Kathleen Hill: Cotner’s 49er catering, Valentine’s meals, Cornerstone questions

Elaine Bell = 2022 Muse

A week ago Elaine Bell called to talk about the cute feral cats in her barn and about how excited she is to be able to feed people in need.

She had discovered that Sonoma Overnight Support (SOS) – needed to find a way to feed 30 unsheltered locals on weekends for whom SOS has found hotel rooms in this winter’s cold. SOS serves two meals a day Monday through Friday.

Within hours Bell rounded up free meat from her finest purveyor and produce from a different supplier and committed to SOS Executive Director Kathy King to feed those 30 people every weekend in February. And Bell was happy to pay her own kitchen staff to prepare the food. At that time only Kathy King, Elaine Bell, SOS chefs and I knew of this commitment.

The same week, Bell and I heard from Sonoma Community Center Executive Director Charlotte Hajer that Elaine had been selected as the Community Center’s 2022 Muse.

And how appropriate.

According to Hajer, “Every year, the center celebrates a person who embodies its mission to cultivate a vibrant community through extraordinary creative, cultural, and learning experiences. A Muse is someone who, through example and service, inspires us all to do and be our best.

“We couldn’t imagine a better person to honor in 2022 than Elaine Bell, and we are thrilled that she’s accepted. Elaine embodies everything that makes the Sonoma Valley so special: deep generosity, a passion for creating unforgettable food-and -wine-driven experiences, and a creative side to everything she does. For 40 years she and her amazing food have been at the heart of the Valley’s best events, and she’s helped raise millions for local nonprofits.”

This year Elaine Bell celebrates 40 years in the catering business while the Community Center celebrates 70 years since its formation from what had been Sonoma Grammar School.

Bell’s first catering job required that she unhook her home stove in Sonoma and haul it into Beaulieu Vineyards’ vineyards in Rutherford to cook lunch. She opened her first professional kitchen on West Spain Street where Papa Murphy’s Pizza is now.

Prior to COVID, she was catering five or six huge Silicon Valley holiday parties per night and loads of weddings throughout the Bay Area.

Elaine Bell has generously prepared excellent dinners for Sonoma’s Boys & Girls Clubs, La Luz, and Sonoma Community Center fundraisers for less than her cost just to help, and has often personally bid on auction items to donate back.

And yes, Elaine Bell will be catering the Saturday, Aug. 12, Muse event, now dubbed “aMUSE Bouche.”

In a text to the Sonoma Index-Tribune, Bell said, “I am beyond honored to be chosen as Muse for 2022. Thank you all so much.”

Details to come. For more info, keep an eye on the Sonoma Community Center website.

(Two disclosers: I am a board member of SOS and a former president of the Sonoma Community Center board and got the building listed in the National Register of Historic Places.)

Animo opens

With the fastest rehab in memory of an old building with major problems, Joshua Smookler and Heidy He opened their Amino restaurant next to McDonald’s on Tuesday.

It already looked better in the last couple of weeks with fresh cream paint on the outside and what appeared to be a cleanup.

Radiating confidence, the former New Yorkers opened Animo here as what they call an “American Korean restaurant focused on hearth cooking.”

As expected, the menu is super interesting with appetizers of salads from wedge, Bib or frisée ($16 to $18); edamame, asparagus, or Boquerónes toast ($14). Steak tartare, Uni, Manila clams or lobster XO run from $25 to $42.

Whole fish include Spanish mackerel, Madai, or turbot, some to serve more than one person and cost from $42 to $180. Choices of Iberico pork cuts are $52 to $56, and there is a Harlan burger at $25.

Great cuts of dry aged New York strip or ribeye range from $48 to $65. The sides look good including peppers, spinach, carrots, Hen of the Woods mushrooms, Kimchi fried rice, and rigatoni ($11 to $22), all followed by desserts of burnt cheesecake, or crème fraiche ice cream or Whistle Pig and maple. 18976 Sonoma Highway, Sonoma. Until their new website is up, make reservations via RestaurantAnimo@gmail.com

Lauren Cotner’s ‘49er catering

Before Lauren Cotner moved back to Sonoma she was a major caterer in San Francisco who had a large dinner delivery program specializing in serving customers in Palo Alto, Hillsborough, Atherton and Burlingame.

Through that she became former quarterback Steve Young's private chef.

She told the Index-Tribune, “It was a super fun time. Steve was the only ‘dad’ client who would phone in his orders himself and they were always a joy to receive. He'd either be on the side of the road or jogging to stay in shape for an office health challenge.

“Super friendly, family guy.

“I even got to go to the Steve Young Ski Classic in Snowbird, Utah, his fundraiser with all the who’s who in NFL Hall of Famers. It was quite an experience back in those youthful days!”

Cotner says that much of their delivery dinners were like those she serves now as “out the door” dinners from her Delicious Dish restaurant on Arnold Drove. Delciousdishsf.com.

Community Breakfast this Sunday

In keeping with Elizabeth Taylor’s feelings about chocolate and love, the Valley of the Moon Knights of Columbus and chef and caterer Aunt Momo offer drizzly made-from-scratch Valentine’s chocolate sauce to pour over your pancakes, French toast, or fruit salad at this Sunday’s (Feb. 6) Community Breakfast at St. Francis’ Father Roberts Hall or to take home.

All of this comes with plentiful scrambled eggs, sausages, sautéed potatoes and sautéed vegetables and Aunt Momo’s little donut holes in addition to coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. $10 adults, $5 kids, $25 family. All money goes to the Knights’ scholarship fund. 8 to 10:30 a.m.

More Valentine’s treats coming your way

Yes, Valentine’s Day, the all-Hallmark day for fun and love, is coming on Monday, Feb. 14. Besides cards and candy, you can also make someone happy by giving them a living plant that might remind them of you and bring them joy every year when it blooms. Or just a big hug would do.

Last week we mentioned special Valentine’s meals at Glen Ellen Star, Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn, Tips Roadside, PKB (Picazo Kitchen & Bar), and Hanson of Sonoma distillers (find them online at sonomanews.com). Here are some more offerings.

Swiss Hotel and Fig Café reopened

Sonoma’s beloved Swiss Hotel will open specially for Monday, Feb. 14, with its regular menu. Let’s hope for more days of service as well as it works for them.

And the fig café in Glen Ellen reopened last week and just started taking reservations for the first time ever.

Sonoma Grille

Nima Sherpa and executive chef Saul Razo offer a four-course dinner on Monday, Feb. 14, starting with a choice of hors d’oeuvres between crispy polenta topped with ratatouille or an oyster trio on the half shell with ponzu sesame sauce.

The second course brings a Valentine’s soup of organic Granny Smith apples with red beets and ginger or a “passion salad” of baby kale, strawberries, edible flowers with crumbled blue cheese and passion fruit vinaigrette.

Entrée choices include housemade butternut squash ravioli with brown sage butter and truffle oil; a Maine lobster tail with asparagus and butter; Angus beef tenderloin with garlic mashed potatoes, spinach, mushrooms and a port reduction; or poppy seed crusted seared Ahi tuna on a bed of Butternut squash with sesame and a Korean red chili paste called gochujang topped with persimmon ginger chutney.

And then there’s dessert: baked honey wine pears; raspberry chocolate cheesecake, or their Valentine’s chocolate bowl with strawberry mousse. $80, wine pairing $35 extra. 4 to 9 p.m. 165 W. Napa St., Sonoma. 363-7908.

Larson Family Winery

Guests are welcome to use Larson’s Fire Pit Lounge to enjoy a bottle of their gold medal-winning sparkling rosé and a selection of chocolates made specially to pair with Larson Family wines by Anette’s Chocolates of Napa. $114 public, $100 wine club members. Good Friday, Feb. 11 through Monday, Feb. 14. 23355 Millerick Road, Sonoma. Reservations are available for 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. each day at 938-3031 or larsonfamilywinery.com.

Kivelstadt Cellars & WineGarten

Jordan Kivelstadt and executive chef Cameron Bouldin will present some Valentine’s specials to go with Kivelstadt’s special wines. Their Valentine’s brunch and lunch specials will be available Feb. 10 through Feb. 13.

Check out their shrimp & grits with poached Georgia white shrimp, a crispy cheddar polenta cake, and Cajun butter cream sauce; smoked beef carpaccio with capers, cheeses and micro greens; smoked and grilled filet mignon, pearl onions, truffle herb potatoes, and carrot purée; seared scallops with cauliflower, salmon roe and spicy orange gremolata, with a dessert of chocolate cake with ganache, raspberry and vanilla Chantilly. Prices were unavailable this week.

Opens at 11 a.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, and at 10 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays, with live music from 1 to 3 p.m. weekends. Closes at 4 p.m. 22900 Broadway, Sonoma. 938-7001. Make reservations at exploretock.com/kivelstadtcellars.

Murphy’s Irish Pub

Dermot Coll and crew offer a four-course dinner of a parmigiano reggiano crisp with goat cheese mousse; a crab cake with micro greens and Meyer lemon aioli; pan roasted seabass with celery root and parsnip purée and spinach or a buttermilk chicken breast with mashed potatoes and arugula with a white wine caper sauce.

Then comes dessert choices of a rose petal crème brûlée or a brownie and ice cream, all accompanied by a glass of champagne or house wine. All for $55 on Valentine’s Day. 464 First St. E., Sonoma. 935-0660.

Muscardini-Eilertson coming home

Muscardini wine fans and di Rosa art fans might have been missing Michael Muscardini and di Rosa Executive Director Kate Eilertson recently.

They have been taking a six-month sabbatical in Italy, of course.

While the Muscardini cat was away, the wine mice were having a blast, winning six gold medals and a double gold for their Sangiacomo Vineyards 2016 Los Carneros Merlot in the 2022 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.

Meanwhile in Italy, Michael qualified as an Italian resident with an Italian passport, writing in an email, “I am so Italian now. Our marriage is now certified in Italy. I have a Medical card and SS number, and lastly Kate and I go into Firenze on Feb. 3 to the Polizia headquarters to have Kate fingerprinted. In two weeks she will have an extended five-year visa. Pretty cool.”

The lucky couple will be “back in the saddle” at work in Sonoma on Feb. 25.

Cornerstone?

What is going on down there?

Suddenly the Sunset magazine logo has been painted over ahead of the word “gardens” on Cornerstone signs. Apparently the partnership between Cornerstone and Sunset that previous owner Darius Anderson worked so hard to establish has ended under developer Ken and Stacy Mattson’s ownership.

Reports say that only the lovely Potter Green, Eurasion, Stacy Matton’s own shop, and The Loop remain among the previous 12 retail merchants, plus Meadowcroft Wines and Obsidian Ridge tasting rooms and the Mattson’s Folktable restaurant.

According to sources, the Mattsons ripped out the vineyard behind the Andersons’ Tyge William barn, now called the Harrow Cellars Barn, and a new one was planted but appears not to be maintained, hopefully just temporarily.

Apparently there is no longer a head gardener and the new owners did not want to maintain the Sunset test gardens and wanted to pull it all out.

But wait. There’s more.

Sunset magazine was started in 1898 to gentrify our Wild West image to help the Southern Pacific Railroad promote its Sunset Limited route from New Orleans to San Francisco.

Sunset was published for decades by Lane Publishing, which eventually sold it to Time Warner, Inc. in 1990.

Time sold Sunset’s Menlo Park campus to a developer and moved the magazine offices to Jack London Square in Oakland with an extensive test kitchen. Eventually Time sold to a company called Regent, led by investor Michael Reinstein.

Sarah and Darius Anderson had negotiated and got the Sunset outdoor test kitchen and test gardens to come to Cornerstone, which they owned then with local investors, and perked up the place substantially with lovely shops and events, hosting and catering many charity events.

Reinstein eventually moved the offices to cheaper digs in Oakland and laid off most of the Sunset staff, many of whom had put on annual lovely events for the public.

The magazine’s readership plummeted, possibly by not keeping up with the times. After all, almost everyone’s mother in California and the west used to subscribe to Sunset, as did people throughout the country who had grown to wish they lived here.

Gardens, recipes, stories, artwork and photography were all appealing. But the last issue subscribers received, partly due to dropped advertising, partly due to COVID-19, went out in March 2020, although they still claim to have more than a million subscribers at sunset.com.

So without Sunset money, and the Mattsons reportedly more interested in lawn than gardens, it will be interesting to see what happens if our drought continues and dust begins to blow.