Sad News: Sam Morphy and the Red Grape
Sam and Carol Morphy have been constant donors of pizza, kindness, and money to all sorts of Sonoma Valley organizations. Sam’s big idea was to bring New Haven-style pizza, meaning thin-crust pizza, to Sonoma via their Red Grape, which replaced the Feed Store restaurant, which replaced an actual feed store where we used to buy baby chicks for our kids.
During our infamous fires, Sam and Carol were in China and they still had their family and staff make more than 1,000 pizzas to donate to first responders and locals in need. Currently Carol and their daughter Megan Morphy Moll run the restaurant for all of our benefit.
Sam was a super active, generous, and inclusive Rotarian who suffered for the last couple of years and finally succumbed to ALS on December 26. But he will live forever in our memories of his loving heart and big smile.
Try the Red Grape’s new heated tent over the patio and new menu items, including the truffle mushroom pizza. 529 First Street West, Sonoma (707) 996-4103.
Good News: Dungeness crab season opens
“Local” commercial fishing for Dungeness crab finally opened on Sunday, so watch for a wide price range from large chains that give you the whole thing, guts and all, to local stores that will “crack and clean” the crab to various degrees of thoroughness. Obviously we don’t have truly local crabs swimming around because Sonoma is not on the ocean. Apparently all of the whales the state was worried about have made their commute to other waters.
Girl & the fig changes
Last week I dined twice at Glen Ellen’s fig café & wine bar for my farewell to a favorite. I went with two different families and tried to order food that is not currently served at the girl & the fig downtown.
On the first visit, we had artisan bread that comes with housemade butter and coarse salt. The next day I had a couple of pieces of the bread with the salt and butter and added a tiny bit of my son’s Hawaiian honey. Incredible! Also Brussels sprouts, arancini, black pepper fries, and fig and arugula salad. We shared everything including the turkey pot pie and mac & cheese and had a visit with co-owner Sondra Bernstein.
The very last night, December 29, which was also my late mother’s birthday, our group again ordered the bread, in fact twice, fried calamari, butter lettuce salad, seasonal vegetables, butternut squash risotto, steak & frites, and a smashed patty burger. All were excellent.
That night we also had quick chats with regulars who were truly sad to miss their “club” with Tom and July Atwood having dinner at the counter, and Marchelle and Curt Carleton having a last blast there with Joan Dinner, all Kenwood neighbors.
Filling in the fig gap are more new dinners at the fig’s Suite D, the fig’s catering kitchen on Schellville Road off Eighth Street East. Fans missed these always good-deal-dinners during the summer when staff was busy actually catering events elsewhere.
The first three dinners for January, 2025 sold out almost instantly so they have added more. Get tickets at figcaters.com/store/event/ Wines are included, no corkage if you bring your own. All are scheduled from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and include favorites from France, January 10; a Sunday Crab Feed, January 19; and a Sonoma Winter Forager’s Feast January 24.
Old News: What are you missing?
We all have a sense of 2024 having been an extraordinarily weird year. Restaurants of all sizes and persuasions have closed all over the country and – in fact – the world, due to less traffic, high food costs, and apparently nonsensical rent increases.
Sonoma has been lucky. We have not lost restaurants due to failure or fatigue, but we did partly lose Picazo due to a fire. You can still patronize their food truck in front of the Arnold Drive restaurant to help the Chavez family recover.
Here are some food tastes or places we have lost in Sonoma in fairly recent memory that we still miss:
Food City: Once a roller rink and then a grocery store with a lunch counter owned by the Riccis and others, then a massage parlor, and now art galleries, some owned by Mattson, etc.
Shone’s Market: Locally-owned grocery stores, with one on Broadway and one in Glen Ellen.
Mission Hardware: Yes, a hardware store where you could buy a couple of nails from a bin, a great selection of Spice Island spices, and gain some of August Pinelli’s wisdom.
The General’s Daughter: A restaurant in the then pink house where the Sheiblich family grew up, once owned by Suzanne Brangham, then by Sarah and Darius Anderson, now owned by the Mattsons and closed.
Estate Restaurant: Sondra Bernstein’s Italian restaurant with great Italian movie posters in the same General’s Daughter Victorian. The building is now owned by the Mattsons, and closed. There’s a theme here.
Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery: Founded in 1904 by Samuele Sebastiani, the family sold the winery and vineyards to (Bill) Foley Wine Group in 2008. Foley ceased wine production at the Fourth Street East site and now aspires to build a large housing development in part of the vineyard. Pre-Foley I took care of the Sebastiani roses on Fourth Street as a volunteer, my way of thanking Sylvia Sebastiani for all she taught me about rose care.
Ravenswood Winery: The Ravenswood brand was sold to Constellation Brands in 2001 and the Mattsons purchased the Adrian Martinez-designed Ravenswood tasting room and property in 2020. Mattson’s Sonoma’s Best Hospitality Group renamed it Harrow Cellars. The property remains boarded up and chained off to visitors. Gallo eventually purchased the Ravenswood brand from Constellation.
Olive & Vine: Catherine Venturini had a huge following at her Olive & Vine in Jack London Village because of her fabulous food and almost all-woman staff, all of whom she paid equally. She closed the restaurant due to several rent increases and the space remained empty for years. Venturini has also been a favored caterer at Jack London State Park during Transcendence performances and many other small and large events. Songbird now occupies what had been Olive & Vine.
Yogurt shops: We have had and lost two yogurt shops, first in the Vineyard Shopping Center in the space now occupied by Mamma Tanino’s, and one where Pomme cidery is on Broadway.
Harvey’s Donuts: We are no longer able to get Harvey’s “sinless” donuts in his downtown shop. But he’s got a mobile machine and is available to cater parties, do pop-ups and other random events.
King’s Ranch Casserole: If you remember it, you miss it. The original Sonoma Market, before its sale to Nugget, used to make this irresistible casserole of tortillas, chicken, maybe mushrooms, creamy sauce and love. I think it came out on the hot table on Fridays.
Depot Hotel Restaurant: The Ghilarducci family – father, mother and son – ran this truly Italian restaurant for decades, and two generations lived upstairs in succession. Regulars drooled over their Dungeness crab cannelloni, veal picatta, Caesar salads and tiramisú, as well as their sumptuous special occasion buffets. Gia Ghilarducci sold it to the Mattsons, and it seems not to be open.
CocoaPlanet: Anne McKibben redesigned the old Sonoma Print Shop into a gluten-free chocolate factory and modern French bistro. After a couple of years she sold the building to the Mattsons, who tore the building apart and variously said they would replace her operation with a burrito restaurant and then a fried chicken joint. Neither ever happened. Today it sits sadly with chain link fence around it on Broadway.
Brundage’s: Don Brundage assembled an emporium of interesting stuff from coffee makers to weird posters and much more. He had a counter where he served excellent coffee and wife Pan occasionally cooked terrific Chinese food, but you had to time your arrival just right to get some. After the fire that started behind Mission Hardware and engulfed Brundage’s shop he re-opened at Maxwell Village shopping center where his funky style didn’t work quite as well.
Marioni’s: Located where Mary’s Pizza Shack is today on Sonoma Plaza’s north side, Marioni’s featured intricately carved woodwork by the Lelys, an excellent bar where many deals were made, and my favorite salads. The Marioni family still owns the building just east of the Swiss Hotel.
Breakaway Café: Many of us miss Bob Rice’s Breakaway Café, which he moved from the current location of Creekside Café to the Maxwell Village spot that eventually became Kina’s and now Los Molcajetes Mexican restaurant. The Breakaway’s food was always good, clean, and reasonably priced and it was a great meeting place for basic American food from breakfast omelets to pot roast dinners, but most of all because of Bob Rice’s kind and fun personality.
L&N Donut Shop: You have to have lived here several decades to remember the slippery eggs and other breakfast specials, or the donuts we used to pick up for St. Francis donut mornings. That location is now a bike shop, and a busy one.
Palm’s Grill: Another location for good all-American food where chefs renewed their energy after long shifts. Rumor was that the then-landlord raised the Palms’ owner’s rent and caused his departure after the restaurateur redesigned and improved the space. Now we watch for Pemba Sherpa to open his Farmhouse Sonoma restaurant with more “all-American” food. Pemba says he is still waiting for approval from the county health department to open, hopefully in February of this New Year.
Harvest Moon Café: After 13 years, Jen and Nick Demarest closed this restaurant on their daughter’s 13th birthday, leaving many happy customers less happy. But never fear, you can enjoy their dinners at Baker & Cook most Friday and Saturday nights. Just get on their email list to hear about each week’s menu. And they are open for small breakfasts and pastries at their site in the Springs and at the Friday morning farmers market.
If you have more food and wine related “missings” send to me at kathleensonoma@gmail.com
Bad News: Alcohol Is Cancer Risk
The U.S. Surgeon General announced January 3 that alcohol ranks third among carcinogens, can cause breast and colorectal cancer (among others), and should be labeled to say so. How to kick a wine and liquor industry when it’s down!
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