A retired librarian and an accomplished chef walk into a bar. On a whim, they decide to take over the space. There’s no punchline — that’s just how Sonoma County came to have the new Trillium, a lovely little cafe and wine lounge in downtown Guerneville.

The shoebox-size spot is the work of Genevieve Payne, who began studying wine at Santa Rosa Junior College and traveled around Europe after leaving her career as a bibliophile. The co-owner and chef is Greg Barnes, who has worked with legends such as Jeremiah Tower, Traci Des Jardins, and Duskie Estes, and who has known Payne for a decade.

The long-vacant space the team took over, right near the landmark Rainbow Cattle Company bar, came with some kitchen challenges, namely a lack of space for equipment to work with grills and live fire. So Barnes developed a sophisticated menu around a raw bar and selections from a giant convection oven and cooktop. The raw bar offers the oysters, poke, crudo and ceviche that have become Trillium’s signature.

There’s sumptuous seafood chowder and a sensational New England-style crab roll ($32), on a toasted, house-baked brioche split roll with a side of tangy house pickles, a sandwich that won a gold medal at last fall’s Sonoma County Harvest Fair. The seafood chowder is a standout, too, with a rich white-wine-and-cream base with chopped mussels, prawns, red potatoes, and hickory-smoked sous vide bacon over a base of heavy cream and white wine, with fresh thyme, Old Bay seasoning, and a splash of Louisiana Crystal hot sauce to make it sing.

The wine list is extensive and interesting, focusing on natural wines, including a dry, citrusy Colliano Sparkling Ribolla Gialla from Slovenia and the certified organic, gently tropical Folk Machine Potter Valley Sauvignon Blanc. There are also craft beers and ciders on tap, nonalcoholic cocktails and wine flights. Tiny Trillium, in tiny Guerneville, is setting the bar high.

16222 Main St., Guerneville. 707-604-5750, trillium.bar

This story was originally published in The Press Democrat. Read the full story here.

The post Tiny Trillium Winebar in Guerneville Is Setting the Bar High appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

In a time of change and uncertainty, extolling the virtues of a perfect ball of burrata or a 10-course tasting menu may seem out of touch. But when you look at the bigger picture, it’s food that brings us all to the table. This year, we’ve chosen 25 Sonoma County restaurants that each bring a strong reason to be in our community and in our lives, whether a stunning plate of pasta, a sublime slice of lemon cream pie, or a singular point of view on the restaurant industry, it’s all important. Food is connection, food is love — and Sonoma County’s singular connection to land and sea creates a common ground we can all appreciate.

Enclos

Because it’s time for a Michelin star in the town of Sonoma.

Not every restaurant has that singular ambition of worldwide recognition woven into its DNA. But Enclos is a rising star destination that’s about to change all that. In March, Michelin inspectors dangled a tasty carrot by including it as one of 15 “recommended” California restaurants that could be on the shortlist for 2025 stars. It happened just three months after the opening, a rare feat for a fledgling.

Chef Brian Limoges, who was on the opening teams of San Francisco’s Quince and Birdsong, has the experience, drive and financial backing to reach for those stars. In January, he hit the ground running with an 11-course tasting menu that pays homage to the flora and fauna of Sonoma Valley, his new home. Instagram collectively swooned at tiny bites of venison and tree lichen perched on a found deer antler and Lilliputian ice cream sandwiches atop a honeycomb frame. Dining at this level is as much about over-the-top artful presentation as it is about pristine sourcing and complicated technique.

With a $325 price tag and just 30 seats spread over two elegantly appointed rooms, this is a bespoke luxury experience for a niche audience. But Limoges is raising the fine dining bar to a new level in Sonoma County, giving us a renewed pride of place and another chance at stardom. 139 E Napa St., Sonoma. 707-387-1724, enclos-sonoma.com

Acorn Cafe

Because French toast should always come piled this high.

There’s something gleeful about a breakfast standard gussied up with brioche and tall whipped mascarpone, cacao nibs, and a hearty scoop of coffee ice cream. No doubt this is an adult version of French toast, but it’s one that speaks to the kid in all of us.

Acorn is the breakfast and brunch spot that Healdsburg needs, with sunny lemon ricotta pancakes with lemon curd, whipped ricotta, and lavender ice cream and a riff on Dr. Seuss’s green eggs and ham, made with herby yogurt, poached eggs, and grilled ham seasoned with dukkah spices.

Everything about the place radiates joy, with orange pops of color throughout the interior, a bright and open floor plan that floods the space with light, and owner Beryl Adler’s obvious enthusiasm for adding a little wonder to your brunch. 124 Matheson St., Healdsburg. 707-955-7001, acornhealdsburg.com

Diavola Pizzeria & Salumeria

Because deep roots matter.

When Chefs Franco Dunn and Thom as Oden opened Santi restaurant in 2000, Geyserville was a tiny community. Their Italian restaurant honored what Press Democrat food writer Diane Peterson described as cucina povera, the soulful and frugal genius of Italian peasants with dishes like trippa alla Fiorentina and spaghettini Calabrese. Dunn and Oden’s passion ignited a generation of Sonoma County chefs eager to learn Old World ways of making pasta, salumi and bread from scratch.

Among the young recruits were three important chefs who later opened their own restaurants — Ari Rosen of Scopa and Campo Fina, Liza Hinman of Spinster Sisters, and Dino Bugica, who founded Diavola in Geyserville in 2008.

There’s a clear line that carries through from Dunn and Oden’s ideals to Bugica’s Geyserville restaurant today. Ingredients are local, the pizzas and pasta pay homage to Italian home cooking, and the delicious charcuterie is made in-house. The brick oven inside the restaurant glows — and trippa alla Fiorentina is still on the menu. 21021 Geyserville Ave., Geyserville. 707-814-0111, diavolapizzeria.com

The Goose & Fern

Because mate is just another word for friend.

If a British pub could be transported lock, stock and barrel to Santa Rosa, this would be it. Darts, pints and football — the kind with a soccer ball — are on tap, along with stellar pub food, including top-notch fish and chips, Guinness pie, and the world’s best sticky toffee pudding.

Clyde Hartwell, who speaks with a brogue as thick as his salt-and-pepper beard, runs the come-as-you-are establishment with his wife, Brittany, a trained pastry chef. He’s the guy behind the bar who’ll shout for you to grab yourself a table and refers to just about everyone as “mate,” because in his pub, you are. 116 Fifth St., Santa Rosa. 707-843-4235, thegooseandfern.com

Buck’s Place

Because these walls hold 119 years of stories.

A couple miles off Sonoma’s downtown Plaza, Buck’s Place has served as watering hole, polka hall, music venue and family-style restaurant since 1906. These days, its roadhouse charm shines brighter than ever thanks to owners Erika and Chad Harris, founders of Sonoma Valley’s popular Lou’s Luncheonette and Jack’s Filling Station, spots that, like Buck’s, feel heavy with the trappings of another era.

At Buck’s Place, the couple take a turn towards Italy, offering up red-tablecloth classics like chicken Parmesan, hoagies with all the gabagool, and crunchy-gooey mozzarella sticks. Pizza is the main event — Chicago deep-dish sometimes, or grandma-style Sicilian, crunch-edged Detroit, and the basic New York 16-inch round.

While the patio is dog- and family-friendly, we also like to head for the bar, a grown-up spot where you can grab a beer or one of their excellent daiquiris and chat with the locals. 401 Grove St., Sonoma. 707-231-1245, bucks-place.com

Marla Bakery & Cafe

Because summer suppers make us happy.

Marla is, of course, a bakery at heart, a year-round sanctuary of carbohydrates and sugar. Piles of impossibly large croissants, housemade bagels and breads, dark chocolate brownies, and slices of French apple pie peek from their glass case, along with the cult-favorite, croissant-muffin chimera, called the Crebble.

But Marla has a summer secret. From June to October, owners Amy Brown and Joe Wolf host a series of monthly dinners with similarly sustainability-minded local farmers, cheesemakers and winemakers. Tickets are announced by email and social media, so you need to be a follower to grab a seat.

Once you’ve experienced Amy Brown’s talents outside the pastry realm, it’s easy to see why the intimate dinners frequently sell out. Yes, she knows her way around a boule, but the former Nopa chef also knows how to tease the of-the-moment flavors from heirloom tomatoes, fresh goat cheese and sweet corn. This summer, the team is planning monthly pair-ups with Mt. Eitan Cheese, Lani Chan and Nathan Bender of Occidental’s Big Spoon Sauce Co., and a whole hog roast with Eric Sussman of Eye Cyder and County Line Vineyards. 208 Davis St., Santa Rosa. 707-852-4091, marlabakery.com

Quiote

Because blue tortillas just taste better.

Maybe it’s all in our mind, but the heirloom blue corn masa that this Petaluma restaurant uses for its tortillas just tastes, well, corn-ier. Or maybe it’s just because they use the buzzy Masienda masa that chefs line up for, sourced from small, traditional farmers across Mexico. (Food writers tend to get excited about that kind of thing.)

After hitting the comal, the tortillas turn nearly black, framing the brilliant colors of pink pickled onions, green avocado and citrusy cochinita pibil. This isn’t your usual taqueria fare, but family history following a line from Jalisco, Mexico to Sonoma County. The chile-marinated barbacoa (short rib), al pastor with ayocate beans, and fish tacos always make our best-of lists. Don’t miss the enchiladas smothered with mole and stuffed with chicken and braised Rancho Gordo pinto beans in broth. 121 Kentucky St., Petaluma. 707-774-6130, quiotemx.com

Bazaar Sonoma

Because compromise isn’t a word in their vocabulary.

Sean Quan and Jenny Phan of Bazaar Sonoma take a rigorous approach to classic regional Chinese dishes and refuse to Americanize their food to appeal to a broader audience. There’s no General Tso chicken, sweet and sour pork, or fortune cookies — instead, the seasonal menu leans into comforting, family-style dishes like whole sizzling fish, Hainan chicken, clay pot rice, and Hong Kong-style noodle soup.

Bazaar Sonoma is like going to a friend’s house, if that friend cooked like a Chinese mother who had also happened to work at a three-Michelin-starred restaurant (which Quan did). But the young couple are also hoping you’ll find a sense of community in their shared dishes and linger over a cup of tea.

BaSo is a natural extension of the couple’s outsider pop-ups — Second Staff’s spicy fried chicken, the high-low FNCY + PNTS, and the late night Matriarch that targeted off-duty hospitality workers and curious foodies. Quan and Phan are certainly ones to watch as they continue to evolve, one dumpling at a time — and on their own terms. 6566 Front St., Forestville. 707-614-8056, bazaar-sonoma.com

Augie’s French

Because we could live on warm baguettes.

“Are the baguettes still warm?” is a silly question to ask at Augie’s because, of course, they are still warm. These long batons of crackly crust and airy crumb are a signature of Mark and Terri Stark’s downtown Santa Rosa ode to French bistro culture, along with boeuf bourguignon and escargots floating in Pernod and garlic butter — two things that happen to go nicely with baguettes.

The French 75, a cocktail made with Cognac, gin and sparkling wine, also pairs nicely with baguettes, especially while relaxing on the streetside patio. Any further questions? 535 Fourth St., Santa Rosa. 707-531-4400, augiesfrench.com

Psychic Pie

Because pizza comes in all shapes and sizes.

At Psychic Pie, it’s hip to be square. Or sometimes round. Either way, it’s definitely Roman. Cut by the square or by the slice, owners Nicholi Ludlow and Leith Leiser-Miller are enthusiastic proponents of pizza al taglio or “by the cut,” as it’s done in Rome. Portions are measured by one, two or three fingers, as big or small as you’d like, and topped with rotating seasonal ingredients such as mushroom and chèvre, roasted leek cream and veggies, or pork ‘nduja sauce with pepperoncini, roasted peppers and aged Estero Gold cheese.

Occasionally, this pint-size pizzeria surprises with 16-inch tonda pizzas, the thin and crispy circular cousin of the al taglio , and they’ve even been known to serve up a hoagie or two. Ludlow and Leiser are natural collaborators, floating all boats with their rising tide of popularity, introducing us to pizza-friendly local products like Big Spoon Sauce Company’s chili crisp, Mad Marvlus’ fizzy natural wines and chef Preeti Mistry’s limited edition Hawt Sauce. 980 Gravenstein Hwy. S., Sebastopol. 707-827-6032, psychicpie.com

Cyrus

Because Douglas Keane has a lot to say.

Beneath the caviar carts, rare wine collections and shaved truffles, fine dining restaurants are in trouble. Inequity is widespread, with cooks often earning less than half of what a server makes. Health insurance is a rare benefit, vacations often nonexistent, flexible schedules unworkable and burnout rampant.

Chef Douglas Keane has a solution, and he’s just written a book about it. “Culinary Leverage: A Journey Through the Heat” recounts his years-long journey from clueless line cook to executive chef of a Michelin-starred restaurant. It’s got plenty of dirty secrets, juicy tidbits, and names named, but most importantly, it gets to the heart of how the restaurant industry can fix itself. The answer: Less staff, more training, and higher salaries.

It took a 10-year hiatus, a pandemic, a divorce, and some serious soul-searching to get there, but Keane’s “everyone does everything” mindset at Cyrus is living proof that the idea works.

His luxurious multi-course menu has guests sipping Champagne and wandering through the restaurant’s manicured vineyard — but his egalitarian ethos strikes a chord for restaurant workers struggling to pay rent and the restaurateurs struggling to stay afloat. 275 Highway 128, Geyserville. 707-723-5999, cyrusrestaurant.com

A&M BBQ

Because Texas brisket is what’s up.

Fellow Californians keep trying to convince me that tri-tip makes for great barbecue. It does not. The lean cut can make for a lovely fajita, but it is fundamentally unsuited for low and slow cooking — the very definition of barbecue.

Brisket, of course, is the king of ’que, and veteran pitmaster Kris Austin knows his way around this well-marbled piece of meat. A well-cooked brisket is the most primal of foods, smoky and charred, with soft bits of melted fat and yielding meat. With slaw and beans and thick slices of bread to sop up the juices, it’s a meal worth an amen any day.

Mississippi-born Austin has barbecue in his soul. He learned the craft from his mother, aunts and uncles, finally taking the tongs after years of apprenticeship. And like so many things in life, barbecue is a skill that’s never truly mastered. You just keep working at it. 495 S. Main St., Sebastopol. 707-8881315, ambbqllc.com

The Beet

Because Friday nights are for turning up the beat.

Cloverdale is usually a pretty sleepy town after dark, but on Friday nights from 9 p.m. to midnight, everyone’s dancing to the beat (beet?). Though this spot remains a mild-mannered restaurant and wine lounge by day, the owners realized there was a serious lack of hip-swaying and busting sweet moves in the north Sonoma County ’burg. As night falls, the weekly jump and jive comes to life. Just remember your dancing shoes. 116 E. First St., Cloverdale. 707669-5080, cloverdalebeet.com

Lightwave Coffee & Kitchen

Because where else does a skate park come with such delicious treats?

The Russian River town of Monte Rio is known for three things: its proximity to the secretive gatherings at Bohemian Grove, the Pink Elephant Bar, and Lightwave Coffee & Kitchen. Only one of those places right now is open to the public — and it has cake.

Follow the signs for the Monte Rio skatepark to Lightwave, a curious indoor-outdoor cafe bedazzled by a garage-sale decor, rooted in vibey California skateboard culture, and entirely west county wonderful. A short distance from the river, you’ll join both locals and in-the-know beachgoers at this secret garden of delights. The scraping sound of skateboards (and the occasional wipeout) are the soundtrack to your meal, along with spicy Monte Rio gossip and the occasional whimper of a dog begging its owner for a snack.

The menu ranges from simple bagels and smoothies to North African shakshuka with red peppers and eggs, Middle Eastern flatbread with eggplant and tahini, and fat slices of lox and beets on challah bread on the weekends.

But before all of that, order dessert. Co-owner Gal Ginzberg’s Instagram is a billion-calorie ode to adventurous cheesecakes and pies flavored with halva, lemon cream, pistachio, and strawberry. They can sell out quickly, so be sure to get there early. 9725 Main St., Monte Rio. 707-865-5169, lightwavecafe.square.site

The Redwood

Because you don’t have to love pet-nat to join the party.

The vibe at The Redwood, a wine bar, bottle shop, and cafe from chef/wine geeks Geneva Melby and Ryan Miller is decidedly New School, with a staff that’s obsessively well versed in anything skin-contacted, unfiltered or wild-yeasted.

You’ll find eager advocates of low-intervention wines on both sides of the bar here. But even if you’re not entirely convinced, it’s worth spending time with the wine list for two reasons: One, this is the next generation of wine, a sector of the industry that continues to be on the upswing. And two, tasting notes like “spring air” and “garrigue” (the forest floor of scrubland) are wonderfully weird and entertaining.

Yes, there is a whole section of the menu devoted to tinned fish, because every cool wine bar has tinned fish for some reason. But move past the sardines to Melby’s more intriguing bites, including Liberty Duck mousse with grilled bread, yellowtail crudo with pickled rose petals, and the trip-worthy Route 1 pita-and-dip array with homemade hummus, smoky baba ghanoush and labneh with dates.

Melby has a knack for Mediterranean and North African cuisine, with savory braised lamb shank with couscous, sole tagine, or roasted squash with Calabrian chile on the dinner menu. On Sunday, don’t miss the outstanding Turkish-style breakfast with jammy eggs, feta, tahina, pickled vegetables and grilled bread. 234 S. Main St., Sebastopol. 707-861-9730, theredwoodwine.com

Casino Bar & Grill

Because Saint Evelyn’s spirit lives on.

Evelyn Casini was the heart and soul of the Casino. Even at 97, she was the ever- present, no-nonsense matriarch who could stare down a man twice her size and then grab a beer with him. When she passed away last year, Bodega locals mourned and wondered what would become of the 100-year-old bar, with its creaky wood floors, herd of stuffed deer heads and ancient jukebox — a place that has served as a gathering space and watering hole for generations.

Fortunately, Evelyn’s granddaughter-in-law, Brandi Mack, has recently taken over, ushering the Casino into a new era. Recent renovations to the bar have expanded the kitchen and fancied-up the cozy dining room, though there’s still plenty of character — and characters — to be found inside.

Mack is also carrying on Evelyn’s support of up-and-coming guest chefs, who take over the tiny kitchen at the end of the bar a few nights a week and spread their wings. This spring, chef Amelia Telc of Half Hitch, whose resume includes buzzy restaurants you’ve definitely heard of in New York and San Francisco, pops up for dinner Friday through Sunday, with globally inspired dishes like pot au feu and Cantonese fish with ginger. Her weekly lineup is driven by trips to farmers markets and what’s just come in at the dock, meaning you never quite know what you’ll get. And that’s the fun of it.

On Tuesday and Wednesday nights, Alyssum Revallo of Alyssum’s Kitchen makes her mark with comforting soups, salads, and flatbread along with smokey kalua pork and flourless chocolate cake. For updates on guest chef pop-ups, check Instagram @casinobarandgrill. 17000 Bodega Hwy., Bodega. 707-876-3185

Valette

Because Dustin isn’t the only Valette who is a Healdsburg icon.

When chef Dustin Valette opened his namesake plaza restaurant 10 years ago, his dad took up residency in the dining room — and we are all better for it. Bob Valette, now 84 years old, spent 45 years with Cal Fire flying specialized tanker planes on critical operations that ranged from the Mexican border up to Oregon. Only a handful of pilots can fly these converted military planes, known for dropping thousands of gallons of all-too-familiar reddish-pink fire retardant. Bob Valette’s dangerous job often meant leaving Dustin and his siblings in the care of family members at a moment’s notice, with little idea of when (or if) he’d return.

For most of that time, the family’s hometown was a quiet, dusty, Alexander Valley hamlet with only a handful of restaurants frequented by winemakers and ranchers. Now, Healdsburg has blossomed into an international dining destination with a growing constellation of stars and nods and regular celebrity sightings.

“Pops,” as the senior Valette is best known, spends his evenings at his son’s fine dining restaurants as unofficial greeter and full-time storyteller. He’s easily picked out amidst a sea of well-heeled visitors and Healdsburg regulars, in his jeans and black T-shirt with the Valette logo. With a glass of wine in hand, he constantly circulates, proudly letting everyone know he’s Dustin’s dad. 344 Center St., Healdsburg. 707-473-0946, valettehealdsburg.com

Valley

Because food connects neighbors.

In January, Valley chefs Emma Lipp and Stephanie Reagor hosted a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico for a deep dive into culinary history. They brought back not just recipes, but an ongoing connection to farmers and producers, resulting in a special Oaxacan menu at the restaurant. It’s just another way the Valley team, which also includes Lauren Feldman and Tanner Walle, has always made a point to marry food and culture in a way that feels intentional.

Over the past year, that’s included a series of dinners dedicated to the legacy of Chinese culture in Sonoma, a dinner celebrating the Jewish and Hungarian cuisine of Jeremy Salamon of Agi’s Counter in New York City, and an event to honor local critic Elaine Chukan Brown’s groundbreaking new book on the history of California wine, which recognizes the oft-ignored contributions of Indigenous peoples and Mexican immigrants within the industry. At Valley, you’ll always find good food — and food for thought. 487 First St. W., Sonoma. 707-934-8403, valleybarandbottle.com

Rocker Oysterfeller’s at the Wharf

Because of heaping mounds of fried seafood.

Dining at the coast is a coin toss. Sometimes the fish is fresh and local, but other times, you’re probably eating frozen Alaskan cod and soggy French fries. Sonoma’s seafood fans demand better, which is why the Captain’s Platter at Brandon Guenther and Shona Campbell’s new restaurant is the catch we’ve been waiting for.

This is classic wharf-side dining with some Southern twists — not surprising, since the original Rocker Oysterfeller’s in Valley Ford highlights shrimp and grits and fried chicken. Here, however, the focus is on the “surf,” with blackened rockfish, clam chowder and Dungeness crab. The best bet, however, is the Captain’s Platter, the holy grail for those on a pilgrimage for fried seafood.

It’s a ridiculous amount of saltine-fried shrimp, beer-battered rock cod, salt and pepper calamari, a Dungeness crab cake and Kennebec fries, served with tartar, rémoulade and cocktail sauce for your dipping pleasure. I’ve looked for something as impressive as this on the coast for decades and never before found it. A tip of the captain’s hat to the kitchen. 595 Highway 1, Bodega Bay. 707-772-5670, rockeroysterfellers.com

Table Culture Provisions

Because everyone loves an underdog.

If you had to bet on the success of two guys who opened a fried chicken takeout restaurant during the pandemic, the odds would be long. But betting those same two guys would be in the running for a 2025 Michelin star? We’re talking multi-million-dollar lottery-level odds.

The long odds weren’t for lack of talent or tenacity — it’s just that chefs Stéphane Saint Louis and Steven Vargas didn’t have loads of wealthy backers or long culinary pedigrees before opening Table Culture Provisions. They had $1,000 and a vision of putting Petaluma back on the Michelin map.

In March, their passion and commitment led to TCP being tapped as a “recommended” restaurant (along with Enclos in the town of Sonoma) by Michelin inspectors. If the restaurant receives a star, Saint Louis will be the first black chef in California to be recognized. And that’s something all of Sonoma County is rooting for. 312 Petaluma Blvd. S., Petaluma. 707-559-5739, tcprovision.com

Underwood Bar & Bistro

Because a secret Thai menu at a French restaurant screams Sonoma County.

French onion soup, steak frites, cauliflower gratin, and pad grapao moo. Though one of these things is not like the others, at Underwood it all makes sense.

Chef Mark Miller’s Graton menu has always been focused on comforting bistro classics like croque madame, frisée salads with lardons, and duck leg confit with green French lentils. His real passion, though, is Thai food. After years of traveling to southeast Asia, he fell in love with the vibrant sweet, sour, salty, spicy flavors of Thailand and learned how to make curries, sauces, and complex dishes from a Thai cooking mentor. “Working in a Thai kitchen — it was amazing. It just changed me,” says Miller.

During the pandemic, Underwood shifted to an all-Thai menu to simplify takeout. Cheeseburgers just don’t travel as well as pad Thai does. And locals loved it. While the Underwood menu has mostly returned to fan favorites, Miller keeps a handful of his favorite dishes — hat yai fried chicken, Thai lettuce cups and spicy pork pad grapao moo — in the mix. Pad Thai, however, remains the top seller. “I’m not sure why, but we serve hundreds of them each week,” he says.

This year, Miller hopes to do a Thai pop-up featuring some of his favorite recipes, happy to have an excuse to fire up the wok and cook what he loves. 9113 Graton Road, Graton. 707-823-7023, underwoodgraton.com

Shokakko

Because Spam fries are what chefs really want on their days off.

Tired of fine dining foams and tweezers, a merry band of three fine-dining chefs drew inspiration from late-night Japanese yatai food stalls selling ramen, fish cakes and skewers of grilled chicken. The trio have used their highbrow culinary skills to create skyscraper-sized fried chicken sandwiches, Spam fries, husky crab and cheese-filled croquettes, and cult-favorite cream-filled fruit sandwiches.

“It’s the things we liked eating on our days off. The stuff we couldn’t find in Sonoma County,” says chef Elijah Trujillo of the food trailer he co-founded with his partner Kayla Hendrix and friend Kazuya “Kaz” Makishima in August 2024. You’ll find their kitchen trailer at various breweries and events around Sonoma County, and the weekly lineup of their stops is posted on Instagram @eat_shokakko.

Stella

Because pasta is the new kale.

I can’t quite remember when pasta became a bad word, but it’s time to welcome back a good plate of tagliatelle and step away from the lacinato and spaghetti squash. Like forever.

Stella takes a deep dive into the bottomless well of time-tested pasta – Roman tonnarelli (spaghetti’s chunkier cousin), lumache (snail-shaped) and creste di gallo (rooster’s crest) made daily. The dried stuff in your pantry has nothing on these silky ribbons and toothy tubes meant to grip every last drop of sauce. You will be ruined for anything else after eating a plate of Stella’s housemade rigatoncini with Bolognese.

The Kenwood restaurant is a much-anticipated new venture from Glen Ellen Star founder Ari Weiswasser, his wife Erin, and managing partners Spencer and Ashley Waite. Glen Ellen Star’s chef de cuisine, Bryant Minuche, leads the kitchen.

The wood-fired oven plays a leading role at Stella, but it isn’t used for pizzas. Here the oven is for roasting vegetables, meats, and even cheese, all to bring a kiss of smoke. You’ll also want to peruse the seasonal mozzarella selections — aka the mozzarella bar — including burrata with brown butter walnuts and 12-year aged balsamic vinegar and buffalo mozzarella with anchovy and a farm-fresh egg yolk. Save room for the Baked Gelaska, a riff on Baked Alaska with sponge cake, raspberry sorbet, and vanilla gelato topped with a swirl of torched marshmallow fluff. You can always go back to kale tomorrow. 9049 Sonoma Hwy., Kenwood. 707-801-8043, stellakenwood.com

Wild Poppy

Because the patio is everything, and so is the queso.

Warm days call for lazy mornings with mimosas and “cosmic queso” nachos on the rambling outdoor patio of this perfectly imperfect restaurant. It’s always been a magical place, full of nooks, crannies, and hidden spaces for adults and kids to explore. The remote location a few miles outside Sebastopol has been both blessing and curse, but the historic roadhouse finally seems to have hit its stride with an inclusive plant-forward menu that doesn’t exclude meat eaters.

This is west county, after all, and cosmic nachos with plant-based cheese sauce and cashew crema are not only normal, they’re expected. What’s unexpected is that the creamy cashew queso dip with a swirl of pepita chimichurri and a side of slaw is delightful, even if plant-based cheese isn’t your jam.

Sit by the babbling stream hidden by steep slopes covered in ivy and shaded by eucalyptus trees. The world slows for a moment or two while you enjoy heirloom beans and greens with polenta, fish tacos, or a fat grilled mushroom sandwich on focaccia. 9890 Bodega Hwy., Sebastopol. 707-503-6332, thewildpoppycafe.com

Troubadour

Because it’s been shouted from the rooftops.

Fine dining chefs-turned-entrepreneurs Melissa Yanc and Sean McGaughey are media darlings for a reason. Recognized by The New York Times, the James Beard Foundation and the Michelin Guide, the couple have created quite the following around their quirky food businesses around Healdsburg, which launched with beloved bakery Quail & Condor.

And when you have bread, you have sandwiches — the foundation of Troubadour, the second act in the ambitious couple’s culinary story. By day, Troubadour pairs freshly baked bread with a revolving lineup of fillings, including ham and brie with honey, fresh ricotta and roasted carrots, and creamy egg salad. Sounds simple, but these sandwiches are anything but.

Come nightfall, McGaughey and his small team shift gears for Le Diner, with seasonal French dishes like escargot, bouillabaisse, and duck breast stuffed with mushrooms and dates, either à la carte or as part of a seven-course tasting menu, and served on mix-and-match Limoges china. Troubadour’s kitchen lacks a proper hood or stove (it used to be a cupcake decorating room), so much of the cooking is done in simmer baths and low-temperature ovens, an even more incredulous feat. 381 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. 707-756-3972, troubadourhbg.com

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As California winemakers look for grape varieties more tolerant to drought and heat, plantings of a rare French grape native to the Languedoc region of southern France are likely to rise. Picpoul Blanc, with only 48 acres bearing fruit in the state, has great growing potential, according to Paso Robles winemaker Jason Haas.

His winery, Tablas Creek Vineyard, was the first in California to work with the variety, after importing cuttings from France in 1995. “You can let the grapes hang a long time, so they develop tropical characters like piña colada — and they’ll still have super-bright acid.”

For a grape few have heard of in the U.S., Picpoul Blanc has a surprising number of superfans — especially here in Sonoma County, where winemakers are embracing its vibrant, racy edge (“picpoul” means “sting the lip” in French). At Marine Layer Wines in Healdsburg, winemaker Rob Fischer was “immediately intrigued” when he learned the owners of Three Oaks Farm on Sonoma Mountain had grafted about an acre and a half of Syrah over to Picpoul Blanc in 2022.

At Three Oaks Farm, the Picpoul is planted mid-slope, where cool temperatures can push ripening into October.

“You just have to be patient,” says Fischer. “It can express itself as a generic white grape, until it turns a corner late in the season when the acid drops and it develops these nice citrus flavors. That’s when I know we’re in action.”

In a region flooded with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Fisher commends Sonoma County winegrowers for planting less common varieties like Picpoul Blanc. “I live in Napa, but I love the fact you can grow so many different varieties in Sonoma County,” he says. “I’m really excited to see growers experimenting with these fringe varieties.”

Compared to Sonoma County, which has just 4 acres of Picpoul Blanc, the Lodi wine region of San Joaquin Valley has a whopping 12. That’s where winemaker Blair Guthrie of Guthrie Family Wines in Sonoma sources fruit. For his 2023 Faux Picpoul Blanc ($28), Guthrie picked relatively early to maintain the variety’s “electric acidity and lively pop.” As for the wine’s name, “Faux” — don’t be fooled. Guthrie’s wine is 100% Picpoul Blanc.

Winemaker William Allen has been producing a Picpoul Blanc at Two Shepherds Winery in Windsor since 2018, with fruit sourced from the little-known Windmill Vineyard in Yolo County’s Dunnigan Hills. “Our wine lives up to the name ‘lip stinger,’ but it also has texture and depth, which makes it great with oysters and crab,” he says.

In 2021, Allen went out on a limb and also made a sparkling canned wine called Natty Pets, a blend of Picpoul Blanc and Grenache Blanc. About 35% of the Picpoul was skin-fermented, which gave the wine a light orange hue.

“We launched it as a sparkling orange wine and everyone went ga-ga over it,” says Allen. “We doubled production of the wine last year, and we still sold out.”

Like others, Allen believes Picpoul Blanc is exceptionally well-suited to California’s Mediterranean climate.

“People need to stop planting Chardonnay in California and start planting Picpoul Blanc,” he says. “It loves the heat, it’s not prone to rot or mildew, it bears good yields and is easy to grow. It’s perfect for Picpoul.”

This story was originally published in The Press Democrat. Read the full story here.

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An article in Food Republic, an online industry publication founded by chef Marcus Samuelsson, offered this advice: “It’s a general rule of thumb that diners should leave a restaurant within 15 minutes of getting the check, otherwise, it’s considered a form of overstaying your welcome.”

For decades, most restaurant owners have seen profit in turnover, seating as many guests as possible — packing their spaces to keep kitchens busy and servers earning tips. Too many people hanging out at tables for too long cuts into the bottom line in an industry where profits are measured in pennies.

In Sonoma County, however, other restaurant owners play the long game. Instead of rushing guests out the door, they’re building community, embracing a philosophy that advocates for the need for “third places.” The term, coined by urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg in his 1989 book, “The Great Good Place,” refers to places other than home and work where people go to gather and socialize with others.

Allowing guests to linger is likely driven by economic concerns, says California Restaurant Association President and CEO Jot Condie. He says that restaurants face more competition than ever as customers tighten their wallets. As the competitive landscape tightens, restaurant owners look for ways to stand out from the crowd.

“As customers are dialing back at table-service restaurants, building an experience is critical,” Condie says. “The restaurants are investing more into differentiating themselves, in hopes that people maybe stick around longer, but certainly come back again.”

Sonoma County diners can witness a range of responses to this trend, from displays of board games and books to borrow, to seating guests at long community tables, to trivia nights, live music and dance parties. At Altamont General Store in Occidental, co-owners Jenay and Andzia Hofftin offer a mix of experiences.

“Our motto is ‘eat, shop, gather,’” Jenay says. “That was our business model before the pandemic, and when we finally were able to reopen, the ‘gather’ became even more important, since we felt there was really no place to hang out in Occidental and meet a friend and chat over good food and fun.”

Altamont General Store guests can spin vintage vinyl on an antique turntable, browse culinary and art books while lounging on a sofa, take a craft workshop, or kick back with live music on Friday nights in summer in the Yard, a family-friendly outdoor lounge. Some Saturday nights, even bigger bands tour through.

As parents of young children, the Hofftins also focus on creating community for younger guests. The Yard has fun toys plus an oversized Connect Four to play and a boulder to climb on. “That allows parents to have a whole cappuccino or a whole glass of wine or at least five bites of food without having to worry,” says Andzia. “I’m from Hawaii, and we do long, extended family gatherings, so it feels really natural to extend that into our space.”

At Little Saint in Healdsburg, guests relax in comfy wicker chairs on the front patio, leisurely sipping pour-over coffees, and sharing little bits of tofu scramble tacos with their canine companions. The adjacent two-story barn-style building is designed with lots of nooks and corner retreats for guests to hang out.

“We like to call ourselves Healdsburg’s living room,” says director of events and marketing Sara Beckstead. “It’s just a natural setting to sit and connect.”

On Thursday nights, free live music shows take over the restaurant’s upper level, and there are also ticketed events, like a recent screening of a Wendell Berry documentary, along with a panel discussion with the film’s producers about the life of the legendary author and farmer.

“We’re trying to do as much programming as we can that’s relevant to our farming and lifestyle mission and what Sonoma County stands for,” says Little Saint executive director Jenny Hess. “Diverse programming also brings in new audiences… Maybe they come because their favorite band is playing, but once they’re here, they experience our food, enjoy a cocktail, and suddenly, we have a new regular in our world.”

That’s an understandable strategy, says the CRA’s Jot Condie. “You want a line of customers out the door — that helps the environment and sense of community that you get with that dull roar of a conversation in the background and clinking glasses.”

New ideas are constantly being hatched. Successful restaurant owners observe their guests’ habits and cultivate new programming with new ways to connect. Valley Swim Club in Sonoma hosts popular movie nights, queer-friendly line-dancing and a holiday market. Twin Oaks Roadhouse in Penngrove has a raucous trivia night, as does the Goose & Fern in Santa Rosa. Brigitte Bistro in Petaluma invites guests to play for the room on their baby grand piano. And casual roadhouses like Brewster’s Beer Garden in Petaluma and HopMonk Tavern in Sonoma and Sebastopol, have built their reputations on live music along with great pub food.

“Of course, it’s an investment to offer all these things,” says Jenny Hess. “Sure, we would love for people to be eating and drinking the whole time they’re sitting around, but we can’t expect that, and we’re OK with it. This is a deliberate investment — an investment in community goodwill. The more positive experiences that people feel at Little Saint, the more likely they are to return.”

“We want it to be a great place for people to hang out with friends, and then they all want to come back again and again. They do come back, so it works well for us.”

Little Saint: 25 North St., Healdsburg. 707-433-8207, littlesainthealdsburg.com

Altamont General Store: 3703 Main St., Occidental. 707-874-6053, altamontgeneral.com

The post These Sonoma County Restaurants Encourage Guests to Stay Awhile appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Hummingbirds never fail to enthrall us. We plant flowers for their benefit, hang brightly colored feeders to lure them near, and watch in awe as they eat without landing, suspended in mid-air.

“The cool thing about hummingbirds is that a lot of people, nonbirders, seem to be pretty aware of them,” says Petaluma’s Dan Nelson, assuredly a birder after helping the local Madrone chapter of the Audubon Society record observations for over four decades.

In courtship, males fly high above the treetops then dive-bomb back to earth, producing at the last second a distinctive chirp from their flared tail feathers before arcing sharply skyward, an acrobatic feat repeated again and again to show off to their mates — as if their brilliant, iridescent plumage weren’t enough.

Despite hummingbirds’ diminutive size, they can travel vast distances. Allen’s hummingbirds breed here between January and July but spend the rest of the year in central Mexico. Three-inch Rufous hummingbirds are long-haul truckers by comparison: they pass through Sonoma in spring on the way to breeding grounds as far north as Alaska, and in fall on their way back to Mexico.

Anna’s hummingbirds, the least migratory North American hummingbird species, reside in Sonoma County year-round. Identifiable by their emerald backs and unique rose-pink heads, they account for most local sightings and feeder visits. This makes them no less special — but to birders like Nelson, more unexpected guests are of even greater intrigue.

He still remembers the day in March 1992 when a man in Kenwood called to report seeing a “real unusual albino hummingbird” at his feeder. Albinism is not uncommon in hummingbirds, but what excited Nelson was that the bird had a red beak. Albino Anna’s have yellowish beaks, so Nelson knew he was dealing with something different. He rushed to the man’s house and saw that indeed, this was a rare bird: a violet-crowned hummingbird with a bare-white chest and neck, far removed from its usual warm-climate, desert southwest range.

“I asked if it would be all right if I told a few friends about it, and told him if so, there might be some people that would show up,” Nelson laughs. “The bird stayed for four or five days, and by the end, everybody was calling their friends…Probably a hundred people got over there to see it.”

To attract hummingbirds, Nelson recommends mixing four parts water to one part sugar to fill your feeder (most feeders feature bright colors, so there’s no need to add red food coloring to the mix). Hummingbirds also feast on a range of flowering plants and insects, and are widely seen at this time of year, even just outside a kitchen window.

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Plump, sweet figs have thrived in Sonoma County since the Mission period. Cyrus Alexander planted fig trees on Rancho Sotoyome lands near Healdsburg in the 1840s and ’50s, and for many years, there was a famous intertwining fig tree — two trees, actually — at Alexander Valley Vineyards. Over the decades, many varieties have thrived here, among them the pale Kadota, Brown Turkey and Black Mission.

The fig is an ancient fruit, cultivated in Egypt and said to have grown in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Fig trees spread from the eastern Mediterranean to Greece, Italy and France, where dried figs were popular as early as the 1400s.

California produces nearly all of the commercial crop in the U.S. After you’ve eaten your fill of the year’s first figs straight up, they are delicious when made into fresh chutneys or stuffed with blue cheese, wrapped in bacon and grilled. They are also delicious in this easy summer salad, full of refreshing crunch.

Early Summer Salad with Figs, Feta and Scallion Vinaigrette

Serves 4-6

1/2 cup scallion vinaigrette, recipe follows

1/2 head Romaine lettuce, sliced crosswise into 3/8-inch-wide strips

3 ounces (about 1/6 head) purple cabbage, thinly sliced

1/2 cup flatleaf parsley

1/2 tsp. Kosher salt

1 very small red onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)

2 ounces shelled pecans, lightly toasted

4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

4 to 6 ripe figs, stems removed, sliced lengthwise into wedges

1 handful fresh spearmint leaves, sliced into thin ribbons

4 or 5 fresh basil leaves, sliced into thin ribbons

Freshly ground black pepper

First, make the vinaigrette and set aside.

Put the lettuce, cabbage and parsley into a wide shallow bowl. Sprinkle lightly with a pinch of salt and toss.

Add the onion, pecans, feta cheese and about 2/3 of the vinaigrette and toss again.

Add the figs, mint, basil and several turns of black pepper and gently toss twice.

Drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette and enjoy right away.

Scallion Vinaigrette

Makes about 1/2 cup

4 scallions, trimmed and cut into very thin rounds

2 garlic cloves, preferably fresh (uncured), crushed and minced

2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste Kosher salt

5 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp. maple syrup

Add scallions, garlic, lemon juice, and a generous pinch of salt into the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times. Add the olive oil and maple syrup and pulse again. Taste and add a bit more salt or lemon juice, if necessary.

The post Fresh Figs Are a Sweet Addition to This Simple Summer Salad appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

What makes a great burger? Everyone has a different opinion — a fat patty or a smashed one, cooked medium-well or burnt to a crisp, with potato buns or brioche, with cheese or without.

For me, it’s about everything working together in harmony: a little grease dripping down the wrist, sauce on my face, stragglers of shredded lettuce dangling from the bun, and the perfect grind of beef with just a hint of char. Here are some favorite local burgers worth checking out.

Best Americana

Machado Burger

Walk-up windows are a dying breed in the age of drive-thrus, but this 60-year-old neighborhood burger-and-milkshake spot is better than ever. Inside tables are scarce, but it’s just as fun to sit on the curb to eat their messy grilled beef burgers with shredded iceberg lettuce while admiring hot rods at their Sunday rallies. Just don’t get any ketchup on the cars. 406 Larkfield Center, Santa Rosa and 9240 Old Redwood Hwy., Windsor. 707-546-6835, machadoburgers.com

Best Classic

Superburger

You’ll smell the sweet smoke of flame-kissed Angus burgers as you walk to the door. Keep it simple with the old-school Cheese Superburger, chocolate shake and tater tots. We recommend extra sauce for dipping and plenty of napkins on hand. 1501 Fourth St., Santa Rosa, 707-546-4016, and 8204 Old Redwood Hwy., Cotati, 707-665-9790. originalsuperburger.com

Best Value

Acme Burger

This is the place for great burgers on a budget. The single Acme Burger is just $7.10. Upgrades are à la carte, including fancy cheese, applewood bacon, avocado and even truffle butter. Their awesome sauce, however, is on the house. 1007 W. College Ave., Santa Rosa; 550 East Cotati Ave., Cotati; 701 Sonoma Mountain Pkwy., Petaluma; and 330 Western Ave., Petaluma. acmeburgerco.com

Best Burger and a Scoop

Iggy’s Organic Burgers

It’s normal to short-circuit just a little walking into Iggy’s. The narrow Healdsburg storefront is a scoop shop, and a burger restaurant run by a mother-son team. Start with the Iggy, an organic smashburger cooked in beef tallow and topped with local cheddar, pickled onions, and tangy Million Island sauce between two sweet Hawaiian buns. Save room for a scoop of caramel ice cream studded with chocolate-caramel toffee. 109 Plaza St., Healdsburg. iggysburger.com

Best Smashburger

Lunch Box

Though we’re longtime devotees of the diner-style Burger Harn with fancy sauce and shredded iceberg lettuce, the Oklahoma fried onion smash burger’s lacy cheese edges, sweet grilled onions, and drippy cheese can’t be denied. Pair with Dirty Fries topped with smoked bacon, pepperoncini, ranch dressing and garlic confit. 128 N. Main St., Sebastopol. lunchboxsonomacounty.com

Best Burger With a View

The Sea Ranch Lodge

The burger is good, but the seascape views on the patio of this windswept coastal lodge are incredible. Stop for a quick bite at the recently renovated lounge and solarium for a refined Sea Ranch Burger served with Fiscalini cheddar and aioli on a brioche bun. 60 Sea Walk Drive, Sea Ranch. 707-579-9777, thesearanchlodge.com

Find more favorite burgers around Sonoma County here.

The post 6 Favorite Burger Spots in Sonoma County appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

There’s a tiny sparrow fluttering and dipping its wings in a small pool of water collected at the edge of the roof that cantilevers over Stephen Singer’s porch in rural Sebastopol. It’s a moment that would have thrilled his young granddaughter, who has just left after an extended visit to the farm, and Singer looks delighted, too.

The wraparound porch overlooks a sweep of olive groves and vineyards in a small, west-facing valley punctuated with blocks of grapes and olive trees. The landscape is full of life: owls hunt for gophers and nest in boxes placed at the side of the vineyards, and ducks and occasionally river otters cavort in the seasonal stream at the bottom of the hill. “I could sit all day and watch the turkey vultures fly around,” says Singer. “They’re beautiful aviators.”

There are few as well equipped as Singer to hear the songs of all this rural bounty and beauty. A restaurateur and wine merchant, he is known for his connection to Chez Panisse, the Berkeley restaurant founded by his former wife, Alice Waters. Singer oversaw Chez Panisse’s wine program for decades, ran a landmark wine shop in San Francisco, and consulted on wine lists for dozens of restaurants while importing rare olive oils from Tuscany. (Paul Bertolli, a colleague at Chez Panisse in the early 1980s, first opened his eyes to the vibrant, fruity qualities of Tuscan olive oils.)

Singer now focuses his formidable energy on products from his Sebastopol farm, including wines from 6 planted acres as well as two blends of estate olive oil — staples of a gracious spread. “Wine on the table pulses with a sense of purpose,” Singer says. “It makes the table a more beautiful place, and it invites conversation and community.”

Singer is also an accomplished visual artist. His studio takes up the second floor of a corrugated metal outbuilding that houses tractors and field equipment on the ground floor and an acetaia, or vinegar-making operation, above. Singer paints with watercolors, layering dozens of thin washes of color atop the page to explore formal issues of light, space and form. He explains that while he doesn’t paint from nature per se, his work is saturated with reflections of light and color in the landscape.

The labels he created for his estate Syrah and Viognier engage with this interplay: the Syrah has a subtle design in keeping with its dark, complex character, but the Viognier reads exuberant and bright. One imagines the colors on that label in dialog with the character of both the fruit it’s made with and the light, summery foods it might accompany — it’s a “vivid, polychromatic expression,” the artist explains.

Singer first explored Sonoma County in the 1970s, riding motorcycles and cycling through the hills of west county with friends. When he was ready to make the leap, he became enamored of the idea of raw land, a place where he could realize his own built environment. Singer’s parents had built the house he grew up in, in Oklahoma, and he longed for a spot where he could assert his creativity as they had.

When he purchased the property 23 years ago, it was planted with a few thousand apple trees alongside a couple of simple farm buildings and a doublewide trailer for farmworker housing. With strong ideas for the new home he wanted to build, Singer worked collaboratively with architect Keith Anding to realize the design. The brief was for a modern, light-filled environment that gave the impression of an urban loft, with a similar flow between spaces, but on open land.

“What I really like about hypermodern architecture and design is that it draws you to the experience of the form itself,” Singer says. “As much as the house has a lot of modern elements, it hardly feels severe.”

A large space for cooking and conversation centers the design. “In many ways, my house is a large kitchen with some bedrooms around it,” he reflects. The kitchen accommodates large gatherings with multiple chefs around a center island and peninsula that connect to an indoor dining space on one side and an outdoor kitchen on the other. His many years in restaurants informed the functionality.

“One of the things that’s interesting is that people who haven’t spent time in restaurants often think that the optimal efficiency is found in having a lot of space. Well, that’s actually not the case. If the distances are too large, it’s disadvantageous,” he says.

What is important is flow and easy accessibility. Singer uses low trays to corral dozens of favorite oils and vinegars within arm’s reach of the stove, while at the center of the island, ceramic crocks hold wooden spoons, spatulas and tongs. “There’s something about the architecture of my brain — I like to see as many tools and things out on display as possible for efficiency, for remembering what I have to work with.”

The adjacent outdoor kitchen connects through a large door and features an enormous hearth equipped with a Tuscan grill. “Most of the winter weather comes from the south and east, so even if it’s howling rain, this part of the house is protected and I can go outside and grill,” Singer says.

In June, the vineyards and olive groves come alive with the lush energy of the season, a sense of fertility and vitality, Singer says. “It’s a truism of painting that green can take over a painting. So in early summer, when you have all this green like you do here, you can’t keep it out. It feels like a welcoming presence, a waking up of your connection to the outdoors.”

From the porch, he can take in developing clusters on the vines and boysenberries and Santa Rosa plums in the garden. He also often sits on the porch at night to listen to the singing of the frogs in the creek and gaze at the sky. “When it’s moonlit, you can see the vineyards, and when it’s not, you can see the stars,” he says.

Though he has been in the wine business for 44 years and has farmed grapes on this site for two decades, Singer is still realizing new chapters in his relationship to wine. He recently relaunched under a new name, Singer Wine, and is focusing on smaller, high-quality releases. Learning to farm this land has been an introduction to a whole new canon of knowledge, he says, as he absorbed the character of the site and began to fully realize its promise.

“One of the things that farming — especially organized, sustainable farming, where you’re not bluntly trying to impose your will — is you have to learn the systems. Not just how to accommodate them, but how to work within them. It’s another way of saying that it’s about trying to find a certain highly functional state of equilibrium. And that means also recognizing a system of balance and a relationship to all the other animals.”

“Having the opportunity to recognize all these different creatures — ducks, river otters, turkey, deer. It’s really fun to feel that we get to share this neighborhood.”

The post Stephen Singer Discovers a System of Balance at His Sebastopol Farm appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Around a bend along rural Red Hill Road outside Petaluma, where green and gold grasses carpet the hills and century-old barns hunker down like sentries, you’ll find one of Sonoma’s unlikeliest foodie treasures: the hobbit-size wagon that’s home to Mary Denham’s indie pastry project, Blooms End at Neighboring Fields.

There’s no sign along the road — it keeps blowing away in this windy corridor of the valley — just a sharp turn into the parking lot for Tenfold Farmstand. Right next to the 130-year-old schoolhouse-turned-market, you’ll find Denham’s tiny perfect world, which draws customers from across the Bay Area for croissant tarts smoothed with aprium jam, golden olive oil cake with oro blanco grapefruit cream, and savory Turkish urfa butter snails with garlic labneh and herb salad.

The rural location, with cows grazing the hills just beyond and barely any cell reception, makes sense for this highly creative artist who pours her heart into everything she does, from sourcing exquisite ingredients to restoring a vintage wagon to arranging seasonal blooms for her pastry displays. “I’ve always been more at home in the country,” Denham explains, pouring a cup of fragrant bergamot rooibos tea from Oakland’s Molly’s Refresher.

Just a few years back, Denham, who is in her early 30s and grew up in the suburban East Bay, launched her business with a series of Bay Area pop-ups, working out of a shared kitchen in pursuit of being her own boss and focusing on her love of baking. “I went to culinary school, I had worked in local bakeries and restaurants, and I was always observing,” she says. “I always knew what I wanted to do, which is bake every day, source every single ingredient thoughtfully, and then talk directly to every single one of my customers.”

Denham embraces nostalgia in many aspects of her work, dressing in vintage prairie and cowgirl clothes, piling her hair in a “Little House on the Prairie”-style updo, and speaking in a romantic cadence. Her darling, custom-built shop is not a trailer, for example, and absolutely not a food truck. “It’s a wagon,” she says. “I find words very important, for how we picture and experience things.”

Denham admits she cried when she first saw the wagon, loving its oval batard shape and coloring, but not its plainness. She transformed it herself, designing and printing custom patterns for curtains and wallpaper and building rustic wood shelves to display her pastries. Secondhand stores provided mugs, plates, and even the vintage printers letterpress trays that guests use to carry their feasts to the picnic tables on the schoolhouse lawn.

“After years of doing pop-ups, I had learned to build a world within the confines of a 6-foot folding table,” she explains. “So I fill the wagon with lots of vintage accessories and fresh flowers, and really create an altar to the pastries. Transformation is really all about the details.”

Denham takes that same thoughtful approach to her recipes. “I think sweets have this great ability to transport us back to our childhood, back to specific moments in time,” the chef says of her lacy tart hand-shaped to look like a rose stuffed with vibrant pink pearl apple slices, raspberry jam, and custard cream cheese.

For her signature coffee-cardamom monkey bites, Denham cuts cardamom and orange zest-infused croissant dough into little squares and tosses them with sugar mixed with coffee from Mother Tongue Coffee of Oakland — decaffeinated, she notes, since the bites are popular with children. As they bake, the sugars meld with the butter and the tops crisp up while the bottoms caramelize into chewy bliss.

Many customers are regulars, including Julie Cloutier, a Sebastopol ceramicist, who stops in with a friend at least once a month. “It’s like taking ourselves out on a date,” she says. “The drive out sets the vibe, and Blooms End is this beautiful dream world that we get a slice of.”

In a few more weeks, Denham will partner with Tenfold to host Tomato Days, an event she launched last year with tomato-filled pastries and pie, a funky, tomato-themed mixtape, and handmade tomato pins to hand out to fans. The pie itself, a southern-style tribute with heirloom tomatoes, cheddar, basil, and red onion, has proved so popular she now offers it all summer.

Keeping the ideas flowing isn’t a challenge, Denham says, packing a to-go box brimming with a Meyer lemon moon pie, a labneh-iced cinnamon roll, a bergamot- vanilla bean morning bun, and a smoked ham-and-Emmental croissant draped in homemade plum-currant jam. “On my days off, I like to go to vintage markets and estate sales,” she says. “And customers help me out. People see that I love prairie dresses and cute old things, and they’ll bring me them.”

Customers also ask, constantly, if Denham ever plans to expand, into a larger shop, an upscale restaurant supply, or even a franchise. And with a happy smile, she always says no. She’s seen too many other bakers get weighed down with the demands of bigger businesses with bigger overhead. “Most of the larger business owners I saw were not baking anymore, because you have to give a lot of concessions to make a business succeed in the traditional way,” she says.

She prefers to be the one getting up around midnight for a final bake, dressed in a band T-shirt and Carhartt overalls. She likes to accommodate pre-orders personally, since her stock sells out so quickly. And she still thrills to each day at the wagon, when she gets to put on a vintage dress and greet her customer-friends.

“It’s hard to make money at baking, with such a small business,” she says. “It takes over your life. But I absolutely love what I’m doing, every little bit of it, so it’s a joy to devote my whole world to.”

Blooms End at Neighboring Fields. Open 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Take San Antonio Road from Highway 101 towards the coast. 5300 Red Hill Road, Petaluma. 415-949-0654, blooms-end.com

The post Mary Denham’s Blooms End is Petaluma’s Unlikeliest Foodie Treasure appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

Nick Schwanz and Spencer Scott are living a vision for a more joyful and sustainable future. On their experimental land project in rural Guerneville, the couple demonstrates how a life that centers caring for the earth can be forward-thinking, delicious — and serve the wider community.

In early 2020, Nick and Spencer were living in San Francisco but dreamed of moving to a place where they could build a more thoughtful relationship to the natural world. They began to draw up a list of what that different life could look like, centering the importance of community and resilience. “We made this impossible list so that we wouldn’t do it,” jokes Spencer. “But then when we found this place, it definitely felt like, ‘OK, we’re in.’”

The place that captured their imagination was a 10-acre horse ranch that admittedly was in somewhat rough shape for a future regenerative farm — much of the front acreage was buried under a foot of compacted sand where a riding arena used to be. But it was right in Guerneville, with that town’s strongly rooted queer community, and the couple knew that with effort, the land could be remediated for vegetable beds and orchards. The property also boasted a small redwood grove, a house with enough space to host friends and family, and plenty of access to nearby wild spaces.

“You have to fall in love with land to do a land project,” says Nick. “And there’s nowhere easier to fall in love with land in Northern California. We have the most diverse, the biggest, the most grand, the most sweeping natural ecosystems of anywhere in America. It’s just crazy how magical this place is.”

The couple moved to the farm in 2020. The first order of business? Tearing out the riding arena and building up soil and infrastructure to grow food. “The beginning was actually the easiest part,” says Spencer. “There was so much excitement, and we didn’t know how far we had to go.”

“We had that sprinter energy, like the beginning of a race where you come out of the gate fast,” laughs Nick.

Five years down the road, Solar Punk Farms is an ever-evolving demonstration of a vibrant, positive, inclusive, climate-first existence. With the help of Nick’s father, a master carpenter, they’ve refurbished the house and built a large chicken coop — and a magnificent, spiral, solarpunk-style greenhouse, which has become a local landmark.

Nick and Spencer are also selling produce to local restaurants, teaching schoolkids how to grow food, and giving away 40 cubic yards of compost a month in partnership with Zero Waste Sonoma. Support from Fulcrum Arts, which works with emerging organizations at the intersection of art and science, allowed the couple to hire their first full-time employee to assist with farming outreach and education. They’ve also hosted work parties, climate education talks, homemade brunches for local seniors, wine festivals and even a wedding — their own, on a hand-built stage in the redwood grove out back in the summer of 2023.

Spencer is currently finishing a book about living a climate-forward life, even as the couple continue to shape the vision for the project and work day jobs to keep afloat. “It’s always, ‘What’s the next thing?’ And I think that’s in our blood,” Spencer says. “Nick and I are always doing three jobs and working on three projects all at once.”

Sharing their work

Nick: People are sometimes surprised that this is our home. People will drive into our driveway sometimes, and we’ll just stop and give that random stranger a tour. What helps is that we’re both very passionate about sustainability and this project we’re working on. So it’s a joy to bring people along and make community around the thing we’re really passionate about.

Self-reliance vs. community reliance

Nick: A lot of people, when they think about homesteading, it’s often framed around self-reliance. That’s not what Solar Punk is all about. This is not self-reliance; this is community reliance. One of the chapters of Spencer’s book is called the myth of self-reliance. The idea is that it’s not about being isolationist and showing all the things that we can do on our own. It’s about showing that a project like this requires a ton of community.

The role of a farmer

Spencer: I think we’ve romanticized farming in a certain way that doesn’t give enough respect for how difficult it is. I want to say that in a very positive way. I mean that it’s important to respect how difficult it is to farm — and at the same time, it’s also great to have an herb garden on your windowsill. There are different levels of what farming and growing food means. You don’t need to be a farmer to be a voice within this larger climate and sustainability movement. It’s fun to grow food and eat your own food, but it’s also fun to support your local farmers who are already doing it well. That’s ultimately part of doing a project like this.

Part of something bigger

Nick: From a strategic lens, we’re these millennial, goofy, queer, dorky people, right? Which is behind many of the things we want to do here. So many on-ramps to the bigger climate movement have been depressing for way too long. Everything’s burning, you have to run away from this, etc. The wider solarpunk movement that we named the farm for was founded on the idea that the on-ramps need to be fun and beautiful and optimistic and inclusive and all of these things, because that’s what will get people to join.

On not always knowing what they’re doing

Nick: We’ve talked a lot about how we were just run-of-the-mill, everyday city people and now we are doing this project. And the learning is the point — we’re not doing it because we’re good at farming. We’re doing it because we want to learn how to do it. So expertise isn’t a barrier — that’s one of the messages we’re trying to get at. Not everybody is going to do a land project, not everybody lives in the country, a lot of people live in cities. Everybody’s got different backgrounds. But the climate movement desperately needs everybody involved in some capacity, and being good at something shouldn’t be the limiting factor. Learning how to be good at it should be part of what makes it enjoyable.

Working at the speed of the land

Nick: My biggest awakening and shock with this project was needing to work on a different timeline than I was used to. We took a permaculture design class with Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, and on the last day, we were talking with the teacher, and I told him I’d learned that I really need to slow down. And the teacher said, ‘I’m glad that you called that out. I can tell you want stuff to move faster and be more in your control. And I can tell you, that’s not how a big land project is going to work.’ So it was a really big, energetic shift to a place where you are working at the speed of the land, and that’s fixed. You do as much as you can and then get excited for the next season.

Spencer: It’s been a battle to find a balance between staying motivated and not forgetting to be happy with where this place is at every stage along the way. It helps when people visit and they say, ‘You guys have done so much.’ Because there’s still so much more to do.

Summer on the horizon

Nick: I know everybody says summers on the farm are when it’s really crazy. But for us, spring is super intense, when we’re cleaning and planning and planting and getting all this stuff done. And then June is when all of the investment of spring comes alive and we start to realize the fruits of that labor. The big kickoff to summer is now Big West Wine Fest, and that’s also when we start to do our fun little pool parties. And this year, the garden is going to be producing a ton.

Spencer: There are all these intentionally planted things, and you start getting the fun flowers that come up in the beds after the spring wildflowers finish. So it’s about helping out in the garden, making jam, making big meals with the vegetables. It’s so fun.

Nick: We’ve never had a June like this. There’s going to be so much bounty. This is the first time when I feel like we have enough people here to do it all and do it well, so we’re really excited about it. This is going to be like the unveiling year.

To learn more about regenerative farming, LGBTQ+-friendly work parties and local outreach programs, including free compost distribution, visit solarpunkfarms.com.

Solar Punk Farms hosts the third annual Big West Wine Fest natural wine gathering June 14 and 15. bigwestwinefest.com

The post Solar Punk Farms Provides a Vision for a More Joyful, Sustainable Future appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.