Good food, beer at Penngrove’s Fire and Suds Fundraiser

Fire and Suds is a fundraiser for the Rancho Adobe Firefighter’s Association featuring live music and plenty of local beer on tap.

Twang Ditty, Jack the Midnight and Ositi will play the main stage, while Coastal Acres, HenHouse, Hop Monk, Moylans and Lagunitas will be on tap in the beer garden. Make sure to try a pint of Coastal Acres, which is brewed by Petaluma firefighter/paramedic Kevin Larson, who hopes to open his brewery here in Petaluma shortly. Food will include Roy’s Chicago Dogs, Twin Oaks Tavern Mexican plates, Bariadelli Caribbean personal pizzas (vegetarian available) and pork and tri-tip sandwiches.

The main event is Oct. 1 from 1 to 5 p.m. in Penngrove Park, followed by an after-party at Twin Oaks from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. The main event is kid-friendly and tickets can be purchased for $15 in advance ($20 at the door) at www.fireandsuds.com or at Jav’Amore Café in Penngrove.

Burning Ham

Burning Ham barbecue competition will also be at held at Penngrove Park, a week after Fire and Suds, on Oct. 8 from 12:30 to 7 p.m. This pork-inspired festival is presented by the Petaluma Active 20-30 Club, which is the same non-profit that puts on the Ribs for Kids event each spring in Petaluma.

This club’s main benefactor are local kids in need. Similar to Ribs for Kids, each guest at Burning Ham receives 10 tasting tickets to use as they please, choosing from all the different categories at this barbecue competition. Guests also get to weigh in on their favorites, voting towards the People’s Choice Awards.

Another kid-friendly event, tickets are $30 in advance ($35 at the door) and are available at www.burninghamsonoma.com, or from one of your friendly neighborhood Active 20-30 Club members.

Fall Oyster Shuck Fest

The first annual Fall Oyster Shuck Fest will be held on Oct. 22 from noon to 4 p.m. A collaboration between Petaluma Sunrise Rotary Club, Bodega Bay Oyster Company and Petaluma Hills Brewing Company, the net proceeds for this fundraiser benefit the 5th Tuesday Food Pantry, a local Petaluma project which provides groceries to needy families.

Opening back in 2014, Bodega Bay Oyster Company has transformed what was once a dank old restaurant known as Little Amsterdam at 12830 Valley Ford Rd.

The Fall Oyster Shuck Fest menu will include all-you-can-eat raw and barbecued Tomales Bay oysters along with steamed clams with pasta and white or red sauce. Petaluma Hills Brewing Company will be on hand pouring their Line & Twine IPA and their perfect oyster pairing beer, Porterluma.

Tickets are $50 at Eventbrite, which is a bargain for an all-you-can-eat oyster dinner and drinks. In the 24 hours since ticket sales began, the event had already sold a quarter of its seats, so with a limit of 100 guests, this event will likely sell out fast.

Petaluma Hills and The Shuckery

Speaking of Petaluma Hills Brewing Company’s Porterluma, it is currently on tap at The Shuckery. I mention this because it was during a recent dinner at the Shuckery that I discovered how well Porterluma goes with shellfish.

Ironically, given my name, I am not a big fan of Porter beers, unless we are talking about Guinness, which is technically a “stout” porter, but Petaluma Hills Brewing Company’s Porterluma has quickly become my go-to beer whenever available.

While dining recently at the Shuckery, I ordered said Porterluma, simply out of habit. I discovered, as mentioned above, that it ends up being a perfect beer for pairing with delicate ocean fare. Where IPAs are big on bitter, which can overpower anything but the heartiest food accompaniment, Porterluma’s robust flavors lean more towards the sweet side, which perfectly complements the delicate freshness of both raw and grilled oysters.

We were dining at the Shuckery for the express purpose of starting to fill in my new 33books.com “33 Oysters on the Half Shell” pocket journal. But to properly recognize the myriad flavors specific to each different oyster, I needed a good palate cleaners. Porterluma was bold enough to wash away the last oyster’s flavors, while not lingering long enough to interfere with the next.

On a side note, the Shuckery has just introduced custom “button on” napkins. With a strategically placed buttonhole at one corner of the napkin, diners can now shoot oysters at will without risking any salt-water spray down the front of their shirts.

Another new bakery

Bump City Bakery has taken over the spot in American Alley recently vacated by Two London Foodies. Just a croissant’s throw from Helen Putnam Plaza, and two of my favorite restaurants - Speakeasy and Petaluma Pie - having a bakery on the plaza should give it even more of the quaint European feel that Speakeasy started several years ago.

The only info I have so far is what I read on the signs in the window, which states that Bump City Bakery will open in October, with business hours from 4 to 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and that they will serve espresso, cookies, boozy cupcakes and vegan and gluten-free options.

Della farm dinners

Speaking of bakeries, I reported last column that Della Fattoria’s dinner service was on hold temporarily while they finish out their restaurant expansion, as well as take care of a few events out at their ranch. As it so happens, Della just announced three Weber Ranch Dinners for Oct. 1, Oct. 8 and Oct. 15.

With bread baked in ovens within sight of your dinner table, veggies freshly picked from the ranch’s garden and locally sourced meats and cheeses, it is no wonder that these family-style dinners inevitably sell out just about as quickly as they are announced. For this reason, it is nice that they have scheduled three in quick succession so that more of us can experience this truly Petaluma dining experience.

Covet at Harvest Festival

Covet Artisan Bakery has apparently broken the record for Double Gold medals for a new entrant at this year’s Sonoma County Harvest Fair. Although not quite Petaluma yet, the owners bake in Cotati, I have it on good authority that they are currently looking to open a retail baking space somewhere in Petaluma.

And currently, along with home delivery, their goods are available for sale at the Farmer’s Wife Barntique, held on the first Friday to Sunday of each month at 7801 Gravenstein Hwy. to help raise funds for the Petaluma Animal Shelter.

I have sampled Covet’s baked goods and they are spectacular, including possibly the best croissant I have ever had. I’d like to think that’s because they use Petaluma Creamery butter. I am not surprise that they did so well at this year’s Harvest Fair.

Along with the overall title of “Sweepstakes Bread Exhibitor,” Covet rightfully earned six Double Gold awards for their butter croissant, Valrhona chocolate croissant, Gibassier pastry, strawberry brioche, Valrhona chocolate panetto and sourdough loaf, and a Gold medal for their super purple potato bread.

My understanding is that Harvest Fair judges use the stand-alone method for grading, meaning that entries are not compared against each other in order to find the best in the lot, but are instead rated on their own merits. This means that often there are no awards in a particular category if the judges feel the entries simply can’t stand up on their own. This also means that Covet didn’t simply enter in enough categories to garner a few awards, but that their baked goods are so good that the judges felt they were the best of the best, regardless of comparison against other entrants.

Covet’s owners relayed a couple of funny stories that came about due to their recent success at the Harvest Fair. The morning after the awards were announced, co-owner Taunya received a call from the Cotati police that started off with, “Hello, this is the Cotati Police Department and we need to know where you are.”

It turns out that the sisters were not in trouble, as they may have first thought when receiving such a message, but that a gentleman had gone into the Cotati Police Department inquiring where the Double Gold winning bakery was located.

And if you think Sonoma County isn’t known world-wide, on that same day, Covet received an email from a gentleman in Spain who had obviously read about all the Double Gold wins and was inquiring about getting bread shipped to the Iberian Peninsula.

Rosso service

Rosso has been quietly gaining a well-earned reputation for quality food and service since opening in Theater Square a couple of years ago. Personally, their burrata is the thing of dreams, but I want to pass along an story from one of my readers that helps exemplify why it is so important to have owners and/or vested managers present in a restaurant. This is actually one of the common denominators I see among the restaurants that succeed in Petaluma.

The reader had chosen a pizza at Rosso that they ended up not being so crazy about. I wasn’t surprised, learning that it included eggplant, but I’ll save my anti-veggie rant for another time. He said he liked their food but had simply chosen the wrong pizza that night and was ready to leave feeling less than satisfied.

Manager Richie insisted on removing the pizza from the bill, even though there was nothing wrong with it, simply because he wants to ensure that patrons have an enjoyable dining experience when they visit Rosso.

It is this kind of service that often sets Petaluma apart from other culinary destinations, where all too often there is nobody on site who actually takes a vested interest in the quality of food and service. Kudos to Richie for helping Rosso fit into Petaluma.

(Contact Houston Porter at houston@avant-larde.com.)