Vintage Festival sneaking up on us
Yes, our annual Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival, now organized by the Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance, is next weekend, September 25 through 27.
No parade around the plaza. No water fight on Spain Street. But still lots to enjoy.
Such as walking through Sonoma Plaza and running into former Sonoma Valley High School classmates – some people’s real reason to come home for the festival. Watching or participating in the Grape Stomp (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) on the Plaza on Saturday is always hilarious and don’t miss the Blessing of the Grapes, 9:30 a.m., in front of Mission San Francisco de Solano. Or, if you get up early, enter the 5K run at 8 a.m.
The festivities and tastes start Thursday, September 25, with The Great Spritz Off at the Three Sticks Adobe (formerly known as the Jones Adobe) on West Spain Street at 6 p.m.. Local wineries will compete for guests’ votes on which makes the best spritzer, combining wine with sparkling water. El Roy’s Express Mex will provide nibbles. Spritzes are very refreshing, and so are wineries’ attitudes that it’s okay to mix their wines with fizzy water. Tickets $100.
The Sonoma Valley Harvest Dinner will be at Viansa Winery this year, combining Sonoma’s finest wine tasting with a three-course dinner by Chef Ari Weiswasser of Park Avenue Catering and Glen Ellen Star. Friday, Sept. 26, 5:30 p.m.. Tickets $275 SVVGA members, $350 non-members.
The Grand Tasting will be behind the Sonoma Barracks on Spain Street on Saturday, Sept. 27. Guests dress in everything from jeans to costumes, to sample wines and foods from all over Sonoma Valley. 6 p.m. Tickets $175. And then go home to recover.
Sandwich trends?
Let’s start by agreeing on Wikipedia’s definition of a sandwich, without hotdogs or tacos: “A sandwich is a dish typically consisting variously of meat, cheese, sauces, and vegetables used as a filling between slices of bread, or placed atop a slice of bread; or, more generally, any dish in which bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type.”
Let’s also agree that inflation is happening for restaurants and customers, and restaurateurs are thinking of ways to attract more customers. Sandwich variations in style and pricing seem to be a first step.
Mary’s Pizza Shack has changed their sandwich menu to a sort of a la carte pattern, charging for the basic sandwich such as their classic 1/3 pound Harris Ranch burger, a chicken wrap, or turkey supreme at $12, and their famous meatball sandwich of two meatballs open-faced on a sourdough roll with Mary’s classic meat sauce and mozzarella at $13. One hot dog in a blanket of pizza dough is just $6.50.Then if you want to add soup, salad, or fries they cost another $5.75. Soft drinks are $3.50. Put it all together and maybe a $4 tip and we’re up to about 25, plus tax.
Stella, the busy Kenwood outpost of Glen Ellen Star, has added a half mortadella meatball sandwich served on ciabatta with Pomodoro, melted scamorza topped with pistachio pesto and served with garlic Rosemary fries. Lunch 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Friday through Sunday. They have also added a wall of sound paneling both indoors and outdoors to help modify the acoustics. Thank you!
Ashley Waite says they are working on a new prix fixe Sunday Supper menu. Songbird Parlour in Glen Ellen offers a special fried chicken dinner on Sundays. While Stella’s linguini and clams seems to have disappeared from the menu, they have added a housemade lumache pasta with sautéed wild rock shrimp, lobster mushrooms, Glentucky Family Farms and sungold tomatoes.
Speaking of inflation: My favorite 12-ounce package of bacon from Canada just sprang from $8.99 to $11.99 at Sonoma Market/Nugget. $3 tariff or profit?
Mickey D’s competing prices, really?
I’m guessing that anyone who watches conventional television channels has been overwhelmed with competing creative commercials to entice everyone to try their fast food burger meals.
The first temptation came from a McDonald’s $5 meal, seen in television commercials and in print ads; a burger, maybe a fish sandwich, and fries, sometimes a drink. Five bucks. Potential customers apparently misunderstood and thought they would get it all for a fiver. So Mickey D’s edited their ads to say “Pick One” with little arrows pointing to each sandwich.
Not having been to a McDonald’s in maybe eight years, I decided to go for the add-on edition and spring for an addition of the chicken McNuggets. Now we are up to $7 plus.
To me, one of the best parts of going to the Petaluma In-n-Out is nibbling French fries in the car on the way home. So I tried that from Sonoma’s McDonald’s. These French fries, known for years as the standard of all U.S. fries, were limp the instant they were handed to me through my car door window.
How many Canadian trees were sacrificed for this meal?
One bag said “6 Nuggets” on it and there were only four. Which is fine. How could kids like these except for the sauces? Speaking of Canadian trees, they are cut for all sorts of products, such as toilet paper, paper towels and cardboard. Yes, that’s it! These chicken McNuggets tasted like fried-several-states-away cardboard. Not that I have consumed a lot of that.
Even for the upscale $7-meal, the fries were soggy and not up to reputation. My diet Coke definitely was not diet, so I dumped it. But the burger was actually fairly decent with a real slice of tomato, some lettuce, and lots of mayonnaise or famous “sauce.” The burger itself and the bun were much smaller in circumference than I had remembered. We have economies everywhere. But my slightly upset tummy and I were unable to eat much at all for the rest of the week.
Bon appétit!
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