For starters Elaine Bell will always have gluten free and vegan selections and will be offering smoked chicken salad, lobster salad éclair, Chioggia beet poke (gluten-free and vegan), and a “sparkling cheese plate.”
Small plates include sweet corn pancakes, a green pea blini, and a spicy Asian chicken wrap.
Entrées, which rotate daily, might bring a Black Forest ham sandwich on ciabatta with a blue cheese walnut spread, arugula, a chardonnay pickled cauliflower, seared salmon with leek pea purée, sweet corn, roasted fennel and cauliflower (gluten free), a Mediterranean chicken breast with romaine lettuce, feta and puffed chickpeas, and a wine country Cobb salad with grilled chicken, tomato, blue cheese, green beans, hard boiled eggs, scallions, bacon bits, avocado, croutons and creamy herb dressing.
Sweets to be offered are ivory apricot Genoise and cotton candy pops ($6 to $25).
Nibs & Sips
Tri-tips and doughnuts
Tips Tri-Tips Trolley will show up for the first time tonight, Sept. 4, with its full menu at Harvey’s Gourmet Donuts and coffee drinks from 5:30 to 9 p.m. A great addition for people who might like a yummy doughnut for dessert instead of for dinner. Harvey will host a different food truck weekly and is now open 5:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. 19030 Railroad Ave., Sonoma.
Palms Grill to become Café Bellini
Watch for Palms Grill to morph into Café Bellini fairly soon. Mike has “remodeled” a few times and still has a good following for basic food. Mimosas might even show up.
Foster Farms chicken plant shut by Merced county
After seeking a correction about this column’s reporting on COVID-19 problems at Foster Farms’ Livingston plant, Merced County actually ordered the plant shut down last Wednesday, Aug. 26., two days after their Vice President of Communications issued a statement saying that “Foster Farms‘ most recent testing at the Livingston complex involved over 1,400 employees. Results using a state- endorsed PCR test indicated an asymptomatic positive rate of less than 1 percent. This compares to the Merced County positive test rate of approximately 19 percent.”
Vice President Ira Brill apparently left out one detail: Eight Foster Farms workers had died from coronavirus.
But then they didn’t close it. Pleading with the U.S. Department of Agriculture they got a dispensation to take the time they needed to close it down on Tuesday, Sept. 1, according to the Merced Sun-Star. We shall see.
Fig Rig sold
There I was last Friday with Sondra Bernstein of the Girl & The Fig, the Fig Café & Wine Bar in Glen Ellen, Suite D, Girl & the Fig Caters, and the Fig Rig. Conversation was supposed to be about how she and other restaurants are surviving during the pandemic and now smoke hanging over the Valley. We did get around to that eventually.
Just as I was going to beg her to bring the Fig Rig back for easy takeout food, she announced “Kath, I sold the Fig Rig.” What?
Sonoma Eats bought it and is having it “wrapped” with the Sonoma Eats logo and look.
Sonoma Eats owners Esteban Flores and Efrain Balmes have worked hard and successfully in just a couple of years, starting with one food truck mostly parked in the Barking Dog Coffee Roasters parking lot, then added a stationery location on Highway 12 where West Burgers was briefly, and they are now adding another food truck.
Chef Balmes’ most popular items are his chicken mole enchiladas and lamb tacos. Yes, lamb tacos. They have added Tuesday night specials and weekend brunch including lemon cottage cheese pancakes, breakfast burritos and more.
Flores and Balmes have put in a new patio in back with colorful umbrellas and hope to open it this weekend to seat 20 to 30 guests properly socially distanced. Beer and wine license to come. Most of their business is locals and repeat customers, and they like it that way. 18375 and 18133 Sonoma Highway, Sonoma. 227-5121.
Glen Ellen Star’s Labor Day Grill Kits
Easy to order, easy to cook, easy to eat, I presume. A little fun for a hot holiday.
Glen Ellen Star offers Labor Day Grill Kits that include panzanella (bread and tomato) salad with sourdough croutons, olives, cucumber, bocconcini a balsamic emulsion; potato salad Dijonnaise with celery and paprika; a 7-ounce beef burger (to be grilled) with cheddar cheese, lettuce, caramelized onions, and their special sauce.
Dessert will be mouthwatering brown butter apple cake and housemade vanilla maple bourbon ice cream. ($45 per person). You can also pre-order beer and wine to pick up. Order deadline is Saturday at 9 p.m. Pick up Monday, Sept. 7 between noon and 4 p.m. Order via: 343-1384 orapp.upserve.com/glen-ellen-star-glen-ellen.
Sonoma Portworks’ new Tasting Kits
Sonoma residents Bill and Caryn Reading of Sonoma Portworks just came out with a new port tasting kit which includes four 50-milliliter bottles of dessert wines. You might also order some of their Sonomic vinegar. And perhaps consider calling right away to make an appointment to pick yours up tomorrow to have for Labor Day. Otherwise, they will ship free of charge. Call them at 769-5203. 613 Second St., Petaluma.
