Bistro 100: The journey of 100 miles starts with one bite
Tucked into the heart of the Theatre District of Petaluma, Bistro 100 recently opened to rave reviews. By sourcing hyper-local ingredients, Chef Garrett Adair creates innovative American cuisine with a French twist. Coupling his background in restaurant management and private catering with a desire to work and play with the area’s freshest ingredients, Chef Adair has created a potent combination of fancy and flavorful without pretense.
The “100” in the name pays homage to the vibrant and diverse farms, dairies, and ranches within 100 miles of Petaluma. However, the Chef warns that the moniker is not meant as a challenge, but a goal. Certain items, like spices, simply can’t be sourced from within 100 miles. So don’t take the bait when you see “Fort Bragg Black Cod” on the menu. Sure, your smart phone will tell you that Fort Bragg is roughly 104 miles from Petaluma, as the crow flies. But, Black Cod (also known as Sablefish or Butterfish) is a nomadic species caught in deep waters. This means that fish are just as likely to be caught in the first deep waters off our Sonoma County coastline as they are further out to sea. In the big picture though, for a non-farmed ocean fish this is about as local as it gets, while still adhering to the idea of sustainability. The Black Cod fishery is intensively managed and their populations are extremely healthy … and from what I learned at Bistro 100 are one darn tasty fish. “We make every effort we can to source locally and where some items may come from a bit further than 100 miles, most come from a lot closer, which more than makes up for the difference.” says Chef Adair.
Like other local cutting edge restaurants, Bistro 100 continues the trend of moving beyond “organic” labeling and instead concentrates on “going local.” Chef Adair buys from a who’s-who of regional farmers, including, but not limited to, Liberty Duck, Green String Farms, Stemple Creek, First Light Farms, DG Langley, Bellwether Farms, and Feed Sonoma. This makes the restaurant more like “Bistro 20” than “100.” And these farmers aren’t popular just for their locale, they are turning out such high quality meats, cheeses, and veggies that they are sought out by the likes of San Francisco and East Bay favorites Zuni Café, Abbots Cellar, Bar Tartine, Boulette’s Larder, Millennium, and Chez Panisse, as well as Santa Rosa’s John Ash & Co. and Petaluma’s renowned Preferred Sonoma Caterers, to name a few.
As an interesting aside, Petaluma’s own Heritage Salvage, well respected for repurposing regional building materials for restaurant use, handled Bistro 100’s remodel. As coincidence would have it, this was Heritage Salvage’s 100th restaurant/bar remodel - befitting a restaurant with “100” in the name.
French-American inspired but with the fun and casualness more familiar to a boot-strap chef raised in Sonoma County, it’s no surprise that Chef Adair’s former clients describe his food service as “better than Cyrus and twice as fun.” “I was taking the stuffiness out of the wine country, one CEO at a time,” says Chef Adair of his private chef services.
This attitude translates well into Bistro 100, where the Chef takes a hands-on approach to the food prep. “I love working the line. I love being close to the food. Besides, it’s a mental exercise, and the busier it gets, the move fun I have,” he says. “I came to Petaluma because of the bounty right outside our front door, but I can’t be creative by simply looking at an invoice of ingredients; I need to get my hands dirty.” It isn’t hard to see why Chef Adair was so popular in the private chef arena. He is personable and genuinely cares about the dining experience. Where some chefs are hidden in the “back of house,” Chef Adair is front and center, in the trenches with the rest of his staff.
Chef Adair specialized in culinary hospitality and restaurant management while at Le Cordon Blue, not the typical culinary arts. This managerial background surfaces with atmosphere of class and poise in this bustling downtown bistro. The Chef’s prowess in the kitchen comes by way of sweating it out as a boot-strap chef in some of the best kitchens in Sonoma County. He was tutored at the likes of Forestville’s Farmhouse Inn & Restaurant and Sebastopol’s 101 Main Bistro & Wine Bar.
But moving from a model of one meal at a time to a brick-and-mortar location with a seasonally static menu has presented some challenges. “We are still learning,” he says. “We are still getting to know our farms and learning where the gaps are between produce seasons.” Sourcing hyper-local produce means Chef Adair is at the whim of micro climates as well as cold spells and major storms. But this gives the chef room for creativity which he hopes to transfer into daily “Chef Tastings”, which will highlight fresh ingredients that may not be available in the quantity required for a regular menu item.
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