Kathleen Hill: Sonoma restaurant spiffs, Martini Madness results and more...

Lots of cooking at home has been going on.

The Swiss Hotel, EDK and the girl & the fig (re-opens Saturday for lunch) have all been closed recently for their winter spiff-ups, the crown jewels at the corner of First Street West and Spain Street. Imagine the cleaning necessary if people were still smoking in restaurants! Sondra Bernstein is doing pop-up dinners at her Suite D while her fig café is closed for remodeling, and Thomas Keller is going to do pop-ups at Silverado Resort & Spa while his French Laundry is being redesigned, minus a few bottles of expensive wine.

Catherine Venturini reopened her Olive & Vine in Jack London Village on Wednesday after a spiff-up with a beautiful Beef Bourguignon Locals Night dinner. Oliveandvine.com.

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Just to clear the foie gras air ever so slightly, you may remember that I wrote about several of us learning to make it from a whole duck liver at Chateau Dumas in “Travels with Henri.” When Chef Charlotte Clement unwrapped the whole liver, several of us asked how it was fed and treated during its life. She assured us that it lived outside and ate grains strewn around the ground, with no forced feeding.

In my survey of Sonoma restaurants, so far Santé at Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn started to serve foie gras on Wednesday, and Will Penna posted that it was served at Ledson’s Centre du Vin. Gia and Tony Ghilarducci will soon be serving foie gras at the Depot Hotel Restaurant. Some restaurateurs say they are waiting to see what happens. Catherine Venturini at Olive & Vine says “we started serving a seared foie butter on steak Wednesday night.”

But something puzzles me when we worry about whether animals are treated humanely before we kill and eat them. Certainly we would want them treated well, kindly and with respect throughout their lives, but isn’t the moment when they are slaughtered for us to eat them the ultimate cruelty? Where is that line drawn and why does it not matter at some point?

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David Bush’s OSO lounge received a terrific review from San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer in Sunday’s “Food + Home” section.

Of Bush, award winning six-year chef at St. Francis Winery, Bauer said “The food’s rich and nuanced vibrancy could be produced only by a chef with a clear vision” and referred to the food in the bar as “cutting edge in a pastoral town” bringing a “sophisticated feel to Sonoma.” Sonomans Lori and Avram Goldman happened to have dined there two weeks ago and ended up in the two-page photo spread.

Bauer also says “most restaurants in this bucolic town are a few years behind the trend…” Do we need all restaurants in Sonoma to be trendy? Excellent is one thing, which can be achieved with some of the oldest recipes, but is “good” synonymous with trends and reinvention? Just asking.

I remember when the late world-renowned writer M.F.K. Fisher referred to the trend of stacking food in sauce on a plate as “the puddle school of cooking.”

Bush does do wonders with ingredients considering that he doesn’t have a proper stove and hood because of his permits. Bauer specifically complimented the deviled eggs with crab, baked mussels, butter lettuce salad, shrimp cocktail and short ribs.

Friends who dined there last week said they had gone to again enjoy the highly recommended lamb, which turned out not to be on the ever-changing menu, and then said OSO was out of the chicken that was on the menu. But they loved the small short rib. Both friends and Bauer rated bar noise level as high. 9 E. Napa St. Sonoma. 931-6926.

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Martini Madness, part of the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau’s “Olive Season” promotion, was its usual sold-out madness loaded with martini-sipping and food-nibbling imbibers. And as usual, everyone who likes martinis or dressed-up olives had a great time.

There were two types of winners: those chosen by martini judges, and those chosen by “the people,” with very different results this year.

The People’s Choice winners were as follows: Best Use of the Olive: the girl & the fig; Most Creative: the girl & the fig; Best Overall: HopMonk Tavern. The girl & the fig’s “Olive Hopper,” concocted by Jennifer Grossbard and Brianne Mayorquin, included Hanson organic vodka, Imagery Silverwood Ranch extra virgin olive oil, Meyer lemon, Chartreuse, egg whites, Fernet and Castelvetrano olives stuffed with roasted crickets. HopMonk’s “Topsy Turvi Tini” contained Silver tequila, peach schnapps and grapefruit potion.

The judges chose Santé at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn’s “Momento” by bartender John Stamper that included Solano vodka, pequillo pepper, Cerignola Olive stuffed with Lillet-marinated Dungeness crab as the Best Use of Olive. While judges did not assess “most creative,” they found Centre du Vin at Ledson Hotel’s “Classic Vodka Martini” by bartender Coy Estes Best Overall with Solano vodka, Angostura orange bitters, dry vermouth, and an olive stuffed with blue cheese and filled with a peach and bitters gummy. Really?

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Beltane Ranch was just rated in the top four of “Cream of the Crop” luxurious farm resorts by Forbes Travel Guide. The magazine’s website also used co-owner Lauren Benward Krause’s romantic photo. Grandmother Rosemary Wood, her daughter Alexa Wood, and Alexa’s children Alex Benward and Lauren Benward Krause all host at the bucolic resort now, surrounded by organic farm, vineyards, gardens and hiking trails.

The other three resorts include Blackberry Farm in the Great Smokey Mountains at Walland, Tennessee; Twin Farms three hours from New York City, with cottages, a farmhouse and a lodge, and The Inn at Dos Brisas in Texas.

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Nancy Cline announced that The Olive Press’ Sevillano Extra Virgin Olive Oil won a Good Food Award in San Francisco Friday evening. Cline stated “We are all in the education business these days, trying hard to undo years of misinformation on what we thought was real olive oil.” Cline was further complimented by being asked to address the audience on behalf of the olive oil category.

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Sonoma Raceway brings us the 4th Annual John’s March Against Stomach Cancer at the raceway at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 17, named for and dedicated to the memory of John Cardinale, longtime Vice President of Media and Community Relations, who passed away in 2013.

Participants get to walk or roll around the raceway to raise funds for nostomachforcancer.org. You can join in the walk or roll by donating a suggested $40 to circle the 2.52-mile road course, and get a t-shirt and light refreshments after the march. This year will introduce 5K and 10K races, as well as a shorter course for those who don’t choose to do the whole 2.53 miles. Children and pets are welcome, but no skateboards or scooters allowed.

Bring photos of friends and relatives who have succumbed to stomach cancer to post on the new Memory Wall. Register online at nostomachforcancer.org/johnsmarch or in person starting at 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 17. Walk-ups welcome. Cash and checks at march, credit cards at website. For more info contact Diana Brennan at dbrennan@racesonoma.com or 933-3918.

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Hot time at Muscardini Cellars in Kenwood this weekend: the fabulous Tommy Thomsen plays up an acoustical storm while guests sip wine and nibble light meats and cheese available for purchase tonight, Friday, Jan. 16. Admission ($10) includes one glass of Muscardini wine. 5 to 7 p.m.

Then on Saturday, Jan 17, the Ferrari Festival roars into Muscardini. Ferrari owners will start their new cars at the Ferrari dealership in Marin and head for food and wine tasting at Muscardini’s Red School House on Highway 12. Check it out. Noon to 3 p.m.

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If you want to help Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance, go to Anaba Wines at Bonneau Rd. and Arnold Dr. south of Sonoma. Owners John and Erin Sweazey will donate $2 from each bottle sale through the end of January to the Mentoring Alliance.

John Sweazey said “The Alliance provides an invaluable service to at-risk students in Sonoma Valley. We believe strongly in their mission, and we are very pleased to support the work of such an important community organization.”

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Aventine Glen Ellen will host a Masi Tasting Dinner on Thursday, Feb. 5 with a five-course meal created by Chef Adolfo Veronese, all paired with five Masi wines. Doing some research, I discovered that Masi wines are from ancient vines and land guided by Guido Boscaini in the Valpolicella area near Verona. He says they “produce modern wines with an ancient heart” on land the Boscaini family has owned since the 18th century. Now they collaborate with Conti Serego Alighieri, an alleged descendent of Dante and have an historic collection of Amarone wines, having saved some of the best from each vintage.

Anyway, their wines will be served with Chef Adolfo’s appetizers of burrata bruschetta with Hawaiian lave salt and sautéed prosciutto-wrapped jumbo shrimp. Next comes veal tartare with a quail egg and pine nuts, followed by a first course of risotto with Amarone-braised radicchio with smoked pancetta chips and grana padana. Then enjoy a braised lamb shank with red lentil stew, gremolata, and Amarone-thyme sauce, followed by Fat Bottom Girl sheep cheese and Humboldt Fog goat cheese, all with Masi wines. $85. 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Reservations required. Call 934-8911.

P.S. Aventine’s “Taste Tuesdays” menu features free appetizers with Happy Hour pricing at the bar all evening.

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Danny Angel, nephew of Baltimore Oriole broadcaster Joe Angel, is working part-time at The Epicurean Connection until he leaves for his career-goal job of calling games for the Potomac Nationals, a “high-A” baseball farm team of the Washington Nationals.

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Women for WineSense just launched a contest in which they ask for people’s suggestions of ideal speakers for their Women in Wine event which will be greatly expanded this year on March 5 at the Napa Valley College Performing Arts Center. The “contest” is to bring in speakers and panelists members want to hear, rather than those selected solely by the board of directors. Anyone can nominate a women in the wine business you would like to learn from.

Participants might win 2-for-1 tickets to Women In Wine on March 5, gift certificates and more. Feel free to tell them about your nominee. Enter the contest before Feb. 2 at wwsnapasonoma.com.

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The wine world lost a great winemaker and environmentalist with the recent passing of Volker Eisele, who basically saved the Napa Valley from huge developers by organizing Measure J, which was passed by Napa voters in 1990. He and his wife, Liesel bought 400 acres on Lower Chiles Rd. near St. Helena in 1974. Eisele always farmed organically with no herbicides or pesticides. Eisele served as president of the Napa Valley Grape Growers and the Napa County Farm Bureau. Jerry and I knew him via his nephew, Al Eisele, with whom Jerry worked on books and in Eugene McCarthy’s campaigns, Al Eisele is editor-at-large of The Hill newspaper in Washington, D.C.