Why Food Like This Matters Now

With our second week as a To Go restaurant behind us we are feeling immense gratitude for the support we’ve received from the Barndiva community near and far. But as we shift our gaze down the road, as necessary as sheltering in place is right now, there are going to be long term effects on almost all small independently owned restaurants and on anyone who services or provides for them, up and down the food chain. This is true everywhere because as Lucas Kwan Peterson wrote in an article published in the LA Times on March 26, “Times are uncertain and people need to eat, preferably cheaply given the fact that they are also worried about or have already lost their jobs. But our multi-billion dollar fast food industry is equipped to weather this shutdown. Our small restaurants are not.” As he, and many many respected restaurateurs like David Chang, Danny Meyer and Tom Colicchio are warning, we aren’t just talking about weathering this shutdown in the short term.

There is no Eat the View blog without Barndiva. But over the past decade that I’ve been writing it, while very much a personal story of the joys and challenges we’ve encountered as our family farmed this ridge and built a sustainable business in the heart of Healdsburg, whenever possible the blog has tried to draw a larger circle around the two food sheds we work from, and the stories of many who work within it, often with little or no financial or physical safety nets. Whether these players are young, having moved here with a dream, or working within long held family businesses, they are dedicated to re-telling and extending the remarkable food history of this area. Many will now be facing serious hurdles.

As proud as I am of the delicious series of dishes coming out of our kitchens right now, I’m equally gratified that many kitchens here in Healdsburg are still producing food, keeping chefs and purveyors working. We miss seeing you in our dining rooms, that’s for sure. For us, going back to the basics has been a refresher course in why food like this matters - its power to convey the love we feel when we know where our food comes from and who produces it. If you have the financial bandwidth, seek out and support smaller independent producers and farms that have online stores and CSA’s - it’s a great time to join one!

And do consider donating to Sonoma Family Meal a vital ‘Groceries to Go’ drive through program here in Healdsburg, whose immediate goal is to aid families and seniors during the pandemic. Read more from our friends at Corazón Healdsburg.

Below are just some of Chef Jordan’s dishes coming out of our kitchen right now which can be picked up curbside at The Gallery or delivered at no charge by Lukka and Isabel along with cocktails and selected bottles of wine from local wineries. Starting next week we will also be offering kits that are easy to finish cooking at home. If you are too far away to enjoy Barndiva To Go but want to show support, consider paying it forward for lunch in the gardens this summer, one of our collaborative wine events like Pink Party, Fête Blanc, Fête Rouge, or taking your significant other out to…dinner. Just dinner. We are dreaming of that - just being together again in the comfort of strangers, sharing full dining rooms filled with flowers and the music of glinting shakers. That will feel like celebration enough.

To order Barndiva To Go or a gift certificate: shop.barndiva.com or call us at 431.0100.

Here are: Spring Onion and Yukon Gold Potato Soup with garlic croutons; a Jackson Family Farm Green Salad; Whole Roasted Chicken for two; Coconut Rice Pudding with fresh mango; Teriyaki Glazed Steelhead Salmon with green cabbage salad; the first Cook at Home Kits from Chef Jordan: hand cut Semolina Lumache with a bolognese of grass fed beef, walnut finished pork, and veal demi-glace, with a hunk of Grana Padano, herbs and finishing salt.

Chappy will have a lot more to say about wine next week - he’s been pretty busy since he took over my job as Barndiva food and drinks photographer. As you can see, he’s killing it. He’s also posting and updating the shop daily. At the same time he has been producing a series of podcasts the local wine community has fallen in love with: we urge you to check out: @crupodcast.

As for cocktails, Isabel is shaking them moments before the food comes out, packed to go for curbside or delivery. Glass keeps them nice and cold, and they are all ready to be enjoyed. She will be adding more favorites, but let us know if there is a cocktail you are missing.

Local distilleries would appreciate business right now and there are some terrific spirits made here in the County, try and order them when you stock up.

For Cocktails To Go, our Manhattan is made with two Redwood Empire whiskies - Lost Monarch and Emerald Giant (The Graton Distilling Company plants a tree for every bottle sold), Sipsong; The Negroni features Healdsburg’s Sipsong Indira Gin (made by everyone’s sweetheart Terra Jasper); The Diva Gimlet is made with Young & Yonder’s Armont Vodka, from other Healdsburg neighbors Josh and Sara. Local products have real stories behind them in addition to talent and passion. This one is a love story (he is the distiller, she designs the gorgeous labels).

Cheers.

#staytuned #stayhealthy #stayhealdsburg #healdsburgchamber #stayhome #eattheview #shelteringinplace #barndiva #togo #healdsburg #thisishealdsburg #sonomacounty #sommtablehealdsburg #sonomastrong

Serving wine, food and the community

Fête Rouge, the last of our three famously collaborative annual wine events, is now behind us. Traditionally the smallest of our Fêtes, it is usually held inside the Gallery at the tail end of November. The Pink Party gloriously launches spring, arbors spilling over with wisteria, everyone on a Rosé high. Fête Blanc, at the height of summer, attracts guests from across the state for its elegant selection of fine white wines and an almost (but this being Healdsburg not quite) Hamptons appeal. Fête Rouge proffers some of the finest red wines grown and produced in Northern California - most from family held vineyards - and attracts our most wine educated audience. But while a red wine party going into the Holidays makes perfect sense - finding the energy it takes to pull it off at the tail end of harvest has always been a challenge. Not this year. Barndiva’s decision to donate ticket sales in support of two organizations who played a huge role in keeping us safe and cared for during the Kincade fires brought out the best in everyone on Sunday - our wine and food partners, our staff, and especially the wonderful crowd who attended. Just knowing Corazón Healdsburg and Wine Country to the Rescue (supporting the fire departments of Healdsburg, Cloverdale and Geyserville) would benefit from all the fun we were having shifted the whole group dynamic. It was a golden fall afternoon that faded into a magical evening. Hard not to keep smiling.

I wrote in the blog last week that in choosing a definition of community which is intrinsically connected and reflective of a particular landscape, with a deep appreciation and respect for what it produces, we have the chance to create durable social networks that can take us through the hard times and be capable of bestowing upon us great joy. I worried what I wrote sounded hyperbolic, a bit pie in the sky knowing as I do this is a highly competitive community. Yet there it was in the garden on Sunday: 22 uniquely talented vintners finding a way to celebrate their individual achievements, together. There was a palpable feeling of relief in the air - that we had survived the fires, that the first big storm was on its way, that we were blessed to have such bounty from our food and wine sheds spread out before us to enjoy. But beyond that was the sense that when the common goal is greater than all of our singular accomplishments this is a community of abundant good will, one that has no problem paying good fortune forward. FYI: Our very existence, fortitude, and future may depend upon it.

Eric Sussman of Radio-Coteau, pouring center, among an illustrious group of primarily family owned and operated wineries that included Hirsch, Hafner, Mauritson, Small Vines, Occidental, brick & mortar, DuMOL, Ramey, Raen, Preston, Vivier, Sutro, Aperture, Rodney Strong, Paul Hobbs, Senses, Newfound, Read Holland, Pont Neuf, Failla, Notre Vue, and Merry Edwards.

For the first time, Fête Rouge felt like a proper Christmas market as five extraordinary food purveyors joined us with an abundance of tastes from their farms and kitchens. We wish to thank Pennyroyal Farm, Preston Family Farm, Jeff and Susan Mall of Volo, and the Seghesio Family of Journeyman Meat Co. for their generosity in supporting Fête Rouge, Corazón Healdsburg and Wine County to the Rescue. (And what a treat to see Ralph Tingle behind the slicer!) We are equally appreciative of Barndiva’s lead sous chef Randy Dodge for his exquisite bites - divine fried chicken sliders, crispy Hasselback potatoes, fragrant arancini and those gorgeous shooters of wild mushroom soup with their beautiful swirls of chive and basil oil.

And, as always, to our hardworking FOH staff, notably Natalie Nelsen, our wonderful events coordinator, and my creative assistant K2 and her children Teagan and Atticus for their work on the hot air balloon- now moored in the Barn for Christmas. Last, but hardly least when it comes to all things wine, a shout out to our wine director Chappy Cottrell who has, in addition to winning us greater wine awards and recognition this year, shepherded all our sell out wine events. Stay tuned.

Two Standout Sundays.

The Pink Party is our favorite fête because of the two communities it brings together: winemakers from Sonoma and Mendocino Counties and a Bay Area tout va bien crowd that comes dressed to celebrate spring, drink superlative wine, and hug it out. Sound frivolous? Yes and no. Yes, as in we could all use a bit of frivolity right about now, and no, as in these are serious wine drinkers eager to meet iconic and rising star winemakers. We time the party just as the wisteria is blooming and the urge to see the end of winter is palpable. Tickets go swiftly, a testament to the fact that almost half the crowd that attends has been before, some since it’s very first year. The usual number of wineries pouring, when phenom somm Alexis Iaconis ran it was 30+. Behold, our extraordinary wine director Chappy Cottrell, who has blown that number up to 41. (see the complete list, below.)

We’ve added some bells and whistles this year, which we are keeping secret until the 14th. They will surprise and delight along with delectable Rosé friendly fare from the kitchens, great music from DJ Jeremy, and a raffle to benefit the important work Healdsburg Corazón is doing- every winery is graciously contributing. We appreciate the importance of strong community in times like these. And the value of throwing a great garden party where you can dress up and laugh among friends, old and new. Who says we can’t multi-task?

As for celebrating springtime with the family..….

Join us for Easter brunch!

Stepping Off

This Week at the Barn

Dan was sipping an insanely colored drink after a long, glorious day spent digging and planting in the gardens. Made with dried hibiscus flowers and heavenly scented lilac honey we infused at the farm last spring, it was a perfect drink for spring; bright and packed with sharp sweet flavors. It was so tasty I’ve asked Isabel to put a rendition of it on the Spring Cocktail List. For those craving a spirited lift, it will be paired with Barr Hill Vodka, made by honeybee loving friends in Vermont. An N/A version, with a hint of Seedlip, will be available as well, as elegant as it’s boozy cousin.

Our intrepid farm manager is also responsible for the profusion of Barndiva Farm bouquets delighting guests in The Barn and The Gallery. These blowzy arrangements are a visual history of our life up here on Greenwood Ridge. Marisa Moore and Miss Edna Camellias Victoria planted 70 years ago now bloom alongside Double Ruffle Daffodils, Panda Anemones, Apricot Beauty Tulips, and Thalia Daffodils as our collection, which we add to every year, continues.

Next up on the bars and in the windowsills: more Hellebores, flowering Rosemary and cascading wands of Cherry and Apple Blossom branches.

And more cocktails, of course.

Guests who came for lunch last week had to gaze wistfully out at the gardens, which won’t officially open until the Pink Party on April 14. Good thing Danny brought spring to the plate with a gorgeous salmon tartar, studded with pine nuts, bright with curry and citrus, served with lentil papadoms. Truly the ultimate gluten free Omega 3 spring lunch. Burrata is still on the menu, served with grilled Redbird Pain au Levain, great as a starter or to share over cocktails. And hey, if you’d love to sip extraordinary library wines but without committing to a whole bottle, check out Chappy’s three new chalkboards in The Gallery. We are justly proud of our wine director. Stay tuned for exciting wine news next week.

And expect to see new dishes from the kitchens as the season kicks into gear.

This Week at the Farm

Onion shoots started in the greenhouse made it to their own beds this week, while Bodega Reds, Ark of Taste potatoes gifed from Dan’s dad, were slit and put out in the sun to scar up. Our microgreen program is in full swing and we encourage you to put our servers to the test by asking them to identify what’s hot and what’s long on a buttery sweet finish.

We’re also confident Kendall and Fern can identify all the blooms in our floral arrangements should you inquire. Flowering bulbs swiftly come and go, therein lies their mystery, and magic. Up on the ridge they slumber underground most of the year, drinking up the rains and suffering through long hot summers. We don’t dig them up except to split and redistribute. Come spring they burst forth during those few weeks when the sun warms up for a few hours midday.

One of the great truths in life is that being in nature soothes something in the soul, with the power to make us healthier if not happier human beings. In a world which is overwhelmingly transactional, where social media has made us unabashed attention seekers, Nature is one of the last outliers offering the opportunity to just be, no agenda necessary. You don’t have to climb a mountain or cross a desert wilderness to get the hit I’m referring to. Sonoma and Mendocino Counties are resplendent right now - the perfect time to step off and wander through a garden, field or forest and touch the hem of renewal we all crave after a long winter - and this has been one crazy winter. There is nothing quite like the experience of being in Nature as it replenishes itself. Get out there. It won’t wait for you.

If you must take your phone, load it up with a great plant and bird identification app and just… go.