The girl & the fig turns 25 with Suite D dinner series

Many locals and diners from all over the Bay Area have longed for the dinners they loved at Sondra Bernstein and John Toulze’s Suite D – whether they were the original French dinners or the eventual slurpy $15-ramen dinners on Wednesdays.

Here is our chance.

The girl & the fig turns 25 this year and invites everyone who can to celebrate the anniversary with a series of 25th anniversary dinners, starting with one from the fig’s 1997 menu. Each dinner will feature a menu from a different year.

The kick-off dinner will be Sunday, Feb. 20, with a 1997 menu that starts with a tartlet of St. André cheese, leeks and garlic in a savory shell. The “house salad” was and will be mixed field greens, roasted beets, Cambozola croutons, and orange and tarragon vinaigrette.

Bouillabaisse of mussels, prawns, scallops and fish simmered in saffron, fennel and tomato will be the entrée for the first nostalgic dinner.

Dessert features a crème brûlée, lavender-scented with a spun sugar “beehive.”

All of this with two glasses of wine included. Seating will be at communal tables. Proof of vaccinations and booster shots will be required (if eligible). $65. 6 p.m.

Tickets at igcaters.com/store/event/25th-anniversary-dinner-1997/.

Pizza alert!

Starting Friday, Jan. 21, Rob Larman of Il Fuoco will offer a special Dungeness crab pizza. Get this: a half of a whole crab, in the shell, and marinated with olive oil, chili and garlic, and roasted in his wood-fired oven and set on top of a handmade pizza with caramelized onion, fennel and arugula. $32. Order at Il Fuoco only. Opens at 4 p.m. 18350 Sonoma Highway, Sonoma. 522-7776.

Joanne Weir at Film Festival lunch

Sonoma International Film Festival (SIFF) plans to bring cookbook author, culinary tour guide and chef Joanne Weir to a “new inaugural lunch event” announced only to existing 2022 pass holders on Monday.

Having earned and enjoyed stints as a Mediterranean food expert, cheese expert and James Beard Award-winning cookbook author, Weir also has created her own successful Copita Taquileria y Comida restaurant in Sausalito, in addition to her newest “Plates and Places” series on public television.

A fourth-generation professional chef from Boston, Weir cooked for five years at Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse in Berkeley and studied with Madeleine Kamman in France. Weir has received many cooking, cookbook, and television series awards throughout her career, including that James Beard Award and several nominations.

“Joanne Weir’s Plates and Places” series on KQED was first aired in February, 2018 and takes viewers and diners on her travels throughout the Mediterranean, with some episodes filmed in her San Francisco cooking studio.

Some of Weir’s “Plates and Places” episodes on her culinary adventures filmed on location in Spain, Morocco and Greece will be shown at the SIFF luncheon on Friday, March 25, at the festival’s Backlot tent on the Veterans Building/Little League parking lot at the top of First Street East. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. $175 for general public. Discounted prices for 2022 Silver Soiree and Silver Cinema pass holders. Patron pass holders receive this event and Chefs & Shorts evening as a pass benefit. Passes, schedule and tickets at sonomafilmfest.org/festival.

Quiet times in Sonoma

We are in the midst of Sonoma’s normal winter quiet and Sonoma’s abnormal winter quiet all at once.

January and February are always quiet in terms of tourists, officially referred to less offensively as “visitors,” who tend to stay home, go skiing, or take off for Cabo or Maui.

But for at least the second winter in a row, we have COVID’s current Omicron variant paying a visit, resulting in increased cases in Sonoma County and causing Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s health officer, to recommend that we all stay home. And it appears that we are.

The streets are quiet, except for the occasional (hopefully) out of town driver making three- or four-point U-turns mid-block to snag a parking place half a block back. If you ever wanted to be seated six feet from the next diner in a restaurant, this is the time to do it. Plenty of room, which is unfortunate for restaurant owners and staff.

But it was this natural and annual quiet time that motivated then Visitors Bureau Executive Director Wendy Peterson to create the Olive Festival, celebrating Sonoma Valley’s second largest crop to lure visitors to Sonoma to help businesses in the winter.

With that gone many restaurants have closed temporarily to spiff up their venues, save some money, and reevaluate what they are doing. And some have actually had staff with COVID.

Picazo Kitchen & Bar re-sets and re-brands

From the start, Salvador (Sal) Picazo Chavez wanted his wife, Kina, to run their restaurants, which started with the Picazo Café on Arnold Drive, branched out to take the former Breakaway Café location in Maxwell Village Shopping Center, and running the Picazomobile food truck.

After seasonal closure and contemplation, Kina has really taken control and has decided to re-brand and re-set the Picazo Kitchen & Bar as PKB featuring “an immigrant’s (culinary) experiences.” Kina immigrated at age 2 in her mother Maria’s arms from Mexico and met her now husband, Salvador (Sal) Picazo Chavez, while students at Sonoma Valley High School.

According to marketing director Nicole Abaté Ducarroz, PKB stands for “Picazo Family Brands, which includes Picazo Café, PKB Kitchen & Bar, the food truck and catering services. Kina’s Kitchen Group is their domain name for PKB.”

Kina will be offering her interpretations of some of her mother’s secret recipes that spill over into customer favorites such as chicken fried chicken with green salsa gravy, or huevos rancheros and chilaquiles with red or green salsa.

Happy hour and dinner appetizers now include plantain and beet bruschetta, birria nachos, vegan chile en nogada and a classic PKB burger. During “down time” Kina has also been creating some new exciting cocktails to try.

PKB recently hosted a celebration for Abaté-Ducarroz’s daughter, Nikita, who won a bronze medal for Switzerland riding in BMX Freestyle in the recent Tokyo Olympics, and since then won more competitions and is now ranked No. 1 in the world in that sport.

Sounds like PKB is offering some tastes new to lots of us. They offer happy hour daily from 3 to 5 p.m., Senior Day every Wednesday from 5 to 9 p.m., as well as paint and sip nights and mescal tastings. Open 3 to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 19101 Sonoma Highway, Sonoma. 935-3287.

Soroptimists-Chocolate Cow scholarship fundraiser

Remember when we mentioned first the Soroptimists International of Sonoma Valley were selling See’s Candy at Christmas, then lobsters picked up behind a real estate office, and then Chocolate Cow chocolates?

Like many other things, Soroptimists’ scholarship fundraising has changed for many reasons, including Sonoma County’s stay-at-home order that also thwarted this Saturday’s Surf & Turf Dinner to raise funds for Native Sons of the Golden West scholarships for high school students.

Soroptimists had to forego their fabulous flown-in-that-morning Maine lobster drive through, but will go ahead with their Valentines fundraiser that gives substantial scholarships to women and girls, including Creekside High School students, so they can have the resources and opportunities to reach their full potential and live their dreams.

We all need a little fun boost and smile these days, so think of someone – anyone, including yourself - who might enjoy some Valentine’s cheer of excellent chocolates from Sonoma’s local Chocolate Cow, a 31-year-old second generation family-owned Sonoma business that makes hand-crafted chocolates.

SISV is a 501 (c)(3) which was established 62 years ago.

All orders are contact-free and delivered to your home or business by February 11 at $5.00 per delivery. There is a minimum order of five boxes, each in a festive box as follows.

The four-pack is $13 and includes:

1 Milk sea salt caramel

1 70% dark cacao

2 hearts, milk and dark

A six-pack costs $18 and contains:

1 Milk sea salt caramel

1 70% dark cacao

3 hearts, dark, milk and white

1 Dark truffle

Order by Tuesday, Feb. 1, from Colleen Ganaye at 996-7371 or Maida Herbst at 337-7673. If you would like to contribute to the scholarships but don’t want or need the chocolates send a check to SISV, P.O. Box 949, Sonoma, CA 95476.

Gloria Ferrer dinner series starts soon

With an entirely new team replacing the original people we all got to know well, Gloria Ferrer is launching a Chef Dinner Series on Friday, Feb. 4, at the winery.

Harry Hansen, director of wine growing, and Ray Schafer, executive chef, will host the monthly dinners, the first of which will feature eight tasting courses partly from the winery’s garden and paired with Gloria Ferrer’s sparkling wines.

Everyone gets to taste each of these:

∎ Oyster Rockefeller - Pt. Reyes oysters, bacon, spinach, hollandaise

∎ French Onion Soup - brioche crouton, gruyere cheese

∎ Salmon & Sorrel - lightly seared king salmon, sorrel cream sauce

∎ Red Wine Braised Rabbit - juniper, thyme, fennel

∎ Meyer Lemon Sorbet

∎ Lobster Americain - roasted lobster tail with a sauce of tomato, tarragon, crème fraiche

∎ Beef Wellington - beef tenderloin, mushroom duxelles, puff pastry, demi-glace

∎ French Chocolate Tart- crème Anglaise, caramel sauce

Gloria Ferrer is now owned by German sparkling wine company Henkell Freixenet, which also has the cava and prosecco brands and just bought Bolney Wine Estates in England.

$170. 5 to 7 p.m. Tickets at gloriaferrer.com/visit-our-sonoma-carneros-winery/wine-country-events/chef-table-series-february, click on “reserve.”

Restaurant realities

Cristina Topham, chef and owner of Spread Catering and one of the hardest working people around, posted some pricing realities (as she know them) that have entered restaurant and catering kitchens. We share them here with her permission.

Her comment followed other prices such as chicken wings costing $45 a case 12 months ago that are $175 a case now; and take-out boxes were $25 a year ago and are $95 today.

According to Topham, “Kitchen gloves were $65 a case two years ago are $200 (and up) today. Tahini was $80 for a bucket a year ago, and it’s $125 today.

Ground lamb was $6.99 a pound two years ago, is now $12.99 a pound (wholesale). Packaging has skyrocketed, paper bags have skyrocketed. Etc. etc. etc.”

So take it easy on restaurant staff if you find their prices up a bit.

But why is this happening?

I know – supply chain and ships stacked at docks problems, supply and demand, and China’s on again off again virus lockdowns.

So why in the world don’t we make more things we need in the United States? Why have corporate leaders shipped jobs abroad? Oh yeah, it’s cheaper and they can make more profit while sometimes not paying U.S. taxes. It’s not the fault of any one president but due to corporations’ decisions and choices.

And are suppliers adding a little extra profit to their necessary price increases?

Think about it.

Sweet Scoops is hiring

Sweet Scoops is hiring for when they reopen in a couple weeks. Pass along to any 16+ year olds who love ice cream and helping people to have a sweet day. This is a chance to get a job and learn how to make and serve ice cream, skills to use for life. Get more info and applications here: sweetscoopsicecream.com/application

Sweet Pea Bakeshop

Wow. On Monday Sweet Pea Bakeshop, across from the Sonoma Valley Library on Highway 12 or West Napa Street, featured a tiramisu cronut with a mascarpone coffee filling and a coffee glaze. While it looks quiet from the street, Sweet Pea bakery and more is still there and have a couple of covered tables and chairs in front of the building. Parking in lot at west end of the building.

Valley Bar + Bottle makes top 25

Valley Bar + Bottle on First Street West was rated among the San Francisco Chronicle’s Top 25 restaurants in the Bay Area recently. Great praise for them, but as co-owner and chef Emma Lipp relays, they are closed until Jan. 27 for their “annual winter break.” She continued, “This was planned and has nothing to do with COVID.”

If they come out with a new menu when they reopen, I will let you know.

While they aren’t open, the current menu includes appetizers of anchovies, eggs, pink shrimp roll, shishito peppers, and fried delicata squash. I’d love to try their Green Goddess salad. Main courses and sides might be trout with potatoes, curry with chicken and noodles, braised beef with beets and yogurt, crispy rice with ginger sauce, butternut squash with salsa macha, cauliflower with basil and ricotta, braised beans and butter beans ($13 to $32). Bread and butter cost $6.

Since most of Valley’s seating is in the back patio, on the sidewalk, or in the street parklet, weather often dictates availability. Open 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday through Monday. 487 First St. W., Sonoma. Valleybarandbottle.com.