Kathleen Hill: Street dining, Leatherhead Coffee and more

Dining in the street?

It sounds fun as we have seen in many other imaginative cities around the world. Room for music, entertainment and plenty of “distanced” socializing. No masks at all those tables in the street? Could be lots of beautiful fun.

But just what did the City Council decide earlier this week? Especially when there is only one restaurant, Plaza Bistro (and maybe B&V Whiskey Bar & Grille) that actually faces First Street East. The logistics of transporting hot food from half a block to a block and a half to First Street East might be too much to bother.

Will the restaurants be allowed to bring portable kitchens into the street?

Will food booths be allowed as at the Tuesday night farmers market?

Will restaurants not facing the Plaza or facing other streets around the Plaza be allowed to participate on that block?

Assistant City Planner Wendy Atkins offered the following information:

“The schedule for street closures will be based on business interest. Businesses in the vicinity of the Plaza are invited to apply by submitting an Outdoor Temporary Facility Weekend Expansion Permit to Lisa Janson at ljanson@sonomacity.org. Restaurants may serve food and alcohol, but no cooking is allowed in the street.

For businesses that serve alcohol, Atkins added, an outside expansion will require approval by the state agency for Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC).

“The intent is to allow outdoor experiences on First Street East and not food booths,” said Atkins.

City Public Works Director Colleen Ferguson said the City Council authorized closure of the block of First Street East next to the Plaza, Thursday through Sunday evenings, for two months. The inaugural Sonoma Promenade street closure is being planned for next Friday and Saturday, Aug. 21 and 22, 5 to 10 p.m. “The street closure will allow businesses to expand their operating space utilizing the public right-of-way and allow more room for respecting social distancing requirements,” said Ferguson. “The space is viewed as an extension of Plaza area businesses’ existing indoor operations, however cooking is not being considered at this time.” Wineries operating within the city are eligible to participate as well. Some retailers may extend their operating hours to accommodate evening customers and utilize sidewalks and other nearby spaces to expand their usable space.

“People are invited to join us for the ‘Sonoma Promenade’ evening outdoor business expansion, with proper mask wearing and distancing requirements,” said Ferguson.

Leatherhead Coffee brews up

Why Leatherhead Coffee? Why Leatherhead anything?

Firefighter Mike Medeiros explained by phone that leatherhead refers to the historic leather helmets worn by firefighters long ago. Now their plastic fire helmets have a small leather shield on the front, and always will, to remind them of firefighting history and lore. It means a lot to the firefighting community and everyone who knows them well.

Medeiros comes from the rich agricultural and firefighting tradition through his mother, Vickie Mulas, and father Dan Medeiros.

He remembers basically growing up on the Mulas ranch and dairy, of which Vickie serves as CFO as well as at the family’s Alta Vista vineyard. Good food was always abundant, and his grandfather Mitch Mulas was the iconic founder of the Schell-Vista Fire Department, and served on the Sonoma school board, Sonoma County Farm Bureau and Native Sons of the Golden West. Many of us remember his late grandmother, Nilda Mulas, ladling the beans at Schell-Vista’s annual chicken barbecue.

Medeiros’ uncle and godfather Ray Mulas serves as Fire Chief, and uncle Mike Mulas is Assistant Fire Chief.

Mike Medeiros volunteers as Battalion Chief at Schell-Vista and works as Battalion Chief for the Petaluma Fire Department, where they love good food, and especially great coffee to start their days and shifts. Mike had the idea of developing a coffee brand to benefit first responders.

He told the Index-Tribune, “I guess I get my philanthropic piece from my grandfather growing up. I’m old school and from a farm family. And mother Vickie Mulas currently serves on the Sonoma Resource Conservation District board of directors.

“PTSD is real and we want to help civilians suffering too.”

Enter Dub Hay, 40-year coffee industry leader, who met Mike Medeiros in 2016. Hay graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, earned an MBA from Xavier University, and entered into the coffee business as coffee buyer for Procter & Gamble’s Folgers Coffee brand where he “fell in love with coffee.”

In 1997 Howard Schultz of Starbucks invited Hay to join him at Starbucks. In one of their conversations, Hay asked what Schultz’s policy was toward helping set up schools and clinics in countries where they were buying coffee. Nada. So Hay walked away and Schultz called him back wanting to hear what Hay meant.

Hay ended up working for Schultz as Senior Vice President of Global Coffee Authority for Starbucks and traveling constantly around the world with a generous budget to start those schools and clinics. Coffee and public service were in Hay’s blood.

Hay just finished three years as president of the board of directors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sonoma Valley and served on the board of the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito for four years. He recently received an Honorary Lifetime Membership award to the National Coffee Association, only awarded 14 times in 110 years. Currently he is Board Chair and a minority owner of Kona Hills, a 2000-acre coffee estate under development in Kona, Hawaii.

Hay and wife Lyn “retired” to Sonoma in 2012 and lost their brand new dream home in the 2017 fires. They know this stress up close and personal.

Medeiros and Hay combined forces to develop Leatherhead Coffee. And it is good.

Dub Hay wants to present the new coffee blend to Sonoma’s Best and Sonoma Market and hopes they will carry this great coffee soon – truly a local product with a goal of helping first responders nationwide.

Through the firefighting community, Medeiros met Susan Farren, a former paramedic who founded First Responders Resiliency, Inc. to establish a center in Sonoma Valley to help teach people “decrease stress and enhance resiliency in first responders.” Maybe we could all benefit from stress reduction as well.

Restaurants struggling everywhere

Despite the news of El Gallo Pinto on Highway 12 closing, on the surface Sonoma seems to be doing pretty well. The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce survey shows that 51.5 percent of San Francisco’s restaurants and 77 percent of bars and nightclubs there are closed. PPP has run out for restaurant owners everywhere to pay employees, even if they weren’t allowed to open.

A neighbor with a business in Calistoga says that there are 11 closed or empty storefronts on two blocks of their main street, Lincoln Avenue. We seem to have about 15 closed, closing or empty storefronts around Sonoma Plaza.

El Gallo Pinto had plenty of outdoor patio room that didn’t seem to tide them through, Many restaurants, tasting rooms and wineries here have found ways to serve outside, if only at a couple of tables to meet the current rules.

Spread Catering spreads its audience

Spread Catering and its Lebanese background has just added Saturday deliveries in Napa and Sonoma which will be dropped off by noon.

Chef-owner Cristina Topham’s business has burgeoned quickly from Monday night meatless meals to Friday night pita kits, and now offers two vegan options and two proteins to choose from, a purslane and fig salad from Kicking Bull Farm in Carneros; fatayer (or "flat tires" as we called them as kids) which are savory pies stuffed with spinach, onions, spices and Turkish pine nuts; and knefeh, the quintessential Arabic dessert made with shredded pastry dough and sweet cheese.

She has added Romaine leaves as an option in place of bread to make your Pita Kit keto-friendly, and always has vegan and gluten-free flatbread with some dinner options to be added soon.

Spread and Topham have received so much interest from Marin County and San Francisco that she has set up pickup-and-delivery locations in both areas.

Topham thanks everyone who reached out regarding the disastrous tragedy in Beirut a week ago, saying, “I still have cousins and several friends in Beirut and thankfully they are shaken but safe. The neighborhood behind the port was such a beautiful, fun neighborhood. I'm utterly heartbroken to see the devastation there.” She asks donations be made to Lebanese Red Cross (not affiliated with the IRC) or to an NGOs based in Beirut that helps the people directly.

She closed with, “In Peace, Love, and Shawarma, Chef Cristina.”

CaliForno ‘food truck’ opens at FSMI

We finally know what the Fairmont is doing with that air-stream trailer that has been parked behind what we used to lovingly call the Big 3 diner.

It has just started service as CaliForno Street Eats “food truck” on the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn property as their outdoor kitchen, offering al fresco dinner from 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday evenings and Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. “Guests are invited to dine around several private outdoor fire pits and/or appropriately distanced picnic tables,” according to Fairmont executive Michelle Heston.

Chef Jared Reeves offers his version of “street eats” such as Parmesan truffle fries, salt & pepper calamari, grilled garlic prawns, prosciutto and melon, burrata salad with roasted beets, green grilled cheese sandwich with pesto, avocado, spinach, Gruyere and brie cheeses on a brioche bun, fried chicken sliders with coleslaw and bacon, local cheeses and a “s’mores’gasbord.” You guessed it. ($12 to $24, the latter for the fancy s’mores for two to four people).

The Sunday brunch menu includes caramelized brioche French toast with bananas Foster, an extensive açai bowl, chicken apple sausage hash, green grilled cheese, warm banana bread, a bag of six pieces of candied Applewood smoked bacon, or a bag of tots ($8 to $19), plus morning cocktails and local wines. Children’s menus also available. Open to locals as well as hotel guests.

Panda Express update

Panda Express’s remodel of Payless Shoes is nearing completion and its logo sign went up late last week, finally replacing that of Payless. Workers and staff told me that they expect to open in about two weeks from now.

They also said that at first Panda Express will probably serve only takeout, “like most of the other Pandas,” even though there appears to be some sidewalk space where they could put tables and chairs. Lots of tables and chairs were stacked inside and getting moved around so workers could install their parts of the eatery’s formula interior.

Epicurean Connection reopens

Sheana Davis says her Epicurean Connection has been closed since March 7 and reopened last week with a new license to sell retail items that previously she sold at Cook’s Mercantile and her former shop on West Napa Street, now occupied by Tasca Tasca.

Epicurean Connection is now “open for retail every Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., selling our prepared foods, pantry items, chef-made products along with locally grown produce” and Relax and Eat Bread, said Davis.

She is bringing in guest vendors such as a CSA and fresh produce from Sonoma Valley farmers, Serres Ranch blueberry jam, Tallgrass olive oil, pesto, tapenades, spice mixes and cheeses.

“For safety, all guests must wear a mask, we have a safety distance setup for guests, we have added sanitation stations, pre-printed one-time-use menus and wine barrels outside for guest to stand at along, with tables for guests to sit and enjoy.”

Davis continues her online cheese classes and “Cheese Chats.” Check out her extensive to-go and delivery menus and recipes at epicureanconnection.com or 235-9530.

Mentoring Alliance-Kivelstadt dinners next weekend

Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance invites everyone to a dinner delivered to your door on Aug. 20 to celebrate mentors and about 400 mentees as they all face the new school year, whatever it will look like.

For this fundraiser with a short program, you stay home and Mentoring Alliance staff and volunteers bring a lovely Kivelstadt dinner and wine to you.

Two of the blessings of these pandemic-driven virtual fundraisers is that you get to enjoy your food at home, and the presentations and speeches only last about a half hour.

Founding executive director Kathy Witkowicki, who started the Mentoring Alliance under the sponsorship of the late Neils Chew, will be the speaker.

For your delivered dinner you choose one entrée from rotisseried Petaluma chicken, cedar plank-smoked salmon, barbecued porchetta, or quinoa and ratatouille stuffed eggplant. Then you get to pick three sides from among creamed corn and pasilla pepper casserole, broccolini with fennel and tomato, a “colossal” baked potato, charred heirloom carrots, and smoked Salinas artichokes.

But for dessert you only get to select one (sorry) among Watmaugh strawberry shortcake, Ghirardelli chocolate pot de crime, or a summer fruit cobbler. All accompanied by Kivelstadt wines. $325 for dinner for two, including wines and food, and a donation to the Mentoring Alliance. Zoom program from 6:30 to 7 p.m. For ticket info and donations go quickly (today) to sonomamentoring.org/donate or call 938-1990.