Covet brings sweet treats to Petaluma

Covet Bakery is finally in Petaluma, announcing pop-up dates at Moj San Gift and Garden Gallery.|

Covet Bakery is finally in Petaluma, announcing pop-up dates at Moj San Gift and Garden Gallery, D Street and Wilson, across from Mario and John’s. I was lucky enough to taste their baked goods earlier this year and so it came as no surprise that they stunned the Harvest Fair judges with more Double Gold-winning baked items than one can count.

Up until now, the only way to get their wares was either to place a delivery order or visit their regular pop-ups at the Farmer’s Wife Barntique sales, which are held one or two weekends each month in Cotati, with proceeds going to the Petaluma Animal Shelter.

Petalumans can now taste what all the Harvest Fair judges were raving about by visiting Moj San starting Saturday, Oct. 22, from 10 a.m. to noon, with future pop-ups scheduled for Nov. 26 and Dec. 23 to 24. Starting in 2017, Covet will pop-up at Moj San every third Saturday. Don’t miss their holiday special - Double gold Chocolate panettone.

Fall Oyster Shuck Fest

Oyster lovers rejoice. Tickets are still available for the all-you-can-eat oyster dinner and drinks at the first Annual Fall Oyster Shuck Fest. Held on Saturday, Oct. 22 from noon to 4 p.m., this event is organized by Petaluma Sunrise Rotary, is hosted at the Bodega Bay Oyster Company, and raises funds for 5th Tuesday Food Pantry, a local Petaluma project which provides groceries to needy families.

Tickets are $50 at Eventbrite, which is a bargain for an all-you-can-eat oyster dinner and drinks. Petaluma Hills Brewing Company will pour their oyster-perfect Porterluma and Line & Twine IPA.

Brew news

101 North Brewing Company will host a Simmer Vietnamese pop-up on Saturday, Oct. 29 from 2 to 6 p.m. for $10, which entitles patrons to a beer and a healthy serving of Simmer’s delicious pho. We just dined at Simmer yet again, and still can’t get over how great their food is.

Everything on the menu is great, but our two favorites right now are their beef wrapped onions and shaking beef with noodles.

Although not a regular menu item, we were lucky enough to get to taste Simmer’s Bánh Mi, which could make a regular appearance at 101 North if this first pop-up is successful. To say this Bánh Mi was delicious would be an understatement. Simmer knows how to select, marinate, tenderize, season and cook meat well, with this sandwich being no exception.

101 North will start canning their Heroine IPA at the end of this month. It will be available in the taproom, as well as on the shelves of your local grocers shortly.

101 North is hosting the Das Boot Fundraiser for the month of October in order to help raise money for a prosthetic for their dear friend Joe Spaeth, who lost his leg to a bone disease. Purchase their 33-ounce boot glass full of your choice of 101 North brews for $30 and get a refill anytime for $8.

Wine wise

Barber Cellar has just announced this month’s cheesemaker’s night, featuring Cowgirl Creamery, for Saturday, Oct. 29 at 6 p.m. Barber has also just introduced great locally sourced gift baskets. Patrons can pick and choose which wines, cheeses, jams, etc. they want in their baskets so as to suit everyone’s budget.

With fall’s earlier nights, Barber Cellars has brought back their silent movie nights. On most Thursday nights through the fall and winter Barber will host either a silent movie night, with piano accompaniment or live music. In other exciting news, the 2014 Mr. Beast zinfandel is bottled and ready for your tasting, and shortly Barber will introduce their Single Malt Rye.

Send Laurie to Italy

Local TV chef Laurie Figone is also currently competing in Barilla pasta’s recipe contest for a chance to win a trip to her ancestral home of Italy. It comes as no surprise that Laurie’s submissions are no joke. She even has a pasta dessert recipe which looks divine.

Visit the “Cooking With Laurie” Facebook page for voting links to her Barilla recipes. If we each vote every day, we can make this dream trip to Italy a reality for one of the nicest and most Petaluma-centric people you’ll ever meet.

Laurie will make a special free appearance at Copperfield’s on Friday at 7 p.m. to demonstrate how easy it is to use her new cookbook “Cooking with Laurie Figone.” She will make and offer samples of her Italian Pinhead Torta, and Bart Hansen of Dane Cellars will be pouring wine to match.

GAP wine festival

The Wind to Wine festival returns for its second year at the Sheraton on Nov. 6 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. With more than 100 wines at the Grand Tasting, this is your best chance of the year to not only taste the best that Petaluma has to offer, but also learn what makes Petaluma GAP wines so unique and why PGAP’s work towards a Petaluma AVA is so important to our local wine makers and to our reputation as a diverse agricultural region.

The Grand Tasting is from 1 to4 p.m., but for those looking for the full experience, VIP tickets are available for one of two 11 a.m. seminars. Following either the “Cool Climate Syrah” or “Food Friendly Wines” seminars, VIP guests are invited to an early entry into the Grand Tasting for a full hour before the general public enters at 1 p.m.

This is a great chance to learn more about what is quickly becoming one of Petaluma’s leading industries and meet the actual growers and wine makers that are helping to put Petaluma at the top of many wine lovers’ lists of places to visit. Food will be provided by Quinua, Petaluma Pie Company, Seared, Fit for a King Catering and Paella del Reyes. Tickets are available at www.petalumagap.com.

New restaurant

Crocodile has officially opened at 140 2nd Street, across from the downtown movie theater. Owners Michael Dotson and Moira Beveridge have a successful gastropub on the Peninsula so they are familiar with the pitfalls of biting off more than one can chew.

They are starting off with a heavily French-inspired dinner service only and will add lunch by the end of October. Their menu is definitely French-inspired, with a “snack” menu (“Casse-Croûte”) with items such as pumpkin croquettes ($8), albacore confit a la Nicoise ($10), and gougères ($9), an appetizer menu with the likes of escarole ($14), charcuterie ($21), sweet breads ($15) and snails ($13), and a lot of great looking entrées, including thyme roasted market fish ($26), steak frites ($27) and duck breast ($28).

Rumor Mill

G&G Market is rumored to have been sold, but as of this writing, there is no official word from the owners.

Contrary to some rumors online, Twisted 2 is alive and well and turning out world class cuisine from within their tiny space in the LanMart building. I have it on good authority that Dick and Julie Warner aren’t going anywhere, thankfully.

My childhood friend Roman Scanagatta and his delightful partner Eleni reported that they have never had a better meal than their recent anniversary dinner at Twisted 2. They were also smart enough to cab it, because Dick Warner’s wine pairings are not only spot-on, but generous, leaving many a guest a bit twisted, too, themselves.

New Hours

4th & Sea has new hours. After 16 years of working day in and day out to bring us great fish-n-chips, fish tacos, burgers, corndogs and milk shakes, the owners have decided to take off Mondays and Tuesdays for the foreseeable future. New hours will be 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.

New bakery

Bump City Bakery has opened in the American Alley space previously occupied by 2 London Foodies, and is receiving great reviews. Although only open for limited hours, Friday and Saturday from noon to 6 p.m., they are already wowing fans with their boozy cupcakes and large selection of vegan and gluten-free treats.

Just desserts

Wine by the Slice is another great local cottage bakery which offers unique dessert options. You may have tasted their goods at various local events, or read about them in a recent issue of Sonoma Biz Magazine.

We’ve ordered several times now and always enjoying the variety of flavors packed into their mini-cake desserts. Considerably larger than a cupcake, we usually split them in halves or quarters so our guests can try all the great flavor combos, like Key Lime pie, Limoncello blueberry, pineapple coconut rum, dark chocolate Orangecello and white chocolate cherry Amaretto.

Special for the holiday season are a mini-cake of spiced pumpkin rum and another of black velvet port, which is topped with homemade white chocolate peppermint cranberry bark. Find them at www.winebytheslice.com.

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

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.