Pemba Sherpa has proudly opened Farmhouse Sonoma where Palms Grille, and a previous Denny’s, used to be at the corner of Highway 12 and Verano Ave.
We have all watched the transformation of the exterior from decaying to sparkling white with total remodel and hip interior design, as well as landscaping, all assisted by the family of shopping center owner, the developer and real estate investor George Altamura.
Farmhouse Sonoma has a full liquor license and counter bar, and dining seats for those who show up single and like to watch the kitchen action. Pemba Sherpa also has a “crafted cocktail” menu (all $14). Ask about the “Orange Hill.”
Bestowed with the honor of Pemba Sherpa inviting me to attend the Sherpa community dinner two weeks ago, the first ever served at Farmhouse Sonoma, my friends Cindy and Mars Lasar and I loved the crispy calamari, beet salad, Caesar salad, Little Gem salad, short rib, grilled Bronzino fish, and the rib eye steak, the latter served with caramelized onion and garlic confit (other steak cuts available). Sides of whipped Yukon Gold potatoes, mushrooms, asparagus and truffle Parmesan fries are also available. The Tiramisu was gorgeous to look at and completely shareable.
Others have told me they love the brie toast, Brussels sprouts, pappardelle carbonara, and pork chop Milanese.
Farmhouse Sonoma is also open for breakfast (8:00 to 11:30 a.m.) and lunch until about 3 p.m. Guests can enjoy a huge Cobb salad, burgers, steak sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwich (ask for a slice of tomato added), BLT, grilled trout, pizzas such as Margarita or wild mushroom and black truffle ($19) at lunch. Sandwiches come with choice of fries or salad.
Breakfast selections include an American breakfast, omelets, French toast, pancakes and waffles, steel cut oats with Straus whole milk, dried fruit, nuts and Manuka honey, avocado toast and even steak and eggs or chicken fried steak.
Pemba features loads of local wines, such as Capo Isetta, Gloria Ferrer, Schug, Robledo, Meadowcroft, Sixteen 600, Cline, Hanzell, Patz & Hall, Chateau St. Jean, and others.
Constantly planning, he will soon open a side door to offer espresso and pastries to go and looks forward to starting a Happy Hour soon, along with Farmhouse Sonoma Catering. Pemba Sherpa also owns Taste of the Himalayas across from Murphy’s Irish Pub in Place des Pyrenées off First Street East in Sonoma.
18999 Highway 12, Sonoma. (707) 210-0515. Res at opentable.com.
Poppy to pop open
Remember the fig café and wine bar, or the girl and the gaucho in Glen Ellen? Think again.
Sondra Bernstein and John Toulze have morphed the space into Poppy, representing the state’s flower and symbol of California joy and optimism. Especially if you like French food. And those who haven’t tried it should consider it.
The girl & the fig at First Street West and West Spain Street has always been French-ish, or California French, but as Bernstein and Toulze traveled more frequently in France, the more they wanted to create a true French bistro here in Sonoma Valley. And they have.
Having been among the many people who attended their last Suite D dinner for the season, I got to try some of the items that just might turn up on the new Poppy menu. The “Inspired by Poppy” dinner started with Jambon au Beurre, meaning paper thin slices of Parisian ham, with house cultured butter and a sprinkling of chopped baby chives with sourdough bread.
Then we tasted a citrus and burrata salad with Niçoise pistachios, and hot honey.
Next came the Poulet de Bresse Rôti, a coveted specialty of tender French chicken served with spring vegetables, wild mushrooms, whipped garlic and vin jaune, meaning a delicate sauce made with “yellow” wine.
There will also be special prix fixe four-course dinners along with the regular menu. Toulze plans one of his unique ideas: three nights of special dinners with choices of appetizer, entrée, dessert and cheese, with planned entrées of roasted lamb rack on Wednesdays, cassoulet on Thursdays and their famous wild flounder meuniere on Fridays. Each of the three daily special dinners is $65.
The ambiance is much more fun than the previous green walls and shelves with cheerful and typically French blue and white everywhere, with Sondra Bernstein’s fabulous poppy art around the room and even on the way to the greatly modernized restrooms, still designated by their signature “Ken and Barbie” figurines on the appropriate doors.
When I asked Toulze what had been there before he and Bernstein took it over in 1997, he replied, “Barducci’s Pizza,” which had a huge-screen TV on a wall, but the building was clobbered by an errant driver’s car.
Jeremy Zimmerman serves as Executive Chef, as he does at the girl & the fig and girl & the fig caters, while Joel Hoachuck, formerly of El Dorado Kitchen (EDK), has joined the management team. Favorite former Café LaHaye server Esther Jimenez Garner has joined the Poppy staff as well. You might also see several former staff members working at Fig Enterprises, as I call them, who were with Elaine Bell Catering before she retired.
Toulze says Poppy will now open “sometime in May.” I will keep you posted. 1360 Arnold Dr., Glen Ellen. (707) 938-2130. poppyglenellen.com
Food trucks at Sonoma Valley Grange
Popular Costas Tacos food truck has a special arrangement with the Sonoma Valley Grange to occasionally use the kitchen and park its food truck in the Grange parking lot, occasionally setting up a picnic table and benches. We also see Costas tacos at the 76 station and car wash on Highway 12, with a table and benches as well.
Cindy Lasar and I found them outside the Vets Building before Trashion Fashion recently and really enjoyed the tacos, which have been recommended by many locals.
They will be joined soon by the Sonoma Churros’ truck. Somehow churro splurges seem okay to those of us watching what we eat. Looking forward to a little indulgence.
Eat Nutria – not?
No, Nutria is not an artificial sweetener, or a new meal delivery company. It is a rodent species, called Nutria.
Apparently these rodents, known as Swamp Rats and as a gustatory delicacy in Louisiana, are eating swamps and marshland in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and Central Valley. So they want us to eat them, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
“They” is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which says Nutria taste like rabbit or the dark meat of a turkey. These South American invaders they want us to gobble are about three feet long and have yellow buck teeth and pokey fur. They resemble and can be mistaken for beavers.
And just to make these guys more tempting, they can carry pathogens and parasites, including tuberculosis and septicemia, tapeworms, and other water-borne health threats.
Meanwhile, in the same edition of the Chronicle (March 10), Tara Duggan had a story saying that Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome that one can get from rodent urine or droppings. Nutria, it turns out, can carry hantavirus
Bon appétit, my friends!
Mary’s decked by automobile
I was there when it happened.
My friend Julie Diamond and I were enjoying our nice and hot split pea soup and salads on a cold lunchtime last Friday when owner Nanette Albano Lane came over to our window table to chat. She was telling us some family stories when we heard loud noises and a slight shake.
I first glanced out the window toward the highway and the Grange, guessed it wasn’t an earthquake, and then looked out the window facing Mary’s parking lot to see a branch falling across the strings of decorative white lights and a couple of pieces of lumber flying.
What the heck?
Nanette raced out to see what happened, and Julie went out to check on our cars. We were lucky – our cars were fine.
It is still hard to imagine how this happened, and everyone there was blessed to not have been sitting at their favorite tables along the deck’s railing because of the weather.
Somehow, a driver had managed to smash through the planter below the railing and deck, keep going, apparently with some power and speed, and climb the deck, smashing the railing and a post that held the overhang. Still attached to the rest of the car, his right rear tire and wheel ended up on the deck or patio.
The driver, an older man, got out of his car and seemed slightly confused and stunned. Who wouldn’t be?
Nanette insisted Julie and I move our cars immediately before the ambulance, CHP, and fire trucks got there. There was no fire. As I got in my car I shouted to Nanette while she was taking photos, “We’ll pay you later!”
In true Mary’s and Fazio-Albano family style, she called back, “Never mind. Don’t worry about it,” as we threw kisses.
Mary’s Pizza Shack in Boyes Hot Springs is open inside and busy, and let’s help them all we can. They have lots of new specials, including lunch combos starting at $11 and home delivery. 18636 Hwy. 12, Boyes Hot Springs. (707) 938-3600.
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