Late breaking:
Sondra Bernstein and John Toulze hosted a jubilant crowd Wednesday evening to introduce the new cheerful design of their fig café in Glen Ellen. And what fun it is!
Ryan Barr guided the remodel that features a row of comedic light fixtures crossing the ceiling, a new raised metal community table under the lights, and low showcase walls that divide work spaces.
Fig café features a “plat du jour” three-course dinner, Toulze’s chicken livers from Estate restaurant, his new Parker Rolls with fennel seed, refreshing fries with tarragon aioli (or smoked tomato catsup), pizzas, cauliflower soup, crispy-but-cooked Brussels sprouts, steamed mussels, Mt. Lassen trout, roasted half chicken, a pot roast just like my grandmother’s, steak and frites, and a top sirloin burger on a house-baked sesame bun with a “secret sauce” among many other specialties. No corkage still rules.
In the crowd feasting were Kate Eilertsen and Michael Muscardini, Gary Saperstein, Bill Blum, Manuel Merjil and Paul Curreri, Ray Snyder, Patti Britton who designed Bernstein’s figalicious graphics, Andrea Koweek and Moaya Scheiman of Crisp Bakeshop, Nicole Abaté-Ducarroz, sister Lynn Abaté Johnson and mother Rosemary, Craig Miller and Tim Farfan of Sonoma Hotel, Harvest Home and Fat Pilgrim, and other friends and guests from the wine and hospitality industries.
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G.I. Joe’s veterans lounge (bar) hosts its grand opening tonight, Jan. 23 at the Sonoma Valley Veterans Memorial Building on First Street West in Sonoma, sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Bear Flag Post 1943. Vice Commander John Gray says the lounge is decorated with historic artifacts and will be open Fridays from 4 to 10 p.m. for veterans and their guests, with proof of veteran status required. Shucks.
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The Last Wednesday Food Group meets next Wednesday, Jan. 28, at Readers’ Books. Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo beans will speak about his two books, “Supper at Rancho Gordo” and the popular “Heirloom Beans: Recipes from Rancho Gordo.” Guests are invited to bring tastes to share, but there are no requirements. Free. 7 p.m. 129 E. Napa St., Sonoma. 939-1779.
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Don’t miss Chef Linda Carucci’s culinary tribute to the late great Charlie Trotter and his famous Chicago restaurant Sunday, Feb. 1, at Ramekins Culinary School. Learn to make Trotter’s shaved fennel salad, braised beef short ribs, horseradish puree, parsleyed shallots, and chocolate pudding cake. Hands-on. $95. 3 to 6 p.m. 450 W. Napa St., Sonoma. Ramekins.com
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Chef Kelly McCown of Goose & Gander in Napa will teach you to find and cook wild and foraged ingredients on Thursday, Jan. 29, at Ramekins while you learn to make mushroom strudel with stinging nettles, Black Trumpet mushrooms with Dungeness crab gratin, persimmon and vineyard greens, and Candy Cap mushroom bread pudding. Hands-on. $95. 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. 450 W. Napa St., Sonoma. Ramekins.com
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The Graywood Ranch in Kenwood has been sold by Save Mart Supermarkets (Lucky’s) and its CEO and Chairman Robert Piccinini, a big supporter of Sonoma Raceway, to Oceanwide Holdings of Beijing. It will soon to be known as Tohigh Property Investment, according to Alec Peters of the Kenwood Press. Going price: about $40 million.
A 50-room hotel and spa and a 125-seat restaurant with 11 residential lots and a 10,000-case winery were approved in 2004 by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. Auberge Resorts, led by Claude Rouas and Bob Harmon (Auberge du Soleil and El Dorado Hotel & Kitchen locally), had toyed with the idea of developing the property on the east side of Highway 12 across from Lawndale Road in Kenwood.
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The February, 2015 issue of Sunset magazine includes a two-page feature on “Discover” Glen Ellen.
The story includes flattering remarks about the redone Olea Hotel, formerly Glenelly Inn, now owned by Ashish Patel. It specifically mentions executive chef Khambay Porterkhamsy’s “artfully plated eggs with seasonal fruit, paired with house granola and homemade chai,” Quarryhill Botanical Garden, “a 25-acre sanctuary for exotic and endangered plants from Asia,” the dynamic biodynamic Benziger Family Winery, Lasseter Family Winery (tastes by appointment only), and Jack London State Historic Park.
The only restaurant mentioned is the Veronese/Alioto family’s Aventine Glen Ellen, which is doing very well and has a fabulous sounding Masi wine pairing dinner coming up on Thursday, Feb. 5. There are several other good restaurants in Glen Ellen such as Glen Ellen Inn, fig cafe, Olive & Vine, Yeti, Jack London Saloon and Garden Court Cafe, the latter for breakfast and lunch. Glen Ellen Star also gets lots of attention but wasn’t in the Sunset story.
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