The Mill on Check, Please! TONIGHT
At last it’s happening!
Dana Jaffe and Sanjeev Kumar’s five-plus years of extremely hard work at their Glen Ellen restaurant, The Mill, finally gets appropriate notice with the first screening of their episode of “Check, Please! Bay Area” on KQED on Thursday, July 23, at 7:30 p.m., and then for several times after that. Some of us were very lucky to be invited to the no-host filming lunch and can’t wait to see their episode.
The couple were also invited to attend the “Check, Please! Bay Area” celebration of 20 years on KQED, held Thursday at COPIA in Napa. The Mill is one of four restaurants whose shows will be syndicated to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of “Check, Please! Bay Area” on KQED. Let’s support locals.
Dead Letter opens
Sondra Bernstein and John Toulze finally opened the envelope of their “Dead Letter” restaurant and revealed what was inside. And a treasure worth waiting for, it is.
That corner was the third location of Sonoma’s post office, and morphed through various other uses, including Pete’s Electric and several restaurants, most recently Maya. And now it is Dead Letter, which officially opened to the public on Thursday, July 16.
Bernstein and Toulze have transformed the space into an artfully comfortable restaurant with banquettes along the walls and an enlarged bar with an open kitchen with loads of staff wearing black t-shirts with postal messages on every one. And, of course there’s an exhibition of her and her worldwide friends’ tantalizing digital artwork, which will be discussed in depth in Sondra’s forthcoming interview with Sun editor David Bolling.
Be alert and take it all in. The Art of the Food is as creative as The Art of the Art. Even their restroom designations feature artistic touches, with Kens and Barbies now dressed in outfits made by The Sonoma Community Center’s Trashion Fashion artists and designers.
Every dish has exciting combinations of spices, herbs, and basic ingredients with influences from various countries.
First clue about the food: Everything is shareable and you should keep that in mind when ordering. At a “practice dinner” I sat with Patti Britton, designer of the girl & the fig’s graphics and logo, and we ordered modestly. If you go with more people, you can each order something and try more tastes.’
You can even go for a drink and just order snacks and spreads, or try appetizers while you check out the $5 Art-O-Mat vending machine in the bar. We enjoyed the Della Fattoria bread and Executive Chef Jeremy Zimmerman’s cultured butter, as well as the chopped chicken livers. Try the shawarma spiced corn nuts and tahini hummus with preserved tomatoes.
And then there are the “Raw” Bluefin tuna, salmon belly, local rockfish, local greens salad, and radicchio with garlic crisps.
From the “Vegetables” list, we chose the sweet corn with feta and pepitas, and also envied the carrots and butterball potatoes our neighbors ordered, to say nothing of the crispy eggplant.
Main courses “From the Sea” include shrimp toast; albacore with black garlic tahini, mushrooms and horseradish; Ora King Salmon; butterflied trout with ginger red curry and charred cucumber labne; or Bluefin tuna with white bean purée, harissa and lemon.
And “From the Land” come California rice with shishito peppers, corn, Vidalia onion, soy and an egg on top, which looked like a whole meal ordered by a friend to our left. Also, an Iberico skirt steak with tomatillo crudo and hominy; a double-cut pork Katsu with apple and ginger tare and slaw; or the 24-ounce bone-in strip steak with bone marrow butter and herbs.
“Snacks,” “Raw” and “Vegetables” run $7 to $21, while “Sea” and “Land” range from $24 to $125. For dessert I went for the vanilla soft serve with dark chocolate hard shell, and Patti ate all of her peach tarte tatin, but we passed on the lemon curd and the affogato espresso on vanilla ice cream.
It’s the fun cocktail names that bring the envelope home: Lost Dispatch, Return to Sender, The Wayward Bee, Undelivered, Love Letter, The Burned Envelope, M Stands For… Misspelled, and Pale Note. The low and non-alcoholic drinks are Unsent, Insufficient Address, No Postage and Redacted. And they all sound great, with lots of imported and local ingredients. And, of course sparkling and local still wines from Beltane Ranch, Idell Family, Bedrock, Three Sticks and Blue Farm, and always French imports and fine Scotches.
Luck out and get a Proto.Logue pamphlet of Sondra’s current exhibition of her and other international digital artists’ work on the walls. Open from 3 to 9 Wednesday through Sunday, but open until 9:30 Friday and Saturday. 101 East Napa Street, Sonoma. 707-933-9665. Opentable.com. According to the menu, “all checks will include a 4.5 percent staff fee.”
Verano Café now open for dinner
Beronica Peres and Carlos Rubio, whose Verano Café is super popular for breakfast and lunch (and for good reason), have now opened evenings for dinner as well.
Especially good items on the dinner menu include appetizers such as fried calamari, Caesar or beet salads and a new Verano Salad of watermelon radish, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and orange dressing ($14 to $15).
Don’t miss the reasonably priced entrées, such as flounder meunière with mashed potato and spinach; coq au vin with mushrooms, carrots, and mashed potatoes; boeuf Bourguignon; lemon chicken with mashed potatoes and vegetables; a pork chop with mango sauce. Other enticements include butternut squash ravioli, hanger steak, mushroom fettuccini, fettuccini scallops, prawn polenta, seafood spaghetti and a burger. All entrées from $22 to $33. Open for breakfast and lunch 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and dinner from 5 p.m. Tuesday – Sunday. 18976 Hwy. 12, Sonoma (next to McDonald’s). Park in back. 707-931-6837.
Sonoma Community Center’s “The Muse Gala”
Get your tickets now for “The Muse Gala,” our Sonoma Community Center’s biggest annual fundraiser coming up soon on Saturday, August 15.
As a former president of the Community Center’s board, I know personally how important these fundraisers are so we all can enjoy the many artistic, culinary, historic, and recreational activities in the historic school building purchased for the community by Dr. Carroll Andrews. And during my presidency in the 1980s, I got it listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
I can also say with certainty that the Center is now more lively, important, and needed than ever. Please help keep it a vibrant learning place for the entire community of Sonoma Valley.
Cocktails start at 5 p.m., followed by an excellent dinner by the girl & the fig, including a classic wedge salad of iceberg lettuce, tomato, red onion, bacon, and Point Reyes blue cheese dressing. Entrée choices include roasted filet mignon with mushroom jus, butter whipped potatoes, and English peas; lightly cured King Salmon with lemon beurre blanc, butter whipped potatoes, and English peas; or summer fresh corn polenta with oven-dried tomatoes, roasted wild mushrooms, and basil pesto. All are followed by a Chantilly berry shortcake on a brown sugar biscuit and macerated strawberries. Tickets for all of this and loads of fun are $275 at https://sonomacommunitycenter.ejoinme.org/muse2026
Big 3 becomes art gallery
Some of us have lived here long enough to have experienced the Big 3 diner at Boyes Blvd. and Hwy. 12 as the famous “home” to locals eating hearty breakfasts and lunches, and some of our farmer types bent over the counter’s stools with those famous backside cleavages showing.
As the Big 3 morphed through various owners of the Sonoma Mission Inn, from diner through the removal of the counter, becoming partly gift shop, and then closing for years, many of us wondered what would come next after the underground garage idea was eliminated.
On July 16, the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn welcomed community members to view the new Lori Austin Pop-Up Art Gallery in the Big 3 space, to feature “regional artists’” contemporary paintings. Lori Austin also has the LA Gallery on First Street East in downtown Sonoma.
Alex Cole, Stephen Henriques, and Mary Lee Ryker are Sonoma Valley artists exhibiting in this first regional show. Other artists who might like their work to be considered can write to [email protected].
Bloom Carneros (aka Kivelstadt) adds to menu
Jordan Kivelstadt has added a few new selections to his Bloom Carneros menu.
Bloom Carneros has the good fortune to be next to the Schell Vista fire station, where Schellville Grill used to be at the very bottom of Broadway. And even better for kids and dogs and their parents, there is a great kids’ menu and play area, with lots of water bowls for pooches.
Now the menu features “bites” of peach and corn salsa, and a focaccia pull-apart with peaches and gruyere, and fries. They suggest sharing an order of Shishito peppers, prosciutto and cantaloupe, chicken bites, tomato and burrata, or a Mediterranean plate. Love the watermelon salad, beet salad, and a quinoa bowl salad.
Then comes a steak sandwich, a burger with fries or salad, a chicken sando, and even a peach sandwich, as long as they are ripe locally. Open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday. 22910 Broadway, Sonoma (Schellville). 707-412-0438.
Mayo Family Reserve Room news
Kenwood’s Mayo Family Reserve Room has a new chef, new hours, and a new menu. Oscar Bendeck graduated from the Cordon Bleu and is an alum of multiple kitchens, from the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Levi’s Stadium and many other sports venues throughout the country, including Sonoma Raceway, where I first tasted his appetizers right on the raceway pavement. Recently he cooked at Bloom Carneros and was a culinary instructor at COPIA in Napa. He also runs his own Wine Country Experiences business while cheffing at Mayo Family Reserve Room in Kenwood.
Famous for their food and wine pairings, Mayo currently offers a seven-course menu, including a tortilla Española; white gazpacho, ruguas of sweet corn, squash blossom ratatouille; a Sonoma Dolma with local grape leaf and lamb, Mayo wine braised beef, and a sweet of the day. $90 food and wine pairing, $45 wine club members, and $50 food only. Open 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursday – Monday. 9200 Hwy. 12, Kenwood. 707- 833-5504.
Losing Michael Muscardini hurts
Michael Muscardini’s passing came to me in a text during my Friday morning KSVY radio show. What a shock! Actually left me speechless.
It seems that he died of a broken heart – mechanically, not the love kind of broken. An important heart part couldn’t be replaced after all.
Most people who knew him considered him their dear friend, including me, because he made us all feel like dear friends. He was that nice. We don’t always mention big, strong, men as dear friends, but he was that to many of us.
Muscardini was born and raised in San Francisco, and majored in printmaking at the California College of Arts & Crafts in Oakland, now known as the College of Arts in San Francisco. He received his MFA in 1976.
Always an artist and always an Italian at heart, he grew to loving all arts, and considered winemaking one of those in the finest sense. After taking winemaking classes with Ty Caton at U.C. Davis, Muscardini started his winery in a garage, like many people have. And eventually shared a Kenwood tasting room with Caton.
Having done well as a contractor in the East Bay, with his Creative Spaces firm building lovely homes and larger buildings, he migrated to Sonoma and bought a few acres, developing Muscardini Cellars and eventually focusing on Italian varietals such as Sangiovese and his own Tesoro, a blend of Sangiovese, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Muscardini didn’t just make wine and friends. He served as a trustee of the California College of the Arts and as president of its alumni association. He was also president of the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association when he lived there, and was president of the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art board, president of the Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance, and president of the board of our La Luz Center.
After years of imagining their dream house, Muscardini and Kate Eilertson retained friend Jeff Zimmerman to design the house, mostly of glass to frame nature and their art collections. I was privileged to watch their home and their love grow, sometimes tiptoeing through dust and cement, and to celebrate its finish with their family.
Architect Zimmerman officiated at their 2018 wedding in the living room, while many of us celebrated inside and outside, including Kate’s and Michael’s families.
Eventually, two of Muscardini’s proudest moments were when his 2016 Merlot (Sangiacomo Vineyards) and his 2019 Tesoro Proprietor’s Red Blend, became the first California wines to be sold at an Italian restaurant in historic Florence, called the Golden View.
His other super proud achievement was obtaining his Italian citizenship, honoring his grandfather and father.
But my fondest memories of Michael Muscardini were when he invited me several times to their house to share Italian crab feasts. Unfortunately, neither Kate nor I can remember just which holidays or days-after we were celebrating. And then there were the calm and more or less sober quiet dinners at La Hacienda.
And thank you, Kate Eilertson, currently ED and Chief Curator at di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, for your quietly elegant management of all of the fine art you make available to the rest of us. And for being the first curator and executive director of the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art to see my kitchen collection as art. Much love.
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