Kathleen Hill: Sonoma goes tomato-wild

Sonoma is Tomato Town this weekend

Sonoma Mission Gardens offers Neely Hart’s super valuable clinic on “water wise vegetable gardening” at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 23 at the nursery. Neely will talk about soil, fertilizing, watering and the best choice of tomatoes for your personal cooking and taste. 10 a.m. Free. 851 Craig Ave. Reserve your seat at 938-5775.

Tomatomania down the road at Cornerstone

Tomatomania invades Cornerstone this Saturday and Sunday, April 23 and 24. That means Scott Daigre brings his road show of hundreds of heirloom and hybrid tomatoes and, Daigre says, the world’s largest tomato seedling sale. Apparently the New York Times called this moveable plant feast “the tomato freaks’ Woodstock.”

Started in the early ‘90s at Hortus nursery in Pasadena, Tomatomania now includes classes, sales events, tomato tastings and impromptu social from coast to coast.

Scott Daigre owns Powerplant Garden Design in Ojai, California. Free. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. 23570 Arnold Drive. 933-3010. Tomatomania.com or cornerstonegardens.com.

Randall Grahm winemaker dinner at Suite D

Randall Grahm, one of winemaking’s most interesting characters thought to be crazy by some and brilliant by others, will star tomorrow night, April 23 in his winemaker dinner at Suite D, along with his Rhone wines.

According to Sondra Bernstein, Grahm is a New York Times crossword puzzle addict, and was dubbed the original “Rhone Ranger” after gracing the cover of Wine Spectator clad in blue polyester. Grahm was proclaimed Wine and Spirits’ Professional of the Year by the James Beard Foundation in 1994, bestowed the Rhone Rangers‘ Lifetime Achievement Award, and has been inducted to the Culinary Institute of America’s Vintner’s Hall of Fame.

Bernstein says, “He speaks my Rhone language in more languages than I understand.”

The menu seems interesting and will be paired with Grahm’s wines, several of which have the word “cigare” in the name. Dinner starts with smelt with aioli, wild green salad with rabbit terrine; cigare ramen made with lobster stock, radish, fennel quail egg and uni; spring cassoulet of wild mushrooms, ramps, flageolet beans, baby leeks and bread crumbs; local spring lamb with roasted carrots and westside farro, and cornmeal pound cake with Bleating Heart cheeses and honeycomb. Sure to be interesting. No outside wines. $125. 6:30 p.m. Tickets at 933-3668 or figsuited.com.

Bring kitchen memories to Readers’ Books

Our Last Wednesday Food Group will meet next Wednesday, April 27 at Readers’ Books. Bring your “Kitchen Memories,” meaning a story, a favorite kitchen tool, object, recipe or cookbook and share with all of us. Lots of good stories go with those goodies.

As usual, we’ll start at 7 p.m. If you’re so moved, please bring a dish to share from a favorite recipe. If not, please join us for a memorable evening. It’s all free.

And, don’t forget, Readers’ Books always gives us a 15 percent discount on books from our sessions. 7 p.m. 130 East Napa Street, Sonoma. 939-1779.

Tailwags & Handbags at Buena Vista

This annual fundraiser for Pets Lifeline, Sonoma’s no-kill animal shelter, will bring a super lunch to Buena Vista and your choice of hundreds of sacrificed designer and vintage handbags available for silent auction, including some from Jimmy Choo and Prada.

This ladies luncheon on Friday, April 29, where the men who show up are extremely popular, will be catered by Stellar Catering, the excellent combined effort by Ari Weisswasser of Glen Ellen Star and Bruce Riezenman of Park 121 at Cornerstone. Lunch will include a salad of grilled asparagus, lavash, egg emulsion, shaved radishes and grated sheep’s milk Pecorino cheese, followed by brick chicken (a Glen Ellen Star specialty), and pozole verde or vegetarian pozole verde, and dessert of housemade ice creams and sorbets. Afterward enjoy Flying Goat French Press coffee and Tazo teas, and loads of Buena Vista’s fine wines. Few tickets left. $95. 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. 19000 Old Winery Road. Tickets at 996-4577, ext. 110.

Fat Pilgrim changes coming

Fat Pilgrim, the eclectic “general store” on lower Broadway, is not closing.

What is happening is that owner Craig Miller has obtained a wine-tasting-room permit for the small northern building and wants to rent it. Miller says he will temporarily close Fat Pilgrim on May 2 for the summer to do a major remodel and enlarge the center general store building.

While that is going on, Miller is getting private label foods made in Napa and Grass Valley.

Before the remodel, Fat Pilgrim is having a huge furniture clearance sale from now through Sunday, May 2.

In the meantime, Sondra Bernstein is moving her restaurant gardens from Imagery Estate Winery to behind Fat Pilgrim, which places it closer to all of her operations where the herbs and veggies will be served to guests.

Sonoma’s Best

The Mattson family, new owners of Sonoma’s Best, are re-branding the establishment as Sonoma’s Best Modern Mercantile and Guest Cottages and reportedly painting the building black and white to more resemble a barn.

With their first email announcing Thursday night tastings of French wines, they included a Spanish Iberia airlines photo, and changed it to Air France after several people mentioned it. You can still enjoy Crisp breakfast pastries there on weekends.

They now charge $10 per wine tasting on Thursday nights with $5 refunded if you purchase one of more bottles of wine. Apparently the remainder will not be given to Pets Lifeline as sellers Gayle and Tom Jenkins kindly did for years. 1190 E. Napa St.

Winemaker Mark Lyon semi-retires

Well-liked and multiple award-winning Sebastiani winemaker Mark Lyon has announced that he will retire from day-to-day duties at the end of April after 37 years of loyal service to the Sebastiani brand.

Lyon will continue to consult with Sebastiani, now owned by Bill Foley. But his personal focus will be on converting his Eco Terreno Vineyards to biodynamic farming methods and, more importantly, to spend more time with his father, Rusty Lyon, who has advanced Alzheimer’s.

Lyon said, “After 37 years, I’m ready to explore new opportunities with Eco Terreno Vineyards as well as having the time to help my father through his health difficulties.” Good choice, Mark.