Kathleen Thompson Hill

Before we indulge in St. Paddy’s Day, we might try something a little different: the California Sherpa Lhosar 2136 celebration on Sunday, March 15, at the Sonoma Vets Building. Expect a social hour, a “cultural show part 1″ from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.; a huge all-you-can-eat buffet dinner featuring Nepalese, Indian and Tibetan cuisine, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.; a “cultural show part 2, from 7:30 to 8:30,” and interesting DJ dancing from 8:30 to midnight. $35 inclusive, $20 under 21 with valid student I.D. Everyone welcome. 126 First St., W., Sonoma. Tickets at Taste of Himalayas, Sonoma Meritâge, or at The Sonoma Index-Tribune.

St, Patrick’s Day, the world’s favorite Irish excuse to drink too much beer and eat too much briny beef brisket, comes around again Tuesday, March 17. As the legendary Sonoma wine-making saying goes, “It takes a lot of beer to make good wine.” Larson Family Winery kicks off with their Limerick Contest results announcement today, lucky Friday, March 13. Throughout the weekend guests can nibble “wee bites” of corned beef cooked with red wine and paired with their 2005 Millerick Road Pinot Noir and boiled cabbage paired with their 2008 Pinot Greeno (Grigio) and Irish soda bread. 23355 Millerick Rd., Sonoma. For more information contact mollyb@larsonfamilywinery.com.

Garden Court Café in Glen Ellen brings on Rich Treglia’s annual fest on Friday, March 13 with pear and walnut salad tossed with blue cheese and Green Goddess dressing; entrées served family style with corned beef and cabbage with boiled root vegetables and potatoes, Irish lamb stew and Celtic Chicken, all served with Rich’s Irish soda bread and a surprise dessert. $34.95. Seatings from 6 to 7 p.m. 13647 Arnold Dr., Glen Ellen. Reservations: 935-1565. Landmark Winery celebrates St. Paddy on Saturday, March 14, to honor their Wine Dog, Finnegan, whose breed comes from Tipperary, Ireland. Two other guest celebrities who will bring their dogs include actor Jon Provost (Timmy from the “Lassie” television show) who will bring Buddy, a young Jack Russell and Dachshund mix, along with Provost’s wife, Laurie. Film critic Jan Wahl and her two Wheaten terriers, Duke and Ella, will give a talk on “Dogs in the Movies” and “The Irish in the Movies.” Doug Adamz and Russ Gauthier will play traditional Irish music. While the event is free, glasses of wine will be available for purchase and come with Irish soda bread, Irish butter and marmalade. 101 Adobe Canyon Rd., Kenwood. 833-0216.

Murphy’s Irish Pub leads the pack for hundreds of Sonomans every year, with corned beef, cabbage and colcannon ($11); Irish beef stew and a hearty veggie soup ($8) and French fries as an appetizer on the actual St. Patrick’s Day, next Tuesday. Music starts off easy with Deirdre and Arias and speeds up through Dockside and the Spiral Mystics through the evening. Food served 11 a.m. until they run out. 464 First St. E., Sonoma. 935-0660.

Bob Rice’s Breakaway Café will serve his yummy traditional corned beef and cabbage accompanied by carrots and potatoes all day Tuesday, March 17 for only $10.95. 19101 Hwy. 12 at Maxwell Village, Sonoma. 996-5949. No reservations.
Bluegrass Bar & Grill in Jack London Village will make its newly famous weekday “2 for $22″ include a Tuesday corned beef and cabbage feast, with “Black and Tan” Irish ales available. The deal also includes salad and no corkage. 14301 Arnold Dr., Glen Ellen. 935-4488.

Vintage House celebrates St. Paddy’s with corned beef and cabbage “and all the trimmings including Irish soda bread, dessert and beverages.” Jim Fitzgerald might entertain without the other half of his duo, former mayor and Murphy’s owner Larry Murphy, who was hit by a pickup truck while biking between here and Napa and suffered a broken pelvis. $15. Make reservations by calling 996-0311.

Wine Country Chocolates features Guinness Truffles and shamrock cookies for St. Patrick’s Day at both its El Paseo off First Street East and Jack London Village locations.

The Big 3’s $10 Burger & Beer deal runs just one more week so you’d better skedaddle over there for this bargain for their 8-oz. (that’s half a pound, folks) of Painted Hills “natural beef” burger with choice of cheese and fries. Great beers from local to imported included. Corner Highway 12 and Boyes Boulevard, Boyes Hot Springs.

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While at the Big 3, you can join (for free) the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa’s “Good Neighbor” program and get a 10 percent discount at the Big 3 and other areas of the SMI as well as e-mails about special promotions.

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Laura Chenel Chèvre update: The famed goat cheese enterprise isn’t leaving the 1920s Stornetta’s Dairy across from Nicholson Ranch just yet. First they have to hire an architect, go through the planning process, and figure out how to build, among other things, an “aging room” instead of an “aging closet,” according to Director of Culinary Development Jacquelyn Buchanan. The current French owners have been agers of cheese for centuries and want to make some new cheeses as well. All 12 of their California goat milk producers and the two from California will meet soon in Sonoma to brainstorm on what they want and need.

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Sonoma-grown artist Mack Hill’s 12-panel piece depicting 12 years of Watchmen comics that he created to coincide with the opening of “The Watchmen” movie last weekend, received great reviews from L.A. Weekly this week, calling his work “The clear centerpiece of the show, Mack Hill’s ‘Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes, Chapters 1 through 12,’ is almost impossible to view without feeling moved…It’s something to behold, and would be worth a trek to Meltdown (Comics Gallery on Sunset Blvd.) for any comics aficionado on its own…” Hill still has his day job as a vice president of Sony Music.

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Tilar Mazzeo will read passages and discuss her new book, Back Lane Wineries of Sonoma, at the Sonoma Community Center on Thursday, March 19 in conjunction with Readers’ Books. Mazzeo teaches English at Colby College. $15, or $12 for Community Center members. 7:30 p.m. 276 E. Napa St., Sonoma.

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The girl & the fig was recently featured on NBC 11’s “In Wine Country,” and a bottle of a 1972 Hanzell wine made a brief appearance in a different segment.

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Lots of Sonoma restaurants have come up with some innovative ideas to bring in local and not-so-local customers.

Saddles Steakhouse at MacArthur Place now has “Prime Rib Sundays” at which dinner includes a wedge of iceberg lettuce with blue cheese dressing or a bowl of clam chowder, a 10-ounce slice of prime rib, a baked potato with all the fixings, followed by house-made ice cream or sorbet for $24.99 or $29.99 for 14 ounces of prime rib. 29 E. MacArthur, Sonoma. 933-3191.

Carneros Bistro sommelier Christopher Sawyer has launched a “Monday Night is Wine Industry Night” at the restaurant where industry members can bring a bottle of wine, pay no corkage fee, maybe share tastes, and get 15 percent off all Bistro food and mystery wine flights. 5:30 to 9 p.m. 1325 Broadway, Sonoma. 931-2042.

After a year or two of my begging her, Carneros Bistro chef Janine Falvo now is cooking her “Sunday Suppers” featuring the “rustic Italian family dishes” she grew up with. Falvo told me, “I have fun, and I am excited to play with some of my comfort foods.” Can’t wait to try the three-course, prix fixe dinners. $29. 1326 Broadway, Sonoma. 931-2042. Falvo’s “Salt Dinner” on a recent Sunday afternoon with Domaine Carneros president and winemaker Eileen Crane was sensational and sold out. Congratulations to all!

Enoteca Della Santina, right next door to its big sister restaurant on East Napa Street, now serves a “bar menu” of tonnato di maiale, minestrone soup, tardelli con funghi, cannelloni Bolognese, spiedini misti, and ghnocchi della Nonna, all from the restaurant menu, Sunday through Thursday evenings only. Great for the little evolving wine non-club that hangs out in their lovely ambiance.

Grant Raeside and Michael Muscardini’s little fundraiser last Friday for Vineyard Worker Services at the Muscardini/Ty Caton tasting room in Kenwood was a quiet success. Sonoma Meritâge brought the appetizers including some fine cheeses, wrapped eggplant, and an addictive olive tapenade spread. Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance Executive Director Raeside and president Muscardini hope that other wineries will give ten percent of their Friday sales to VWS as well. The organization needs to raise funds to set up this year’s temporary migrant worker trailer camps.

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St. Francis Winery & Vineyards hosts a Winemaker Saturday tomorrow, March 14, north of Kenwood. Watch for the entire team of Tom Mackey, Heather Munden, Dennis Borell and Katie Madigan to show up in the tasting room for chats and great information, noon to 4 p.m.

Glenelly Inn & Cottages on Warm Springs Road in Glen Ellen, has one class left in “multiregional chef” Maria Vieages’ series of two on Thursday, March 19, focusing on “Mood Food.” Vieages will “teach you how to let go of your inhibitions and use specific cooking methods and foods that match your mood.” The class includes instruction, lots of laughs, dinner, wine and recipes. $95. Call Kristi at Glenelly Inn & Cottages at 996-6720 or e-mail her at glenelly@glenelly.com for reservations and more information.

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Wine fans plan ahead for next weekend’s Savor Sonoma Valley on Saturday and Sunday, March 21 to 22, sponsored by the Heart of Sonoma Valley Association, meaning the wineries of Glen Ellen and Kenwood. Wineries participating include Audelssa, Benziger, Chateau St. Jean, Deerfield Ranch, Enkidu, Eric Ross, Family Wineries, Imagery, Kenwood, Kunde, Landmark, Ledson, Loxton, Mayo, Muscardini & Ty Caton, Paradise Ridge, St. Francis, VJB Cellars, Valley of the Moon and Wellington. $55 for weekend pass per person or $20 designated driver for weekend; $40 single day pass or $10 designated driver. Visit www.heartofsonomavalley.com or call 794-9463 for advance tickets.

California’s Artisan Cheese Festival is the same weekend, March 20 to 23, at Petaluma’s Sheraton Sonoma County. The event is loaded with tastings, seminars, a dinner, a marketplace, and loads of educational information. Tickets $30 to $170. www.artisancheesefestival.com.

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Mary’s Pizza Shack now offers gluten-free pizzas made from bean and rice flours at all of its restaurants.

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Mary Karlin, cooking instructor at Ramekins, wants everyone to know that her first cookbook, Wood-Fired Cooking, just showed up on the shelves locally at Summervine and Readers’ Books. Karlin is planning book signings at Ramekins and Readers’ between commutes to Superior, Arizona, where she is active with Toast Bakery.

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A Toast restaurant just opened in the former Nave’s Bowling Alley shopping center on Highway 101 south of Highway 37. “Toast” is the nickname of the Sonoma State University campus snack shack at the base of Sonoma sculptor Walter Benson’s work, dubbed “Bacon and Eggs” by students and faculty.

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Wired Sonoma’s next Social at El Dorado Kitchen has been changed to Thursday, March 26, 6 to 8 p.m. with EDK manager Jens Hoj hosting. Photographer Ryan Lely will take fab photos for members’ profiles. For more information visit www.wiredsonoma.com.

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Valley of the Moon Dilettante Enological Society (VOMDES)’s 2009 Home Winemakers Competition awards will be judged on Monday, March 30, with an Awards Banquet Dinner on April 9. Any home winemaker is invited to enter. Drop off your entries at The Valley Wine Shack at 535 W. Napa St., Sonoma. Entry forms and contest rules can be found at www.vomdes.com or at the Wine Shack. Turn in wine and forms by Friday, March 27, at 8 p.m. For more information, call Anne Falandes at 938-3209 or e-mail anne@falcast.com.

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William Foley, who recently bought Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery here in Sonoma, just purchased a controlling interest in restaurant owner and designer Pat Kuleto’s Kuleto Estate winery above Pritchard Hill, east of St. Helena. Foley plans to expand case production from 7,500 to 12,000 to 14,000 according to Wine Spectator. David Lattin will stay on as winemaker. Foley also recently added Napa Valley’s Merus to his Foley Family Wines portfolio. Somewhat locally, Kuleto’s restaurants include Martini House in St. Helena and Nick’s Cove & Cottages south of Tomales.

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Landmark, Parmelee-Hill and Cline Cellars all received high ratings in the March 21 issue of Wine Spectator’s “Savvy Shopper Syrah Express.” Cline’s Syrah Sonoma Coast Cool Climate 2006 ($9) got an 88, their 2007 Syrah got an 86 ($10), and Don Sebastiani & Sons’ Smoking Loon Syrah received an 85 ($9). Landmark’s Syrah Sonoma Valley Steel Plow 2006 earned a 94 ($30). Parmelee-Hill’s Syrah Sonoma Valley Bock B 2005 received a 93 ($34).

Haywood’s Zinfandel Sonoma Valley Los Chamizal Vineyard 2006 earned an 88 ($30), Ravenswood’s Petite Sirah 2006 won an 84 ($10), MacRostie’s Chardonnay Wildcat Vineyard 2006 enjoyed a 93 ($40), while Cline’s Marsanne-Roussanne Carneros received a 97 ($16).

Send your food, wine, event and gossip tidbits to me at kthill@sonomanews.com or continue to send directly to hilltopub@aol.com.