Kathleen Hill: Easter eats, pingpong potpourri and Grand Marshal Banquet
Last minute Easter dining options
Both Breakaway Café and Valley of the Moon Winery just sent in their Easter offerings. You can also find those I wrote about last week at sonomanews.com.
Breakaway Café will feature Dungeness crab cake and avocado Benedict; a frittata with asparagus, shiitake mushrooms, ham red potatoes, and spring onions topped with pesto and chive sour cream; lemon ricotta pancakes with banana, strawberry and crème fraiche; and chilaquiles with chorizo, scrambled eggs, crispy tortillas, avocado and sour cream. Dinner features rack of lamb with scalloped potatoes, baby spring veggies and lamb au jus, and Marcia’s famous carrot cake. ($13-$25) 19101 Sonoma Highway, Sonoma. 996-5949. No reservations.
Valley of the Moon Winery will host a three-course food-and-wine pairing featuring fried chicken and waffles, with Applewood bacon, and pure maple syrup, paired with Valley of the Moon 2014 Pinot Blanc. The second course will be an artichoke stuffed with Bellwether Farms sheep milk cheese, served with Meyer Lemon Aioli and paired with Madrone Estate 2015 Chardonnay, followed by spring leg of lamb cacciatore paired with Madrone Estate 2014 Old Vine Zinfandel and Madrone Estate 2013 Cabernet. Contact debbie@madroneestatewinery.com to reserve your spot.
Table tennis for a good cause
You don’t have to play and you might choose to just watch the fast action, but you can still have a blast at the Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance’s upcoming Doubles Ping-Pong Tourney on Friday, April 21 at Suite D. Expect music, dancing, and a “quick live auction,” according to Mentoring Alliance executive director Lee Morgan Brown.
The all-inclusive ticket includes pingpong or not, an hors d’oeuvre station of chef John Toulze’s charcuterie and regional cheeses, housemade fig jam, and apricot chutney, as well as passed appetizers of crispy polenta, truffle pesto grilled steak skewers, shrimp po’boys, and three pizza choices of Margherita, fungi (mushrooms) with four cheeses, wild mushrooms and roasted garlic, and a fennel sausage, Quattro formaggio, oregano and chili flakes. Cool off with the chef’s gelato cart with varied flavors and toppings. Enjoy Kivelstadt Cellars’ sauvignon blanc and red blend, along with Three Badge’s Gus the Bus Beer.
All funds will go to the Mentoring Alliance thanks to sponsors such as Sangiacomo Family Vineyards, August and Sylvia Sebastiani Foundation, Three Badge Beverage Corp. and Augie Sebastiani’s Gus the Bus Beer, Sonoma Harvest Olive Oil & Winery, Pacific Union/Kelly Stober, and Sotheby’s/Daniel Casabonne. $75. 7 to 10 p.m. Those who purchase tickets will be contacted about pingpong. Tickets at mentoringalliancesuited.eventbrite.com.
Tailwags & Handbags coming soon
Tailwags & Handbags is a benefit to support Pets Lifeline, Sonoma’s no-kill pet placement service, according to Pets Lifeline executive director Nancy King.
Fans and supporters who have designer bags or just plain interesting purses or bags to spare donate them for you to bid on in a silent auction, all taking place Friday, April 28 at Buena Vista Winery. King says they are offering a discount if you buy tickets for both Tailwags & Handbags and Paws for a Cause at the same time by Saturday, April 15.
Victor Scargle, Buena Vista’s new executive chef hired from the Culinary Institute of America at Copia to replace Michel Cornu, who retired recently, will prepare a lunch of carrot soup with Rock Shrimp ceviche and shaved carrot salad; wood grilled chicken with Vadouvan wild rice and peas with a vegetarian option (must be pre-ordered) of lovage, Parmesan tart with vegetable salad, Lola Rossa (red leaf lettuce) with baby corn and Full Circle Penngrove wheat demi loaves. Dessert served family style will include quarter pints of housemade ice creams and sorbets, with French Press coffee and Tazo teas, all served with JCB wines. Lots of shade umbrellas. $95. 11:30 to 2 p.m. 19000 Old Winery Road, Sonoma. Tickets at 996-4577, ext. 110 or petslifeline.org.
Madrone Estate hires Sam Badolato
Madrone Estate Winery, which many locals remember as Valley of the Moon Winery, has hired Sam Badolato, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native with Sicilian roots, fresh off his Bado’s Cucina restaurant in Pennsylvania, and other wood-fired pizza restaurants. Chef Badolato trained in Italy and then served as a private chef in Italian homes in Calabria. More locally, he is the 2017 Chowder Day “Best Chowder Recipe” Champion of Bodega Bay.
Badolato will add a wine and cheese pairing, combining five wines paired with local artisan cheeses, and a wine and chocolate pairing, all to be served in the winery’s newly designed tasting room. 777 Madrone Road, Glen Ellen. Madroneestatewinery.com.
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