michelin Star chef Andrew Cain's elegant cooking and dining room overlooking FSMI's swimming pool and some of Cain's seasonal specialties, a favorite being their "grown-up mac and cheese" with lobster and black truffles, which is big and rich enough to share. Locals should try it, even if it's a splurge. 938-9000. (The Chronicle unfortunately transposed the prefix.)

Santé will host a Winemaker Dinner featuring Benziger Family wines to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society on May 26 featuring luxurious canapés, chilled Maine lobster salad, roasted Liberty Duck breast, boneless rack of Colorado lamb and a rhubarb and marcona almond tart. $179. 6:30 p.m. 100 Boyes Blvd., Boyes Hot Springs. 938-9000.

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More Film Festival food news:

More local vendors will offer their "street foods" in front of City Hall this Friday through Sunday, which is open to everyone whether you attend the festival or not. Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, Mary's Pizza, Harvey's Donuts, Rob Larman's Cochon Volant with pulled pork sandwiches and chicken Caesars, Dim Sum Charlie, Mike the Baker pretzels, Chicago-style Hot Dogs, assorted cupcakes, a Gloria Ferrer "Bubble Lounge" and New Belgium beer. You purchase food directly from the vendors, so walk or roll right up, assemble your favorites and find a picnic spot, all weekend. And don't forget the films - there are some gems. If you don't have a pass, you might luck out and get into a screening at the last minute for $15. Sonomafilmfest.org.

Larson Family Winery offers a chardonnay and popcorn pairing this weekend to celebrate the Sonoma International Film Festival at their tasting room, always fun. 23355 Millerick Road, Sonoma. 938-3031, ext. 19.

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Heidi Geffen of Tiddle E. Winks on East Napa Street says her chocolate and strawberry straws are in the May issue of Rachel Ray's magazine and that Ray will soon feature them on her television show. Each guest will get a pack under their seats. Ray refers to them among "the foods I'm loving right now." Geffen guesses the orders will roll in right away at tiddleewinks.com.

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The Grange's yummy organic pancake breakfast will be this Sunday, April 10, featuring hand-ground wheat pancakes, free-range poultry sausages, veggie and cheese frittata made with free-range eggs, maple syrup, coffee, tea and espresso drinks. A bargain at $10 adults, $5 children. 9 a.m. to noon. 18627 Sonoma Highway, Sonoma.

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Sunflower Caffé chef Curtis Dorsett reports that around 6 p.m. our time after the first showing of Guy Fieri's "Diner's, Drive-Ins & Dives" Sunflower segment, the phone started to ring off the hook with East Coasters calling to "make reservations," as if the Sunflower takes any.

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Saddles Steakhouse is again open for lunch and dinner daily and offers a new three course dinner for $19.95. Check out a choice of either New England clam chowder or green salad; prime rib with garlic mashed potatoes or butternut squash ravioli and rainbow chard; and a scoop of chocolate or vanilla ice cream. 29 E. MacArthur, Sonoma. 938-2929.

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Women for WineSense Sonoma-Napa celebrates legitimizes itself at age 21 with a Birthday Bash at Stag's Leap Wine Cellars on Thursday, April 14, with an interesting "Women in Wine" panel. Speakers will include Sonoma's Jean Arnold Sessions, Eileen Crane and Zelma Long, with Kerry Kirkham as moderator. All three will tell of their glass ceilings and careers, while WWS founders Michaela Rodeno and Julie Johnson contribute their experiences. 5:45 to 8:45 p.m. chris@christinemueller.com.

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Sonoma Valley Republican Women, Federated will host speaker August Sebastiani at its next luncheon on Thursday, April 14, at The Lodge at Sonoma. Attendees will enjoy a baby iceberg lettuce wedge with blue cheese dressing, pot roast, roasted vegetables and a fruit crisp. $30. 11:30ish. Make reservations via Cece Dahl at 939-1029 or dahlhouse476@comcast.net.

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The Sonoma Community Center's Fashion Trashion fashion show was so good and creative that I told Margie Maynard and Cee Cee Ponicsan as I left that "This should be in the New York Times or Vogue."

Food-related packaging was everywhere in the dresses paraded before an enthusiastic crowd of family of designers and models, fashionistas and just plain interested and interesting folks. Plastic bags, smashed cans, wrappers, Sunday comics, used and dried tea bags, straws and those famous turkey inseminators all contributed to sensational designs. For relative newcomers, Nicholas Turkey Farms used to ship turkey eggs and sperm around the world. Hence, the possible reason for "antique" inseminators being available.

Spotted in the gawking and laughing crowd were Bob Gardner (wife, Gretchen, designed a dress modeled by their daughter), John and Brigitta McReynolds, Kaeti Bailie, Bev Prevost, sponsor Fran Meininger, Kate Eilertson, Bonnie Brown, Susan and Norm Goldstein, Lia Transue, Avram Goldman, Ken Brown, David Goodison, Nancy and Charlie Tsegeletos, Jeff and Laura Zimmerman with sons, Jeff and Chris, and Laura's mother, Janet Frederickson, all there to watch daughter Callen's environmental statement dress. Pam Gibson introduced emcee Jean Arnold Sessions while Sharon Cohn and Ginny Krieger, themselves fashion plates, watched Rosemary McNeely and daughter model their original designs.

Jan Lippold and Melissa Spooner, whose "The Last Straw" gown won first prize, celebrated afterward at La Casa restaurant with family and friends.

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Catherine Driggers has opened her new Olive & Vine Restaurant at Jack London Village. Scurry on out for a taste delight. Driggers is secretly one of our finest chefs.

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Mary Evelyn Arnold hosted a potluck "picnic" last week, an outgrowth of a group that used to meet at a picnic table behind City Hall during the Tuesday farmers market.

Among the regulars were Ann Vander Ende, Arleen Curry, Ann Weeks, Barbara and Swede Thoreson, Fred and Barbara White Perry (he brought his famous cookies), Beth and Bob Records, Bob and Carole Nicholas, Diane Wick, Elsa and Gary Nelson, Harriet and Randy Derwingson, Janet Bruno and David Morrell, Janice and Dr. Dan Stites, Jean and Roy Knapp, Jim and Linda Kuhns, John Brady, and Karen and Lee Bushnell.

Filling the rest of Arnold's party-designed backyard were Tom Culligan, Jack Carter, Margie Maynard and Kay Maynard, Lolita McKinney, Mabeth Sanderson, Bob and Mary Voss, Pat O'Connell, Pag Sajor, Roger Wright and Lucy Weiger, Niels and Susan Chew and Norm and Susan Goldstein.

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April in Carneros sneaks up on us Saturday and Sunday April 16 and 17 for a promotional progressive wine tasting of hard-to-find Carneros Region wines. Contributing to wine-related scholarships at Santa Rosa Junior College and Napa Valley College, guests can sip wines and taste fine foods at Adastra, Anaba, Bonneau, Ceja, Cline Enkidu, Gloria Ferrer, Homewood, Jacuzzi, Keating, Larson Family, McKenzie-Mueller, Meadowcroft, Michael Mondavi, Parmelee Hill, Richardson, Robledo, Schug, Talisman, Tin Barn and Ty Caton wineries. $35 advance, $40 at event. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. 800-366-2806. Drink responsibly and drive carefully. 

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The same weekend, the traveling tomato road show, "Tomatomania," breezes through Cornerstone, where you might see more tomato varieties than anywhere else. While this is a fun and interesting show, don't forget our local nurseries such as Wedekind's and Sonoma Mission Gardens, where tomatoes specifically grown for our area prevail. 23574 Arnold Drive, Sonoma. 934-4090.

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Sonoma GayDar invites guests to bring out their inner diva for a "Sing Out Loud and Proud" evening Friday, April 22, at MacArthur Place and sip "Divatinis," created specially for this rare occasion. 8 to 11:30 p.m. (reserve for dinner). 29 E. MacArthur St., Sonoma. 938-2929.

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Our dear deer have munched all of the Sebastiani roses along Fourth Street East, particularly near the unoccupied "corporate offices," which owner Bill Foley moved to Windsor.

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Bill Myers leads another "Hike and Taste in the Vineyards" of the Kunde Family's 1,850-acre estate on Saturday, April 23. The moderately strenuous hike takes about four hours and ends at the Kunde tasting room, with lots of sample sips along the way. Part of ticket price benefits Sonoma Ecology Center. Bring your own lunch, water, sunscreen and hiking boots. $30. 10 a.m. Reserve at 282-1534 or Kunde.com.

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The locally organized California Candy Festival at the Jelly Belly Candy Company factory in Fairfield has been postponed from May 14 to Sept. 24, and is now sponsored by the Fairfield and Suisun Public Education Foundation. Sonomans George Webber and Michael Coats are involved, so it should be fun, including a Candy World Pavilion, a Wine and Chocolate Pairing Pavilion and amusement park rides. $15 advance, children under 12, free. Californiacandyfestival.com or 249-1667.

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Nibs and sips:

Chef John McReynolds is off soon to teach a week of classes at Rancho la Puerta ... Sheana Davis' next home cheesemaking class will be Sunday, April 24, at the Sonoma Valley Inn. ($45). Davis donated profits ($650) from her Sake and Cheese class at Sacramento's C'est le Cheese to Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief through the Red Cross Medical Supplies segment. Davis' Epicurean Connection just enjoyed a great feature in Gourmet Retailer magazine. 935-7960 or sheana@vom.com.

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Rep. Mike Thompson's pancake breakfast at Schell-Vista Fire Station last Saturday turned into a veritable memorial to Schell-Vista's late fire chief, Mitch Mulas, who died during surgery last week. Thompson presented Mulas' sons, Ray and Mike, with the Community Service Award plaque he had planned to give to their father, with much weeping around the room.

Loads of old families with names like Yenni, Norrbom, Cuneo, Kunde and Benziger mingled with Lilla Weinberger, Lin Marie de Vincent, Maggie and Peter Haywood, Garland and Jim Lamb, Ken Brown, Ray and Laurie Gallian, Liz and Mike Mullins, Joe Costello and Richard Dale, along with a few hundred others. Steve Wyatt announced that he collected 2,000 pounds of electronic waste, bringing the total at Thompson events to more than 1 million pounds.

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Today is National Empanada Day!

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Check out Kathleen Hill's Hot Tips mid-week at sonomanews.com.