Kathleen Hill: La Hacienda opens, lobster sale and another brunch

Food news from around the Valley.|

La Hacienda Mexican Grill opens

Run, don't walk. But not all at once.

If you enjoy the food at what we have known as La Hacienda Taqueria or Bar & Grill in the Springs, you will love the new La Hacienda Mexican Grill on Fifth Street West in Sonoma.

Gone are the sticky chairs and tables of Pearl's Diner. With huge investment, the entire restaurant space is new, from floor to kitchen to ceiling, including new walk-ins, beautiful hand-carved wooden chairs with comfy cushions, tasteful tables, large paintings and a wall decoration with the logo painted on a Chevy hood.

Just opened this Tuesday, the new restaurant is owned by Maria and Juan Sahagun of La Hacienda, Beronica Perez and Carlos Rubio of Maya, and Juan Valdivia, and the food seems even better than the Springs location.

Chefs Joaquin Arevalos, Ricardo Sahagun and Jose Fernandez whip up the best of everything from the La Hacienda menu, plus some. This menu is only two pages, with a short wine list from Mark Lyon's Eco Terreno winery and the Robledos.

Lots of appetizers from super nachos to guacamole and Mexican pizza, sides, tortilla and meatball soups, tacos with seven meat choices or fish and shrimp, seven burritos from regular to macho prawn and chile verde, and many choices of seafood as interesting as Mariscos Jarochos with sautéed prawns, octopus, scallops crab legs, fish and green mussels, their seven fishes with broth, and large seafood cocktails.

Check out both sides of the menu for specialties from arroz con camarones to carne asada platters. Save room for Maria's flan and arroz con leche, a rice pudding with cinnamon dust. Mexican sodas and beer available. ($3.25 to $24.99.)

Breakfast is also available. Open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 561 Fifth St. W., Sonoma. 996-1783.

Soroptimist lobster sale deadline

Every year Soroptimist International of Sonoma Valley takes orders and sells 1.5-pound lobsters flown fresh from Maine as their annual big fundraiser. You can get yours either live or cooked but you have to order by Sept. 26.

You pick it up between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at 670 W. Napa St., Sonoma in rear of building.

According to Cynthia Morris of Soroptimists, Tickets are $26 each for either a live or freshly cooked lobster. The lobsters are caught early on the day of delivery off the coast of Maine, shipped live to the vendor at SFO, and if they are cooked, they are cooked at the SFO vendor's site.

Orders need to be pre-paid; call Cynthia Morris at 939-1602 or Juliette Andrews at 338-1874.

Feeding your worms?

Super organic backyard farmer Barbara Heiman has created a hand-written chart of what to feed your garden worms to make them happy. Those worms should be in the ground, not in anyone's intestine.

According to the chart, worms love fruit (no citrus), vegetables, egg shells, tea bags, coffee grounds and leaves. Do not feed meat, dairy, fats or oils, plastic, metal or bones.

Trouble is, raccoons and other creatures seem to like the same foods.

New weekend brunch at Santé

With dine-in breakfast and brunch opportunities having dwindled in Sonoma Valley, there's a new brunch in town on weekends at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn's Santé restaurant.

The Dutch Baby looks like the best around, while chef Marcellus Coleman offers fried green tomatoes and a Sonoma duck confit hash and divine brunch burger. I can attest that Coleman's burger at lunch by the pool is possibly the best anywhere.

Guests can start off with Mamma's warm banana bread for the table ($8).

These aren't just Fanny Flagg's fried green tomatoes. These come with Dungeness crab and remoulade. Other selections include lemon cottage cheese pancakes with crème fraiche, caramelized brioche French toast with Bananas Foster and maple syrup, a healthy California scramble, Jalisco chilaquiles, eggs Benedict where you can substitute Dungeness crab for Canadian bacon, huevos rancheros, an omelet of three egg whites, kale Caesar salad, avocado toast and steak frites. ($14 to$35.)

And for $9, you can add sides of thick-cut bacon, chorizo sausage, duck-fat fried potatoes, a roasted Maitake mushroom steak, corn soup with lobster and mushrooms, or double smoked bacon. Saturdays and Sundays, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Regular breakfast menu served Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Other restaurants serving breakfast or brunch on weekends include the Girl & the Fig and El Dorado Kitchen; and daily at Picazo Kitchen, Palm's Grill, Black Bear Diner, Picazo Café , Sunflower Caffé, Garden Court Café in Glen Ellen, and Tips Roadside and Salt &Stone in Kenwood.

Sonoma agriculture students shine at fairs

Sonoma Valley 4-H and Sonoma Valley High School FFA joined together to create a prize-winning garden at this summer's Sonoma County Fair.

According to leader Eileen Pharo, 'The theme was 'White Sports Coat and a Pink Carnation' after the 1957 Marty Robins song. The members created a prom-themed garden with a lot of zinnias, fuchsias, ferns, coleus and cosmos.' The 12 members of the combined clubs won second place, which is great for students age 5 through 18.

Just two weeks ago Altimira Middle School Farm-to-Table students won first place and Best of Show for their Educational Display at the National Heirloom Festival in Santa Rosa.

Kimberly Weber leads the school garden at Altimira and was joined at the National Heirloom Festival by teachers Carolina Pickens and Christina Sanders.

Congratulations to all of these students, leaders and teachers.

School food manager leaves for Novato schools

Cody Williams is the latest school official to leave Sonoma Valley Unified School District. And he is one with whom this writer worked for all seven of his years here.

I was the only 'civilian' on the food services manager interview committee when Williams was applying for the position in 2012. Williams had been what he called in that interview the 'donut maker' at Boonfly Café near the Sonoma-Napa border, gradually working his way up as most chefs have to do.

At the time, the school district had a plan to integrate the produce from its school gardens and support local farmers by purchasing their food to use in school lunches and snacks. Many parents were calling for chocolate milk and soda machines to be removed from campuses and some advocated for less sodium and MSG.

Prior to Williams, longtime food service manager Donna Luzzi dedicated her last three years at the district to upgrading school lunches in Sonoma Valley. Williams was enthusiastic to try all of this and take it further, but it took time due to existing contracts to use federally dispensed meats and other food supplies.

Gradually Williams changed school menus from nearly all carbs (mac 'n' cheese with a side of canned corn) to more healthful spaghetti with marinara sauce and salad, or deli sandwiches and barbecued pulled pork on whole grain bread with beans.

Chocolate milk was removed, and Clover Stornetta, now Clover Sonoma, produced new smaller containers of milk. While the schools now offer fat free, 1 percent and organic Clover milk, according to their online menus, chocolate milk is being reintroduced because many parents claimed that their kids would only drink milk with chocolate in it.

Williams also said, 'I wasn't looking to leave the district. I love my job here and the collaborative work being done. But I was approached from Novato and at first turned down the offer to apply. It was after much discussion with family, and friends and thinking through the opportunity in a larger District that I decided to go for it.'

When asked about his challenges with the Novato School District, Williams responded, 'Novato is in need of shifting their compliance focused Food Service Program into a culinary focused program that is compliant. They have a dedicated culinary staff, a strong wellness program and a few gardens.'

His new better-paying job is a sort of coming home for Williams' family. 'My parents were born and raised in Novato and met at Novato High.'

SVUSD will start interviewing for Williams' replacement in late October.

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