Waikiki’s plans for Uncle Paddy’s; Weiswasser voted Best New ?California chef; April in Carneros and Tomatomania this weekend
Just in:
Karen Waikiki’s new plan for the boarded up former Uncle Paddy’s restaurant in Boyes Hot Springs will turn it into a small-plates and pizza restaurant just outside the entrance to the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn. The entire community will cheer the improvements planned by Sonoma architect Adrian Martinez.
Martinez says they are planning a “neighborhood restaurant with a long bar, rehabilitating it with an old storefront look, including a lovely patio while saving the large valley oak in the back.”
Waikiki restored, owns and manages El Molino Central as well as her Primavera tamale shop in San Francisco’s Ferry Building. Go, Karen!
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Ari Weiswasser, proprietor/chef of Glen Ellen Star and husband of Erinn Benziger-Weiswasser, won Food & Wine magazine’s online “The People’s Best New Chef” in California title.
Many of the leaders, including California winner Weiswasser, retained public relations and social media firms to boost their chances, all of which does not detract from his great and interesting food.
The 100 nominees for the People’s Best New Chef included 10 chefs in 10 regions across America. With his win, Weiswasser became a finalist, which is a great honor.
Weiswasser has worked in top kitchens on both coasts including New York’s Restaurant Daniel, Picholine, and Paul Liebrandt’s Corton and at the French Laundry in Yountville.
Weiswasser utilizes the fabulous vegetables from the Benziger’s biodynamic and organic garden, along with fine meats and poultry, most cooked in a wood-fired oven in clay casuelas. I am totally hooked on his veggies, especially the cauliflower when it’s in season. While I have been to some of his suckling pig and paella group dinners, I have yet to try the much-touted chicken.
Should you not be able to get a reservation or walk in to Glen Ellen Star, several nearby restaurants are also very good. Try Glen Ellen Inn Oyster Grill & Martini Bar, Sondra Bernstein’s fig cafe, Jack London Saloon for hamburgers, and Olive & Vine, Aventine, and Yeti down the road a piece in Jack London Village.
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Speaking of Yeti, they have opened their second Yeti in Santa Rosa in the former Lyons restaurant on Highway 12 at Farmers Lane.
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Dining out sales, primarily fast food and pizza, just surpassed grocery sales in the U.S. for the first time ever, according to Bloomberg News, as forwarded by Lorna Sheridan. What does this say about our economy and our health? Stay tuned.
HHH
April in Carneros this weekend:
April in Carneros rolls around again Saturday and Sunday, April 18 and 19, when you can visit 16 wineries whose soil and climate near San Pablo Bay straddle the Sonoma-Napa border, producing fine chardonnays and pinot noirs. Adastra, Anaba, Bonneau, Ceja, Cline, Enkidu, Homewood, Jacuzzi, Keating, Larson, Meadowcroft, Poseidon, Obsidian Ridge, Robledo, Schug, Tin Barn and Ty Caton wineries will all pour some of their best.
Many tasting rooms will offer small food tastes as relayed by Phyllis Hyland, executive director of Hospitality de los Carneros, as follows: Adastra will pair artisanal cheeses with their wines; Bonneau will serve green olives, charcuterie platters and chocolate truffles; Ceja will have Camacho’s Southern-style BBQ truck and live music; Cline will serve Caggiano sausages; Enkidu will offer Heirloom Fine Foods’ goat cheese tartlets; and Homewood will have Dave Homewood’s favorite, Sunset Catering’s prawns with a dusting of Madeiran Especiaria Feita, vichyssoise, meatballs, pasta with lamb, and chocolate truffles.
Keating, Poseidan and Obsidian Ridge at Cornerstone will all offer empanadas from Park 121; Larson Family Winery hosts the Tips Tri-Tips Trolley; Meadowcroft will serve wild mushroom soup; Robledo offers pork pozole and tacos de carnitas (pork); Schug offers white corn chowder, potato salad with blue cheese and live music, while Tin Barn features truffled mushroom tartlets and goat cheese cheesecake from Melissa Teaff Catering. Advance tickets $45, $10 for designated driver, day of event $50 and $15. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. Tickets at carneroswineries.org.
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Tomatomania’s traveling tomato plant sale rolls into Cornerstone south of Sonoma this Saturday and Sunday, April 18 and 19 with tons of tomato plants and all the appropriate garden supplies you might need, and maybe even some you don’t need.
Scott Daigre and Jenn Garbee travel the west selling small tomato plants including rare heirlooms and classic hybrids and even have a new book called, you guessed it, “Tomatomania,” which includes 20 tomato recipes.
Nina Gerety, proprietor of Potter Green & Co., offers 15 percent off if you buy three “Ollas,” which are clay pots you fill with water to supply sub-surface irrigation, reputed to save water while producing more vegetables than any other form of watering. Ceramic artist Stephanie Moore, who has been making and watering with ollas for several years, will be available for conversation and instruction.
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