Native Kitchen and Kombucha, which officially opened earlier this month, is the newest contribution to the downtown Petaluma dining scene. A Kombucha bar, natural food restaurant and herbal apothecary, it is the brainchild of husband and wife team Jasmine and Joseph Dravis.
Jasmine Dravis got her start in the culinary world as a private chef in Southern California where she had also owned and operated a juice cleanse company and opened a raw food academy. Joseph Dravis was a winemaker who had lived and worked in Sonoma County, New Zealand and Argentina. When they met, Jasmine introduced Joseph to Kombucha, a fermented tea which is naturally effervescent, probiotic and immune-system boosting. Joseph was so intrigued by the process and product of Kombucha that he started brewing his own out of their loft in Los Angeles.
According to Jasmine they chose to leave Southern California and move north to be closer to the land and the superior food and wine available here. They started their search for a new place to operate a restaurant and market their Kombucha. While initially they considered Sebastopol, instead they were much more impressed with the vitality of Petaluma, so a little over a year ago decided to start their business here.
Their vision was to open a restaurant in downtown Petaluma, but there were no sites available when they first moved to town. Instead, they began locally brewing their Native Kombucha at a facility at 1364 N. McDowell Blvd., where they are getting ready to open a tap room.
While not yet ready to sell their Kombucha in individual bottles, it is available on tap at the brewery and will be available on tap at the restaurant for purchase in growlers, a glass jug that carries about a half gallon of liquid, that can be washed and refilled.
When the downtown space at 110 Petaluma Blvd. North opened up earlier this year, they jumped at it. They will open Native Kitchen in the space that was previously occupied by Viva Chocolat, as a restaurant offering breakfast, lunch and dinner; as a juice and Kombucha bar, which will offer alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks; and will spot infuse their Kombucha with seasonal fruits and herbs, and as an herbal apothecary.
The space is decorated in an elegant but relaxed turquoise and yellow. There are bar stools and couches in the front, near the bar, for relaxed seating and small intimate tables in the back room, separated from the front by a small partition. Jasmine says they designed the rooms with an idea that the action would all be in the front space, and it would be quiet in the back, so as to enjoy your food and conversation.
Jasmine’s vision for the food at Native Kitchen is to “create a space where you can be difficult.” All food will be prepared within dietary preferences - offerings will be vegan, or gluten free, or nut free, or non-vegan, depending on what you need for the highest health at that time in your life. She explains that if you are in a place where you are lifting weights and using muscle energy, your body needs meat; if you are on a yoga retreat, you can get by without animal protein. She wants to be able to accommodate your diet at every stage, and to be able to provide you with the most local and biodynamic ingredients. She sources organic meats from Thistle Meats, organic poultry from Petaluma Poultry, organic coffees from Bella Rosa, and organic vegetables, fruits and herbs from local farms.
The planned menu is extensive. Breakfast begins at 9 a.m. and offers an “all you can eat” buffet featuring five key breakfast items. Lunch is salads and wraps. Dinner features skillets. There are also smoothies and “grab and go” items for takeout. They are open every day until 10 p.m., and the bar offers spot infused Kombucha with fresh fruit and herbs. Kombucha cocktails are made adding sparkling wines, liqueurs, digestifs and aperitifs to the Kombucha base, and then infusing or muddling with other flavors. They also serve a host of beers, fortified wines and sherries, and fermented agave spirits.
The on-site herbal apothocary is also Jasmine’s; she has created herbal soaps, lotions, sunblocks and tinctures that are available for purchase. She will also host Amanda Mullan on site, who is a certified herbal practitioner, and who will provide aroma and tincture treatments and herbal education.
The timing for Native Kitchen could not have been better. It is now the only gluten free, vegan option restaurant in town. And while there are other local Kombucha brewers, this is certainly the only Kombucha bar in Sonoma County.
(Contact Lynn King at ar gus@arguscourier.com)
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