Kathleen Hill: 2018 year in review

Mint and Liberty revamps menu again

Saying 'you spoke, we listened,' James Hahn of the Sunflower Caffé Group, which recently opened Mint and Liberty Modern Diner in the Maxwell Village shopping center, announced that they are 'changing the format of our menu and adding several new items including brunch and dinner menus.'

Actually, the menu format looks the same with some interesting additions and changes of hours.

Many of the observations made about the new restaurant have generally focused on: 'We wish they would just do a really good dinner.' And it appears M&L is moving that direction.

Look forward to trying the 'small plates' of Vietnamese chicken wings, salmon tartare, crispy chicken skin or Dungeness crab roll bites ($5 to $16). New entrées include mushroom balls or meatballs 'on top of spaghetti,' organic chicken breast with Brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes with brown gravy, a King salmon filet with celery root purée and roasted sunchokes with herb salad, a Chinese spiced duck confit salad and a flank steak with fingerling potatoes and creamed spinach ($20 to $29).

New items on the brunch menu offer deconstructed pastrami hash, a sausage biscuit sando, and chicken fried steak ($12 to $14), and Bakeshop specials such as toasted housemade challah or rye toast, fresh jelly donuts, coconut chia seed pudding, huckleberry pancakes and avocado toast ($3 to $14).

All burgers and sandwiches are now served with fries or salad, along with a grilled cheese or a New York burger with pastrami, coleslaw, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing ($13 to $20).

The Girl & the Fig update

Somehow I received incorrect, or maybe year-old, information on the Girl & the Fig's momentary winter spiff-up closures.

Here are the correct dates and details according to proprietor Sondra Bernstein:

The Girl & the Fig will be closed Jan. 7 to 11 for spiff up; the Fig Cafe & Wine Bar in Glen Ellen will be closed Jan. 15 and 16 for cleaning.

Restaurants going and coming

Every year in nearly every locale, restaurants come and go, and there are always hopefuls willing to give it a try and fulfill their dreams.

Most restaurants are advertising on various platforms for help, some even offering $250 signing bonuses for dishwashers and delivery drivers.

We have lost several restaurants that used to serve breakfast including Fremont Diner, the Community Café, Pearl's Diner and, for a while, Schellville Grille, which just reopened for breakfast, filling part of the breakfast void.

Fremont Diner closed in July and re-surfaced in September as Boxcar – still featuring its specialty fried chicken – with the same owners, just different format and name. Owners Chad and Erika Harris also hope to open a diner at the former 76 station on Broadway and West MacArthur.

Margie Brooke, former owner of the Community Café, lost her lease at the café's West Napa Street location and moved to Panama.

In June, Pearl's Diner owner Chuck Lee closed up and moved to his native Hawaii.

We also lost Toni and Adolfo Veronese's Aventine Glen Ellen due to a slowdown in customers following the 2017 fires. Giulio Tempesta closed his Umbria Glen Ellen within a year of opening. And the Ramponi family sold Garden Court Café to employees and left California.

Andrea Koweek sold Crisp Bakeshop to the Sunflower Caffé group and took herself, Crisp, some staff, and many Crisp recipes to Girl & the Fig Caters as 'chef ambassador.' Sunflower Group opened Bakeshop and then switched its name to Honey & the Moon, then passed on the bakery space on West Napa Street to Sweet Pea, the first brick and mortar shop for Napa couple Zaclyn and Albert Rivera. Honey & the Moon now is operated out of the Mint & Liberty restaurant, which replaced the Breakaway Café at Maxwell Village shopping center.

Speaking of the now-defunct Breakaway Cafe, its former owner Bob Rice sold it to the Sunflower Group, which has reopened it as Mint and Liberty Modern Diner.

In the Thai food department, Sunee Petprasert sold Bangkok 9 to her brother – though she still helps out the 201 W. Napa St. restaurant – and will open a Thai restaurant in Windsor in early 2019. Their sister owns E-Saan Thai House in the Springs.

Sushi changes

Ed Metcalfe sold Shiso Modern Asian Kitchen to the owners of Shige sushi restaurant in Cotati, highly recommended by sushi fans. Metcalfe will continue and expand his catering business as Sushimoto.

According to owner Aiki Terashima, the Reel Fish Shop & Grill may be in the process of selling to a local group.

And finally we lost Anne McKibben's Cocoa Planet, a chocolate manufacturing company and modern French café when she sold the building to Ken Mattson and moved her patented machines and family to Phoenix, to which her husband Jeff had been commuting from Sonoma weekly for 10 years.

Healdsburg Shed closed this week after a five-year attempt to gather local growers and producers to sell their wares in an 'old-fashioned grange' format, including produce, bread, gardening tools and a café. Selling $80-trowels and expensive vegetables might have proven too difficult.

Anthony Bourdain, Paul Bocuse and Joel Robuchon all left this physical world but remain world culinary leaders.

New hopefuls

Baker & Cook should open in a couple of months at the former Rocket location, brought to you by Jen and Nick Demarest of Harvest Moon Café on First Street West.

Owners and staff from both La Hacienda in the Springs and Maya on Sonoma Plaza will combine efforts to open an organic, mostly takeout Mexican restaurant where Pearl's Diner was off of Fifth Street West. They hope to open in 'three or four months.'

Las Diablitas taco shop opened between McDonald's and Happy Dog.

Shige will open a new Japanese restaurant where Shiso Modern Asian Kitchen was in Maxwell Village shopping center.

Sweet Pea Bakery has opened with a bang where Crisp Bakeshop and then Honey & the Moon were on West Napa Street.

West Handmade Burgers should open any minute in the on Highway 12 in the Springs. After a long wait and other projects, West Handmade Burgers should be big, fun and good, but parking might be a problem.

Taub Family Outpost will open a lounge and restaurant at the corner of First Street West and West Napa Street. Taub imports 50 wines and spirits worldwide and has wineries in Sonoma and Mendocino counties.

Food recalls and cautions

While last year's 1,800 food recalls and cautions seemed everywhere, there were actually fewer than in 2017. Many of these were due to possibilities of e. coli, salmonella, mislabeling of ingredients, or even foreign matter such as metal shards. Among some shockers from the year were perennial FDA lister Romaine lettuce, with appearances by cauliflower, Duncan Hines cake mixes, Goldfish crackers, Ritz cracker sandwiches, Kellogg's Honey Smacks, lots of eggs, Wish Bone House Italian salad dressing, lots of ground beef and Jennie-O ground turkey, Spam canned pork and chicken products, Whole Foods cookies, Trader Joe's chocolate chip cookies and even King Arthur flours.