Chef Jake Rand of Sushi Kosho has opened Salt & Sea, a fast-casual poke shop at The Barlow just steps from his longtime sushi restaurant. It’s the newest addition to the Sebastopol marketplace’s outdoor food court that also includes Osito Style Tacos, The Farmer’s Wife and Two Dog Night Creamery.

The menu is focused on hearty Hawaiian-style poke bowls filled with warm seasoned rice, raw fish marinated in soy sauce and sesame oil, seaweed, avocado and Maui onions.

Rand riffs on the classic, adding grilled pineapple and Macadamia nuts to the Maui Wowie ($24), and kimchi and gochujang sauce to the K-Pop ($21). He also creates more unique combos like the Jalapeño Jack ($22) with amberjack, yuzu soy sauce, cucumber, jalapeño and avocado. Spicy Tuna Nachos ($14) swap fried wontons for tortilla chips with fresh ahi tuna, yuzu crema, Korean chili sauce and avocado.

Don’t miss the grab-and-go case with Japanese sandwiches. Similar to finger sandwiches, these trendy treats are made with soft, crustless white bread and are filled with either fruit or savory ingredients. At Salt & Sea, they come with clouds of cream and sliced strawberries or kiwi.

The restaurant also offers boba tea, strawberry milk, taro matcha lattes, açai bowls and Rand’s fresh Hawaiian POG, made with passionfruit, orange and guava juice.
Open from noon to 5 p.m. daily. 6570 McKinley St., Sebastopol, Instagram.com/saltandseapoke

Also on my radar

Shady Oak Barrel House will host a Smash Burger Battle on Aug. 16 with Benny’s Smash Burgers, Thanks for the Invite, The Spot and Bayou on the Bay competing for the burger bragging rights. The event will also feature live music and DJs, house-brewed beers and plenty of trash-talking bun-patty-bun action. 420 First St., Santa Rosa, 707-575-7687, shadyoakbrewing.com

You can reach Dining Editor Heather Irwin at heather.irwin@pressdemocrat.com. Follow Heather on Instagram @biteclubeats.

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A Cafe des Croissants bakery will replace the former Pharmacy café at 990 Sonoma Ave. in Santa Rosa. It will be Cafe des Croissants’ sixth location in Sonoma County. The cafes serve croissants, bagels, coffee and other breakfast items.

The Pharmacy closed in November 2024 after nine years in business. Owner Kim Bourdet did not give a reason for the closure. She also owns a plant-based eatery, The Branch Line, at 10 Fourth St. in Railroad Square.

Sonoma Magazine reached out to Cafe des Croissants for comments and further details but did not receive a response. Stay tuned for more details. 

Salt & Sea at The Barlow

Chef Jake Rand, owner of Sushi Kosho, is set to launch Salt & Sea, a poke and smoothie shack at Sebastopol’s The Barlow, with an opening planned for early summer.

Though it’s just steps from his sushi bar and restaurant, this new spot will expand Rand’s casual dining options in the central food court. The menu will feature poke and donburi rice bowls, boba tea, acai bowls and snacky sides like togarashi-dusted wonton chips with plum sauce, spicy tuna nachos, Japanese potato salad and seaweed salad. 6570 McKinley St., Sebastopol, koshosushi.com

Mendocino Farms at Montgomery Village

Mendocino Farms, a fast-casual salad and sandwich chain with more than 50 locations, will open at Montgomery Village on May 13.

The addition is part of sweeping changes at the historic shopping center after its sale to an East Coast developer in 2021. Other food businesses on the horizon include Salt & Straw ice cream, Blue Bottle Coffee, Sprinkles Cupcakes, Sweetgreen salad chain, and Fieldwork Brewing Co. 2400 Sonoma Ave., Santa Rosa, mendocinofarms.com

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Call me a restaurant tuna salad skeptic. There are so many things that need to be just right: the freshness of the salad, the mayo-to-tuna ratio, the bread, perfectly melted American cheese and my penchant for pickle relish.

But D’s Diner in Sebastopol is always a top choice when I’m feeling the tug of a toasted tuna sandwich.

Now, it’s even closer to home with the opening of a second D’s Diner location at 750 Stony Point Road in Santa Rosa, replacing a former Superburger spot. Owner Musa Awad has joined forces with his son, Nabih, to bring the burgers, salads, sandwiches and tasty tuna salad to the new restaurant that opened in early September.

“We’re gonna be big,” said Musa Awad of his “not-so-fast food” diner.

The new restaurant will start serving the full breakfast options available in Sebastopol at the end of the month. Don’t miss the housemade Middle Eastern-style gyros, hummus, falafel and baba ganoush, along with onion rings and housemade Ranch.

7260 Healdsburg Ave., Sebastopol, 707-829-8080; 750 Stony Point Road, Suite A-190, Santa Rosa, 707-843-3041

You can reach Dining Editor Heather Irwin at heather.irwin@pressdemocrat.com. Follow Heather on Instagram @biteclubeats for more local restaurant news.

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Campanella’s Chicken Parm Pie says everything you need to know about the new Brooklyn-meets-Sebastopol Italian American restaurant.

The hand-tossed pizza topped with mozzarella, vodka sauce and fried chicken cutlets is a throwback to owner Tom Rutledge’s favorite childhood snack when visiting his grandparents in Brooklyn and Queens. That, along with arancini, eggplant Parmesan, meatballs and pasta with long-simmered red sauce, were the East Coast staples he dearly missed in his adopted Sonoma County home.

So, he built a restaurant to satisfy his cravings.

“We are putting our twist on the ‘red sauce’ kind of comfort food from back East,” Rutledge said. “That happy combination of East Coast and Sonoma County, both in the kitchen and the bar, is what we look for throughout the menu. The team nailed it, and we will keep refining it and improving, but they nailed it.”

Recently opened in the former Flavor Bistro location, Campanella is an unapologetic “red sauce joint” that channels the red-and-white-checkered tablecloth, candles in the Chianti bottle, garlic-scented family trattorias that are the lifeblood of Italian American neighborhoods along the Atlantic Seaboard. The mix of old-world and new-world flavors speaks to the 19th-century migration of Italians (primarily from Southern Italy and Sicily) to New York.

For executive chef Anthony Paone (also a Brooklynite), nonna-inspired recipes, including his Italian grandmother’s arancini, are the key to the restaurant’s authenticity. After years in California’s fine-dining scene, Paone thought his days of tossing pizzas and making red sauce were behind him, but he’s embracing the full-circle moment.

“The arancini, that was grandma’s and how she made it for my Sicilian grandpa,” Paone said. Filled with rice, peas, mozzarella and beef ragu with a side of marinara ($7), they’re as comforting as an old quilt.

Campanella benefits from an infusion of California’s farm-to-table ethos, and Paone is enthusiastic about where he locally sources the meat, fish and produce. Still, the chef is clear that he’s not about to start putting edible flowers on anything. Instead, he bumps flavors with fresh herbs and glams up a simple salad with Little Gem lettuce, housemade basil Ranch, Meyer lemon, curls of fresh radish and fried capers ($16).

The interior vibe is fresh, bright and clean with crisp green hues, splashes of red wallpaper, a wall of purposefully mismatched paintings, an inviting patio and a sleek bar.

And watching over all of it is an imposing picture of Nonna. Not anyone’s nonna per se, because the image was generated from a collection of grandma photographs from Rutledge, Paone and others fed into an AI image generator. With designer glasses, windblown hair and a perky scarf, this is Nonna 2.0, inspired by the past and firmly rooted in the present.

“My grandmother, the inspiration for this project, was always happiest when friends and family gathered around her dining room table. I know she’d be thrilled watching the neighborhood come and do the same thing here,” Rutledge said.

Best bets

Garlic Knots, $9: The little knobs of buttery, doughy, yeasty garlic bread are stupido good. Dunk unabashedly into housemade basil Ranch dressing served for precisely that reason — Va bene.

Nonna’s Meatballs, $19: Traditional style with beef and pork, breadcrumbs and ricotta with a twist. The Moorish influence on Italy brought ingredients like pistachios and raisins, adding almost imperceptible sweetness. Served with a side of marinara, not swimming in it. Bravo.

Italian Butter Beans, $13: I loathe beans in any form except dripping in garlic butter (clearly a theme), and so tender they melt in your mouth. You’ll love these even if you’re a bean hater like me.

Eggplant Parm, $16: My freezer is stocked with store-bought Angelo’s eggplant Parmesan because I can never get enough. I’m thrilled with the housemade version at Campanella with layers of cheese, crispy breaded eggplant, vodka sauce and crunchy burnt-cheese edges. Next time, I’m not sharing.

Chicken Parm Pie, $28: If there’s a signature dish at Campanella, it’s this impressive pizza. The dough is straightforward with a crisp, leopard crust and soft (though not undercooked) center, just like a New York pie should be. Vodka sauce — a creamy tomato sauce that uses a splash of vodka as an emulsifier (the alcohol cooks off) — lays the base for chunks of fried chicken tenders and a heavy hand of melty mozzarella. If you’re a purist, go for the Classic cheese ($22) with Ezzo pepperoni ($5) that curls and crisps perfectly.

Braised Beef Pizzaiola, $32: A giant chunk of melt-in-your-mouth-tender beef braised in marinara sauce. Historically, the pizza-maker’s wife would put meat in the still-hot oven to slowly cook overnight. The polenta was OK but could use a little more flavor — then again, by the time we ate it, our taste buds may have been garlic-overloaded.

Steamed Clams with Linguine, $26: You’re Frank Sinatra sitting with “The Godfather” and “Jersey Shore” casts. It doesn’t get more Italian American than this.

Sunday Supper and Specials, Market Price: There’s always something additional on the menu, and usually worth trying. Shrimp Scampi was one of our favorite specials, shrimp fettuccine loaded with garlic and all of the butter. Vampires be gone!

Cheesecake, $12: I am always dubious about cheesecake because it almost always disappoints. You will not be disappointed with this creamy, fluffy, tart and sweet slice with a buttery graham cracker crust and candied orange peels. If Rainbow Cookies are available, grab them as well.

Meyer Lemon Fennel Spritz $13: Fennel-infused Limoncello with Prosecco, soda and lemon. I mean, how could you say no? It’s sweet and robust, so I diluted mine to even out the flavor and cut the booze a bit. Keep it classy.

Signora Blanca, $14: Charbay Meyer lemon vodka, Cointreau, lemon verbena syrup and an aquafaba foam. Naughty and nice.

Campanella offers some gluten-free pastas, as well as vegan and vegetarian options. Wine, beer and nonalcoholic cocktails are also available.

7365 Healdsburg Ave., Sebastopol, 707-910-3030, campanellasoco.com. Street parking only. Reservations suggested.

You can reach Dining Editor Heather Irwin at heather.irwin@pressdemocrat.com. Follow Heather on Instagram @biteclubeats.

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Slated for a late summer opening, Sebastopol’s forthcoming Campanella Kitchen & Garden Patio has appointed Anthony Paone as its executive chef.

Like Campanella co-owner Tom Rutledge, Paone was raised in an Italian-American family in New York. A longtime Bay Area chef, he moved to Sonoma County for the Kenwood Restaurant (now Salt & Stone) relaunch in 2013. He most recently worked at Archetype in St. Helena and the Bull Valley Roadhouse in Port Costa.

Rutledge, who is a co-founder of hospitality-focused accounting firm RDMS Group in Petaluma, hopes to capture his childhood’s simple, comforting flavors at Campanella.

“This is a love letter to my grandma and the food I ate growing up. That is my happy flavor profile,” said Rutledge in April.

“I want a place that tastes like home. I guess I’m partially building a place to go eat myself,” he said of dishes such as chicken Parmesan, spaghetti and meatballs, and simple pizzas (a Mugnaini oven is being custom built). The restaurant will also include plant-based and allergy-friendly options for diners.

Gillian Tyrnauer will be Campanella’s general manager. She previously worked at Healdsburg SHED, Ramen Gaijin in Sebastopol and Journeyman Meats in Healdsburg, as well as Zuni and Quince restaurants in San Francisco and Oliveto in Oakland.

Campanella will be located in the former Flavor Bistro space at 7365 Healdsburg Ave. in Sebastopol.

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