Petaluma’s 256 North rebrands

The new 256 North has updated their name, menu and parking. Because owner Jan Rosen has such a great reputation for food, it makes sense that 256 North has unofficially become Rosen’s 256 North.

For those familiar with Jan’s former restaurants, such as J.M. Rosen’s, the Salad Mill, J.M. Rosen’s Waterfront Grill and Rosen’s Eastside Grill, this is a subtle reminder that if you want great food and service, you can always rely on a Rosen’s restaurant to satisfy your hunger.

Rosen’s 256 North has also updated their website, added more events to their calendar, revamped their draft beer selection, bringing in Allagash’s White and IPAs from both Seismic and Dust Bowl, as well as adding some much needed parking. Rosen’s now has a dedicated parking lot, located across the Boulevard, and a half block north of the restaurant, in the empty lot that for so many years housed a collection of junky looking old cars.

We stopped in to try their pot pie and it was as good as everyone has been saying. Cooked in a cast iron pot, this crust-less pot pie comes with a delicious puff pastry, which adds tons of buttery flavor when mixed in to each bite. This is one of Jan’s specialties, and it only takes one bite to understand why.

It goes extremely well with a pint of Allagash White beer. We also thoroughly enjoyed the shrimp and crab salad sandwich, which definitely took our taste buds back to some of the incredibly fresh flavors we remember from prior Rosen restaurants.

New Simply Strudels flavor

Simply Strudels has added Gravenstein Apple Cranberry to their already incredible award-winning lineup of great strudel options, which currently include the cheese/sweet options of Vanilla Bean, Meyer Lemon, Chocolate Peanut Butter, and double chocolate chip port, made with Sonoma Portwork’s Deco port.

Available on the savory side are bacon potato cheddar, mushroom tarragon, and garlic spinach potato. Simply Strudels is located at the corner of Petaluma Blvd S & H Street, in the old Millie’s Chili Bar, across the street from Charley’s Wine Country Deli. They are open Thursday and Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can either pick them up to go, or sit back and relax with some strudel and a great cup of coffee from Wake Up Coffee House, which shares their space.

Bodega for the win

Congrats to the Bodega CA food truck, and co-owners chef Matthew Elias and Laine Ayre for taking home the Judge’s Craft Cup Cook-Off award at last weekend’s Battle of the Brews for “Most Creative” dish. Bodega made a vegetarian take on a picadillo, which traditionally is ground beef cooked down with spices, like garlic and chilies, and raisins.

Bodega used chopped cauliflower instead of beef, and if I hadn’t been told we were judging a veggie dish, I would have never guessed it had no meat. Then again, the Bodega CA is one of those places where I don’t even bother to question anything on the menu because everything is always delicious. They regularly serve at the Block - Petaluma and HenHouse Brewing. Visit www.thebodegaca.com to find out where they are serving their award-winning food next.

Petaluma Drinks

Petaluma Drinks will be a celebration of craft alcohol producers from around Petaluma and has just added three more hosts - Keller Estate, HenHouse Brewing, and Fogline Vineyards. With so many great local wineries, breweries, and distilleries, this event will span the entire weekend of June 2-3.

To encourage guests to stay for the weekend, Petaluma Drinks has arranged for special hotel discounts around town, including at downtown’s Hotel Petaluma. Visit www.petalumadrinks.com for more info and for tickets, which are limited and will likely sell out sell ahead of the event.

HOP Social Club

The newly formed Homebrewers of Petaluma (HOP) Social Club not only launched their Facebook page, but will hold their first meeting on Thursday, April 26, from 6 to 8 p.m., at 405 Broadway Street, over by Petaluma High School.

If you have a homebrew to share, bring it by, otherwise just stop in and mingle with other homebrew enthusiasts. Whether you already brew, or are interested in giving brewing a try, the homebrew community is a great group of enthusiastic, encouraging, and friendly people. Although this gathering is free, I highly encourage anyone who is interested, to join the HOP Social Club, which has a $20 membership fee. This modest fee will help the club bring us future events.

Petaluma Homebrew Competition

It was while on HOP Social Club’s Facebook page that I learned of the homebrew competition to be held at the Petaluma Fairgrounds. Titled “Shades of IPA Competition,” this competition will follow the Beer Judging Certification Program (“BJCP”) guidelines, which can be found on their website at www.bjcp.org.

Categories for this competition range from BJCP’s 21A – American IPA through 22A – Imperial IPA, with specialty Belgian, Black, Brown, Red, Rye, and White IPAs filling out the competition. Registration is already open at www.sonoma-marinfair.org and ends May 12. Sponsored by the Beverage People, Sonoma County’s premier homebrew supply shop, entries must be dropped off at their location between May 19 and May 26. Judging will occur on June 2, and like most official beer competitions, this is not a festival, so is not open to the public.

Pearl

The much anticipated Pearl restaurant has opened in the space formerly occupied by Luma. Open Wednesday through Monday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., this “daytime café and weekend brunch destination” offers Eastern Mediterranean-inspired food. Initial reviews are quite positive, so we hope to pay them a visit in the next few weeks. Menu and info can be found at www.pearlpetaluma.com.

Namaste no more

Namaste Indian restaurant, located in the OSH shopping center, and known for their lunch buffet, will close at the end of April. With the recent closing of Shree in downtown, this leaves Petaluma with only one Indian restaurant, but thankfully, it is our favorite.

Everest Indian, located in the River Plaza, formerly known as the Golden Eagle Shopping Center, has been our family’s favorite since opening nine years ago. It doesn’t matter how many times we visit, we always seem to find something delicious on the menu that we’ve never tried before, adding to our long list of “must order” items for the next visit.

Restaurant owners beware

Thanks to Rosie Wiggins, owner of the Drawing Board, for reaching out on the Petaluma Foodies Facebook page, to warn other restaurant owners of a current scam going around town. Her efforts to help protect our restaurant community are exactly why our restaurant community is so precious.

The scammer makes persistent calls, and has a practiced script. He claims to have placed a to-go order a few weeks ago, with specific instructions for how the meal should have been made, and then claims that once he arrived home with his food, it was not as ordered. Rosie, being as smart as she is kind, immediately noticed several things that when taken together, raised some red flags.

The man did not know the specific day or date of his order, did not recall the specific preparation instructions, and of course claimed to have paid in cash, but had not kept his receipt. He also claimed that he called the restaurant and was promised a free meal upon his return, but had no idea who he spoke to.

His story continues with his wife going in for the free meal, only to have had to pay for that one too, because nobody at the restaurant knew what she was talking about when she told them it was supposed to be on the house. Of course, the caller did not have that receipt or day/date either, but now wanted a cash refund for the transactions, because his “wife was really pissed off.”

Being a gracious restaurateur, and wanting to give him the benefit of the doubt, Rosie offered him a gift card, but all he really wanted was cash. She even offered to search her system for the transactions, so they could issue a cash refund, but this simply frustrated the scammer, who eventually hung up.

It is extremely disheartening to hear that someone would try to take advantage of our restaurant owners in this way, especially knowing not only how accommodating they already are, but also knowing what tight margins they are operating under.

After the original post on Petaluma Foodies, several other restaurateurs mentioned the same person had tried to scam them too. As someone with a security and loss prevention background, here are my suggestions to restaurant owners who want to protect themselves.

First and foremost, trust your intuition. Your regular guests are reasonable people and are going to understand that they will need a few more details of their transaction if they are going to expect your help. Second, do just like Rosie and offer to search your system, even if you don’t have a searchable computer system. They likely won’t know that, and the question will surely fluster them.

I am one who does not shy away from asking for a refund when I feel a product is defective or a dish is below par, even if I don’t have my receipt, so believe me when I tell you that if the person is legit, they aren’t going to balk at being asked a lot of questions. Moreover, without a receipt, a credit is very reasonable, so if they get flustered by that too, that should raise some red flags. But again, trust your intuition. If it doesn’t feel right, it likely isn’t.

In case you missed it

Barber Cellars holds this year’s first Cheesemaker Gala Friday, April 20, starting at 6 p.m. Check www.barbercellars.com for more info and tickets.

Keller Estate still has a few tickets available for this weekend’s Black Gold Mushroom Feast, scheduled for Saturday, April 21, from 3 to 6 p.m. Tickets and info can be found at www.kellerestate.com.

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