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Danny Meyer

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Kiss with a Slap Days: Our Roadmap Going Forward...

Photo and Dish Credits:
Executive Chef Jordan Rosas: EGGPLANT TERIYAKI with charred shishito, nori, and shiso; HOUSEMADE RIGATONI summer squash & blossoms, calabrian chili, pine nuts, garlic, grana padano, basil / Pastry Chef Neidy Venegas: WHITE CHOCOLATE ROSE BUDINO with apple granita and dehydrated apple; BARNDIVA FARM BARTLETT PEAR FRANGIPANE with heirloom apple cider vinegar; POTATO ROLLS with fines herbes / Farm Manager Dan Carlson: Gravenstein apples / Jil Hales: All other photos

The smoke had not yet cleared from the Walbridge Fire before it began to drift back in again, shrouding Healdsburg and Philo from fires raging far to the north and east. The sky turned a frightening red, the color of dried persimmons, then into a flecked ash murky brown, which was almost worse. It has thankfully passed now, though the fires in California are by no means contained. It was certainly a week we will long remember in Wine Country, deeply unsettling. And yet, incredibly, we came out the other side, hosting a safe distance wedding rehearsal dinner Saturday night that was respectful of our current state of play, yet achingly beautiful. On Tuesday we juiced the first of our apples.

These are kiss with a slap days. Situations that start out sharp and seemingly unforgiving suddenly give way to a glimmer of restitution, a way forward. The trick is to stay open to the better possibilities, and dig deep. We’ve taken the position that we’re going to get through this year in some form that adds up to more than ‘just surviving.’ Change is in the air. When it’s not too smoky to smell it.

The truth is, no one knows what food culture, much less any patronage dependent enterprise like theater or the arts, will look like when we get to the other side of this horrible terrible year (and we will). But we keep coming back to the question of whether ‘a return to normal’ is all that’s needed. In these past months we’ve had a rare chance to stop and take stock: to discern what’s truly important, see more clearly which aspects of our lives need to be strengthened, and enriched. For our small family business that has meant gimlet eye focus on the people we work alongside who have helped us every step of the way. How do we protect these people and the things we love most about living and working in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties? 

It was so satisfying to read the Sonoma Magazine article, “How One Healdsburg Restaurant is Mastering Social Dining” by Dana Rebmann because it was further confirmation that the innovative and nuanced system Lukka and his team have put in place - and are constantly improving - is resonating beyond the gardens. We’re not taking any bows mind you, it’s been bloody hard work and it’s far from over. Not everyone gets it. Many people so hate the circumstances we all find ourselves in that their frustrations spill over. But overwhelmingly people are so pleased to be out again, in a safe and beautiful space. And Jordan’s food is remarkable.

The article was written from the diner’s perspective, but there have also been fascinating revelations for us as well as we navigate the most creative ways to deal with ‘safe distance dining’ - I mean what did that even mean, pre-March? The biggest discovery has been that in limiting the physicality of service we did not have to limit the quality of that service. No matter your age or technological inclinations, once you get into the flow of using your phone to text or call the brigade of staff just inside the Barn, all masked and communicating with you and each other over wireless headsets, the experience opens up and you can enjoy the best part of dining out in a roomful of strangers: the possibility of great flavors, the presentation of beautiful food, the excellence of a wine list, the joys of a great bar, ambiance, flowers, music. We are blessed to have large gardens and an incredibly engaging and smart food and wine team, but it’s the technology we all dreaded which has allowed us to continue to deliver anything resembling an authentic experience. The biggest surprise is that it’s come with remarkable affinity and ease. Go figure.

Speaking as a diner there are things I won’t miss if they never come back post Covid: long winded recitations of dishes which a well written menu or a diner’s question could better convey; the frustration of trying to get a busy server’s eye to order more wine or replace a dropped fork, and (unless you really crave attention) the constant interruptions just when a conversation is kicking into high gear for superfluous water service. Perhaps the biggest turn off we are currently able to avoid at Barndiva, because of the immediacy of the conversations we’re having with every guest, is the often awkward pacing of a meal. Guests let us know when they want more of anything, how they want to pace the meal according to how they feel, how much time they want to spend at the table.

This is not to say we don’t miss great front of house service - which, when the stars align, is a thing of beauty. Never obtrusive, there is that ‘queen for a day’ feeling we all crave when a dining experience is elegantly curated.

We have almost as many FOH staff now as before, they are just inside the restaurant, able to respond to guests at once. You can still flit through our 700 bottle wine list - you just need to do it on your phone - before texting or calling to talk directly with our sommelier, the wonderful Evan Hufford. Nish, who with two friends came in with Val on her birthday preferred the brevity of texting because he knew what he wanted and felt comfortable to stipulate a price range. But for every Nish there is the wine lover who expects, and still receives, an in depth conversation about a bottle, a vintage, a grape.

Without a doubt, the 20% service charge that now appears on the menu is the most important change to our service since Covid. It accomplishes long sought but hard to reach goals. We have always wanted to find the resources to provide full health care for every member of the staff. We also wanted to address the disparity of pay between the front of house and all other positions, especially those in the kitchen. We feel and express overwhelming gratitude to First Responders for the frightening work they do in keeping us safe, but as a culture we must do more for them and for people behind the scenes doing less perilous jobs that keep our lives going, often enriching them. Wrongly defined as mundane, this work force is not compensated, respected, or appreciated enough. Even a master at hospitality like Danny Meyer failed to make the reasonable case that a cover charge is a viable way to address things like health care and higher wages. Great restaurants - which we aspire to be - rise or fall on many hands, many shoulders, from somm to dishwasher.

Profound changes are now coming to the entire restaurant industry that will affect all of us, no matter where you live and dine. Fast food has ‘succeeded’ in blowing out every projected measure of exponential growth during this pandemic. Make no mistake, the big boys who sell cheap proteins which denigrate the environment, are cruel to animals, and do not respect labor have grown even stronger, while smaller independent restaurants and farms are struggling, forced to close in unprecedented numbers. The profit margins built in to this industry are not the compelling reason to give your life over to it. I hate when people say trust me, but trust me on this one.

The challenge for us - and you as a diner - is how to find a way forward which allows for both the ease and beauty of fine dining but provides true economic sustainability that takes into consideration the welfare of all of us who work hard here, and the health of the food shed. The support you show in the coming months to small independent restaurants like ours flows out into the communities we all hope to get back to soon, and be a part of rebuilding. Consider following and supporting the national grass roots organization saverestaurants.com.

If kindly intended, no matter how critical, we’d love to hear your thoughts (directly please) after dining with us. Please email owner Lukka Feldman at lukka@barndiva.com. Take care. We hope to see you soon.

#saverestaurants #staytuned #stayhealthy #stayhealdsburg #healdsburgchamber #eattheview #barndiva #togo #healdsburg #thisishealdsburg #sonomacounty #mendocinocounty #sommtablehealdsburg #sonomastrong #ediblemarinwc #lovehealdsburg #biteclubeats @barndivahealdsburg @sonomamag

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Why Food Like This Matters Now

TO GO Gift Certificate Image final.jpg

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

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