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Kathleen Hill
INDEX-TRIBUNE FOOD & WINE EDITOR

The sold-out Sunday Meals on Wheels fundraiser, conceived by cyclist and travel buff Karen Collins, has been moved from what used to be Babe's Burgers to La Dee's Diner on Arnold Drive. Collins thought the newest incarnation of Babe's, to be called The Fremont, could serve double duty as a grand opening for the restaurant and a nifty fundraiser for Meals on Wheels. Apparently things didn't quite work out with the St. Helena-based owner, so the organizing group moved the event to La Dee's. La Dee's has loads of space and a new manager. Owner La Dee Reichiling brought her nephew, Korey Kemp, all the way from Texas in January, to zip up the diner next to the golf driving range south of Craig Avenue, and indeed he has. With 20 years' restaurant experience under his belt, Kemp brings humor and fun along with great new recipes for a killer Texas chili (the real thing with no beans) and cornbread, slightly flaky buttermilk-soaked onion rings, a great looking Tex-Mex quesadilla, and tempura-like fried dill pickle slices, which were surprisingly tasty when dipped in ranch dressing. On our visit last weekend to La Dee's, Jerry had his favorite thick chocolate shake, maybe after the Breakaway's. Kemp passed out tasty chocolate chip cupcakes he made himself and offered bubble gum from a Bazooka bucket to all customers. MOW event: 5 to 8 p.m. 18709 Arnold Drive, Sonoma. 933-4437. Why, oh why, don't restaurants use chocolate ice cream in chocolate milk shakes? They all act as if chocolate ice cream costs more.

Our finest firefighters roared up to Tuesday's Farmers Market, apparently because the Kettle Korn popcorn kettle popped itself into flames. Rocket Café has reopened following sidewalk installation on Highway 12. This month is "Jamaica June" with entrées such as jerk chicken, pork tenderloin with ancho guava barbecue sauce, chicken and potato rôti, or seared tilapia with rundown sauce ($18 with two sides). Sides include coconut rice and peas, sweet plantains, gingered summer squash and curried mustard greens ($3 each). Chef Molly Heyerly will still feature sushi on Friday and Saturday nights as well as "island inspired cuisine." Rocket's new hours are Sunday brunch 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Tuesday through Saturday, from 5:30 p.m. to closing (no more lunch). Rocket will close this weekend, only, to serve vegetarian sushi at the Harmony Festival.

Bruce Cohn offers free tastes of his new Woody White (Best of Class at California State Fair) Saturday and Sunday, June 13 and 14, at B.R. Cohn Winery on Highway 12 in Glen Ellen. Cohn's July 4th celebration will include his Inaugural B.R. Cohn Charity Car Classic, food from Guy Fieri's Johnny Garlic's kitchen, and music by the next-door-neighbor Rich Little Band and the Whiskey Thieves.

Ada Limón, one of Readers' Books' distinguished employee alumni, just had her "Crush" poem published in the New Yorker's current edition. Former Readers' staffers Becky Evans works for the New Yorker, Danielle Friedman is an editor at Simon and Schuster publishers and Russell Weinberger is an agent with the prestigious literary agency, John Brockman, in New York. According to a sign on the wall in our local Ben & Jerry's, the store gave away 3,114 ice cream treats on their recent nationwide Free Cone Day and raised $2,141 for Sonoma Mentoring Alliance and Sonoma Youth Soccer.

After a Valley-wide search for frozen yogurt (an unexplained craving) to celebrate completing my book on the food and beverage industry, we finally found some at both The Chocolate Cow and Ben & Jerry's. The new yogurt shop coming to the first block of Broadway off the Plaza should be a hit if the location works.

Sebastiani Theatre and the Sonoma International Film Society invite "patrons, staff, boardmembers, volunteers, Native Sons, host families, local sponsors, hotels, wineries and restaurants" on Monday, June 15, for free food, wine and a sneak preview of an eco-film that organizers cannot name before its official international release. 6 p.m. 476 First St. E., Sonoma. 933-2600.

Sonoma's Sonoma-Aswan Sister Cities Committee will celebrate Egyptian culture on Monday, June 15, at Sonoma Meritâge restaurant. Highway 12 Vineyards and Winery will provide "Best (Egyptian) Costume" prizes.

Someone from the Egyptian consulate will attend, and Catherine Heenan of KRON-TV, will emcee the dinner. Collaborating chefs will include Ashrf and Shelly Almasri of Bram Pottery, Meritâge owner/chef Carlo Cavallo, and Mediterranean food expert and cookbook author Paula Wolfert. sonomaaswan@aol.com or (415) 336-4523.

Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance welcomes members, their families and employees to its annual fun Vintners & Growers barbecue at Viansa Winery and Marketplace on Thursday, June 18. SVVGA provides the burgers, hot dogs and soft drinks, Viansa provides appetizers from their pizza oven, guests A-M bring dessert and N-Z bring salad. Everyone is supposed to bring (and apparently drink) two bottles of wine to share. Jumpy House for kids. $20 per person, $5 kids 12 and under. 25200 Arnold Drive, Sonoma. www.sonomavalleywine.com. 935-0803.

Infineon Raceway and Speedway Children's Charities, which gives thousands to Valley nonprofits, brings former football player Ken "The Snake" Stabler to Sonoma next weekend as Grand Marshall for the 2009 Toyota/Save Mart 350. If you want to see Stabler and a few NASCAR drivers up close, buy a ticket for the Friday banquet and reception at Cline Cellars featuring Sonoma Valley wines and a feast by Sonoma resident and caterer Elaine Bell. Bell's menu includes Paquilla pepper goat cheese profiteroles; Tasso-cured salmon with citrus crème fraîche; grilled ribeye with fingerling potatoes, carrot purée and braised greens; chocolate crème brûlée and Italian cheesecake. All banquet proceeds will go to Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley, Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance and Valley of the Moon Children's Home. Friday, June 19. $250. 24737 Arnold Drive, Sonoma. 933-3950.

Wild Thyme's next culinary event will be a "Celebration of Green String" sustainable produce, a combined effort of Fred Cline and Bob and Ross Cannard, on Wednesday, June 24. Enjoy a full dinner and music by the Green String Band. $30 stimulus price. BYOW, no corkage. E-mail wildthyme@vom.com or call 996-0900 for reservations.

Pushing its wines as Fathers' Day gifts, Charles Creek's Tecolote Times newsletter refers to its Miradero cabernet/merlot blend's (and dad's) "ample legs and enticing nose," an adept adaptation of wine-speak.

SVVGA's Harvest Wine Auction tickets cost $500 this year, down from last year's $750. The Napa Wine Auction raised theirs to $2,500, apparently to cut out the riff-raff. What was actually cut in Napa was attendance, and the total take was down 50 percent to a measly $5 million.

The planned Michoacana ice cream shop across Highway 12 from the Fruit Basket in Boyes Springs may face a legal challenge from the Michoacana Ice Cream Company, with which it has no connection and whose delivery driver was out taking photos.

Trivia Culinaria:

Long after its kitchen fire, Black Bear Diner appears still to be a plywood shell inside and a long way from re-opening, although construction work continues slowly ... Dominos serves 100 acres of pizza per day through 71,000 outlets ... Halliburton affiliate KBR is building a $30 million dining hall in Iraq, forecast to be used for less than two years ... Wouldn't you know: the race horse, Chocolate Candy, which did not win the Belmont Stakes, is owned by diet merchandiser Jenny Craig ... New York's D'Artagnan Traditional Duck Leg Confit and Hungarian Brand Kolbase have been recalled as "High Risk" for possible listeria contamination.

Rumor squelched:

The Breakaway Café is not sold and is no longer for sale. Owner Bob Rice told me that his daughter, Jessica, has become general manager and they are very excited about the future. Breakaway's $5 Burger and Fries Tuesdays have been a huge hit, and you can substitute a small green salad instead of fries for an extra dollar.

Sonoma International Film Festival board member Barbra Walkowski threw herself a smashing birthday party for 80 friends during Sonoma Jazz Plus catered by Rob Larman, former chef/owner of La Poste and Rob's Rib Shack. Mofone played music after an official jazz fest gig at Nancy and John Lasseter's home. Larman assembled an oyster bar; a shellfish and Andouille Jambalaya with barbecued shrimp and grits; oyster po' boys and muffaletta sliders, Caesar salad, Dungeness crab cakes, iced crayfish, and grilled asparagus; and a dessert table of bananas Foster, lemon dream and chocolate cupcakes; pralines, and bowls of strawberries from Watmaugh Road.

Having removed most of the nourishment from any natural ingredients that went into some of their cereals, Kellogg announced they will add fiber to Froot Loops and

Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers were represented at a huge sommeliers' wine tasting in Austin by marketing and events director Maureen Cottingham, while executive director Grant Raeside promoted Sonoma Valley wines last week in Chicago.

Travel consultants Dorene Lucchesi and Margarita Ramirez-Dalton, Pulling Strings' Sharon Craig and host Debby Dougherty brought Italian chef Aurelio Barattini to Sonoma first in their series of famous chefs cooking in private homes. Guests sipped Prosecco and Jacuzzi wines throughout the evening. To get on the invite list, e-mail mramirezdalton@comcast.net or 939-7638 or pullingstrings@comcast.net or 996-3433.

With superb fireworks viewing, Estate restaurant offers a July 4th "all you can eat buffet" of salad, cornbread, black bean chili, corn on the cob, grilled veggies, fries, onion rings, tri-tip, sausages, chicken, salmon, strawberries and ice cream, and bluegrass by The David Thom Band. $85, kids under 15 $25, inclusive. 6:30 p.m. 400 W. Spain St., Sonoma. 933-3663.

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